Actor, playwright and humorist Jaston Williams is bringing his holiday-inspired, one-man show, Blood & Holly, to San Antonio audiences for a series of performances in early December. Best known for writing the quartet of Greater Tuna plays, Williams describes his childhood Christmases as a “warped hybrid of Toyland and Franco’s Spain.” The idea of fascist nutcrackers…
Transgender stand-up comedian Joan Riviera Simoncelli explains what Dave Chappelle got wrong
As a stand-up comedian, Joan Riviera Simoncelli wants fellow comics to have the freedom to entertain audiences however they see fit. To her mind, nothing should be off limits. People need to laugh. “The week after my mom died, I went on stage and made jokes about her death,” the San Antonio-area comedian told the…
Ahead of San Antonio show, Paula Poundstone talks about creating comedy to help people cope
Stand-up comedian Paula Poundstone isn’t letting the global pandemic keep her down – for the most part, at least. Over the last year and a half, Poundstone, best known these days for her quick-witted responses on National Public Radio’s quiz show Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me, has kept busy hosting her own podcast from home, Nobody…
Trans Latina actress Zoey Luna casts spooky spells in ‘The Craft: Legacy’
Twenty-four years after the original supernatural teen flick The Craft hit theaters and inspired “weirdo” girls everywhere to try levitating pencils in class, a new generation of witchy young women are stepping up to show off their sorcery skills in The Craft: Legacy. The sequel follows four new witches who come together to experiment with…
Documentary ‘Mucho Mucho Amor’ on Beloved Astrologer Walter Mercado to Debut on Netflix
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. If you grew up watching late Puerto Rican astrologer Walter Mercado entertain viewers on Univision, you’ll want to make sure you have a Netflix membership by Friday, July 10. The flamboyant, legendary TV personality will be featured in the new documentary Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter…
San Antonio Gay, Black Filmmaker Cedric Thomas Smith Speaks To the Human Experience
San Antonio-based filmmaker Cedric Thomas Smith thought he wanted to be an actor when he graduated from Judson High School in 1991 and relocated to San Francisco. “I told myself I was going to move to California to be the next Tom Cruise,” said Smith, now 46. “But Will Smith beat me to it.” Along…
New San Antonio Theater Company Kicks Off First Season with ‘Golden Girls’ Parody
Originally published in the San Antonio Current A new theater company called The Players at the Pointe will premiere its first season of LGBT-focused programming February 20 at Woodlawn Pointe. The season opens with “Thank You for Being a Friend,” a parody of the popular 1980s sitcom “The Golden Girls” with actors in drag playing…
‘Boy Erased’ Exposes Harmful Effects of Gay Conversion Therapy
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. Australian actor-turned-director Joel Edgerton (The Gift) steps behind the camera for only the second time in his career with Boy Erased, a compassionate and, at times, upsetting account of a young man’s forced participation in a conversion-therapy program at the hands of his Baptist pastor father and devout…
‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’ is the Best Performance of Melissa McCarthy’s Career
When she’s not trying to act like the female version of Kevin James by using physical comedy as a crutch, actress Melissa McCarthy has made some satisfying inroads as a comedian in flicks like 2015’s Spy and her Academy Award-nominated turn in 2011’s Bridesmaids. This year, unfortunately, she struck out big with The Happytime Murders…
Rami Malek Anchors ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ with Oscar-Worthy Performance
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. From a cinematic standpoint, there is something deeply fulfilling about witnessing the creation of a song — from the seedling of an idea inside a musician’s head to the concept taking shape to form the perfect harmony or poetry or beat. Whether it’s in a makeshift studio in…