GAY LATIN PERFORMER RETURNS TO OKLAHOMA CITY
by: Greta Golding, Vicarious New York

May 3, 2008 – Oklahoma City – Vicarious Productions is proud to announce the Oklahoma premiere of "ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 3," a solo musical comedy performance written and performed by nationally-acclaimed solo theatre artist Jade Esteban Estrada (2005 Performance Artist of the Year) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 8, 2008. The performance will be held at IAO Performance Gallery located at 811 N. Broadway in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The event is wheelchair accessible and appropriate for ages 13 and up. Show duration is 65 minutes with no intermission. The celebrated actor will sign autographs immediately after the show. Tickets are $10. For reservations and information call 405-232-6060 or log onto www.getjaded.com.

What do biblical Naomi, King James, Miss Bessie, Greg and Mary all have in common? They're all coming to Oklahoma City – at the same time!

Religion. Revision. Music. Sports. Privilege. ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 3 debuted in September 2006 at the Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival in Columbus, Ohio and won the awards for Best Solo Performance and Best Original Music. In the last segment of the trilogy, Estrada takes on the roles of biblical Naomi, King James, Bessie Smith, Greg Louganis and Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Estrada performed his solo show "Gay Christian, Gay Muslim, Gay Jew" at the IAO Performance Gallery in February 2007 and performed his Latin comedy "Tortilla Heaven" at the Latino Community Center in May 2005. This is Estrada's third visit to OKC. The comedian will play Tulsa May 9-10 at the Nightingale Theatre.

Estrada is the host of the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards which will air on Bravo TV in June 2008.

He has appeared on such television shows as "30 Rock," "Friday Night Lights" (NBC), "The Graham Norton Effect" (Comedy Central) and his Latin dance music can be heard on the Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning police drama "The Shield" (FX).

"Jade Esteban Estrada told the truth about homosexuals in history last night with a voice fit for Broadway," raves Dana Freeman of the Bowling Green News.

Out Magazine christened him "the first gay Latin star." The Oklahoma Gazette calls him "a prominent and controversial gay Latin performer."

"I've seen Jade Esteban on stage four times before, but when I saw him portraying Mary Cheney, I realized he wasn't only celebrating gay icons. He was using irony to tell us that not all of our gay icons are people that we love or respect. It was incredibly clever," stated Thaddius Novack, Creative Director of Jersey City Lesbian and Gay Outreach.

"'ICONS' is part history lesson, part musical, part politics and ALL entertainment," states Jennifer Chung of the San Diego Daily Transcript. Tom Sime of the Dallas Morning News calls it, "funny and irreverent…a feel-good session for gay people."

"ICONS 3 is fantastic," said Eric Crumrine, president of the LGBT student group VISION at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. "It was a great opportunity for us to have Mr. Estrada complete his ICONS trilogy with us."

"Most performers would be happy to have a fraction of Jade Esteban Estrada's career," states Marty Rosen of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Roy Proctor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch calls him "a master entertainer." Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine calls him "one of the finest solo theatre artists of the 21st century." Hector Saldana of the San Antonio Express-News calls him "a star attraction."

Estrada debuted his first solo show "It's Too Late…It's Already In Me…" at the Festival de Libre Enganche in 1997 and over a decade later has been compared to Ruth Draper, Lily Tomlin and other luminaries in the field of solo theatre.

The prolific actor appears this month in the feature film "Crosshairs" directed by Brett Mauser and recently released his designer humor line of bilingual greeting cards, "Jade Esteban Estrada for Nos Vemos Greetings."

Formally the choreographer to television personality Charo and a scratch vocalist for the Back Street Boys, Estrada released his debut CD "Angel" (Vicarious) in 2001 and in 2002 took part in the "Being Out Rocks" (Centaur) CD compilation in honor of National Coming Out Day for the Human Rights Campaign.

In October 2006, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher paid tribute to Estrada by commissioning him the title of "Kentucky Colonel," the highest honor awarded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky that acknowledges outstanding ambassadors of goodwill and fellowship around the world. The Texas native joined other honorary colonels which include Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Bob Hope, Joan Crawford, Johnny Depp, Muhammad Ali and Pope John Paul II.

For further information or to request high resolution artwork or an interview, please contact Greta Golding at vicariouspr@aol.com, call 646-342-8647 or visit www.getjaded.com.

Full Story. [5/3/08]