That Uppity Theatre Company - Apple Pie A second helping

Information about “As American as Apple Pie: Second Helping” March 5, 2006 performance at St Margaret of Scotland’s Parish Hall on Sunday

From Throwing: left to right: Eric Kham, Larenzo Allen, Chris Krug, Paige Stansen

(St. Louis, MO) That Uppity Theatre Company, teaching artist Jackie Masei, and youth representing regional Gay Straight Alliances in area high schools collaborated to create a performance focused on issues in the GLBTQ community and their allies. This production was made possible by a grant from the Chiara Corporation, a funding ministry of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, the Puffin Foundation, and the Fox Associates Foundation. An earlier version of this piece premiered May 2004, at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis called, "As American as Apple Pie: GLBTQ Youth and PFLAG Parents Act Out: A Happening Featuring Performance, Conversation and Apple Pie".
“Second Helping” featured five high school youth: Larenzo Allen, Alastair Cleve, Eric Kham, Chris Krug, and Paige Stansen; each with varying levels of performance experience. The cast represents a range of area high schools including: Ritenour, Clayton, Whitfield and Lutheran South. Participants hoped this production would be a stepping stone to a long-term project, bringsing together local youth, offering a forum for raising issues of relevance to GLBTQA youth, and an opportunity for discussing these issues in a productive and positive manner.

Background--Alastair Cleve
Foreground (left to right): Chris Krug, Paige Stansen

Marge O’Gorman of St. Margaret’s of Scotland was instrumental in furthering the project’s longevity. "Friendship and Justice, a lesbian and gay ministry of St. Margaret of Scotland and St. Pius V Parishes provides a welcoming place for GLBTQ Catholics,” she said. “We also educate our parishioners about issues of concern for members of the lesbian and gay community. Many of our parishioners have family, friends and neighbors who are gay. This performance gives them an opportunity to understand the struggles that many gay youth and their families experience in coming out. Even today, as diverse as our world is, gay youth experience harassment and violence in our schools. In presenting this performance we want to expose the injustice of discrimination and make our parish and school environments safe for our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers. “

The performance consisted of both scripted and improvisational material. The improvisational portion of the show included performers enacting the stories of audience members. Topics included the audience’s experiences with: transgender issues, bisexuality, assumptions and stereotypes, alliances outside the GLBTQ community, and family, among others. Performers drew upon the techniques of Playback Theatre, honoring the tellers in the portrayal of their stories.

Playback Theatre is an original form of improvisational theatre in which audience or group members tell stories from their lives, and watch them enacted on the spot. Whether in public theatres, workshops, educational or clinical settings, Playback Theatre affirms the importance and dignity of personal experience, enables people to view their lives in new ways, and draws people closer as they see their common humanity. First created in 1975, the form was developed by Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas and the original Playback Theatre company in the Hudson Valley of New York http://www.tonisant.com/aitg/Playback_Theatre/
The scripted portion featured pieces that premiered in the first Apple Pie showing, work written by GLBTQ youth themselves, exploring and, in some cases, poking fun at such topics as gay icons, violence in the schools, romance, and the politics of being gay.

This event was produced by Joan Lipkin, Artistic Director of That Uppity Theatre and developed through an unusual process of collaboration. “This is truly a community effort,” said Lipkin. “It is important to provide opportunities for people to participate in many facets of the creation of new art. Most youth, and GLBTQ youth in particular, do not have sufficient opportunities to explore the complexity of their lives in a supportive and creative environment.”

The new material was created and staged by the participants, Uppity’s Assistant Director, Sarah Shimchick, and independent teaching artist, actress, and director, Jackie Masei, and was based on some of the scripts that appeared in the original Apple Pie repertoire. “I want to be a part of this project because these are issues that need to be addressed and what better way than through the theatre?” said two time participant, Chris Krug, a 16 year old sophomore at Ritenour High School. “I hope that this helps someone that sees it, no matter what they're going through.” Additionally, Masei instructed the cast on the techniques of Playback Theatre and improvisation.

Background (left to right): Alastair Cleve, Larenzo Allen,
Chris Krug, Eric Kham Foreground: Jackie Masei

“As American as Apple Pie: Second Helping” was performed at St. Margaret of Scotland’s Parish Hall on Sunday, March 5 at 3:00 PM. For information about other Uppity projects, please visit our website at www.uppityco.com

Jackie Masei began her career in film and television, and in the past ten years has been the performing and teaching in the community and classroom. She moved to St. Louis from Phoenix, AZ two and a half years ago where she was an actress and Associate Artistic Director of the nationally recognized Playback Theatre Company, Essential Theatre. Since relocating to Missouri, Masei has been teaching Theatre for Social Change techniques, Playback Theatre, acting techniques, and improvisation for a variety of organizations. She is pleased to announce her founding of Playback Theatre Company this year.
“I have been interested in working with GLBTQ youth ever since I visited a local support and outreach group for youth who identify as other than heterosexual a year ago. I am so happy and proud to be collaborating with Uppity to bring about a second helping of Apple Pie. I am proud to explore the stories of these incredible young people and their allies, bringing all of their experiences to artistic life,” Masei said.

Sarah Shimchick, the Assistant Director of That Uppity Theatre Company recently completed her Masters in Social Work from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. Sarah believes in the use of theatre as an educational tool and as a therapeutic intervention, with a specific focus on humor. She has worked with youth of all different ages and from a variety of backgrounds in one-on-one interactions and within the context of small and large group settings. These exchanges have ranged from the more formalized and traditional to the atypical and more informal.
Since its founding in 1989, That Uppity Theatre Company has grown into an internationally recognized company that puts the principles of cultural diversity into innovative theatrical practice. Uppity fosters awareness of important social issues, appreciation for the arts, and encourages civic dialogue through the development and production of theatrical work and related cultural activities.

Since its founding in 1989, That Uppity Theatre Company has grown into an internationally recognized company that puts the principles of cultural diversity into innovative theatrical practice. Uppity fosters awareness of important social issues, appreciation for the arts, and encourages civic dialogue through the development and production of theatrical work and related cultural activities.

“As American as Apple Pie: Second Helping” was performed at St. Margaret of Scotland’s Parish Hall on Sunday, March 5 at 3:00 PM. The parish is located at 3854 Flad Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110. For information about other Uppity projects, please visit our website at www.uppityco.com

In recent weeks, the LGBT community has come under attack by groups like "Focus on the Family" and "Exodus International" who held a national conference in St. Louis to demonstrate that people can be cured of their homosexuality. This, despite respected studies, practices and belief systems that a range of sexual orientation is normal and healthy.

Imagine what it has been like to see billboards all over town of alleged ex-gays joyfully proclaiming their conversion.

Imagine especially what that is like if you are a teenager struggling to understand some essential aspects of identity and to find a community that supports them.

The homophobia in our society that continues to circulate and resurface in various forms asks important questions of us both as individuals and as a collective. Whether we identify as LGBT or as a straight ally. It asks how we will respond to an increasing reign of terror that threatens to take away people’s most precious asset: their understanding, acceptance and celebration of themselves.

There is no singular answer except that many answers are needed. For some, it is to take part in a peaceful and silent vigil like “Love Needs No Cure” in which many of us came together to symbolize a united resistance to this bigotry by following principles of non violence as practiced by our great, late leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King.

For others, it is to come out to as many people as possible so that more people will realize that LGBT people are indeed, someone’s family member, neighborhood or co-worker.

As a theatre company, our strategy is to creatively support the journeys of our LGBT children as they explore how to reconcile their desires and identity and to arrive at an integrated place. The challenges for any adolescent in today’s world are complicated. For LGBT adolescents, it is a whole different kind of complicated. Especially when they have to see billboards that tell them they can be cured or endure unsupportive home or school environments.

We began “As American as Apple Pie” working with LGBT youth two years ago in partnership with Growing American Youth. Our first production premiered at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. This afternoon, we are delighted to be hosted by a community of faith, St. Margaret’s of Scotland to present our latest work. Today’s performance marks a transition as we begin to more fully explore partnerships with Gay Straight Alliances in high schools across our area. We want to make work that reflects the commonalities as well as the differences that LGBT and straight teenagers experience and to see how they might support each other.

We salute the courage, honesty and creativity these young people have demonstrated in bringing some of their stories to you. And we deeply appreciate your coming here today to give support and lend voice to our future, our LGBT youth.

I want especially to thank our co-directors, Jackie Masei and Sarah Shimchick, Scott Emmanuel, the advisor for Growing American Youth, Marge O’Gorman the(what is her title for Friendship and Justice, Dean Rosen, President of PFLAG, and the Fox Associates Foundation.

Through their actions and deeds, these fine folks are providing some answers to the troubling questions we face and we are proud to partner with them.

I am so happy to have the opportunity to join in on this second helping of Apple Pie. At the beginning, Sarah and I attended meetings with Growing American Youth where we found many young people who were willing to share their personal stories, which we explored through a variety of theatre games and discussion. At this initial session, we explained what we were hoping to accomplish with this second production of Apple Pie and invited those who were interested to join us for an intense development and rehearsal process. Many stepped forward. Those who were able to hang with us for the “long haul” are here today.

We ended up with an amazing cast. I have been impressed over and over again by the raw talent and heart of this group. There is so much integrity in their performance and who would believe that some of the youth have never performed before! There have been repeated moments in rehearsal where the youth have shared something about themselves that is so heartfelt and profound, it truly affects everyone.

I have always been more concerned about the creative process than the final product because the effects of art on one’s soul can be seen and safely explored there. One thing that Sarah, Joan, and I feel strongly about is our active choice to LET the voice of the youth be heard and represented. We need to trust these youth enough to let go of fear and our own ideas about what a young person might say or do and gently provide structure and a safe place to create. Sometimes the stories of our GLBT youth fall invisible and many youth do not have the opportunity to genuinely express how they feel or their struggles.

I will never forget a story one of the young men from G.A.Y. told about being out in the air force. He represented it in a body sculpture of what being gay looks like. He drove all the way from Scott AFB to attend the meeting. Shame and judgment can kill and I am very proud and honored to be involved with an artistic program that saves lives by listening and honoring stories. Tonight you will see some stories from last year’s script heated up a second time, some fresh pie (new scenes) and some Playback Theatre.
Enjoy!

This has been quite a journey…for all of us. I have had the incredible opportunity of being involved with both productions of “Apple Pie” and, like a good wine, pie seems to improve with age.

I echo Jackie’s sentiment when she says we ended up with an incredible cast. Not only did they give up most of their weekend hours, a prized possession among all of us, but especially teens, they showed up to rehearsals sometimes as early as 9:00 AM and continued to work even when we did not provide Darjeeling tea, soy milk, or the preferred brand of cocoa. They remained focused, even when rehearsals lasted for seven to eight hours at a stretch. But, beyond that, they trusted in the process and, more importantly, in one another.

We reprised some of the stories from the original production, but modified them to fit with the experiences of this cast of characters, a diverse lot, including both straight allies and members of the LGBT community. And then we went beyond the original stories and tackled some issues that did not appear in the initial production. I applaud these youth for being willing to take that risk and present these stories. Their stories. Some true. Some exaggerated. But all speak to issues that need to be explored and ideas that need to be challenged.

I love apple pie, well, not the actual pie, but the show was a great experience. I feel lucky to have met so many great people who each had their own unique personalities. There were a few reasons I did Apple Pie. The first reason is because it was an opportunity to get involved with theatre and I never pass up a chance to do that. But the other reason I did it was because many of the LGBTQ youth out there aren't able to share their stories with the world, or a group of 200 people on a church stage somewhere. So I guess I did it in order to help those who can share their stories show the ones who can't that there is still hope. What I will take from working with Apple Pie is that no matter who you are, no matter what your sexual orientation, race, religion, or whatever is, your voice deserves to be heard. Even if someone else has to tell your story for you, your voice still deserves to be heard. Meeting the people I did, and seeing the people's faces when we performed, it’s indescribable. This show has helped me become even more of an accepting person. I think the best cure for oppression or hate is a little slice of Apple Pie. Hopefully, there will be more Pies to share in the near future.
-Larenzo Allen, Senior, Ritenour High School

What I learnt from As American as Apple Pie: Second Helping
When Sarah and Jackie came to Growing American Youth for the first time, I was initially attracted to Jackie’s vim and Sarah’s enthusiasm for the project that she was creating. Only an ephemeral period of time with them was required for my attraction to their project to be solidified. Therefore, I gave them my contact information extempore; I was sure that it would be an environment propitious to the growth of the denizens of my artistic mind. Far from dour, my experience was vivacious and sentimental. I feel as if I were a confrere who has spent years with these other participants in As American as Apple Pie. Indeed, through this experience, I learnt coöperation through febrile rehearsals as well as an appreciation for diversity. I cosseted a love for these people whom I have now called friends, whose friendships will be sempiternally insuperable. I did not retreat behind a carapace of distortion. I behaved as myself and I was accepted unconditionally. I am reminded of a quotation by Juan Manuel: “Si al principio no te muestras cómo eres, no podrás hacerlo cuando tú quisieres.” “If from the beginning you do not behave as you are, you shall not be able to do so later on” is a loose translation. Indeed, it feels as if this were the cessation of an epoch. I hope that we be able to do this again…and soon!
-Alastair Cleve, Junior, Whitfield School

I participated in Apple Pie because it consists of stories that need to be heard. Apple Pie was a wonderful experience. I will take away wonderful memories and friends that I will never forget.
-Chris Krug, Sophomore, Ritenour High School

When I first heard of the production “As American As Apple Pie” in May of 2004, it caught my imagination and I said to myself, “We just have to have this play.” I was not able to attend the first performance so I asked some of my colleagues to see it. They raved about it. From what they told me, it was just the kind of project I wanted to be associated with. I talked with Joan Lipkin about it immediately and in the next several months we continued to talk about it, discussing what it would entail, when we could schedule it and so on. I applied for and received a grant from the ministry foundation, The Chiara Corporation, which is sponsored by my religious congregation, the Franciscan Sisters of Mary.

What appealed to me about the play right away was that it was developed from the lives of the participants. Our ministry, Friendship and Justice, invites women and men in the lesbian and gay community to be an active and contributing part of their faith community—to claim being gay and being Catholic. We bring gay people together in a safe place to explore who they are in the church and to receive support and affirmation from one another as gay Catholics. We also educate our parishioners about lesbian and gay issues and concerns to help them understand the pressures that our gay sisters and brothers live with in our homophobic society. “As American As Apple Pie” is about the things that we are about as a ministry in our two parishes.

We set a date and I went into preparing for the event with determination and commitment and perhaps a good bit of naiveté. It was way more work to put together than I had thought it would be. At times I wondered if our little organization with its small core of volunteers could pull this off. There were so many details to attend to while trying to carry on with other regularly scheduled events and activities. When I told Joan that I hoped to sell 200 tickets, she told me that was unrealistic. I realized she was right when I started selling tickets and discovered that you sell tickets one ticket at a time. I had mistakenly thought that I could hand people 10 tickets and they would go sell them for us and bring back $100. It did not go that way. Ticket sales went very slowly. Nine of us sold tickets after all the Masses at both parishes for five Sundays in a row. I discovered that the best way to sell a ticket was to just go up and ask someone to buy one. If we waited for people to come looking for us, we would go home having sold no tickets that day.

Besides selling tickets on weekends, I spent my weekdays sending out flyers to everyone I knew. Flyers went to all the list serves I am on and all the teachers I know. This was followed by hitting the pavement to contact business owners on South Grand and wherever else we could find gay owned or gay friendly businesses.

Things seemed to be going according schedule, busy, but manageable until about two weeks before the performance. Then I received a message that someone sent a letter to the archbishop complaining about the play, accusing us of promoting homosexuality. A representative from the archbishop’s office called to ask the pastor at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish, where the performance was being held, what we were doing. He assured the archbishop’s office that we were simply telling the story of parents dealing with having a gay child and the harassment that gay youth receive at school. He told them further that the play would not promote anything against the teaching of the Catholic Church.

I was stunned. I was so focused on the good that we were doing to give voice to young people who deal with name calling, having things thrown at them, experiencing rejection by their parents and trying to integrate their identity, that it hadn’t occurred to me that others would look at these efforts and condemn them. If I had been nervous about trying to balance all the details in preparation for the play, I was now downright anxious about what could happen to our ministry and/or my job as a result of this letter and the suspicion that it brought on us.

Plans and preparations went on, but with a higher degree of stress. I kept telling myself that it should not have to be this way. Then another voice would come to me and say that if it were not this way, we would not even have to offer a ministry to and with the gay community. Thinking that I could lose my job over this, helped me to understand the pressure that many members of our community live with everyday. “If they find out I am gay, will I lose my job?” But what bothered me more about the situation we were in was how the loss of this ministry would affect the people we serve. We have a lot of people coming to our events because it is a safe place to be. Because they have felt rejected by their religion, whether or not they are Catholic. Even people who do not attend our socials or prayer groups say to me, “I’m glad you (this ministry) are here. Keep up the good work.” What would happen to those who find hope in this kind of outreach?

With all of these thoughts swirling around in my head, I continued to arrange for people to bake and deliver pies, design and print the programs, line up volunteers to set up, serve, greet and clean up. And as we had been doing for weeks, we continued to sell tickets.

Finally the day arrived. By then we had sold 100 tickets. I had no idea how to estimate how many people would show up at the door. We had received some, but very few phone calls about the performance the week before the production. So we started setting up chairs. I kept asking our volunteers, “How many chairs do you think we need?” I had done a chair inventory and knew where we could find extras in case we needed them. The crowd started coming in an hour before we were scheduled to start. I was surprised to notice that everyone was buying tickets. I wondered if the ones who already had them were even going to show up.

Well, volunteers kept coming up and asking where there were more chairs. We had some folding chairs in the room and we ended up using those. Then there were some chairs in the choir loft up, just there for storage, two flights of stairs up, and we used them. I was out of ideas about where to find more chairs at that point. Finally, I asked someone who works at the parish about where we could find more chairs and she led the volunteers into the church to take the chairs the choir uses to the church hall, down a flight of stairs. I had no idea where the chairs came from or how many we had at that point. The room just seemed very full and the crowd a flurry of energy.

Then the performance began. It was a magical moment. The students were in great form. They were loud enough and clear enough and their stories, oh, so touching. The audience was so receptive and during the question and answer period, they were so affirming to the young people who continued to open themselves up and share from their lives with the audience. It was a great dialogue in which older members of the gay community talked about how they hoped things would be different for young people today. They did not want them to have to experience the discrimination they dealt with at the same age. Members of the straight community asked questions that demonstrated that their eyes were opened. They did not realize it was this way for young gay men and lesbian women. Generally, the audience was affirming and expressed admiration to the authors and actors for the fine presentation they had given.

I continue to be uplifted by the experience. It was all I had hoped it would be and more. It was all about who we are as a gay and lesbian ministry. It was people coming together in solidarity to oppose discrimination and support those who suffer because they are different. Many members of the gay community have thanked me for allowing this story, their story to be told. I continue to let my mind wander to the play and its more touching, personal and self-revealing moments. These have touched me deeply and my conviction that these stories must be told is greater. I will always remember these days of “Apple Pie” and I will never again enjoy a piece of apple pie without thinking about our young people and the struggles and triumphs they shared with us.

Sister Marge O’Gorman
Friendship and Justice Ministry
St. Margaret of Scotland Parish

I remember standing over Adam in front of the changing table with my wife Louise , and thinking, "Why can’t he just stay like this, so little and sweet?”

As he grew I wanted Adam to be bright and achieving, but most of all I wanted him to "fit in" and be liked by others. He didn’t have to be a football player, but I hoped others would see him as a regular kid, but also very special. He did have this insatiable curiosity and a mouth that never stopped. And I soon learned he wasn’t like other boys.

At first, Adam really liked cars and all things with wheels. He also liked Lincoln logs and Legos. So I enjoyed building houses with him. I was less comfortable when he wanted to play like he was pregnant when his mother was expecting our third child.

It’s cute when it’s someone other than your own kid. With Adam, I was okay if he wanted to play with Barbies by himself, but I just didn’t want anyone else to know.

When I grew up, I heard all the jokes about queers and fairies. I just didn’t want my son’s life to be a joke. I wanted him to be respected, for his sake and my own misplaced pride. After all, he is a part of me.

When Adam was in kindergarten, I remember the parent teacher conference where the teacher told me Adam liked to play in the kitchen area with the girls. No surprise there. But I naively suggested that the teacher might want to encourage Adam to play with the boys more, to help him socialize better. Without skipping a beat, Mrs. DiMartino said, “Adam marches to the beat of a different drummer, and the world needs all kinds of music.” I never forgot those kind and knowing words.

Adam was like a flower blooming when he came out at sixteen, or was it more like a volcano erupting? So many strengths emerged that I had no idea were inside of him.

I never thought of Adam as a brave or fearless child. But this quiet kid became the most visible poster child for gay youth once he came out. He wanted to change the world and he knew that
required visibility. So he told everybody who would listen.

When Adam decided to take a same-sex date to his prom, I was really nervous and scared. Sure that he was inviting ridicule and humiliation, if not outright bodily harm. However, Adam was determined to partake of all the social rituals of adolescence. And we got the thrill of seeing Adam and Mike get dressed for the prom in their matching tuxes for their big evening.

Adam has taught me a lot about not just accepting the world the way it is. He dreams of the world as it could be and should be. And he has taught me that we can change the world in big ways and small ways, by our very visibility. Isn’t that why we are here today?

Throwing
© 2006 Apple Pie Ensemble: Larenzo Allen, Alastair Cleve, Eric Khan, Chris Krug, Jackie Masei, Sarah Shimchick, Paige Stansen

PAIGE:
One time I was in class just sitting there doing my assignment and a bottle of baby lotion was thrown at my head. It hit me in the face and left a huge red welt…and some lotion. (jokingly) And hey, lookin’ good is lookin’ good. If someone offers you some free lotion, rub it in. Ooh. My skin was so soft.

(getting serious) Yeah, but then, I just put the bottle down and started to do my work like nothing happened. The throwers have no meaning. No matter. Just something that is there but you just don’t care enough to care. At least you try not to. But when you are a human bull’s eye, it’s hard to not react.

A little bit after that, a pen was thrown at me. They totally missed. So that made it kinda funny. Kinda.

PAIGE:
…were walking home from school and, out of nowhere, a plastic bag of old tuna was thrown at us. The bag exploded and splattered everywhere.

Chris:
All we did was laugh and make jokes about how we looked covered in chopped up fish. We decided to become vegetarians. At least, for the next day.

PAIGE:
As many times as something like this has happened, this was the smelliest.

Chris:
The throwing of the tuna was actually the big finale around the end of seventh grade. A lot of things have been thrown at me. To name a few: door hinges, rocks, nails

PAIGE:
That list is just the stuff that we’ve been hit with walking home from school.

Chris:
Yeah…which sucks. The day before the person on the bus threw the tuna, they threw a door hinge.

LARENZO:
Where was the bus driver?!
(Beat)
You know, it’s not always “throwing at.” It’s also “throwing away.” Things like friendship and trust. Gone. I came out to people. People I trusted. They said they wouldn’t tell anyone, but they went behind my back and told things they had no right repeating. They made web pages about me. Lied on me.

PAIGE:
It’s a shame, is an easy thing to say. Oh, it’s a shame that violence still persists against children in our community. Oh, it’s a pity that we can’t be more accepting of others. But it’s more than just a shame. We are all supposed to help one another and love one another and yet here we are, 2006, throwing rotten fish out the window at innocent kids.

CHRIS:
Issues are not concerning until someone gets hurt. Then people stand up and listen to violence, but why does it have to come to that? Why can’t it be enough that someone feels threatened? Or even that they are discriminated against at all?

Props: baby doll, knife, purse with shredded soda can, shredded beer can, broken glass, razors, box cutters

Setup: four cubes
Back (LG cube bottom, smaller cube on top)
Front: small cube
On side, centered between back and front row SM cube (SR of rows)

A sitting on bottom block, front row. E sitting on top block, back row. A starts stabbing the doll.

ERIC
My father (Alastair stands up and folds arms. A. keep back to audience and stare E. down to bottom box. Points to bottom front box and Eric takes seat on that box. Alastair acts very fatherly throughout) believes that it had to come from somewhere, that I couldn’t have thought of it on my own. Well, to be frank, he’s wrong. (A checks E’s arms out. E. doesn’t look at A. Just goes limp and lets A examine)The cutting started awhile ago, and without anyone’s help. I was just coming out at school and it was kind of a rough time. It was my way to deal. If you’re hurting, but no one notices

ERIC
It does.
(A and E switch roles. A sits where E was. E stands SR of A, with back to audience and shakes head while A is speaking the next part)
ALASTAIR
I’m not that weird, y’know? I know other people who do it, too. A lot of people. They go the more “mainstream” route. (A picks up purse and pulls out each of the objects as he describes them) Some shred soda or beer cans. They use broken glass. This one person I know uses shaving razors and box cutters. She says she needs serious tools for serious damage…huh, funny, I never really thought about that before. The damage (A gives E the purse)—is it what is being done to her by others or what she is doing to herself…(E takes A’s hand. A stands. E turns and faces audience.)

ERIC
One day, I found a needle-ish thing at my computer. And I thought, “Hey, screw using my fingernails. This looks fun.” So I lifted up my sleeve and carved away. It’s turned into this nifty scar that looks like a tattoo.

ALASTAIR
Recently, I went “old school” and started using knives. I made a row of cuts. No big deal, right? Yeah right, those little marks were harder to hide than one would imagine. My mom saw a glimpse of it and became worried. I told her it was the cat. Needless to say, she didn’t buy it. She told my dad. He wanted to see the marks, too. (Sarcastically) Oh, the attention! I told him it was the cat. Again, it didn’t fly. He said they were too uniform and perfectly spaced, which is true. (examining his arm) You know what? He’s right! Damn, I AM good! (A holds arm out & E kisses his arm. E holds arm up and A looks at, then both look at A’s arm

ERIC (E crosses in front of A and sits on bottom front cube. E picks up knife and doll)
He doesn’t understand why I do it. I told him it was distracting. But he doesn’t really understand…or even try to. But then, he doesn’t try to understand about anything. And my coming out? Forget it! So, I say what I need to say to keep them off my back. (E drops the knife and the doll. A walks over and picks up both the knife and the doll). I said I would stop.

ALASTAIR
And the amazing thing is, I DID stop. I started out stopping for them.

WORDS
© 2006 Apple Pie Ensemble: Larenzo Allen, Alastair Cleve, Eric Khan, Chris Krug, Jackie Masei, Sarah Shimchick, Paige Stansen

PROFESSOR CLEVE (comes in, takes place at podium, opens briefcase, organizes papers)

Good evening, class and welcome to Interlingual Studies 304. I am Professor Alastair Cleve.

I have spent many laborious hours examining our syntax and the common lexicon that we so humbly call English. Yet, I am still persuaded to call myself a mere neophyte on the road of linguistic enlightenment. In our modern epoch, I see a lack of communication and, in the style of Sherwood Anderson, miscommunication.

PROFESSOR CLEVE
All too often, it seems, we clutch our weapons and toast our goblets of misery to the utter destruction of our foes. And if you ever ask, we never truly know our foes, for our own hate has adumbrated our eyes and rendered them useless in the face of good.

PROFESSOR CLEVE
Adumbrate. Verb. Meaning:
To give a sketchy outline of.
To prefigure indistinctly; foreshadow.
To disclose partially or guardedly.
To overshadow; shadow or obscure.

CHRIS
Ok, so, like the coming out process. I only came out partially to those I knew would accept me. But even then, I didn’t lay it all on the line. Just kind of hinted at it.
PROFESSOR CLEVE
I have studied and scrutinized our language for many years and every day I notice something new, another idiosyncrasy that I had not noticed before. From the lowly punctuation mark to the deliquescence of the indefinite and definite simple future tenses.
ERIC
Translate, please.

PAIGE
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Kind of how Chris use to deliquesce when she used to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

CHRIS
Shut up! Willow and Tara had an awesome relationship and it was not one that was based just on sex. And then, I had a crush on Buffy’s little sister…what’s her name…Dawn. Yeah. Dawn. I thought she was really hot.

PROFESSOR CLEVE
Class, please…The puissant contraction is sempiternally overlooked for one could say thrice in different ways:
He is not gloomy.
He’s not gloomy.
He isn’t gloomy.
The emphasis is merely changed from one example to the next, an emphasis that could change that which you are trying to say.

LARENZO
You have to use pronouns. People are unwilling not to. Pronoun options:
He-masculine.

ERIC
I don’t use pronouns, but when I do, I prefer he. But people just don’t seem to get it. I am not “in my category.”

PROFESSOR CLEVE
There are many debates in the linguistic world from the evolution of modern phrases to whether a Middle Voice exist or not and, indeed, whether it have come from our Greek brethren. But that constant debate is ever so fascinating, the debate of how we communicate. For, after all, communication is rarely luculent.

PROFESSOR CLEVE
The language in which we speak can only help us by empowering us. The comprehension of the literary and cultural customs can destroy the walls that we have unknowingly built. And, if we could appreciate for several moments something that we had not seen before, perhaps, we could deconstruct those walls. The stork in Chinese literature and the importance of food in French culture are manifestations of our world. If we understood them, we could forsake that shame that we can never admit.

Come Out, Come Out, Whatever You Are!
© 2006 Apple Pie Ensemble: Larenzo Allen, Alastair Cleve, Eric Khan, Chris Krug, Jackie Masei, Sarah Shimchick, Paige Stansen

Characters:
Mr. Fabulous: Alastair
Kimmy & Constance: Paige
Missy Jessup (a.k.a. Audry Lord): Chris
Mr. Jungle Feva: Eric
Mr. Anonymous-Gay-Black-Man-Who-Does-Not Want-To-Reveal-Where-He-Is From: Larenzo

Game show music playing in the background. Music fades as Mr. Fabulous appears on stage to open the show.

MR FABULOUS (in best sing-songy host voice you can muster)
Welcome to “Come Out, Come Out, Whatever You Are!” The game show where you, the contestant, get to try your hand at convincing our homosexual black male guest of honor to (with emphasis) come out of the closet. (Pause.) Easier said than done, my friends.

To make this task even harder, we have established the following four rules:
1. You cannot use physical or verbal violence and acts of aggression in your arguments.
2. You cannot use fundamentalist tactics, such as those used by Exodus International, to convince our guest of honor.
3. There are to be no references to anybody’s mother.

MR FABULOUS (slightly flustered)
What? Yes. No. Oh, I don’t know. Yes, whatever you just said.

And our final rule #4. There are to be no references to Levar Burton, Reading Rainbow, Whoopi Goldberg, or James Earl Jones. The jury is still out on him.

Tonight’s winner will receive…a date with a famous black male celebrity…who is still in the closet.

And now, let’s meet tonight’s guest of honor. We’ll call him Mr. Anonymous-Gay-Black-Man-Who-Does-Not-Want-To-Reveal-Where-He-Is-From. Now, there’s a mouthful for you (winks at audience).

(GUEST OF HONOR waves to audience while his face is hidden by the “black dot.”)

MR FABULOUS
Alrighty then. Let’s meet our first contestant from Blythe, CA. She is the lead cheerleader at Ridgemont High, Kimmy Goodman!

KIMMY (enters doing cheerleader run. Pom-poms at hips):
Omigod, like first of all, I just totally want to say like I totally…um…support your people’s cause and stuff. Yeah, like I soooo have so many black friends and like I totally think that you should come out because it will like totally help your community. And it’s like totally ok. Like omigod, there should like totally be a like black Brokeback Mountain. Like that would be totally awesome. Totally hot. Like yeah.
Like it totally shouldn’t be such a bad thing to be gay. Like because blacks were discriminated against and I totally don’t think that’s like cool at all. That’s like totally bogus. And duh, it’s just totally not right to discriminate against gay people because they’re like black!

So, anyway, like omigod, I like totally made up this cheer for you. I like hope you like like it. It’s called the Queer Cheer. Wanna hear it? Here it goes…

MR. FABULOUS (clearly having had enough of Kimmy)
And so sorry, Kimmy. (Mockingly) You are like totally out of time. (To audience) Thank God. (Back to Kimmy) Thank you, Kimmy. Let’s see how well you did and check in with our guest of honor.

MR FABULOUS
Thank you very much, Kimmy. Your consolation prize is waiting for you backstage. A year’s supply of peanut butter. In memory of that famous African-American Plant Scientist, George Washington Carver. Not only did he develop a delicious nutty buttery spread. He was gay too!

And let’s bring in our next contestant, Mr. Jungle Feva himself, all the way from Chelsea, NYC. Let’s give him a big round of applause.

MR JUNGLE (enters, very campy)
What can I say? I have always liked my men like I have liked my coffee—strong, hot, and dark. And they ain’t lying when they say, once you go black, you never go back.
I think that our guest of honor should come out so that I can sweep him off his beautiful black man feet and take him off to my fabulous apartment in Chelsea where we can live happily ever after. I already feel like he is part of my family, my brutha man.

MR FABULOUS
OK. Thank you, Mr. Jungle. And let’s check in with our guest of honor. Will you come out?

MR FABULOUS
Good luck next time, Mr. Jungle. Just remember there are plenty of closeted black men left in the sea or in D.C. Until you find that Mr. Right, we are sending you away with our home edition of “Who Wants to Be a Drag Queen?” Hosted by none other than RuPaul, African-American drag entertainer extraordinaire

And now, let’s bring out our next contestant, Missy Jessup, a.k.a. Audry Lord, spelled A-U-D-R-Y-L-O-R-D, a wanna-be feminist black lesbian poet from Scottsdale, AZ.

AUDRY
We all gots to come out. It’s time to stop hiding behind gospel music and bling bling. You need to address the real thing which is the fact that you are as gay as the day is long. Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud. Say it clear, I’m Black and I’m queer.

MR FABULOUS
Thank you very much and let’s check in with our guest of honor. Will you come out?

MR FABULOUS
Thank you very much, Miss Lord. Your consolation prize is waiting for you backstage. To further encourage your writing endeavors, you will be receiving the complete collection of writings by…Langston Hughes. Gay and black is how we love them.

CONSTANCE (enters and drags block closer to GUEST OF HONOR. Sits down and leans in to GUEST.)
Listen. We got to have a little heart to heart here. Come on. We both know that you want to be able to be who you really are around others, right? You can’t really hide yourself from the world. It takes more effort to be who you’re not than being who you are. Loving and accepting who we are is the first step on the road to happiness. Living among those who love and accept us is the second step. If anyone turns against you, it will only be a loss in number. Quality is far more important than quantity. At least think about it, OK?

MR FABULOUS
Huh. Thanks, Constance. Let’s check in with our guest of honor. Will you come out?

(to CONSTANCE) Thank you very much, Constance. The dahlia lama is waiting for you backstage. Have a nice flight.

(to audience) That’s all the time we have tonight, folks. We hope you will join us next week for Come Out, Come Out, What-…

GUEST OF HONOR (interrupts and takes the podium over and delivers monologue)

MR FABULOUS (answering phone)
Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen…Mr. Fabulous’ phone. Mr. Fabulous speaking…What?...How many calls have come into the network?...But, it can’t be. This is my life. My love. You can’t do this to me. I made the show what it is…No (sobbing).

(Hangs up phone and turns to audience) It is with a heavy heart, ladies and gentlemen, that I announce our show has been cancelled.

CHRIS
My Space
Chris, 16 Filipino. Truthfully, I can be a little high-strung. I'm passionate about a lot of things like music, and politics, and...pancakes. I'm looking for someone who can mellow me out a little. Someone who is out for the most part and doesn't have crazy religious-zealot parents. Am I really asking that much?

PAIGE
My Space
Hi, I'm Paige. 5'7, fairly athletic, brown hair, brown eyes, and my favorite color is midnight blue. I don't fit into boxes easily, like I'm both down to earth and off in my own world. Poems, music, and tasteless humor make me smile. I am a romantic who's hopeless, and probably a hopeless romantic. I love sports, especially hockey, ice skating and lacrosse. I believe randomness is an essential part of life, and love spontaneity. Don't be scared to approach me, I'll only bite if you want me to.

ALASTAIR
My Space
I am linguistically obsessive and I love every nuance and idiosyncrasy a language has to offer. I speak English and Spanish and I shall be learning French next year. I enjoy stultiloquy as well as a stimulating, intellectual conversation. I am a man seeking another man who will allow me to be myself as I cosset my feminine side. I do not like to capitulate to society; I am as I am. I enjoy the simpler things in life. Remember, logorrhea is not always a bad thing!

ERIC
My Space
Name's Eric. I'm 15 and half Thai. I'm shy and laid back. Quiet but I can listen and love to help. People say I am a lot of fun and have a soothing voice. I am understanding and squishy. I am pokeable…but not that kind of pokeable. I like music and am athletic. Looking for a girl who can have a good time anywhere, doesn't mind holding hands in public and can let homophobic comments slide, most of the time.

LARENZO
My Space
18, male. Tall, sort of on the skinny side, but I’d say I look good for what I am. Laid-back, smart, and kind. I’m very funny and spontaneous kind of guy. You never know what’s going to come out of my mouth. BAM! Jesus loves you! See what I mean. I enjoy watching movies (Horror and Comedy...good mix, huh?), going out with friends. And I LOVE techno….can’t get enough of it. I’m looking for a person who can keep up with me. Someone who can either sit back and chill or go out on the town…and they must like or at least be able to tolerate techno. Is that too much to ask?

CHRIS
My diary
Chris 16. I'm clingy, with a massive fear of being alone. There are a few reasons for that too. I've cheated on 3 out of the 4 girlfriends I've had. I guess you can say I've had fidelity issues...I tend to hurt the people that mean the most to me just because I'm an ass. Then I mope around and brood when I lose them.

PAIGE
My diary
Hi, it’s me. I'm overly depressed, paranoid and jumpy. I get anxiety attacks from hearing sirens, especially ambulances. I have more emotional baggage than anyone I know, and I hide from the people I care about most. I'm manipulative and bitchy, violent and annoying. I have yet to have a relationship with a girl where one of us didn't cheat, and all but one was me. I can't watch some movies, hear certain songs, or even expressions, without flipping out because of their associations. Feel free to talk approach me, I'm probably doing nothing and am bored out of my mind.

ALASTAIR
My diary
An autodidact in many areas, I must confess that I am not a person oriented towards people. Whilst I do enjoy exchanging pleasantries with people, I must have time away. Too much time spent with other people can irritate and result in a lugubrious demeanor. Furthermore, it does require time for me to be accustomed to a given milieu and to befriend a person. Whilst I believe that I am free from prejudice, I am not a social butterfly, as they say.

ERIC
My diary
Eric. Afraid of clowns. Not really scared of them. I just think they are creepy. Don’t do well in big crowds of people. Can be clingy. I really hate being forward. Also have some major trust issues. Never really had a girlfriend. I don’t mind when people are very religious, but when they talk about it all the time, I just want to shout, “You can take your religion & shove it!”

LARENZO
My diary
Larenzo, 18. I don't like being touched. I tend to hide my true feelings and emotions from everyone. I may be borderline schizophrenic. It doesn't seem like it, but I am shy. I get this feeling sometimes that people don't really listen to me or what I have to say. I have trust issues and I'm very independent. But on the other hand, I hate being alone. I try to stay as happy as possible and try to be "me" as much as I can. No one really knows the "real" me and I don't let people get close enough to me to get know me. I'm the guy everyone likes as a friend, but nothing more. I try, I really do, but I usually fail and end up alone.

Press

Many gay teens are coming out at earlier ages
By Eun Kyung Kim
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Jun. 23 2006

Chris Krug had thought she was a lesbian from the time she was 8, but she felt certain after developing a serious crush on her best friend.

She was in the fifth grade at the time.

Krug formally came out a year later, as she started Ritenour Middle School. She casually mentioned it to a classmate on a Sunday. By Monday, students were shouting "Christina's a lesbian," down the hallways at school.

"It was probably not the best way to go about it, but it happened," said Krug, now 16. "It was tough for a few months and then people were like, 'Ah, we don't care.'"

Young people are coming out at earlier ages than they used to. In a society that increasingly promotes tolerance and diversity, many gay teens feel it unnecessary to stay closeted to peers accustomed to seeing openly gay individuals in school, politics and especially in the media.

To be sure, verbal and physical bullying are still a concern for gay teens.
Many say they still hear homophobic remarks from teachers and classmates at school, where "gay" or "queer" continues to be part of a common insult slung by adolescents.

But gay kids now have numerous Web sites they can turn to for support. And they find others like themselves represented on the big and small screen. While the gay community used to be portrayed as a fringe society, full of alcoholics and drug addicts, today gays and lesbians are shown as part of mainstream society. They are regular characters on popular television shows such as "Will & Grace,""Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and "Desperate Housewives." The first-season "Survivor" winner, Richard Hatch, is gay. And MTV introduced many of today's young adults to its first gay pop icon, Pedro Zamora, the HIV-positive roommate in the popular second season of "The Real World."

"As the representations of gay people changed from being somebody who was a bottom feeder to the girl or boy next door, it became increasingly safe for young people to identify those feelings. But they also realized that it could be them," said clinical social worker Caitlin Ryan of San Francisco State University.

Ryan spent the last four years researching lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender youth. Her study found that the average age of teens coming out was just over age 13, a slight decrease from the late 1980s and early 1990s, when teens came out between ages 14 and 16. During the 1970s, most gay teens waited until they became adults to come out.

Helping many gay teens shed their stigma and gain confidence has been the recent national explosion of gay-straight alliances, or GSAs, at middle and high schools. The St. Louis area has about two dozen of them, although some are under the guise of a diversity club, said Dennis Niceley, co-chair of the area's Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

The strength and presence of the gay community made it easier for people like Bruce Lindstrom to help create the Point Foundation, which provides scholarships and mentors to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth.

"Ten, 20, 30 years ago, they'd say, 'Here are some older adults helping these young children' and people would think, 'Oh, we're predatory, we're not just normal human beings helping other human beings,'" said Lindstrom, who started the foundation in 2001 with his partner, Carl Strickland. "We're seeing a shift in that."

But the recent boon of gay support groups, the popularity of gay student alliances and the depiction of gay teens in the media concerns social conservatives.

"There's definitely an absolute push in Hollywood, in the sitcom world, to really normalize and legitimize homosexual relationships and homosexuality. Because it's so prominent on television, we're talking about it more and there's more acceptance of it," said Alan Chambers, president of Orlando-based Exodus International, an evangelical organization that tries to guide gay people toward heterosexuality. As a result, Exodus created a youth component six years ago.

"We thought, rather than wait until they were immersed in a homosexual identity and wanting help, let's catch them before they have to make a decision," said Chambers, who as a gay teenager, said he was "devastated" when a guidance counselor told him he could not change the fact that he was gay.

Exodus is combating the proliferation of GSAs with "Truth and Tolerance" clubs and conferences intended to help youth pastors and teachers counsel teens with questions about their sexual identity.

Caitlin Edmonds, 18, dismisses such conferences. The recent graduate from Francis Howell North High School said she came out as a lesbian during her sophomore year after trying to date boys because it was expected of her.

"I didn't want to say completely 'no' until I had experienced it," she said. "But once I started meeting other gay people, I said, 'Hey, that's how I feel. This makes sense.'"

That's how Anthony Smith, 18, felt when he came out in his freshman year after struggling to hide his sexual orientation for years. Ultimately, he said, he got tired of pretending he was straight.

Smith said he had an easier time coming out to his friends than he did to his mother, who learned he was gay after reading his journal that he intentionally left out for her. The result was a yelling match that sent him packing to his father's home. He eventually moved back in with his mother several months later, but Smith said she still doesn't acknowledge he is gay.

"She pretty much denies it," he said. "At first, it was bugging me. I was like, I wish she would be OK with it, but I can't hold up my life because of her."

His life lately involves a lot of time with his new boyfriend. The two are
preparing to attend the second annual gay prom at the City Museum on July 8. Smith went to last year's prom and had a blast. The event is sponsored by Growing American Youth, a support and social group for gay teens.

This group will host a youth village at this weekend's Pridefest in Tower Grove Park.

Krug, who will be a junior this fall at Ritenour High School, also plans to attend the prom. She said last year's prom was so fun, she actually ended up dancing, a rarity for her.

"It definitely is easier to come out than it would have been if I had been
growing up in the '90s, for instance," she said.

But Krug said teens still have tough issues to face. She said she pays close attention to the debate over gay marriage and gay adoption and finds opposition to both difficult to understand.

"It seems that politics are taking a step backward when actual society is taking a step forward, and that's a little confusing," Krug said. "It hurts a little because I know that it might not directly affect me now, but I know that I'm going to have to grow up and deal with these issues.

"I know a lot of kids my age, including myself, who go to lobby days and talk to the legislators," she said. "It hurts that they're trying to label us second-class citizens. I feel like they're making assumptions about a group of people that are just trying to live their lives."

[email protected] 314-340-8116

Information Packets

Glossary of Terms

Myths and Facts

Ten Things You Shold Know

As American As Apple Pie: Second Helping A Full House to See Apple Pie A Second Helping

Press

Information Packets

Glossary of Terms

Myths and Facts

Ten Things You Shold Know

As American As Apple Pie:
Second Helping

A Full House to See Apple Pie A Second Helping