July 15th - Pride Banners For Montrose with Jack Valinski, Book fair with John Merullo, and A NICE INDIAN BOY's cast!

This week, Brett Cullum takes on three topics - pride banners, a book fair, and a gay romantic comedy. First up, Jack Valinski talks about bringing Pride Banners back to compensate for the removal of our rainbow crosswalk. When they go low, we go high! Literally! Then John Merullo talks about the 2nd annual LGBTQIA+ Book Fair at the Montrose Center! And finally, the cast of A NICE INDIAN BOY talks about their revival at the Houston Asia Society.  

HOUSTON LGBTQIA+ BOOK AND AUTHOR FAIR - at the Montrose Center from 10 am until 3 pm. 

A NICE INDIAN BOY presented by Aerial Roots Theatre Company: 

https://asiasociety.org/texas/events/nice-indian-boy

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

Welcome And What’s Ahead

Brett 0:01

Welcome to Queer Voices on KPFT Houston and also a podcast out there in the digital realm. I am Brett Cullum, and in this edition, I talk to Jack Valinsky about a pride banner district for the Montrose neighborhood. Then I speak with author John Marulo about Houston's second annual LGBTQIA Plus Author Fair. That event is free to the public and will be at the Montrose Center Saturday, August 1st from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Then finally, I talk with the cast of A Nice Indian Boy. It's an LGBTQIA Plus romantic comedy play that will be at the Asia Society Texas Center starting on July 31st. Queer Voices is produced by Bryant Plavinka, Deborah Moncree Bell, and me, Brett Cullum. And we start right now.

Banner Plan After Crossings Removed

Brett 0:51

Hi there, this is Brett Cullum, and today I am joined by a guest that I feel almost embarrassed to introduce. Jack Volinsky, you've been on the show so many times, an iconic activist, asked host of Queer Voices, and someone I often refer to as Mr. Pride. He helped lead the city into having a nighttime parade and formalize the organization that put it on. So thank you for joining me, Jack.

SPEAKER_06 1:10

Sure. Happy to be here.

Brett 1:11

Now the Rainbow Crossbox of Westheimer and Taft were removed by the city of Houston in October of 2025. And it was this move that manifested the idea to erase the LGBTQIA plus community from the Montrose. But now we may have another option. What is that? What are we looking at?

SPEAKER_06 1:30

So in 1995, when I was part of Pride, they got the Lower Westheimer Banner District. I honestly wasn't very much involved in it because it was one of the board members or somebody, I honestly don't remember who it was. But they went through the process. It was approved by the city. And that year in 1995, from what I remember or understand, was we actually had pink triangles up there on those poles between approximately Taft and Upon, I believe. And once that was done, we had a simple process of calling the vendor and saying, put them up, take them down. They couldn't stay up there forever. There was a certain time period of like maybe a hundred days that they took up there. And then when they moved to parade downtown, the people at Pry continued putting up the banners, but then I think they forgot about it, or there was a change in leadership. And then it just stopped happening. So either by forgetting or saying, hey, we're not in Montrose anymore, we don't need to do it, or money. It could have been money. And when I was actually walking from my house to where the Rainbow Crossing was, I was on the phone with council member Kamen, and she was talking about how we need to fight this. And I said, Hey, I remember we have a banner district that prided us. And this should be a really simple story. Unfortunately, it's not so simple or quick. So immediately I started trying to find out who in the city deals with banners and who at center point deals with banners because they go on center point polls. And it took a while. I kept getting pushed over to like the people who do sign ordinances. And I was pushed to planning, I was pushed to different places, and finally I found the person. And understandably, this is such a small part of one person's job in both Center Point and the city. So finding that person, number one, number two, they couldn't find the records of it originally being granted. They did find in 2002 that on the uh city agenda was an extension of the banner district. So we had that. They says, yes, it's valid, but what we need to do is to reapply for it since you don't have the paperwork, and you don't have to go through council because this is something council has to approve. Has to be put on the agenda by the mayor. So we all thought it was a simple process. But as we kept moving forward, I got to believe that public works, the engineering department, didn't even have an application of how this is supposed to happen, a process. So we kept going back and forth. And this started in October, back and forth about, oh, you need this, you need this, you need to have a map. I supplied them with two maps. They know we want one map. And it just kept going back and forth. And finally, somewhere in May, they said, okay, it looks like we got all the information we need. Just hold on, I got to go to my supervisor. And it sort of stopped there. So and in the process, the mayor at one time said, I don't think those that they ever used the banner district, which was not true. It also was, did Pride want to pursue this? And I talked to Carrie, Carrie Ann Morrison. I said, Are you interested in this? And she said, Yes. And I said, Well, since I worked for the city, I would be happy to work this process. And she says, fine. All along she was supportive of doing this. But it was just crazy it took this long. So somewhere in May, when the process stopped, we pretty much figured it went out to the mayor's desk. And somebody actually came and spoke at public session, Kevin Strickland, and asked about it. And the mayor said, Well, we're concerned that the city doesn't want to pay for it. We never asked for it to be paid for by the city. But council member Keman, as when she was still in office, says, I want to use my district funds to pay for the banners. And we said, Great. But then the mayor sort of said, I'm worried if we use city money that the governor will come after us because we're using you know city money for this. We never asked for it. He then volunteered to use his own money. We never asked for that. As it sort of got stalled in his office, I actually worked with six different council offices to try to get word back of what's happening, what's going on. And it kept circling back to the LGBT chamber. That, you know, like they had to okay this. And with all due respect to the chamber, they do great work. This wasn't a chamber project. Nowhere in the history was a chamber involved. In fact, the original banners got up before there was a chamber and or the chamber in the form it's in now. So we finally got to this point, and then the mayor, after Kevin spoke, he says, okay, I'm going to have a

Bureaucracy And Missing Paper Trail

SPEAKER_06 6:50

meeting next week. This was about three weeks ago. So in the process, I was talking to the council offices and their staff. And finally, they had a meeting, and Tammy from the chamber was invited, the chief of staff was there, council member Pantanelli was there, the chief of staff from Salinas' office was there, but Pride was not involved. And so as soon as this meeting, like I said, this guy is a long story. So I got right after the meeting, I got a call from the chief of staff of Salinas' office explaining what happened. And I kept saying, I don't understand this. Why is the chamber there? And why isn't Pride there? My name was on the application. My whole thing was on working in conjunction with Pride because they had the original banner district, which the city said was still valid. It's just that they wanted to have new paperwork. And it just kept going back and forth with this. And I think the mayor gets stuck with some things and sometimes just doesn't pull back and look at it. And then finally, about two weeks ago, we got a call and I spoke to, and I spoke to more people than I have before in the city, and in, you know, elected people and their and their staff. And finally they said, okay, Pride can do this, but we still needed the physical sign-off. So it was last Tuesday after I went to council to the public session, and so did Carrie Ann, thanked the mayor for all this work, and we finally got the paperwork. So now we still have to go through center point. And Pride decided to put out this press release, and that was their choice. I sort of wish they waited until we were further along. It's crazy because all the time I did work in the community, I'd either get the door shut or get things done or whatever, but it never took this long to get something. And, you know, we're talking the mayor always talks about efficiency. There was no efficiency in this. So we're now at the point. We're working with center point. We're working with the vendor to put the flags up. Our hope is it'll be up before the parade on August 15th, but I have no idea what the bureaucracy of center point is.

Brett 9:10

So there are there are actual physical banners ready to go up. Is that what you're telling? No. No.

SPEAKER_06 9:16

Because we didn't want to spend the money until we knew we could do it.

SPEAKER_07 9:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 9:21

But we're in the process of working with the vendor, who I already worked with, but let's get an exact quote. We have the design, it's the progressive rainbow flag, which was approved by the city. And so that's where we are. The vendor, now the actual brackets that have to go up is part of what the vendor is going to do. Those brackets disappeared because it's been like 10 years since those banners were up. So I don't know whether they fell off or center point took them off or whatever. So our thing was to try to get this done as soon as possible. So we basically focused on 10 polls from Taft to Matras. Once this gets up and going, we're going to look forward to extending it further down Westheimer if we can. It's going to cost money. It's probably not a lot of money, but we may, you know, Pride has the money to put them up. We may have wanted to do some fundraising to do this, to continue it, because it's it's not a lot of money. You know, you put them up and then it's going to cost money to maintain them, and eventually they'll fade, and we'll have to put different ones up there. And in the meantime, the funny thing is that Pride had already put banners up downtown on the downtown district's banner system. And the downtown district allowed them to do it. So the banners, there were pride banners up this year. But this is really just something that should have been handled like in a couple weeks. But it took this long. And you know, we're putting up basically rags on utility polls. This is like the biggest thing. We're not solving the fact that we don't have a non-discrimination ordinance, and there's a lot more important things to do. But I think what this does is, and I remember this afternoon Pride every year, or even doing the radio show, every once in a while you get a phone call from somebody who has no connection to the community, who's young, who may be sheltered by their family or their religion, and saying, I didn't know there was a community out there. And as much as we think we've made progress, that's that niche is still in our community. There may be some young person riding on the N2 bus, coming into Montrose and seeing those banners up there, which may say, Hey, there may be a there may be hope for me.

Brett 11:44

No, it's a great symbol. And obviously with the crosswalks removed and we don't have a lot of just physical representation. So it's it's interesting to think about this. But if they do go up before August 15th or in the month of August, how long would they stay up? Would they stay up for a while or would they?

SPEAKER_06 12:04

We will keep them up for a couple of months, hopefully through October, which is history month. I honestly don't know. I never even asked that question, but we will get that answered about what the cycle is, how long they can be up there. We will hope to be able to maybe do some other things than just that, you know, just the progressive flag. We like I said, we hope to extend it, but it's like let's just get the first step done. And and I gotta say that working with Carrie Ann at Pride has been an incredible process. And one of the things I actually sat down and talked to her a couple weeks ago for a couple hours, and I saw in her the idea

Mayor Confusion Over Funding

SPEAKER_06 12:45

that how we move forward, that there is like a plan. And this sort of goes on this whole thing with the interview, but I don't think we have in this community a system of how to train leaders or how to train people beyond boards and what the responsibilities are. You can start an organization, but it keeps us just as much work to keep it going, to move the needle. And I'm not sure I see that, and I'm not trying to point the finger on anybody, but maybe there isn't a vision there because we've been beaten down so much by losing our simple symbol of Rainbow Crossing, of losing the referendum numerous times of getting a non-discrimination ordinance. We have the federal government coming into our into the community and killing people. It's a whole thing about not only our community, but moving all communities forward.

Brett 13:44

Yeah. And when you speak about Carrie Ann, we're talking about Carrie Ann Morrison, who is the president and board president of Pride Houston 365, just to clarify in case anybody doesn't know Carrie Ann and what her role is with this, obviously.

SPEAKER_06 13:57

Yeah, and you know, Carrie Ann came in from somewhere else, and I don't think she was hindered by some of the problems in Pride in the past, and I think she wants to move forward. I'm hoping to convince her to have a couple public meetings where people can discuss what they would like in Pride. I noticed when the parade was canceled. Strangely enough, though, if the parade was going to happen on its normal day, it would have it didn't rain. Of course. Yes, it's the first time the parade was canceled because of rain. But considering how many years the parade happened, this is pretty incredible. But I'm hoping, you know, when it was announced, basically Pride was given three Saturdays in August of when they can have the parade. And I know there's a number of people in the community would like to see it move to October. And I'm not speaking from Pride, I'm speaking as a as a person been involved in Pride in many years. And there's a couple of problems with that. First of all, there's so many things that happen in October in the city because the weather's so nice. And I was always a traditionalist saying we need to have the parade on the anniversary weekend of Stonewall. But it's gotten much hotter in June than it has before. And, you know, there's a lot of people who are older who just don't want to be out in that weather. So, you know, I don't know what's going to happen, whatever, but I hope we have a community discussion on this.

Brett 15:30

I think it's important because I think a lot of people, there was a lot of ire about moving it to August, which uh frankly sometimes is hotter than June if you can bleed it here. But they really weren't given the option. I mean, there really wasn't like uh, oh, well, you can have this because, like you said, October, everybody's trying to get October. It's already booked. And we're talking about an event that's being rescheduled.

SPEAKER_06 15:56

What was really interesting, and you know, usually I go up there and I'm talking about things that the mayor doesn't support or wish he would support, but this time it was a thank you talk. And the mayor was very friendly, and he talked about the fact that he was in the first pride parade. And I think He was that's what he says. And I'm not gonna I'm not gonna argue that he wasn't. Now, was he with another group? Was he with the Democrats? Was he whatever? But he was he said he was there. And he talked about how nice it was to have it in the community, and that it was a neighborhood parade. And I was very much against when they moved it downtown that they didn't have an open process in that. Like we had an open process in going to the night parade. But the reality is it's it outgrew Montrose. No two ways about it. Number two, there's no place in the Montrose where you can have a large festival. And I know that because we worked for many years, and we may find a vacant lot that we can have in the festival for a couple years, but then the third year it's being developed. I think Pride is open to having some type of event in June to commemorate Stonefall. And, you know,

Designs Costs And CenterPoint Logistics

SPEAKER_06 17:10

this is all just talk, nothing set in stone. But I'm glad to hear that they're at least open to discussing it.

Brett 17:17

And I think it's an important discussion to have just because of the logistics of the summer in Houston, and it is getting just hotter and hotter. But, you know, global warming, not a joke.

SPEAKER_06 17:31

Well, the other thing was in my day, we had to deal with two entities. We had to deal with the police department, we had to deal with tran traffic and transportation. And because there was two MLK parades, they pretty much didn't bother with us. And, you know, after the parade, I'd wait a couple weeks and I'd call the police department and I'd call traffic and transportation and say, hey, did we have me to meeting? Were there any problems? And usually the answer was no. Nowadays, doing a parade like this involves so much more because of the threat of any large event that happens anywhere, let alone an LGBT event. And the fact that it cost HPD tons of money to have you know people watching on the top of those buildings, on the on the sideways and stuff like that. And it takes a lot more work for the city to put on this parade. So I I understand that aspect of it.

Brett 18:30

Yeah, it's definitely not as easy as assembling people and having them just go down the street. It's it's a lot of logistics, it's a lot of street closures, it's a lot of security, it's a lot of different things. I mean, I think that people think of it as a more simple process than what it is. But in a city this large.

SPEAKER_06 18:49

And some of the sponsors are walking away. Now I hear that I believe it's Tampa or St. Pete have closed down their pride, too suddenly shut it down. I know there were problems in Long Beach, California, but that may have been an internal problem. I don't know. But something that we've had enjoyed for 50 plus years is not necessarily saying that it will continue to happen in some of these cities. On the other hand, what's really interesting is a lot of these smaller cities and towns are having pride events. I mean, where I grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, there was an event in Scranton, there was an event in Wilkesbury, in Stralsburg, and some of these cities you never dreamed of having prides. So that's a positive step, but we also need to have it in our bigger cities.

Brett 19:40

No, absolutely. So we are looking at in the summer, coming up, August 15th, obviously, the rescheduled Pride Parade, Houston. So there we are. That's gonna be that one. And hopefully the banners. Do you think that you can get the banners up by then? I mean, is that gonna, is that a realistic thing? There's there's a possibility.

SPEAKER_06 19:57

I will be you know, the the other part of this whole process was trying to work within the system and not going out there and screaming that, hey, we need to get this done. They're not working on it. And and I think that would have backfired if we did that approach. I'm gonna continue to work with center point on a professional level and get it going. Um, we're already teeing up, getting them printed and working with that the vendor who puts them up to be ready to go once center point says yes. You know, we may have rain that may delay it. We may have water. When we get them up, we're gonna have a big press conference, and we will invite the mayor. So, along with some of the other people. I can't say enough for Abby Kamen's district uh council district office, and then it transitioned to Joe Pranzanelli. Saninus's office was was incredible, also. So it wasn't I did a lot of work on this, but it was a lot of other people along the way that helped out.

Brett 20:58

It's nice to hear that the mayor was pretty supportive. I think I questioned some of that after the Rainbow Crosswalk incidents because obviously juggling a lot of political hot potatoes at one time.

SPEAKER_06 21:09

Yeah, I think we

Pride Parade Timing And Safety

SPEAKER_06 21:10

were very disappointed because as soon as the word came down from the governor's office, it was like immediate. There was no like, hey, let me talk to the governor, hey, let me, you know, do this. And, you know, I think sometimes he jumps the gun on things rather than saying, hey, is there a way to work on it? Now, you know, his argument was we could lose $100 million worth of money that comes through the governor's office or from the federal office to the governor's office. The day he said they have to come down, they were coming down, no matter what we did. But I'm glad the community worked in bringing the attention to it and coming to council and doing what they can and painting the sidewalk with chalk and all the other stuff that they did.

Brett 21:56

Bless the people that did the building decoration. And all of that. I mean, it's still that that intersection still feels pretty much representative.

SPEAKER_06 22:05

Yeah, and El Paso, El Paso actually took their decorative street uh lamps, their their uh uh street lights, and put put rainbow stuff on. I think we could have done that some other stuff, but this is where we are, and hopefully we'll be moving forward.

Brett 22:21

Well, it sounds like we're moving forward on August 15th. Sweaty with banners up in the air, hopefully. So there you are. Yes, yes. We're gonna have our fingers crossed. But nice to know that the city is okay, and now you're just working with center point and figuring out how the the logistics, if you will. Well, thank you, Jack. You know, you do so much for us. I feel like uh historically you have, and now you're kind of continuing to do it. You never get a break. So there you are, still going forward with all of this. So thank you from all of us. Well, thank you.

Author Fair At The Montrose Center

Brett 22:59

Hi there, this is Brett Cullum, and I'm here with John Marulo. He is a Houston-based author who has created the Brimmerverse. More on that later, but we are here to talk about the second annual Houston LGBTQ plus Independent Author Fair. Now, this is going to be held at the Montrose Center on Saturday, August 1st. It lasts from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., and it is definitely open to the public, and you'll get to see more than a dozen authors that are from the community. So welcome, John. Thank you for having me on, Brett. So, what made you want to start this initially? Like two years ago, what made you want to have an independent author fair for the LGBTQ writers?

SPEAKER_08 23:40

I published my first book in 2023, and I started making the local independent author fair circuit. And I found that while the general public is for the most part very welcoming of different authors, in some areas, particularly one that I went to that was some distance from the city, people would find that I had gay characters, not even that I was gay, but that I had gay characters in my book, and they would politely excuse themselves and walk away. Or they would ask questions about characters indicating that they thought that they would be like real people who are not known as being LGBTQ allies. Oh no. I think that was diplomatically put. And t-shirts would be worn by people walking around that were like, you frightened me.

Brett 24:41

Yeah, no, I get it. And and I think that the further out you go from the inner city, I think that that it it ratchets up a little bit. I mean, obviously. And I think that books are about finding your audience. And there is a certain magic to that and uh skill that you have to get them to the right places. I've always wondered, and and it's just a general question, how do new authors even get published these days? I mean, it's wild. What was your journey like?

SPEAKER_08 25:05

Well, I started my first book in 2018 as just for fun. I started writing a book during NanoRimo, which was National Novel Writing Month, which no longer exists, but that's another story entirely. Uh it was in November of 2018. I had a dream and thought, oh, that'd make a great idea for a book, and just started writing it. And just happened to be the beginning of November. I sat with my book for a very long time. I re-edited it, revisited it. I was a librarian for many years. I that they we like to say you're always a librarian when you are one. I will admit I was a little hesitant to do self-publishing because self-publishing was not always thought of well, shall we say. It was a even ten years ago, self-published books were look on with some scorn in some circles because, oh, well, that person couldn't actually get published. No, it's become very different. Self-publishing is not necessarily because one can't get published by a traditional house, in some cases, it's wanting to have more freedom over your work. And in other cases, it's understanding that while your book may be very, very popular among a certain demographic, it might not be a major widespread mainstream hit. So you have to so it occurred to me that self-publishing was going to be the best way to get my books out there in person for people to read. So I uh went through I went through a self-publishing company, and I was very happy with the product, and I've published two of my books so far.

Brett 26:57

There are two books in, and it's a series, correct?

SPEAKER_08 27:00

Yes, that's correct. Projected seven book series. I have five completed drafts. So there are three books that will that have been written at least in the first draft and will be published at some point, and then two more that I have yet to write that I have mapped out in my head.

Brett 27:18

That is wild that you've got seven books in you already. Now, what was the name of the first two that are published that are available in case we want to go look for them?

SPEAKER_08 27:25

They are Behold All the Dwellers Upon Earth, and the second is

Why The Fair Exists And Genres

SPEAKER_08 27:30

Most Heartily We Beseech Thee. I'll say those titles again because they are mouth, they are both mo a mouthful. Behold all the dwellers upon earth is volume one. Volume two is most heartily we beseech thee.

Brett 27:47

And what's the quick overview of what they're about? There is one.

SPEAKER_08 27:53

Yeah, it's we've you and I have talked about my books before, so I know that you know that it's a bit complicated, but the Brimmerverse series is about a different world where very much like our own, where some people have supernatural abilities. It's fantasy, of course. And one in particular, Nathan Brimmer, decides to use his to help try to make the world a better place. And it's what happened, it's the story of the the Brimmer family, hence the Brimmer verse. And I I am my own fandom. And I and the characters just went from there. His twin sons, David and James William, are the two characters everyone connects with. They are the most powerful of them all, and they know things that other people don't know. And they tell their father, okay, you have to do this, you have to listen to us when we tell you things. They tell them that when they're five. So it's as a five-year-old does. As a five-year-old does. And they are and they're they are the characters everyone connects with, it seems, and that's totally fine. I like I like it that way. They're they're my favorite characters to write.

Brett 29:03

Now your books are fantasy, but this event that's coming up in August. What types of authors come to this event? I mean, is it a it's a variety?

SPEAKER_08 29:12

It it is indeed. We have we have authors who write their fantasy is quite possibly the most common because I think there's always that connection between queer people and fantasy that is always going to be there because we all want the world to be better. But so there is uh fantasy is definitely the most common, but we also have uh historic fiction, biography, cookbook, poetry. Let me see. This year we have the children's book author for the first time. We did not have one last year, so that's really cool. We have really a variety. Some are more uh fiction and nonfiction. It is you know just a general work of uh liter of literary presence, I guess.

Brett 29:56

Yeah, but that's a that's a mouthful too. Literary presence. It is.

SPEAKER_08 29:59

I'm good at that.

Brett 30:02

Well, I went to the first one, obviously. I actually I helped one of the authors with their their booth, and I was so impressed with the variety of people. Like you said, poetry. I mean, I I walked out with a book of poetry, you know. I it was just amazing that there was that breadth. And just like our community, I think there's a lot of different things and a lot of different interests and a lot of different expressions, if you will. So it's it's been interesting to see that. What do you think it's like for people attending? I mean, what do you want people to get out of this?

SPEAKER_08 30:29

Well, I want people to be exposed to new writers that they might not be able to connect to otherwise because they may not be as readily available. You know, my books are in the public library because I know uh because they're in the local author collection, because I know how to I knew how to do that because I used to work for them, but they're

Self-Publishing And The Brimmerverse

SPEAKER_08 30:50

not necessarily going to be in the public library or at Barnes and Noble because they're, you know, unless people specifically ask for them, they they aren't going to be. So, and they might be hard to find on something like Amazon. So this is a way people can find LGBTQ authors they may not have been able to find otherwise, also to support local authors, which is a very uh which we have a lot of wonderful talent in the Houston community. One of our authors is from Austin, but all the rest are are are Houston area authors. And that it's just really great to be able to support local authors and and their and what they do.

Brett 31:28

It's amazing that we have all of this local talent. I mean, I see it all the time in other art forms as well, but it seems like the authors really it's it's fascinating to see how many we have. What do you think it takes to write a book? I mean, do you think it does everybody have a book in them, or is it just one of those things? I mean, what would you what advice would you give to somebody that said, hey, I want to write a book, but I don't know where to start, or I've got this idea and where do I go?

SPEAKER_08 31:56

It it took me a long time. I have always wanted to write books since I was little. I the dedication to my to my second book is to my mother, and I say the first person who knew I was going to write a book. And that's been always something that I've wanted to do, but I felt that I I part of it was I could never focus. What worked well for me, honestly, was having this uh that referred to National Novel Writing Month. It's now called Novel November, where you are where the goal is with within the month of November to finish writing a 50,000-word novel. That worked really well for me because it I was able to track my progress really well and had a definite goal in mind that, okay, this is this is how much I have to write to get this done by this day. I participated in events like that five times, each of my five books, and three of the times I did finish within November. The first I just was going in totally unprepared by the seat of my pants, as it were, and it didn't I I finished it in January. And then the second one, the fifth one was uh this most recent one. It took me a while afterward. That uh that really is, I think, to just to be able to have that framework is very helpful. Now, for other people, it might be they may be disciplined enough just to say, okay, I'm going to write every day from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. or something. I know that doesn't happen for me. I my life's a bit more unpredictable. As to whether everyone has a book in them, that's kind of hard to say. Uh I think a lot of people do, but you know, I don't then there are many people who just would never want to try writing. So, you know, I think most people do have something creative in them and they just need to find a way to hone it and unleash it.

Brett 33:47

Well, and of course, Saturday, August 1st, you get to see a lot of people

Writing Routines That Finish Drafts

Brett 33:50

that have a lot of discipline and obviously produce a lot. And you're you're holding this with the Mantra Center, of course. And and thankfully, in August, where it's an indoor event with air conditioning.

SPEAKER_08 34:00

Yes.

Brett 34:01

Thank goodness. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's so funny. It is so funny because this year you plan this to not be during Pride Month, but ironically, you're in Pride Month because we moved the Pride thing. So there you are.

SPEAKER_08 34:17

There we go. Yeah. Uh there's so much that goes on in June every year that I figured if we had an August, if we had it a little later in the summer, it might have less competition. And it still does, although there are other things going on that day at the Mantra Center. But it does have, but it it makes a little easier. Also, I find that you know people don't necessarily have a lot to do on an August Saturday. And, you know, who wants to be outside in uh in Houston in August? So having an indoor event is great. And in fact, as of today, as of my of my uh recording this, uh, we are in a larger room. We were in room one. We were in room 111, I believe, last year or 112. We're now gonna be in room 106, which is a larger room. You are the first to learn of that. Uh I'm actually having a chance to tell I haven't had a chance to uh send the email to the other authors just yet, but that will happen today. So yes, we are gonna be in a larger room this year, easier to get into also. It's right by the main, right by the elevators and by the main entrance. So I think we will have a lot of uh a lot of people finding us. We've had we've got some, we've we have a couple of partnerships this year with other other organizations, Montreal Center, of course, and the Harris County LGBTQIA commission. And this year our we have one more partner, and that is my former workplace, the Houston Public Library.

Brett 35:46

Very glad they will be there. That is amazing. Way to expand that one. You know, what do you think? Just I I know I'm talking to a librarian, but

Why Queer Stories Need Books

Brett 35:55

why is it important to our community? Why are books important to the LGBTQIA plus community?

SPEAKER_08 36:00

Well, I know when I first came out, which was in the last century, uh, when I was very young, you know, before we had the internet, uh, that was the way we found out we found out about being gay. And while we can still find we can find basic information more easily, this is how we find our stories, how we find who we are as as people. And the LGBTQ experience is not monolithic. It is very diverse, and it allows us to find different ways that people have found that they, you know, have found themselves and that it in their lives. In my books, the cat several of the characters are gay. In the later books, we have some lesbian and trans characters and uh as well. And it's in their lives, it's very much treated as just matter for the course, but it's I remember saying in one in one of the books that takes place in a bit in the future, it wasn't always this way. We used to have to be very careful. And it's important that our stories are known and that our stories are told and that other people get to read about them. And of course, we even we even welcome straight people.

Brett 37:24

We're not gonna check your guard at the door. Right. You are more than welcome to buy a book. Absolutely. Well, the great thing is this is a totally free event to anybody that attends. So Montreal Center, Saturday, August 1st, 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. So totally air conditioned, bunch of authors that offer a bunch of different genres. Really great. I'm I'm so glad that you established this because it's such a nice way to build a community within a community. It's like you can kind of see the LGBTQIA plus community, but you can also see the authors of that community, and they kind of create their own little world, their own little verse, if you will, like a River Verse. Yes. Well, thank you, John. I appreciate you telling me all about this and your inspirations. And we will see you on Saturday in August, the first Saturday.

SPEAKER_08 38:14

Thank you very much, but I appreciate it. Take care.

Support KPFT With A Donation

Deborah 38:24

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A Nice Indian Boy Revival Setup

Brett 39:19

Hi there, I am Brett Cullum, and in April of 2025, Shania Theater presented a nice Indian boy for only three days at the match. Now it sold out every performance. And now the play from Madhuris Shikar will get a revival brought to us by a new company, Ariel Roots Theater Company. And it's gonna be at the Asia Society, Texas's Brown Theater, which is a wonderful space, from July 31st to August 9th. Now, they're bringing back almost all of the original cast, save for one. They will all be back on board for this revival. And just to remind you, the play's premise is uh that a meat cute at a temple results in a romance between Naveen Gabaskar and Kishav, a Hindi-speaking Bollywood-loving man who happens to be white. And as the love story unfolds, the Gavaskar household must also brace itself for the return of Naveen's older sister, Arun Titi. Today I have Anjina Minon, Tahir Lak Khandwala, and Chad Fontano with me to talk about this Southern Asian romantic comedy. So welcome everybody. Thank you, Brad. Thank you so much, Brett. Okay, so right off the bat, I have to ask, why resurrect this one? You had the hit, right? So now you're gonna resurrect it.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Well, uh, it's w we felt very, very much at the end of the last run that we were not done telling the story. For one, we had rehearsed this for so long, and to just do the five shows over three, three, four days was really not enough. Like for not not just like the cast and the creative team, but also for audiences, because we had a lot of people share how deeply snudged them and how much more they wanted to see. A lot of people, because we were sold out at match one, we had so many people who couldn't actually make it to the show when we performed it in 2025. So, yes, long story short, this is why.

Brett 41:10

Well, it's a new company, right? And and you're founded by tell me who else involved in in creating this Ariel Roots Theater Company.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

Myself, Sahir, and our co-founder Nidi Vargis, who also was our assistant director and stage manager of the first installment of this play.

Brett 41:24

So a lot of familiar faces.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

Yes.

Brett 41:28

There you go. Well, what's going to be different this time around? What are you kind of adding to the mix?

SPEAKER_01 41:33

We have for well, first of all, the venue is so much is at the the Brown Theater at Asia Society is a lot bigger, and it's very different. This is a proscenium. We performed this in a thrust the last time, and so we have a different set, and this time our set is designed by Afsana Ayani, you know, Houston's favorite set designer. Much loved. And we and and of course our lead is different. We have Chad this time, Chad playing K Shov. And that you you would be surprised how much that changes the actual dynamic of the entire cast in a good way.

Brett 42:09

Yeah, Chad. How does it

Launching Aerial Roots Theater Company

Brett 42:10

feel to be the new kid on the block?

SPEAKER_01 42:11

I mean, I I mean it's it's great.

SPEAKER_05 42:13

I mean I will say that there does seem to be a ghost in the room sometimes because everyone will turn and be like, well, not in a bad way necessarily, but it is it's not a roadblock, but it's definitely interesting, a first-time experience to go into a production where everyone has done it before. They have made that familial bond. So I guess there's a little bit of method acting in that way to sort of be a stranger in somebody else's house, you know. So it's very interesting how that parallel can, you know I have a wealth, you know, essentially. That these people are all laughing about the last time we did this, ha ha ha, and I'm like, you know. It's endearing, it really is. But it's yeah, it's it's interesting, it's a very unique experience.

Brett 42:54

Well, it kind of fits the character though, doesn't it? I mean, it's this guy that's coming into a family, you know, they all know each other and they've known each other for years, and you're the outsider, so hey, that's how well that I talk about, you know.

SPEAKER_05 43:05

It's it's not just work it out. What I'm experiencing, you know. So it's very cool. It's that change anything for you? For me?

SPEAKER_04 43:13

No, for Tahir. Oh, yes. I I think absolutely, right? So like I think particularly the two main characters' relationships, like are very informed by kind of their interactions to each other, right? And like how like Chad is a he brings a different energy, a new energy to Keshaf's character, sort of has a different cadence of speech and movement, and so how we move on stage, how we interact even in scenes where we're like more intimate, and when perhaps when we're even with the broader cast, like all of those dynamics are just very different between us. And so I for I'm truly kind of enjoying exploring a different way of being for Naveen, right? Because I I feel like I've inhabited Naveen before, and this is sort of a new case of in Naveen's life, but uh in in many ways it's like it's been so fun to kind of revisit that.

Brett 44:11

Yeah, it's like his second marriage.

SPEAKER_04 44:12

Yeah.

Brett 44:13

With the same person. With the same name. Yeah. You have a type. Okay. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

Much like the Well, how did you find Chad? Uh, Chad and I have actually worked before together on Okay. I've lost count now. How many? Was it not?

SPEAKER_05 44:37

Honeycomb trilogy.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Yes, Honeycomb Trilogy was the first one. Synapse. And then we recently were in Zoom Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. My favorite. Oh my gosh. Yes.

Brett 44:47

Yes, no, Angela, you played The Nurse.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

I played the nurse. I did. Yes.

Brett 44:51

Oh my gosh. That's a great role.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

That I it was wonderful. We the two of us, I mean, I mean, yeah, I'm sure like I'm speaking for Chad, but we it the the room was just so full of love and kindness that we really enjoyed the entire process. And of course, Chad and I had a scene together where him as Mercutio and me as the nurse, we just we loved that little banter, the energy. It was it was different every night, and it was always enjoyable.

SPEAKER_05 45:23

I always love sharing stage and space with you on your consumer. Very generous actor and director.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

Oh my goodness. I can't even I love you.

Brett 45:34

It's such a love fest in here. And I think that's uh that was what was so wonderful about a nice Indian boy when you first produced it. Is it really was. I mean, we do have this central love story, but it's so much more than that because it's the family and it's this whole representation of you know the family and their traditions and their food and I mean just everything else. And it's just such a nice view into that. I think that's part of why it did so well,

New Venue And New Cast Energy

Brett 46:00

apart from the fact that probably all the aunties bought out every seat. Yeah. But um Aunties, we need you to do it again. Yes, come on back.

SPEAKER_04 46:11

And I would I would say, like, you know, going back to uh aerial roots and sort of our mission and founding, right, is like we want to tell stories for the South Asian diaspora and the people who love us. And like I think as the South Asian community in the US evolves and the diaspora evolves, a lot of these stories like need to be put front and center. And I think this is why this is such a great play to like kickstart our company, right? Particularly at a time where there's this intersection happening in uh our society of both uh you know queer rights and perhaps rights of like other minorities, you know, being uh up for question, I would say. And so it's it's a it's a really good story to tell, particularly following on from Pride Month, that uh that reflects kind of who we are and who we want to be as a as a company.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

And to Anjana's point, I hope many, many aunties and uncles and their daughters and their sons and their second cousins and their you know everybody's welcome.

Brett 47:12

Well, and this time around you're doing it in the Asia Society, Texas's theater, which is a spectacular space. I've seen performers in there before.

SPEAKER_07 47:20

Yeah.

Brett 47:21

Really beautiful theater, and it doesn't seem to get used as much as I would like. So I'm glad to see you in there. How does that change your dynamic a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 47:30

So much because it at match one with the setting being really intimate, there was, you know, there were there were moments between the cast that we were able to, or rather that we that I choreographed in a certain sense to play up that intimacy. And I think we're going to lose a lot of that on the scale of this stage. But at the same time, along with Asana's wonderful set, there's just like it's a story happening on this backdrop that it it's almost like we're zooming out to see like a larger level of the story, which I think it it it's it is the same script, but it's a different look at it, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 48:10

And it I I think it's probably also a great point. Like we love the fact that we get to do this with Asia Society and it so aligns with sort of our missions also feel so aligned. Also, shout out here for to Matt Fuller and and Megan Shim and Chelsea D'Souza, who've been awesome to work with, and we're very excited to be collaborating.

SPEAKER_07 48:30

Yes.

Brett 48:30

Well, I think what it's gonna give you, if I'm not wrong, is it's gonna give you a more cinematic quality. And the last time that we talked, it was before this came out as a film. So I need to know, because it was hanging in the air last time, what did you all think of the Jonathan Groff-led romantic comedy that hit screens a year ago and is actually able to be streamed now?

unknown 48:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

That's right. I we we actually uh so you know, back a little backstory. We made it, it was released right at the time that we were in tech for the show. And so we weren't able to go catch it in the theaters, but when it did hit streaming, I we had like a little watch party at my house, and we had everybody come together and we all sat down to watch the movie. It has its elements, there are elements of this of the film that are really very similar to what we see in the play, but they have taken certain relationships and sort of magnified, you know, to uh r reflect a dynamic that honestly I didn't see in the play when I read it as a director. And so it was interesting to see that perspective from another director's point of view. Uh I do, I am partial to the play. I will say that I like the play. It is very much the same story, and I think I want to add that so many people still found value in it. And I think that's what that's the important takeaway is that they still felt represented. They still felt like a story was being told. And at the end of the day, that's really what matters.

Brett 50:03

Why was Jonathan Groff's handy? Was it good? It was it was all right, actually. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

Yeah, he's he he sang that one song that was, you know, right outside of the theater, and it he gave his own his own Jonathan Groff little flair to it, uh, that really nobody could have expected. And so it was good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

I will say it doesn't hold a candle to Chad, though.

Brett 50:24

I I can't speak on that because I've been requested not to watch the film. Oh, really? No, I was gonna ask you, did you see the original production at the match?

SPEAKER_05 50:33

I had a chance to at match. So

Film Comparisons And Audience Expectations

SPEAKER_05 50:35

this this whole world, I have you know, only what we're building as reference for the material, which I think is very special. So I did ask Anjana last rehearsal if I could go watch it because it's it's on my canopy for the LGBT cinema for this month. It's free for streaming, and she said not, which I respect, you know. I want to see it just for like, well, what are people might be most familiar with that come in to see this and you know, sort of meet or subvert their expectations, but that's gonna happen one way or the other, you know. So um I like the idea of not having a reference other than what we're building into space. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

I've I I will say and I will admit, I was a lot more forceful in my opinion the last time Tahir will agree. Telling people not to go watch the film because and I I honestly I didn't know what to expect with the film, but I knew that the world that we'd created is so specific to the vision that you know we carried in our little team that it would have been disorienting. And I do you know, I cannot force people to to do, you know, to not go watch the movie, but I do believe that it's the two worlds will probably clash if we're especially if we're trying to find a place for this character here in the story.

Brett 51:52

Well, I think the wonderful thing, and I did see the production prior that you did in April of 2025, it felt like a family. I mean, it just it felt very much like that. And I think that that was what I took away, and hopefully that's what you wanted, is it felt very authentic. And I think the character of Kishev kind of just became part of that family, and it just it all worked. It was a great commentary on that. It's a great love story in a lot of ways. I mean, it's not just the love story between Naveen and Kishav, it's the love story between the whole family. The sister, the older sister of Runzati, she's so funny. All of the things that happen are just kind of your everything that you want out of a family comedy. So I definitely encourage people to see it and maybe save the movie for afterwards. That might be a good idea. I always like to do that. And as an actor, Chad, I think that's the smartest thing to do. Don't watch it because you know it's it's so easy to get that in your head. Yeah. So it's nice. I I've done that a lot with roles when I played them and then gone back and watched the movie afterwards and then gone. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_05 53:00

Right? I think just a tiny little anecdote. I didn't watch anything for uh for our Romeo Juliet for Riccuscio except one thing, and that was the the big long Queen Mab speech. I was like, there's at least some expectation to do this a certain way, you know. So that's the only thing I ever looked up. But for a play like this, it's it's it's gonna be much more from the heart if I don't have a reference. So you know, I softened up, and she was forceful, but I softened up. Oh my goodness.

Brett 53:28

Well, if there's anything that Anja can be is forceful. So there you go. Strong leader of the home is director should be. Okay, so back to Ariel Roots Theater Company.

SPEAKER_07 53:39

Yes.

Brett 53:40

This is your inaugural production, and then you had mentioned kind of uh an idea of what you want to go forward with, but uh are there is there anything planned at this point? Or are you just kind of getting through a nice Indian boy July 31st to August 9th and then plan?

SPEAKER_07 53:55

Yeah. Oh well, we do, we do, we do is we're going over each other.

SPEAKER_04 54:00

We do have a plan. So we our next show is in March of next year. We will announce it shortly after. Our focus is obviously on like knocking out this first show at the park, and then we obviously would want to love to uh continue to engage with our supporters and our audiences in between August and March. So be on the lookout for events. Follow us on Instagram at Aerial Roots HTX. We'll put a bunch of stuff up there that's hopefully fun and exciting for for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 54:29

Yeah, stay tuned.

SPEAKER_04 54:30

I want to encourage you, include food.

Brett 54:35

Listen, we're South Asian. How could we not? When I watched the Dysenian boy, I was like, why can't we have some of this food? You know, there's a Broadway version of Oklahoma, I think, where they serve a meal during the intermission. Maybe this could be a thing. I I don't think that the Asia Society, Texas, would love that too much, though. Might be messy. But uh thank you all so much. I'm so excited to see this in another incarnation. It really impressed me the last time, and I hate that like you said, it was a three-night

Next Show Plans And Final Invite

Brett 55:10

run.

SPEAKER_07 55:10

Yeah.

Brett 55:10

So I couldn't really get my friends there because it had already sold out. So this time I really am planning on bringing some friends and forcing them to sit down and watch this and appreciate it because I think it has a lot to say, not only to, I mean, just to so many communities, the LGBTQ, IA plus community, you've got the South Asian community, you've got just the community of just America at 250 years old and facing all of this.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

I think that what's the beauty of the play is that so many or so many members of our audience who were not part of either community, the queer or the South Asian community, still found value in it and still loved it. And I would encourage people to take a chance and come watch, you know, back from it.

Brett 55:51

Very funny and very great. And I'm sure that bringing chat in will continue to elevate it and make it feel just as uh just as special as it was back then. So and then of course to hair. Now your old hat. Last time we talked, you hadn't been on the stage in how many years? Like 10? And this is like now, you know, just I'm a repeat performer now.

SPEAKER_04 56:08

It's just uh become part of me. So whichever.

Brett 56:12

You've got the bug. So there you go. And then of course, Chad fought to know we we know you from like a whole bunch of stuff. So there you go.

SPEAKER_07 56:20

No.

SPEAKER_05 56:23

But yeah, no, it's it's awesome. It feels like an episode of All in the Family. If you're familiar with that old sitcom, I used to watch that all the time when I was younger. So it's very topical. It deals with hard topics, but it's hilarious at the same time. So very fortunate to be a part of this.

Brett 56:38

Yeah. Well, break legs in this new scene.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

And I'm so excited to see.org for more information.

Ghost of Glenn 57:06

Some of the material in this program has been edited to improve clarity and runtime. This program is any political views or species.