SummerWorks: Gaylord

It was impossible to be a Queer person living in Toronto in the 2000s and not feel the gravitational pull of Will Munro. His monthly party Vazaleen brought gay nightlife into macho rock venues. His y-front underwear-based art projects scandalized the prudes and brought tighty-whities back into vogue. And his beloved bar The Beaver cemented Queen West as the home of Toronto’s alternative Queer scene. But in 2010, after a two-year struggle with a rare brain cancer – at the infuriatingly young age of 35 – he was gone. And Toronto has never been the same.

SummerWorks Associate Artist Johnnie McNamara Walker presents a staged reading of a new play-in-development inspired by this legendary figure. GAYLORD is a love letter to the life and legacy of Will Munro, and a séance for a just-out-of-reach moment in our city’s past.

The full work will premiere at SummerWorks in 2026.

Writer & Performer: Johnnie McNamara Walker
Performers: Brandon Ash-Mohammed, Aldrin Bundoc, Joshua Browne, Keith Cole, Graham Conway, Margo MacDonald, and Sebastian Marziali
Producer: Graham Conway
Dramaturg: Jesse Stong

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