Writer-Performer Ryan Raftery (Mother of the Year: The Kris Jenner Musical): "It's Like Having Your Brain Stroked To A Low-Grade Orgasm"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Release Date: 10/10/2023
L.A. Theater Director Bart DeLorenzo ("Design for Living"): "Bob Fosse Taught Me To Snap My Fingers"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by L.A. theater director Bart DeLorenzo to talk about his newest production, Noel Coward's Design for Living at the Odyssey Theatre, as well as his career in general. Bart talks about why the 90 year-old play--about three young, struggling artists who can't seem to live without each other--seems so resonant in this moment. He also talks about his directing process, how he reads a play over and over and over again before he starts putting it on his feet and how he believes there are always two plays going on in any given production; the play on stage and the story...
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Conversion filmmaker Zach Meiners and featured subject Elena Joy Thurston: "Using My Voice Helps Me To Heal"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Zach Meiners and Elena Joy Thurston, two of the three conversion therapy survivors profiled in the new documentary Conversion, which was also directed by Meiners. (The third survivor profiled is Dustin Rayburn AKA Dusty Ray Bottoms from RuPaul's Drag Race). Zach talks about what inspired him to make the film, why he used detailed miniatures to tell the story visually and how when he was struggling with his sexuality, he always felt like "the worst person in every room." Elena talks about her background as a devout Mormon wife and mother who found herself...
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Chronicles of a Wandering Saint filmmaker Tomás Gómez Bustillo: "Making Fun Sh#t With My Friends"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Argentine-born filmmaker Tomás Gómez Bustillo to talk about his delightful, three-time Indie Spirit Award-nominated film Chronicles of a Wandering Saint, which was first mentioned on this podcast earlier this year when Drew Droege raved about it during our year-end movie wrap-up. The movie is about an elderly woman in a small rural town in Argentina named Rita (Wild Tales Monica Villas) who is so competitive with the other ladies from her church that she fakes a miracle to try and improve her status. Tomás talks about how the film was partly inspired...
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Playwright Miranda Rose Hall & Executive Director Armando Huipe (The Sandwich Ministry): "I Write About The Questions That Keep Me Up At Night"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis connects via Zoom with two of the people behind the play The Sandwich Ministry; playwright Miranda Rose Hall and Armando Huipe, who is the Executive Director of the Skylight Theatre Company in Los Angeles where the show is running through July 7, 2024. The play is one of the best things Dennis has seen on stage in years. The story concerns three women, two of whom are queer, who gather in a church basement to make sandwiches for people in need after a once-in-lifetime storm hits their community. Miranda talks about what inspired her to write the play, her own background growing up...
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Author Alonso Duralde (Hollywood Pride): "Take The Gays Away And None Of This Happens"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by film critic Alonso Duralde to discuss his new coffee table book Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance In Film. It's a beautifully written and designed book about at the history of queer people in the movies, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Alonso talks about the artists and films that weren't on his radar before he began his research and shares insights about some of the films in the book like including Prick Up Your Ears, Philadelphia, Brokeback Mountain, Parting Glances, Longtime Companion and Making...
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Actor-Singer Activist Bryan Terrell Clark (Diarra From Detroit): "Joy Can Be Resistance"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor Bryan Terrell Clark who plays a gay teacher "Mr. Tea" on the BET+ mystery-comedy series Diarra From Detroit. Bryan talks about how he knew the show's creator and star Diarra Kilpatrick for years before working with her and how thrilled he was to learn she was writing the role of Mr. Tea with him in mind. He also talks about how he sees Mr. Tea as the Bea Arthur-esque truthteller of the ensemble and how gratifying it is to play the type of gay character he would have liked to seen when he was growing up. He also talks about growing up in Baltimore with a...
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Trumpery playwright Christian McLaughlin: "It’s All Gonna End Because of a Desk"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by Christian McLaughin, author of the novels Glamourpuss and Sex Toys of the Gods, to talk about his newest project; the play Trumpery, which is having its world premier at the LA Fringe Festival through June 28th. Here's the shows not-so-implausible premise: Ex-President Trump (Austin Walker) is running from the law on a yacht with his wife Melania (Lauren Howard Hayes), daughter Tiffani (John Cantwell AKA Love Connie) daughter Ivanka (Tatjana Vujovic), son-in-law Jared Kushner (Felix Pire) and a mysterious stowaway (Natalie Whittle) and mayhem...
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Lost Spaces podcast host K Anderson: "I Keep Getting Asked If I’m A Therapist"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom from London by K Anderson, host of the podcast Lost Spaces. On its surface, the show is about lost queer spaces like bars and bookstores, but on a deeper level it about queer people discovering who they really are, often on a dance floor. K talks about how he first got the idea for the podcast, how doing it has changed his life, the workload of doing a podcast and why so many gay bars have shame-based names like Alibis and Incognito. He also talks about his own lost space, a gay bar in Adelaide, Australia called Mars Bar, where he had many adventures as a young man...
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Author Carl Siciliano (Making Room) Part 2: "What Do We Owe The People Who Love Us?"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined by author Carl Siciliano for Part 2 of their conversation about Carl's new book Marking Room and his decades-long career, fighting to protect the lives of LGBTQ youth in New York City. Carl talks about the most difficult part of writing the book; reliving the murder of his young friend Ali Forney. He also talks about the big themes he wrestles with in Making Room, specifically humans seeming need to humiliate each other and Americans need to believe that they're always the good guys. Carl also talks about lighter subjects, like the Thanksgiving weekend in 2016 when both...
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Author Carl Siciliano (Making Room) Part 1: "I Could See That They Were Beloved"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by author Carl Siciliano to discuss his new book Making Room: Three Decades of Fighting for Beds, Belonging and a Safe Space for LGBT Youth, which documents his founding of the Ali Forney Center in New York City in 2002 as well his many years at the Times Square youth center Safe Space before that. It was at Safe Space in 1994 that Carl met Ali Forney, a non-binary black young person who had been living on the street since they were 12. The pair developed a unique bond and when Ali was senselessly murdered by a gun shot to the temple, one of the ways Carl dealt with...
info_outlineDennis is joined via Zoom by Ryan Raftery, the star and creator of Mother of the Year: The Kris Jenner Musical, the latest in his series of musicals about complicated celebrities. Ryan talks about what drew him to exploring Kris, the nine months he spent researching her, what surprised him in his research and the words of wisdom from Kris that he's taken to heart. Dennis and Ryan also discuss the Kardashians generally, with Dennis sharing his impressions of their appearances on Fashion Police when he was a writer there and Ryan voicing his wish that they'll show up when Mother of the Year plays in LA on October 19th and 20th at the Bourbon Room. Ryan also talks about some of the other stars he's created shows around like Ivanka Trump, Andy Cohen, Martha Stewart, Anna Wintour and Andy Warhol and the stars he'd like to portray one day like Mariah Carey and Fox News' Roger Ailes. Other topics include: the time Ryan met Martha Stewart. his appearances on Law and Order: SVU, how he ended up with Anna Wintour's sunglasses, buying wigs and costumes on Amazon, why he doesn't want to perform as himself anymore and spending hours learning how to fold a fitted sheet to he could authentically portray Martha Stewart.
https://bourbonroomhollywood.com/tm-event/mother-of-the-year-the-kris-jenner-musical/