Jump for Joy

Two weeks ago I went to an open panel where Patrick Healy who covers theater for The New York Times was moderating a conversation about gay theater and why suddenly, there's so much of it on Broadway right now.

Patrick put together an impressive panel of men to talk about The New Direction of Gay Theater.

Joseph Zellnick, co creator of the musical 'YANK!', playwright John Marans, of 'The Temperamentals', actor Michael Urie (who plays Rudi Gernreich), Michael Zam, book writer for the musical 'The Kid' and its star Christopher Sieber who plays the Dan Savage character.

This took place April 11, a Sunday at 12:30pm and you'd think 9 people would show up. Think again! I'd guess 100 gay men and 1 lesbian filled the Snapple Theater which is home to 'The Fantasticks'.

I've witheld the one man that stole the show for the two hours that this panel spoke. His name is Leslie Jordan, and most know him from his role on Wil & Grace, as Karen's worthy nemesis. Of all the men on the panel, Leslie seemed to have the best first hand knowledge of what its been like as an out gay man in Hollywood trying to make a mark for himself. Trying to work!

Every time Leslie spoke, he had the entire room howling. And Michael Urie, sitting to his right seemed to be his biggest fan. It made for an interesting contrast, Michael 30 years old and Leslie 55. I love Leslie's style of humor. Campy. Audacious. Self deprecating. It plumbs the soul. Yet this kind of humor has a long history in gay culture, and tends to be a stereotypical notion of how every gay man use to speak. The tragedy is, it's a brand of humor that is disappearing. He drops a line, a look, a gesture like no young gay guy ever could. The best equivalent I can think of is that kind of woman in her 70's or 80's that you see on the Upper East Side. The way that kind of woman dresses, socializes, and conducts herself in public is so specific that once they die, for the most part, its gone.

Although, there is a modern gay man who has appropriated this kind of humor and combined it with being an out father, and partner. His name is Cameron on Modern Family. Watch one of my favorite episodes here and you'll see first hand what I mean. Click on to Starry Night. Warning. You will be hooked.

David Rooney, in his review for the New York Times said it very well, "Gay kids emerging from the cocoons these days can tune into any Bravo reality show to find an assortment of potential role models. But a few decades back, kinship ran thinner in culture." All that to say Leslie has helped pave the way, helped create the way. And from the sound of his life story, which he tells in vivid detail during his one man show 'My Life on the Pink Carpet,' he's earned the right to finally say, "I'm as close to my authentic self as I've ever been." Click here for Times Review.

Now, about those photos. When I saw the photo of Leslie leaping in the air I had a flash of my own version, circa late 80's. I'm not sure I felt like I was tapping in to my authentic self, but it was definitely my most ecstatic self. And quite possibly, ecstatic and authentic can't be divided.

I'll leave you with something John Marans said about his characters in The Temperamentals, "They were joyously unapologetic about who they are, and we need more of that."

Patrick Healy's panel proved that this is exactly what we are seeing on Broadway, and this is proof of a new direction - the couple in Next Fall, the couple in The Pride, the couple in The Kid, and the ever authentic and joyful Leslie Jordan.

Photo of Leslie Jordan: by Richard Perry for The New York Times

Photo of Troy Chatterton: by Grandma

I LOVE NY

I love New York. I really do.

Sure, happier people with sun filled faces come from the west coast to visit and I see the point.

But once again, an ordinary day, running errands in the East Village, turned in to event, rivaling the Kentucky Derby and the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

Walking up 3rd Avenue I noticed the streets closed off by city police, slowly it occurred to me that I had heard President Obama was coming to New York today, speaking at the Great Hall at the Cooper Union, across the street from the new Cooper Union building, designed by Thom Mayne, one of my favorite buildings in New York. Anyway, making my way around and up Houston to do a bit of shopping at Whole Foods (Top 10 place in the city to find the man of your dreams), people were gathering at the barricades as if a procession of floats were about to pass by.

No floats today, but the onlookers would get a glimpse of America's great hope - Barack Obama.

Just as I was about to shoot in to Whole Foods a figure caught my eye. There up above Keith McNally's new hit pizzeria Pulino's - a woman, in a spring hat nearly fit for the Kentucky Derby, a smile on her face, and what I imagine to be a prosecco in her hand (11am!)- all smiles, with the best view in the city for watching the President arrive. It was a scene and I loved every second of it.

There - I've given you 1, 2, 3, 4, no 5! reasons to love New York.

Note: Click her to read President Obama's speech at the Cooper

Photo: Troy Chatterton

The Kid

Two years ago the book club I'm in read Dan Savage's 'The Kid.' I couldn't put it down. It was a unanimous hit with all the guys. And it got us all thinking more deeply about marriage, children, and the "kicker" - just how hard were we willing to go for the things we want in our lives?

Dan and Terry face it all with seriousness, and great humor. NEVER occurred to me that a couple years later this memoir would be turned in to a Broadway musical, but that's exactly what's happened. It's got a short run, and just began April 16th through May 29th. Don't wait until word spreads and suddenly tickets are gone. It's a love story, about two guys doing what's necessary to make the family they want.

I'll tell you - the one thing I don't miss each week, is Dan's column in The Village Voice. His thoughtful, frank, ballsy answers make me look like a prude. He's a voice of reason in the world of modern relationships. He's PRO healthy honest relationships. This week is no exception - in fact, this week may be the funniest I've ever read. Set up by a very crewed, real life happening. Read for yourself and ask, What would I have done? Click SAVAGE LOVE

For ticket info, click musical, THE KID

For the book, click memoir, THE KID

Photo: Official poster for The Kid

Is it a showbiz magazine, or is it a gay magazine, or what?! -Mart Crowley

Monday I spent the afternoon interviewing Mart Crowley, the author of 'The Boys In The Band.'

It was one of the most remarkable afternoons of my life. Meeting the man behind the work only made my mission for MARK the magazine more focused. Life and the pursuit of living it better, and more fully.

Meeting Mart Crowley, and spending time with him was a great honor. The man who wrote the play which gave birth to the modern gay man - is like you and me. Curious, and still looking for the answers to life's questions about - love, friendship, family, and purpose.

Look for the interview in the future when MARK the magazine is launched. Until then, give the film another viewing, or pick up a copy of 'The Collected Plays of Mart Crowley' and read his sequel to 'Boys' called 'The Men from the Boys.' Mart also wrote a play in 1993 called 'For Reasons That Remain Unclear' that seems very timely now, between a man in his 30's confronting a priest from his childhood.

Photo: Troy Chatterton, at DOMA, the West Village

Stephen Fry on the iPad (and language)

TIME magazine asked director/playwright/actor and novelist Stephen Fry to go to the coolest address on the planet, 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California and speak to the guys at Apple about its new iPad.

This is his one of a kind take on what he discovered - Stephen on Steve

Here are two memorable quotes from two men who have reshaped our world (almost as fast as God presumably created it!), Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive.

"I do stuff. I respond to stuff. That's not a career - it's a life."

- Steve Jobs, founder

"For us, it is all about refining and refining until it seems like there's nothing between the user and the content they are interacting with." - Jonathan Ive, designer of iPad, iPhone, iPod, and MacBook

I leave you with a bit of comic genius from Stephen Fry, Tricky Linguistics

Photo: Troy Chatterton, NYC, 14th St.

Documenting Life

I'm nosey. Could say "curious" but might as well call it like it is.

One of my earliest school memories is someone saying to me, "Take a picture, it last longer." How 80's is that?!

Who would have thought that all these years later photographic images would be used, and shared the way they are today. In seconds, I can send a picture of my kitchen table from Brooklyn to London and my friend has a real life, real time sense of my life. No big deal, right?

Everyone's become a photographer. The use of images has taken off in endless ways. It would be easy to say banal, but the more I see and think about it, the more I'm convinced that the most banal pics, often become small revelations.

Surely the pics on Facebook are the engine that drives the connection. But who am I to start raving about Facebook?I hardly use it. I'm beginning to see the light, and the great possibilities in connecting through photographs and the stories they tell us about ourselves. The photos do not stand in for life, the mark the life we are living.

The New York Times published a piece yesterday called 'First Camera, Then Fork.' It would be too easy to roll your eyes at the idea of people taking pictures of food and saying "Get on with it people. Put down the camera. Eat. Live." The NYT asked its readers to send in pictures of what they too were eating. Read the article, take a look at the pictures - you'll be sucked in. And don't forget to take note of the places these photographs are coming from - Sicily, Portland, Mexico City, Montreal, Dublin, Calcutta, Caracas - you get the idea. Its incredible when you really think of it. Being able to see what people are eating all over the world. And in vivid color. In real time. Right now.

Check out no. 342

Mathias Dopfner from Germany was on Charlie Rose Tuesday night talking about the iPad, and new media. His on-line newspaper Welt Die (The World) recently asked its readers to help create content by sending their photographs, and videos. The response blew their minds. Suddenly newspapers, magazines, blogs and other kinds of sites have an actively engaged reader that didn't exist 10 years ago. Now its up to the editors, journalists, and bloggers to creatively put this reader engagement to entertaining, useful, informative, and sometimes artful use.

I remember years ago reading Andrew Sullivan and in the mix of his commentary and occasional videos he would ask his readers to send a picture from their home. It was fascinating to see what other people woke up to. A simple idea. A big impression.

John Wenner, the founder and editor of Rolling Stone magazine said something that has stayed with me, and is the basis for MARK the magazine. "Revolution would come not through politics but through lifestyle. People would define their identities not by ideologies or political affiliations, but by music, cuisine, clothing, drug use, living arrangements, and attitudes." Break it down - HOW THEY LIVE.

One last point to drive this all home. The director and actor Simon McBurney said some very interesting things about watching theater that pertains to the collective sharing of photos, videos, and our written thoughts. When we recognize something of ourselves in what we see, or we learn something new that enlarges who we are, or we simply connect and exchange a piece of ourselves - something beautiful and important takes place. Here, read a bit of McBurney's thoughts on the collective experience in the theater:

The only reality of the theater exists in the mind of the audience. That audience looks collectively at what is going on on the stage and collectively imagines that this is real. ... But what is more fundamental is the notion that when everybody laughs together or, last night, when I heard people around me collectively sobbing, at that moment we are bound together not by our bodies sitting in the theater but by a collective imagination. At that moment we understand the lie that what we think is only our own, that our internal lives are only our own. At that point our collective imaginations become one imagination and my internal life becomes the same as your internal life, which is what Aristotle understood when he analyzed tragedy. It’s a collective act in which we collectively understand something about being a community together. The moment we understand that, feel it, we feel a kind of responsibility in which we must collectively help and take responsibility for each other. That is part of the definition of our humanity..." For full article go to 'An Expert In Audacity.'

If MARK is able to not only bring you points of view from our own contributors - but also create a community where gay men from all over the country, and world - share photos, videos, and thoughts - we can begin to enlarge the way we see ourselves, and be turned on to greater possibilities for living our lives. This will affect our relationships, our style, our homes, and yes what and how we eat. This excites me. Let me know what you think.

Photo: Troy Chatterton

Facebook, Makes It Official

Nothing better than a love story.

Recently at VOWS on nytimes.com, Brian and Ryan tell their love story and how they went from best friends to boyfriends to husbands.

The line I found most surprising (and modern) was "We made it official on Facebook at some point." Facebook!

No, what surprised me most was hearing the free wheeling progression of Ryan deciding to "pop the question" on the anniversary of their first date.

Brian and Ryan don't carry the baggage of 'We can't do this. The world isn't ours.' Instead, they have a vision of their future together, and carry on. They seem to proceed through the world as if it is theirs, navigating courtship and love as any other couple.

It is their world. It is their right.

Watch their video here: Brian & Ryan

Read here: Weddings/Celebrations

Photo: Troy Chatterton (Artist unknown, seen at OUTPOST, Brooklyn, NY)

The New

A trip to the city ran me smack in to the new. Everywhere I looked, in fact.

The new Standard Hotel straddling the High Line.

The new iPad on display at the Apple store.

*Boy it feels good in the hand. Better than you'd expect.

The new magnolia blossoms at Sheridan Square.

New York is like that, man and nature conspiring, creating, and moving forward. Thrilling. Addictive. Inspiring.

All this new nearly put me in a stupor. Until I reminded myself that all that's new starts, as an idea, a sketch, a bulb in the ground and so begins the process of creation.

Those that are steadfast see, what seemed impossible, emerge, the new.

Photos: Troy Chatterton

Swish It Up

Advice from Sue Sylvester, the cheerleading coach on Glee.

Click here to watch video Swish It Up!