The opening of the Armorettes 40th Anniversary show. The Armorettes never intended to become the longest continually running drag troupe in the country, or even to be known as the comedy drag show that has raised more than $2.5 million for Atlanta HIV charities. They were formed in 1979 as a group of [...]
The musty gym bag stays in my closet, ironically enough. Inside, a crumpled black wig fights for space with a sequined dress, heels, a string of fake pearls and a bag of make-up. After more than twenty years since performing with the Armorettes, this is all that remains of Ms. Anita Mann. That is, until [...]
It’s no surprise to me that the two causes I am most passionate about, HIV and addiction -- the two issues that drive my activism -- are both things that my older brother, Richard “Dick” King, cared about first. He showed me the way. May 16th marked the third annual “National Honor Our LGBT Elders [...]
Andrew Rannells, Matt Bomer, Zachary Quinto and Jim Parsons star in Broadway's "The Boys in the Band." (Ramona Rosales) Most of playwright Mart Crowley’s bitchy zingers hit their target in the first-ever Broadway production of his 1968 play, The Boys in the Band, that much should be noted. The starry cast, composed of [...]
Theater students at Stoneman Douglas High School with their cache of signed Broadway posters. As a longtime fan of the work of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA), the charity that has laser-focused their time and resources on the impact of HIV on New York’s theatrical community, I was incredibly moved by their recent [...]
The cast of Merce, the web series. Most people would walk away if the future seemed unclear and shut you out because they’re afraid. But I’m not. I’m right here. That’s what my love is for. My love will be your cure. -- “Your Cure,” an original song from season two of Merce [...]
Ben Platt and Eric McCormack in Will & Grace, The revived Will & Grace television comedy has some pithy things to say about aging as gay men and our need to create families where we find them. The producers of the show, which is already a hit with audiences and critics, seem to [...]
(The 31st anniversary of the passing of Rock Hudson brings this memory back again, as it does each year. Maybe I want you to know this sordid tale because I'm still as star-struck and vain as when this happened. Or maybe the memory still brings back fear and melancholy, so repeating it here feels like [...]
It was 1975 and I was 14 years old, all gangly limbs and stubborn acne, and I was sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car. Splayed across my lap was the magazine, open to the page my companion had selected. I was staring at the photo with something like revelation. “I wasn’t sure if [...]
(I can't resist posting this each Holiday Season. The video below is my very favorite, of the more than 70 I have produced over the years. Enjoy!) My mother's home here in Shreveport, Louisiana, was fraught with excitement last week. Christmas decorations littered the living room, the almond scent of cookies filled the air, and [...]
