Queer Voices
Queer Voices
April 23 2025 Queer Voices: Invisible Histories, National Poetry Month and Forbidden Broadway
We speak with Joshua Burford, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Invisible Histories; talking about their virtual community education event on May 14th. Invisible Histories is a regional non-profit focused on research and preservation of the diverse Queer and Trans history of the American South.
It's National Poetry Month, and Deborah Moncrief Bell has a conversation with Blacqwildflowr She is the winner of the 2025 Hear Her Voice National Slam Event.
And Brett Cullum talks with Jenny Lee Stern, an actress who is coming to Houston with FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, at the Hobby Center, from April 24th through the 26th: Brett and Jenny talk about juggling a family and Patti LuPone.
Tickets and information here.
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:
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Hello everybody, this is Queer Voices, a podcast version of a broadcast radio show that's been on the air in Houston, Texas, for several decades. This week, David Mendoza-Duruzman talks with Joshua Burford, co-founder and co-executive director of Invisible Histories, talking about their virtual community education event on May 14th. Invisible Histories is a regional nonprofit focused on research and preservation of the diverse queer and trans history of the American South.
Speaker 2:We are still about the business of preservation and accessibility to queer Southern history. That is our centerpiece, that is our goal, that is our desire. What has changed for us is the speed at which we're having to collect, because things are so at risk now.
Speaker 1:It's National Poetry Month and Debra Moncrief-Bell has a conversation with Black Wildflower. She is the winner of the 2025 Hear Her Voice National Slam event, and Brett Cullum talks with Jenny Lee Stern, an actress who is coming to Houston with Forbidden Broadway at the Hobby Center from April 24th through the 26th.
Speaker 3:I have been a member of the family, as they say, for about 14 years, did my first production about 13, 14 years ago. It was called Forbidden Broadway, alive and Kicking. So Forbidden Broadway has sort of been continuously running 25 years or something at that point, and then they had taken a five-year hiatus, which for them was like major. This production, alive and Kicking, was the first one back.
Speaker 1:Queer Voices starts now.
Speaker 4:I'm Davis Mendoza-Duruzman. I'm speaking today with Joshua Burford, an award-winning historian, archivist, educator and co-founder and co-executive director of Invisible Histories, a regional nonprofit focused on the preservation, access and research of the diverse queer and trans history of the American South. At a time when LGBTQ plus history is being banned, censored or erased, his work is a much needed act of resistance. Welcome to Queer Voices, joshua. Thank you so much for having me. I wanted to start off by asking what inspired you to co-found Invisible Histories with your colleague, dr Megan Sullivan, and why center specifically in the South.
Speaker 2:I had been living in Charlotte, North Carolina, I was teaching at the university there and I had been working on an archive of LGBT experience in Charlotte with the city, experience in Charlotte with the city and in 2015, Megan, who at the time was working at a university in Alabama, called me and said hey, would you want to come down and give a talk? And so, after the talk was over, we were talking together. She said you know what do you think about the idea of doing the project you're working on in North Carolina but here in Alabama? And I was like I think that's a great idea. I think both of us were kind of sick and tired of higher ed. We wanted to break, we wanted independence and we wanted to be able to do our work in a way that we were able to control better than we had been in our jobs in higher education. We had this idea you know what, if we just took a shot and worked on a statewide LGBT archives project and let's do it in our home state?
Speaker 2:I grew up in Alabama in a town called Anniston, and she grew up in North Alabama in the Appalachian Mountains in a place called Sand Mountain, and so we knew Alabama pretty well. We both went to graduate school at the University of Alabama and so we thought we're going to do a project like this, let's do it somewhere where we have connections. Let's run this project like other Southerners have run projects in the past, which is working your networks and really building that kind of trust. It was the kind of job that we both really wanted to do, but also it was just it was time, and so we thought hell, let's take a shot and see if we can make this work.
Speaker 4:Well, that's incredible, and the rest is history.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's wild to think that we picked up our first collection like almost eight years ago. I mean, so much has happened since then, not just for us, but like for everybody.
Speaker 4:And I did want to address the rainbow elephant in the room, which is we're living in a time when LGBTQ plus history and visibility are under threat. So how is Invisible Histories responding to these challenges and how have you all been responding to these challenges?
Speaker 2:And how can communities support with this resistance? I don't know that our fundamental work has changed. We are still about the business of preservation and accessibility to queer Southern history. That is our centerpiece, that is our goal, that is our desire. What has changed for us is one the speed at which we're having to collect, because things are so at risk.
Speaker 2:Now there's so many offices all around the country that are closing in universities, people are losing funding and closing community centers, and we realized at the end of last year that if there was ever going to be any hope of bringing these places back, we were going to have to start collecting at a much higher speed, and so we started in December with a hackathon.
Speaker 2:We had like 300 some odd volunteers, and we went in and started downloading and saving as many LGBT websites in the South as we could Organizations, university groups and orgs data that was being kept at the national level. We were backing everything up, and we did that again in January, and so to date, we've backed up almost 980 websites and saved over 2,000 documents from these at-risk places. We also realized really quickly that this wasn't just a thing happening in the American South, and so we decided that we would open up our DEI efforts to the rest of the country to see how much we could possibly save. And so we've really been thinking hard about what it means for us to do our work as an independent org, and so we've made the bold to provide an even safer environment for people and to empower people in this time of hopelessness to really stay involved, stay connected and keep doing the work.
Speaker 4:And that leads to my next question of the permanent archive sets open in Charlotte in 2026. What stories or collections are you most excited for people to experience that you can share with us, and what do you hope the archive will mean for the community?
Speaker 2:I mean, it's such a hard thing to ask an archivist to talk about their favorite collection, because there's so many things in our, in our permanent collection that I think people should be excited about. We have a growing collection of lesbian southern history, you know land movements, movements, activism, music festivals, things that I'm so pumped for people to be able to come and experience. These collections are physical and digital, so we have a ton of video that people are going to be able to watch. We have a growing collection of queer people of color in the American South. We have new partnerships coming up with some Latinx groups, some Black-led queer organizations in Atlanta and Jackson, and this history is just so.
Speaker 2:It's not just that, it's inspiring. It's so amazing to think of what people were able to do with so much less technology, so much less communication options. So I want people to get inspired and I think that's what we hope that the physical location will be, you know, not just a home for materials, but also a landing spot. We want people to be in that space with us, have meetings in that space for organizations, bring students, bring community people, you know, have a self, have celebrations. There's so many orgs in the American South that are now queer orgs, that are turning 50, that are turning 60. And we want that power space to be a place for that to happen. Also, let people in the community imagine what we could be doing in that space as a real partnership. I think to me is really exciting.
Speaker 4:And when I'm not contributing for Queer Voices, I consider myself a community organizer here in Houston, coalition building with numerous LGBTQ plus led and serving organizations here in Houston, and just hearing this is inspiring, and learning more about invisible histories is inspiring. I'm curious if you have something that you would like organizers or people interested in getting more involved in their communities and organizing, in getting more involved in their communities and organizing what's something that maybe there is a bit of distance between us and the permanent archive, both in terms of time and location, but how can organizers and people wanting to get involved learn more through Invisible Histories and what can we take away from it?
Speaker 2:One of the things that we offer. In fact, we have something coming up in May May the 14th we're doing a free online community event, 6 pm Central, and it's basically an introduction to Invisible Histories, and so we want people to come to that event and sit down and listen to us talk about how we are doing our work, because we want people to emulate what we're doing. We want people to turn to their own communities, find where the elders are, record and talk to them. If you're in an organization, where are your records? How are you preserving those? How are you backing things up? We want everyone, in their own way, to be a community archivist because, to your point, you're in your own community, much closer than we are. Even if we were in Texas let's say we were in Austin you're still much closer to the Houston community than we would be if we were there.
Speaker 2:We need people to be looking inside their own communities, seeing what is there of our history and then doing whatever they can to preserve physical documents, backup digital documents and really start the process, and so people can come to this event on the 14th of May. You can also request we do trainings for organizations and community organizers on how to start the process of preserving your documents. But, in all honesty, everything we do is on our website Like, take some time, read, you know, the materials we've put out. We've got zines about how to do community archiving, memorials for people who've passed, how to archive political campaigns and all of that is for queer people in the South, really anywhere to you and so make use of us and reach out. I mean, you can reach out to us at Contact InvisibleHistory anytime and we're happy to talk to people about what we can do to partner, because this is a community initiative and we want the community to be as involved as they can.
Speaker 4:I love turning the current rhetoric of trying to erase our history on its head. If you're like you want to erase our history, We'll archive more history, even more than we've ever done in the past.
Speaker 2:We have a saying here that archiving is resistance. You know this idea of an administration that is trying to wipe us all out of our own history books they're taking down our monuments. They're taking down our language right. The act of physically archiving is an act of both individual, political and social resistance to the idea that we could be wiped out, and so every single box of things we save is a big no to anyone that wants to get rid of it.
Speaker 4:I love that. And just for my last question, I've been really appreciative of our time speaking. Invisible Histories works across about 13 southern states. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:That's correct. Yeah, we have a network called Queer History South and so it's a virtual network. We have nearly a thousand people involved in some aspect of community history organizing, history organizing and then we also run a conference every two years. The next one is in 2026, the Queer History South conference where people can come meet other organizers, other historians and learn, you know, about things that are happening in other parts of the South.
Speaker 4:I'm sure throughout the history of Invisible Histories, there have been a lot of powerful moments and stories and conversations that you've had, and you mentioned asking an archivist to share their favorites. It's probably difficult, but I do love to end my interviews with like a personal connection, a story, if you have one, just a powerful moment throughout your work that's really stayed with you.
Speaker 2:Oh man, I mean, I just get to know the best people in my work, you know, like elders and young people who are all resisting. I'll tell you two quick things. The item that I'm the most connected to in our office is a diary from the Second World War that we received. The guy was from Alabama. He wrote in this diary the whole time he was in the European theater. And then he returns to Alabama, realizes that he wants to be actively out and queer, and so he moves to California. He never came back to Alabama.
Speaker 2:When he passed away, his nephew, who is a straight guy, was so had such a close relationship with his uncle that he did not want his uncle's story, his legacy, to be forgotten. And so he gathered up this diary, photos, testimonials, and then he donated all of that to Invisible History so that his uncle's legacy and that is such a powerful thing to happen. The other thing, if you don't mind me mentioning, is at Creative History South last year in Charlotte, we gave people an opportunity to network within the groups. I found out a few months ago that a group of young activists, mostly queer people of color, met at our conference and they had been meeting every month since the conference ended and so we had no idea that was even going on. It just happened naturally, and now that group is meeting and starting their own cohort of people in Georgia and other parts of the South that are working together as young activists, and that is just awesome.
Speaker 4:I was speaking today with Joshua Burford, co-founder and co-executive director of Invisible Histories. Join them on Wednesday, may 14th 2025, at 6 pm Central Time, because Invisible Histories is hosting an online info session about their LGBTQ plus community archive, and be on the lookout for the opening of their permanent archive next year. Thank you so much for joining us on Queer Voices.
Speaker 1:Did you know that KPFT is completely listener funded? There are no underwriters, so it's up to all of us to pay for the freedom to say what you hear here on Queer Voices and on this station in general. That means you participate in our programming just by listening and also by pledging your support. Please do that now by going to the KPFT website and clicking on the red Donate Now button, and please mention queer voices when you do. Thank you.
Speaker 6:The night is long and the path is dark.
Speaker 5:Look to the sky for what it's called. The dawn will come.
Speaker 1:This is Queer Voices.
Speaker 7:This is Deborah Moncrief Bell and it's April, and that means it's National Poetry Month, so guess what we're going to be talking about? Poetry, of course, and joining us is Black Wallflower. She blew us away when she shared some of her work at the summit that was held at the Montrose Center earlier this year. That was held at the Montrose Center earlier this year, and she's joining us to talk about the importance of National Poetry Month and also her own work. She's a three-time award-winning lead performance etiquette instructor, an acclaimed poet, host executive producer, affirmation goddess and published author. Two of her works are On Bruised Knees and Rooted. Welcome to Queer Voices. Let's talk just a little bit first of all about National Poetry Month. Can you explain Well?
Speaker 8:it's exciting to be able to talk about how important poetry and expression is to our community. So National Poetry Month is the opportunity for all individuals to express themselves through art and that being, with their voice or for the page. And what a lot of individuals do is they write each day of the month. I've seen collaborations that look like a poem that starts one day and then by the 30th day they've got an entire poem, but that is broken down into individual poems by the day. So people do some fun, energetic things, but it gives the opportunity just to get creative in the work and celebrate expression.
Speaker 7:Poetry seems to be a form of literature that really gets in touch with emotions, not quite like any other thing, and I think that's part of why it's appealing to many of us Also. We love songs, and songs are rooted in poetry. Tell me a little bit about this slam poetry thing. What exactly is that? What does it mean?
Speaker 8:Now we're talking about something that I love so much Slam poetry is competitive poetry. So what that looks like is you have, like your page poetry, which is the opportunity to write and express yourself, and then you have the opportunity then say those words from spoken word to now in a competitive arena. And I have gotten the opportunity to compete across the nation. And so we have competitions that can look like citywide competitions.
Speaker 8:You know something you do locally at a coffee shop, or you can have an experience where you go to something like the Woman of the World Poetry Slam, which is international and there's women from all over women identifying poets, and we come and celebrate sharing our truth but competing. So that looks like five random judges out of the audience. This started many, many years ago in Chicago and now has progressed to the point where we continually get an opportunity to do it and it's fun because you get paid to express yourself. So those five random judges judge you and then whatever sets the mood for the night they can get paid, sometimes up to thousands of dollars. So it's super exciting and just an opportunity to kind of gamble your expression.
Speaker 7:You won the In Her Voice 2025 competition.
Speaker 8:I was wondering about that, about how do you manage to go all over the country and do this, so it's good to know that people are being paid for their work yes, absolutely so many ways that you can get paid for your expression, and this is a fun way that I love.
Speaker 8:I started when I was 15 years old, and why it was so important to go to an experience like In Her Voice is because it started back in Tampa, where I'm from, a space for women to express themselves but also receive the resources that are necessary to say, hey, poetry is therapeutic, but we also have other resources that you can grab onto as well at the type of events that they have, and so it was just very exciting that they had this event and they opened it up to the nation, and so you had to apply and audition online, and then they chose the poets that they felt moved the message they wanted, which was empowerment and being able to tell your experience of healing, conquering and growing through life.
Speaker 8:But I think the most important thing to me about that competition yeah, you get to win $1,000. Yeah, you get to get a trophy. But it was a young lady who came in second place. She said I've been watching you three years ago and I saw how vulnerable you are and it just excited me to know that I can tell my story and that's my greatest win tonight, so thank you for bringing that up. It always reminds me to be grateful of expression and to be vulnerable and share work. So, yes, it was such a fun experience.
Speaker 7:You're a proud member of the Smoke Slam Poetry Team, so exactly how does that work having a team which is currently ranked number one in the southern region?
Speaker 8:Yes, it is a pleasure and a true honor to have coaching from Ebony Stewart. She is a poetry legend when it comes to Houston, austin, just Texas period. And so what happened is we all decided to share our work and it was in front of an audience. Again, you have those judges and they choose what it looks like and the team will look like, and so we all were able to come together, pull our creative work from all different parts Like we're all from different places and then she's able to coach us.
Speaker 8:What that looks like is five different individuals who are coming together and telling their stories, and it's so beautiful because we get an opportunity to do something really special. That, I think, makes it fun to be on a team. Not only do you get to write your story and weave your stories together, but you get to speak in a way that maybe you didn't get the opportunity to put forth as just one voice. You get to add choreo. It's just super fun and it has truly been a great outlet for myself. So, yes, we went all the way to southern pride and we won and it was just amazing. So that's like on every poet's bucket list every slam poet.
Speaker 7:it's really different than just reading a poem, which in itself can be quite something. You can read it and and read it many times over years and it will touch you each time. But in the kind of poetry you're presenting it's actually a performance, so it brings in a lot of different elements. Like you said, there's even choreography involved. Houston has been blessed with quite a few poetry groups, opportunities for people to do readings or to work on their craft, and so I find that very exciting. You said you kind of got started when you were 15 years old.
Speaker 8:I'm going to be honest, I started actually writing much younger, about eight years old. We had something, because I'm from Florida, so we had something called the FCAT rights, which is similar to the writing test you guys have here, and so what was very unique about that was I wrote such a great essay that they showed it around to every student as an example for the test in the county. And my mom she saw that as a moment to say wait, she's got a gift here. She bought me my first diary in the fourth grade and I began to write, and I began to write poetry, and it was when I was 15, I went to Howard W Blake, which is a performing arts high school, and I started to learn spoken word, which is like how you're saying.
Speaker 8:It's the difference of not only am I writing my emotions, now I have to embody it, so it's not just about what you're reading, it's about what you feel. And so it opened my world to challenge me, to think about what parts of my story that I wanted to connect with other people, and from there it had just grown. I was introduced to slam poetry by Walter B Jennings, who is a mentor for myself and many other young people in Tampa, florida, and so it just blossomed from there. So I'm so grateful for the gift and I'm honestly I pay tribute to my mother for just seeing it as an opportunity for me to be able to express myself.
Speaker 7:There's also this idea of other poets who you're yes, you're in competition, but you're also supporting one another.
Speaker 8:Absolutely.
Speaker 8:I will tell you, my greatest gift is having the opportunity to sit down in someone's living room and hear their story.
Speaker 8:And I mean whether, whatever emotion it comes out of being able to sit and be a thought partner and help someone work through such a challenging issue, and being able to translate that into a space where we feel safe to say the things maybe we didn't get a chance to say to our our family members or our friends, or it just gives you an opportunity to build community, and that is truly the greatest gift, greater than any trophy or any award. It's those moments, like the young poet I was telling you, mina, said to me it gives me a drive to be vulnerable. That's what those work rooms look like and it's so amazing to know. Man, this poem came from a living room and five of us are up here now telling our truth about being black and being in america and and having these emotions balled up, or or being queer and not knowing what that looks like at 30. Right? Just so many different, fun ways to experiment with your expression.
Speaker 7:You can really get in touch with yourself. Also, craft it in such a way that you hit upon the commonality of thread, I guess you would say, of how that exact feeling or that life event is relatable to so many other people. You think it's very personal, and it is, but then when you express it and others hear their words, the reason that it resonates is because it's relatable.
Speaker 8:I think that the greatest misperception is that, because I'm a poet, I always will know how to express myself. I actually have a challenge before I get on stage, sometimes, because people see me when I get on stage, sometimes because people see me when I'm on the stage and they're like oh my God, you're resilient and you told a story that I've always had locked inside. I mean, I wasn't able to, and I think what people don't get an opportunity to know or see is that it takes a journey. Sometimes I've been writing on something for five years and I'm just getting it out.
Speaker 8:Something unique about what you said is just that opportunity to push forward and build community and say you know what? This is something that has to be shown to the world and has to give others maybe a mirror. Maybe it's not their exact same story, but maybe it inspires them to say I've got something to say too, and I think that expression is something that we need. I needed that as a young person. There's no difference from me and someone who ended up in a really bad situation. Besides that, I had the opportunity to express myself and build community, and that's just me speaking truly from the heart.
Speaker 7:Speaking from the heart and speaking truth to power.
Speaker 8:My greatest power, I tell, and I give again that honor to my mother. It was finding my voice and even to this day. It's a beautiful journey because you're writing changes as you change in so many different layers of life.
Speaker 7:This is Deborah Moncrief Bell and we're talking National Poetry Month. With Black Wildflower, an award-winning poet. A slamrose Center at the summit that we had blew us away. We were in awe. That was how powerful it was. Do you have something that you could share with the listeners of Queer Voices?
Speaker 8:Absolutely, and I would like to share that poem Vibrant. I would love to share that with you all, if that's all right. There's a phenomenon birthed when light enters a water droplet, the light bends, reflecting off the inside, separating its components between wavelengths and colors. When the light exits the droplet, it is born as a rainbow. And I've asked many men what would you do if your son was born a rainbow? And they say I would never want my son to be gay, as if that was only a choice that they didn't want them to make, that they didn't want their sons to be vibrant, as if that was only for their daughters, as if boys should be boys and not so feminine, as if exuding feminine energy was a cause of weakness. One guy said he'd rather kill his son than watch it rise. Why do death and rainbow share the same same womb? Isn't black the intensity of all colors collaborating? Someone once said they'd rather their son be a murderer than for him to be gay. Rather he take someone else's life than to live his own. So I wonder what they'd say about my son if he was born a rainbow baby, which is a baby? That is a lot that is born after a mischild or loss, loss of child.
Speaker 8:Two days after I found her, I was pregnant. The father told me he could never be in love with me. The next day, a rosy red river crawled from in between my thighs. I have never felt more blue. Insomnia colors my eyes red and I have never. I have never felt so blue. But this, this is the second child that I've lost, and straight men have told me that they'd rather kill their son when my womb has already carried so much death.
Speaker 8:Isn't it more important to love your child than to never get the chance at all? Even if my son is born gay, when his body exits mine, it will be the birth of a rainbow, and I'll assure him that black boys, black boys, can be lively. They can be soft, gentle, free. So live loud, love loud, laugh loud. It's okay to see your mother in your reflection too, cause what's a man without feminine energy, colorless?
Speaker 8:And if they try, if they try to be violent with my son because his smile is painted violent, if dull men try to dim him, tell him he is too black boy to bear luminosity. I'll assure him to dance, darling dance, like yesterday. It's jealous to watch you. You are my rainbow baby. I have already dug Through the storms of my depression. My son, you are my rainbow baby. You don't have to wait for someone to see how much of a bold miracle and phenomenon you are. So even if Even if my son is gay, I will love all the shine in his curiosity for him to be a black boy. I would be grateful just to have him alive.
Speaker 7:That is so powerful and and and so true. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. Do you have any other poem that you would like to share?
Speaker 8:Yeah, I would be open to sharing another poem, and thank you so much for speaking to that as well. It is hard to be able to express such vulnerable work sometimes, but it's needed, and so something else I'd like to share is a poem called For the Gods. And so something else I'd like to share is a poem called For the Gods. I still find myself hanging in the closet doorway trying to pick the right mood. Sort the bag of bones beneath the bed to get ready can be a grieving ritual, but I am more than just a pattern of my prick past. I'm unfolding myself. From becoming someone else's dirty laundry, I decided I'm not dressing up my depression anymore. I'm an androgynous blend of button-ups and bralettes, chunky heels and oversized hoodie. Feels I walk into the room like God sent me here. It's not my clothing that captures the eye, it's my spiritual aesthetic. It's not my clothing that captures the eye, it's my spiritual aesthetic. Yet my grandmother still can't end a phone call without reminding me that I'm going to hell. Tell me never to wear my gay around her, and I can't remember the last time she's seen how fly I am, how I patch myself back together every time. They say it's just a phase my grandmother asked me was I gay? Only because of what he did. Regret was a thread hanging us by our tongues. I became a mouth stitched with lavender. I would watch what I wore around men. How ugly I felt to be, a woman who didn't know how to style herself and anything other than her grandmother's insults. A fabric stitched in my seams passed down through family jeans. A denim of denying queerness sewn underneath my scalp reinforced the needle when I was told a sports bra would make me gay or I look like a boy without wearing earrings. I had to learn how to be the straight stitch, be the him holding the family secret from unraveling.
Speaker 8:I didn't know why my cousin kept introducing me as confused. I didn't know how they saw my sexuality as a costume. I didn't know how to make PTSD look presentable to my ex-partner. She always asked why didn't I dress up for her? She didn't realize how hard it was for me to dress up my depression from the people I love. Patch up the past with pricked fingers.
Speaker 8:I pulled myself out of garbage bags my ex-boyfriend crammed my clothes into. When he kicked me out he said how can I explain that you're pansexual to my family? Like being queer is a question mark and everyone explains how they think I'll be a negative influence to the children. When wearing a stitched mouth is a family hand-me-down no child chooses to put on, I found security in the comfort of my own cotton hands that pulled my neck off, that hanger with every fiber of my being. I am buying the seams of denying loving who I am. I've sewn my joy back together, all styled in zen, safe in my skin, around men again, because for the first time I picked this out and I look too good to apologize for how I choose to see myself healing Black queer woman dressed for the divine gods.
Speaker 7:The only reaction I can have to that is just wow. Thank you so much for sharing your work with us and talking about National Poetry Month. This is Deborah Moncrief Bell, along with Black Wallflower. How can people find out more about you, your socials or buy your books?
Speaker 8:I have a book coming out this summer entitled Lavender. You can check me out on Instagram. My platform on every platform, excuse me is Black Wildflower, and you can also find me on my website as well. It is entitled my name, black wildflowercom. I'm super excited and so grateful to have shared the issues that some black queer women or black queer individuals may struggle with maybe coming out with their families or sharing their experiences. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share what that looked like on my end.
Speaker 1:This is KPFT 90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FM Galveston, 91.9 FM Huntsville, and worldwide on the internet at kpftorg.
Speaker 6:Jenny Lee Stern is a Broadway actress who is coming to Houston with Forbidden Broadway. Merrily, we Stole a Song at the Houston Hobby Center. It's going to be playing from April 24th through the 26th, so kind of a fast run. Jenny has been in some serious musicals, but this show is a send up, a spoof of the great white way Like you've never seen. You're going to get to see cabaret, you'll see gypsy, you'll see the outsiders and Juliet probably six plus forbidden Broadway skewers, such favorites and classics such as phantom and Les Mis. Jenny, how awesome to have you and Forbidden Broadway coming to Houston.
Speaker 3:Thank you, I'm so excited. I've never been to Houston, so I'm really looking forward to it.
Speaker 6:It's all about the Tex-Mex and the humidity, that's it.
Speaker 3:That's what I heard. I did another interview last week and I was like, what do I need to do? And she was literally like margaritas Tex-Mex and like dress comfortably.
Speaker 6:Yes, your skin will be amazing.
Speaker 3:You'll get this great glow. I can't wait. Oh, I can't wait.
Speaker 6:Yeah, you know, forbidden Broadway's been an institution since 1982. Yes, labergast, it has been going on and I love it. And help me with this guy's name Gerard Alessandrini. Okay, help me with this guy's name Gerard Alessandrini Alessandrini. Okay, he's been doing it the whole time. Yes, sir. How did you end up in this production?
Speaker 3:I have been a member of the family, as they say, for about 14 years, did my first production about 13, 14 years ago. It was called Forbidden Broadway, alive and Kicking. So Forbidden Broadway has sort of been continuously running 25 years or something at that point, and then they had taken a five-year hiatus, which for them was like major. This production, alive and Kicking, was the first one back, like we're not dead, and it was an all-new cast of four actors who had never done the show before, all new material, and so it was a huge, you know, re-press opening and all the bells and whistles and yeah, and that just went really well and I just really clicked with Gerard and John the producer and Harriet the producer and you know, a couple years later they called me back. I did Spamilton and then a couple years later, like so every couple years then they've called me back and we've done so. Then I did Spamilton and then I did the Next Generation and then I did Forbidden Sondheim. We did last summer and now, narrowly, we stole a song.
Speaker 6:Which kind of is playing again on Sondheim?
Speaker 3:But Sondheim was such a huge lover of Forbidden Broadway and had a really personal connection with Gerard. They were friends and he would always come to the show he came to Alive and Kicking. We've met him several times and he's just always. He loves art, he loves theater and parody. Is that Spoofing Sondheim is not easy, right? It's not Jingle.
Speaker 7:Bells, Mad Men.
Speaker 3:Smells Like this is like to do a proper parody of a Sondheim song. Is pretty intense and Gerard's just a genius.
Speaker 6:Do you have like a favorite number that you've done, and it doesn't have to be in this iteration of it, like just do you remember, remember something that stands out I do all these like great I.
Speaker 3:I've done all these great numbers. Gerard's written me so many amazing numbers. I did like a an end of the rainbow number when tracy bennett was playing judy garland on broadway 14 years ago. I did another judy number when renee zellweger played garland.
Speaker 3:I've done just. We did like a Mandy Patty. Remember when they came back and did their duo show but sang all these songs like 16 going on 17. Like it was just iconically. It was like like those are great. But I'm going to say of the, of all of the incarnations, like some of the standouts for me are actually the group numbers that were the most collaborative. So back in alive and kicking, we did this once number that had, like, many different parts, it was almost like a medley.
Speaker 3:Remember the musical once because I'm a geek so great and that was like really fun to put together because it was really a collaborative sort of, came from almost an improv and that was really fun. And then I got to say we do an outsider's number in this version. It is like one of the most fun I've had on stage. Also, we do a cat's number in this version. That's different from it's like of the new cats, you know, the ballroom cat, it's just. Oh, that's different from it's like of the new cats, you know the ballroom cat, it's just oh, that's right.
Speaker 6:Yeah, they reinvented it.
Speaker 3:I love, yes, I love. I love taking center stage and being in the spotlight and doing Judy or Patty or Barbara or Angela Lansbury. But I mean to like, work off of the other actors that I've become so close with is so fun and I just, you know, I really get a kick out of being on stage with some of these people. So I think in this one I think you'll see in my face if those of you who come see the show, I love the Outsiders. It's hilarious.
Speaker 6:Do you ever? I mean, you talked about Stephen S sonheim having a really great appreciation for it and kind of liking forbidden broadway, but do you ever? Do you ever feel bad making fun of some of these folks because I mean, let's face it, broadway, they take themselves a little bit seriously a little bit too seriously I've I had to interview pat LuPone once and I was nervous.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, I bet.
Speaker 6:I was about to die. You know one of those people that just made me like I could interview anyone.
Speaker 3:but you mentioned her and I'm like Okay, well, speaking of Patti, I'll tell you a quick Patti story. There is a line that I say in the show before my Patti number which is actually verbatim what she said to me when I met her and I was doing a show at 54 Below, which for outside of New York listeners, is like a under, it's the basement of Studio 54. And it's like the premier Broadway cabaret space, right. So people like Patti LuPone do shows there, and Lilius White and Marilyn May and like all these amazing people. So I was doing the 930 show and Patti was doing the 7 o'clock show and I'm just, I'm there all the time, maybe like once a month, doing these Broadway sings, the greatest hits, broadway sing share, whatever, and so I don't pay too much attention to who's on the bill before me.
Speaker 3:But I was in my dressing room getting ready and I was like that's Patti LuPone, that's Patti LuPone. And I came out and, like the first thing, I thought I was like. I was like I did a double take because I thought she was my mom for a second and I was wondering what my mom was doing there, because they really do look a lot alike. And I went up to her and I was like. I was like, oh my gosh, I just want to introduce myself. My name is Jenny Lee Stern and she's like I'm Patti LuPone. I was like, yes, I know. And I was like I play you in Forbidden Broadway. I've played you in Forbidden Broadway for like 15 years. She goes Forbidden Broadway. They're still doing Forbidden Broadway. They're still doing forbidden Broadway.
Speaker 3:And I was like what is this line reading? Is this line reading like, wow, still relevant enough to be in forbidden Broadway. Or is it like, oh my God, give it a rest. Or is it like, wow, great for them there's, but it didn't matter, that was just the line.
Speaker 6:And oh no, just that is just like If I got that from Patty I would be just like I would hold that just right there.
Speaker 3:They're still doing Forbidden Broadway, like she's, like good for you, good for you to be working on that. Yeah, I was like okay.
Speaker 6:I always remember that one song. They did a really early version and then Forbidden Broadway. I get a kick out of me.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, sure yeah. But I mean to answer your original question, like do you feel bad? I mean I will say, look, it is as sharp as ever, clever as ever. But I mean we have to evolve with the times, right? So there is, you have parody license, but everywhere in the world we are sensitive to trigger warnings for people and things like that. You just you have to be or we would be ostracized, right.
Speaker 3:So I think it's toned down in the meanness factor as opposed to the past. You know what I mean. We're not commenting on people's weight, we're not commenting on people's age, gender identity, sexual orientation. You know what I mean, like if you go back on people's age, gender identity, sexual orientation. You know what I mean, like if you go back into the vaults, you know it's just surprising, like not so long ago, what things were universally like okay to say, and the things that now you know we're more everyone is more sensitive to.
Speaker 3:But you know we've evolved with the times on that one. So I would I'd say it's less mean but more clever, witty, it's more of a comment, you know, on the shows themselves, rather than like and I'm too old to play this part or I'm too fat to fit in my whatever it used to be, and it's. I love that because it's like challenges, gerard, and it challenges us to just okay, raise the bar and, like you don't have to hit below the belt, to still be funny and still be clever and still find a rhyme. So I can't say that I feel bad every once in a while, like when I run into somebody that I've spoofed. You know what I?
Speaker 6:mean.
Speaker 3:More like a more of a peer than, let's say, patti LuPone. Right, like if I ran into Megan Hilty the other day and I was like and she had then come and seen the show and I think maybe she had forgotten that I had done a smash parody of the TV show 12 years ago and I think if I went back and listened to that with her in the same room I'd probably be getting like the cold sweats. Or we did a Moulin Rouge parody and I ran into Robin Hurter, like something like that. You do think for a second like what did I say, what did I do? Was that okay? But you know, I think everybody who is spoofed, especially like a Megan Hilty or Robin Hurd or a Danny Burstein, like it's like being parodied on Saturday Night Live, like how cool, like hello, that means you're iconic, that means you've made it to a point in your career where Forbidden Broadway can spoof you. Like that, you're spoofable. Oh my gosh, I would take that any day. I would just be just an honor.
Speaker 6:Just an would take that any day. I would just be just an honor, just an honor to be parodied. You know what I mean exactly, oh my gosh. No, it's like a sign that you made it somehow. If they, yeah, took note enough to make fun of you. But now you do other shows too, though you do like serious, oh yeah, broadway shows. You're not.
Speaker 3:You're not just a slave to making fun of no, no, I'm not a slave to the parody and I'm not a slave to. I mean, I do play patsy Cline in, always Patsy Cline all over the country, which still is an impression, but not slapstick.
Speaker 6:That was developed here in Houston.
Speaker 3:Really, yeah, yes, that's amazing.
Speaker 6:It was developed right here.
Speaker 3:I love that. It's a hometown favorite. Oh, that's wonderful.
Speaker 6:And then I played sally bowls in a very dark cabaret. Can you do?
Speaker 3:cabaret and it not be dark. I'm sure some do, because some high schools I just saw it at a like a high school do it in a community center and was like appalled but I would be appalled.
Speaker 3:I was like what am I? What I feel? I was like is this test? Am I supposed to be like walking out? This is so inappropriate, but yeah, but I mean, like we just like really went there sort of and this was before it came back to Broadway, when we just sort of had the Olivier Awards to go off of. But like I loved that. Take on just this unhinged Sally Done that I mean, yeah, I've done like pretty much every in my career.
Speaker 3:I started when I was 11 years old playing annie at the bucks kind of playhouse and you know, it's just been going. It's like everything from anybody's in west side story to roxy heart, to, you know, patsy klein, to sally bulls and mrs love it, to tanya and mama mia, to cats and Seussical. I've done it all. I love it all. I mean I just love being on stage, I love embodying a new character and this is just kind of another skill that I was blessed to sort of have fall in my lap and now it's just become really like a part of who I am. It's really been.
Speaker 3:I still don't consider myself a singer and I still don't consider myself an impressionist, like I consider myself an actor who is called upon does whatever I need to do, that services the show. You know what I mean and people are like you're insane. I'm like, well, that's just how I feel. Like I don't feel like some insane singer who that's my number one craft Like I play Patsy Cline and she's a singer, so I will sing like Patsy Cline. Some of the stuff that you'll see me do in this version of the show is like extremely athletic, extremely dancey and all these things. And like how long have you been dancing? And like I have been dancing since I was a kid, but I also don't consider myself a dancer. Like I would never dance in the ensemble of some big Broadway show. That I mean obviously that's a lie because I have. So I don't know what I'm talking about, but I don't like identify like that. I'm like, oh well, I'm an actor and this role dances. I guess I don't know.
Speaker 6:I get the sense that you're very versatile. I mean, that's obviously why you're doing so well with Forbidden Broadway, because it is like a blender you have to like go to like within like a million miles a minute. I mean, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:Well, that's the hardest part, I mean the backstage part with the changes and the wigs and the costumes, and and then you're like, oh wait, oh, maybe I need to like lower my palate, like you don't have the chance to prepare. And what happens with forbidden Broadway? We just had rehearsal this week week because it's a little bit of a new version of the show. We have like a new person and we're working things out, and so the order of the show is very important for flow, but also because, oh, if Jenny's doing Annie and she's doing Sweeney Todd, then we need something in the middle of it because she needs to change or whatever.
Speaker 3:We were sort of putting the show together the other day and I had to go from Angela Lansbury right, well, I had to go from Little Red Riding Hood into Angela Lansbury, into Lindsay Mendez, and I started trying to sing Lindsay Mendez and like the sound was not coming out because I had just been like, and then you're trying to be like legit sort of mix belt American musical theater. So yeah, it's a wild super niche skill and that's kind of why there's only like maybe 20 core people in all of New York City that have really done it, like you know, consistently.
Speaker 6:I'm so mad because when I was growing up, when I was a young man and I was studying theater and things like that, I had a theater teacher that told me like you were such a great mimic, you cannot listen to any cast recordings. Because you can, you can do it, and I'm like I should have done this. I should have found it in. Broadway dreams.
Speaker 3:I mean do it whatever, produce it, produce it, write and produce it. I mean yeah.
Speaker 6:I'll talk to Gerard when we're in town. You should. No, no problem at all, okay, well, so let's get a little bit personal and, because we're on Queer Voices, we always like to talk a little bit about the LGBTQIA plus community. Yeah, I love it, and do you identify with that?
Speaker 3:I sure do so. I call myself an elder lesbian.
Speaker 6:Which I love.
Speaker 3:Femtop cougar. But well, I guess take the cougar out of it now, maybe. Yeah, I mean, we're good. Now I finally sort of settled into like my own age bracket. I was tired of you know, telling jokes about. You know golden girls are back to the future and people not understanding what I'm talking about and I was like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 6:If I was a teen in trouble.
Speaker 3:I could have birthed you.
Speaker 6:Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'm an elder lesbian. I'm a single mom of three beautiful daughters.
Speaker 6:How do you manage that when you're on tour?
Speaker 3:I was going to ask you because I was like picturing like you have like some wonderful spouse or partner that's going to take care of them while you're on tour. But what do you do? I do have a wonderful partner, but she is a cardiovascular pediatric ICU nurse.
Speaker 6:Oh yeah, Not demanding at all.
Speaker 3:Five times fast, you know, just a really lighthearted kind of career. So she'll actually be out in LA for the whole time I'm on tour working at CHLA. But yeah, so I but I do have a wonderful mother who helps me a lot. And also my oldest daughter is six. She's going to be 16. So I have a 15 year old, a 14 year old and a six year old, and you're in trouble.
Speaker 6:I would tour too.
Speaker 3:It's, it's, it's a lot of emotion there's a lot of emotion, there's a lot of emotions, there's a lot of emotions. The feminine energy in this house is absolutely wild. I wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah, so I really never toured. This is such a special exception and it just works out where I can like go out for five days, come back for three days, go out for four days. There's one. We have one date in Detroit. It's like one day and I'm literally flying out that morning and flying back at 6 am the next morning because my daughter's in her school play and I can't miss it.
Speaker 6:What is she going to do? Do you know?
Speaker 3:Well, my daughters are very experienced and they work at a community theater near here and do their roles. So at school she's in the ensemble of Cinderella and she's you know, she's an underclassman and she's paying her dues and you know we're supporting her on those small parts. You know, just small actors she's doing wonderfully and yeah, so I just make it work. You know what I mean. She's doing wonderfully and yeah, so I just make it work. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Thankfully, although obviously I take everything I do very seriously when I go to work. I am not a cardiovascular pediatric ICU nurse, you know what I mean. I am not a neurosurgeon, I am not a rocket scientist. So it's like, luckily, thankfully, wonderfully, I get to go to work and sing and dance and make funny faces and make people forget their troubles for two hours and hang out with some of my great friends who do the show too, and so we just make it work. And you know, the truth of the matter is there's plenty of parents especially dads, I guess who, like they have to travel for work and they're gone for a month at a time doing business in Tokyo. I don't know what people do, but I'm sure some people do things like that. Yeah, we're just going to make it work. This is how I make money, this is how I take care of my family, and so make it work.
Speaker 6:So you think that the three of them you were saying that they're pretty involved in theater, are they? Do you think they're going to follow after you?
Speaker 3:God, I hope not.
Speaker 6:I hope she's talking to me to be a pediatric nurse.
Speaker 3:No, that's bad too. Look, I want them to do whatever they want to do, but I want them to be financially free, I want them to be in loving relationships and be supported by whoever they choose to take as a partner, and I just want them to be able to have as many experiences they can look, and if that's theater, then then that's theater. You know what I mean, but the world is just so wild right now, so who knows? You know what I mean. I'm happy that they have it now, because obviously it's like a wonderful sense of community. It's still a place that hasn't really changed in terms of acceptance, inclusivity. That's what makes being in the theater so special, right, think about all of us that were in our high school theater programs. Right, what a beautiful place to be. Right, I'd rather be backstage at the drama club than I don't know.
Speaker 6:I would rather be doing cabaret in high school than going out on the football field. Yeah, and there's some people that wouldn't club than like I don't know. I would rather be doing cabaret in high school than going out on the football field.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and there's some people that wouldn't, but it's just like, especially for queer youth. It remains a place where, like, that is just not a thing, it's just come as you are and that's sort of what theaters or become what you want to be. Exactly.
Speaker 6:That's the key.
Speaker 3:Exactly honey, right, become what you want to be. Exactly that's, that's the key. Exactly, honey, right, because you just get the chance to, like you can express yourself and if you're unsure or if you're trying things out or whatever, right, like nobody's gonna say no one's gonna bat a lash about putting on a lash. You want to put a lash on, let's go. I love that. That sort of never really changed, you know what I mean, since, like the beginning of times, the beginning of theater. So I'm glad that they have that for now. They are so incredibly talented that they should be doing it because they definitely spread joy. But yeah, I mean, if they wanted to have like a really solid, fun career or I don't know, design an app or something and then sell it and then go live in bora bora and like live their best life, like, I would be supportive of that as well.
Speaker 6:So well, we cannot wait to see you in forbidden broadway. I am so stoked that this is coming to houston. I've been a fan since probably the 80s, but anyway it is going to be at the Hobby Center April 24th through the 26th so excited. Jenny Lee Stern, I know you're just going to make me laugh.
Speaker 3:Will we see you at the show? Will you be able to get out? Oh my, gosh?
Speaker 6:Yes, of course.
Speaker 3:Hey, well, make sure you tell me when you're coming and you know.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I'm going to bring Patti LuPone Just kidding, she's going to be my plus one and they're still doing this damn thing. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:This has been queer voices, heard on KPFT Houston and as a podcast available from several podcasting sources. Check our webpage queer voicesorg for more information. Queer Voices executive producer is Brian Levinka, deborah Moncrief-Bell is co-producer, brett Cullum and David Mendoza-Druzman are contributors. The News Wrap segment is part of another podcast called this Way Out, which is produced in Los Angeles.
Speaker 5:Some of the material in this program has been edited to improve clarity and runtime. This program does not endorse any political views or animal species. Views, opinions and endorsements are those of the participants and the organizations they represent. In case of death, please discontinue use and discard remaining product.
Speaker 1:For Queer Voices. I'm Glenn Holt.
