Terrence McNally, the playwright, librettist, and screenwriter who portrayed gayness to a mainstream theater audience, died March 24th at 81, becoming one of the first celebrities to succumb to COVID-19.
Joseph Caldwell's 'In the Shadow of the Bridge' is a heartfelt memoir about being gay in the New York City of the 1950s an '60s, as well as a remembrance of the peak years of the AIDS crisis.
Although born in Detroit, Elaine Stritch was essentially a New Yorker. She performed on TV, film, and cabaret, but Broadway was the venue for which she is best remembered by two generations of theatre cognoscenti. She triumphed in musicals and dramas.
"The American People, Volume 2" ebbs, flows, and in true Kramer style, overflows in grand fashion as the arrival of the AIDS epidemic is laid at the feet of an unsuspecting gay community.
Two collections of prose poems began Out There's reading week: "Tracing the Unspoken" by Slovenian poet Milan Selj, and "The Blue Absolute," a new collection of prose poems by renowned Bay Area poet Aaron Shurin.
Japanese manga artist Gengoroh Tagame is well-known for his intricate drawings of men tied up in various forms of Japanese-style bondage and rope play.
We don't always get to read all the review copies of books that pile up on the Arts Desk. But here are a few representative passages from some new offerings that we have enjoyed.
Writing deeply informed reflections about classical music in language that engages the non-specialist, Stephen Hough's pieces are collected in "Rough Ideas: Reflections on Music and More" (FS&G).
"Pet," Nigerian-born author Akwaeke Emezi's creatively exceptional sophomore effort and a finalist for a National Book Award, reflects a daring and surprising move to Young Adult territory.
When I read about Malcolm Tariq's new poetry collection "Heed the Hollow" (Graywolf Press), with three poems entitled "Malcolm Tariq's Black Bottom," I was there.
