Comedy and the Fag Word

The other night at a comedy show, two of my peers used anti-gay epithets from the stage. And it wasn’t in the context of some brilliant bit of satire. It was just, "What a faggot" and "that guy’s being a fag." I sat through three utterances and then I got up and walked out. Before too long, I had to come right back, though, because I was set to host another comedy show at the same venue afterward. It was awkward. One of the comics who used the epithets offered an apology, but I didn’t let him off easy, because he said things like "You didn’t have to walk out" and "I’m sorry you were offended."

V-Day Breakups

It was just Valentine’s Day, which is supposed to be the most romantical of days, right? Then why did my brother just get dumped by his live-in girlfriend and why have two of my coworkers just broken up with their boyfriends in the last week? What gives, yo?

Person of the Year 2010: Gloria Casarez

Community activists have a history of mainstreaming the marginalized, sheltering the dispossessed, and empowering the powerless. Gloria Casarez has followed this path all the way to City Hall, where, as Mayor Michael Nutter’s director of LGBT affairs, she has one foot in the corridors of authority and one still in the activist tradition.

Trouble in Mind: Thoughts on ‘A New Brain’

Gordon Schwinn, the lead character in William Finn’s ‘A New Brain’, is fighting to stay alive from the moment he first sets foot on stage. The musical, which is being given an invigorating, insightful local production by Plays & Players, follows Gordon as he faces hospitalization and surgery for a seemingly terminal brain defect, all while struggling to continue his craft of songwriting and balance his fraying relationships. Just another fun-filled evening of singing and dancing, right?

New Year’s Resolutions About Love

So, it’s 2011. Janurary is off to a roaring start and the city is full of crisp air and new beginnings. It’s hard for me not to get overwhelmed, walking around with wide-eyes and thin skin all the time. I love this city. The rush and noise of it Market Street, and the quiet of the Free Library. I love the smells of Reading Terminal Market and finding small pieces of the city to make mine. There are things about the city that are new and scary to me, but I love those things for how deeply they make me feel, for new experiences, for taking me outside of my comfort zone and giving me perspective.

“Let’s Put On A Show (About A Show! (About A Show!)!

Though snow blankets a massive swath of the nation, this month of January is possibly harshest on the Great White Way, as productions shutter for good rather than face the cold post-holiday season of decreased attendance and diminishing returns. This year was particularly unkind, cutting down shows both star-studded and barebones. Indeed, the only sure-things right now are the warhorse family musicals and, improbably, Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, which, at a cost of $65 million and counting is Broadway’s most expensive show ever. Budgets and special effects are considerably more modest a few miles southward where Philadelphia’s Mauckingbird Theatre Company’s production of [title of show], a musical with 4 actors, one instrument, and no airborn superheroes, opened on Wednesday.