Pisces Moon’s Outreach Program for Queer Youth seeks to change community attitudes by promoting dialogue and understanding of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) experience among high school students and other young people.
The seeds of Pisces Moon’s Outreach Program for Queer Youth were planted in 2002, when Bonnie Ronzio, then co-chair of the Queer Youth Leadership Awards (QYLA), invited the cast of Pisces Moon’s 2002 production of The Laramie Project to perform segments of the play at that year’s awards ceremony. The Laramie Project examines the effect of a gay hate crime – the murder of young college student Matthew Shepard – on a community and ultimately, the world. We were delighted to honor the outstanding young awardees by bringing the message of The Laramie Project to the ceremony. A few months after QYLA, Kathleen Martinelli bought 60 seats for the May 1, 2003 performance of our re-mounting of The Laramie Project. Her intention was to donate tickets so that the students of Georgiana Bruce Kirby High School could see the play with their friends and families. A Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) was forming at the school, with the goals of creating a safe environment for students to support each other and learn about homophobia and other oppressions, to educate the school community about homophobia, gender identity, and sexual orientation issues, and to join with other GSAs in fighting discrimination, harassment, and violence in schools. Kathleen felt that The Laramie Project gave voice to those issues and supported the goals of the GSA.
Scene from "The Laramie Project"
Pisces Moon validated the efforts of Kathleen and Georgiana Bruce Kirby’s GSA by hosting a post-show discussion after the May 1 performance. The discussion centered around the issues of homophobia and involved the cast of The Laramie Project and more than 60 students from Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory High School, the majority of whom were lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals. It was such a success that, a few weeks later, Charlotte Reynolds, a cast member, participated in a Gay-Straight Alliance Symposium for High School students on May 18, 2003 where the theme was The Laramie Project. Charlotte, who is a lesbian, participated in the 2003 Queer Youth Leadership Awards with Christopher Sugarman, Pisces Moon’s Co-Founder, who is gay.
Of the post-show discussion, GSA symposium and QYLA experience, Charlotte wrote: “My high school and its community did not have any sort of outreach program for gays and lesbians. Homosexuality just wasn't talked about. Being involved with Pisces Moon Productions' The Laramie Project in the spring of 2003 was an eye-opening experience. Our interactions with local high school students were heartwarming and fun. The discussion we had as a cast with the Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) at Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory School (GBK) after one of our shows made me feel like I had a contribution to make both as an actor and as a lesbian. The focus in The Laramie Project on homosexuality and reactions to it in Small Town America showed how awareness is a huge factor in learning a different, foreign culture and how it can make you mentally and spiritually stronger.
The Queer
Youth Leadership Awards (QYLA), to which I went as a representative of Pisces Moon Productions, were a great opportunity to reward brave high school students that made the effort to change how things were in their schools and made me look sadly back into my own high school years.
After the last performance of The Laramie Project, the GSA at Kirby Preparatory School held a symposium in which we discussed the effects of the play on the audience. As a cast member, I was able to give my responses to each phase of the production. We talked about reactions to the emotionally intense scenes, quotes we connected with or just enjoyed, the characters and their development through each act, and personal experiences that relate to being gay or lesbian. I related how the show affected me so much that I cried during every performance.
Being involved in these events was a great experience, but there is still so much we could accomplish with an outreach program. What is very important is reaching out to the people that do not identify as gay or lesbian and teaching them about what it means to us to be gay.
As a lesbian, I feel incredibly close to the play itself, but Pisces Moon Productions' strong stance and efforts to bring people together made it an experience I will never forget.”
While researching the issues in The Laramie Project, we learned of a study that recently found that students who are gay or thought to be gay are most likely to be the targets of bullying in the schools -- even more than children who are overweight or have disabilities. In the study, more than three-quarters of students witnessed harassment of kids who are gay or are perceived to be gay in their schools or neighborhoods, while more than 90 percent said they hear gay epithets, many every day, according to the survey. This study, as well as audience response to the play and the need demonstrated by the GSAs at the Symposium led Pisces Moon to look for funding to expand outreach efforts in support of queer youth. In January 2004, Ralph Alpert of ADAM contacted us. ADAM, a funding collaboration of Ralph, Michael Dively and Weston Milliken, donates resources to projects that empower queer youth. They had learned of our efforts and wanted to help. ADAM’s sponsorship enabled us to develop an Outreach Program for Queer Youth around our February 2004 production of Swimming in the Shallows by Adam Bock.
Thanks to a grant from ADAM, Pisces Moon distributed 160 free tickets to queer youth for designated performances of Swimming in the Shallows. We held discussion groups with the audiences after the shows. Pisces Moon reached out to Gay-Straight Alliance groups at San Lorenzo Valley High School, Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory High School, Santa Cruz High School, Harbor High School and Watsonville High School. We also distributed tickets at the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Center at UCSC, the Equinox Center and the BiGALA at Cabrillo College.
The ADAM grant also helped to fund our performance of segments from Swimming in the Shallows at the 2004 Queer Youth Leadership Awards.
Swimming in the Shallows explores relationship start-ups and breakdowns. It looks at two lesbians who are planning a commitment ceremony, a heterosexual couple who are challenged by the wife’s sudden spiritual awakening and a gay man who re-examines his life after a succession of one-night stands, changing his self-destructive behaviors to find love. Through charismatic characters and warm and humorous dialogue, the play approaches queer lifestyles, queer-straight friendships and queer and straight relationship issues with a natural openness.
Swimming in the Shallowswent on to play off-Broadway, and in January 2006, was nominated for the 17th Annual GLAAD Media Awards honoring "fair, accurate and inclusive" representations of gay individuals in the media. The annual awards honor the best in journalism, film, TV and theatre. Adam Bock’s play was nominated in the category of Outstanding New York Theatre: Broadway and Off-Broadway, one of three theatre-related categories.
Our Outreach Program provided LGBT youth with an opportunity to see a play in a safe, supportive environment, particularly those who otherwise couldn’t afford to go. The play spoke directly to LGBT youth and their issues, portraying them with authenticity, integrity and respect. Being in a small room with others like them, sharing an emotional experience -- not just with queer and straight audience members, but also with queer actors and production people -- brought closeness as a community. The post-show discussions were led by members of the cast and crew who are part of the LGBT community. Judging from their direct response and written comments, the participants felt safe with us, identified with our company and its goals, felt supported, and wanted us to continue to offer the Outreach Program.
Our goal for the Pisces Moon Outreach Program is to increase our efforts to change community attitudes by promoting dialogue and understanding of the LGBT experience. As related by Charlotte Reynolds, and with so many others in our community, response to our plays and outreach efforts has been described as “life transforming” by both queer and straight individuals. Audiences of all ages are exposed to successful actors -- many of whom are queer -- and a successful company that portrays queers in an affirming, validating manner. We hope to help increase self-esteem by providing a vehicle for queer youth to see people like themselves dealing with the challenges that they face in their schools and in our society.
We are grateful to Bonnie Ronzio for her vision and Kathleen Martinelli for giving young people and their families the opportunity to share that vision. We are especially grateful to Ralph Alpert, Michael Dively and Weston Milliken of ADAM for recognizing the value of our work in the queer youth community and for making it possible for us to continue that work.
For more information, or to make a tax-deductible donation to support our efforts, please contact Susan Myer Silton at susan@piscesmoon.org. You can also mail a check to Pisces Moon at P.O. Box 3422, Santa Cruz, CA 95063. Thank you!
