Latest / Queer Voices / September 23rd - Houston Theater kicks off with Absurdist Rhinos, 9/11 Kindness, and a Classic Musical

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September 23rd - Houston Theater kicks off with Absurdist Rhinos, 9/11 Kindness, and a Classic Musical · Queer Voices

• 0:01
  Brett: Hey there, I am Brett Cullum, and I will be your host for this episode of Theater.
• 0:06
  Brett: Oops! I mean queer voices.
• 0:09
  Brett: This is a radio show and a podcast that has been on KPFT Houston 90.1 since the 70s, even before the disco 70s.
• 0:17
  Brett: On this session, we are going deep into the Houston theater scene to talk with three companies that are having their season openers right now.
• 0:26
  Brett: First up, I talk all things rhinoceros with Tamory Cooper and Kyle Sturdivant.
• 0:32
  Brett: They are from the Catastrophic Theater, and Rhinoceros is playing at the match through October 10th.
• 0:38
  Brett: Then I talk with the director and choreographer of Come From Away.
• 0:43
  Brett: That is Valerie Rochelle.
• 0:45
  Brett: This is going to be playing at stages through October 18th.
• 0:49
  Brett: And finally, I do a big gay gab with Nicholas Rodriguez, who is coming to town for the tour of the sound of music, which plays at the Hobby Center September 29th through October 4th.
• 1:02
  Brett: Small trivia, he kissed a dude on a soap opera back in the day.
• 1:06
  Brett: Queer Voices raises its curtain now.
• 1:15
  Brett: Hi there, this is Brett Cullum.
• 1:17
  Brett: Eugene Inesco wrote Rhinoceros during 1959 in a reaction to the fascism conformity and senseless violence that surrounded him during World War II.
• 1:26
  Brett: And now it is coming back to the match thanks to Catastrophic Theater.
• 1:31
  Brett: It will star George Parker and Kyle Sturdivant, who will revisit their roles from the 2017 Smash Hit production from Catastrophic Theater.
• 1:40
  Brett: It's directed once again by Tamari Cooper.
• 1:42
  Brett: Rhinoceros will run at the match from September 18th through October 10th.
• 1:47
  Brett: And with me today is director Tamry Cooper and superstar Kyle Sturtevant.
• 1:53
  Brett: Welcome.
• 1:54
  Brett: Hello.
• 1:55
  Brett: Welcome.
• 1:56
  Brett: Well, for anybody that doesn't know, what is this show about?
• 1:59
  Brett: What's the story of this one?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_04: Well, the simple premise is that you discover a town where one by one, slowly, uh first they see some rhinoceros running through the street, and then it becomes clear that people, the citizens, are turning into rhinoceroses themselves.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_04: There is a character named Baringer, who is our anti-hero hero, who is basically fighting against this and watching in a way helplessly while not only his co-workers and strangers, but his closest friends become rhinoceroses until he is left as perhaps the last human on the planet.
• 2:38
  Brett: Yeah, it sounds like a laugh a minute riot fest right now.
• 2:41
  Brett: No, just kidding.
• 2:41
  Brett: I it's a very it's a classic of surrealistic theater and absurd and has a lot to say, but why bring it back?
• 2:50
  Brett: I mean, you had it in 2017, it was a hit, so why why now?
• 2:54
  Brett: Why again?
• 2:55
  Brett: Why rhino it again?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_04: It it was something that just sort of shot out of my brain when discussing with Jason Nadler, my co-artistic director, what shows we were considering for this this current season.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: It wasn't even like something we debated.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_04: It just sort of was like, well, we need to do rhinoceros again.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_04: It's been about 10 years.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_04: When we did it in 2017, obviously there had been a recent political shift in our country.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_04: I know there was an article that came out last year about the plays that we should be doing right now.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_04: And rhinoceros was on that list along with the designated mourner and a few others.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_04: I will say that for me personally, there is a connection to the political uh landscape in our country and some of the things that I personally feel where I'm witnessing things that seemed completely unacceptable or unimaginable to me that are just sort of becoming, you know, the regular routine of the world and myself feeling kind of like I'm letting it just happen.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_04: What do I do?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_04: How do what do I do with something that seems so impossible?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_04: And now we're just sort of all like, oh, well, that's just how it is.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_04: So that would be my own personal sort of access to it.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_04: But I think Inesco himself has said it isn't just about fascism and it isn't just about a political statement.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_04: If anything, he'll argue this play is apolitical and that it really is about the individual versus groupthink versus any sort of ideologue or dogma or mass hysteria.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_04: And you can transfer that to many different things.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_04: You could you could talk about technology right now and what's happening with people and how AI or just the way we are now married to our phones and how it's maybe dehumanizing us.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_04: So there's a lot of entry points.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_04: The other reason for me personally why I want to direct it and why I've been the the director of this piece now multiple times for my theater companies is because Ionesco brings up these very scary uh and deep feeling thinking concepts, all filtered through a comedic lens.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I am always gonna be game for when something like that can happen through comedy.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_04: So I think it it's it's an easier way for people to enter into that and to think about it.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_04: And then of course, it's it's a very physical theater of the absurd.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_04: I have these amazing actors who are such great comedians and have such great physicality.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_04: And and I do think I'm gonna shut up now, but it the play does sort of demand physical, a physical life.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_04: Like when you read it on the page and then when you see it come off of the page, it's two very different experiences.
• 5:27
  Brett: Yeah.
• 5:27
  Brett: Well, Kyle, what does it feel like to come back to it as an actor?
• 5:31
  Brett: I mean, coming back in and re-engaging with this material.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you know, the the funny response, of course, would be, I feel old.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but um, there is truth to that, uh, not just the negative side of that.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, it is, you know, physically harder uh at times, but also comes nine more years of life experience bringing to the to the part and nine more years of political upheaval.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_05: And this time it it's fun to play because the comedy's there, you just have to play it.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_05: But there's there's there's so many more levels this time.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_05: There's so much more personal experience, it's much more grounded this time.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_05: I'm glad Tamry's making me do it a third time.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_05: Your third?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_05: It's my third.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_05: We both did it in 2003 with IVP and then 2017.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_05: So I I think this is the year she's bringing out all the things she's afraid I might finally be getting too old to do.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_05: So, like rhinoceros and then the food love from Tamry's show.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_05: I'm really having a great time this year because it's just so based in some real uh personal experiences this time and and in a way that I feel like my first two performances were lacking.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Kyle's just, I mean, I think we all do get better the more we do things, right?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_04: But he's just at the top of his game right now, I think, as a performer, and and it is a more nuanced, I'm gonna say nuance, and then you're gonna see it and you're gonna be like, what is nuanced about that?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_04: But nuance for me.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_04: There certainly is more.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_04: And there's just and the same thing happening with George Parker, who is Baringer, the other lead, is you know, the two of them have also, we've all known each other for so long, and it is really it's it's very rich to be able to come back to something and and start from where you left off, even 10 years.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_04: So we're already building on something that was a foundation.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_04: And it is, I've watched the video from last time, and of course we were very proud of that production.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_04: But um, and there are elements that are definitely a remount.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_04: We have not changed the set design.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we have several actors reprising roles, but it does feel very different at times too.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_04: It does feel richer.
• 7:41
  Brett: We've probably been dancing around this a little bit.
• 7:43
  Brett: Uh how what do you play?
• 7:44
  Brett: Tell me about your character a little bit.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I play Jean, um, who I think is a kind of classic character in his in the playoffs repertoire.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_05: He's very concerned with appearance and social mannerisms, an intellectual thinker.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_05: But I would say that pretty much everything is pretty much on the surface of what he how he values life and friendships, and everyone else should be on that same level.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_05: And then this whatever happened was happening to these people uh starts to happen, and he's the one of the first ones to go.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_05: And he has a physical transformation on stage, not literally, there's no costumes, there's no anything like that.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_05: It's just me and my body and whatever.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_05: But um, I think he was more Tamry says this best, that he's more susceptible to the change because of uh his philosophies in the way he's thinking.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_05: So he's kind of a pretentious fop at times, which I'm always like to play.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but this time I think uh I really wanted to focus on his why is he friends with Berenger and focus on their friendship too, which is also important.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_04: And Kyle is uh it's a wonderful thing to behold him transforming into a rhinoceros.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_04: He is our resident animal actor, so he's made many a mark for himself.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_04: He was Trevor, the chimpanzee when I directed him in Trevor.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_04: He has been, well, you just saw him in Beautiful Princess Disorder as uh, right?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_04: The killer whale.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um, what else?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_04: I think there's one more.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_04: A dinosaur.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_04: You know, so he's my go-to for if you need to become an an animal on stage.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_04: Again, just speaking to your physical comedy skills as well.
• 9:32
  Brett: Yeah, and of course he wasn't shamu, he was tilacum.
• 9:34
  Brett: Yes, he was he was the killer killer whale.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_05: He was the nice one.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_05: He's a sweetie pie, yeah.
• 9:41
  Brett: He actually was in Beautiful Princess Disorder, but I so digress.
• 9:45
  Brett: Yeah, no, I love Kyle and anything like that.
• 9:48
  Brett: I mean, it's you have in Houston, I think that physical comedy is just like you're one of the masters of it.
• 9:55
  Brett: I I don't see anybody else even hitting that level sometimes.
• 9:59
  Brett: And it's just amazing to watch.
• 10:00
  Brett: And it's of course, you recently had the uh Tamry show where you guys got to do the what do you what did you call it?
• 10:06
  Brett: The food food love.
• 10:07
  Brett: Food love.
• 10:08
  Brett: Food love.
• 10:08
  Brett: I always called it the food ballet or something.
• 10:10
  Brett: I don't know why.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_04: It's absolutely a ballet, just with Yes, you know.
• 10:15
  Brett: And it's one of my favorite sequences.
• 10:16
  Brett: For anybody who hasn't seen it, it's it involves a lot of consumable items and Kyle and Tamry kind of it it's one of my favorite worshipping them.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_04: My favorite seven-minute work sample.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, I'm like, here it is.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_04: This is what's in my brain.
• 10:31
  Brett: Yes.
• 10:32
  Brett: So you're saying that there's not really a transformation.
• 10:35
  Brett: I I the poster is so striking.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_04: Well, there is a transformation, but in the original play, it was written and it's been done this way many times, where uh the actor, Jean, as he's transforming, goes into his bathroom, which would be offstage.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_04: And like they'd have a team that would quickly put green or, you know, or gray grease paint makeup all over their body and then attach like a prosthetic horn so that you were truly seeing more of the actual rhinoceros.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_04: But we we never did that in our productions.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_04: We always chose the ones that I've directed to leave the monster in the imagination of the audience.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I think we've all learned that from a good thriller, that it's probably a lot more powerful when it's left in your mind as opposed to seeing it on stage.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_04: And so we don't even, yeah, there's no actual, you don't see any physical rhinoceroses in the production.
• 11:25
  Brett: Less is more.
• 11:26
  Brett: I think that's your rules, isn't it?
• 11:28
  Brett: I always feel like that with you too.
• 11:30
  Brett: Yeah.
• 11:31
  Brett: Less is more.
• 11:34
  Brett: So restrained, subtlety is so demure.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_04: It is being done.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it's I think it's still running at ART right now with an all-star cast with John Totoro and Paul Giamatti's in the part of Jean.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_04: And then Yale Rep just did it also.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_04: And this is a play that, you know, catastrophic is known, and IBP was known for producing avant-garde classics that nobody's gonna do ever, right?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, there's rarely any of these plays.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you have an opportunity, certainly in Houston, to see, unless we're doing it.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um and that's kind of true for rhinoceros across the country.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it it's a play that's studied, right?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_04: It's definitely one of hionesco's more well-known pieces, but it's not it's not performed as much.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_04: So I do find it interesting that right now it is feeling rather timely, and that these other sort of forward-thinking theater companies are also, you know, going into the world of the rhinoceros.
• 12:28
  Brett: Well, it's one of the things that I find so fascinating about Catastrophic is it feels like you hit on a lot of political landscape things that are happening with your seasons.
• 12:39
  Brett: And it's not like you're necessarily doing a show that immediately addresses it.
• 12:44
  Brett: I mean, you're not doing a write-out parody of it.
• 12:47
  Brett: It's just you pick these shows that speak to today's world so eloquently.
• 12:52
  Brett: It always feels a little bit queer, like your entire season.
• 12:55
  Brett: And yet there's nothing really queer about the material necessarily.
• 13:00
  Brett: I mean, this is a classic, this is from the 50s.
• 13:02
  Brett: It's it's something that's studied and everything else like that, but it does feel a little bit dangerous and and comments on our time, which I think is one of the things that you guys are are strong at.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_04: Do you always feel like that's kind of a part of your company's DNA or I think that we often with our plays ask questions, not not necessarily provide answers, or are we even trying to provide the answers, but we will ask some of the more existential questions that come out in our work.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_04: That is that's just something that I think is more unique to catastrophic.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I think that's scary for some people because they want the answers in their entertainment, right?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_04: Um and we we purposely often leave things more to your own interpretation.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_04: And I do think that if it is in this play talking about being human versus mob thinking or mass hysteria or groupthink, that does touch into that a bit of identity, you know?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_04: And I I th I can see how you would still Oh yeah.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_05: I think the the themes of this play are quintessential queerness.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_05: It's uh it it speaks to, you know, individualism versus uh populism.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_05: It it it uh individuality, the strength of the unique person versus um group mentality.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, that kind of uh theme resonates even harder now with the queer community than it did before, because you see so many other people jumping on, you know, the bandwagon of supporting uh political statements and laws uh just because their, you know, president or governor says it's good for you without even thinking about it, you know, like bathroom issues or whatever.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_05: The strength of this play is that it it it triumphs uh, or I think it decides on the edge of the individual person uh being able to think for themselves and um and how that's important in our in our society.
• 14:58
  Brett: Yeah.
• 14:59
  Brett: But you've got George Parker and you've got Kyle Sturden.
• 15:02
  Brett: Who else is in this that I might know?
• 15:04
  Brett: Who else is on board?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_04: Abraham Zapata, you know, Abe Zapata, he's done a ton of work with us as well.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, he's very funny, and uh some people are doubling in roles as well, so he plays two different parts, but he's just very funny as the the the boss at the um printing office where Barringer, George Parker's character, works.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_04: Joe Von Jackson is playing um Dudard and Jenna Morris Miller, who's also been in several catastrophic productions, part of our core artists.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_04: She's playing Daisy, sort of the the ingenue, right?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_04: The the female lead.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_04: We've got Rebecca Randall and Sarah Joe Dunstan, Mara McGee.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um, am I forgetting someone, Kyle?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_04: I always do this.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you're forgetting Noel and Karina.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_04: And Noel and Karina.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_04: So Noel and Karina, Noel Bowers and Karina Palm and Tanya Bowers, um both are reprising their roles from the 2017 production.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_04: And a fun little thing for me is that they are actually married.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Karina is playing uh the old gentleman, so I love having a little bit of drag whenever I can.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and uh and and she's got a nice good bushy mustache to wear this time, too.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_04: And uh she's married to Noel, so it's really fun because they're both delightful humans to begin with, and then also very, very funny.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_04: And anytime that we can put them together in any kind of theatrical production, just obviously the bond that they share in life will translate into how they play with each other on stage, too.
• 16:33
  Brett: It's become a theme in Houston theater lately, though.
• 16:36
  Brett: So interesting.
• 16:37
  Brett: Married couples torturing each other.
• 16:39
  Brett: We had uh the alley did Misery.
• 16:45
  Brett: But then they did Girl on the Train.
• 16:46
  Brett: Yes, back to back.
• 16:47
  Brett: And it was like it was like they each got to like take their revenge on each other.
• 16:51
  Brett: It was just wild.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_04: And then um Kim and Philip, Kim Tob and Leo and K and Philip Lil have obviously done a lot of a ton.
• 16:59
  Brett: Yes.
• 16:59
  Brett: Yes, and then uh and currently running right now, Mildred's umbrella, uh, Rhett Martinez is directing his wife and like a play where she kind of awakens uh a feminine love side.
• 17:13
  Brett: So I can't imagine directing that.
• 17:18
  Brett: So it's always fun to see the married people just like really go off the rails with their relationships and this.
• 17:24
  Brett: So I will enjoy this.
• 17:27
  Brett: So and Karina does look really cute with a mustache, I have seen with some of the pictures.
• 17:32
  Brett: Adorable old man.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_04: I keep telling her I just want her to come over in her costume to my house.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_04: Just like I don't know, I'm gonna feed her soup and she's gonna tell me stories about the please.
• 17:44
  Brett: That's the next show.
• 17:45
  Brett: That's what you just need.
• 17:47
  Brett: You need to just do that one.
• 17:48
  Brett: So but I decided this launches your season, obviously.
• 17:53
  Brett: Season opener, which everybody's in the throes of.
• 17:56
  Brett: So we get rhinoceros, and it runs September 18th through October 10th at the match, which you're in matchbox three, correct?
• 18:05
  Brett: This one's in box three.
• 18:06
  Brett: Okay.
• 18:07
  Brett: Yeah, it's kind of your traditional space, your traditional home.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_04: Occasionally we'll do a show in box one.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_04: Um we did Designate Mourner over there recently, and we've done uh Candace's show, uh a few others over in in box one before.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's nice because box one is really intimate, but then it also has less playing space.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_04: And this one with a 10-person cast and a stampede of invisible rhinoceroses, you need more space.
• 18:34
  Brett: And Kyle playing a rhinoceros.
• 18:36
  Brett: I mean, come on, we've got to have lots of I don't want to hurt anybody, you know.
• 18:39
  Brett: We need some space.
• 18:41
  Brett: But please do, because oh my gosh, I have to tell you, when I saw the imagery of the poster, I kind of thought it was kind of sexy and a very strange.
• 18:49
  Brett: I was telling, I think that did T design the poster?
• 18:52
  Brett: T did, yeah.
• 18:53
  Brett: Yeah.
• 18:53
  Brett: I was like, why is this kind of hot?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_04: Our plan this year on our graphic design with T is to for each show to introduce um photography of the actual casts in the good.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_04: So this was the first really fun one.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_04: I'm really very, very happy with these uh imagery, how it came out.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_04: It's like and George too.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_04: As much as I'm boasting on Kyle for his physicality, George Parker is also just he has a face made of rubber.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_05: Oh yeah.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_05: Just look at his face in that poster.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_05: Like he's got it.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_05: I can just eat him up.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe that's why it's so sexy.
• 19:31
  Brett: It is.
• 19:32
  Brett: I don't know why.
• 19:33
  Brett: It's and and if anybody hasn't seen it, it's George Parker and Kyle Sturdivant in a photograph together, back to back, but the expressions are just priceless.
• 19:41
  Brett: So definitely Google it after hearing this interview and just you know admire the the artistry and the preview of what rhinoceros is going to be, which I am very excited to see this one.
• 19:53
  Brett: I, you know, like you said, Ionesco, not a lot of people doing this show, and definitely one that needs to be seen.
• 20:00
  Brett: Um, and I'm really appreciative of having it there.
• 20:03
  Brett: So thank you both so much.
• 20:05
  Brett: And thank you for doing this and endangering yourself uh by doing this one more time.
• 20:11
  Brett: Yeah.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know if we'll say yes again in 10 more years, so it's maybe it.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_05: Retired and on Medicare, maybe yeah.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_04: Well, it's certainly the time to catch it.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_04: So gay job.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_04: So he might actually be able to retire.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_04: Whereas, you know, I I think I'm gonna have to make theater until I literally like my brain is completely gone and and I fall over.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_04: So hurry then.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_05: Better hurry.
• 20:42
  Brett: It's imminent.
• 20:43
  Brett: All right.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_05: Well, thank you both.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks.
• 20:58
  Deborah: has existed since the 1970s on KPFT.
• 21:04
  Deborah: We have this little crew of folks working every week to produce what's no longer unique because we're almost mainstream now, but we're still an important voice that might not otherwise get heard because it's not on that many places.
• 21:22
  Deborah: So KPFT is very important to give voices to those who might not otherwise have voices.
• 21:31
  Deborah: So as Glenn always says, you participate by listening.
• 21:36
  Deborah: You should also participate by supporting the station.
• 21:40
  Deborah: So please go to kpft.org and make your donation right away.
• 21:50
  Brett: This is Brett Cullum, and Come From Away is the season opener for Stages Houston.
• 21:54
  Brett: It's a musical celebrating the kindness of the people of Gander, Newfoundland, to a rewrite.
• 22:00
  Brett: Crowded flight to their small town on September 11th.
• 22:02
  Brett: The production comes just in time to mark the 25 years past from this event.
• 22:07
  Brett: And it's Houston's first chance to experience this particular show in an intimate space like Stages.
• 22:14
  Brett: It opens September 18th and runs through October 18th on the Sterling stage at the Gordy.
• 22:19
  Brett: And Valerie Rochelle is the associate artistic director for the company, and she is directing this one.
• 22:25
  Brett: So welcome, Valerie.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for having me.
• 22:28
  Brett: Okay, first up, tell me a little bit about you.
• 22:30
  Brett: What is your role for stages and in this production?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: Well, um, I am the associate artistic director for stages, but for this production, I am the director choreographer.
• 22:40
  Brett: Yes.
• 22:41
  Brett: Which is a big bill for a musical.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_03: It is.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_03: It is.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'm happy to do both things.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_03: I have been a I was a past dancer in my old old in my younger days and then started choreographing in my early 20s professionally and then started directing.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: So I have a a basis in both.
• 22:57
  Brett: Yeah, it's wild.
• 22:57
  Brett: I I I got the idea from your bio that you really did start as a dancer.
• 23:01
  Brett: So you really come from this world of movement, and that's kind of is it has to color your direction to some degree because of your education in that.
• 23:09
  Brett: Yeah.
• 23:09
  Brett: And this is your directorial debut at stages?
• 23:12
  Brett: Like this is the first time they've given you the show and said, Valerie, go.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I actually directed and choreographed Spamleton.
• 23:18
  Brett: Okay, but I thought, did you do that in conjunction with Derek?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I so I had a previous contract when I took the job to go direct Chicago in Oregon.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so when the director-choreographer who was slated to do the show had to drop out about 10 days before rehearsal started, Derek walks into my office and goes, and I say, Okay, yeah, I can take it on, but I have to leave when we're in tech.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_03: So I've been directed and choreographed the show.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: And then Derek took over in tech for me when I left.
• 23:44
  Brett: Okay.
• 23:44
  Brett: I noticed there was a co-credit somehow in there.
• 23:47
  Brett: So yeah.
• 23:48
  Brett: But you know what is there pressure?
• 23:50
  Brett: Like you're new and you're trying to establish what your work is going to look like.
• 23:54
  Brett: So do you feel that with Come From Away?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: I don't.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like I this I've been chasing this show for years and was so excited when the rights were finally available because I've been wanting to direct and choreograph this show, you know, for a very long time.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: And so I actually feel very excited and and happy to bring the work to an intimate space like this as well.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm not that nervous.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just excited.
• 24:19
  Brett: Well, you know, come from away.
• 24:20
  Brett: When I think about the show, it doesn't have I mean, it's definitely not Chicago or even Spambleton.
• 24:25
  Brett: It doesn't have this conventional Broadway style choreography.
• 24:29
  Brett: So what does that mean to this show?
• 24:31
  Brett: I mean, what are you kind of focusing on as in regards to that kind of movement in Come From Away?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, in the three-quarter thrust, like we have, that extreme thrust, it's very different kind of blocking choreography than a normal proscenium stage would have.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: So you have to think more in the round.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: And really, this one is about storytelling, character focus.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's where the staging is going to be.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's really, really around clarity of story and around really finding, you know, basically where to look because there's so many characters that each of these actors are playing that we just need this clarity of character and clarity of storytelling inside the movement.
• 25:08
  Brett: Now, this show deals with 9-11.
• 25:11
  Brett: And I mean, that's we're coming up on 25 years of that.
• 25:14
  Brett: What do you hope that it says to people today?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: Really, I think what the show is about is it's not about what happened on 9-11.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's about what happened on 9-12.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_03: It's about what happened when people stepped up in a time in a horrific time and gave with generosity and love to get people not only survival needs, but supportive emotional needs as well.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: And that how generous the human spirit is.
• 25:38
  Brett: It's an amazing story.
• 25:39
  Brett: And I think it's interesting that it's so many people are producing this show today.
• 25:44
  Brett: It's it's become kind of it's traveling around the country, basically.
• 25:47
  Brett: It's it's really a lot of people are producing it right now.
• 25:50
  Brett: And this is our Houston version, obviously with stages Houston, but uh it I feel like it's resonating something with the entire country right now.
• 25:58
  Brett: And maybe it is that kindness.
• 25:59
  Brett: Maybe that's part of something that we need, maybe.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: It also just the rights just became available last year.
• 26:06
  Brett: Yeah.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: So that is another reason why everyone's doing the shows because all of a sudden they're like, time for you to do the show.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: And so we all snatched up the rights as soon as we could.
• 26:15
  Brett: And yeah, but I also think sometimes rights come available and not everybody jumps on it, right?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: Correct, correct.
• 26:21
  Brett: Yeah.
• 26:21
  Brett: So in this one, everyone jumped on it.
• 26:23
  Brett: Everyone was like, kind of shared your enthusiasm for the material.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's a beautiful story.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's beautifully written.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's really well done in how they were able to take 12 actors and make an entire town of, you know, of folks as well as 7,000 passengers.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like just the amount of clarity and storytelling and heart they put into it, into the writing, I think that is part of the reason why it's so exciting to do.
• 26:47
  Brett: Now you mentioned 12 actors playing like tons of different characters.
• 26:51
  Brett: Because I mean, this is a whole town and a whole bunch of plain passengers too.
• 26:56
  Brett: So tell me about who is in the cast because this has got to be a stacked cast.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, it's a wonderful cast.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because I'm new to Houston, I'm sure that people know more of these people than I do, than I know them.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so, yeah, the cast is really, really lovely.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's there are no leads in the show.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone plays multiple roles, and that's ensemble piece.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_03: So it's hard to like highlight one or two people.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's about everybody in the cast.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: And in even in how they break the cast down, they call it in the script.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: They don't call them by names because there's so many characters to name.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_03: They call them track one, track two, track three, so that that way you can understand that this isn't about one individual character.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's about the town.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's about all the passengers.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: It's so it's really interesting working with a cast where you actually have to remind them, oh, you're about to become this person.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_03: So make sure that you change your your motion or your movement towards that character.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_03: So it's exciting.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm excited to work with this cast.
• 27:50
  Brett: Well, it's amazing to think of that particular challenge because I think anytime that you come to a piece, a lot of times you you research and you you do all this deep character study.
• 27:59
  Brett: And I mean, and what's the average?
• 28:01
  Brett: Like how many characters is each one playing on average?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: I think the least amount of characters that someone plays is five.
• 28:07
  unknown: Okay.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: I think the most that someone plays is 11 or 12.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: I'd have to count tracks that they have.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_05: I have to come up with a dozen people.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: And some of it is like one off.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_03: Some of it's like now you're a trap air traffic controller and everyone's speaking at the same time.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: Now you're a staff member in the town.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, so it's like these little kind of one-liners where you become support to the story.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_03: So you don't have time to become a full character, but you have to choose a different accent or choose a different way of speaking.
• 28:35
  Brett: What do you think is going to make this production uniquely stages?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: The intimacy, the fact that that we are right there with you, like so close, living and breathing and sweating and crying, right?
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: And singing in your face in such a glorious, you know, personal way.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: And that's this story so about humanity that I think it's going to really translate in the Sterling Theater.
• 28:57
  Brett: You know, you're also a stage's associate artistic director, obviously.
• 29:00
  Brett: So I wanted to ask you, and you're recently here, how long have you been in Houston?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_03: I technically started remotely in December, but I moved to Houston in January.
• 29:08
  Brett: Okay.
• 29:08
  Brett: So you've been here a little bit.
• 29:10
  Brett: Yeah.
• 29:10
  Brett: A minute.
• 29:11
  Brett: Yeah.
• 29:11
  Brett: What are you learning about Houston theater that's kind of different from other places?
• 29:15
  Brett: I know you've been around a lot of different markets.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: I have, yeah.
• 29:18
  Brett: Yes.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_03: I I pop around the country and freelance direct.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: And being here in Houston, what's so lovely is that this city is actually really supportive of its theater, unlike Los Angeles, where I lived for a very long time, where film and television and other forms of entertainment were sort of in first place, so to speak.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_03: And theater was the thing you did, you know, if if you didn't have a gig or you didn't have a commercial or a film shoot, it was the thing that you did for your spirit, for your passion.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: And so it was a lot harder to do theater because people were doing it on their free time, nights, weekends.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: And this, there's a little more dedication to sort of supporting theater here, which I love.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: And also the community here is it feels like ever and I'm starting to get to know the artists.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody knows everybody, and everybody works at nine different theaters, and it's it's just a really lovely theater community who's very supportive of the craft.
• 30:11
  Brett: It is interesting to see all the cross crossing in the theaters.
• 30:14
  Brett: But it is also interesting that I do see some people are kind of in one theater and they stay there and then some kind of hop around.
• 30:20
  Brett: So it's it's always interesting.
• 30:22
  Brett: You've got you're definitely your diehard stages people, and then just like your patrons.
• 30:27
  Brett: Of course, of course.
• 30:28
  Brett: Well, if somebody comes to this without knowing anything about it, like they've never seen the show, they haven't seen the touring productions, they didn't see the Broadway run.
• 30:36
  Brett: What are you hoping they walk out of the theater feeling?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_03: Great question.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_03: This is actually how I decide basically with the vision of the pieces and what I present to designers to design.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_03: And basically, my what I want audiences to walk out and do is I want them to literally walk out of the theater and hug someone they love or call their mom or hold a hand or merge in trap, let someone merge in traffic.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_03: I just want generosity of spirit when they walk out.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I think this show, you don't even have to think about it.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna sit in that audience and your heart is gonna, I'm gonna get emotional just thinking about it.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_03: I cry every time I hear the music in such a good way.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_03: It is not about sadness.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: This show is about human kindness and healing.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_03: So I want them to walk out of the theater and feel pure joy and generosity.
• 31:20
  Brett: What do you think this show says about the mission of stages?
• 31:22
  Brett: I mean, is this I know that you and Derek are really crafting a new era for stages.
• 31:26
  Brett: Is it how does it fit into your vision?
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, uh the writing on the wall is so great in this place, you know, that we we sit in the dark to love each other in the light.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: And that is exactly what Come for Boy is about, showing all these people coming from all different countries, speaking all different languages and just coming together to, you know, just it didn't matter what your political views were, it didn't matter.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone was there in an emergency and needed to be taken care of.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: And generosity was was shown to everyone.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's that's what stage's, you know, motto is.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's right there on their mission statement.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_03: People make theater and this show is about people.
• 32:02
  Brett: And it's an interesting exchange uh because even your biggest theater is more intimate than most of the houses in Houston or the ones that we associate with big musicals that come from away.
• 32:12
  Brett: And I think one of the things that's gonna be challenging is that most of us know this piece from the larger theaters.
• 32:17
  Brett: Um, and we we've talked about intimacy and everything else, but what do you think they're gonna notice is different when they like super fans of the show, people that have been with this show from the beginning?
• 32:27
  Brett: What are you hoping that they're gonna see new?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think the only thing that they're really gonna see new is some of the the scenic design.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_03: This show uh is very open to interpretation on that.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_03: Even the Broadway version was, you know, wood slats and a wood floor and wooden chairs.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_03: And it was very basic and simple so that you could go to multiple locations and and so that it was a really more about the people than it was about the stuff on stage.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think they'll notice that we have chosen a very different sort of scenic design than the original Broadway.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: But really the show itself, the music, the small cast, because it's not that big of a cast for uh a you know, Broadway musical, but I think that will that will be completely recognizable.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: And but I think the the design choices might feel a little different than the original.
• 33:15
  Brett: You guys chose this one for the beginning of the season.
• 33:18
  Brett: So it really is kind of a statement about what we're gonna see for the rest of the year.
• 33:22
  Brett: Is that kind of what why you put it up front?
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_03: I hope so.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_03: Also, I think because it was 25th anniversary, you know, in September, it's it's the right time of year to remember and to do it.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_03: And it does kind of open our season with something about generosity and joy, which I think is actually in about the human condition.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think that's a lovely way to start this season with all the other shows that we have lined up.
• 33:45
  Brett: Well, since we're doing this for queer voices too, I wanted to ask you does the material have any like specific resonance with the LGBTQIA plus community?
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there's since it's based off real people and they use their real names in the show, there are, you know, there's a gay couple who are on the plane who experience how Gander treats them and have a little lovely, surprising fun, lovely moment in Gander.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_03: And so there's there's that couple on stage.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: There, I think really it's it doesn't, it kind of reminds me a little bit like Schicks Creek, where Shits Creek doesn't talk about any of like no one is putting anyone down, no one is talking about that it's an issue.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's just they're these human beings who happen to be a couple and we're gonna take care of them.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that's a lovely part of this story is that they choose a bunch of different people to highlight that were on that plane that was headed to Dallas from Gander that they follow.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: And the the couple was just part of it.
• 34:40
  Brett: Yeah.
• 34:41
  Brett: You know, we've talked about your design, and I forgot to ask you, who is your designer for this show?
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we have a lot, but uh our our scenic designer is off Snay, and I am going to Ayani.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, I'm gonna butcher off his last name, but thank you.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm glad you know.
• 34:56
  Brett: I know her very well.
• 34:57
  Brett: I am always excited when I hear her name because my gosh.
• 35:00
  Brett: Oh my god, I love her.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_03: She is brilliant.
• 35:02
  Brett: Design, yes.
• 35:03
  Brett: She is brilliant.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: She thinks outside of the box in a very different way than any other designer I've worked with and is so very collaborative.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_03: I had such a good time working with her.
• 35:12
  Brett: Yeah, if I were gonna pick anyone in the city, and there is really some technically great set designers that I would say like might be able to handle a Broadway musical or something like that.
• 35:21
  Brett: But if you're talking about connecting with people and you're talking about like trying to create this unique representation of humankindness, Afsana is it's it's gorgeous and it's like almost being done being put in the theater.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so every day I go in there and I look at what they put in next to see the paint treatments and the and it's just every day I get so excited because I'm like, oh, it's so beautiful.
• 35:43
  Brett: Yes.
• 35:44
  Brett: I always geek out over her designs.
• 35:46
  Brett: So I'm excited about that.
• 35:48
  Brett: Well, Valerie Rochelle, thank you so much.
• 35:50
  Brett: It's so nice to meet you because I've seen your name, obviously, as associate artistic director.
• 35:54
  Brett: Uh, and welcome to Houston, welcome to stages.
• 35:56
  Brett: We're excited to have you.
• 35:57
  Brett: It's like I said, it's a new era for age for stages.
• 36:00
  Brett: I mean, just all new.
• 36:02
  Brett: Yes, it's a new age for stages.
• 36:04
  Brett: So, and I'm so curious to see.
• 36:07
  Brett: I I loved Spamleton.
• 36:09
  Brett: I thought that that was a great production.
• 36:11
  Brett: I loved the choreography, I loved everything about it.
• 36:13
  Brett: It had an energy about it that was just wonderful.
• 36:15
  Brett: But it's gonna be nice to see you sink your teeth into something that's a little bit more serious, that's a little bit more has more of a vision, not that Spamblon doesn't, because it was no, but yes, it's a very specific show and very, very fun.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 36:27
  Brett: Yeah.
• 36:28
  Brett: It was nice to see you kind of doing a lighter thing.
• 36:30
  Brett: And now we get to see the darker side of Valerie's.
• 36:32
  Brett: So that's or the more serious.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 36:37
  Brett: So thank you so much.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 36:49
  Brett: Hi there, this is Brett Cullum, and the sound of music is coming to Houston's Hobby Center September 29th through October 4th.
• 36:56
  Brett: It is a presentation from Broadway at the Hobby Center.
• 36:59
  Brett: And with me today is one of the cast members, Grammy nominee Nicholas Rodriguez, who plays Max Detweiler.
• 37:07
  Brett: Welcome, Nicholas.
• 37:08
  Brett: How are you?
• 37:09
  Brett: I'm very good, Brett.
• 37:10
  Brett: Thanks for having me.
• 37:11
  Brett: Now, the first thing I always ask people that are in these legacy musicals, if you are only familiar with the Julie Andrews film, how is this iteration, the stage version of the sound of music different?
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, it's a really great question.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_06: And one that most people don't ask because you're right.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_06: Most people, I would say upwards of 90% of our audiences only know it from the film.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_06: I I myself, before I joined the company, had never seen it on stage.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_06: So what I tell people in a Bullets Points version is that the musical did come first.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_06: The musical was on Broadway before it was a movie, and they highlight all the great songs from the movie and all of the stuff with the kids and all the beautiful things with the nuns and the Captain and Maria.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_06: But there's also some really great stuff that they just didn't have time to put into the movie.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_06: So, like, for instance, my character has two songs that aren't in the film.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_06: So you get all the hits plus some more.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_06: Also, we it's some certain things take place in different settings, different locales than they do in the movie, because we're not shooting in the hills of Austria.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_06: You know, we're doing it all on a Broadway stage.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_06: So we honor the um order that the things came in in the original Broadway musical, and you get all the great stuff from the movie too.
• 38:14
  Brett: Yeah.
• 38:15
  Brett: And you're playing Max, which uh you have a big song with uh the Baroness, is that right?
• 38:19
  Brett: Yes, two of them, yeah.
• 38:20
  Brett: Yes.
• 38:21
  Brett: No, it's amazing.
• 38:22
  Brett: And I think it's very funny because you are a member of the LGBTQIA plus community, and I feel like there's some like producer's note in this thing that says that whoever plays Max has to be gay.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know if that was in the producer's note, but I definitely know it was in the brief from our director Jack O'Brien.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, we're definitely excuse me, he'd be mad if I didn't say three-time Tony Award-winning Jack O'Brien.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_06: But uh, you know, once we were, I I don't know if you know this, but this he originally directed this production in 2015.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, it went out for two years, and I closed that playing the captain.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, I saw.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_06: Really great time.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_06: And then when they were rolling around casting for this production, uh, they didn't find a max that they were settling on.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_06: And then our conductor, Andy Einhorn, said to Jack, I think you want Nick Rodriguez to do this.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_06: And Jack called me and he was like, I want, yes, I want you.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_06: I want big gay max.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_06: So that's what we're doing.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_06: Max to the max.
• 39:17
  Brett: All right.
• 39:19
  Brett: You know, I feel like everyone on the planet can sing at least one, if not two or three, songs from this show.
• 39:28
  Brett: I mean, it's crazy.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_06: And they do while we're doing the show.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_06: Really?
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_06: We're everything short of a bouncing ball across the top, though.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_06: Um, yeah, it's because it's just part of our lexicon as human beings, as Americans, whether you've seen the musical or not, you've probably heard, you know, my favorite things, even if it's on Carry Under the Woods Christmas album.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_06: Somebody's heard it somewhere, you know, or like don't do Ray Me.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_06: You know, people have heard these songs throughout their life, whether they know it or not.
• 39:54
  Brett: Yeah.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_06: No, it's amazing to me.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, hey, what do you think is so appealing about it?
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I mean, I think the thing is it speaks to generations.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_06: It's it's um, you know, it's equally as accessible to an eight-year-old as it is to an 80-year-old.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_06: Um, the show talks about themes about faith, hope, love, family, politics, all things that we're we've dealt with for generations.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_06: So at some point in your life, you can identify with something in the show.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_06: You know, everybody's longing for something and looking for something in the show.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_06: And I think people go through that their entire life.
• 40:26
  Brett: Yeah.
• 40:26
  Brett: I think it's interesting.
• 40:27
  Brett: These legacy musicals are really making a marked comeback this year.
• 40:32
  Brett: And I feel like maybe we need that escape.
• 40:34
  Brett: Maybe we need that kind of back to some familiar things, some things that uh feel a little safer, maybe.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_06: So it's it's actually part of it.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_06: And I think also like a reminder.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, you know, this yes, these things happened long ago, these these stories that these characters are learning about and that are happening to them.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_06: But guess what?
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_06: A lot of them are happening to us right now, too.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_06: So it's just a great people are seeing it and saying, like, oh yeah, I remember that from when I was a kid.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_06: But that seems awfully familiar to what's going on right now, you know.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_06: So it's it's kind of a nice balance of both.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_06: Well, what about it about this production?
• 41:07
  Brett: It's a little bit different.
• 41:08
  Brett: What do you think this one is offering?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I like I said before before, I said I think we lean into all of the great music and the the amazing cast that has been put together and we travel with a 15-piece orchestra.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_06: You know, but what makes it I I would say, why are we doing it now?
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_06: You know, and I think the story in its essence is about, you know, uh a man searching for love and and a woman becoming a woman.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, but it's also set in the backdrop of 1938 Austria, which is just about to be taken over by Germany.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_06: You know, so we we don't shy away from diving into the politics of the time.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_06: Not to say that the play is overtly political, but it's the whole thing is set over this backdrop of authoritarianism, you know, and things being taken over.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_06: So we don't really shy away from the fact that the Nazis are coming, you know.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_06: So it's in there.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_06: We don't change a word of the script, we don't change, you know, a word of the songs.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_06: But, you know, in the movie, a lot they they left some of that out to keep it a sweet, up, happy thing.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_06: We're still a sweet up happy thing.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_06: It's just taking place during the backdrop of the invasion of the third reich.
• 42:15
  Brett: If I remember correctly, the movie made it a little bit gentler because they didn't want to.
• 42:19
  Brett: It was so close to that time, the period that they just thought, okay, people aren't ready for this.
• 42:23
  Brett: So you are kind of looking at a different iteration of this, which is awesome.
• 42:27
  Brett: But um, now you've done this show before, obviously.
• 42:30
  Brett: I feel like almost any actress probably had some experience with the sound of music, but you've done the captain, and now you're doing Max.
• 42:36
  Brett: Yeah.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_06: Which one, which one do you like more?
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, it's so that's you know, that's like Sophie's choice in a way.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_06: You know, it's interesting.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_06: I'm always a person that's looking forward.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_06: So I had playing Captain was a dream.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_06: When I got that call, I was like, you want me to do what?
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_06: You know, I was like, I never thought that like gay brown, Nicholas Rodriguez from Austin, Texas would ever play Captain Von Trapp.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_06: And I did.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_06: It was a lot of fun.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and I will say it was a lot of pressure because people come to the movie with with uh people come to the play with the movie in their mind.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_06: Somehow in playing this version of Max, I maybe it's because you know his songs aren't in the musical, uh, or maybe just this take that Jack O'Brien uh is the direction he's pointing me in with Max, uh, is so close to who I am as a human being.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_06: Not what he says and what he stands for, but the way he says it and the way he goes through life.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_06: So basically, I have carte blanche to be the life of the party, is what Jack wants me to do.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_06: He said he wants me to be vulgar and charming at the same time.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_06: You know, he said, I want them to slap you and I want them to kiss you.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_06: So it's just kind of this fun edge to get to play every night.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_06: Um, I get to live in my skin, my own Nicholas Rodriguez skin, but say some really thing, vulgar things that I don't agree with.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_06: You know, so it's funny.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_06: No, it sounds like a blast.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_06: Perfect character actor dream role right there.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_06: But yeah, I never thought of Myself as a character actor, so I was like, okay, check that off the list, you know.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_06: So it's it's a lot of fun.
• 44:05
  Brett: How long have you been on this tour?
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_06: So this version of the tour, uh, I did the previously from 2015 to 17, and that's when I played the captain.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_06: And now a decade later, uh, we are just now starting the second year of the tour.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, we launched this week in Dallas, the year year two.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_06: So I've been out on the road with it for about a year.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_08: Oh my gosh.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 44:27
  Brett: It always amazes me to think about doing these shows for years and traveling around the country with it.
• 44:32
  Brett: Well, tell me, Nick, how did you get into acting?
• 44:34
  Brett: Like what was Little Baby Nick like?
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, little baby Nick, I remember him 50 years ago.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_06: Uh no, I you know, I grew up uh playing sports my whole life.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_06: I grew up in Austin, Texas.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_06: My dad was a football and baseball coach.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and then I I would sing, like my whole family sang at church, and my grandmother was uh uh elementary school music teacher, so we were always playing the piano and singing.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_06: And I just thought it was something people did.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_06: And then when I got to high school, I decided uh I didn't really want to play football anymore.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_06: It wasn't my thing.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_06: But I still rode to school with my dad, and the only thing else that happened before school while football practice was happening was the show choir.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_06: And he said, Well, you've got to do something.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_06: So I just walked down the hall and auditioned and got in.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_06: And through show choir, I met the theater director at my high school who was still one of my biggest mentors.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_06: She just recently passed.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and and then, you know, the first musical we did in my high school uh and was cabaret, the musical, not something you think of high school kids doing.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_06: And I got to be in that, and then just the bug just bit me.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_06: And you know, I I it was towards the end of high school that I realized, wait, you can do this for a living.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_06: Uh so I ended up going to the University of Texas to study voice.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_06: I studied classical voice.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_06: I got my undergrad and graduate degree there, always knowing I wanted to do theater, but I really love singing and wanted to train my voice.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, I did undergrad and grad school at UT and then off to New York with my two bags and one buck.
• 45:57
  Brett: Like everybody else.
• 45:58
  Brett: Yeah.
• 45:58
  Brett: Um, no, obviously, singing's a huge thing for you.
• 46:01
  Brett: Um, it's a big part of your career.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_06: You were Grammy nominated, right?
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_06: Isn't that crazy?
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_06: I I you can say it again.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_06: I don't I never get tired of hearing it.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_06: But yeah, no, it's it was pretty awesome.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_06: No, what was your Grammy nomination for?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_06: So uh coming out of pandemic, right, right as we were ending, uh, an amazing man named Phil Jeffrey Bond produced this series in New York called Sondheim Unplugged that I had been part of for about 10 years, I think I was involved with, and then decided to produce an album.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_06: And it's uh several Broadway folks, many of many of whom you know, he had this idea to produce a three-volume set of Sondheim's work with all these different Broadway stars singing different songs.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, I I do a song on all three albums.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_06: There's three volumes, and the third volume was nominated for a Grammy in 2024.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_06: So I think we lost to Bruce Springsteen, but if you have to lose that's a good one to lose to.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_06: But uh, you know, just just to be on the list was amazing.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_06: And and and doing Sondheim, which is a passion of mine.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_06: So uh yeah, it was it's been a fun ride.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_06: It's so funny.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_06: Everybody is so serious about Sondheim, but what um what songs did you do?
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_06: I'm definitely serious about Sondheim.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it's it's it's yeah, I was in the closing company, I was in the last revival of Company on Broadway, which was the last musical that that Steve was alive for.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_06: Um there's been several on Broadway since.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_06: Um so getting to meet him was it was a dream come true.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_06: Um and I was actually just recently at the hobby center a couple months ago, I doing my one-man show called Um Sincerely Sondheim.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_06: We had two sold-out nights there, which was just awesome.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_06: That room, uh, there's the hobby with all the windows looking over the park.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_06: It's just it was just a great place to do it.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_06: But on the Sondheim Unplugged, I do um Marry Me a Little from Company.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_06: Uh What Can You Lose from Dick Tracy and Move On from Sunday in the park with George?
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 47:48
  Brett: I was just always really curious about that.
• 47:50
  Brett: Yes.
• 47:51
  Brett: Okay, so how do you identify?
• 47:53
  Brett: Like in the queer community.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, I was like, uh, I identify as a lot of things.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Grammy nominee is one of this fun one.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_06: No, in the queer community, I'm I'm a gay man.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_06: I'm an open gay man.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_06: I have been for quite some time.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_06: My pronouns are Grammy nominee.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_06: I was like, how do you identify?
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_06: Hey girl, just you know, whatever happens.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_06: It's so funny too, because I also do a lot of teaching and you know, we go around and we ask pronouns, and I'm like, listen, you can call me whatever you want as long as you do it with respect.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_06: The second, the second you disrespect me, then we're we're done.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_06: But yeah, yes.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_06: Well, when did you come out?
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_06: What was that like?
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I I guess I kind of came out late uh for for most people.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_06: I had already finished grad school and you know, was had dated a few boys in college.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_06: Date, I can say that now in hindsight, and you know, I was so closeted.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_06: But I guess I came out uh it would have been in 2020 or 2019, 2020, when I met my first no, no, no, I'm sorry.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, 20 2019 or 2020 when I met the guy that would become my first boyfriend.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_06: He was very influential and I said, Oh, bell started ringing.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_06: I was like, this is this is what this is like.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_06: So um, yeah, and I I guess I never really came out publicly because it just wasn't an issue at the time.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_06: But then um in 2007, I was on a television show called One Life to Live, uh, and I played an openly gay.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and all of a sudden it just started coming up all the time, and press would start asking me, what's it like being openly gay on tele television?
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_06: And I said, Oh, I guess we're we're going there, you know.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_06: So the choice was really to like live in my truth or to lie on the spot, and it it just wasn't really an option for me.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_06: I had to live in my truth.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_06: So that was 2007?
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_06: I believe so, if my old brain is working correctly.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I was on One Life to Live for about nine months, and there was this gay arc storyline, and two of the actors and the three of us were gay.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, that's amazing.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, doing that on a soap opera, that's that's some serious exposure.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_06: Well, it was it was awesome.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_06: It was a beautiful time in my life.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_06: It was, you know, we were a lot of firsts.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_06: We were like the first gay kiss on daytime, first gay wedding.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_06: Uh my character was unfortunately gay bashed, but I it was a huge storyline for ABC to be telling at the time.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_06: And uh, you know, it was transformative for me in my career, but also just having the outpouring of people writing in saying, like, I watched this with my grandmother at, you know, and I still to this day get people that will say, even though it's been a while, like people that watched it as a kid or as a younger person, you know, you uh take for granted sometimes that just visibility matters, you know, and seeing somebody that looks like you, whether it's on TV or on stage, you know, being gay, bring being Latin American, you know, being all these different things.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_06: I think it's you know, I wish I would have had that as a kid.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_06: Uh seeing somebody like me doing the thing on on TV or on stage.
• 50:46
  Brett: It's so powerful.
• 50:47
  Brett: I mean, it just it means so much to so many people.
• 50:49
  Brett: And yeah.
• 50:50
  Brett: So that is just incredible.
• 50:51
  Brett: You're a part of TV history with that whole thing.
• 50:54
  Brett: Thanks.
• 50:55
  Brett: Which is amazing.
• 50:56
  Brett: And speaking of um history, you were on Sex in the City 2 soundtrack.
• 51:00
  Brett: Is that right?
• 51:01
  Brett: Yeah.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I was in the film and on the soundtrack, yeah.
• 51:03
  Brett: What was that?
• 51:04
  Brett: What did you do in Sex in the City 2?
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, it's really fun.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_06: If you go back and watch it, uh it's the opening of the second movie.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_06: It's the big there's a big gay wedding that's like the first 20 minutes of the film, and Liza sings in it, and there's like gay men's choir that of there's I think there was 18 of us, 16 or 18 of us, um, that are singing at this wedding.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_06: And we sing three songs at the in the wedding.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_06: I think maybe two of them made the film, but they're all on the soundtrack.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_06: And uh, and then we dance at the party with Liza, and you know, it's it's it was a fun two weeks of my life to shoot, but mostly not only because the everybody was amazing, but the other they assembled just a group, a gaggle of Broadway guys to come and do this.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_06: And we were hanging out all the time.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_06: It was people that have now gone on to have huge careers, like Andrew Randles, Nick Adams, Max Von Essen, J.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_06: Armstrong Johnson.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_06: I could just go on with this list of names of of awesome guys, 16 of us that are all still friends to this day, uh, hang out all the time.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_06: And you know, that movie kind of brought us together where normally we would just be passing in auditions competing with each other.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_06: We got to spend like two and a half weeks on set kikiing, you know.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_06: This is so awesome.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_06: You were in a gay supergroup with Liza Minnellians up front, bro.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_06: Wearing white tuxedos.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it couldn't get any gayer.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_06: Like, so there were swans, you know.
• 52:24
  Brett: I think you witnessed the most gay person that's been on my show.
• 52:28
  Brett: Okay.
• 52:28
  Brett: Oh, really?
• 52:29
  Brett: I'll I'll take it.
• 52:30
  Brett: I should know maybe flag behind us for the interview.
• 52:33
  Brett: I mean, yeah, you've got Sun, I'm in here, you've got Liza in here, you've got Andrew Randles, you've got Swans, you've got Sex in the City, and Liza was singing Beyonce, so there you go.
• 52:43
  Brett: Yes.
• 52:44
  Brett: Exactly.
• 52:44
  Brett: Was it single ladies?
• 52:47
  Brett: Oh my gosh.
• 52:48
  Brett: I'm dying.
• 52:49
  Brett: Well, but of course, the big thing that we can see you in is sound of music, so let's not lose focus on that.
• 52:54
  Brett: But that's oh that literally that is September 29th through October 4th, Houston's Hobby Center.
• 53:01
  Brett: It is presented by Broadway at the Hobby Center, and Grammy nominee Nicholas Rodriguez will be playing Big Gay Max, doing songs that you don't know from the movie if you just watched the Julie Anders version, but unfortunately will not bring out the gay super group of the live side.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_06: No, not this time.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_06: Just me.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_06: I'm the next time.
• 53:21
  Brett: Yeah, but but amazing.
• 53:23
  Brett: We're so excited to see you.
• 53:24
  Brett: Welcome back to Houston.
• 53:25
  Brett: Um I can't believe you did the founders club with an all-sunheim thing.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_06: That's amazing.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, I loved it, and I can't wait to get there and get some Ninfas and some good fajitas.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_06: I'm ready.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_06: Oh yeah.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_06: No, I always about to say, those are your favorite-to-nymphas and El Tiempo.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_06: I can't decide.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_06: I, you know, you know, it's Sophie's choice, but you don't think yeah.
• 53:48
  Brett: So it's like the the mother and the son kind of a thing.
• 53:51
  Brett: So there you are.
• 53:52
  Brett: Yeah.
• 53:53
  Brett: Well, definitely.
• 53:53
  Brett: And and watch out.
• 53:54
  Brett: Are there any bars that you go to in Houston?
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_06: You know, I it's been a while since I've I've I it's not been a while since I've been to Houston.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_06: It's been a while since I was able to go to bars because I was working.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_06: So I'll take any suggestions, let me know.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_06: Uh I'm staying with one of my best friends that I'm sure he'll have some uh suggestions of where we should go after the show.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_06: So but we definitely will be partaking.
• 54:15
  Brett: Yes, well, enjoy it.
• 54:16
  Brett: And uh we see you out.
• 54:18
  Brett: You know, we'll we'll start singing at you and like all the sound of music songs that we know.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_06: Asking me to do Go Bray Me.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_06: Let's do it at the karaoke, the gay karaoke.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_06: Oh no, we got into how do you solve a problem like Maria or something like that.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_06: Even better.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_06: Even better.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_06: As long as it's not the goat herd one.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_06: I I'm not a good Yodeler, so.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, who is?
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_06: All right, well, thank you, Ned.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you, Brett.
• 54:43
  Brett: Thank you for listening to Queer Voices.
• 54:45
  Brett: Uh thanks to all of my guests.
• 54:47
  Brett: Tamari Cooper and Kyle Sturdivant were from Catastrophic Theaters production of Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco.
• 54:55
  Brett: That is going to play at the match through October 10th.
• 54:59
  Brett: You have to see it just to see Kyle go all animalistic at the end of Act 1.
• 55:04
  Brett: Valerie Rochelle is the director and choreographer of Come From Away.
• 55:09
  Brett: This is at Stages through October 18th.
• 55:12
  Brett: It's a great musical and a very intimate way to experience it at Stages Houston.
• 55:17
  Brett: And finally, I got to talk with Nicholas Rodriguez from The Sound of Music, which will be at the Hobby Center September 29th through October 4th.
• 55:26
  Brett: Queer Voices is assembled by an all-volunteer group.
• 55:30
  Brett: None of us get paid.
• 55:31
  Brett: I am Brett Cullum and I produced this episode.
• 55:34
  Brett: Brian Lavinka and Deborah Moncrief Bell are executive producers, and R.
• 55:39
  Brett: Lee Ingalls is a frequent contributor.
• 55:43
  Brett: Please consider making a donation to Queer Voices by supporting KPFT at kpft.org.
• 55:49
  Brett: All you have to do is just click on the donate button and you can do a one-time donation or you can make it a recurring monthly one.
• 55:57
  Brett: I do mine through PayPal and it's easy, just comes out once a month.
• 56:00
  Brett: And I get to support this station, which represents all of our communities and all of our voices.
• 56:06
  Brett: KPFT is a listener-funded radio station.
• 56:09
  Brett: Unlike some other public media outlets, we get no federal funding.
• 56:14
  Brett: It is only listeners like you that keep us on the air.
• 56:18
  Brett: We will be back next week to dive into news and political stories of the queer community.
• 56:23
  Brett: Thank you for being here.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_02: This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston, and as a podcast available from several podcasting sources.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_02: Check our webpage queervoices.org for more information.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_02: Queer Voices executive producer is Brian Levinka.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_02: Deborah Moncrief Bell is co-producer.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_02: Brett Cullum and David Mendoza Druisman are contributors.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_02: The newscraft segment is part of another podcast called This Way Out, which is produced in Los Angeles.
• 57:11
  Ghost of Glenn: Some of the material in this program has been edited to improve clarity and runtime.
• 57:15
  Ghost of Glenn: This program does not endorse any political views or animal species.
• 57:17
  Ghost of Glenn: Views, opinions, and endorsements are those of the participants and the organizations they represent.
• 57:21
  Ghost of Glenn: In case of death, please discontinue views and discard remaining products.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_02: For Queer Voices, I'm Glenn Holt.