Quest Magazine Volume 17 Issue 6
Quest Arts & Entertainment Features

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Arts & Entertainment Volume 17 Issue 1 Click Here
Arts & Entertainment Volume 17 Issue 2 Click Here
Michael Johnston Talks to Bruce Vailanch
Arts & Entertainment Volume 17 Issue 3 Click Here
Arts & Entertainment Volume 17 Issue 4 Click Here
Arts & Entertainment Vol. 17 Issue 5 PRIDEFEST Dance Pavillion
Arts & Entertainment Vol. 17 Issue 5 N.E.W. PRIDE ALIVE in July
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Milwaukee Museum To Display AIDS Quilt Panels
Milwaukee, WI - Select panels from the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display at the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Schroeder Galleria from June 8 to 20. Included among the nine panels on view will be the original panel designed by ARCW in 1987 honoring people with AIDS from Milwaukee. The other panels include those from the world’s foremost fashion designers including Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Helmut Lang, Isaac Mizrahi, Donna Karan and Oscar de la Renta. Admission to see the AIDS Quilt panels is free.

The Museum also will present American Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur Collection May 22 to Sept. 6. The exhibit includes more than 40 historic quilts whose craftsmanship provide an extraordinary visual experience and a wealth of new information about the early American cultural landscape. Coupons for the exhibit will be made available to friends of ARCW and the Museum will donate $2 to ARCW for every patron who uses a coupon for admission.

Joseph Pabst worked with the museum for this collaboration. Funding by Pabst through the Johnson & Pabst LGBT Humanity Fund at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation is making the exhibit of the AIDS Memorial Quilt possible.

Florentine Opera Camerata Holds Second Annual FUNdraiser at The ROOM
Milwaukee, WI - A Florentine Opera-sponsored LGBT-friendly affinity group know as Camerata, will hold its second annual FUNdraiser on Sunday, April 11 at 7:00 pm at The ROOM.

The group plans to revive the live “song auction,” featuring the Florentine Opera Studio Artists and accompanist Anne Van Deusen, which was a popular showpiece of last year’s event. During the song auction, guests bid on beloved opera and musical theater favorites to be performed live by the artist they request. General Director William Florescu will serve as auctioneer.

Appetizers will be provided by Miss Katie’s Diner and a cash bar is available. There will be a small cover charge at the door. The proceeds raised at the event will fund Florentine Camerata, including underwriting the popular 2010-2011 season Camerata Sunday Artist Social events, which are held before each mainstage opera.

Northeast Wisconsin’s Pride Alive 2010 Events Begin

Appleton, WI - Pride alive, a program of Rainbow Over Wisconsin and the group responsible for organizing and producing a yearly pride event in Green Bay is hosting the 2nd annual Pride Alive Spring Fling gala event at TC Dance Club International in Appleton. The black-tie optional event held Saturday, May 1st will feature the sultry sounds of Los Angeles’ Gennine Jackson. Guests can enjoy cuisine from Angelina Restaurant and a 6:30 p.m. champagne reception will kick off the.
Tickets for the evening are $50 per person and there is limited space available. Visit www.newpride.org or call (920) 471-3260 to purchase.

The group has been busy planning this year’s Pride Festival which will again host an artist event during this year’s celebration July 7 – 11 in Green Bay. Last year the artwork was displayed on Broadway Street for the week of the festival and included several pieces of photography and other mediums such as oil. The gallery was a qualified success. The group states “The purpose of Pride Alive is to celebrate the LGBT community and to connect with the larger Northeast Wisconsin community, as well as other communities. This is a fantastic opportunity to have your artwork displayed, and is open to everyone.” For a copy of the application, interested artists should go to www.newpride.org. The downloadable Word document is a link on the left side of the main page “Call to Artist…”

MGAC and UPROOTED Theatre Company Announce Collaboration
Milwaukee - On February 22, Neil Haven’s LGBT-themed family comedy, Pink Champagne was performed as a dramatic reading at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center. MGAC commissioned the work in 2007 with support of the Washington Heights Rainbow Association.

It’s not the same old story. Gene and Amy, a small town couple in a strained marriage chase down their recently outed, runaway son to Gene’s estranged gay father’s home. An impromptu family reunion ensues.
Haven tackles some difficult contemporary issues juxtaposing straight and gay couples dealing with their common dilemma, a gay child. Haven’s comedy holds wisdom, surprises and delivers candid realities of traditional family values put in an untraditional framework.

The cast included Milwaukee theater luminaries Angela Ianonne as Amy and Dan Katula as Gene. T Stacy Hicks read the role of Patrick. Kurt Ollmann portrayed Don, Gene’s father with Dylan Zalewski as the son Joey. They gave an electric and energetic performance to an enthralled full house audience. An animated Talk Back followed lead by Madison dramaturge KC Davis.
If you missed it, Pink Champagne will be presented as a dramatic reading at PrideFest 2010 on the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center Stage.

A new constellation is born

Along with the playwright, that night’s audience included Tiffany Yvonne Cox, Marti Gobel, Dennis F. Johnson and Travis Knight, founders of UPROOTED Theatre, Milwaukee’s new African-American professional stage company. Coincidently, Joseph R. Pabst was in the audience as well. That stellar convergence gave birth to a new constellation.

UPROOTED’s enthusiasm lead to a discussion with the playwright about doing Haven’s play. Later that week, Pabst met with Haven. A subsequent meeting between MGAC, UPROOTED and Haven launched the project. Now, supported by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Johnson & Pabst LGBT Humanity Fund, a fully staged production is in the works. Performances will take place at the 10th Street Theatre (In Tandem) in spring 2011.

The collaboration between MGAC and UPROOTED Theatre Company is unique in community history. By commissioning an LGBT themed play, MGAC fulfilled its mission to promote LGBT relevant art. The collaboration with UPROOTED Theatre Company fosters artistic development of and for underserved groups. It promotes and presents local artists.

Pink Champagne

Pink Champagne’s theme adds a particularly timely aspect to the collaboration. The current focus on the plight of homeless gay youth has led to the creation of specific projects to address the problem. Coming out often leads to internal family crisis.
Whether as a young person or adult, coming out can be a traumatic for all involved. Statistics show that this can end tragically for youth. Suicide attempt rates among LGBT youth are higher than average. They are also more likely to suffer violence from family and peers. 25% of homeless youth identify as LGBT. Youth of color accounts for a disproportionately large percentage of those statistics. Late acceptance of sexual identity of a married individual often results in divorce and broken families.

More importantly, the UPROOTED’s participation broadens the scope and target audience. It reaches the Milwaukee African American community. The cast will be interracial.

Talk Backs intend to further heighten community awareness of gay youth, gay youth homelessness and mental health issues to help foster change of attitudes. Panels comprised of representatives from the LGBT Community Center’s Q-Blok program, Connexus and PFLAG will conduct Talk Backs after the performances.

Additionally, the development reading at UWM Peck School of the Arts provides students with an educational opportunity to observe and participate in the playwright’s progress. Dramaturge KC Davis will facilitate at a Talk Back.
A copy of the script and a chronicle of this historic collaboration will be donated to the UW-Milwaukee LGBT Archive Collection.

LGBT Center of SE Wisconsin Hosts Special Art Exhibition
Racine, WI - “Dangerous Women, Wayward Men, and the Wild, Wild West,” a series of 46 pieces painted by artist Phil Strang on small glass strips which had served as dividers for a CD section and on the 12 X 16 inch pieces of glass that formed a display rack, will be on display at the Art Gallery in the LGBT Center of SE Wisconsin, 1456 Junction Avenue, between April 7th and May 3rd.
The public is invited to a “Taco Reception” honoring the artist and his work at the LGBT Center on Wednesday, April 7th, between 7:00 pm and 8:30 pm.

Strang manages the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Foellinger Auditorium. A single dad with two teenagers, he grew up in New York City where he knew LGBT Center Director Bruce Joffe in high school. At 17, he moved to Urbana-Champaign, earning a B.S. in Communication, Theatre, Art and Design.

Working as a commercial artist for 30 years – doing all of the advertising for Record Service in Champaign-Urbana and Normal – he began painting extensively in 2004. Quickly developing his own unique style, Strang chose such themes as fantasy, mythology, sports, travel, and the “Old West” to complement his love of Impressionism, color, and action.

“My artwork initially consisted of dragons, knights, Pegasus, unicorns and other mythical creatures as I geared up for the Illinois Renaissance Faire,” he recalls. “After that, I expanded into Western and travel themes … and then did a series of sports paintings.”
Strang sees his paintings on glass as windows into the worlds of his imagination: romance, conflict, redemption, and challenge.
“I feel there’s a narrative style to my paintings as well as a passion, and I have a lot of stories to tell,” he shares. “I hope my work communicates with people and helps them to think, laugh, and enjoy my vision.”

For more information about this special, one-month art exhibit at the LGBT Center – or the Artist Reception on Wednesday, May 7th – contact the LGBT Center at 262.664.4100 or visit www.lgbtsewisc.org/calendar

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“Divas Las Vegas” by Rob Rosen
c.2009, Cleis Press
$14.95 / $18.95 Canada
287 pages

You would have never believed it if you hadn’t seen it for yourself.

Mere steps into the terminal at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, there were, indeed, slot machines: rows and rows of them in all their light-flashing, cha-chinging, whooping glory. Just off the plane, you were overjoyed. You were excited. You couldn’t dig quarters out of your pocket fast enough.

And, of course, that was just the beginning because there’s lots to do in Sin City; even more, if you’re looking for a lost antique. But in the book “Divas Las Vegas” by Rob Rosen, an old relic could mean trouble anew.

When Bill Miller (known to his friends as “Em”) lost his job through the sale of his beloved bookstore, he was sad… for about ten minutes. His share of the sale amounted to $30,000, which was just the balm Em’s newly-unemployed soul needed. The other soothing thing was that it was Las Vegas night on Antiques Roadshow, and Em loooved Antiques Roadshow.

But what he saw astonished him.

Years ago, Em’s mother inherited a vase that had been a sore point in her childhood. As a kid, she was never allowed to go near it and she always hated the thing. Once it was hers, she sold it at a garage sale for two dollars, then regretted her rashness soon after.

The vase was featured on the show.

It was appraised at $25,000.

Instantly, Em knew that he had to find that vase. Accompanied by his BFF, Justin (who had scads of money and didn’t need a job), and a suitcase filled with two fabulously-sequined chorus-girl costumes, Em flew to Vegas to make his mother happy.

But while Las Vegas is filled with beautiful boys and kitschy shows, it’s also filled with danger and intrigue. First, the newest owner of the vase turned up dead, then two strangers were murdered in the hotel in which Em and Justin were staying. Adorable men flashed in and out of the picture like faulty Vegas light bulbs, and old flames flared up. But when one of their new boy-toys got in trouble and vanished, Em and Justin realized that it wasn’t about the vase any more.

Take two men with a flair for fashion. Add a beautiful bisexual woman, a handful of Middle Eastern hotties, and a chain-smoking cabbie. Mix in several murders and a hopelessly horrid vase, put them in Sin City and shake gently. Open, and serve on a beach because “Divas Las Vegas” is the perfect escape read.

Author Rob Rosen created a campy, rompish, slightly naughty semi-mystery novel that is hilariously fun, fun, fun. I loved Em so much (and maybe Justin a little more) that I couldn’t wait to see what they’d come up with next. This story is so enjoyable, in fact, that you’ll almost wish you’d been there.

If you’re looking for something light as a headdress feather but as addicting as a one-armed bandit, “Divas Las Vegas” is for you. To miss this good-time novel would be a Sin.