Variance Films and Wolfe Video’s upcoming release TEST, opening in select theaters and on demand on June 6, 2014

Set in the free-spirited San Francisco of 1985, writer-director Chris Mason Johnson’s TEST lovingly portrays this exciting and harrowing era as young Frankie (dancer Scott Marlowe in a breakout acting debut) confronts the challenges of being an understudy in a modern dance company where he’s taunted to “dance like a man!” Frankie embarks on a budding relationship with Todd (Matthew Risch, HBO’s “Looking”), a veteran dancer in the same company and the bad boy to Frankie’s innocent. As Frankie and Todd’s friendship deepens, they navigate a world of risk – it’s the early years of the epidemic – but also a world of hope, humor, visual beauty and musical relief.

The captivating dance sequences were especially choreographed for the film by acclaimed U.S. choreographer Sidra Bell, and the film’s vibrant soundtrack includes work by ’80s icons Jimmy Somerville (Bronski Beat), Klaus Nomi, Romeo Void, Laurie Anderson, Martha and the Muffins, Cocteau Twins and Sylvester.