‘EastSiders,’ Comic Web Series About Gay Life, Debuts Second Episode.
I’m not sure why it’s “comic” in the headline. I wouldn’t call it a comedy. Maybe a deep, dark, black comedy. What it is, really, is just plain good.
I’ve blogged about this before, but here’s episode #2 of a series you should be watching. (The link jumps to a story and video embed on HuffPo.)
Kit Williamson and Van Hansis star as Cal and Thom in the new web series “Eastsiders.”
Jason Hite plays one-half of the central couple in “Bare,” now playing at New World Stages. Image: Broadway.com
Teens have even approached him in tears after the show, saying, “This is my story.” Although Hite has a girlfriend in real life, it’s not hard for him to fall for his co-star Taylor Trensch every night. “I take the love I have for my girl and just copy and paste it onto Taylor,” he says. “It’s honest love. It doesn’t matter who the person is, it doesn’t matter what they are. Sometimes, love is just undeniable.”
He is very good in this. As is Taylor Trensch. As are several other standouts in the cast. The problem: the script does not live up to them, I’m sorry to say.
My original thoughts here.
Nate Silver describes himself as “sexually gay but ethnically straight” in a new interview with Out magazine, who named the American statistician “Person of the Year” in its new issue.
via Nate Silver On Being Gay After Being Named Out Magazine’s ‘Person Of The Year’.
This is a good piece on HuffPo about Silver, who I have a bit of an, um, academic crush on? Is that a thing? I just love the way his mind works.
Take a few minutes and watch this new web series from Kit Williamson. Interesting story. Terrific acting.
Look, I’ll be honest with you. I’d happily pay to watch Van Hansis read the damn telephone book. I think he’s a sensational talent — and I was delighted to see him in this. Like so many others, I first encountered him as Luke Snyder on As The World Turns. I watched him in a two-hander with the astonishing Elizabeth Hubbard and he matched her note for note. I just couldn’t believe it. I’d never seen anyone do that before. “Who IS this kid?” I asked. I think that was 2006 or 2007. I’ve been watching him ever since.
Watch this. You won’t regret it.
By the way, more information here.
I’m hoping that they start a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign. I understand they have three episodes in the can. I sure would like to see these performers do some more.
‘Amazing Race’ winners to bullied gay youth: ‘You’re Amazing!’ – LGBTQ Nation.
Brent Ridge, Josh Kilmer-Purcell – The Fabulous Beekman Boys – and Polka Spot the llama.
I loved Josh Kilmer-Purcell’s book about buying the Beekman Farm, the hilarious The Bucolic Plague. I loved watching Josh and Brent on The Fabulous Beekman Boys. I even bought a wheel of Beekman Blaak cheese — which was awesome. I’m ecstatic that they won The Amazing Race. But mostly, I’m thankful that someone out there is simply standing up for basic common decency. We need more of this. So much more.
Thank you, gentleman, for being amazing yourselves!
Last year some commentators predicted that straight applicants would say they were gay just to get an “enrichment scholarship,” which the college gives to students from underrepresented minority groups, including LGBT students. Mr. Rold said he had seen no evidence of that.
This year nine of the 12 freshmen who identified themselves as LGBT students also qualified for one of Elmhurst’s academic scholarships. The other three were either black or Hispanic, and, therefore, would have received an enrichment scholarship anyway.
Over the last year, membership in Elmhurst College Queers and Allies, a student group, has nearly doubled, Mr. Rold said. Why? Anyone’s guess.
It’s easy to overthink the power of a 12-word question, even one that became national news and stirred debate among admissions officers. The question’s a potential conversation starter, one thread among many in the story of who enrolled at Elmhurst and why.
“We’ve learned a little bit more about them, and they’ve learned a little bit more about the college,” Mr. Rold said of LGBT students. “The next thing will be to see how we retain them.”
via A ‘Welcome Mat’ for LGBT Students – Head Count – The Chronicle of Higher Education.
This sentence from the above pull resonated with me:
Last year some commentators predicted that straight applicants would say they were gay just to get an “enrichment scholarship,” which the college gives to students from underrepresented minority groups, including LGBT students. Mr. Rold said he had seen no evidence of that.
Why? Because it was obviously a concern of old straight guys who watched too much “Three’s Company” in the 70s and 80s. Have you EVER found a good old-fashioned straight teenager who wants to say he’s gay for a few scholarship bucks? Yeah, me either.
I’m glad colleges are starting to be this inclusive, but they shouldn’t be perplexed if prospies don’t check the “Hey, I’m gay!” box. Remember, today’s national discourse is not about getting high schoolers to come out necessarily, rather it skews toward “it gets better” once you get into college.
All in all, a good piece by Eric Hoover.
In defending this hurtful and discriminatory policy barring gay youth and leaders, the Boy Scouts of America are simply standing on the wrong side of history. And in doing so, the Boy Scouts are hurting the very people that it aims to serve: the young men who participate in scout programs.
via Gavin Newsom: Honoring the True Principles of the Boy Scouts.
Terrific piece on HuffPo today by California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom. He’s bang on the money. As a gay man and a former Boy Scout, I can tell you this: today’s scout leadership is defying the very principles that Scouts are supposed to life by.
During ABC’s This Week, conservative panelist George Will weighed in on what he called the “growing consensus” of public opinion regarding same-sex marriage. On Friday, the Supreme Court decided to take up two big cases. The court will hear one case challenging the Defense of Marriage Act, and a case on Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.
Here’s the big takeaway, I believe: it’s all generational. According to Politico, “The generational gap on the gay marriage question persists. Younger people, who tend to view this as a civil rights issue, overwhelmingly supported gay marriage. A full 63 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds backed marriage, and only 14 percent wanted no legal unions for gay couples.”
“Quite literally,” powerhouse pundit George Will proclaimed on ABC’s This Week, “the opposition to gay marriage is dying.”
H/T MediaBistro, 12/10/12
12/13/12 – Just to prove that I’m not alone in my impressions of Bare, here’s the New York Times‘ review. Pretty spot on, I think.
Here’s another one.
I was so excited that I was going to be in New York to see the revival/reinterpretation of Bare, which opened tonight off-Broadway at New World Stages. I basically browbeat my friend into seeing it with me. I wanted her to see it. I wanted everyone to see it because the previous incarnation completely mesmerized me. I was not mesmerized this time out. Not in the slightest.
Bare, reinvented, opened Dec. 9, 2012 off-Broadway at New York’s New World Stages.
Bare was written a little more than a decade ago with its book and lyrics by Jon Hartmere and music by Damon Intrabartolo. It was originally billed as a “pop opera” and, while powerful and beautiful, if the truth be told, it’s always been a problem piece.
Set in a co-ed Catholic boarding school, it deals with the love affair between Peter, a more introverted would-be actor, and Jason, the jock who has all of the female heads on campus turning. That’s basically all that’s the same this time around. There’s still a production of Romeo and Juliet, but in previous incarnations, the action tracked the action in R&J; this time it’s basically little more than background noise.
Jason Hite as Jason, left, and Taylor Trensch as Peter are the central performers in the new production of Bare.
But let’s get this out of the way: the problem is not with the actors. In fact, Jason Hite as Jason and Taylor Trensch as Peter are acting their hearts out — they are lovely performers — and Barrett Wilbert Weed as Jason’s drug-peddling sister Nadia was also quite good. At the preview performance I saw, however, Gerard Canonico as straight friend Matt, in love with Nadia’s roommate Ivy, was the standout.
Being in a Catholic school, there are requisite nun and priest characters and they are also new this time around. Father Mike (Jerold E. Solomon) was completely inconsequential and the sublime Missi Pyle was utterly underused as Sister Joan.
From what I understand, director Stafford Arima and book writer Hartmere wanted to reinterpret Bare for today’s youth. Composer Intrabartolo did not take part. There are a few — a very few — introductions that really make sense, like cell phones and social media, but other than that and the Instagrams covering the set, most fall flat.
And here’s why: Bare feels neutered. It feels like the remnants of something big and powerful. There was a chance to really say something; to really stand up and say why it is unacceptable in 2012 that high school students are afraid to come out, afraid to be themselves, afraid to confront their Church or their parents, and that is further unacceptable to allow them to commit suicide as Jason does.
Barrett Wilbert Weed and Gerard Canonico as Nadia and Matt, two of the standout principals in this deeply flawed reinvention.
In fact, why not lay this square at the Catholic Church’s door? It seems like that’s the argument that’s being made, that homosexuality nor bullying killed Jason but that the Church did. That the Church is responsible. Why not say that? Why not take a bloody stand? Make the argument. Create some drama.
AND, why did it seem like every new number was a power ballad? I just wanted to stand up and say, “Stop! Enough! Write something else!”
The whole production seems like a cop-out. It seems like a good idea that got castrated by the producers. Maybe that’s not the case — maybe the reinventors were simply not as good as they thought they were.
For my part, I’m passionate about doing whatever we can to prevent this incessant tide of gay teen suicides from continuing into another generation. When Jason dies in this play, there shouldn’t be a dry eye in the house, but guess what? I didn’t feel a thing. That, I am afraid, is a ringing endorsement of failure. After all, earlier in the day, I’m the sap that cried at A Christmas Story, the Musical!
When we left the theatre, my friend and I had a heated discussion about the show all the way back to our hotel. She and I are both playwrights and I’ve been to more theatre with her in the last 20 years than with anyone else. At one point she grabbed my arm and stopped me. “We could fix this one, me and you,” she said. “Yes,” I agreed, “it would just take some balls.”
Contessa Adams, Ex-Stripper Turned Ministry Leader, Claims Sex With Demons Causes Homosexuality.
Crazy … wait for it … train.
One Last Word 