Orlando: Park Ave. goes gay

Gay night… on Park Avenue?
With high end shopping, trendy restaurants and glorious people-watching, Park Avenue has always been a destination for gays and lesbians. But there’s never been a gay nightclub on Winter Park’s signature street… until now. Starting Nov. 4, the owners of Circa 1926 restaurant are turning over their truly fabulous upstairs Circa Lounge to “Pride Night” every Wednesday. It’s a big, beautiful space overlooking “The Avenue” and St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, but with lots of lounge-style group seating and fabric screens it feels intimate. Aysia Black will host shows at 10 p.m. and midnight. Before, after and in between, a deejay will spin dance music. For more low-key entertainment there’s a piano bar below, and the acclaimed restaurant will offer specials to “Pride Night” patrons. Let’s hope “Pride Night” catches on. Maybe Aysia and the gang will hang out afterward at the corner of Park and Canton, a la Duval St. in Key West.    

Theater news
Two theaters in Orlando were among 150 throughout the world premiering The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later on Oct. 12, the anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s brutal murder. Mad Cow’s intimate production featured the original cast of their 2002 production of The Laramie Project. Fantasyland Theatrical’s staging at the Walt Disney Amphitheatre included what Orlando Sentinel theatre critic Elizabeth Maupin called, “the most emotional talk-back session that I’ve ever heard.” Also tackling emotional subject matter is the brand new Breakthrough Theatre of Winter Park. Orlando native Wade Hair—formerly the theater director at Wekiva High School in Apopka—is producing a season of small shows in a storefront on Fairbanks Avenue, starting with Quilt: A Musical Celebration from Dec. 3-13  Hair says he’s “never forgotten” the first Orlando production at the Fringe Festival almost 20 years ago.