For more than two decades Eve Ensler’s play “The Vagina Monologues” has empowered women to speak frankly about their identities, dreams and, yes, sexual desires. Now, thanks to Key West writer Wayne Keller, men have a similar opportunity with “Cock Talk.”

SAN FRANCISCO - Messages of love and gratitude shared by the boy band One Direction topped Twitter's charts this year, eclipsing President Barack Obama's celebration of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing gay marriage.

I had nearly forgotten about the time, 20 years ago, when my boyfriend at the time and I engaged in our first “four-way” with another couple. But, as the drama unfolded in Steve Yockey’s play, “Octopus,” at Island City Stage last weekend, I was quickly reminded of the excitement and trepidation of that big event.

Nearly three years have passed since Joan Rivers unexpectedly passed away during elective surgery, but the sharp-tongued comedian lives on in a new show coming to Empire Stage in Fort Lauderdale.

Playwright and producer Ronnie Larsen is a busy man. In addition to the world premiere of his new play, “Happy Ending,” this weekend, he is launching the “Totally Naked Comedy Tour” at Empire Stage on Monday, May 8.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – The owners of an upstate New York wedding venue who were fined $13,000 after refusing to host a lesbian wedding are appealing the ruling.

“My story is that typical narrative of a Midwestern boy who comes out of the closet—or doesn’t come out—in his hometown and then leaves,” explained playwright Michael Patrick Spillers, who grew up in the Ozark mountains of southwest Missouri.

Anyone who has visited Times Square in New York City can attest to the power of corporate America. Disney reigns at the Broadway box office as busloads of tourists crowd “The Lion King” and “Aladdin.” Giant flashing billboards advertise big brands like Sony and Calvin Klein. Retailers from The Gap to Toys R Us operate mobbed flagship stores.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. For his latest comedy, “Stalker Bob and his Mother,” opening on Nov. 30 at Empire Stage, playwright Michael Aman was inspired by headlines about an infamous New York murder.

Lucky for me, Logo devoted the entire Independence Day weekend to a “Designing Women” binge-a-thon. Lifetime, TVLand, WEtv, Logo and the like have long paid homage to gay favorites like “The Golden Girls” and “Will & Grace,” and now Linda Bloodworth-Thomason’s late 1980s series about a sassy group of gals at an Atlanta interior design firm have been rediscovered.

Sharp-tongued and occasionally potty-mouthed playwright Ronnie Larsen is rarely at a loss for words. But, last Wednesday, the creator of “Making Porn” and “All-Male Peep Show” was left blushing and speechless.

What do you get when you mash up “Fifty Shades of Grey” with “Sesame Street”? The answer would be “Fifty Shades of Felt,” the parody opening on July 20 at Empire Stage in Fort Lauderdale and it’s not the kind of puppet show for children.

For many young people, coming out is the most tumultuous stop on life’s journey. But, in Jonathan Tolins’ Secrets of the Trade, which opened last weekend at Island City Stage, it’s just a bump in the road for a young man who dreams of a career in the Broadway theater.

To say playwright Ronnie Larsen is obsessed with sex might be an understatement. His first hit, “Making Porn,” about a gay-for-pay adult movie star, ran Off Broadway and has since been performed on four continents.