Press
Press Inquiries – Contact Alan L. Bounville – 718-309-8598, CHAINEDTOFREEDOM@gmail.com
Reviews of CHAINED TO FREEDOM
Audience Feedback
“I saw this tonight… I am only sorry I am working during the rest of the performances. Wonderfuly, eye opening…. It shows us all how important it is to take Total responsibility for our life. It is also true that until the world works for ALL it will never work for anyone. What if we only knew the spirit of the people we met… do you think then we would see love? Great job..” – Bert Stauffer
“I stand and applaud you, Alan. Your performance left me welling up: the material itself is affecting, but to take into consideration that you LIVED it…I was awestruck. You gave me goose bumps with your rallying cry. Your conviction is inspiring.” – Marilyn Sagucio
“…just back from seeing the very thought-provoking CHAINED TO FREEDOM at Breakthrough Theater — well worth seeing.” – Erik Branch
“Come see this today at 3 and 8pm. I’ll be there so come say hey. It’s a really powerful piece that everyone should come out and see.”
- DJ Justice – OUTLOUD ORLANDO – The Homo Happy Hour
“Specifically, today my mind is on marriage equality. (Just saw a wonderful show about gay activism called Chained to Freedom, so it’s fresh.)”
- Chris Leavy
“It was nice seeing you this evening at Breakthrough Theatre. I really enjoyed your show and hope there will be more people next weekend. This is very worthwile and important. Thank you.” – Gale Nicholas Pergande
Theatre Critics
Archikulture Digest
by Carl F Gauze
Chained To Freedom
What if someone gave a Civil Rights Rally, and no one showed up? That though went through my head during this lightly attended but heartfelt show. “Chained to Freedom “was one of the Fringe shows I missed this year, but was brought in at the last minute to fill a slot from a delayed show. This one man first person monolog takes Alan Bounville from Open Gay Man to Openly Activist Gay Man. The triggering event was the murder of Ryan Skipper in 2006, the year Orlando’s murder rate peaked. The event attracted little attention, but it pushed Bounville into a journey of self discovery and self actualization. He gradually became involved in the drive for Gay Marriage and Domestic Partner Benefits at Orlando Health, a local mega hospital.
Bounville is a striking speaker, full of fire and energy. We all need a cause to believe in, and he’s taken his so much farther than most. He tells of a gradual start, telephoning non supportive family member to vote against Proposition 2, then attending rallies, speaking at rallies, marching, and eventually chaining himself to the front of the NYC Marriage Office. This piece of “Arrest Risk Civil Disobedience” galvanized him, and he’s picked up the cause at more rallies and actions. Backing him up was a jittery video projection of some of his “events” on a wrinkly screen, I hope he gets some Steady Cam support going forward. Yeah, there’s a strong Temperance Rally quality to this evening, but seeing someone fired up about injustice and willing do something about it is always inspiring.
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Fringe review: ‘Chained to Freedom,’ Open Door Productions, New York, NY
By Elizabeth Maupin
Alan Bounville is a man with a mission. Bounville wants to change the laws that deny gays and lesbians the same civil rights enjoyed by heterosexuals. Chained to Freedomis the story of his fight.
It’s not an especially unusual story, although it turns out that Bounville slightly knew Ryan Skipper, the gay man who was beaten and stabbed to death in rural Polk County in 2007 and has become known as Central Florida’s Matthew Shepard.
But it wasn’t Skipper’s murder that galvanized Bounville: It was the refusal of his own employer, Orlando Health, to grant domestic-partner benefits. Bounville quit his job, picketed at a corporate-sponsored event and then moved to New York to fight the fight ion a national scale.Good activists aren’t always practiced actors, and Bounville could work on speaking up and on not making his material sound so melodramatic. (In drama, less is often more.) Still, a little agitprop theater is nearly always a good thing. I only wish Bounville weren’t preaching to the choir.
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Orlando Fringe review: Chained To Freedom
2010 Fringe Festival— posted by Kelly Fitzpatrick on May, 24 2010 2:16 PM
Reviewed by Kelly Fitzpatrick, Orlando Sentinel
Alan Bounville has a message: “I am somebody and I deserve full equality right here and right now.”
Bounville performs in this one-man show that he co-wrote with Russell Taylor documenting his journey into civil rights activism for “queer equality.”From bombarding Orlando Health’s Facebook page with messages from the community urging the hospital to provide domestic partner benefits to its employees to chaining himself to the doors of the New York City Marriage License office — there is no doubt Bounville is passionate. The show at Fringe seems like another step along his path.
With a couple of fumbled lines and voice projection issues, it’s obvious that he is more of an activist than an actor but his message is clear and delivered in an engaging narrative. And I can’t think of a more receptive audience than at the Orlando Fringe for him to continue shouting out his message of equality for all.
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Orlando Fringe Review: Chained to Freedom – 26/05/2010 19:26:00Scottie Campbell
In Chained to Freedom, Alan Bounville charts his growth as a queer rights activist from impetus to his ongoing advocacy. It’s interesting to hear the steps that have led to this important work, but told in a one-man show format, on a bare stage with few props, the story isn’t quite as compelling as you would hope.
Trying to fill the stage when you are the only person on it is a unique challenge, and is done well by few actors. Bounville might have benefited from a little multi-media aid: projections or even slides would have helped engage the audience.
An Orlando rally over the passage of Amendment 2 providedan epiphany for the thirty-something, though he had flashes here and there that activism would be his calling. Hearing speakers on the steps of Orlando’s City Hall, he began to feel like he wanted to be one of the people speaking, leading. It is among the moments that may belie his activism as a simple need for attention.
To be sure, one of the dangers in telling your own story before an audience is that it will likely reveal more than you intended, perhaps even to you. The fact that Bounville “couldn’t stop thinking about” a failed attempt to get his former employer Orlando Health to extend domestic partner benefits, even after he had moved to New York City for grad school, seems more obsession than activism. Later, a mischievous glint in his eye and smile peeking at the corners of his mouth, as he tells of being arrested for an act of civil disobedience on Valentine’s Day, strikes as an odd reaction. He comes across tickled and not the least remorseful that his plight has taken him to such extremes.
That said, it’s going to take a village to achieve GLBT civil rights, and that goes for squeaky wheels like Alan Bounville. In the end, the most important thing about Chained to Freedom is the fact that Bounville is performing it at Orlando Fringe. Retelling this story of activism is activism in itself, and will hopefully get people to think.
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