By Shelley Ann Quilty-Lake
Brendan Costello, Jr.
Pic: John Kwok
On Friday, June 28, 2024, the Irish American Writers & Artists (IAW&A) held its “Irish Pride” salon at Houghton Hall Arts Community. Author Yvonne Cassidy and IAW&A Board member Shelley Ann Quilty-Lake co-organized this salon to celebrate Irish LGBTQ+ creatives past and present. IAW&A President Brendan Costello, Jr., welcomed everyone and described what IAW&A does and offers, underscoring its inclusivity as a creative community. Yvonne and Shelley then spoke about their collective “vision” for the salon, and how that “vision” was “actualized”.
Yvonne summed up our vision by referring to Panti Bliss (whose recent show she had seen at the Irish Arts Center), who talked about how being Irish has become more “elastic”; it is no longer the rigid straight jacket many of us remember “Irishness” being from the dark days of the 1980ies (and before) but is now something pliable that can wrap around all of us. Our “vision” involved creating an experience that would make us feel a little prouder of who we are, where we come from, whomever we love.
Shelley described how we wanted to ensure the program actualized the vision to reflect this “elasticity”. We sought an array of participants who were a variety of “shades” of queer, encompassing as many letters of the LGBTQ+ alphabet as possible. We also wanted a variety of “art”, while weaving the overarching theme of Irish LGBTQ+ creatives past and present in.
Yvonne Cassidy and
Shelley Ann Quilty-Lake
Shelley Ann Quilty-Lake
Roderick Ferguson
Pics: John Kwok
Shelley “teed up” the Oscar Wilde segment by summarizing the case, explaining her decision to focus on his libel trial, noted that Oscar’s tale was ultimately tragic (dying at 46 in Paris, penniless and isolated), and posited that he brought an unwinnable legal case to make his “case” that “good” art transcends all. Noting the “law is in tatters”, Shelley gave a call to action to create “good” art that transcends. Shelley donned a wig, morphed into Sir Edward Clarke (the “goodie” barrister), read the “prose sonnet” letter Oscar wrote to his lover Lord Alfred Douglas, which led to his case against Lord Queensbury (Lord Alfred’s father) for writing Oscar “was posing as a sodomite.” Shelley then played Sir Edward Carson (the “baddie” barrister) in a re-enactment of excerpts of the cross-examination of Oscar, played by comedian and playwright, Roderick Ferguson.
Shelley relished “grilling” Roderick, who tenderly delivered Oscar’s acerbic and heart-breaking words, such as, “No work of art ever puts forward views. Views belong to people who are not artists,” and “there are people in the world who cannot understand the intense devotion, affection, and admiration that an artist can feel for a wonderful and beautiful personality. These are the conditions under which we live. I regret them.”
.
Pic: John Kwok
Pic: Shelley Ann Quilty-Lake
We experienced the emotionally powerful music video, “Who Holds Us”, commissioned by “On the Quays”, a New York based international production company, co-founded by Nicola Murphy Dubey, for the film Reemergence: A Queer Visual Album, which Nicola also co-created. “Who Holds Us” was composed by Trust Bachman, celebrating LGBTQ+ youth and queer resilience. It featured lead vocals by Maya Sharpe, whose heavenly voice delivered the opening lyrics:
This is a song for a future time
This is a song about you and me
This is a song about getting free
This is a song about we
This is a song about us
Maya defiantly sang “what will be, cannot be what was”, and “what will be, can only come from love”. The video built up to its crescendo, when all the queer performers run out of the church its set in, to joyously answer the refrain “who holds us?” with a resounding – “We hold us!”
Novelist and playwright, Honor Molloy treated us to a snippet of a very new play she is working on – Wilde Mouth. Honor’s beautifully rendered words and exquisite performance focused on Dolly Wilde, Oscar’s lesbian niece, who tragically died, like her father and famous uncle, at the age of 46; alone in Paris, France. Dolly was born 3 months after her Uncle Oscar’s trials and imprisonment. Dolly “seemed like Oscar’s reincarnated heir with a physical resemblance, literary references, same-sex affinity, and killing wit.” “Everyone remembers the array of ways Dolly said ‘But… dar-ling!’” and during her all-too-brief time on earth, darling Dolly lived an action-packed and exuberant life. Despite her abiding love of being in bed.
Pic: John Kwok
Pic: Shelley Ann Quilty-Lake
Writer and director, Katharine McNair’s short dark comedy play Waiting for Gal Gadot was vividly brought to life by the 3 actors, Rebecca Kinard, Hila Kremer, and Beth Griffin, who played Birdie, Bear, and “The Man” respectively with aplomb. We were drawn into Birdie’s and Bear’s efforts to overcome the obstacles they faced, so they could watch the long-anticipated Gal Gadot film, with various forms of help from “The Man”, who may have imprisoned both of them for the past 10 years…
Pic: John Kwok
Alexandra Owensby
Pic: Shelley Ann Quilty-Lake
KJ Campbell
Pic: John Kwok
Alexandra and KJ, joined by co-founder, Erin O’Donnell, taught us some steps and moves, and we had a “dance out” to end the salon – a wonderfully fun Gayli!
Pic: John Kwok
The salon exemplified that “we” – IAW&A – “hold” our queer brethren. Our salon demonstrated that the lives of the Irish LGBTQ+ community, and all queer people, “cannot be what was”, and that “what will be”, based on our queer performers and the numerosity of attendees, comes “from love”.
What a vibrant evening! So sorry to have missed.