Island City Stage presents the Florida Premiere of Light Switch

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Island City Stage presents the Florida Premiere of Light Switch

Island City Stage presents the Florida Premiere of Light Switch

Meet Henry Sullivan - 27, gay, Autistic, and completely enchanted by the sweeping romance of 19th-century British novels. He’s read Wuthering Heights 67 times; dreamed every scene… but nothing in those pages prepared him for the complexities of modern dating. Join Henry on his journey through love, heartbreak, identity, and acceptance - navigating a world that doesn’t always understand him and learning to write his own kind of love story - in Island City Stage’s Florida premiere of Light Switch by Dave Osmundsen. Tickets are on sale now for the play running May 21 – June 14.

This poignant coming-of-age story thoughtfully portrays one remarkable young man's journey to find anything -- or anyone -- that lights up his heart the way 19th century romantic literature does. When Henry ultimately meets a potential match in Joseph, he wonders if Joseph will be the one to “flip the switch.” Funny, moving, and profoundly relatable, Light Switch captures the power of imagination, the longing for connection, and the courage it takes to be truly seen.

Autistic playwright Dave Osmundsen’s work explores the intersections of queerness and neurodiversity. Light Switch received its world premiere with Spectrum Theatre Ensemble in April 2022. Light Switch was also the 2021 Distinguished Achievement recipient of the Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, an Honorable Mention finalist for BAPF 2021, longlisted for the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award, a finalist for the 2020 Carlo Annoni Playwriting Prize, and a semi-finalist for the 2020 National Playwrights Conference. Osmundsen’s work has been seen and developed at KCACTF Region 8, the Kennedy Center/NNPN MFA Playwrights Workshop, B Street Theatre, the William Inge Theatre Festival, the Midwest Dramatists Conference, Phoenix Theatre Company, Clamour Theatre Company, Premiere Stages, and more. He was one of two recipients of the Blank Theatre and Ucross Foundation's inaugural Future of Playwriting Prize. His one-act, A Firework Unexploded, was a semi-finalist for the NYC Audio Theatre Writing Contest and was produced by Pint-Sized in London. His plays have been published by or are forthcoming in The Dionysian, Canyon Voices, Exposition Review and Broadway Play Publishing. MFA: Arizona State University.

Island City Stage’s production of Light Switch is directed by theater veteran Michael Leeds and stars Gage Callenius as Ezra, Eric Gospodinoff as Joseph, Larry Toyter as Roggie, Irene Adjan as Marian, and Luis Roberto Herrera as Aaron/Ken/Another Guy.

Light Switch co-producers are Funding Arts Broward & Mark Loeser and the Opening Doors Charitable Trust; Lights and Sound Sponsor is Scott Bennett; Talent Sponsors are Jim Morgan & Joe Rodonis; Costume Sponsors is Richard Meyerson; and Set Sponsor is Glenn Goldberg. Additional funding is provided by the following: The Our Fund Foundation, The Schubert Foundation Inc., the SHS Foundation, the Warten Foundation, and OutClique.

Individual show tickets start at $50. A Mimosa Sunday performance sponsored by Misty Daniels will take place on May 31. The show runs for one hour and 50 minutes with an intermission.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.islandcitystage.org, call (954) 928-9800 or email boxoffice@islandcitystage.org. Follow Island City Stage on Facebook at facebook.com/IslandCityStage and on Instagram at @islandcitystage.