These four brand-new 30-minute Stonewall-inspired operas are written and composed by alums of Tisch's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, as part of the Advanced Opera Lab led by Randall Eng, Associate Arts Professor of Graduate Musical Theatre Writing, and Sam Helfrich, Associate Arts Professor of Design for Stage & Film (both Tisch School of the Arts). The operas are designed by students from the Dance Department (both Tisch School of the Arts), directed by students from the New School, and performed by professional opera singers from American Opera Projects. CLICK FOR FULL PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE.

Perry Mason (1957–1966, CBS-TV) is known for its formulaic plots—attorney Mason (Raymond Burr) defends an innocent client and forces the real murderer to confess in a courtroom finale. With its stylish noir filming, outdoor locations, and deep background characterizations, the series arguably also featured a prescient queer subtext. Burr was a gay man who led a covert life, but on the show, Mason is consistently paired with his investigator, Paul Drake (William Hopper), in harmonious, sometimes domestic contexts—especially notable in the episode we'll screen: The Case of the Borrowed Baby (1962).

In 1983, television producer and journalist Joseph Lovett successfully pleaded with ABC's 20/20 executives to create the first investigative reports on AIDS for network TV. He will show selected video clips (50 min.) and discuss the responsibility and the difficulties of reporting on a plague during a decade of discrimination.

Directed by Joseph Lovett, this film documents gay life in New York—from Greenwich Village to the Fire Island Pines—during the decade of liberation and sexual abandon following Stonewall and before the outbreak of AIDS. Gay men cruised the streets, frequented gay bars, and had loads and loads of sex. Only twelve years after Stonewall, AIDS brought this unprecedented era of sexual freedom to a close.

Exploring the social and political quagmire of getting dressed, Callen Zimmerman, who teaches Fashion and Art History at City Tech and York College, CUNY, will examine the discursive practices, nuanced modes, and slight twists that fashion undergoes in the hands of queer people.

A walkthrough with Jonathan Weinberg, curator of Art after Stonewall.

Join us for the opening reception of Art after Stonewall, 1969–1989.