Peterson Toscano's A Musing

After a few weeks of barely leaving the house except for social reasons, I head out today by train to Philadelphia for the beginning of travel that will bring me to Washington, DC, Baltimore, MD and Vancouver, BC (that's in Canada). After that I am off to Nashville, TN, Denver, CO, Boulder, CO, Colorado Springs, CO and Seattle, WA. You can see my full schedule here . This weekend I will be in Glen Mills, PA at Imago Dei Metropolitan Community Church about 15 miles out of Philadelphia. Tonight (Fri) I will perform Queer 101—Now I Know My gAy,B,Cs , a play that looks at homophobia, identity and activism through the words and lives of lesbian and gay poets. I last performed this piece in April at Manchester Community College. In it I get to perform my FAVORITE scene of any of have written, the fantasy date between Chad and Federico Garcia Lorca. (Which you can see here .) Tomorrow (Sat) I will present Transfigurations—Transgressing Gender in the Bible . This play is probably the harde...

I'm sitting on my front porch at my house. It's suddenly crazy humid and I'm living AC free this summer. I live on a one-way street and someone just zipped along driving in the wrong direction. Wait, she's getting out. She's walking towards me. Hold on... Okay, that was weird. She comes right up to me and introduces herself and starts chatting. I'm like, okay. She tells me all kinds of personal info about her child and the child's husband and then asks, "So are you going to give me a tour of the place?" I'm like, "Wait, What?" Turns out she is here to see the downstairs apartment (I live in an old Victorian house and the first floor is for rent). By the way, my landlord loves me because I am never home which saves him a ton of money since utilities are included in my rent. So yeah, feeling very much at home these days never wanting to leave again, well at least until next week. The fall schedule has really come together nicely with p...

My trip to Malta quickly comes to a close when I fly back to London on Monday. Last night I performed The Re-Education of George W. Bush--No President Left Behind! to a lively (and sweaty) audience in a super cool performance space called Warehouse No. 8 . It literally had been a warehouse and still retains some of its rustic and industrial charm. It reminds me of some of the loft theater spaces in NYC during the 1980's--the kind of space that inspires progressive theater. Earlier this year I have performed the Bush play in Sweden, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each time I wonder, Will it work here? I do not presume that my performances will translate into other cultural and political-social settings. So far the piece has worked out in these non-US venues. Of course all these places have nearly constant exposure to US media, so many of the references and in-jokes do not seem all that foreign. Also the play pokes fun at George Bush in part and the USA and its citizens to a ...

In my play, The Re-Education of George W. Bush—No President Left Behind , my character Chad offers an environmental lesson. His primary point outlines how being a vegan helps the planet. In his deliciously flaming style he states that, Gas from cars has a significantly less impact on the planet than that emitted from cows in the forms of burps and farts. And as I say the line, I put my left hand to my mouth ( for burps) and then down by my behind (for farts) and add, "I think that's the sign language for those." After last night's performance, two women approached me and said that they knew American Sign Language. One asked if I wanted to learn the actual signs for burp and fart . Um, yeah! So next time you see the show, if you don't know them already, you will also learn these signs. Brilliant. The Chad environmental lesson serves as a pivotal scene in the performance because it is the first lesson that does not simply target the president. It speaks directly t...

Thursday March 20, 2008 8:30 PM The Gay Spirit Radio Program WWUH 91.5 FM Hartford CT Greater Hartford's only gay news program featuring contemporary issues, music, and special guests will interview Peterson Toscano about his play The Re-Education of George W. Bush--No President Left Behind! in advance of his Hartford performance. Peterson will also talk about Deconstructing the Ex-Gay Myth which took place in Memphis in February. This program can only be heard live. Visit the station's web page to hear it live and streaming.

I had an EXCELLENT weekend which began on Thursday in Providence's Lincoln School for the Quaker Youth Leadership Conference. Organizers asked me to give a keynote address and that they chose art and activism for their theme. Instead of giving a traditional speech, I performed The Re-Education of George W. Bush—No President Left Behind! Here you see a photo of Vlad doing his now infamous dance. Thanks to Fabian from Brooklyn Friends School for the photo! On Friday morning I got up early to take the train down to Philadelphia where I performed the Bush play that evening at Calvary United Methodist Church. The following night I presented Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House at Germantown United Methodist. Here you see a photo of me after the show with two high schoolers from Germantown. Thanks to Bill Ewing for this photo. After performing the Bush play twice in a row, I feel stoked to get it out there. The piece has settled in to where I think it should be and the charac...

Gary Hines from G-Town Radio out of Philadelphia will interview me live tomorrow (Sunday) at 11:30 am. I'll be heading to Philly next weekend where I will perform on Friday The Re-Education of George W. Bush—No President Left Behind! and on Saturday Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House—How I Survived the Ex-Gay Movement! Lots to talk about with the Ex-Gay Movement, George W. Bush, shoot we may even talk about transgender Bible characters! In his e-mail today Gary promised me that he will not ask me anything sexual. Ah, but that doesn't mean I won't ask him anything sexual. Listen live and streaming. (If you have trouble listening, go to the radio program's help page ) Of course I would have just come directly from Quaker Meeting for Worship, so who knows if I will have anything to say. Hmm, I guess silence doesn't work too well on the radio. You can check out my presentation schedule here. Gary posted an archive of the interview on his blog .

As many of you know I flew to Sweden on Christmas Day and will be here in the Northern city of Umeå until the 17th. My hosts, Alex and Noa, take very good care of me with a full vegan spread at every meal. They even let me cook when I want. :-) I face no danger or fears here, other than I might get crushed in the elevator by the garbage can if I am not wary. Of course if this does happen, I have been sufficiently warned, so it will be my own damn fault. I realize that less than 10% of people living in the US have a passport. Most of us do not leave our country, which impoverishes us culturally, intellectually and socially. Sure not everyone can afford to travel, but as a culture we cannot afford to stay home either. I learn so much on the road. It's like I've been on an advanced graduate course learning something new every day about history, philosophy, music, food, science and even math. Last night we had dinner with a brilliant mathematician, Ewa and her partner Pontus. Also ...