Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out! Part IV

Check out our fourth and final episode of our "Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out!" podcast series. This was recorded live at the Barrow Street Theater in NY where actors performed various real people we interviewed about their experiences related to sexuality and gender. One of our special guest performers that night was Laverne Cox who stars in the TV show "Orange Is the New Black." She performs an interview we did with a staff member at Housing Works which is a NYC non-profit healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. (http://www.housingworks.org/)

Then Mike Brun and Alyse Louis perform "Barricade" another song by Robin Eaton and Jill Sobule from our upcoming musical Times Square that will feature music from Robin and Jill with book by Tony-nominated writer Jim Lewis about two teenage runaway lesbians who form an underground punk band in 1980s seedy Times Square!

To close out this special podcast series, Stephen Plunkett performs an inteview he did for our show This Beautiful City about Colorado Springs. Colorado Springs has a number of military bases and this interview was done a number of years ago before the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell."

Interviews for this podcast were conducted by Stephen Plunkett and Dan Domingues. Be sure to subscribe to The Civilians’ “Let Me Ascertain You” iTunes channel to stay in the loop about other amazing stories from our investigations.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out! Part III

Up next is our third podcast of our series "Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out!" dedicated to sexuality and gender. For this episode, we've got another interview from a staffer at the Rainbow Heights Club in Brooklyn, an advocacy program for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender emotional recovery and wellness. You can learn more about them at rainbowheights.org. Samira Wiley performs Danee live in New York City at the Barrow Street Theater.

Then, our next performance comes from an interview we did a couple years ago as part of our research for writer Neal Bell's play, Shadow of Himself Actors Matt Maher, Brian Sgambati and Maria Dizzia drove down to rural Pennsylvania to visit Harold and Bob in their home that has number of cages upstairs, locked cells downstairs and something of a small prison camp outside. At the time they were all empty. Matt Maher plays Harold and Brad Heberlee plays Bob.

Since we started this LGBTQ series, we did a concert of the show Times Square by Jill Sobule & Robin Eaton and Jim Lewis. It's a show about two girls who fall in love and discover themselves. To close out the podcast, we share a song for Nicky, one of the two girls at the center of the story. Nicky's a streetwise butch girl and in this song "Cigarette Burn" she's trying out a new song onstage at the Pussycat Palace in the heart of sleazy Times Square. It's sung here by the extraordinary Jill Sobule.

Interviews for this podcast were conducted by Donnetta Lavinia Grays and Matt Maher.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out! Part II

We’re back with the second episode of Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out recorded live at the Barrow Street Theater; actors perform various real people we interviewed about their experiences related to sexuality and gender. One of the groups who helped us out on this show was the Theater of the Oppressed NYC, they have an awesome theater troupe for queer homeless youth. We talked to Vincent, one of their troupe members, and in this episode you’ll hear Jax Jackson perform that interview. Then actor Pedro Pascal performs an interview we did with a man named Mark, and to close out this episode composer Michael Friedman sings an original song of his called “Horrible Seders” and it’s about playwright Tony Kushner. The interviews for this podcast were conducted by Ian Daniel and Dan Domingues.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out! Part I

Let Me Ascertain You is back! And we've got a whole new topic for you that we're calling "LGBTQ All Out!" It's all about those who have battled for, celebrated and championed their sexual orientation and gender identity. We dig into the personal stories, struggles and triumphs of a group of individuals in the LGBTQ community. Here, our Associate Artists and special guests perform interviews that we conducted recently. This podcast was recorded live at Barrow Street Theater in NYC.

In this episode you’ll hear actor Paul Stovall perform an interview we did with Randy who works at a great organization here in Brooklyn called the Rainbow Heights Club. Check out their website: http://www.rainbowheights.org/. Then actor Blair Baker performs Tarina, an interview we did several years ago back when we were creating our show about the city of Colorado Springs. To close things out, we’ve got a song from TIMES SQUARE. It’s a musical based on the early 80’s movie. The story is about two girls from opposite sides of the tracks, they meet, they fall in love, they form a band called the Sleez Sisters all set in the untamed Times Square of the 1970’s. Songs are by the amazing team of Jill Sobule and Robin Eaton, and here’s one of them. This is “Last Kiss” performed by Alyse Alan Louis with Mike Brun on guitar. Interviews for this podcast were conducted by Dan Domingues and Alison Weller.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

GONE MISSING at Barrow Street on 8/08!

We would like to give a big thank you to everyone who came out to the Barrow Street Theatre last Monday for the concert version of GONE MISSING! It was such a treat sharing the show with members of the original audiences as well as introducing it to some fresh new faces. Everyone had a blast, but we all seemed hyperconscious of forgetting something upon exiting the theatre…  Keys? Check! Rings? Check! Phone? Check! The nostalgic event brought back many great memories (though as we learned from the show- the word nostalgia comes from the Greek roots “algia” meaning pain and “nostos” meaning homecoming).  I found myself reflecting on things that I have lost in my own life along the way. The investigation might be completed for now, but we still want to hear from you- Do you sometimes feel like your mind is an etch sketch? Is your apartment the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle? Share your own stories of lost and found in a comment below!

And here are some photos from rehearsal for you to enjoy!

 L-R: Emily Ackerman, Colleen Werthmann, Brian Sgambati, Stephen Punkett, 

Lexy Fridell, and Matt Dellapina

 Down in front! Just kidding, that's Steve.

And this one is from the production at Barrow Street in 2007!