equalpride's Stephen Walker among BroadwayWorld Regional Nominees!

Acclaimed performer, host and producer for equalpride (owner of Pride.com, Advocate and Out), Stephen Walker, has been nominated by BroadwayWorld's Boston Regional Awards for his highly emotionally charged performance in "Jerker," a one-act play by Robert Chesley (1986) and directed for Provincetown Theater in August, 2022 by David Drake. Drake is the critically acclaimed creative director and executive director behind Provincetown Theater and is also nominated for Best Director for two other of the theater's productions: The Humans and Mae West's The Drag.

Provincetown Theater's reprisal of the two-character play traces the relationship that develops between a disabled Vietnam veteran, J. R., and a businessman, Bert, two gay men in the beginning years of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, when a diagnosis of AIDS meant an early death from complications of the disease. Although they "meet" only through a series of telephone calls, they grow from being phone sex buddies to caring friends. The play varies from the erotic to emotionally charged moments. "Jerker" can be seen as referring to masturbation and to "tear jerker".

Chesley wrote the play because he believed it was "important to remove the stigma against sex that AIDS has created, and ... to remove the stigma against gay men". Jerker premiered at the Celebration Theater on October 24, 1986. Walker reprised he role of Bert and also nominated is long time and beloved Provincetown performer, Joe MacDougall, is also nominated for his turn as J.R. which was quite the physical challenge to play a disabled individual who dreams of finding love.

Walker is a well-known British talent who is better known for his turns on the screen with Jerker being his very first play. Walker is also known to the audience of Out.com, Advocate.com and advocatechannel.com as a producer, talent and host for various programs from Pride Today to Our World with Stephen Walker

Drake points out on his Facebook page that Provincetown Theater actually received 28 nominations in 17 separate categories. You can cast your vote for BroadwayWorld's Boston Awards online public balloting by going to (ends New Year's Eve): https://www.broadwayworld.com/boston/voteregion.cfm?fbclid=IwAR3fl9w8Uonj-S2wxgwlIBQizaggmwVKssjsadtOTIO_BmhQB7rHLRqHDYw