By Kellie Kotraba
Religion News Service
(Rns) Twenty years ago, a gay Mormon character stepped onstage for the first time. His name was Joe Pitt, and he was in Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches.”
Pitt lived in New York with a good reputation and a bad marriage to a woman addicted to Valium. As colleagues dealt with the devastation and uncertainty of AIDS – it was the 1980s – he grappled with openly acknowledging his sexuality. He was Mormon. And gay. And the two didn’t mix.
Before Pitt, there was a gay Mormon character in a novel: Brigham Anderson, in Allan Drury’s “Advise and Consent,” published in 1959. But words like “gay” and “homosexual” weren’t used; it was all innuendo.
Now, the scene has changed: Gay Mormon characters and themes have a growing role in theater and literature.
Utah playwright Eric Samuelsen said “Angels in America...
Religion News Service
(Rns) Twenty years ago, a gay Mormon character stepped onstage for the first time. His name was Joe Pitt, and he was in Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches.”
Pitt lived in New York with a good reputation and a bad marriage to a woman addicted to Valium. As colleagues dealt with the devastation and uncertainty of AIDS – it was the 1980s – he grappled with openly acknowledging his sexuality. He was Mormon. And gay. And the two didn’t mix.
Before Pitt, there was a gay Mormon character in a novel: Brigham Anderson, in Allan Drury’s “Advise and Consent,” published in 1959. But words like “gay” and “homosexual” weren’t used; it was all innuendo.
Now, the scene has changed: Gay Mormon characters and themes have a growing role in theater and literature.
Utah playwright Eric Samuelsen said “Angels in America...
- 5/24/2013
- by Jahnabi Barooah
- Huffington Post
Tags: Morning BrewIMDbPortlandiaMartina NavratilovaMaggie GyllenhaalPatty SchemelHit so HardGuinevere TurnerFacing EastDolly PartonThe CorrectionsYour Sister's Sister
Good morning!
What do you call your partner once you get married? I say "my wife," but apparently some lesbians call their partner their husband. Some straight people call their spouses their "partners" and confuse me so it's fine.
Guinevere Turner has adapted a sad but moving stage play into a film that need your help getting funded. Check out Facing East and see if it's something you'd donate a few bucks to.
Every year or so Dolly Parton is asked, yet again, if she's a lesbian. She just loves her Bff Judy!
Judy and I have been best friends since we were like in the third and fourth grade. We still just have a great friendship and relationship and I love her as much as I love anybody in the whole world, but we're not romantically involved.
Good morning!
What do you call your partner once you get married? I say "my wife," but apparently some lesbians call their partner their husband. Some straight people call their spouses their "partners" and confuse me so it's fine.
Guinevere Turner has adapted a sad but moving stage play into a film that need your help getting funded. Check out Facing East and see if it's something you'd donate a few bucks to.
Every year or so Dolly Parton is asked, yet again, if she's a lesbian. She just loves her Bff Judy!
Judy and I have been best friends since we were like in the third and fourth grade. We still just have a great friendship and relationship and I love her as much as I love anybody in the whole world, but we're not romantically involved.
- 11/27/2012
- by trishbendix
- AfterEllen.com
The pre-production feature film Facing East released a Kickstarter Campaign today Wednesday November 14, 2012. Facing East is directed by Tony nominated Broadway actor Will Swenson Hair, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and is written by noted queer cinema veteran Guinevere Turner Go Fish, American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page from an off-Broadway play by author Carol Lynn Pearson author of the books Goodbye I Love You and No More Goodbyes, and produced by Duane Andersen, James Duke Mason and Emily Pearson. The campaign offers unique rewards targeted at fans of Mr. Swenson and his wife, five time Tony winner, Audra McDonald, including autographed memorabilia, the opportunity to have lunch with the couple, or to have Ms. McDonald sing to you over the phone on your birthday, or to have Mr. Swenson serenade you publicly.
- 11/14/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
For this week's edition of In The Works, a series that highlights in-production titles we're hoping make their way to a platform near you, indieWIRE looks at an adaptation of "Facing East," which will be the directing debut of Broadway star Will Swenson ("Priscilla, Queen of the Desert") From Kickstarter, iW profiles projects about black tattoo culture, docs about artists Ai Weiwei and Kenny Scharf, and "Pig," a film that ...
- 4/7/2011
- Indiewire
I'm still trying to work up to a weekly Theater series (as related to cinema as it can be) as I know that many readers are interested in Broadway, too... but we'll see. It's difficult to branch out onto those invite lists.
To most people the news that Broadway star Will Swenson, who was so sensational as "Berger" in Hair is going to direct a film called "Facing East" about a Mormon family dealing with their gay son's suicide is just regular pre-production movie news. To me it's college nostalgia gone wild. The universe is just refusing to let me live in the present this past month or so. So many things keep throwing me backwards in time. See, Swenson went to Byu in the 90s when I was there and he's the second alum to make me feel completely unproductive. What have I been doing with my life? First there was Aaron Eckhart,...
To most people the news that Broadway star Will Swenson, who was so sensational as "Berger" in Hair is going to direct a film called "Facing East" about a Mormon family dealing with their gay son's suicide is just regular pre-production movie news. To me it's college nostalgia gone wild. The universe is just refusing to let me live in the present this past month or so. So many things keep throwing me backwards in time. See, Swenson went to Byu in the 90s when I was there and he's the second alum to make me feel completely unproductive. What have I been doing with my life? First there was Aaron Eckhart,...
- 3/30/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Ed is traveling back home after giving his speech last night (I hope he took my advice and pictured everyone in jockstraps), so I'll be handling the Meme. Every time i give you one of these 80's puzzles, you impress me with your knowledge, so this one is a bit tougher. A few months ago I presented ten of my favorite 80's singers, and here are ten more. How many can you name?
Broadway hottie (and one of the stars of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) Will Swenson will direct a feature film version of Carol Lynn Pearson’s play Facing East, about a Mormon couple who grapple with their faith after the suicide of their gay son. A portion of the film's profits will benefit The Trevor Project.
Food goddess Ina Garten is trying to recover from that sick kid PR disaster. She's changed her mind and will invite him to watch her cook,...
Broadway hottie (and one of the stars of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) Will Swenson will direct a feature film version of Carol Lynn Pearson’s play Facing East, about a Mormon couple who grapple with their faith after the suicide of their gay son. A portion of the film's profits will benefit The Trevor Project.
Food goddess Ina Garten is trying to recover from that sick kid PR disaster. She's changed her mind and will invite him to watch her cook,...
- 3/29/2011
- by snicks
- The Backlot
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