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Phi Alpha Gamma
Two years after a gay-bashing, how will the fraternity react when a brother comes out of the closet?
Using the structure of a Greek tragedy, Phi Alpha Gamma weaves together the voices of four fraternity brothers as they grapple with the remnants of a hate crime and their own fears. This haunting portrait of panic focuses a compassionate eye on the complicated threads of brotherhood embedded in Americana.
"MUST-SEE SHOW! ... The fast-paced piece examines masculinity, faith, brotherhood, and love in a college fraternity struggling to deal with two brothers, one an imprisoned gay-basher and the other newly emerged from the closet. Bernitt's savvy script offers few easy answers and plenty of twists that toy with the audience's sympathies." - Ross Raihala, St. Paul Pioneer Press
"Only in his early twenties ... [Dan Bernitt's] solo piece, Phi Alpha Gamma, moved, surprised, and even shocked some Fringegoers. Its harsh portrayal on homophobia and its emotional residue in a college fraternity understands the tragic psychology of homophobia. Hence, it's rendered with anguish, not vindictiveness ... He's an exciting young writer-performer." - John Townsend, Lavender Magazine
Book - $13.95
(You can order through Barnes & Noble or Amazon, but they don't ship the books with kisses.)
(ISBN: 978-0-9821560-0-1; 96 pages, 5" x 8")
Dose: Plays & Monologues
Dose: Plays & Monologues is the first full-length collection of Dan Bernitt's dramatic works.
In the one-act Almost: Mark and Paul have a beer to catch up on life since the college dorm. When Mark asks for a hug as they say goodbye, the reticent Paul sharply refuses. How did they two young men arrive at a point where they can't even touch? At once comic and devastating, Almost quietly dissects a prejudice that does not say its name.
With a voice often likened to David Sedaris, the volume also features the texts to Bernitt's critically-acclaimed solo performances, including the tragicomic self-portrait Thanks for the Scabies, Jerkface! and the monologues Button-Down Showgirl and My Parents Talk to Stuffed Animals.
"One of America's next great monologists." - Emily Otto, nytheatre.com
"Simultaneously hysterical and heart-wrenching ... Bernitt's personal accounts of intense discomfort and social embarrassment are startlingly universal." - Paul Menard, Back Stage
Book - $16.00
(You can order through Barnes & Noble or Amazon, but they don't ship the books with kisses.)
(ISBN: 978-0-9821560-1-8; 192 pages, 5" x 8")
Thanks for the Scabies, Jerkface!
The chapbook of Dan’s solo show Thanks for the Scabies, Jerkface!, which toured several theatre festivals in the summer of 2006. From the Berkshire Fringe: "This hilariously poignant one-man show details the trials and tribulations of a young man as he enters college where he encounters a homophobic roommate, battles a bout of scabies, and attempts to find a place he can call home. Thanks for the Scabies, Jerkface! paints a vivid self-portrait of what it means to be young, gay and Southern."
And from performance artist Tim Miller: "Really funny and wise and sassy and soulful."
(40 pages, 5.5" x 8.5")
CHAPBOOK OUT OF PRINT - Script now available in Dose: Plays & Monologues
Moments of Disconnect
The chapbook of Dan’s first one-man show, best described by Cincinnati's CityBeat: "It is Bernitt's talent as a writer that is stunning. He is incredible. You wish the poems he speaks to us were distributed in print so we can go over them again and again. He is that good. ... The tempo and nuance of his words are so well chosen that even his prose becomes poetry."
(48 pages, 5.5" x 8.5")
Chapbook - $5.00
godspeed, my son.
Released in September 2004, the stream-of-consciousness short stories and experimental poetry explore the imagery of the subconscious. Dan says about the collection: "I can't figure out what keeps drawing me back to reading this. These little poems and short stories, I think, are my roots in playwriting - and some of my first attempts in stream-of-consciousness. With the exception of spelling and a few punctuation marks, they rest unedited in these 24 pages. There is something deeply dramatic at the core of these pieces; there are bits of mystery and cloaking; there's honesty close to the brim."
(24 pages, 5.5" x 8.5")
Chapbook - $5.00
A NOTE ON SHIPPING
Shipping is charged per item. To ship the first item, the cost is $3. Each additional item is a buck. The maximum charge for shipping is $5, regardless the number of items ordered. Orders are shipped via USPS Media Mail, and should be received within 1-2 weeks.
If there is a problem with your order (hope not!), send a message to merch (AT) danbernitt (DOT) com; remember to exchange the words in parentheses with their proper keyboard counterparts.
[ june 16, 2008]