October 1, 2004 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 9

eveningsout

Life's a drag, but so is death

"You are not truly a Warhol superstar unless you are dead,” drag performer Jackie Curtis wrote in a note found after his 1985 death from a drug overdose.

Curtis, who starred in the Warhol-produced films Women in Revolt and Flesh, is the subject of the biopic Superstar in a Housedress, directed by Craig B. Highberger, playing October 8 and 10 at the Cleveland Institute of Art's Cinematheque.

9:30

Highberger will be present for the pm October 8 showing of the film, which was narrated by Lily Tomlin. He will not be there for the second showing, at 9:20 pm on October 10, however.

In a similar vein, the Cleveland Museum of Art will play Rockets Redglare, a biography of the eponymous bodyguard, drag personality and actor who traveled with such dubious luminaries as Sid Vicious and Jean Michel Basquiat until his death in 2001. Those screenings will be on October 10 and 13, at 1:30 and 7 pm respectively.

Films at the Cinematheque, 11141 East Boulevard, are $8, $5 for CIA students, staff and Cinematheque members. More

information is available at 216-421-7450 or www.cia.edu/cinematheque. Across the street at the Cleveland Museum of Art's Lecture Hall, 11150 East Boulevard, admission to films is $7, $5 for CMA members and $3 for students and seniors. More information can be had by calling 216-421-7350 or going to www.clevelandart.org/Panorama,

-Anthony Glassman

ANTHONY GLASSMAN

ANTHONY GRAY

Who could ask for anything Moor?

"Oh beware, my lord, of jealousy. 'Tis the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on," says lago (Meg Chamberlain, center) to Othello (M. Scott Newson), speaking of the Moor of Venice's suspicion that his wife Desdemona (Magdalyn Donnelly) is engaged in adultery.

Or does lago refer to something else in Bad Epitaph's production of Shakespeare's Othello, running October 1 to 23 at Cleveland Public Theater's new venue, Orthodox.

Out bisexual actor-director-set and costume designer Alison Hernan helms the production, which grew out of her early reading of Shakespeare as a child.

"I have always thought that Iago was written in a very feminine style,” she says of the villain who, passed over for a promotion, contrives the downfall of commanding officer Othello. “iago goes about getting what he wants in a very female way, an around-the-corner way instead of whacking them over the head like most guys would do."

"Partofitis, some of the most brilliant literary villains in the world have been created by Shakespeare," Hernan continued. "A lot of them have been plotters and planners, like a woman would be, but they haven't been written like a woman, as lago has."

"I've always felt that the style of writing that Shakespeare used with lago is very feminine, very feline, in a way that most men are not portrayed, because lago is not a coward by any stretch of the imagination, but if he were written in a masculine style, he would be much more aggressive in getting what he wants." Not only is lago finally expressing her feminine side, but Hernan left Iago's spouse as Shakespeare wrote her a woman.

"It's also interesting because it completely changes the wants and needs of the character," Hernan noted. "It means that lago has to look at why she was passed up for promotion. Is it really because there was someone better for the job, or because she's a woman, or because she's gay?"

"It makes, for me as a bisexual woman in a world that is primarily heterosexual male-oriented, her needs more desperate and less easily attainable.”

Bad Epitaph's production of The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, has shows Thursday through Saturdays at 8 pm and on Sundays at 7 pm. Tickets are available at www.badepitaph.org or by calling 216-556-0919. Cleveland Public Theater's Orthodox is located at 6203 Detroit Avenue.

-Anthony Glassman

And the Outie goes to ...

Bruce Dooley, center, flanked by WCMH Channel 4 reporter Marshall McPeek and Mary Ann Brandt, accepts the Outie Award for Most Philanthropic at the awards ceremony on September 19. The show was put on at the Arena Grand Theater by Out in Columbus and drew over 350 attendees. Dooley beat out David Arocho and Chase Bank for the honor.

Other Outies went to Tim Gardner for Best Community Service Volunteer, new Columbus council member Mary Jo Hudson for Best Community Service Leader and Stonewall Columbus for Best Community Organization.

Pride 2004 won for Best Event, and Union Station and Wall Street were voted Best Male and Female Bars, respectively.

In all, 21 awards were handed out. Of those, 20 were selected based on the votes of visitors to www.outincolumbus.com.

The Chairmen's Award recipient, Dr. Karen A. Holbrook, was selected by WCMH president Craig Robinson, Jonathan Mabry and Michael Reese.

Holbrook is the president of Ohio State University, and she was honored for her commitment to an inclusive environment on campus, which included urging Gov. Bob Taft to not sign the "defense of marriage" legislation early this year and, later, extending benefits to domestic partners of OSU students, staff and faculty.

-Anthony Glassman

Stories

Continued from facing page

"That accusatory statement," she writes, "has haunted me all the days of my life."

Through the telling of stories, Lind, who is overtly political, challenges her readers to open themselves up to that which is neither comfortable nor familiar so truth can enter their lives and relationships.

Lind's relationships with the people in the stories, including Becky and Bill, who succumbed to AIDS; Yvonne, who interrupted Good Friday services when someone stole her shoes; and Sally interrupting communion by putting the leftover bread in a shopping bag because she was hungry, were honest and open.

"You could be the chair of a committee at the church and come to the food pantry," said Lind. "No one was treated like a client."

The people described in the stories in the book have helped Lind come to terms with the defining question asked of her 35 years ago, and, by telling their stories, she beckons readers to the “edge” to grow, while giving the assurance that with faith, the ride can be unsettling, but rewarding. It is a familiar call, and one that Lind puts forth very well.

Some will find the stories overtly religious, while others will see the religious themes only as threads that happen to run through the lives of Lind and her friends.

"God is political," said Lind, “and I'm always trying to move the agenda of justice forward by asking myself what would God want me to do?"

Lind got her calling, her interruption, on a cold January day in a McDonald's on 42nd Street in New York. Ohio's LGBT community was interrupted on a warm Tuesday in September. The lessons taught in this book about what one does with that interruption can guide and inspire the community, allowing the weary to be cared for while their wisdom empowers those wrestling at the edge, finding and speaking truth.

The first lesson is, hold hands. The second, taught by example, is tell the stories.

Rev. Tracey Lind will be at Old St. George, 42 Calhoun Street in Cincinnati, for a book signing from 1 to 2:30 pm on Sunday, October 3. For more information, call 513751-5237.

The following week, on October 10, she will be at Joseph Beth Booksellers in Legacy Village, 24519 Cedar Rd. in the Cleveland suburb of Lyndhurst, from 2 to 4 pm. Call 216-691-7000 for more details.

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