Help Get My CCNY Students a Bit of Culture
Donation protected
Well, it's that time of the year again for me to beseech you for cash. This spring semester at The City College of New York, my three courses — "Theatre of the Seventies," "LGBT Film and Theatre," and "Intro to the Theatre Arts" — with a total of 69 students, will not have the financial luxury of attending any professional live theatre unless you cough up some gelt. There is no funding at all once again.
With students, including those from a dozen countries (e.g. Trinidad, Mexico, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and New Jersey), many of whom have never attended a professional theatrical performance in their lives, I am asking you to contribute what you can to widen these wonderful beings' cultural horizons.
Let's get them to at least one Broadway or off-Broadway show.
The photo you see attached is how I looked way back in 1974 when I was streaking across the stage in the late, great Charles Ludlam's "Hot Ice" at the Evergreen Theatre on 13th Street.
Now, though I'm much older and possibly a bit doddery, I can still recall how across the decades theater changed a naive, insecure lad from the Bronx into a wise, almost too secure elder. My shelf of Playbills can attest to that journey: "Carrie"; "Marvin's Room"; "The Maids" with Charles Busch; "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" with Lily Tomlin; everything with Harvey Fierstein.
I would like my students to start on a similar journey. Many of these amazing young folk have never been to Broadway, let alone any professional theater. To be honest, last week, one of my classes, thanks to some kind producers, has seen the off-Broadway revival of "The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and they will soon experience the latest experimental effort of MacArthur genius Taylor Mac, "The Fre."
Last semester, through your kindness——and in one case, through the intervention of playwright Jeremy O. Harris—— my classes saw "Slave Play," "Inheritance, Part 1," and "The Wrong Man." Six months before that another class not only saw "Torch Song Trilogy, but had an amazing Q-and-A with Mr. Harvey Fierstein and the entire cast, including Michael Urie.
Clearly, the majority of students cannot afford purchasing a ticket to the Great White Way. (Please be aware that CCNY just expanded its on-campus Food Pantry for students in need of daily meals. Also, one young woman in my class could not afford a $6.00 fee to see an on-campus department musical.)
With funds for the arts being cut more and more, you can help remedy the situation a bit. If you can only spare a few dollars, these City College students can experience the magic of professional theater Please donate. Yes, even a $1.00 contribution would be helpful (or if you know a very generous Broadway producer, please contact me). Thank you so much.
P.S.
Other of our recent GoFundMe campaigns got my students to "Dear Evan Hansen," "The Play that Went Wrong," "Hir," "Daddy," Danai Gurira's "Familiar," and "Miss Saigon," evenings they swear they will never forget.
As David Mamet noted: "When you come into the theater, you have to be willing to say, 'We're all here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world.' If you're not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that."
Please help 69 students undergo such a communion.
Thank you.
With students, including those from a dozen countries (e.g. Trinidad, Mexico, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and New Jersey), many of whom have never attended a professional theatrical performance in their lives, I am asking you to contribute what you can to widen these wonderful beings' cultural horizons.
Let's get them to at least one Broadway or off-Broadway show.
The photo you see attached is how I looked way back in 1974 when I was streaking across the stage in the late, great Charles Ludlam's "Hot Ice" at the Evergreen Theatre on 13th Street.
Now, though I'm much older and possibly a bit doddery, I can still recall how across the decades theater changed a naive, insecure lad from the Bronx into a wise, almost too secure elder. My shelf of Playbills can attest to that journey: "Carrie"; "Marvin's Room"; "The Maids" with Charles Busch; "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" with Lily Tomlin; everything with Harvey Fierstein.
I would like my students to start on a similar journey. Many of these amazing young folk have never been to Broadway, let alone any professional theater. To be honest, last week, one of my classes, thanks to some kind producers, has seen the off-Broadway revival of "The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and they will soon experience the latest experimental effort of MacArthur genius Taylor Mac, "The Fre."
Last semester, through your kindness——and in one case, through the intervention of playwright Jeremy O. Harris—— my classes saw "Slave Play," "Inheritance, Part 1," and "The Wrong Man." Six months before that another class not only saw "Torch Song Trilogy, but had an amazing Q-and-A with Mr. Harvey Fierstein and the entire cast, including Michael Urie.
Clearly, the majority of students cannot afford purchasing a ticket to the Great White Way. (Please be aware that CCNY just expanded its on-campus Food Pantry for students in need of daily meals. Also, one young woman in my class could not afford a $6.00 fee to see an on-campus department musical.)
With funds for the arts being cut more and more, you can help remedy the situation a bit. If you can only spare a few dollars, these City College students can experience the magic of professional theater Please donate. Yes, even a $1.00 contribution would be helpful (or if you know a very generous Broadway producer, please contact me). Thank you so much.
P.S.
Other of our recent GoFundMe campaigns got my students to "Dear Evan Hansen," "The Play that Went Wrong," "Hir," "Daddy," Danai Gurira's "Familiar," and "Miss Saigon," evenings they swear they will never forget.
As David Mamet noted: "When you come into the theater, you have to be willing to say, 'We're all here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world.' If you're not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that."
Please help 69 students undergo such a communion.
Thank you.