Arts & Culture :: Culture

Playing for laughs and love with author-playwright Paul Rudnick

Playing for laughs and love with author-playwright Paul Rudnick

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Jun 21, 2021

Combining wit and wisdom, writer Paul Rudnick gives us much to think about while we are laughing, including in his new romantic and comic novel, 'Playing The Palace.'

Gender, revealing: Torrey Peters 'Detransition, Baby'

Gender, revealing: Torrey Peters 'Detransition, Baby'

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Jun 20, 2021

Brooklyn-based author Torrey Peters's frothy debut novel, a brilliantly entertaining study in trans feminine culture, chronicles the fiery relationship between a trans woman and her ex-partner.

50 Years in 50 Weeks: 1981: Cinema, Skinema

50 Years in 50 Weeks: 1981: Cinema, Skinema

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Jun 17, 2021

As Frameline celebrates its 45th anniversary, let's look back at coverage of their fifth anniversary in late June 1981, and the adult film advertised on the next page.

50 Years in 50 Weeks: 1980, 10th anniversary stage salute

50 Years in 50 Weeks: 1980, 10th anniversary stage salute

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Jun 10, 2021

The April 10 tenth anniversary issue, at a whopping 68 pages, featured a disco dance event on the cover, and looked back on the 'Bay Area Reporter's first decade. Included was an expansive series of articles on gay theater companies.

Pride 2021 nonfiction reading list

Pride 2021 nonfiction reading list

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Jun 8, 2021

Pride festivities for 2021 still seem to be up in the air or not taking place. Nevertheless, there are other ways of displaying your pride in being a member of the LGBTQ+ community, including reading a book by a queer writer or ally.

Pride 2021 fiction reading list

Pride 2021 fiction reading list

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Jun 8, 2021

Consider the wide variety of LGBTQ fiction books published this year that showcase our diverse lives, and our diverse forms of storytelling, from mysteries to Young Adult, fantasy and classics rereleased.

Linda Simpson's retro drag scrapbook 'Drag Explosion' recalls NYC's nightlife yesteryears

Linda Simpson's retro drag scrapbook 'Drag Explosion' recalls NYC's nightlife yesteryears

  • by Jim Piechota
  • May 25, 2021

Linda Simpson's epic pictorial stroll down Drag Queen Memory Lane captures that golden age of nightclub culture occupying the 1980s and '90s where creativity and fierceness combined in kaleidoscopic ways.

Michael Nava's 'Lies With Man' brings back the mystery

Michael Nava's 'Lies With Man' brings back the mystery

  • by Jim Piechota
  • May 18, 2021

Attorney and prolific author Michael Nava's impressive, engrossing ninth mystery novel in his Henry Rios detective series flashes back to the 1980s where big hair ruled, neon lit up the night, and the dark storm clouds of the AIDS epidemic began.

Cabaret, comedy & a class act: 42nd Street Moon, New Conservatory Theatre Center's new offerings

Cabaret, comedy & a class act: 42nd Street Moon, New Conservatory Theatre Center's new offerings

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • May 17, 2021

A gay duo offers up new takes on classic sitcom theme songs, the long-gone Billie Holiday is revived in a play with her music, and half a dozen trans performers go virtual.

50 Years in 50 Weeks: 1976 — "Oh, Rocky!"

50 Years in 50 Weeks: 1976 — "Oh, Rocky!"

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 12, 2021

The 'advertorial' cover of the March 18, 1976 Bay Area Reporter did not include news of our nation's Bicentennial celebrations, but instead the hit production of 'The Rocky Horror Show' and inside a 2-page interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

AIDS activism by the book: 'Let the Record Show' captures a movement's rise and decline

AIDS activism by the book: 'Let the Record Show' captures a movement's rise and decline

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 11, 2021

In the lengthy 'Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993,' author Sarah Schulman documents and analyzes the ideals, actions, successes and failures of the people who made up the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power.

Smart staging: Marin Theatre Company's 'Brilliant Mind'

Smart staging: Marin Theatre Company's 'Brilliant Mind'

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • May 11, 2021

Denmo Ibrahim's ambitious new play will be presented online with the help of some new technology that moves beyond Zoom recitations and recorded shows.

Decades of Pride: FX Docuseries showcases LGBTQ history

Decades of Pride: FX Docuseries showcases LGBTQ history

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 8, 2021

In six episodes made by six directors, FX's Pride Docuseries showcases six decades of stunning and deeply touching interviews and archival footage to visualize the more than half century of LGBTQ struggles and achievements.

50 Years in 50 Weeks; 1975 - Empress and an elephant

50 Years in 50 Weeks; 1975 - Empress and an elephant

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 4, 2021

1975 was a great year for B.A.R. covers, but the most legendary image of the year is assuredly that of Empress Doris riding an elephant down Polk Street for the annual Gay Freedom Day Parade. How did it happen? And why?