When We Danced:
I am currently conducting a series of interviews for another project. The idea for this new play came to me after reading an article that my partner shared with me which appeared in The New York Times in the fall of 2007.
The article explored the challenges facing aging gay and lesbian people. The article was accompanied by a photo of two men in a nursing home. One man in the photo is feeding his partner. I wondered if that would be me and my partner one day. Then I started thinking about all the gay, lesbian and transgender people in this country and in other places around the world who have seen the changes of attitudes and representations of queerness over the last 50, 60, 70 years. I know in my heart there are enlightening, important, and vital stories to be heard from LGBT/queer people who lived through much of the 20th and into the 21st Century. What changes have they seen as queer people? How is being gay and lesbian now different than it was when they were coming of age, or coming out, or learning about their “otherness?” We have lost and are close to losing the very people who fought, rallied, and resisted the social structures that once made queerness a crime, a mental disease, and caused us to lie about who we are to ourselves and to the world. They laid the foundation and created the changes that lead to domestic partnerships, civil unions, and (at least in some states) gay marriage. I want to capture the stories and perspectives of these individuals. I have started my interviews in Burlington, Vermont (photo above of me with my first interviewees) and am hoping to expand this project to interview people around the country. I don’t currently know where the piece will go or the exact themes that will reveal themselves, but I am open and willing to be guided by the stories from the people I meet on the journey. I have an instinct that this new performance piece will include movement and dance elements. The working title of this project is When We Danced.
If you are an elderly gay, lesbian, or transgender person who would like to participate and offer an interview or if you know of someone who would, please contact me at this email address:
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