Kickstarter

A few days ago, Ellie Covan called to invite me to present my show I Was the Voice of Democracy at Dixon Place in New York City. Ellie's call also promised to transform a long-held dream into reality but I need your help. Your Kickstarter contribution will help me get from ABQ to NYC, thereby permitting my show I Was the Voice of Democracy to perform at NYC's Dixon Place Lounge on December 16-17, 2011.

Founded by Ellie in 1986 (the same year my show remembers), Dixon Place is a now legendary venue that has long provided emerging and established performance artists the essential opportunity to present works in process in a uniquely intimate environment. In my own NYC days (now twenty years past), I spent more time working, watching and learning at Dixon Place than perhaps any other performance venue. Indeed, my very first notion to tell the story at the heart of I Was the Voice of Democracy came to me while I was working behind the bar at Dixon Place on Bowery.

It took its time but, a little more than a year ago, that spark finally became I Was the Voice of Democracy, my recollection of the true story of when I, as a 17 year old gay Latino kid living in Reagan's America, found myself briefly thrust into a peculiar kind of fame when a patriotic speech I wrote on a whim ended up winning a national contest. In the show, I mix analysis and anecdote as I puzzle through the hilarious (and heartbreaking) memories, mementos and artifacts of my own teenage experience. By turns comedic and contemplative, I Was the Voice of Democracy asks whether we ever really stop being the person we once were. 

Since its premiere as part of SoloFest2010 at Albuquerque's The Filling Station, I Was the Voice of Democracy has grown and changed as it has been embraced by audiences in Taos, Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago. But this show has not yet been given the opportunity to encounter an audience on the East Coast, let alone New York, until now. So it seems somehow fitting that I now have the chance to share I Was the Voice of Democracy at what is, in my heart, the perfect New York City venue: Dixon Place Lounge, a new bar and performance space designed in homage to that original living room space on the Bowery where I learned so much about performance and about myself.

Today, you can help make this dream happen. Your Kickstarter contribution will help to defray expenses (airfare, lodging & incidentals) as I make the trip from ABQ to NYC so that I can present my solo show I Was the Voice of Democracy at NYC's Dixon Place Lounge on December 16-17, 2011.

Thank you for your generous attention and for your sustaining support throughout the constantly surprising and exhilarating journey taken by I Was the Voice of Democracy!