On this episode of QUEER VOICES, Deborah Moncrief Bell talks with Jeffrey Campbell, who is the CEO of ALLIES IN HOPE (formerly AIDS FOUNDATION HOUSTON). He talks about all things related to the organization and tells us about their upcoming Ball, which is scheduled for November 14th. You can find tickets at https://www.aihhouston.org/hopeforhoustonball
Danielle Sampey talks with Bryan Hlavinka about Lazarus House. This organization provides fitness and diet programs for individuals with a chronic condition that causes wasting. Their website can be found at https://thelazarushouse.org/
Then Joel Tatum talks to the 2ND CHANCE PLAYERS OF DALLAS, TX. They are about to open a production of THE LARAMIE PROJECT. You can find out more about them at https://www.secondchanceplayers.org/
DON'T FORGET... KPFT is a listener-funded radio station. Please, if you can donate in the name of QUEER VOICES, go to
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Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here. Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond. Check out our socials at:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_04 (00:02):
This is KPFT 90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FM Galveston, 91.9
FM Huntsville, and worldwide onthe internet at KPFT.org.
SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
Welcome to this week's Queer Voices Radio Show
and Podcast.
We are Houston's voice for theLGBTQIA Plus community.
We've been here for over fivedecades on KPFT.
We have three segments for you.
Up first, Deborah Moncrief Bellis going to interview Jeffrey
Campbell.
He runs Allies in Hope, which isan organization that was
(00:45):
formerly known as AIDSFoundation Houston.
Then Brian Lovinka will speakwith Danielle Sampi of The
Lazarus House, a group thathelps to rehabilitate through
exercise and nutrition.
And finally, we end with JoelTatum talking to Second Chance
Players of Dallas, a uniquetheater group that offers
(01:06):
theater as therapy and asrecovery.
So Queer Voices starts now.
SPEAKER_06 (01:12):
Jeffrey Campbell is the chief executive officer of
Allies and Hope.
And Jeffrey, are we at the pointwhere we no longer have to
qualify formally the AIDSFoundation?
SPEAKER_05 (01:26):
You know, Deb, that is such a great question.
No, we are not.
And I still like to say it, notjust to ring people's bells
about who we are, but to payhomage to individuals that
started this organization anddid such great work over the
years before we became allies inHope and May of 2023.
SPEAKER_06 (01:52):
And you've been for two decades now involved in the
HIV AIDS community, uh, workingwith programs and helping
people.
And I think I remember yousaying that there's this concept
that there's no longer anepidemic where AIDS is
concerned, but there is.
SPEAKER_05 (02:12):
Yes, Dub, there is this concept that the epidemic
has gone away, that there are nonew diagnoses, that this is
something that we do not have tobe concerned about any longer.
And that is very far from thetruth.
We do still have new diagnoseson a daily basis.
(02:33):
Here in Houston Harris County,we have about 1,200 new
diagnoses for HIV a year.
And also here in Houston HarrisCounty, one or two of the
challenges that we have is whenit comes to viral suppression,
which is what makes a personliving with HIV not able to
(02:56):
transmit the virus to someoneelse through sex.
We're not hitting that endingthe HIV epidemic marker when it
comes to Houston-Harris County.
We're also not hitting themarker when it comes to the
number of pre-people that areengaging PrEP, which is a
pre-exposure prophylaxis thatprevents the contraction of HIV.
(03:20):
So we have a lot of work to dohere in Houston.
SPEAKER_06 (03:23):
Yeah, I think the good news is that it's not
necessarily a death sentence asit once was in the early days,
but there's so much to beconcerned about.
And the fact that that mentalityof that it's not a problem
anymore is in fact the problembecause people are not paying
(03:44):
attention.
They're not necessarily engagingin safe sex practice.
They're they're they're notgetting on prep.
They're not they're they're notinformed.
Uh we we we still have so mucheducation to do.
So Allies in Hope is engaged inproviding education.
What are some of the otherthings the organization does?
SPEAKER_05 (04:05):
You know, I always like to talk about our housing
programs uh because housing ishealthcare.
And I do think that we can saythat about housing, not just
strictly related to HIV, but todiabetes, to lupus, to cancer.
Individuals who are experiencingchronic health issues that have
(04:27):
housing security, they do betterwith their health conditions.
But this is really true forpersons living with HIV.
When you have a safe place tostore your medication, when you
have just, it does so much foryour mental health and mental
well-being.
(04:48):
When you know you have a placeto go home to, when a doctor or
someone at a clinic asks you forinformation about an address,
you're giving them an addressthat really does exist.
It is the roof over your head.
So we do housing.
We still have Stone Soup.
Stone Soup is still inexistence.
(05:09):
And Stone Soup is in twolocations now.
It's here at our Midtownlocation, here on Fannon, and
it's also at our Southwestlocation on West Park.
And we do not just make foodavailable to persons living with
HIV.
It is anyone that isexperiencing some type of food
(05:32):
insecurity.
SPEAKER_06 (05:33):
That's interesting to know.
And it has become quite theissue because food prices have
gone up so much.
And sometimes people, they don'tnecessarily count on it for
their whole grocery uh needs,but it supplements what they're
able to get.
And it provides nutrition, whichis part of the battle in being
(05:55):
healthy, is making sure you havegood nutrition.
So that is really good.
How do people come to allies inhope?
I guess you call them clients,and uh uh what's the entryway?
SPEAKER_05 (06:09):
The people who come to us for services, some are
called clients, and that'smostly those individuals who
come in for prevention work, uh,also individuals that are in our
housing programs and individualswho come in for stone soup food
services.
Those folks who come into ourclinic for prep and in PEP and
(06:31):
for rapid start art, they comein and they are called patients
because they are part of ourclinic.
And they they come into us acouple of ways.
Uh, some of them come in throughcoordinated access for housing
services.
So we are with the coalition forthe homeless, we are a
(06:52):
coordinated access hub.
So individuals can come here andprovide information about their
housing status or the state ofbeing unhoused.
And they won't necessarily behoused by us.
The coalition makes thatdecision, but we take that
information and it goes to thecoalition to help that person
(07:15):
have placement sooner thanlater.
Other individuals they hearabout us on the website.
They see our website, they canmake appointments for their
clinic appointments and fortheir prevention appointments
through our website.
You go on the website, you clickon the appointment calendar, you
(07:36):
make an appointment, andsomebody from us reaches back
out to you to help you navigateto make sure you've uh checked
the right appointment, check theright appointment time, and
you're getting what you need.
And other ways I think that areimportant for us to mention, uh,
we have a mobile clinic, ourmobile unit.
(07:56):
And that mobile unit is out inthe community three to five
times a week.
So many individuals, they maynever come to our brick and
mortar location, but they'llcome and receive services
related to sexual health andwell-being at our mobile clinic
wherever we may be in thecommunity.
(08:17):
Sometimes we're out there atevents, or there are other times
when uh the health department,we partner with the health
department, and the healthdepartment says, Hey, we need
you in this zip code at thisintersection because there's a
rise in the number of, and itcould be any one of the sexually
(08:37):
transmitted infections, andwe'll go out there and we'll be
there, and that's where peoplecan encounter us as well.
SPEAKER_06 (08:44):
One of the things uh that people need to know is
there's no judgment.
They are welcomed, they arehelped, they're provided with
the information or whatever itis that they need in order to be
as healthy as they can be.
So, Jeffrey, as we know, so manyorganizations are really in a
(09:05):
difficult time right now becausethere's been so many funding
cuts.
And what ways does Allies inHope get funding?
SPEAKER_05 (09:14):
Okay, so that's a great question.
We receive monies from thefederal government that comes
directly to us.
We also receive monies from thefederal government that goes
through our city.
So our whether it's for housingor if it's for HIV prevention.
(09:37):
And then we also receive fundingfrom foundations, and they could
be foundations that are an armof a pharmaceutical company.
They could be foundations thatare family-run foundations where
someone in the family has leftspecific directives about how
they want their money to be usedafter they're no longer here.
(10:00):
And then we also get asignificant amount of dollars
from individual contributors.
And that's very important forindividuals.
I appreciate it.
And, you know, just a quickstory.
Yesterday, I had lunch with anindividual who I saw was a
routine monthly individualcontributor.
(10:24):
Could not figure out how he wasconnected to the organization.
Had lunch with him along withone of our uh great board
members, Chris Lewis.
And at that lunch, he sharedthat many years ago he had been
part of our camp hope forchildren impacted by HIV.
(10:46):
He wasn't living with HIV, buthe had a parent who was.
And as an adult, he wanted tofind a way to give back to a
community that had helped him.
And he was able to find CampHope.
And so it was because of thatexperience that he had almost 20
(11:06):
years ago that he has become aconsistent, ongoing, monthly
donor to this organization.
So the work that individuals dowith us in giving, it makes a
tremendous difference.
SPEAKER_06 (11:22):
Often it is those um personal connections to
something where someone's notdirectly impacted, but they have
someone, a friend or a familymember, and it's an a way to
honor them and uh to uh be partof, you know, Houston was built
on philanthropy.
(11:43):
Uh and that's a really wonderfulthing.
You know, you just look aroundand you kind of go, oh, this
this was made possible becausesomebody cared enough to do it.
Uh and and I guess that's allwe're asking for is care enough
to do something.
Um, but you also have an eventcoming up.
Tell me about the uh Hope forHouston ball.
SPEAKER_05 (12:07):
Yes, the Hope for Houston Ball.
This is our third Hope forHouston Ball.
It's coming up Friday evening,November 14th.
We'll be at the Revere, which isa wonderful venue.
We were there last year.
It's at 7 p.m.
And our theme is Casino Royale.
So a little bit of a James Bondfun but fancy dressed uh event
(12:33):
with some wonderful food.
We are honoring this year.
We have three honorees.
The Shelby Hodge Vision Award isgoing to the U.S.
Business Action to end HIV forthe work that this organization
is doing uh right now in threecities: Houston, Los Angeles,
(12:54):
and Atlanta, to engage corporateAmerica, to bring them to the
table, to have conversations, todetermine what are the best ways
for corporate America to show upto end the HIV epidemic.
Then we are also honoring withour Ada Edwards Humanitarian
(13:16):
Award, the Greater Houston LGBTQChamber of Commerce, uh led by
co-founder and CEO TammyWallace.
We're honoring the change ofchamber because they are
partnered with the U.S.
Business Action to end HIV asthe umbrella of the work that
we're doing here in Houston withcorporate America and the ending
(13:40):
the HIV campaign.
And then finally, we're alsohonoring with the Ada Edwards
Humanitarian Award, StateSenator Boris Miles.
Some years ago, Senator Mileswas a Texas representative.
He had an idea to take hip-hopand merge hip-hop with HIV
(14:02):
prevention.
And he came to the then leadersof AIDS Foundation Houston, and
that's why it's important for meto continue to say it, and said,
Hey, what can we do to providetesting to the young adult
community across Houston andthen partner with uh the radio
(14:23):
station to issue tickets for ahip hop concert?
The leaders of Allies and Hopeor AIDS Foundation Houston at
that time, they joined in withthe City of Houston Health
Department and so many other uhHIV prevention service
organizations to launch hip hopfor HIV, which was now State
(14:46):
Senator Miles' vision.
It was his baby.
And over the next 10 years,we've tested over 50,000 people
in the Houston area, and theyknew what their HIV status was.
And then a part of that was abig hip-hop concert where rap
(15:07):
and hip hop artists cametogether, they promoted
prevention, they promoted safersex, they promoted sexual
wellness.
It was fabulous.
And several cities across thenation now have taken that um
that basic footprint and donesimilar concerts and testing
(15:29):
campaigns in their cities.
So we're honoring State SenatorBoris Miles with the Ada Edwards
Humanitarian Award because ofhis vision that became reality
for us.
SPEAKER_06 (15:41):
There you go.
We were talking earlier abouthow the arts can have an impact,
and that certainly was aninnovative way to bring artistic
creative talent into the battleagainst HIV and AIDS.
Once again, we're talking withJeffrey Campbell, uh C the CEO
(16:02):
of Allies in Hope, about theHope for Houston ball.
And give me the details on thatagain and the website address
where people can find out moreinformation.
SPEAKER_05 (16:14):
Sure.
So the Hope for Houston Ball,hosted by Allies and Hope,
formerly AIDS FoundationHouston, is coming up Friday,
November 14th at 7 p.m.
at the Revere.
Wanna share with you that ourco-chairs are Dr.
Joseph Gath and his lovely wife,Deanna BroGath, as well as
(16:37):
Michael Broadwick and BrianHull.
That event is really our um,it's our big event for the year,
and we're excited about it.
The theme is Casino Royale, andyou can go to a IHHouston.org
(17:00):
forward slash hope for HoustonBall.
That's AIH Houston.org forwardslash hope for Houston Ball to
get information about the event,purchase tickets, tables, and
sponsorships.
SPEAKER_06 (17:16):
Jeffrey, is there anything else that you would
like to say that we didn'talready discuss?
SPEAKER_05 (17:22):
You know, thank you, Deb, for that question.
I I think we are just we want totalk about the work that we do
every day here uh to achieve ourmission of ending the HIV
epidemic in the Greater Houstonarea.
We're really close.
Uh we've got a lot of work todo, but we're very close.
(17:43):
And it is important, and thankyou for bringing it up, that
people know that HIV is still anissue.
It is a human issue.
It's not attached to any onecommunity.
And so, with that, we all haveto do our very best to be
informed, to pass on informationthat is accurate, to engage in
(18:08):
our own sexual health andwellness, engage our medical
doctors, go to a clinic on anannual basis, if nothing else,
to be tested and know thatAllies and Hope is here for you.
We are your friend, we are astigma-free environment.
(18:28):
And uh, that is one thing that Ibelieve is most important in
getting to the end iseliminating the stigma.
And that's one of the things wework very hard to do.
SPEAKER_06 (18:40):
Well, thank you for being with us on Queer Voices.
I'm Deborah Moncrees Bell.
Hey, Brian, do you know whattime it is?
SPEAKER_02 (18:48):
It's podcasting time.
SPEAKER_06 (18:50):
It's Pledge Drive at KPFT.
And it's time to ask ourlisteners to please support the
station.
And there's several ways theycan do that.
One of the best ways is to go toKPFT.org and click the donate
button, and then you have to gothrough a little scroll-down
menu to select queer voices asthe program that you're
(19:14):
supporting.
But we hope that you support allthe great programs on KPFT.
I give a monthly pledge, and youcan do it as a one-time donation
or set up a regular schedule.
And sometimes you get greatpremiums, so you can check that
out on the website as well.
I know you also donate.
SPEAKER_02 (19:33):
I do.
Uh I give$40 a month to KPFT,which adds up over time.
So I like donating to somethingthat I believe in and that's
important for the community.
SPEAKER_06 (19:45):
And you know, we're getting a lot of attention
lately.
First of all, congratulations toyou and Ethan Michelle Gance on
your selections as gayest andgreatest for the Out Smart poll.
And moi as well in my category,which is female community radio.
And yours was male.
(20:05):
We didn't get a podcast thistime, but that's okay because
we're a radio show and apodcast.
Yes, we were a finalist.
We were just talking earlierabout it.
Seems like everybody and theirdog has a podcast now, but we
hope that people will continueto listen to Queer Voices and
support the station and listento us online when they're not
(20:28):
able to listen to it onWednesday night.
SPEAKER_02 (20:31):
Very good.
And I'd like to point out thatwe have a new website that we're
developing uh coming soon toqueervoices.org.
SPEAKER_06 (20:38):
It's up now, but we need to do some tweaking.
So pay no attention to the partsthat are gibberish, but we're
excited about that and aboutbringing more wonderful content.
Lee and Brett are bringingwonderful stuff.
Davis is bringing wonderfulstuff, and Joel and Ethan, when
they have the opportunity, weare always looking for other
(21:01):
people to become involved.
You don't have to have radioexperience.
Did you have any radioexperience before you started?
SPEAKER_02 (21:09):
Or just listening to it in the middle of the night.
SPEAKER_06 (21:12):
Oh, listening to it in the middle of the night.
Well, I'm so glad that you didand that it inspired you in part
to embrace yourself as a gay manand your coming out process.
And then being interested inactivism and realizing that
doing radio was a form ofactivism.
(21:33):
So you've been at it a while,and I've been at it a while, but
I didn't have any broadcastexperience.
I just Jack Belinsky invited meto come and be on the show, and
we kind of took off from there.
I too was just a listener andthen I volunteered at KPFT for
(21:53):
several programs during PledgeDrive.
And then was a guest atdifferent times.
And that's how I got into it.
So, you know, we'll we'll trainyou.
The station provides technicaltraining, and then it's just
kind of you can learn it on thejob, so to speak.
So anyone who has an interest inthat, just contact me, Deborah
(22:14):
at queervoices.org or Brian atqueervoices.org.
Oh, queervoices.org.
How wonderful.
Well, I want to thank everyonewho is a listener and especially
all of you who are supporters.
We really appreciate you and wehope that you tune in on a
regular basis and also that youuh contribute on a regular
(22:38):
basis.
It's community radio right herein Houston, Texas.
SPEAKER_02 (22:45):
This is Brian Lavinka, and I'm joined today by
Danielle Sampei from LazarusHouse.
Welcome to the show, Danielle.
SPEAKER_07 (22:52):
Thank you, Brian.
I'm happy to be here.
SPEAKER_02 (22:54):
So, for people that don't know, what is Lazarus
House?
SPEAKER_07 (22:56):
Lazarus House is a nonprofit organization that
helps adults and adolescentswith chronic illness where
muscle loss may be a col one ofthe collateral devastating
issues associated with chronicillness.
What we do is we provide aprogram that helps strengthen
people while they go throughtheir treatments for their
(23:17):
illness or their condition.
And uh what we do is we helppeople not just live longer but
live stronger lives.
SPEAKER_02 (23:24):
So is it mostly through diet and exercise, or
how do you do that exactly?
SPEAKER_07 (23:28):
Diet is a big part of it, and exercise is a huge
component of it.
But we also try to take aholistic approach to it where we
do things that help elevate thespirit as well.
So it's like 33% of each one ofthose diet, um, exercise, and
then uh your well-beingemotionally and spiritually and
(23:50):
mentally.
SPEAKER_02 (23:51):
So, how long have you been involved and how did
they find you?
SPEAKER_07 (23:55):
I don't know who found who.
Uh, Lazarus House has beenaround since 2002.
I'm one of the founding membersof it.
The way it came about was in thelate 90s, uh, I was working at a
medical clinic, uh physicaltherapy clinic that was uh
providing an exercise programfor people with HIV.
(24:17):
And in the 90s, physicians wereasking patients with HIV to
conserve their energy becausethey thought it expedited the
wasting.
Um this clinic was run bysomeone who had a great idea and
was on point with the outcome ofbeing careful about how you
apply the stimuli of a workloadto someone who has an an
(24:40):
illness, but do apply it, justmodify it.
And so this exercise program wasuh spectacular and it did really
well in the physical therapysetting.
We saw many people who were verywasted actually regain muscle.
And uh it was it was wonderful.
I just loved that job.
It was it was outstanding.
(25:02):
Maybe three years into it.
Um, and I started out as atrainer there, and then I moved
up as a director there, and uhthree years into it, uh, that's
when healthcare startedchanging, how long they would um
provide allowable services forphysical therapy.
So it was limited but to acertain number.
We were working a minimum of 12weeks with these patients, and
(25:23):
and that was cut.
And so that clinic ended upclosing when that happened.
My staff and I, we all went indifferent directions, but our
the patients had become verygood friends of ours.
And one of them called me andtold me that he was having
problems.
And I told him that I wasn't aphysical therapist and that I
couldn't help him.
(25:44):
I wasn't a doctor.
He said, I know you're doingsome personal training on the
side, and I said, I was, and itwas at an upscale gym that was
fairly exclusive, and he said, Ineed your help and I can't pay
you.
This guy was a dear friend ofmine, he'd become a very good
friend of mine, and so I waswilling, if he kept it quiet, I
(26:06):
was gonna train him and I wouldtrain him for free.
And that's what I did.
And I told him, Don't tellanybody.
He was having a problem walking.
I knew his wife, I knew hisdaughter.
He couldn't drive his wife towork anymore, he couldn't drive
his daughter to school.
And uh, so I was willing to helphim.
And um he's a good guy.
And maybe a month into it, hewent from a wheelchair back to
(26:27):
walking again on a walker.
And uh his name was Reggie, andReggie went and told everybody,
all of our past patients.
Yeah.
And uh so I started my phonestarted ringing and ringing, and
uh, I I just reached out to someof our past staff and I said, at
the clinic, and I said, This iswhat's going on, but nobody can
pay us.
What can we do?
(26:48):
And so everybody startedoffering their services for
free, which was wonderful, butyou can only sustain that for so
long.
And uh that's kind of how wejust started trying to figure
out how do we put it together.
We're not doing a clinicalsetting.
None of us are clinicians, we'renot physical therapists, we're
not providing treatment, we'reproviding an exercise program.
(27:09):
Everybody should be exercising,but if you have certain
illnesses, you absolutely needto be exercising.
And uh, you want to do itsafely, so you want to be under
the direction of someone youtrust, someone who has
experience.
The team was willing to work forfree for a period of time.
Everybody worked for free forquite a while, and eventually we
(27:30):
became uh a nonprofit.
Well, we were all all along anonprofit, but uh that's just
how we created Lazarus Us tomake it sustainable, and we made
it a lower no-cost program forour clients.
SPEAKER_02 (27:44):
I bet you have some good stories from clients that
you've had.
SPEAKER_07 (27:48):
Oh my goodness, I have wonderful ones and I have
some that are justgut-wrenching, you know, because
you see both sides of the coin.
We've seen much more good thanbad, but uh from the nineties,
um you know, that was a that wasa hard time in the eighties and
nineties, uh working with umpeople that you really they they
(28:10):
put a lot of energy into it andyou wanted the best and and you
become very intimately closewith people and to lose anybody
was um it made me want to workharder and try harder.
And uh you never let go of thatperson in your heart.
SPEAKER_02 (28:27):
I don't know how we ever got through that time.
SPEAKER_07 (28:31):
Isn't it true?
Isn't it true?
Because if you just pause for amoment, like every December 1st,
we write on the board everybodywe remember.
I can find myself standing therefor hours.
How did we do it?
I I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (28:42):
I have friends that quit counting after they lost
150 people.
SPEAKER_07 (28:46):
My God.
SPEAKER_02 (28:47):
I'm like, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_07 (28:49):
It is, it is, and there's a whole new generation
that just not aware.
No, not at all.
And not that I want people tohave to go through that, but it
can leave a mark to help youalways remember and make changes
and yeah, live your best life.
SPEAKER_02 (29:05):
That's right.
That's so I'm part of anorganization called EPA,
Executive ProfessionalAssociation of Houston, and we
recently held a fundraiser forLazarus House.
So I was gonna ask you how thatwent on your side and what is
that money gonna be used for?
SPEAKER_07 (29:20):
Oh gosh, we are so, so grateful to you guys.
Y'all did a phenomenal job, anduh you raised a wonderful amount
of funds that we are actually uhusing to um build out one of our
bathrooms and make it completelyADA accessible, and it's gonna
have a roll-in shower.
Everything's just gonna lookphenomenal.
(29:42):
The house itself is was built in1911, so it was a part of the
original McGregor homes.
The bones of the house arefabulous, but if you can imagine
the bathrooms were added inlater on, like in the 30s and
40s, and uh antiquated, andwe've updated bits and pieces as
we can, but now I'll just haveto.
Any photos because we are takinglots of photos and videos for
(30:02):
EPA as we document it, but we'vegutted it out, and uh, and
there's quite a bit of space.
I'm so happy about it, and we'recompletely and I mean from the
bones forward, it's gonna be allbrand new, completely accessible
and comfortable.
We want it to be inviting andcomfortable.
That's a big part about Lazarus.
(30:23):
I you know, when you go to workout in the gym, it's kind of
like walking up to something youmight hesitate for a second.
We want you to feel good andwalk right in.
So it's a home, but as you walkin, it's a functional gym, and
the same thing in the bathrooms.
We want you to feel good andcomfortable and like you're
you're at your own home whereyou feel good to be at.
SPEAKER_02 (30:42):
Now, where is Lazarus House for our listeners
who may not know?
SPEAKER_07 (30:46):
Our address is 4106 Austin Street.
So we're in midtown, and we arealmost sandwiched between HCC
and the new Rice Ion.
So we're we're we're right inthat area.
We're close to Wheeler.
Cleburne and Wheeler are our twoum end streets for us on Austin.
SPEAKER_02 (31:07):
So kind of Gaborhood adjacent.
SPEAKER_07 (31:09):
Yes, yes, yes.
We're we're located in a veryconvenient position.
That we wouldn't know why weended up there.
You know, we got that housebecause it was in the um 2001,
2002.
The market was still coming backaround, and we were just looking
for a place to lease so that wecan uh put the the organization
(31:31):
into something, and that was allwe could afford, and it was a
different neighborhood then.
Uh we we met everybody allaround us, including the the
people who um lived on the onthe streets and under the um the
59 overpass there and uh becamegood friends with a lot of
people, but that the area hasreally gone through a lot of
(31:52):
development, and there's only afew uh of the homes that used to
be by us that still stand now inbig four-story and three-story
town homes, and then the ion isliterally um two blocks from our
backyard.
SPEAKER_02 (32:08):
Yeah, they're they're putting some money in
there.
Now, is there anything that Ididn't ask you that you want our
listeners to know about LazarusHouse?
SPEAKER_07 (32:14):
I just want people to know that we are here and
we're here to help.
So if you know anybody who hasany kind of diagnosis like HIV
or stroke, spinal cord injury,MS, any kind of long-term uh
challenge in their health wheremuscle loss can be one of those
um devastating, devastating sideeffects, we're here to help.
(32:36):
We're here to help people uh bestrong.
A lot of times, insurance, ityou have that gap of treatment,
and life or can help you inbetween that, uh, stay strong.
So we're here and we want toprovide as much uh help as we
can to our community.
SPEAKER_02 (32:54):
Now, uh, do you need volunteers?
I'm sure you do.
SPEAKER_07 (32:57):
We always need volunteers, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:00):
How can people get in touch with you to become a
volunteer?
SPEAKER_07 (33:03):
They can call me uh directly.
It's at Lazarus House 713 5265071.
You can ask for me or DouglasSpringfield.
He's a program director rightnow.
SPEAKER_02 (33:18):
And do you have a website?
SPEAKER_07 (33:20):
We do.
It's thhelazarushouse.org.
So T H E L A Z A R U S H O U S ER dot O R G.
SPEAKER_02 (33:34):
Well, I've been speaking with Danielle Sampi
from the Lazarus House, and uh,thank you for coming on.
SPEAKER_07 (33:40):
It's been my pleasure.
Thank you, Brian.
I appreciate you.
SPEAKER_09 (33:43):
Hello, everyone.
I'm Joel Tatum, and you'relistening to Queer Voices.
There's a little theater groupin Dallas, Texas that's tackling
not only inclusivity, butrecovery as well.
And I want to welcome them tothe show.
Second chance players, welcomeBill Shea, managing director,
and Caleb Ross, assistantdirector, board member, and
(34:04):
actor and performer.
SPEAKER_11 (34:05):
Hey, thanks.
Glad that you're here.
Glad to be here.
SPEAKER_09 (34:09):
So I want to get into the recovery aspect of what
you guys do.
How did that get started?
Why is that an important aspectof your theater?
SPEAKER_11 (34:19):
Well, it is the uh founding principle of second
chance players.
Uh, the way we got to be wasthat uh, well, first of all, I'm
in recovery.
I have uh 35 years of continuoussobriety in uh AA.
And um in Dallas here, we have arecovery conference every year
in May, which is uh sponsored bythe local gay AA group.
(34:43):
Um it's called the Big DiggyRoundup.
And about 15 years ago, um, Iwas approached to do uh musical
as the entertainment for theconvention.
And what I would do is take somepopular songs and rewrite them
with with recovery lyrics and uhdo a little one act play about
some kind of recovery concept,and uh it got to be pretty
(35:05):
popular.
And what I discovered was therewere a lot of people that were
in recovery that loved to dotheater and had a lot of talent,
but for uh for whatever reasonhad stopped performing.
And and I was one of thosepeople, quite frankly.
I hadn't done anything in 20, 25years.
I I did a lot of theater up inNew York in my 20s and 30s after
(35:26):
I moved down to Dallas.
I just let it go by the wayside.
Uh couple of reasons for that.
Theater is a uh trigger for alot of people.
I did a lot of partying while Iwas doing my shows and uh just
felt like I had other things todo.
But when I started doing theselittle musicals, uh the juices
started flowing, and uh we hadplenty of people that were
(35:49):
interested in doing more.
So I organized a um our firstboard of directors, which had a
musical director and a costumedesigner, and uh and a lot of
the work that was done behindthe scenes uh we were able to
fill.
And I said, well, why don't wejust do a uh uh a community
(36:11):
theater um for people who wantto do theater but don't know how
or don't know how to get backinvolved in it, and uh and
that's what we did.
And uh then the COVID happenedand kind of delayed us for a
while, and uh after that we uhwe went full hog and uh became a
501c3, started our firstproduction with the story of the
(36:35):
origin story of AA called Bill Wand Dr.
Bob, which was a off-Broadwayshow that had been performed a
lot around the country.
It was a huge success.
We wanted to do a straight playand a musical.
Our next musical was Next toNormal, which was a heavy lift,
frankly.
Uh, probably if I knew how hardit was gonna be to do, I might
have waited a little bit after Ihad shaken off the rust.
(36:58):
But uh, you know, once you onceyou're in, you're in.
And uh and that's actually whereI met Caleb.
Caleb was uh was working foranother theater group, and we
ran into each other while I wastouring the theater, and he
asked me what we were doing, andI said, next to normal.
And uh he said, Oh, that's oneof my favorite shows, and I want
to do gabe.
(37:19):
And and then we lost touch, andI was looking for a gabe when I
was casting, and I said, Wherewas that kid that I met up in
Frisco that day?
So totally different way offinding each other.
I had put the word out, and hehad been doing a uh a little
nightclub performance where themusical director had been
somebody I had reached out to,and they told him about second
(37:42):
chance players, and we weredoing next to normal.
And we hooked up and uh I said,Did I meet you once?
And we talked about this.
And he said, he said, yeah.
And I was like, Okay, well, sendme something.
And he sent me a TikTokaudition, and uh, it was
perfect.
(38:02):
I knew he was perfect for therole, and I cast him and uh and
we became friends, co-workers,and uh I really appreciated his
dedication to what we weretrying to do and his knowledge
of all aspects of theater.
And what we want to do is wewant to provide a theater that
not only welcomes people in, butlets them do the things that
(38:24):
they want to do.
So it's like, what are you goodat?
What do you want to do?
And Caleb is very good attechnical, and he was uh he was
very interested in um the thethe the technical side of it,
the lights, the sound, all thethings that I really don't want
to do.
And uh so I asked him to be onthe board.
(38:46):
And then he was the one, and I'mgonna let him kind of tell this
story.
He was the one that suggestedthe Laramie project because he
had done a few um um couple ofpapers on it in high school, and
uh I had not thought of it, anduh, I was kind of disappointed
in myself that I had not thoughtof it because it's exactly in
(39:06):
line with our mission statement.
And uh I'll I'll let Caleb takeit over for me here.
SPEAKER_08 (39:13):
So, as far as Laramie Project, it holds a
really special place in myheart.
My family, my mother actuallyjust corrected me yesterday.
Apparently, I've been tellingthis story wrong.
Um, but whenever I was about 12years old, I came out of the
closet to my family.
And uh the story I've beentelling is that the next day I
had some friends that were inthe Laramie Project, and so I
took my mom to go see theLaramie Project.
(39:34):
Um, but apparently that is nottrue.
I came out to my mom, and thatnight she spent the whole night
on social media and Facebook,and she saw an ad for the
Laramie Project, and she wasactually the one that bought the
tickets and insisted that we gosee the Laramie Project as a
family.
So now remembering that, thatjust holds an even dearer place
in my heart that my mom took thetime to be like, like, this is
(39:55):
really an important thing.
Let's have this bonding momenttogether.
Following that, all through highschool, anytime I got the chance
to write a research paper onsome sort of historical element,
I always chose to write aboutthe Laramie Project because even
today it shocks me how manypeople aren't aware of the story
or only knows fragments and onlyknows the name, but doesn't know
(40:17):
the actual history and how thatplays into today's politics and
laws, lawmaking.
SPEAKER_09 (40:22):
Let's let's talk a little about your experience as
an actor.
Um, how do you bring yourexperience as an actor to the
board?
SPEAKER_08 (40:32):
A majority of my life I spent on the theater
side, and whether that be inyouth theater or adult theater,
I have a lot more experiencethere than I would on the other
side of the table at this pointin my life.
And so because of that, I feellike it brings a fun element of
like, well, this works, thisdoesn't work from the actor
standpoint, which I think makesthe rehearsal room flow a little
(40:52):
bit more easily.
Having that experience is a lotmore fun whenever you're able to
be like, oh, well, I rememberthis.
I remember what works and whatdoesn't, and I can really
connect with the actors ratherthan there being some sort of
power dynamic that's kind ofweird of, oh, well, they're the
director and we're just theactors.
Like, nah, we're all we're allfriends.
And and that goes back to whatBill was saying about what we're
(41:14):
trying to build here with secondchance players, that it really
is a community.
There's a place for everybody.
If you don't want to really bein front of the curtain and you
want to be more behind thescenes, we got the space for
you.
SPEAKER_09 (41:25):
How do you tackle such big emotional roles with
people who are themselves goingthrough trauma and that kind of
thing?
How do you how do you get suchperformances out of these
actors?
SPEAKER_11 (41:38):
That is something that informs every actor.
Uh one of the things that wefound out, a lot of the a lot of
the people that um um uhauditioned for the Laramie
Project knew about it and wantedto do it.
And, you know, and if theydidn't know know about it, they
researched it and they found outwhat it was about.
(41:59):
So they came into it knowingthat this was heavy material and
were, you know, uh had a desireto um to do it.
Um we have we have one actressthat she has never been uh on
stage before um in a straightplay.
She's she's done a lot of um uhkind of um how would you
(42:21):
describe Winter's experience,Caleb?
SPEAKER_08 (42:24):
She has a lot of educational experience.
She's worked in schools andshe's taken classes, uh, but as
far as on-stage experience, uhlimited in the community and
professional theater sense, butshe's stellar.
SPEAKER_11 (42:37):
And she has turned out to be someone who we got
very lucky with.
And she is an amazing, anamazing actor, and uh we're
we're lucky to have her.
So I think everybody's got adifferent story as to why they
want to do a uh uh anemotionally challenging role.
(42:57):
But um, I think as an actor, youuh you you welcome the challenge
because it does can use thattrauma to inform your
performance.
SPEAKER_08 (43:07):
And there's definitely danger whenever it
comes to using your own personalexperience.
There's always the complicationsof it getting too intense.
You wrap up your own personallife with the character's life,
but I think you walk that fineline of using your own personal
experience and drawing from yourown personal experience to tell
a beautiful story that isoftentimes so important.
(43:27):
I think there's no better use ofsometimes your own personal
trauma to help tell art andbeautiful stories.
SPEAKER_09 (43:34):
Because I can imagine, and now I actually I
didn't know if this wasappropriate, uh, but I actually
thought of it as hurt peopleplaying, learning how to play to
hurt people.
SPEAKER_08 (43:50):
Oftentimes actors will find coping mechanisms
through their characters.
Sometimes they'll find problemsthat they haven't even come to
terms with themselves in theircharacters, and then through
learning with the characters,they're able to heal altogether.
They're able to figure out theirown ways of coping and healing.
Like theater is therapy throughand through.
SPEAKER_09 (44:11):
We talked a little about the acting uh perspective,
running a theater.
Let's talk about the managementaspect, the business part.
How Caleb, how different is itlooking at looking at how to run
a theater trip from the otherside?
SPEAKER_08 (44:29):
Well, I'm I'm new, I'm only just freshly joining,
and I'm more on the marketingside.
So that's been the mostinteresting thing for me is I
always see whenever I do a show,their Facebook post will post a
little marketing reel orsomething, and I'll be like, oh,
that was cute, that's cool, butthat's never really been
pertaining to me.
I would share it, but it wasnever something I would worry
about.
And boy, have I been worriedabout it in this last month and
(44:52):
a half.
I've every waking moment, I'vebeen trying to figure out new
marketing ideas, new interviewvideos that we could do with our
cast.
Uh, we we recently we went tothe Dallas Pride Parade and we
marched in the Pride Parade uhfor the first time.
That was super, super awesomeand super cool.
But it was a lot of planning tofigure out how to get there and
how to make it work as a group.
(45:14):
Um, so from that side of things,it's been it's been so much fun,
so educational, but it's beeninteresting to learn.
Bill has been doing more of thebusiness side of things, though,
for sure.
SPEAKER_09 (45:24):
Bill, let's let's talk a little bit about the
business side.
Um, how is it?
How do you manage to run a troopas well as, you know, you're
you're still a director, you'restill an actor.
Tell us about give us a littlebit about the day-to-day
goings-on behind the scenes ofhow you do uh how you get shows
(45:46):
together, how you found venues,how you uh find sponsors, that
kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_11 (45:54):
Well, that's a great question.
Um, when we started out, Ididn't know any of that.
And uh I just uh you know said,well, you know, other people do
it.
I certainly can.
And when we needed a venue, Ijust googled, you know, theater
spaces in Dallas and uh Istarted calling around and I
(46:15):
found a place to do.
This was when we were doing BillW and Dr.
Bob, and I found a place that wecould afford and uh was close
enough to Dallas where we couldstill talk about being a DFW uh
uh theater theater group.
And uh then I just had then Iwas about raising money.
(46:37):
And uh we we did our first showbasically on friends and family,
and mostly my friends andfamily.
Um I put out letters and and Igot donations from people that
were never going to come see theshow.
A lot of people from New York, alot of people that I knew in the
past, you know, everything fromfive dollars to five hundred
dollars to, you know, a thousanddollars because people believed
(47:00):
in what we were doing, andpeople knew me and and they were
confident that I was doingsomething important.
And uh so that's how we started.
And you know, I realized thatthat was not a way to build a
theater, that that it was a goodstart.
And so I started looking forpeople, good people that wanted
(47:21):
to uh be part of it, that it wasa collaborative effort.
And um we uh uh actually one ofmy first cast members was uh in
marketing as a profession.
I asked her to be on the boardto do to do our marketing, and
she's been terrific.
She works with Caleb now ongetting our social media out and
(47:42):
our fundraising letters out.
Um, I found somebody from myDALC league who is interested in
doing fundraising.
So I turned that over to him,and he's on the board now.
So my whole life has been aboutstart something.
If it's supposed to happen, thedoors will open for you.
And that's been really thestories of second chance
players.
(48:02):
Uh, we're right now in afundraising uh mode.
We have we're buying, we want tobuy our equipment because uh
it's a big expense to rentlights and sound for every uh
every um performance, and uh andwe're having some success with
it.
So the business side of it isreally about money.
It costs money to do theater.
(48:24):
So you want to do things thatpeople want to see.
Uh, ticket sales are a big partof that, and you want to stay
true to your mission, which iswhy we're doing things like the
Laramie Project and Bill andBob, and and some of our shows
that we're looking at for nextseason are uh LGBTQ plus
(48:46):
centered and also have a storyto tell about discovery and
about growth and about you knowovercoming trauma, but we also
want to entertain, you know, souh uh you can't do that alone.
So you have to have good peoplearound you.
And I'm I'm I'm fond of sayingthat I I finally have the board
that I want.
I have people that arecommitted, like uh, like Caleb
(49:09):
and our our uh gentleman Imentioned, Josh and Leah and uh
David, who does our costuming.
He used to, you know, that'swhat he used to do for a living.
He made clothes.
And so he's he's real involved.
He's 79 years old and he'swilling to move sets around and
do whatever you whatever we ask.
So people who are theaterpeople, you know, don't just
(49:33):
act.
They paint sets, they get, youknow, do costuming, they do
marketing.
That's the story of communitytheater.
So if you if if you think youcan do it by yourself, you're
gonna fail.
Um, you have to have people thatare willing to work with you,
and you have to be willing towork with them.
Uh, I'm having a wonderful time.
(49:54):
I've I've never had an assistantdirector as involved with the
with the production um thanCaleb, and I have come to trust
him implicitly.
I let him do a lot of thingsthat I don't let a lot of other
people do.
And uh and I'm excited aboutthat because it can't be all
about, you know, what I do.
It has I don't want to directevery show that we do.
(50:15):
And uh you have to bring peopleup.
And I think that's what theatercan do.
It can it can give people theopportunity to do what makes
them feel feel like they are uhpart of the theater community,
and that's what I want secondchance players to be about.
SPEAKER_09 (50:31):
Speaking of uh the Laramie Project, uh Caleb, let's
let's get you back in here.
This is uh you're you'retackling a big project and
putting it on a small stage.
Um what's the work that's gonnago into making sure that you
give the drama of the show on asmaller stage?
SPEAKER_08 (50:56):
So I love that question, first of all.
Um so whenever I was 15 yearsold, I begged my mom, begged my
mom, begged my mom to take meinto New York City and see a
bunch of Broadway shows.
And one of the only shows that Icared about seeing was Fun Home.
Uh and Fun Home was performed inCircle on the Square Theater,
which is right next to theGershwin.
(51:16):
It's this tiny little, it's theonly theater on Broadway that's
in the round.
And it seats maybe 550 people,maybe 600.
Like it's a very small theater.
You're never more than 10 rowsback.
It's so intimate.
And a show like Fun Homerequires that.
I saw it whenever it came ontour and they had it in the big
proscenium.
(51:36):
The show's amazing, it'sbeautiful, but it just doesn't
hit the same as it does in asmall, intimate proscenium or a
small intimate round theater.
So whenever I approached Billwith the idea of doing the
Laramie Project, it wasimmediately in my mind.
I was like, we have to do thisin the round.
I I just think a show like theLaramie Project, especially a
(51:58):
show that's set up the way theLaramie Project is, where it's
kind of documentary style, it'snot so much um one thing after
the other.
Uh it it just lends itself tobeing more of a group effort and
including the audience in thatgroup just makes it so it flows
beautifully.
There's so much heart in thestory, and without the
(52:20):
separation of that fourth wall,it it leaves everyone unguarded
a little bit, which you kind ofhave to be for a story like
this.
SPEAKER_11 (52:28):
And I might add that as I said, my trust in Caleb,
I've never done any theater onthe ground.
So I said, we can do this, butuh um you need to sell me on it.
How are we going to do it?
And uh and once we were agreedthat this was uh something that
uh we could accomplish um thatinformed our decision to do it
(52:53):
in a church uh uh which willlend itself to that intimacy.
We're only gonna have a hundredseats in the audience.
That's that's all we need, youknow.
Uh and it will be it will be atotally immersive experience.
SPEAKER_09 (53:12):
Uh let's uh let's promote dates.
Let's promote where this isgonna be before we lose time
because we I we could talk aboutthis for hours.
I can talk to you guys aboutthis for hours.
Literally can.
So tell us uh what the dates areup for the show and where it's
gonna be.
SPEAKER_08 (53:31):
Yeah, so we're performing the second, the
third, and the fourth weekendsof November.
So that's the weekend of thesixth, the weekend of the 14th,
and the weekend of the 20th.
Um, all of our dates are also onour website at
secondchanceplayers.org.
Uh, and it's gonna be performedat the Horizons Unitarian
Universalist Church inCarrollton, which, if you know
anything about the story ofMatthew Shepard, the
(53:53):
Universalist Church or theUnitarian Church, and sorry, I
rather, uh, the Unitarian Churchplays a large role in the story.
And so it is so greatpartnership that we have with
this church, and we're soexcited to be able to partner
with them to tell this story.
SPEAKER_11 (54:05):
We're also doing collaborations with the human
rights campaign, the resourcecenter here in Dallas, uh,
Turtle Creek Corral, and the BigD D Roundup, the aforementioned
Big D Roundup.
So we get to promote otherorganizations at the same time
as telling the story of MatthewShepherd, which absolutely needs
(54:27):
to be told.
This is the 25th uh anniversaryof the first performance, and
right this week is the 27thanniversary of Matthew Shepherd
being tied to a buck fence andleft to die in Laramie, Wyoming.
SPEAKER_09 (54:43):
No, uh we're we're almost at the end of the
episode.
Houston and Dallas, we alwayshave this fun little rivalry
back and forth.
But how do you want Houstoniansto uh perceive second uh second
chance players?
SPEAKER_08 (55:01):
No, it's all a community, it's all a big
family, and especially here inTexas, so we gotta stick
together.
So I think I think that's a bigtakeaway too with second chance
players, is we're we're tryingto be uh something and someplace
like Texas needs it.
And we're happy to be here.
SPEAKER_09 (55:20):
Thank you.
Thank you guys for being on theshow.
Uh let's uh make sure everybodygets all their socials out so
that you know if people want toreach out and reach out to you
in any way, shape, or form.
Get all your socials out for me,guys.
SPEAKER_08 (55:34):
Yeah, we're second chance players on all socials
except for Instagram.
On Instagram, we're secondchance players theater, and for
some weird reason it's theaterwith an E R, not an R E.
Uh That's how it's spelled inEnglish.
SPEAKER_10 (55:48):
I actually spelled it with an R E.
Exactly.
It's an R-E, right?
I actually spelled it.
It's an R E.
When I was writing my adult, Ispelled it with an R E in old
English.
SPEAKER_09 (55:58):
Yes.
Yeah.
Because I think the E R is formovies.
So okay, that's fine.
SPEAKER_11 (56:06):
That's fine.
We'll we'll let that we'll letthat out.
We'll let that slide.
SPEAKER_09 (56:10):
Guys and second chance players for the case.
SPEAKER_11 (56:14):
I'll tell you, if I have an opportunity, one one
last thing, one last connectionI have to this.
Uh uh, I was I was and continueto be to this day, friends with
the co-author of uh the LaramieProject, Lee Fonda Kowski.
And she is going to be uh shecan come in for it, but she's
(56:34):
going to be part of you knowhelping the cast.
We're gonna do a zoom, we'regonna do a couple of Zoom
meetings with the cast.
She's gonna tell us herexperience in doing it 25 years
ago, and we're very excited tohave her support.
SPEAKER_09 (56:49):
Thank you, second chance players, for being on
Queer Voices.
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_04 (57:03):
This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston
and as a podcast available fromseveral podcasting sources.
Check our web pagequeervoices.org for more
information.
This is KPFT 90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FM Galveston, 91.9
FM Huntsville, and worldwide onthe internet at KPFT.org.
SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
Welcome to this week's Queer Voices Radio Show
and Podcast.
We are Houston's voice for theLGBTQIA Plus community.
We've been here for over fivedecades on KPFT.
We have three segments for you.
Up first, Deborah Moncrief Bellis going to interview Jeffrey
Campbell.
He runs Allies in Hope, which isan organization that was
(00:45):
formerly known as AIDSFoundation Houston.
Then Brian Lovinka will speakwith Danielle Sampi of The
Lazarus House, a group thathelps to rehabilitate through
exercise and nutrition.
And finally, we end with JoelTatum talking to Second Chance
Players of Dallas, a uniquetheater group that offers
(01:06):
theater as therapy and asrecovery.
So Queer Voices starts now.
SPEAKER_06 (01:12):
Jeffrey Campbell is the chief executive officer of
Allies and Hope.
And Jeffrey, are we at the pointwhere we no longer have to
qualify formally the AIDSFoundation?
SPEAKER_05 (01:26):
You know, Deb, that is such a great question.
No, we are not.
And I still like to say it, notjust to ring people's bells
about who we are, but to payhomage to individuals that
started this organization anddid such great work over the
years before we became allies inHope and May of 2023.
SPEAKER_06 (01:52):
And you've been for two decades now involved in the
HIV AIDS community, uh, workingwith programs and helping
people.
And I think I remember yousaying that there's this concept
that there's no longer anepidemic where AIDS is
concerned, but there is.
SPEAKER_05 (02:12):
Yes, Dub, there is this concept that the epidemic
has gone away, that there are nonew diagnoses, that this is
something that we do not have tobe concerned about any longer.
And that is very far from thetruth.
We do still have new diagnoseson a daily basis.
(02:33):
Here in Houston Harris County,we have about 1,200 new
diagnoses for HIV a year.
And also here in Houston HarrisCounty, one or two of the
challenges that we have is whenit comes to viral suppression,
which is what makes a personliving with HIV not able to
(02:56):
transmit the virus to someoneelse through sex.
We're not hitting that endingthe HIV epidemic marker when it
comes to Houston-Harris County.
We're also not hitting themarker when it comes to the
number of pre-people that areengaging PrEP, which is a
pre-exposure prophylaxis thatprevents the contraction of HIV.
(03:20):
So we have a lot of work to dohere in Houston.
SPEAKER_06 (03:23):
Yeah, I think the good news is that it's not
necessarily a death sentence asit once was in the early days,
but there's so much to beconcerned about.
And the fact that that mentalityof that it's not a problem
anymore is in fact the problembecause people are not paying
(03:44):
attention.
They're not necessarily engagingin safe sex practice.
They're they're they're notgetting on prep.
They're not they're they're notinformed.
Uh we we we still have so mucheducation to do.
So Allies in Hope is engaged inproviding education.
What are some of the otherthings the organization does?
SPEAKER_05 (04:05):
You know, I always like to talk about our housing
programs uh because housing ishealthcare.
And I do think that we can saythat about housing, not just
strictly related to HIV, but todiabetes, to lupus, to cancer.
Individuals who are experiencingchronic health issues that have
(04:27):
housing security, they do betterwith their health conditions.
But this is really true forpersons living with HIV.
When you have a safe place tostore your medication, when you
have just, it does so much foryour mental health and mental
well-being.
(04:48):
When you know you have a placeto go home to, when a doctor or
someone at a clinic asks you forinformation about an address,
you're giving them an addressthat really does exist.
It is the roof over your head.
So we do housing.
We still have Stone Soup.
Stone Soup is still inexistence.
(05:09):
And Stone Soup is in twolocations now.
It's here at our Midtownlocation, here on Fannon, and
it's also at our Southwestlocation on West Park.
And we do not just make foodavailable to persons living with
HIV.
It is anyone that isexperiencing some type of food
(05:32):
insecurity.
SPEAKER_06 (05:33):
That's interesting to know.
And it has become quite theissue because food prices have
gone up so much.
And sometimes people, they don'tnecessarily count on it for
their whole grocery uh needs,but it supplements what they're
able to get.
And it provides nutrition, whichis part of the battle in being
(05:55):
healthy, is making sure you havegood nutrition.
So that is really good.
How do people come to allies inhope?
I guess you call them clients,and uh uh what's the entryway?
SPEAKER_05 (06:09):
The people who come to us for services, some are
called clients, and that'smostly those individuals who
come in for prevention work, uh,also individuals that are in our
housing programs and individualswho come in for stone soup food
services.
Those folks who come into ourclinic for prep and in PEP and
(06:31):
for rapid start art, they comein and they are called patients
because they are part of ourclinic.
And they they come into us acouple of ways.
Uh, some of them come in throughcoordinated access for housing
services.
So we are with the coalition forthe homeless, we are a
(06:52):
coordinated access hub.
So individuals can come here andprovide information about their
housing status or the state ofbeing unhoused.
And they won't necessarily behoused by us.
The coalition makes thatdecision, but we take that
information and it goes to thecoalition to help that person
(07:15):
have placement sooner thanlater.
Other individuals they hearabout us on the website.
They see our website, they canmake appointments for their
clinic appointments and fortheir prevention appointments
through our website.
You go on the website, you clickon the appointment calendar, you
(07:36):
make an appointment, andsomebody from us reaches back
out to you to help you navigateto make sure you've uh checked
the right appointment, check theright appointment time, and
you're getting what you need.
And other ways I think that areimportant for us to mention, uh,
we have a mobile clinic, ourmobile unit.
(07:56):
And that mobile unit is out inthe community three to five
times a week.
So many individuals, they maynever come to our brick and
mortar location, but they'llcome and receive services
related to sexual health andwell-being at our mobile clinic
wherever we may be in thecommunity.
(08:17):
Sometimes we're out there atevents, or there are other times
when uh the health department,we partner with the health
department, and the healthdepartment says, Hey, we need
you in this zip code at thisintersection because there's a
rise in the number of, and itcould be any one of the sexually
(08:37):
transmitted infections, andwe'll go out there and we'll be
there, and that's where peoplecan encounter us as well.
SPEAKER_06 (08:44):
One of the things uh that people need to know is
there's no judgment.
They are welcomed, they arehelped, they're provided with
the information or whatever itis that they need in order to be
as healthy as they can be.
So, Jeffrey, as we know, so manyorganizations are really in a
(09:05):
difficult time right now becausethere's been so many funding
cuts.
And what ways does Allies inHope get funding?
SPEAKER_05 (09:14):
Okay, so that's a great question.
We receive monies from thefederal government that comes
directly to us.
We also receive monies from thefederal government that goes
through our city.
So our whether it's for housingor if it's for HIV prevention.
(09:37):
And then we also receive fundingfrom foundations, and they could
be foundations that are an armof a pharmaceutical company.
They could be foundations thatare family-run foundations where
someone in the family has leftspecific directives about how
they want their money to be usedafter they're no longer here.
(10:00):
And then we also get asignificant amount of dollars
from individual contributors.
And that's very important forindividuals.
I appreciate it.
And, you know, just a quickstory.
Yesterday, I had lunch with anindividual who I saw was a
routine monthly individualcontributor.
(10:24):
Could not figure out how he wasconnected to the organization.
Had lunch with him along withone of our uh great board
members, Chris Lewis.
And at that lunch, he sharedthat many years ago he had been
part of our camp hope forchildren impacted by HIV.
(10:46):
He wasn't living with HIV, buthe had a parent who was.
And as an adult, he wanted tofind a way to give back to a
community that had helped him.
And he was able to find CampHope.
And so it was because of thatexperience that he had almost 20
(11:06):
years ago that he has become aconsistent, ongoing, monthly
donor to this organization.
So the work that individuals dowith us in giving, it makes a
tremendous difference.
SPEAKER_06 (11:22):
Often it is those um personal connections to
something where someone's notdirectly impacted, but they have
someone, a friend or a familymember, and it's an a way to
honor them and uh to uh be partof, you know, Houston was built
on philanthropy.
(11:43):
Uh and that's a really wonderfulthing.
You know, you just look aroundand you kind of go, oh, this
this was made possible becausesomebody cared enough to do it.
Uh and and I guess that's allwe're asking for is care enough
to do something.
Um, but you also have an eventcoming up.
Tell me about the uh Hope forHouston ball.
SPEAKER_05 (12:07):
Yes, the Hope for Houston Ball.
This is our third Hope forHouston Ball.
It's coming up Friday evening,November 14th.
We'll be at the Revere, which isa wonderful venue.
We were there last year.
It's at 7 p.m.
And our theme is Casino Royale.
So a little bit of a James Bondfun but fancy dressed uh event
(12:33):
with some wonderful food.
We are honoring this year.
We have three honorees.
The Shelby Hodge Vision Award isgoing to the U.S.
Business Action to end HIV forthe work that this organization
is doing uh right now in threecities: Houston, Los Angeles,
(12:54):
and Atlanta, to engage corporateAmerica, to bring them to the
table, to have conversations, todetermine what are the best ways
for corporate America to show upto end the HIV epidemic.
Then we are also honoring withour Ada Edwards Humanitarian
(13:16):
Award, the Greater Houston LGBTQChamber of Commerce, uh led by
co-founder and CEO TammyWallace.
We're honoring the change ofchamber because they are
partnered with the U.S.
Business Action to end HIV asthe umbrella of the work that
we're doing here in Houston withcorporate America and the ending
(13:40):
the HIV campaign.
And then finally, we're alsohonoring with the Ada Edwards
Humanitarian Award, StateSenator Boris Miles.
Some years ago, Senator Mileswas a Texas representative.
He had an idea to take hip-hopand merge hip-hop with HIV
(14:02):
prevention.
And he came to the then leadersof AIDS Foundation Houston, and
that's why it's important for meto continue to say it, and said,
Hey, what can we do to providetesting to the young adult
community across Houston andthen partner with uh the radio
(14:23):
station to issue tickets for ahip hop concert?
The leaders of Allies and Hopeor AIDS Foundation Houston at
that time, they joined in withthe City of Houston Health
Department and so many other uhHIV prevention service
organizations to launch hip hopfor HIV, which was now State
(14:46):
Senator Miles' vision.
It was his baby.
And over the next 10 years,we've tested over 50,000 people
in the Houston area, and theyknew what their HIV status was.
And then a part of that was abig hip-hop concert where rap
(15:07):
and hip hop artists cametogether, they promoted
prevention, they promoted safersex, they promoted sexual
wellness.
It was fabulous.
And several cities across thenation now have taken that um
that basic footprint and donesimilar concerts and testing
(15:29):
campaigns in their cities.
So we're honoring State SenatorBoris Miles with the Ada Edwards
Humanitarian Award because ofhis vision that became reality
for us.
SPEAKER_06 (15:41):
There you go.
We were talking earlier abouthow the arts can have an impact,
and that certainly was aninnovative way to bring artistic
creative talent into the battleagainst HIV and AIDS.
Once again, we're talking withJeffrey Campbell, uh C the CEO
(16:02):
of Allies in Hope, about theHope for Houston ball.
And give me the details on thatagain and the website address
where people can find out moreinformation.
SPEAKER_05 (16:14):
Sure.
So the Hope for Houston Ball,hosted by Allies and Hope,
formerly AIDS FoundationHouston, is coming up Friday,
November 14th at 7 p.m.
at the Revere.
Wanna share with you that ourco-chairs are Dr.
Joseph Gath and his lovely wife,Deanna BroGath, as well as
(16:37):
Michael Broadwick and BrianHull.
That event is really our um,it's our big event for the year,
and we're excited about it.
The theme is Casino Royale, andyou can go to a IHHouston.org
(17:00):
forward slash hope for HoustonBall.
That's AIH Houston.org forwardslash hope for Houston Ball to
get information about the event,purchase tickets, tables, and
sponsorships.
SPEAKER_06 (17:16):
Jeffrey, is there anything else that you would
like to say that we didn'talready discuss?
SPEAKER_05 (17:22):
You know, thank you, Deb, for that question.
I I think we are just we want totalk about the work that we do
every day here uh to achieve ourmission of ending the HIV
epidemic in the Greater Houstonarea.
We're really close.
Uh we've got a lot of work todo, but we're very close.
(17:43):
And it is important, and thankyou for bringing it up, that
people know that HIV is still anissue.
It is a human issue.
It's not attached to any onecommunity.
And so, with that, we all haveto do our very best to be
informed, to pass on informationthat is accurate, to engage in
(18:08):
our own sexual health andwellness, engage our medical
doctors, go to a clinic on anannual basis, if nothing else,
to be tested and know thatAllies and Hope is here for you.
We are your friend, we are astigma-free environment.
(18:28):
And uh, that is one thing that Ibelieve is most important in
getting to the end iseliminating the stigma.
And that's one of the things wework very hard to do.
SPEAKER_06 (18:40):
Well, thank you for being with us on Queer Voices.
I'm Deborah Moncrees Bell.
Hey, Brian, do you know whattime it is?
SPEAKER_02 (18:48):
It's podcasting time.
SPEAKER_06 (18:50):
It's Pledge Drive at KPFT.
And it's time to ask ourlisteners to please support the
station.
And there's several ways theycan do that.
One of the best ways is to go toKPFT.org and click the donate
button, and then you have to gothrough a little scroll-down
menu to select queer voices asthe program that you're
(19:14):
supporting.
But we hope that you support allthe great programs on KPFT.
I give a monthly pledge, and youcan do it as a one-time donation
or set up a regular schedule.
And sometimes you get greatpremiums, so you can check that
out on the website as well.
I know you also donate.
SPEAKER_02 (19:33):
I do.
Uh I give$40 a month to KPFT,which adds up over time.
So I like donating to somethingthat I believe in and that's
important for the community.
SPEAKER_06 (19:45):
And you know, we're getting a lot of attention
lately.
First of all, congratulations toyou and Ethan Michelle Gance on
your selections as gayest andgreatest for the Out Smart poll.
And moi as well in my category,which is female community radio.
And yours was male.
(20:05):
We didn't get a podcast thistime, but that's okay because
we're a radio show and apodcast.
Yes, we were a finalist.
We were just talking earlierabout it.
Seems like everybody and theirdog has a podcast now, but we
hope that people will continueto listen to Queer Voices and
support the station and listento us online when they're not
(20:28):
able to listen to it onWednesday night.
SPEAKER_02 (20:31):
Very good.
And I'd like to point out thatwe have a new website that we're
developing uh coming soon toqueervoices.org.
SPEAKER_06 (20:38):
It's up now, but we need to do some tweaking.
So pay no attention to the partsthat are gibberish, but we're
excited about that and aboutbringing more wonderful content.
Lee and Brett are bringingwonderful stuff.
Davis is bringing wonderfulstuff, and Joel and Ethan, when
they have the opportunity, weare always looking for other
(21:01):
people to become involved.
You don't have to have radioexperience.
Did you have any radioexperience before you started?
SPEAKER_02 (21:09):
Or just listening to it in the middle of the night.
SPEAKER_06 (21:12):
Oh, listening to it in the middle of the night.
Well, I'm so glad that you didand that it inspired you in part
to embrace yourself as a gay manand your coming out process.
And then being interested inactivism and realizing that
doing radio was a form ofactivism.
(21:33):
So you've been at it a while,and I've been at it a while, but
I didn't have any broadcastexperience.
I just Jack Belinsky invited meto come and be on the show, and
we kind of took off from there.
I too was just a listener andthen I volunteered at KPFT for
(21:53):
several programs during PledgeDrive.
And then was a guest atdifferent times.
And that's how I got into it.
So, you know, we'll we'll trainyou.
The station provides technicaltraining, and then it's just
kind of you can learn it on thejob, so to speak.
So anyone who has an interest inthat, just contact me, Deborah
(22:14):
at queervoices.org or Brian atqueervoices.org.
Oh, queervoices.org.
How wonderful.
Well, I want to thank everyonewho is a listener and especially
all of you who are supporters.
We really appreciate you and wehope that you tune in on a
regular basis and also that youuh contribute on a regular
(22:38):
basis.
It's community radio right herein Houston, Texas.
SPEAKER_02 (22:45):
This is Brian Lavinka, and I'm joined today by
Danielle Sampei from LazarusHouse.
Welcome to the show, Danielle.
SPEAKER_07 (22:52):
Thank you, Brian.
I'm happy to be here.
SPEAKER_02 (22:54):
So, for people that don't know, what is Lazarus
House?
SPEAKER_07 (22:56):
Lazarus House is a nonprofit organization that
helps adults and adolescentswith chronic illness where
muscle loss may be a col one ofthe collateral devastating
issues associated with chronicillness.
What we do is we provide aprogram that helps strengthen
people while they go throughtheir treatments for their
(23:17):
illness or their condition.
And uh what we do is we helppeople not just live longer but
live stronger lives.
SPEAKER_02 (23:24):
So is it mostly through diet and exercise, or
how do you do that exactly?
SPEAKER_07 (23:28):
Diet is a big part of it, and exercise is a huge
component of it.
But we also try to take aholistic approach to it where we
do things that help elevate thespirit as well.
So it's like 33% of each one ofthose diet, um, exercise, and
then uh your well-beingemotionally and spiritually and
(23:50):
mentally.
SPEAKER_02 (23:51):
So, how long have you been involved and how did
they find you?
SPEAKER_07 (23:55):
I don't know who found who.
Uh, Lazarus House has beenaround since 2002.
I'm one of the founding membersof it.
The way it came about was in thelate 90s, uh, I was working at a
medical clinic, uh physicaltherapy clinic that was uh
providing an exercise programfor people with HIV.
(24:17):
And in the 90s, physicians wereasking patients with HIV to
conserve their energy becausethey thought it expedited the
wasting.
Um this clinic was run bysomeone who had a great idea and
was on point with the outcome ofbeing careful about how you
apply the stimuli of a workloadto someone who has an an
(24:40):
illness, but do apply it, justmodify it.
And so this exercise program wasuh spectacular and it did really
well in the physical therapysetting.
We saw many people who were verywasted actually regain muscle.
And uh it was it was wonderful.
I just loved that job.
It was it was outstanding.
(25:02):
Maybe three years into it.
Um, and I started out as atrainer there, and then I moved
up as a director there, and uhthree years into it, uh, that's
when healthcare startedchanging, how long they would um
provide allowable services forphysical therapy.
So it was limited but to acertain number.
We were working a minimum of 12weeks with these patients, and
(25:23):
and that was cut.
And so that clinic ended upclosing when that happened.
My staff and I, we all went indifferent directions, but our
the patients had become verygood friends of ours.
And one of them called me andtold me that he was having
problems.
And I told him that I wasn't aphysical therapist and that I
couldn't help him.
(25:44):
I wasn't a doctor.
He said, I know you're doingsome personal training on the
side, and I said, I was, and itwas at an upscale gym that was
fairly exclusive, and he said, Ineed your help and I can't pay
you.
This guy was a dear friend ofmine, he'd become a very good
friend of mine, and so I waswilling, if he kept it quiet, I
(26:06):
was gonna train him and I wouldtrain him for free.
And that's what I did.
And I told him, Don't tellanybody.
He was having a problem walking.
I knew his wife, I knew hisdaughter.
He couldn't drive his wife towork anymore, he couldn't drive
his daughter to school.
And uh, so I was willing to helphim.
And um he's a good guy.
And maybe a month into it, hewent from a wheelchair back to
(26:27):
walking again on a walker.
And uh his name was Reggie, andReggie went and told everybody,
all of our past patients.
Yeah.
And uh so I started my phonestarted ringing and ringing, and
uh, I I just reached out to someof our past staff and I said, at
the clinic, and I said, This iswhat's going on, but nobody can
pay us.
What can we do?
(26:48):
And so everybody startedoffering their services for
free, which was wonderful, butyou can only sustain that for so
long.
And uh that's kind of how wejust started trying to figure
out how do we put it together.
We're not doing a clinicalsetting.
None of us are clinicians, we'renot physical therapists, we're
not providing treatment, we'reproviding an exercise program.
(27:09):
Everybody should be exercising,but if you have certain
illnesses, you absolutely needto be exercising.
And uh, you want to do itsafely, so you want to be under
the direction of someone youtrust, someone who has
experience.
The team was willing to work forfree for a period of time.
Everybody worked for free forquite a while, and eventually we
(27:30):
became uh a nonprofit.
Well, we were all all along anonprofit, but uh that's just
how we created Lazarus Us tomake it sustainable, and we made
it a lower no-cost program forour clients.
SPEAKER_02 (27:44):
I bet you have some good stories from clients that
you've had.
SPEAKER_07 (27:48):
Oh my goodness, I have wonderful ones and I have
some that are justgut-wrenching, you know, because
you see both sides of the coin.
We've seen much more good thanbad, but uh from the nineties,
um you know, that was a that wasa hard time in the eighties and
nineties, uh working with umpeople that you really they they
(28:10):
put a lot of energy into it andyou wanted the best and and you
become very intimately closewith people and to lose anybody
was um it made me want to workharder and try harder.
And uh you never let go of thatperson in your heart.
SPEAKER_02 (28:27):
I don't know how we ever got through that time.
SPEAKER_07 (28:31):
Isn't it true?
Isn't it true?
Because if you just pause for amoment, like every December 1st,
we write on the board everybodywe remember.
I can find myself standing therefor hours.
How did we do it?
I I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (28:42):
I have friends that quit counting after they lost
150 people.
SPEAKER_07 (28:46):
My God.
SPEAKER_02 (28:47):
I'm like, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_07 (28:49):
It is, it is, and there's a whole new generation
that just not aware.
No, not at all.
And not that I want people tohave to go through that, but it
can leave a mark to help youalways remember and make changes
and yeah, live your best life.
SPEAKER_02 (29:05):
That's right.
That's so I'm part of anorganization called EPA,
Executive ProfessionalAssociation of Houston, and we
recently held a fundraiser forLazarus House.
So I was gonna ask you how thatwent on your side and what is
that money gonna be used for?
SPEAKER_07 (29:20):
Oh gosh, we are so, so grateful to you guys.
Y'all did a phenomenal job, anduh you raised a wonderful amount
of funds that we are actually uhusing to um build out one of our
bathrooms and make it completelyADA accessible, and it's gonna
have a roll-in shower.
Everything's just gonna lookphenomenal.
(29:42):
The house itself is was built in1911, so it was a part of the
original McGregor homes.
The bones of the house arefabulous, but if you can imagine
the bathrooms were added inlater on, like in the 30s and
40s, and uh antiquated, andwe've updated bits and pieces as
we can, but now I'll just haveto.
Any photos because we are takinglots of photos and videos for
(30:02):
EPA as we document it, but we'vegutted it out, and uh, and
there's quite a bit of space.
I'm so happy about it, and we'recompletely and I mean from the
bones forward, it's gonna be allbrand new, completely accessible
and comfortable.
We want it to be inviting andcomfortable.
That's a big part about Lazarus.
(30:23):
I you know, when you go to workout in the gym, it's kind of
like walking up to something youmight hesitate for a second.
We want you to feel good andwalk right in.
So it's a home, but as you walkin, it's a functional gym, and
the same thing in the bathrooms.
We want you to feel good andcomfortable and like you're
you're at your own home whereyou feel good to be at.
SPEAKER_02 (30:42):
Now, where is Lazarus House for our listeners
who may not know?
SPEAKER_07 (30:46):
Our address is 4106 Austin Street.
So we're in midtown, and we arealmost sandwiched between HCC
and the new Rice Ion.
So we're we're we're right inthat area.
We're close to Wheeler.
Cleburne and Wheeler are our twoum end streets for us on Austin.
SPEAKER_02 (31:07):
So kind of Gaborhood adjacent.
SPEAKER_07 (31:09):
Yes, yes, yes.
We're we're located in a veryconvenient position.
That we wouldn't know why weended up there.
You know, we got that housebecause it was in the um 2001,
2002.
The market was still coming backaround, and we were just looking
for a place to lease so that wecan uh put the the organization
(31:31):
into something, and that was allwe could afford, and it was a
different neighborhood then.
Uh we we met everybody allaround us, including the the
people who um lived on the onthe streets and under the um the
59 overpass there and uh becamegood friends with a lot of
people, but that the area hasreally gone through a lot of
(31:52):
development, and there's only afew uh of the homes that used to
be by us that still stand now inbig four-story and three-story
town homes, and then the ion isliterally um two blocks from our
backyard.
SPEAKER_02 (32:08):
Yeah, they're they're putting some money in
there.
Now, is there anything that Ididn't ask you that you want our
listeners to know about LazarusHouse?
SPEAKER_07 (32:14):
I just want people to know that we are here and
we're here to help.
So if you know anybody who hasany kind of diagnosis like HIV
or stroke, spinal cord injury,MS, any kind of long-term uh
challenge in their health wheremuscle loss can be one of those
um devastating, devastating sideeffects, we're here to help.
(32:36):
We're here to help people uh bestrong.
A lot of times, insurance, ityou have that gap of treatment,
and life or can help you inbetween that, uh, stay strong.
So we're here and we want toprovide as much uh help as we
can to our community.
SPEAKER_02 (32:54):
Now, uh, do you need volunteers?
I'm sure you do.
SPEAKER_07 (32:57):
We always need volunteers, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:00):
How can people get in touch with you to become a
volunteer?
SPEAKER_07 (33:03):
They can call me uh directly.
It's at Lazarus House 713 5265071.
You can ask for me or DouglasSpringfield.
He's a program director rightnow.
SPEAKER_02 (33:18):
And do you have a website?
SPEAKER_07 (33:20):
We do.
It's thhelazarushouse.org.
So T H E L A Z A R U S H O U S ER dot O R G.
SPEAKER_02 (33:34):
Well, I've been speaking with Danielle Sampi
from the Lazarus House, and uh,thank you for coming on.
SPEAKER_07 (33:40):
It's been my pleasure.
Thank you, Brian.
I appreciate you.
SPEAKER_09 (33:43):
Hello, everyone.
I'm Joel Tatum, and you'relistening to Queer Voices.
There's a little theater groupin Dallas, Texas that's tackling
not only inclusivity, butrecovery as well.
And I want to welcome them tothe show.
Second chance players, welcomeBill Shea, managing director,
and Caleb Ross, assistantdirector, board member, and
(34:04):
actor and performer.
SPEAKER_11 (34:05):
Hey, thanks.
Glad that you're here.
Glad to be here.
SPEAKER_09 (34:09):
So I want to get into the recovery aspect of what
you guys do.
How did that get started?
Why is that an important aspectof your theater?
SPEAKER_11 (34:19):
Well, it is the uh founding principle of second
chance players.
Uh, the way we got to be wasthat uh, well, first of all, I'm
in recovery.
I have uh 35 years of continuoussobriety in uh AA.
And um in Dallas here, we have arecovery conference every year
in May, which is uh sponsored bythe local gay AA group.
(34:43):
Um it's called the Big DiggyRoundup.
And about 15 years ago, um, Iwas approached to do uh musical
as the entertainment for theconvention.
And what I would do is take somepopular songs and rewrite them
with with recovery lyrics and uhdo a little one act play about
some kind of recovery concept,and uh it got to be pretty
(35:05):
popular.
And what I discovered was therewere a lot of people that were
in recovery that loved to dotheater and had a lot of talent,
but for uh for whatever reasonhad stopped performing.
And and I was one of thosepeople, quite frankly.
I hadn't done anything in 20, 25years.
I I did a lot of theater up inNew York in my 20s and 30s after
(35:26):
I moved down to Dallas.
I just let it go by the wayside.
Uh couple of reasons for that.
Theater is a uh trigger for alot of people.
I did a lot of partying while Iwas doing my shows and uh just
felt like I had other things todo.
But when I started doing theselittle musicals, uh the juices
started flowing, and uh we hadplenty of people that were
(35:49):
interested in doing more.
So I organized a um our firstboard of directors, which had a
musical director and a costumedesigner, and uh and a lot of
the work that was done behindthe scenes uh we were able to
fill.
And I said, well, why don't wejust do a uh uh a community
(36:11):
theater um for people who wantto do theater but don't know how
or don't know how to get backinvolved in it, and uh and
that's what we did.
And uh then the COVID happenedand kind of delayed us for a
while, and uh after that we uhwe went full hog and uh became a
501c3, started our firstproduction with the story of the
(36:35):
origin story of AA called Bill Wand Dr.
Bob, which was a off-Broadwayshow that had been performed a
lot around the country.
It was a huge success.
We wanted to do a straight playand a musical.
Our next musical was Next toNormal, which was a heavy lift,
frankly.
Uh, probably if I knew how hardit was gonna be to do, I might
have waited a little bit after Ihad shaken off the rust.
(36:58):
But uh, you know, once you onceyou're in, you're in.
And uh and that's actually whereI met Caleb.
Caleb was uh was working foranother theater group, and we
ran into each other while I wastouring the theater, and he
asked me what we were doing, andI said, next to normal.
And uh he said, Oh, that's oneof my favorite shows, and I want
to do gabe.
(37:19):
And and then we lost touch, andI was looking for a gabe when I
was casting, and I said, Wherewas that kid that I met up in
Frisco that day?
So totally different way offinding each other.
I had put the word out, and hehad been doing a uh a little
nightclub performance where themusical director had been
somebody I had reached out to,and they told him about second
(37:42):
chance players, and we weredoing next to normal.
And we hooked up and uh I said,Did I meet you once?
And we talked about this.
And he said, he said, yeah.
And I was like, Okay, well, sendme something.
And he sent me a TikTokaudition, and uh, it was
perfect.
(38:02):
I knew he was perfect for therole, and I cast him and uh and
we became friends, co-workers,and uh I really appreciated his
dedication to what we weretrying to do and his knowledge
of all aspects of theater.
And what we want to do is wewant to provide a theater that
not only welcomes people in, butlets them do the things that
(38:24):
they want to do.
So it's like, what are you goodat?
What do you want to do?
And Caleb is very good attechnical, and he was uh he was
very interested in um the thethe the technical side of it,
the lights, the sound, all thethings that I really don't want
to do.
And uh so I asked him to be onthe board.
(38:46):
And then he was the one, and I'mgonna let him kind of tell this
story.
He was the one that suggestedthe Laramie project because he
had done a few um um couple ofpapers on it in high school, and
uh I had not thought of it, anduh, I was kind of disappointed
in myself that I had not thoughtof it because it's exactly in
(39:06):
line with our mission statement.
And uh I'll I'll let Caleb takeit over for me here.
SPEAKER_08 (39:13):
So, as far as Laramie Project, it holds a
really special place in myheart.
My family, my mother actuallyjust corrected me yesterday.
Apparently, I've been tellingthis story wrong.
Um, but whenever I was about 12years old, I came out of the
closet to my family.
And uh the story I've beentelling is that the next day I
had some friends that were inthe Laramie Project, and so I
took my mom to go see theLaramie Project.
(39:34):
Um, but apparently that is nottrue.
I came out to my mom, and thatnight she spent the whole night
on social media and Facebook,and she saw an ad for the
Laramie Project, and she wasactually the one that bought the
tickets and insisted that we gosee the Laramie Project as a
family.
So now remembering that, thatjust holds an even dearer place
in my heart that my mom took thetime to be like, like, this is
(39:55):
really an important thing.
Let's have this bonding momenttogether.
Following that, all through highschool, anytime I got the chance
to write a research paper onsome sort of historical element,
I always chose to write aboutthe Laramie Project because even
today it shocks me how manypeople aren't aware of the story
or only knows fragments and onlyknows the name, but doesn't know
(40:17):
the actual history and how thatplays into today's politics and
laws, lawmaking.
SPEAKER_09 (40:22):
Let's let's talk a little about your experience as
an actor.
Um, how do you bring yourexperience as an actor to the
board?
SPEAKER_08 (40:32):
A majority of my life I spent on the theater
side, and whether that be inyouth theater or adult theater,
I have a lot more experiencethere than I would on the other
side of the table at this pointin my life.
And so because of that, I feellike it brings a fun element of
like, well, this works, thisdoesn't work from the actor
standpoint, which I think makesthe rehearsal room flow a little
(40:52):
bit more easily.
Having that experience is a lotmore fun whenever you're able to
be like, oh, well, I rememberthis.
I remember what works and whatdoesn't, and I can really
connect with the actors ratherthan there being some sort of
power dynamic that's kind ofweird of, oh, well, they're the
director and we're just theactors.
Like, nah, we're all we're allfriends.
And and that goes back to whatBill was saying about what we're
(41:14):
trying to build here with secondchance players, that it really
is a community.
There's a place for everybody.
If you don't want to really bein front of the curtain and you
want to be more behind thescenes, we got the space for
you.
SPEAKER_09 (41:25):
How do you tackle such big emotional roles with
people who are themselves goingthrough trauma and that kind of
thing?
How do you how do you get suchperformances out of these
actors?
SPEAKER_11 (41:38):
That is something that informs every actor.
Uh one of the things that wefound out, a lot of the a lot of
the people that um um uhauditioned for the Laramie
Project knew about it and wantedto do it.
And, you know, and if theydidn't know know about it, they
researched it and they found outwhat it was about.
(41:59):
So they came into it knowingthat this was heavy material and
were, you know, uh had a desireto um to do it.
Um we have we have one actressthat she has never been uh on
stage before um in a straightplay.
She's she's done a lot of um uhkind of um how would you
(42:21):
describe Winter's experience,Caleb?
SPEAKER_08 (42:24):
She has a lot of educational experience.
She's worked in schools andshe's taken classes, uh, but as
far as on-stage experience, uhlimited in the community and
professional theater sense, butshe's stellar.
SPEAKER_11 (42:37):
And she has turned out to be someone who we got
very lucky with.
And she is an amazing, anamazing actor, and uh we're
we're lucky to have her.
So I think everybody's got adifferent story as to why they
want to do a uh uh anemotionally challenging role.
(42:57):
But um, I think as an actor, youuh you you welcome the challenge
because it does can use thattrauma to inform your
performance.
SPEAKER_08 (43:07):
And there's definitely danger whenever it
comes to using your own personalexperience.
There's always the complicationsof it getting too intense.
You wrap up your own personallife with the character's life,
but I think you walk that fineline of using your own personal
experience and drawing from yourown personal experience to tell
a beautiful story that isoftentimes so important.
(43:27):
I think there's no better use ofsometimes your own personal
trauma to help tell art andbeautiful stories.
SPEAKER_09 (43:34):
Because I can imagine, and now I actually I
didn't know if this wasappropriate, uh, but I actually
thought of it as hurt peopleplaying, learning how to play to
hurt people.
SPEAKER_08 (43:50):
Oftentimes actors will find coping mechanisms
through their characters.
Sometimes they'll find problemsthat they haven't even come to
terms with themselves in theircharacters, and then through
learning with the characters,they're able to heal altogether.
They're able to figure out theirown ways of coping and healing.
Like theater is therapy throughand through.
SPEAKER_09 (44:11):
We talked a little about the acting uh perspective,
running a theater.
Let's talk about the managementaspect, the business part.
How Caleb, how different is itlooking at looking at how to run
a theater trip from the otherside?
SPEAKER_08 (44:29):
Well, I'm I'm new, I'm only just freshly joining,
and I'm more on the marketingside.
So that's been the mostinteresting thing for me is I
always see whenever I do a show,their Facebook post will post a
little marketing reel orsomething, and I'll be like, oh,
that was cute, that's cool, butthat's never really been
pertaining to me.
I would share it, but it wasnever something I would worry
about.
And boy, have I been worriedabout it in this last month and
(44:52):
a half.
I've every waking moment, I'vebeen trying to figure out new
marketing ideas, new interviewvideos that we could do with our
cast.
Uh, we we recently we went tothe Dallas Pride Parade and we
marched in the Pride Parade uhfor the first time.
That was super, super awesomeand super cool.
But it was a lot of planning tofigure out how to get there and
how to make it work as a group.
(45:14):
Um, so from that side of things,it's been it's been so much fun,
so educational, but it's beeninteresting to learn.
Bill has been doing more of thebusiness side of things, though,
for sure.
SPEAKER_09 (45:24):
Bill, let's let's talk a little bit about the
business side.
Um, how is it?
How do you manage to run a troopas well as, you know, you're
you're still a director, you'restill an actor.
Tell us about give us a littlebit about the day-to-day
goings-on behind the scenes ofhow you do uh how you get shows
(45:46):
together, how you found venues,how you uh find sponsors, that
kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_11 (45:54):
Well, that's a great question.
Um, when we started out, Ididn't know any of that.
And uh I just uh you know said,well, you know, other people do
it.
I certainly can.
And when we needed a venue, Ijust googled, you know, theater
spaces in Dallas and uh Istarted calling around and I
(46:15):
found a place to do.
This was when we were doing BillW and Dr.
Bob, and I found a place that wecould afford and uh was close
enough to Dallas where we couldstill talk about being a DFW uh
uh theater theater group.
And uh then I just had then Iwas about raising money.
(46:37):
And uh we we did our first showbasically on friends and family,
and mostly my friends andfamily.
Um I put out letters and and Igot donations from people that
were never going to come see theshow.
A lot of people from New York, alot of people that I knew in the
past, you know, everything fromfive dollars to five hundred
dollars to, you know, a thousanddollars because people believed
(47:00):
in what we were doing, andpeople knew me and and they were
confident that I was doingsomething important.
And uh so that's how we started.
And you know, I realized thatthat was not a way to build a
theater, that that it was a goodstart.
And so I started looking forpeople, good people that wanted
(47:21):
to uh be part of it, that it wasa collaborative effort.
And um we uh uh actually one ofmy first cast members was uh in
marketing as a profession.
I asked her to be on the boardto do to do our marketing, and
she's been terrific.
She works with Caleb now ongetting our social media out and
(47:42):
our fundraising letters out.
Um, I found somebody from myDALC league who is interested in
doing fundraising.
So I turned that over to him,and he's on the board now.
So my whole life has been aboutstart something.
If it's supposed to happen, thedoors will open for you.
And that's been really thestories of second chance
players.
(48:02):
Uh, we're right now in afundraising uh mode.
We have we're buying, we want tobuy our equipment because uh
it's a big expense to rentlights and sound for every uh
every um performance, and uh andwe're having some success with
it.
So the business side of it isreally about money.
It costs money to do theater.
(48:24):
So you want to do things thatpeople want to see.
Uh, ticket sales are a big partof that, and you want to stay
true to your mission, which iswhy we're doing things like the
Laramie Project and Bill andBob, and and some of our shows
that we're looking at for nextseason are uh LGBTQ plus
(48:46):
centered and also have a storyto tell about discovery and
about growth and about you knowovercoming trauma, but we also
want to entertain, you know, souh uh you can't do that alone.
So you have to have good peoplearound you.
And I'm I'm I'm fond of sayingthat I I finally have the board
that I want.
I have people that arecommitted, like uh, like Caleb
(49:09):
and our our uh gentleman Imentioned, Josh and Leah and uh
David, who does our costuming.
He used to, you know, that'swhat he used to do for a living.
He made clothes.
And so he's he's real involved.
He's 79 years old and he'swilling to move sets around and
do whatever you whatever we ask.
So people who are theaterpeople, you know, don't just
(49:33):
act.
They paint sets, they get, youknow, do costuming, they do
marketing.
That's the story of communitytheater.
So if you if if you think youcan do it by yourself, you're
gonna fail.
Um, you have to have people thatare willing to work with you,
and you have to be willing towork with them.
Uh, I'm having a wonderful time.
(49:54):
I've I've never had an assistantdirector as involved with the
with the production um thanCaleb, and I have come to trust
him implicitly.
I let him do a lot of thingsthat I don't let a lot of other
people do.
And uh and I'm excited aboutthat because it can't be all
about, you know, what I do.
It has I don't want to directevery show that we do.
(50:15):
And uh you have to bring peopleup.
And I think that's what theatercan do.
It can it can give people theopportunity to do what makes
them feel feel like they are uhpart of the theater community,
and that's what I want secondchance players to be about.
SPEAKER_09 (50:31):
Speaking of uh the Laramie Project, uh Caleb, let's
let's get you back in here.
This is uh you're you'retackling a big project and
putting it on a small stage.
Um what's the work that's gonnago into making sure that you
give the drama of the show on asmaller stage?
SPEAKER_08 (50:56):
So I love that question, first of all.
Um so whenever I was 15 yearsold, I begged my mom, begged my
mom, begged my mom to take meinto New York City and see a
bunch of Broadway shows.
And one of the only shows that Icared about seeing was Fun Home.
Uh and Fun Home was performed inCircle on the Square Theater,
which is right next to theGershwin.
(51:16):
It's this tiny little, it's theonly theater on Broadway that's
in the round.
And it seats maybe 550 people,maybe 600.
Like it's a very small theater.
You're never more than 10 rowsback.
It's so intimate.
And a show like Fun Homerequires that.
I saw it whenever it came ontour and they had it in the big
proscenium.
(51:36):
The show's amazing, it'sbeautiful, but it just doesn't
hit the same as it does in asmall, intimate proscenium or a
small intimate round theater.
So whenever I approached Billwith the idea of doing the
Laramie Project, it wasimmediately in my mind.
I was like, we have to do thisin the round.
I I just think a show like theLaramie Project, especially a
(51:58):
show that's set up the way theLaramie Project is, where it's
kind of documentary style, it'snot so much um one thing after
the other.
Uh it it just lends itself tobeing more of a group effort and
including the audience in thatgroup just makes it so it flows
beautifully.
There's so much heart in thestory, and without the
(52:20):
separation of that fourth wall,it it leaves everyone unguarded
a little bit, which you kind ofhave to be for a story like
this.
SPEAKER_11 (52:28):
And I might add that as I said, my trust in Caleb,
I've never done any theater onthe ground.
So I said, we can do this, butuh um you need to sell me on it.
How are we going to do it?
And uh and once we were agreedthat this was uh something that
uh we could accomplish um thatinformed our decision to do it
(52:53):
in a church uh uh which willlend itself to that intimacy.
We're only gonna have a hundredseats in the audience.
That's that's all we need, youknow.
Uh and it will be it will be atotally immersive experience.
SPEAKER_09 (53:12):
Uh let's uh let's promote dates.
Let's promote where this isgonna be before we lose time
because we I we could talk aboutthis for hours.
I can talk to you guys aboutthis for hours.
Literally can.
So tell us uh what the dates areup for the show and where it's
gonna be.
SPEAKER_08 (53:31):
Yeah, so we're performing the second, the
third, and the fourth weekendsof November.
So that's the weekend of thesixth, the weekend of the 14th,
and the weekend of the 20th.
Um, all of our dates are also onour website at
secondchanceplayers.org.
Uh, and it's gonna be performedat the Horizons Unitarian
Universalist Church inCarrollton, which, if you know
anything about the story ofMatthew Shepard, the
(53:53):
Universalist Church or theUnitarian Church, and sorry, I
rather, uh, the Unitarian Churchplays a large role in the story.
And so it is so greatpartnership that we have with
this church, and we're soexcited to be able to partner
with them to tell this story.
SPEAKER_11 (54:05):
We're also doing collaborations with the human
rights campaign, the resourcecenter here in Dallas, uh,
Turtle Creek Corral, and the BigD D Roundup, the aforementioned
Big D Roundup.
So we get to promote otherorganizations at the same time
as telling the story of MatthewShepherd, which absolutely needs
(54:27):
to be told.
This is the 25th uh anniversaryof the first performance, and
right this week is the 27thanniversary of Matthew Shepherd
being tied to a buck fence andleft to die in Laramie, Wyoming.
SPEAKER_09 (54:43):
No, uh we're we're almost at the end of the
episode.
Houston and Dallas, we alwayshave this fun little rivalry
back and forth.
But how do you want Houstoniansto uh perceive second uh second
chance players?
SPEAKER_08 (55:01):
No, it's all a community, it's all a big
family, and especially here inTexas, so we gotta stick
together.
So I think I think that's a bigtakeaway too with second chance
players, is we're we're tryingto be uh something and someplace
like Texas needs it.
And we're happy to be here.
SPEAKER_09 (55:20):
Thank you.
Thank you guys for being on theshow.
Uh let's uh make sure everybodygets all their socials out so
that you know if people want toreach out and reach out to you
in any way, shape, or form.
Get all your socials out for me,guys.
SPEAKER_08 (55:34):
Yeah, we're second chance players on all socials
except for Instagram.
On Instagram, we're secondchance players theater, and for
some weird reason it's theaterwith an E R, not an R E.
Uh That's how it's spelled inEnglish.
SPEAKER_10 (55:48):
I actually spelled it with an R E.
Exactly.
It's an R-E, right?
I actually spelled it.
It's an R E.
When I was writing my adult, Ispelled it with an R E in old
English.
SPEAKER_09 (55:58):
Yes.
Yeah.
Because I think the E R is formovies.
So okay, that's fine.
SPEAKER_11 (56:06):
That's fine.
We'll we'll let that we'll letthat out.
We'll let that slide.
SPEAKER_09 (56:10):
Guys and second chance players for the case.
SPEAKER_11 (56:14):
I'll tell you, if I have an opportunity, one one
last thing, one last connectionI have to this.
Uh uh, I was I was and continueto be to this day, friends with
the co-author of uh the LaramieProject, Lee Fonda Kowski.
And she is going to be uh shecan come in for it, but she's
(56:34):
going to be part of you knowhelping the cast.
We're gonna do a zoom, we'regonna do a couple of Zoom
meetings with the cast.
She's gonna tell us herexperience in doing it 25 years
ago, and we're very excited tohave her support.
SPEAKER_09 (56:49):
Thank you, second chance players, for being on
Queer Voices.
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_04 (57:03):
This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston
and as a podcast available fromseveral podcasting sources.
Check our web pagequeervoices.org for more
information.
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