Center Blog

I have been eagerly following Edward Albee’s career since I saw “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” when I was 15. I saw all his Broadway shows in the Sixties and most of his New York productions since. I also attended Mr. Albee’s appearance in the old, pre-renovation Center (at least ten years ago). On that occasion he was surprisingly accessible and that was my overwhelming impression this year as well.

Once ensconced in a chair on stage there was nothing old about this legendary curmudgeon. He was polished, articulate and friendly. Most of his hour plus talk centered on his writing process. He did not discuss any of his 30 plays in depth. He almost never named any other individuals with two exceptions. The late director, Alan Schneider, was praised as was the performance of Mercedes Ruehl as Louise Nevelson in “Occupant”. Mr. Albee apparently gives praise grudgingly and shares credit not at all.

There are very few heroes of mine about whom I am more conflicted. Many of his plays are wonderful works of art, ‘Virginia Woolf’ is an American classic but there is something intimidating about Mr. Albee. While I would kill to have dinner with Stephen Sondheim or Terrence McNally or Lanford Wilson or Harvey Fierstein, Mr. Albee seems more rigid. He is so sure of himself that you feel there is no room for an alternate opinion.

He is especially sensitive to gay questions. At the Center he tried to draw a distinction between “gay writers” and “writers who are gay”. He said he was a “writer who is gay” not a gay writer because he didn’t deal with gay material. I feel this is a distinction without a difference. If you are a writer, and if you are gay, you are a gay writer AND a writer who is gay (by definition). Sometimes gay writers write about gay life and sometimes they don’t. The same for writers who are gay. Mr. Albee is “a writer who is gay” who almost never writes about gay life.

When a member of the audience mentioned how he found the characters in “The Zoo Story” to be cruisy”. Mr Albee said “Oh, there was a lot of cruising in those days”. Then he added “I don’t think either of those characters are gay.” He certainly is entitled to his opinion (after all, he created them), however, it is not a stretch to feel there is a gay subtext to the two characters in that play. Not to Mr. Albee, however.

There is no question that Edward Albee is in the first rank of American playwrights. But you would be hard pressed to call him a gay playwright.

by Tony Marzani

Below is a slideshow from the event.

Patricia Clarkson became a hero in the LGBT community when she spoke at the 2009 HRC Dinner in New Orleans (her hometown) and passionately declared her belief in marriage equality. In this talk, she said that we must all fight and that she “fights by giving angry speeches wearing fabulous shoes.” Fabulous shoes were a theme throughout the evening.

On Monday, Sept 20, at The LGBT Center, Clarkson was interviewed by Bill Goldstein, the editor of the books site of The New York Times on the Web. Together they made an appealing couple, naturally flowing between topics with enjoyable stops to explore a few topics.

Clarkson outlined her history. She studied acting at Louisiana State University and mentioned the close connection she felt with Tennessee Williams (whose tombstone reads “The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks”). She moved to NY and transferred to Fordham to get her bachelor’s degree. From there, it was off to the Yale School of Drama, where her early stage career took off.

Many people don’t know that the original 1997 production of Richard Greenberg’s play “Three Days of Rain,” was based on two of Clarkson’s relatives and was originally written for Clarkson. Clarkson said that Julia Roberts, also a Southern girl, played the same role “magnificently” 10 years later on Broadway.

Clarkson talked about her activism. “Hope is a call to action, not a substitute for it.” And she stated that while Obama may have disappointed many of his supporters, “the alternative is unthinkable.”
Clarkson also said that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell sounds more like a movie title than a government policy implemented by Bill Clinton, a Rhodes Scholar. I like the sound of ‘Patricia Clarkson stars in “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” at 7:30. Don’t miss it!’ This sounds like the kind of movie I’d be in.”

Clarkson describes herself as “mercurial,” saying that she’s currently living alone, “but the night is young.”

Then Clarkson described some of her favorite movie roles and told stories about their filming. While she was making “Cairo Time,” she was mistaken to be a very high class prostitute, since a sheik in the hotel could not believe that such a beautiful woman would be staying in the presidential suite by herself. She described the extreme heat wave and hot pleather pants (they couldn’t afford leather) that helped her express her lethargy as a heroin addict during the filming of “High Art” with Ally Sheedy. And she talked about the extremely low budget for “Pieces of April,” where she had to share sandwiches with Oliver Platt for lunch, but went to the Academy Awards for her nomination in the film wearing clothes and jewelry that cost more than the entire production of the movie.

In response to a final question, Clarkson described both the high points of her career and a low point, when she had to seriously consider what she wanted to do as her career came to a standstill when she reached her 30’s. Thankfully for all of us, she realized that she had no other skills and wanted only to act. Now she’s looking forward to playing Tallulah Bankhead – if the production gets approved – so she can lower her whiskey-sounding voice even more. And she can pay her mortgage and buy even more fabulous shoes.

Five Patricia Clark movies and one series you must see:

“High Art” (1998) – Clarkson’s breakthrough and Lisa Cholodenko’s major film before this year’s “The Kids Are All Right.”
“Far From Heaven” (2002) – Todd Hayne’s tribute to Douglas Sirk, a film about 1950’s race, sexuality, and class with Clarkson as the suffering wife.
“Pieces of April” (2003) – A black-sheep daughter invites her dysfunctional family to her miserable NYC apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.
“The Station Agent” (2003) – Three outcasts (including Peter Dinklage, who has dwarfism) share their losses and, perhaps, become friends.
“The Dying Gaul” (2005) – Craig Lucas’ film about a gay screenwriter and the cerebral affair he has with the wife of his film producer.
“Six Feet Under” (2002-2005) – Clarkson was only in seven episodes, as the sister of Frances Conroy and a friend of Kathy Bates, but together were unforgettable. As a group, they were referred to as “The Three Tenors” by Alan Ball’s production staff.

Two small but juicy roles:

“Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008) – Woody Allen casts Clarkson as a conventional parent to two experimental college girls.
“Shutter Island” (2010) – Martin Scorsese uses Clarkson in one scene, alone in a cave with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Three current Patricia Clark movies you can see now:

“Cairo Time” – A whirlwind romance with the handsome and exceptionally sexy Alexander Siddig.
“Easy A” – A teen comedy based very loosely on Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.”
“Legendary” – A big family drama, staring the wrestler John Cena.

– written by Howard Williams

In the 80’s, Molly Ringwald starred in such beloved coming-of-age movies as Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink, then moved to Paris in 1992 to star in such films as Seven Sundays and King Lear. But Molly’s also done a ton of theater! She starred as Sally Bowles in Cabaret on Broadway, in a London stage production of When Harry Met Sally, the Tony-nominated Enchanted April, and the Off-Broadway production of tick, tick… BOOM!, produced by one of this year’s honorees, Robyn Goodman. Molly can currently be seen on TV in the ABC Family series, “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.”

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The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center invites you to celebrate our 12th annual Women’s Event on Saturday, November 7, 2009, featuring cocktails, dining, fabulous silent auction items, dancing and more at our annual gala and premier women’s celebration.

This year the Center is thrilled to honor Broadway Producer Robyn Goodman, and Congregation Beth Simchat Torah Spiritual Leader Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum. And we are proud to introduce our new, first-ever in our history woman Executive Director, Glennda Testone!

Click here to buy your tickets now!

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers
New York City

7:00 – 8:00 pm Cocktail Reception
8:00 – 9:30 pm Dinner and Program
9:30 pm – Midnight Dessert and Dancing

For information about becoming a Table Captain or Table Host, please contact our Deputy Director of Events & Marketing, Wilson Alexander Aguilar.

Check out the Center’s YouTube channel, YouTube.com/LGBTCenterNYC, to see From the Shadows to the Sunlight, which chronicles the first year of the LGBT movement from the Stonewall riots of 1969 to the Gay Liberation Day March in 1970.  A new video from this 18-part series is being uploaded to YouTube each day starting September 1, 2009.  Please subscribe to the Center’s YouTube channel today.

Go to the series playlist on YouTube or watch below:

About the series: In June 2008 several individuals who were active in the gay liberation movement of the late sixties and early seventies held a panel at the Center to share their experience. It was sponsored by Services and Advocacy for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders (SAGE). The program called ‘From the Shadows to the Sunlight’ focused on the first year of the LGBT movement from the Stonewall riots of 1969 to the Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day March in 1970.

Click below to see photographs from Dancing on the Beach 9.

The Center’s 9th annual tea dance, Dancing on the Beach 9, was held in East Hampton on July 25, 2009.

You can also see the photos on Flickr or see the photos on Facebook.

Check out this episode of GRITtv with Laura Flanders about progressive politics and the LGBT movement–including the Center’s role!  The Center’s former Executive Director, Richard Burns, discusses the LGBT movement with three other leaders.  The segment ends with footage of last week’s Trans Day of Action, which was endorsed by the Center and included a Gender Identity Project contingent.  Watch it now:

From GRITtv with Laura Flanders:  Progressive Politics and the LGBT Movement:

What can the progressive movement learn from the LGBT community? On the 40^th anniversary of Stonewall there has been a good deal of reflection and soul searching on the role of the struggle for gay rights within the larger civil rights movement. Yesterday when Barack Obama met with gay couples in the White House he said, “It’s not for me to tell you to be patient any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago. We’ve been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration.” That could be applied to a number of issues, not only those affecting the LGBT community.

Richard Burns, Chief Operating Officer of the Arcus Foundation, Naomi Clark of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Richard Kim, Associate Editor at The Nation, and independent journalist Nancy Goldstein on the role of LGBT politics within the progressive movement.

The Center will be giving away two free tickets to Garden Party 26 via Twitter! If you don’t already know about Garden Party, the only LGBT tasting festival in the country, check out the Center’s website for details about the event. Garden Party 26 will be held on Monday, June 22nd at Pier 54 in Manhattan from 6-10 PM.

How will we pick a winner? We want to hear why you want to go to Garden Party. Is it one of the restaurants that excites you? Are you excited about the lineup of celebrity chefs? Do you want to be at the only LGBT tasting event in the country? Do you want to live tweet from Garden Party? Do you want to be at an event that supports the Center, the largest LGBT center on the East Coast? Tell us! Be creative!

• You must be following the Center on Twitter (@LGBTCenterNYC)
• You must use this hashtag in your Twitter update: #gardenparty
• You must tweet after noon EST on Wednesday, June 17 and before noon EST on Friday, June 19, 2009.

Don’t forget to include #gardenparty in all of your tweets about Garden Party!
See what others are tweeting about Garden Party on Tinker or Twitter Search.

The winner will be announced this Friday, June 19, 2009.  Good luck!

Center Young Leaders Council Pre-Pride Celebration
Thursday, June 18, 9PM-12AM
The Park, 118 10th Ave, NYC

Join us Thursday for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center’s recently formed Young Leaders Council (YLC) Pre-Pride Celebration! The event is hosted by Gavin Creel, his fellow Tony award-winning cast of HAIR and comedian Murray Hill at The Park on 10th Avenue from 9PM-Midnight. Open Bar 9PM-10PM. This event is 21+.

Free admission with RSVP. RSVP on the Center’s website or on Facebook!

The Young Leaders Council (YLC) is one of the newest initiatives of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center. We seek to build an active and diverse community of young New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s committed to raise awareness and funding for the Center and its work. The YLC develops programming to engage its demographic as Center supporters, members, volunteers, and leaders. Want to be sure you hear about future YLC events? Join the YLC Facbook group and sign up for the YLC E-Newsletter!

Hi, I’m Amanda and I work in the fundraising department. Specifically, I work on the events that raise money to keep the Center going strong.

New York City is gearing up for its annual Pride Week, and we’ve been doing the same in our fundraising office! I’ve spent the past few months recruiting food companies to take part in our annual Pride celebration, Garden Party 26, which will take place next week on Monday, June 22nd at Pier 54. And can I tell you, it’s been a blast! We’ve enjoyed an amazing response from local food companies this year; it’s been really exciting to work with all these businesses who want to support the Center!

Look at these numbers:

* 36 food participants this year — this is a record! This includes restaurants, caterers and specialty foodmakers. Many of them have also contributed to the “All Food” Silent Auction that will take place at the pier.

* 22 of these participants are new to the Center! Food companies want to be a part of the only LGBT tasting festival in the country!

* More than 10 of these food companies have participated for two years or more! That tells us that they feel it’s important to support our community and that they see the benefits of attending this event.

* 26 amazing auction items at the “All Food” Silent Auction that will take place at Garden Party 26. Come bid on tickets to Saturday Night Live, elegant dining packages, theater tickets and more!

Sometimes my stomach rumbles when I read my email: restaurants have been sending me menus for months now. (My friends are jealous that I get to work with restaurants all day!) How do these menu items sound:

* Shrimp & Scallop Ceviche
* Corn Fritter with Tomato Jam
* Asian Chicken Salad & Watermelon Lemonade
* Mini Pulled Pork Sliders
* Spicy Gazpacho with Smoked Lobster

Delicious, right! Well, you can try all this and more when you come to Garden Party 26. Purchase your ticket on our site and “Eat your pride out!”

www.gaycenter.org/specialevents/gardenparty26

Don’t forget to support your neighborhood restaurants! We have been overwhelmed by the response from local businesses, especially those in Chelsea and Village neighborhoods, and are truly grateful for their support of the LGBT community.

See you on the pier!
Amanda

Start your week at the Center with New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the invocation speaker at the opening event for President Obama’s inauguration, and the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.  He will be at the Center on Monday 6/15, presented by the Center and The New York Times.

On Tuesday 6/16, learn about the first site ever associated with LGBT history to be so recognized by the federal government at  The Stonewall National Historic Landmark: 1969, 1999, and Beyond, presented by Second Tuesdays.  On Wednesday 6/17, see author author Jeffrey Escoffier read from Bigger Than Life.

Meditation on a Theme: Sexual Healing on Thursday 6/18 will ask where are we as sensual beings in a country said to be both oversexed and highly puritanical?  Later on Thursday 6/18, join the Center’s Young Leaders Council for a Pre-Pride Celebration with the cast of Hair.  Event is 21+, and RSVP is required!

On Saturday 6/20, join the Center at these Pride events: Bronx Pride, Folsom Street East, and Leather Pride Night.  To volunteer with the Center during Pride events, go to www.gaycenter.org/pride.