March 4th - Catastrophic Theatre's KATY PERRY, Bathroom Bill, and THE GREAT GATSBY

We start off talking with Joe Folladori and Tamarie Cooper of THE CATSTROPHIC THEATRE as they are in the middle of premiering Joe's hit show KATY PERRY CANDY DARLING MARY MAGDELANE. Then, Ethan Michelle Ganz talks with a transgender man who left his teaching job because of the Texas Bathroom Bill. Finally, Brett Cullum talks with Edward Staudenmayer about his marriage and touring with THE GREAT GATSBY. 

Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here.  Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond.  Check out our socials at:

https://www.facebook.com/QueerVoicesKPFT/ and
https://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/

Transcript

Opening And Episode Roadmap

SPEAKER_02 0:02

This is KPFT 90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FM Galveston, 91.9 FM Huntsville, and worldwide on the internet at KPFT.org.

Catastrophic Theater Joins The Mic

Brett 0:22

You're listening to Queer Voices, a radio show and a podcast serving the LGBTQIA Plus community for over five decades. Tonight, we have interviews with the Catastrophic Theater about their world premiere of Katie Perry, Candy Darling, Mary Magdalene running now at the match, and then Ethan Michelle Gann's interviews and ex-teacher about the effects of the bathroom bill and what that had on them as a trans man in the school system. And we close out with an interview with Edward Staudenmeyer from the musical The Great Gatsby, which is now running at the Hobby Center. Queer Voices starts now. Hi there, this is Brett Cullum, and today I am joined by members of the Catastrophic Theater. They are about to premiere Katy Perry, Candy Darling, Mary Magdalene. It is by Joe Falodori with songs by, well, Joe Falodori wrote it and all the songs too. And it's directed by Tamari Cooper. This show is going to be running 5th through March 7th at the Match Theater. I'm so intrigued by the title because Katie Perry, Candy Darling, Mary Magdalene, these are three of my favorite women, you know, in history, right? I mean, you've got Pop Diva, you've got Cult Cinema Icon, and of course Biblican, Biblical heroine together, right? So what is this thing?

Naming The Show And Its Icons

SPEAKER_06 1:48

Boy. Well, I can talk about why the title is exactly what it is, and go from there, maybe. It is the story of uh how I met Katy Perry in real life, and I pitched it as such. And uh Tamarie said, Well, can Katie Perry be in the title? And I said, sure. So we had one. I like threes, rule of threes in comedy, the Trinity, the Triforce, wherever angle. Three is my favorite number. It's a magic number. And uh so, all right, we got Katy Perry. Candy Darling had the same rhythm with her name, and uh I knew that it was going to in some way center around some of the music made about Candy Darling and her life, and not so much her life story, but details from it that have resonated with me. The song Candy Says by the Belvin Underground is one of the greatest songs, period, uh, of all time. And that was my second name. And then the third name, the rhythm was very important. So we had Katy Perry, Candy Darling, da-da-da-da-da. And so I went through names, and I also knew a lot of the show would center around uh um, there were a couple of musical pieces and then a very, very long set piece involving Mr. Belvedere. So Katie Perry, Candy Darling, Mr. Belvidere. We took out all of the Mr. Belvidere material.

SPEAKER_04 3:04

It's the peak side. We'll do that, like you know, some other time.

SPEAKER_06 3:09

I really think we cut two hours out of this show altogether. Uh anyway, yeah, yeah. But Mary Magdalene, the way they all the thread there, I think, is they're all iconic women who I feel have been viewed through many different lenses and are necessarily misunderstood and just but what they mean to different people, uh, just what an icon means, kind of. And uh it's you know, gotta be you can dance too.

Brett 3:34

So you've written this is a musical, right? I mean, it's I got a song.

SPEAKER_06 3:38

I think it kind of I mean, I mean, uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:42

I mean, here's the thing like we catastrophic, going back to IBP, we have in our roots history of doing shows with music. I mean, we do my musical, but when you think about things like even going back to our very first shows with Infernal Bridegroom, which was a rock opera called like in the under Thunderloo, okay, that had local rock bands like starring in it basically in in the roles. Moving on to things like we did the Kinks a soap opera, right? Then of course we did Speeding Motorcycle. Before that, we did uh the Hermen. We did Blue Finger. Bluefinger, right, yes, Blue Finger. So we have this history of doing shows that actually like have bite, you know, in the music. Like that it isn't just I hate when you go to see even something like Jesus Christ Superstar, I love the movie, but you see these productions and it's so like sanitized and the sound, and I I just we want something that rocks. And Jason and I had been talking about, you know, it's been since Speeding Motorcycle in 2019 when we've truly had a show like that that has really great pop music, really great sound, and um we've been talking about how we wanted to find a new original project. We were both in attendance of Joe's um band reunion show, The Math Leeds. And I've been a fan of Joe's music forever. Joe does write musical music for me for my shows as well, but seeing his pop show, which again, I I've been, you know, I have all of his CDs, um, and not all of them.

Music Roots And Loud Pop Aesthetic

SPEAKER_06 5:07

Oh, you don't you have a lot of them. I have like 60, so uh I don't know why I'm calling you out on being a fan. Sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

We were at White Oak and we were like watching the show, and it was so great. And Joe's a great writer um and has such a great sense of pop melodies, and his lyrics are so witty and so funny and so poignant at times. And I just turned to Jason and I was like, why are we not producing a show by Joe? Because he's also written scenes for me as well. I mean, he's a great, and so it was just one of those duh kind of moments, and we both ran up to him after the show, like all giddy. We're like, we want you to do a show, we want you to do a whole show, a whole show. And so um that actually did become a thing, and and um so in some ways we it is a musical, but it's a show, it's a it's a play with music, and it's great music, and it's at times it's loud, and it's just I love it.

Brett 6:03

No, I've seen the cast and I've seen some pictures of people, and these are not like typical musicians, are they? Yes, very well.

SPEAKER_06 6:10

Well, depends on what you mean by typical musicians, but everybody in the cast is a musician in one way or another. They're all singers, and I mean we've got we've got like rock musicians, we have like really classically trained musicians, we've got people who were very DIY, and Juan taught himself to play the flute just because not for this show, but like that's the kind of people we have. And I this is I don't know. Uh, there was a show I saw when I was a kid. What's the big one downtown? The big place with the Jones Theater, maybe? Maybe, maybe I don't one of the it was a big, big room when I was a little kid. Shockhead Peter, shockheaded Peter. Are y'all either of y'all familiar with this? I haven't talked to you about one of the biggest inspirations for the show, Tamory, the director. That's really funny. It was a puppet show, more or less. Um, but there was music by this band, the Tiger Lilies, so this trio accordion band singing, and it was this adaptation of these old German folk tales, very violent, old school. It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. And it was incredible. And I didn't know art like in a room with a bunch of people could be something like that. But the thing that killed me the most was at one point, everybody in the cast, all of the actors and a couple of the puppets started playing a song on violins and guitars with the band. That's something I've been wanting to do literally for 30 years. And I just think it's just, I don't know. Part of the show is how there's just a whole lot to every individual person, a whole lot of different sides to everybody. There's some fantastic actors who are also incredible musicians. They can, I don't, I don't know. Because it was fun. That's really the biggest reason.

Multi-Talented Cast As Band

SPEAKER_04 7:44

There's a lot of the people that maybe you would think of, or the theater people in town know of, like Jeff Miller, who's acted in a million shows and directed shows. He's also an amazing guitarist. And so we immediately picked him to play guitar. Juan Sebastian Cruz, again, everyone knows him as an actor. He also is an acrobat and a juggler. And he also happens to play like 15 different instruments. We really found when we cast it, we put together people that definitely everyone could play an instrument, and also many of them are great singers. So it's been fun. And there is one of the themes that comes out of the show is getting to see a band together deciding to make music and the dynamics that happen in that relationship. And Joe has written about the roles for these people all sort of ridiculous at times, but heightened versions of themselves, which is really fun too. But for me, it's great to see those inner workings of a band, and it's very funny. Um so there's a lot of comedy in in those relationships. But music is really the forefront of it. It is also very personal, and Joe is really sharing a great deal of personal truth and experience that is all tied together to his Katy Perry adventure of seeing Katy Perry in concert multiple times and meeting Katy Perry. Um, and that story is broken up and unfolds throughout the two acts. So it's very exciting. I don't want to ruin anything, so not gonna give it away. But when I read his first draft, I was like, I gotta get to the part. What's gonna happen? What's gonna happen? So I think I think it's a very interesting story. But yeah, at times it's very poignant. Um, and it is like Joe's really putting himself out there, and he is wearing all of the hats. He really is he has written the music, he has written the book, he is on stage the whole time acting, he is playing music, he's worked on arrangements. It's a tremendous output from Joe. Allie and I have made the the sort of comment that we are less directors and more midwives helping to birth this very personal production from Joe. Like to and and everybody in the room is is fully committed to that, like getting this onto the stage.

Brett 9:50

So I have to ask this. Are you a Katy Perry fan, Joe?

SPEAKER_06 9:54

Well, absolutely. Uh no, unequivocally, without reservation. Yeah, she's she's fantastic and she puts on a fantastic show. She's got hits, she can really sing. I wouldn't have seen her in concert multiple times if I wasn't a fan. I might have. I can do whatever I want. Well, yeah, yeah, obviously.

Brett 10:10

But tell me about the first time you saw her. I mean, because I know Katie kind of had this trajectory where she was more of an underground artist for just at least an album or two, like the You're So Gay Years.

SPEAKER_06 10:21

Yeah, no, she I first became aware of her back in the MySpace era when she was not DIY, but she performed on the warp tour before she got big. And before that, she had, I don't want to say failed in the music industry for half a decade, but she had been in the music industry for more than half a decade. She wasn't a huge success. So yeah, no, but she was she she I feel like she paid her dues in ways that people aren't aware. And yeah, I think she was a little bit of a hipster thing initially. She wasn't as my thing back then. I was very much into indie rock, snobbery, and looking down on anything pop music. But around teenage dream, a lot of that fell away. And I was like, this music is actually great. Like Katy Perry. Yeah.

Brett 11:03

Well, it's it's pop, it's confection. It's it absolutely is one of those things where you listen to and you just immediately it's glossy, it's pretty, it's it's consumable. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 11:13

It's not the only thing I would or could listen to, but like it's I don't want to say it's functional and serves a purpose, but it it really does. Like sometimes like you want and you need that. And like that fake plastic artificial music can lead to real emotions. And I don't know. That's not nothing.

Brett 11:30

You can't say firework, for example.

SPEAKER_06 11:32

I mean, great example of a pop song that can be emotional too. Absolutely, absolutely. With with an incredibly manipulative video and chord progression and it's part of one of the themes of the play, I think, is how a lot of cliches are that way because they're true and universal. They just happen all the time when we roll our eyes in them, but they can still hit you really powerfully. And you know, you're a firework, let your colors burst. That's pretty simple. That's difficult to misunderstand, or at least not find some interpretation that that lands. It's a gem. Katy Perry's great. I'm a fan.

Joe’s Katy Perry Story Unfolds

SPEAKER_04 12:07

I think there will be some people in sort of the more the music scene that Joe has been in and out of for many years now that will probably think of Joe as more of that indie musician. It is shocking, probably, for some people for Joe to earnestly be a Katy Perry fan.

SPEAKER_06 12:23

The people who knew me back when my band was more active and I was writing really pretentious record reviews. Uh yeah, no, I I like music and I like good music. Katy Perry has some good music. I'm a fan.

Brett 12:36

Well, Tamry, what about you? Uh were you a fan before this?

SPEAKER_04 12:38

I'm like, I guess what you call the fair weather fan, and that I like the hits, of course. I love good pop, and I um I've always been pop culture obsessed, so Katy Perry definitely has been in my orbit of it. Very happy with her Super Bowl show, for example. Gonna definitely catch it. What I'd love to at someday now that we've had this relationship, go to a Katy Perry concert with Joe, because that would mean a lot to me at this point. It would be really cool to experience that with him. I think part of that that magic of seeing her live too, because you are in a giant room filled with people who are all, you know, on the same vibe, like that that there is that universal thing that that brings people together. It's a great feeling to all be singing the same song at the same time and dancing at the same time.

Brett 13:24

But do you think that's what the spirit you're trying to capture with the show at any point?

SPEAKER_06 13:27

I mean, I feel like it is. I definitely I I I I a lot of the music that I write is pretty big, bright, and I don't know, I wouldn't say uplifting or positive, but like I would like at least in parts for there to be that communal experience of everybody in a room playing hearing maybe not a song that they know enough to sing the chorus to, but like it feels good to be in a room with music that's loud and people who are happy, whether that's a tiny little punk club or a huge arena. I like music.

Brett 13:56

It's hard not to like music though, isn't it? I don't truly try. I don't trust people that that say that. That's kind of like saying I don't like puppies and kitties or something.

SPEAKER_04 14:03

I mean, the same thing. How can you catch?

Brett 14:07

I don't relate. I don't understand. So what do you hope that people walk away with this from? Like, what do you hope that when they're leaving the match, what are they thinking about? What are they chewing on? What have you given them?

SPEAKER_06 14:19

I like a big universal pop song. I like the idea that there are things out there that can connect every person in the world and that we can all say, that's great. I like that. This world is a really good place to be, actually. I don't think we are creating that. I think what we're doing is pretty niche in a lot of ways, uh, referentially. I mean, there is a lot more about the Velvet Underground than there is Katy Perry in the show. It just kind of happened. I would love people to see this show and come out of it thinking, like, oh yeah, we're all the same thing. Person's really weird, maybe, and I'm identical to that person in all of the ways that matter.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

There's a lot in it about identity and assumptions and just finding acknowledging your own questions of identity and also accepting that and and it's very uplifting, I think, too. Your ultimate where we get to. It's very much you go along a journey, Joe's personal journey, but it is I do think it is universal because it shows you just coming out in a very positive way from that, you know. And and there's a very I don't want to say loving exactly, but there is like a pretty great message you have towards the end of the show, just about, you know, really trying, trying to understand other people so that maybe they can understand you and that we really are all the same. You know, there's a lot there's a lot of similarities between people.

Pop, Cliché, And Real Emotion

Brett 15:43

One of the running themes that I feel like has been going on with catastrophic, and it's something that I've kind of brought out in a couple of interviews and pieces that I've written about your company, is that it is about the politics of identity, maybe gender, really going into an odd sense of queerness and not just like a LGBTQIA plus sense of queerness, but just a queerness instinctively, looking at the world askance, view askew, if you will. So do you feel like this is gonna carry that? I mean, it definitely sounds like it's going to.

SPEAKER_06 16:13

Would hope so. I feel like it. I feel like that's why they're letting me do the thing in the first place. Uh, I remember a long time ago, I think it was uh Jason Nadler, the artistic director or one of them. What's everybody's titles nowadays, Tamari? I don't keep up with the theater. Anyway, he said that basically what the theater was about, what the shows we did were about were how strange it is to be a human being who is alive on Earth. And there are a whole lot of ways to come at that, but I do think that is a kind of universal thing. Like we all feel in some way or another that I don't know, we do not connect with the world. We're different. We are the other. And this, I think, is in line with that. I do think it it's got a catastrophic sensibility in a lot of ways. I did want to not do a show about suicide, uh, because they do, they do those more than other theater companies. Again, maybe I don't see a lot of theater, but I I really wanted as as much as I could to um, well, I do my own thing, my own sensibility, which has been heavily influenced by Tamari and by Jason and by Infernal Bridgrim and by Catastrophic, but to, you know, give something that was maybe positive and happy and my own kind of thing. I'm kind of a cheerful person sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 17:30

It's in the press release, so I don't think I'm giving away, but there is a quote about what about all the in-betweens, which is from Katy Perry saying that. And so that does go into identity and the larger expanse of queerness, like because not everybody fits very neatly into necessarily one of those letters. And that is definitely a theme in the show.

SPEAKER_06 17:49

Brett, you you might be able to answer this for me. And I really should know this because again, I wrote this play we're talking about. You know how Katy Perry identifies.

Brett 17:57

We is that a thing that isn't like if you had to describe her identity in a word, you know, that's really tough because there's points in her career where I feel like she maybe embraces a kind of pan identity, but then you look at her personal life and you go, hmm, this is a very cis white straight woman.

SPEAKER_06 18:15

You know, her her batting anchorage or her track record or whatever, you know, and in the way that we we look at her early career and the way she got famous, and uh there's kind of the question of how much of that ambiguity is a part of her career, you know, like maybe she's kind of contractually locked in to be a little bit of a queer bait. I don't know if that's an okay word to use or whatever, but I don't know. I as far as I've done, like, I do think she is definitely feels that she is a part of the community. I can't tell exactly what that means, but based on things I've seen online and things that I've heard her say at her shows, like, I don't know. Yeah, I think.

Communal Concert Energy Onstage

Brett 18:52

But but you know, what's what's the label? What's the word? It's really it's it's hard to define. And she was even on RuPaul's drag race last season and said that she was the one of the contestants' drag mother. So, you know, it's indescribable.

SPEAKER_06 19:06

There comes a point in any pop star's career, any female diva where they're kind of going after the queer market one way or the other, and an identity sort of forms around that. And Katy Perry loves us. I know that for sure. Whether or not it's because we're a cash cow or I don't know. I've met her, Brett, and I do think she is anyway. You should come see the show to find that out though.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

Yeah. We've got these little like, you gotta find out the answer.

SPEAKER_06 19:31

I don't think it's that interesting a story. So here's here's the honest to God truth. I wanted to put together a band for this show. If Catastrophic was let me gonna do a show, I was gonna put together a bunch of really great music and have the best musicians I've ever played with play my songs. And that happened. But the way I got that to happen is I pitched this Katy Perry show. So people have been amazing. And it is really cool to like say us, you know, tell my story in one way or the other. That's all an excuse to like hear Kathy Power shred on the marimba.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

In his questions of his identity, one of the labels that you will put on him is definitely position. I mean, you know, because Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_06 20:11

Yeah. I was gonna say gender fluid was probably the term if we were gonna do it. I I don't think that was that was mentioned. But musician is primarily how I identify.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

That's what I'm saying. It's like above all, above all, in your question of identity, the thing that is the essence of the show is the music. No.

Brett 20:26

Yeah, we're gonna go with musician assigned a birth.

SPEAKER_06 20:28

There you go. No, no, I actually transitioned into musician. Like it took a while until I my my music egg craft. No, I I didn't I've never had any lessons. I didn't I didn't study or anything. I just uh like I just music makes sense to me. That's the thing that's in my head the most. And music fan or music musician, either way.

Brett 20:49

Those are the people, those are the prodigies. You are musician assigned at birth, and I'm going with that. So I'll take it.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

I'll have to say that seems true. I mean, almost the whole time I've known you, it's definitely been coming out of you for sure, is is the music.

Brett 21:03

And there we go, coming out of you.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

I've known Joe for a long time. I've known him for a good chunk of his life.

SPEAKER_06 21:09

Yeah, more than half, significantly more.

SPEAKER_04 21:11

He was 17, so you know, long time.

Brett 21:14

Yes. Well, before I wrap all of this, since we're talking about identities, let's ask Miss Tamari Cooper, how do you identify?

SPEAKER_06 21:21

I can answer that.

SPEAKER_04 21:22

What are you gonna say?

SPEAKER_06 21:24

The straightest woman I have ever met, who is also the gayest man I've ever met.

SPEAKER_04 21:28

There you go.

SPEAKER_06 21:29

Oh no, that's I just pulled that out of my ass. I just kind of laughed.

SPEAKER_04 21:32

Obviously, I am completely straight, cis, whatever, but my whole life, I guess I, you know, it's it's lame to say, but like ally is really where I've been. I mean, I was raised as a child. My mom's best friends were all gay and lesbians, and I didn't really know that that was anything different than having brown hair or you know, whatever. It was just I knew what that meant. I knew that they were married or that. Partners. And so for me it was a big shock, like somewhere around high school years of realizing, oh wait, people have a problem with this, you know, like not really understanding that. And then being in the dance world and then in the theater world.

SPEAKER_06 22:13

I think you're I don't know if you were the first person I came out to, but like I think you're in the top five for sure.

Identity, In-Betweens, And Queerness

SPEAKER_04 22:18

Yeah, I was uh it was pretty early on. It was pretty early. So, you know, yeah. I mean, I yeah, that's who I am. Whatever. What's my assigned at birth? Ham, ham assigned at birth.

Brett 22:31

I I would say that that fits. Absolutely. Sure. We'll go with that. Leading light in the ham community, definitely. Right. Well, thank you both. The thing that I love about doing interviews with Catastrophic is I come in and I'm wondering, okay, what is this show gonna be about? And then I interview you and I leave going, I am just as confused as when I came in.

SPEAKER_04 22:49

So we didn't want to spell it out, you know? I wanna keep you in TV, we want you to come and see, but I guarantee you that there is definitely comedy, there is amazing, great pop music, and there is also a really moving story of Joe's journey in discovering his identity with the help of Katy Perry.

Brett 23:11

Yes, well, you had me at Katy Perry, Candy Darling, Mary Magdalene, three of my favorite women, and it is a musical play something by Joe Falodori with songs by Joe Faladori, directed by the ham assigned at birth, Tamari Cooper, and direction by Allie Villines, not villainous. We've got through March 7th, so that's your chance to check that out, and I will be there for sure. I mean, I always am, but hey.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

Yeah, great.

Brett 23:41

Looking forward to seeing you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

So this is Ethan Michelle Gans with Queer Voices, and we're gonna talk to a trans man who is a music teacher in Texas and see about his story. Alex, how are you? I'm doing great today. Thanks so much for inviting me to come on and participate. It's I I heard about your story, I heard what was going on, and uh I really wanted to give you uh this platform to speak about what's happened to you here in Texas. Um, there's been a lot of anti-trans uh legislation. In fact, we met uh in Austin uh speaking against legislation in 23. Yes, that's correct. So uh I've tried to keep up with you since then, um, and I saw what you were going through. Tell us a little bit about teaching music here in Texas.

Humor, Mystery, And Why See It

SPEAKER_01 24:56

So I absolutely love teaching music. I love being there for the kids. I love you, kind of get the unique opportunity to show kids that they have abilities outside of the things that are tested, outside of like math and reading and science. You get, for me at least, when I was in my first music classroom, I found a sense of purpose and I found that I was capable. I was struggling a lot with identity, family, other things. And as soon as someone put an instrument in my hand, I I never forgot that person because they showed me that I had value. And so I went into teaching music. I transitioned while I was teaching. I want to say that the people that I work with are they were extremely kind and understanding. And I wasn't physically pushed out or removed from a building, but the nature of my job, I was split between multiple campuses and also had meetings that were in antiquated buildings, let's say like 60 years old, probably, that definitely did not have a neutral option. And as stuff started happening where we'd have performances off campus, and I realized, you know, if I needed to go to the bathroom and not break the law, I had to leave and go to the gas station. And my admin and district were pushing me to take the kids to a state-level event. And it was in a government building. And I realized that because of who I am, I would never be able to take those kids the places they deserve to go. So I made the incredibly tough decision to step away since I had a very good recommendation, a person that I trusted that was going to be there for the kids. They weren't just gonna be left without music. And at the same time, trans people do a really good job of taking care of each other in Texas. So I was able to find somebody who gave me a really good recommendation. And I got a job in a completely unrelated industry, pretty much doing uh tech uh tech support for a financial company. It's been a journey because it's out of my wheelhouse, but it's my first job where I've had access to gender-affirming care. I've had access to doctors that understand because when I was teaching, the doctors that were in network just were not transinformed. I actually got turned away from doctors and specialists. So now that I'm at this job, it's like I for the first time I'm getting treated like a human, if that makes sense. I was my identity as a music teacher was always the most important thing about me. And the state of Texas passing these laws and forcing me to take a step back and really have to think what's best for my students, what's best for my my family. But it's been really devastating, to be honest, but I've had some good support because I am a passable trans person. A lot of my coworkers who started after I transitioned, they just didn't know. The parents, it was a mix of people that knew and that didn't know. But in the past, I've just had some really bad experiences with parents not being understanding, and just you can feel being a trans person in this state. You can feel how heavy the climate is getting. And I felt the water boiling and I realized I needed to get myself out, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Absolutely. That makes perfect sense. So just for the for the listeners, you're discussing the bathroom bill that came into effect. Was it December 8th?

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Yeah, it was, I think it might have been December. It was something early December, but it's like they spent the entire legislative session. Like I remember when that bill died, I signed my contract to come back. They tried to push it in the original legislative session, and by the time it was time to make the decision to come back or not, it hadn't made it through the pipes. And then they called a special session after this the school year had already started and they heard it at again at the same time they heard the the flood bill. And so then the penalties, too, like right before it went across the governor's desk and he signed it. If I would have been caught, like quote unquote, using the men's room, it would have been a$25,000 fine to my school district for the first time and$125,000 for each day that they allowed it to continue while schools are just being crunched for money so hard by vouchers and by our governor. It was just just like a perfect storm of things that made it not possible for me to stay.

Transition To Bathroom Bill Interview

SPEAKER_00 29:08

I understand. I too am a passable uh trans person, you know, which is surprising to me. But everybody who doesn't know me from before, uh, they they think I'm a cis man.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

It's crazy how hormones work because they definitely wouldn't want people like us going to the ladies' room. I'll tell you what, you know.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

I'm sure they did not think of us whenever they were making that bill. They were probably just targeting trans women.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Absolutely.

Meet Alex: Trans Music Teacher

SPEAKER_00 29:32

Like that that's the thing about trans men. We we a lot of times pass really well and people don't know. And and w us going into the women's restroom, I I mean, I got yelled at like like two years ago by a woman going into the restroom I was leaving. She yelled at me, You're in the wrong restroom. So, you know, I can imagine now, but Yeah, I've been I've been using the men's room for probably four years, and I just you can tell.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Like once you start seeing that people are getting uncomfortable, you switch. At least that's the trans male, the privilege, or just being a assigned female at birth person who takes testosterone. A lot of the time you just wind up passing with minimal effort, really. And trans women, unfortunately, don't always get that. Testosterone is just such a strong hormone, both directions, and people don't understand. We really can't control what we look like. We just want to go to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

We want the same things as other people. That's true. But they they definitely will not want us in there. But that's what this bill is gonna do. It's gonna put us all in the women's restroom. Exactly. I hope that if that happens, the women that are uncomfortable will get in touch with their, you know, lawmakers and let them know that this is uh not acceptable to them.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

I sure hope so too. But the idea of having to put myself in a situation where I'm just inherently unsafe and where it'll make other people uncomfortable, my world's definitely gotten smaller just because I've been afraid of those situations happening.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

And you have to be careful because you never know who's gonna uh think you're a cis man going into the women's restroom to bother women.

Teaching Joy And Finding Purpose

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Yeah, that's that's exactly what it is, too. I mean, I'm just I'm just trying to like people don't think about it. It's like you have to go, you have to go to a government building to pick up documents like the DPS or something like that. I mean, nobody wants to be there, but it's places we have to be, and every person on this planet has to use the bathroom. So it just it makes daily life so hard and it creates a lot of uncomfortable situations, but it creates dangerous situations, is the main thing.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Agreed. Agreed. So you like your new uh job, you said, and you're you have access to gender-affirming care. That's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

I I wound up getting a really good opportunity from a company that's based in a blue state, so they have protections for trans people built into their policies. They have a network of doctors and therapists that they put in their insurance that are informed. This has been the first time where I've gone to the doctor, and me being trans hasn't really been part of the equation since I transitioned, if that makes sense. Where I'm I'm just able to be seen as a person and access basic services.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Well, that's awesome. So, how did the kids take it when you were leaving?

SPEAKER_01 32:15

So you can't really talk about trans identities at school. And anybody who thinks that trans teachers talk about that is just flat out wrong. We're just trying to get our paycheck, be there for our kids. It's just we we happen to be trans. I never talked about it. And in order to make sure that my replacement was in a good spot, I they told me not to say anything to the kids and I didn't. So I actually didn't get to say bye before I left. I've had some parents reach out to me who knew what was going on. I did uh an interview with the guardian and some of the parents picked up on it. But the kids they showed back up from winter break and uh my name was off the door and there was a new teacher there, and they didn't get to say bye to me. Well, that's sad. It is very sad, but I just I wanted to make sure that the program and the kids were okay. I didn't want to stir any controversy like we've seen in Red Oak. There was that trans teacher, there was a bomb threat place after she posted a TikTok about how our kids supported her. So I just I did not want to bring any of that to my campuses at all, even though it shouldn't have been something I had to think about.

Bathroom Bill Barriers And Safety

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Well, I'm sorry you went through that, uh, but I know that you fight for our rights just as much as I do. Um I know that I've seen you doing that. So I've seen you speaking in legislative committee and everything. So I know that you'll continue to do that.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

I will, and I I've gotten some really cool connections. I have a pretty big uh Trans 101 event that's gonna be upcoming. So there are people that are waking up and that are seeing what's happening to us, and I've seen the numbers for the classes I do to just understand trans people better. I've seen the numbers go up and I've had a lot of churches and like democratic groups reach out to me. I haven't had to make any um like cold call type things in a while. The events I have on the calendar are because people see what's happening and they want to know how to help. And that's the first time I've really felt this.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Whenever we showed up to speak against the ban against trans children having care, we showed up 28 to 1 against those who were against our rights. And I knew then I knew then that we had we had a lot of people on our side. I mean, 28 to one, that's we way outnumbered them.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

You're right. I I did feel it that way too. But just like in my local community, I'm feeling it more. I mean, but we all showed up and it was 28 to 1. And I remember hugging moms of that had trans kids, and I remember telling them that I would fight for them. Still, things have declined and gotten so bad that all those moms I reassured that we were there for they've had to leave. They're not here anymore. Their kids are not safe here, and they fled.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

A lot of people I know have fled as well. But so tell is there anything else you want to talk about that you'd like the people to know about that's happening here in Texas?

SPEAKER_01 35:08

I think people just need to know that we we're normal people. Nobody would choose to go on hormones to be treated worse than everybody else. If we go on hormones or even if we transition just socially, it is something that is a necessity. It is taking what we have on the inside and it is letting you see it on the outside. And it doesn't change anything about who we are. And the treatment that we get just because we show the world who we are, it's just it's really brutal. It's been hard for me to see people crumble under the current conditions, and people need to act now and they need to stand up, they need to be better advocates, and they need to take some responsibility because the the person who got my job, the people that get the jobs of the trans people that flee, they're benefiting from this. So they need to be the ones screaming the loudest.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Well, thank you very much for sharing your story with us. I was I feel very honored that you let me uplift your story like this and share my platform with you. And uh, so that was Alex, uh ex-music teacher here in Texas. Thank you, Alex, and have a wonderful day. All right, you too. Thank you so much. Bye.

Leaving The Classroom, Starting Over

Brett 36:23

The great Gatsby musical is coming to the Hobby Center March 3rd through the 8th as part of the Broadway at the Hobby Center series. And I have Edward Studmeier with me. He is coming with the tour and he plays Meyer Wolfsheim. Meyer Wolfsheim is the underworld figure who associates with gangsters and gets Gatsby all of his money. So very interesting part. Yeah. Hello, everybody. Hello. Thanks for having me. Um first up, you did this role in South Korea. How did that happen? How did that happen? I don't know.

SPEAKER_08 36:55

Like it was just it came across, and uh I auditioned for it and I got it, and I got a chance to live in Korea for four months, and it was one of the most life-changing experiences of my life. I just loved it. I don't think Korea was really high on my radar at places I want to go to, and I absolutely loved it. I made some of the most amazing friends that I'll have for a lifetime, I'm sure. I I'm dying to go back. My skin looks amazing because you saw the products?

Brett 37:20

I get all my skincare from Korea.

SPEAKER_08 37:22

Yes. Like I I lost 10 years. Um great experience. The audiences loved it. You know, our producer is Korean, and he had this big hit on Broadway, and he wanted to bring it to his home country. And so it was it was great. And they treated us like royalty, and uh it was it was just a great experience. I loved it so much.

Brett 37:41

Well, tell me a little bit about this show. What can we expect? I mean, Great Gatsby, good gosh, everybody's read the book. You have to have seen at least one of the movies. Yes, I mean the book.

SPEAKER_08 37:50

Or we find out in the show who those kids who haven't finished the book when they're there with their teachers. We have a lot of uh student groups that come, and then when they start reacting crazy at uh what happens, then the teachers go, hmm, maybe you didn't read this book. Um, yeah, so everybody knows it's great. I mean, it's what we deliver is you really get your money's worth. That's what I thought when I first saw it on Broadway. It was like, my God, is this gorgeous and spectacle? And this is a big Broadway musical like we haven't seen in a while, and it's just stunning visually. The design is so beautiful. I'm wearing the most beautiful costumes of the Chow. She won a Tony Award for it. I mean, it's just stunningly beautiful. And it's this great story. We give you the party, Gatsby's wild parties, and then you get involved with these characters, and then the tragedy unfolds. And it's a wonderful night of of musical theater because you get the party, the excitement, and then you also get the feelings.

Brett 38:42

Well, did you have a connection to Gatsby before being cast? Is this something that you read or it was one of those books?

Passing, Risk, And Daily Realities

SPEAKER_08 38:48

I read it in I think it was like the first novel you got in the ninth grade. I it was my first book I read. It was short, but it was also the I remember me like it was like the first adult book I read. You know, it was like sex and and bootlegging and all these things that I've suddenly felt like, oh, I'm like a grown-up. And I I remember just loving the novel when I was younger.

Brett 39:07

It's always been one of my favorite books, and I feel really trite saying that because a lot of people say that. And I always want to have this more esoteric answer or something. But why do you think that we're all so obsessed with the Great Gatsby with this narrative?

SPEAKER_08 39:20

I don't know. Like I said, my I read it when I was young, and it made me feel a bit sophisticated and grown up suddenly. And like his F. Scott Fitzgerald's language is so beautiful. He just writes the most glorious sentences, and so many of them are quoted in our show. They they make for great lyrics and just great lines to say. So I think people just recognize them all, and and they're so beautiful. They're artistic and gorgeous.

Brett 39:41

The book, The Great Gatsby, has a lot to say about class, wealth, status. I mean, everyone in the narrative sort of chooses these things over love and a lot of times in the story. So, what do you think that that kind of idea or that theme says to the world now?

SPEAKER_08 39:57

Well, it says that we're still experiencing it, I imagine. It's very interesting in our production because uh our writer, Kit Kerrigan, she the book is set with like just the narrator's theme, and he's he's just narrating and he's talking about everything. But we have scenes where he's not in it. And it's it's coming from the woman's perspective. You kind of you get a glimpse into like Daisy's character and Jordan's, and everybody has a reason for behaving the way they do. This was the sign this is the way the times were. These women were forced to behave this way. Daisy's she would lose her child, she would lose her her status if she ran off with Eboth Gatsby. It opens a some sheds some light on what the reality is for people in those times.

Brett 40:40

Yeah. But it definitely seems like a hundred years later we may be back at that kind of a message or whatever of the extravagance and the big shifts between classes and all of these different things. It's a really wild to revisit this now and this world.

SPEAKER_08 40:54

I'm really excited to bring this all across the country. It will really speak to people. I think that our casts that we have assembled are so good. Our our Nick Karaway, um, Joshua Grosso is so, so good. And he's so good at telling the story and being our narrator and then having opinions about all these people. He's just it's a beautiful performance, and I'm so proud of this production. I can't wait to bring it everywhere.

Brett 41:19

Now I noticed your bio. It says that you are a recipient of the Carol Burnett Award.

SPEAKER_08 41:24

How about that? What is that? So Carol Burnett went to UCLA where I was we would have a competition, the Carol Burnett Awards, every year. I think we had like five minutes on stage to just present something. And so I did a mishmash of songs, and she used to come and judge it. She offered a scholarship, which I won, and I took that money and spent it on singing lessons. So I had like many weeks of free singing lessons thanks to Carol Burnett, and and then I've met her many times and thank her so much for g um giving that to me.

Policy, Penalties, And Fear

Brett 41:55

But it's a prestigious award, and it really only matters to people who you see. I gotcha, but that's amazing that you get to like basically audition in front of her for this scholarship. It wasn't the year I did it, it wasn't in front of her.

SPEAKER_08 42:06

She didn't ruin my dream. I've been like a judge at the Carol Burnett Awards when I've gone back.

Brett 42:12

So well, that's just a really amazing thing. And I grew what a great legacy for Carol. Um well tell me a little bit about how did you get into acting? What what sparked this bug in little Edward?

SPEAKER_08 42:22

I got cast in the music man in high school and as Tommy Gilas, and I just fell in love with it. I could I could probably say every line on that play, I know it forward and backwards. Um and I just got the bug, but I also played like football. I wanted to be like my dad's son and play foot. My dad was a football coach, and so I'm a pro player. And I did football in the fall, and I was doing both, and then finally my senior year, I I I quit football to be in the fall play, which won this big like competition. We got to bring it to Los Angeles to perform it. And then I mean my buddy, we got to perform in the this uh Dorothy Chandler offered a um spotlight awards, and we we got all the way to the finals that I could perform on the Dorothy Chandler stage, and so I got a scholarship from that, helped me get into UCLA, and then I went into theater. I just kept going. Right away, I was cast in Hamburg, Germany in the production of Cats. They thought the name was Staudenmeier that I'd fit right in. And they um so I I went out there. I had to learn to do the show in German. And then I work and uh I've been doing it ever since. Yeah. What did you play in Katz in German? I was deramtum Tage and Strap. I was a swing for those two parts, which was great. And in Germany, it's like kind of like socialized theater. You only have to do seven shows a week, and you get six weeks of vacation, and you go get docked if you're sick. So I was on about half the time. Yeah.

Brett 43:40

Well, this is this is so weird, Edward. I'm gonna admit that the first play that I did in high school was the music band. I was JC Squires. Okay. In the quartet barbershop quartet, yes. In the Hyde Voice. I did. I did back then. That didn't last. And I played Rumtum Tugger and Cats in a production. So there you go. We have these amazing weird. Wow. Coincidences here, but I did not get to do it in German. I'm sure it's a way different in German. I can imagine TSL in that.

SPEAKER_08 44:07

Yes.

Brett 44:14

All right. This is probably a first. I have never heard anyone give me a chance.

SPEAKER_08 44:21

I think I need to move to the United States and perform in a language that I really understand.

Brett 44:26

Miss Saigon in German, too. That that's a tall bill. That's that's tough. I thought Katz was tough, but oh gosh. All right. So I was gonna ask you too. Do you have any connection to the LGBTQIA plus community since we're on queer voices? Yes. I mean I'm I I'm I I'm I'm a gay man.

SPEAKER_08 44:42

I've been with my partner for t going on 29 years now, also a Broadway actor. Oh, he is too? Yeah. Tom Hewitt. He's the famous one of us. Oh tell me about what he's Rocky Horror Show. Do what? He was the Tony nominee for the Rocky Horror Show, and he was the Hades when it reopened and Hades Town and yeah. Dracula.

Brett 45:02

I saw that Rocky Horror. Yeah, yeah, you saw Tom then, I'm sure. Oh, yeah, no, I did, for sure. And that was like one of the first Broadway shows I ever saw. We have like way too many weird things going on. We're gonna have to hang out when I get to Houston.

SPEAKER_08 45:13

Well, how did you two meet, you and Tom? We met at the boathouse my first day in New York. I I was moving from Germany, and I wanted to get to New York, and I wanted to be there for my friend's wedding. And I knew the bride and he knew the groom, and they put all the queers and the actors at the same table, and we danced, and I thought he was cute, and that's how we met. And then a few weeks later, I was doing a production of Gigi at the Paper Mail Playhouse, and we were in rehearsals, and he came in for the lunch break and was auditioning for Jane Eyre. And I begged Robert Johansson, who ran the Paper Mail Playhouse like then, please give me an audition for Jane Eyre, even though it wasn't a musical, it was a play. I'm like, I'm a I meant I do everything. I I do straight acting too. And please give me a chance. And I I got it. I got like a small part and an understudy, and I was his assistant stage manager. I'd be in my my um Victorian costumes and Jane Eyre and I have a flashlight in my pocket and like have to like see everything was set up all right and then go out there. And uh we started dating on that. He was sexy Rochester, and uh, you know, of course. How could I not fall in love?

Brett 46:09

How do you guys juggle when you're both doing? I mean, I assume you do a lot of tours, you do a lot of shows out of town, the regional stuff. How do you handle that as a relationship? I don't know.

SPEAKER_08 46:19

Maybe mainly it's just kept it going for so long. We don't see each other all that much. Don't tell me that's the secret. The pandemic was when we were forced to live with each other for for so long. Yeah, I I I think we just we uh we understand what it's like and we support each other and uh it's it's worked out good. It's it's nice to have that person who understands what you're going through and somebody you always call. It's the first person I call whenever I get a new job or anything like that.

Brett 46:40

Yeah. Well, that's very cool. That's uh I I think you were the first person that I've interviewed that actually two actors together.

SPEAKER_08 46:47

Oh, yeah?

Quiet Exit And Community Support

Brett 46:48

Yeah. Usually it's like somebody like an actor and an accountant, or just you know, there's some kind of disparities. I wish. Why didn't I think of getting an accountant or a lawyer? Well, let's go back to Greg Gatsby for just a second. You play Meyer Wolfsheim, who I referenced at the beginning of the show. He's kind of the most ominous figure in the entire narrative. He's the one that uh kind of finally gives you the idea that maybe Gatsby isn't quite on the up and up with everything.

SPEAKER_08 47:12

And may have shiny as he as he appears, yes.

Brett 47:16

Correct. So, and that's a very tough guy role. And here you are, married to Tom, who played Frankenfurter and Rocky War, and you've done Rum Dum Tucker, and now you're playing Meyer Wolf's. Yeah. How does that work?

SPEAKER_08 47:30

Well, I I'm I'm a character actor. I tend to play a lot of heavies, a lot of villains. You know, kind of getting into theater, I being a little gay boy, I was always wanting to kind of cover that up and put on some sort of mask. And I think in getting in theater, you got to play such different characters from yourself. I mean, that's sad to say, and now everybody in the in today's world, you just have to be yourself, be yourself, be yourself. That's probably why I didn't stay in l LA and try to be a Hollywood actor. It just seems like they're just being themselves, and I'm I'm a character actor. I I and that, you know, no, to my own horn, I'm pretty good at it is being believable and doing some broad characters. I was saying my dad was just a big old macho man, um, and ex-football player, cop, and I didn't become him, but I certainly play him a lot on the stage. And uh so that's been helpful to me. I just yeah, I'm I'm a character guy. I just get lost in characters and try to make them believable, but also theatrical, and and that's what's kind of required. I think that's why I've been pretty successful at doing that.

Brett 48:28

No, it's interesting. I always picture acting as like a vacation from yourself sometimes. It's a couple of hours that you don't have to be you, and you can kind of leave everything outside the theater door, everything that's going on, and you can come in and enter this world, like a world of Gatsby, where you know things are very fanciful and over the top and all that, and you get kind of a vacation from yourself. And I think that a lot of people go into the arts, performing arts, particularly, because it does have that element.

SPEAKER_08 48:53

Because who could live in this world of like these tragedies and this depression and some of these things like doing The Girl from the North Country? That was such a sad, sad show. But like it's something you gotta put on that mask, and then you after it was over, then you gotta leave it. And you know, because you wouldn't want to live with that all the time.

Brett 49:10

Yeah, no kidding. Well, that's when the material gets a little dark.

SPEAKER_08 49:13

Yeah, just children of Eden, and it was a little bit too close. And I just remember like, why am I depressed? And I was like, I think it's because this play is just too it's bringing up too many themes that are um depressing me.

Brett 49:24

Well, I'll tell you something weird. I always feel like that my life kind of balances the opposite direction. If I'm in a very, very happy show when I'm off stage, I'm kind of like, oh if I'm in a really dramatic show, it's like all of a sudden my life kind of gets a little bit calmer and all that. It's it's very weird how it all kind of balances out. But I am so jealous because I'm seeing in your resume, fan of the opera. Where did you get a chance to do that? Almost four years I spent my fan of the opera.

Organizing, Allies, And Action

SPEAKER_08 49:45

I was on the tour when they did the 25th anniversary and they had redesigned it and brought it all across North America. So I did that for about two and a half years. Then I left. I went to do a production of the Shop Pacific, the Guthrie, and then the guy left on in my pot spot and I went back for another like almost two years. And it was great. It was a wonderful that was that I was so proud to be in that production. I was Andre, it was it was stunning, spectacular, humongous production that we traveled all over North America. I think it was like 23 semi-trucks traveled with that thing. It was huge.

Brett 50:16

Yeah, I know. That that show is a juggernaut and just impressive every time you see it. And that version was so great.

SPEAKER_08 50:23

It was, you know, it was redirected, rethought. So in in many ways, I thought it was so wonderfully successful. It really told the story. It was dramatically so fun to perform. I was in those manager scenes, which is a huge cacophony of so much going on in the notes and all these things, and it was just it was wonderful. I did I felt so I did some of my best work in that show. I loved it. Do you have a favorite role? I got it. I was uh uh the Scarlet Pimpernell got one of my favorite roles that I've got to do. I was uh I was an understudy, went on a tour, and then I've done it at a couple theaters since. And I gotta work with the f the famous Doug Sills, and I he was so good, and just I I I stole everything he did. He was great. I love that. I just I played Emile Debeck, I just did the mail. Oh, that was such a challenge and so wonderful, and a great sing. And early in my career, I was guest on Beauty and the Beast. Like I said, I played my my father, but my father actually did use antlers in all of his decorating. And so that was fun to be guest on. That was a great part. But another one of those villains that you love. It's honest one of the most memorable parts. I have the uh the act two opener, it's called Shady. That's the open that's the title of the song. So that's that's um hilarious. Um, and I love doing it. It's a great number.

Brett 51:31

Wait, is this that it's in this show, right? Shady? Yeah, Shady's in uh in The Great Gatsby. Yes. Oh, what an appropriate song. Yeah, it's the the double meanings, it's just endless.

SPEAKER_08 51:42

I'm a place to LGBT. Oh yeah. I think they tell fans at work, but I think they need to make a shady fan for sure.

Brett 51:52

Oh, absolutely. We're we're on that. We're the merch opportunities just seem endless. Well, let me ask you this too. Does do you have a favorite role of Tom's that you've seen him do? His Rochester was amazing.

SPEAKER_08 52:03

That's when I fell in love with him and it was so romantic. But no, Rock, the Rocky Horror Show, he was just phenomenal in that. I and I gotta say, Hades, too. This CB open Broadway with in his Hades was is spectacular. He still does it. I think he was just in it in like a cut last month or so. So he keeps bouncing in and out of that. Tom's done so many things. I I mean I don't know where to begin on all the terrific performances he's done.

Brett 52:25

Well, certainly you uh are no slouch looking at your biography, Edward Staltenmeyer. Uh you've done a lot. And we're excited to see you at the Great Gatsby Hobby Center March 3rd through the 8th. It's kind of a quick little run here in Houston, but too short.

Humanizing Trans Lives

SPEAKER_08 52:40

I wish we're staying with a wonderful family that I became friends with over the years. I was in Wonderland on Broadway, and we started out at the alley. And uh I became friends with this one of the stage manager's family, and and so every time I come to the city, they they put me up and they're they're hosting a lovely dinner for us, and we play tennis. So I'm excited to come to Houston. But we're excited to have you about this trip because we've been freezing our butts off before this. We were part of Snow Mageddon when we were teching in Baltimore. They had to put everybody up in the hotel across the street from the theater so we didn't miss any rehearsals, even though my Airbnb was like a mile away. It was just like Baltimore was not prepared for that kind of weather.

Brett 53:19

No, no one's ever ready for Snow Mageddon. But all right, well, break legs, and we will see you in the Great Gatsby. Wonderful. Thank you. Hi there, this is Brett Cullum. I want to thank you for listening to Queer Voices. Before we go, my husband and I, Lee Ingalls, we took a trip to Puerto Vallarta last week. And I know that the news now is cycling off of that and is focusing on Iran. But I wanted to revisit Port of Vallarta just because I know it is a special place for the LGBTQIA plus community. We've definitely been there with a lot of our friends in the queer community. It's definitely a special place for us. And I mean, don't you agree? It feels like a nice place to get away.

Lee 54:01

It does. Yeah. Very comfortable there. There's, you know, in the romantic zone, which is the hot spot for our community. Um, yeah, it's very comfortable.

Brett 54:09

Yeah.

Lee 54:09

For sure.

Brett 54:10

Well, and what happened there is that the cartel that's in the state that Puerto Vallarta is in, their leader was killed by an army operation. Now, this was completely done by the Mexican government. They had some intelligence from the U.S., but there were no U.S. military people involved. Right. It was, it was basically their act. And the cartels protested. And one of the things that we got nervous about was we noticed that the romantic zone was hit hard, as well as the centro area or the old town of Puerto Vallarta. They really targeted Oxos there. It was to kind of disrupt maybe the tourist experience, also make it hard for the army to move around. And it was very clear of that. But I mean, didn't you always get a sense that you were safe there before?

Gatsby Musical Interview Begins

Lee 54:54

Yeah, we I we didn't feel any imminent danger where we were because the hotel zone, which is where we were, did not get impact impacted by that. And as the uh event was running its course, we were informed that the um their what they were trying to do was impact the transport across the city, which they did. They were very effective and and shut down the um supply chains. So everybody was suffering rather quickly. Their impact was felt immediately.

Edward On Korea And The Role

Brett 55:20

It's important to note that the cartels, when they set these vehicles on fire or did these things to Oxos, they got everybody out before they did it. In fact, there was a gay couple who they were going to take some friends that were visiting from Chicago to go whale watching. And these guys came up on motorcycles, tapped on their glass with a gun, and said, get out of the car. They got them out of the car, all of them. And then the the cartel members took their car, drove it in the middle of the street, and then set it on fire, basically. But they didn't hurt them. They they had to shelter at an orphanage for a while, but they weren't hurt, which I was very thankful for. And that's something to be very grateful that nobody was actually injured or hurt that was a tourist. That's a statement. It's one of those things. I've always heard from my friends that they the cartels would never mess with the queer community or the tourists, but you have to be a little bit aware. It's one of those things where as a community we do need to look out for each other, even when we're outside and together in a big group in another country. Because anything can happen.

Lee 56:18

Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And it just kind of a shot across the bow. You have to be aware of what's going on around you at all times, no matter where you are. Yeah. And we were there, everything was shut down for two days.

Brett 56:28

They should have in the airport, they should have the uh restaurants, stores, and it was scary not knowing. It reminded me a lot of being in COVID or 9-11. It was just that idea of not knowing uh is definitely it was hard. And it was hard to see that. I hope that it continues to be a destination for our community. I hope that our community still supports them. I hope that do you feel like you would go back with a big group? I do. Absolutely. I would still go back. Yeah, for sure. But just be aware, take your precautions. I've signed up for uh state notifications. I think that helps. Well, that is our show for this week. I'd like to thank uh all of our guests. I'd like to thank you for listening. We had a really packed one. It was uh kind of interesting, and of course, we got to talk about our vacation a little bit, although it was a little more exciting than I expected. For sure. All right. Well, we will be uh talking to you again next week.

SPEAKER_02 57:23

This has been Queer Voices, heard on APFT Houston and as a podcast available from several podcasting sources. Check our webpage queervoices.org for more information.

Ghost of Glenn 57:39

Some of the material in the program has been edited to improve 30 and runtime. This program is source and go views or LPC or any code.