Making Gay History Podcast: Celebrating Pride Month With A Historic Re-Release
Plus...Play On Podcasts releases Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
The concept of Pride Month began with the Stonewall riots, a series of riots for gay liberation that took place over several days beginning on June 28, 1969. The riots began after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar located in Lower Manhattan in New York City
In June 1999, US President Bill Clinton declared "the anniversary of [the] Stonewall [riots] every June in America as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month". In 2011, President Barack Obama expanded the officially recognized Pride Month to include the whole of the LGBT community. In 2017, Donald Trump declined to continue the federal recognition of Pride Month in the United States. However, he later recognized it in 2019 in a Tweet later used as a Presidential Proclamation.
This year, for Stonewall’s 55th Anniversary, the Making Gay History podcast is re-releasing its fifth season. The podcast takes a look inside the 1969 Stonewall Uprising from the people who were actually there.
This re-release is also coming with some exciting extras: a bonus episode interview with June Thomas, former head of Slate podcasts, co-host of Working, and author of an upcoming book on lesbian spaces. Making Gay History host Eric Marcus, New York Times bestseller and author of a dozen books, including two editions of Making Gay History, will also be on a panel for a live recording of Slate’s Slow Burn at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Making Gay History is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that addresses the absence of substantive, in-depth LGBTQ+-inclusive American history from the public discourse and the classroom. By sharing the stories of those who helped a despised minority take its rightful place in society as full and equal citizens, we aim to encourage connection, pride, and solidarity within the LGBTQ+ community—and to provide an entry point for both allies and the public to its largely hidden history.
Eric Marcus is the author of a dozen books, including two editions of Making Gay History (the original 1992 edition is entitled Making History), Why Suicide?, and Breaking the Surface, the #1 New York Times bestselling autobiography of Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis.
Marcus is also the co-producer of Those Who Were There, a podcast drawn from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. He is the founder and chair emeritus of the Stonewall 50 Consortium and is a founding board member of the American LGBTQ+ Museum.
Last month, Marcus acted as the interviewer of Jordan Gonsalves on his new podcast But We Loved. On this newly released iHeart podcast, host Jordan Gonsalves uncovers the untold stories of queer history through intimate interviews with LGBTQ+ elders. Marcus is an inspired choice, and he guides Gonsalves through his own personal journey with the steady hand of a ship's captain in a storm.
Check out the Making Gay History podcast as it re-releases its fifth season, a look inside the 1969 Stonewall Uprising from the people who were actually there.
For those who believe the Stonewall riots in June 1969 is only "gay history," I would re-think that conclusion. Like the Civil Rights movements in the 1960s, Stonewall symbolizes Americans who will not stand to be oppressed any longer.
Human Rights Activist Barbara Gittings said it best:“Equality means more than passing laws. The struggle is really won in the hearts and minds of the community, where it really counts.”
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Play On Podcasts Performs Shakespeare's The Taming Of The Shrew
Friends can fill many important roles in people's lives, such as support, companionship, enjoyment, and sharing feelings. One contribution a friend can make is to guide you to TV shows, movies, books, and podcasts that are worth your time. I'm still upset at my buddy Gene for recommending Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
As a counterpoint to Gene (who also recommended Velma and The Idol), a business acquaintance -- Andreea Coscai from Tink Media -- recommended Play On Podcasts. What you have to know about Andreea is that she's never been wrong about a podcast she's recommended to me. It's automatic now. If Andreea recommends it, I listen to it. Sure, maybe I'm not that interested in a podcast about 12th-century footwear fads. But if Andreea recommends it, I know it's ear-worthy.
Andreea Coscai is a digital marketer and podcast producer passionate about multicultural investigative reporting. Her latest podcast is titled Who Holds Up Half the Sky. In 2020, she founded the first NGO that promotes leadership and networking for young women, Her Time Romania. She spent her childhood in Romania, lived in China for two years, and moved to the United States in 2018.
The podcast she recommended, Play On Podcasts, is simply genius. It reimagines Shakespeare's timeless tales, featuring original musical compositions and the voices of extraordinarily gifted artists. It's remarkable that the podcast is superb in so many ways. The original music is delightful and enchanting. The acting bristles with emotive energy. The plays they re-enact are much more Laurence Olivier in Hamlet than Mel Gibson in Hamlet. The scripted plays facilitate Shakespearean humor, wit, and sarcasm to flow through them.
Most important of all, the plays are scripted in modern English verse for modern audiences. Therefore, the age-old excuse that you don't like Shakespeare because you can't understand the words has vanished.
My first play on Play On was Othello, which began in September 2023. The play was broken up into seven episodes of about 35 minutes per episode. Then, Play On releases bonus content, typically with the playwright who reimagined the Shakespearean classic in modern verse or one of the actors. The October 13, 2023, bonus content of Othello with playwright Mfoniso Udofia was inspired, with Udofia explaining how to handle the conversion of words from old English to modern language, especially the racial epithets.
Then, Play On released the full play of Othello in one episode, which lasted over three hours.
Their current series, The Taming Of The Shrew, was just released in late May.
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself.
The Taming of the Shrew is largely about how to “correctly” or “incorrectly” be a man or a woman in society. The characters in the play equate masculinity with dominance and femininity with subservience.
In fact, the play has been adapted many times. Some of the most well-known adaptations include Cole Porter’s musical Kiss Me, Kate!; McLintock!, a western starring John Wayne, and the 1967 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Here's everything that happened in just the first episode, which is 27 minutes in length.
A student (and eligible bachelor) named Lucentio arrives in Padua with his servant, Tranio, to study philosophy. As they take in the sights, they come across the wealthy Baptista and his two daughters, Bianca and Katherina. Bianca is trailed by two suitors, Hortensio and Gremio, who are vying for her affection. Baptista tells them that neither of them will win Bianca’s hand until he marries off his older daughter, Katherina.
Meantime, Baptista will keep Bianca at home, seen only by the tutors who he employs to advance her education. Hortensio and Gremio scheme to find a husband for the contrary Katherina. Lucentio, smitten by the beautiful Bianca, hatches a plan with Tranio to gain access to Bianca’s house by changing clothes with his servant and posing as a tutor while Tranio pretends to be Lucentio in order to build Lucentio’s social profile and entertain his father’s guests. When Lucentio’s other servant, Biondello, arrives, Lucentio tells him that he and Tranio switched clothes because he killed a man and has to escape the city. He tasks Biondello with waiting on Tranio and instructs him to refer to Tranio as Lucentio. Elsewhere, the self-assured Petruchio, along with his servant, Grumio, arrives from Verona at his friend Hortensio’s house.
Hortensio greets him warmly and learns from Petruchio that he’s come to Padua to find a wife from a wealthy family. Hortensio tells him about Baptista’s daughter, Katherina, but warns him about her ferocious temper. Petruchio is intrigued and vows to make Katherina his wife. Hortensio offers to facilitate the introduction provided Petruchio helps him pass for a music teacher so he can get access to Bianca.
In episode one of every play, Play On recommends that listeners use headphones or earbuds for the best listening experience. It's a recommendation I urge you to follow. The plays are rich in sounds that can captivate your ears. There is the dialogue -- crisp and understandable. The background sounds -- horses, wagons, merchants, nature -- can layer you into the play like being an avatar in a video game. The show has a voice and text consultant, an equipment and recording engineer, a sound effects assistant, and a production assistant. That's a lot of resources and a lot of money. As a listener, you hear that excellence.
The music strikes at your emotions, ratcheting up intensity, fervor, and excitement. In Macbeth, the show even has a bagpipe musician.
As I've mentioned before, acting in an audio only format is incredibly difficult. Facial expressions, body language, and physical movement become irrelevant in an audio only drama. These actors from Play On are master manipulators of voice -- intonation, insinuation, and implication reign supreme in their audio realm.
Play On podcasts began in April 2021 with Shakespeare's masterpiece Macbeth. It's a great play to begin with, and Play On's treatment of the classic is masterful. In my one and only foray into acting, I played Macduff in a high school play. I thought I was a solid Macduff. In Play On, an actor named Chinaza Uche played Macduff. Mr. Uche was a superlative Macduff, and I doff my hat to him.
Here are their own words about Play On: "Welcome to the Play On Podcasts from Next Chapter Podcasts. This is where theater meets podcasts, combining the modern-day audio phenomenon with the power of live performance. Play On Podcasts is an epic audio adventure reimagining timeless tales, featuring original music compositions and the voices of extraordinarily gifted artists. Past seasons included Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Love Labor's Lost.
Next Chapter is an independent podcast production house dedicated to original, authentic storytelling.
Next Chapter proudly informs us: "We are a progressive organization looking to make the world a better place and lift up marginalized communities through the spoken word. We are a team of producers and sound designers, engineers, and artists with a unique experience to excel in podcast production from concept to creation."
You can subscribe to Play On Premium to get exclusive access to ad-free episodes, full plays, and merch, and hear full interviews with the artists, producers, and engineers who brought it all to life.
Check out Play On Podcasts.
To paraphrase William Shakespeare, who once wrote in Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2, "Friends, podcast listeners, and Shakespeare fans, Lend me your ears and listen to Play On Podcasts."