Benchmark Theatre goes beyond Stonewall

The Stonewall uprising is a key ashpoint in 20th-century American history — one that changed the course of the struggle for LGBTQIA+ equality in the country. But a lot of what happened during the summer of 1968 is shrouded in memory and mystery.

And while there will always be questions that remain unanswered, the Benchmark eatre explores the events that lead to and followed the uprising in the world premiere of “Stonewall.”

“With how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go,

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it seemed like the right time to revisit Stonewall,” said Neil Truglio, director of the production and artistic director at Benchmark.

“ e question for us was, how can we dramatize the events in a way that’s interesting and educational?

Developed by the creatives at Benchmark, 1560 Teller St. in Lake- wood, “Stonewall” runs through Saturday, July 1. Performances are at 8 p.m. ursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. e aim of “Stonewall” was to tell as accurate a story of what happened as possible, so the show was culled from actual interviews and information about the uprising and was inspired by members of the largest cast the space has ever seen. Since the crowds at Stonewall would have been incredibly diverse, diversity needed to be re ected in the production.

“We went about the piece by opening the casting as wide as we could,” Truglio said. “From the community that turned out to the auditions, we were able to create and elevate the characters we wanted to tell the story.”

While the creatives were building the show, it was almost impossible not to compare the situation at the time to where society currently is, especially with the rollback of trans rights in many states and book bans on LGBTQIA+ books. e resulting show serves as a dialogue between

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