Now those are cool parents
What did your parents give you for graduating from high school? A computer? A car? How about a play?! Recent Winter Springs High graduate Philip Champagne wanted to produce an off-Broadway musical called Bare, about two gay students struggling to cope at a Catholic boarding school. The show, by Jon Hartmere, Jr. and Damon Intrabartolo, opened in Los Angeles in 2000 and moved to New York in 2004. So Champagne recruited some fellow students he’d met in statewide thespian competitions, secured a theater at the Tupperware complex in Loch Haven Park… and got mom and dad to put up the money. He held down costs by co-starring and co-directing. Two well-received performances of the play were on Aug. 14-15.
The D List is for snubbing
Those of you who’ve followed the excellent Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List this season know that she’s ramped up the celebrity interactions. And if Griffin can’t get to someone, she has another celebrity call on her behalf. Two examples: Lily Tomlin got her on the phone with Jane Fonda, and Bette Midler connected her with Stevie Nicks. But at her gay-packed Aug. 15 show in Orlando, Griffin shared that not every celebrity was so receptive. Rapper T.I. called Justin Timberlake, but when he heard that it was for Griffin’s show he said, “Oh,” rushed the rest of the conversation and then refused to sign the required release. The same thing happened when Food Network star Paula Deen called her friend Billy Joel for Griffin. Of course, Griffin turned these lemons into lemonade at her packed show at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre. Much of her material was geared to the gay audience, including details of her recent ‘date’ with super stud Levi Johnston (of Bristol Palin fame).
Points for Gryffindor!
And speaking of celebrities we love, Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe has just announced a generous donation to The Trevor Project, an organization designed to support LGBT teens. “It’s extremely distressing to consider that in 2009 suicide is a top-three killer of young people, and it’s truly devastating to learn that LGBTQ youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers,” Radcliffe said. “It’s vitally important that young people understand that they are not alone.”
