(Playwright Doric Wilson's blog on Stonewall–the 40th anniversary of the riots is June 28–appeared May 20, 2009.)
STONEWALL + 40 by Doric Wilson
It seems unreal that Stonewall was forty years ago. Sometimes it seems like it’s been 100 years, sometimes only last week. I wonder if I will be around for the fiftieth anniversary. My remaining days seem to be numbered like the grains of sand in a goldfish bowl.
For the past few months I have been interviewed by everyone from a straight clueless kid from the BBC to a very smart and prepared Ronnie (“Make Me a Supermodel”) Kroell for his new “Straight Talk” program. I’ve been filmed for a documentary on Stonewall being prepared for “The American Experience” with a planned airing on PBS in April 2010, and featured in a David Carter article in the June/July issue of The Advocate with a great photo by Shen Wei (see the post for April 10th below). “In the Life” is even presenting a dialogue between literary giant Edmund White and me this August on PBS. (And you thought the Museum of Natural History had a lock on the dinosaur market!)
And the more I get interviewed, the less I know where we are at. A few years back I lost all hope for the future of the two movements I more or less dedicated my life to, alternative theater and the queer community. Both were reeling from burnout and AIDS and the intramural sniping of political correctness. But suddenly I started meeting theater people like Mark Finley and Barry Childs and Kathleen Warnock and Chris Weikel and Shay Gines and Jonathan Reuning and Frank Kuzler and Jamie Heinlein and Mark Waren and Christopher Borg and the list goes on and on. And I know there is indeed a new generation more than willing and able to grab the torch and carry it high. With people like Ronnie Kroell, writer Kirk Reed (How I Learned to Snap), photographer Shen Wei, the same seems to be happening for the GLBT family . . .
(Read more)
http://doricwilson.blogspot.com/
Visit Doric Wilson’s Web site: http://www.doricwilson.com/
Visit the Website of TOSOS, New York’s first professional Gay theatre company, which Wilson cofounded: http://www.tosos2.org/