Arts
As an experiment with potential material for LETTERS READ, this is the first in a series of live recordings for the 2020 programming season. This experiment is a work in progress. The letters in this reading are from a large wooden chest in the home of Stewart Butler, the Faerie Playhouse. A Letters Read sponsor, the LGBTQ+ Archives Project of Louisiana, regularly meets there. "This Creole cottage became the home of Stewart Butler and Alfred Doolittle in 1979 and was the site of many organizing meetings in the LGBT civil rights movement ...The garden behind the home contains the cremains of many significant leaders in the struggle for equality, including Charlene Schneider, John Ognibene and Cliff Howard, as well as artist J.B. Harter. While Alfred passed away several years ago, Stewart still resides in the Faerie Playhouse. The large wooden hearts that adorn the front of the house are said to be a tribute to his life partner, Alfred, who loved Valentine’s Day and all that it meant." —https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-faerie-playhouse-new-orleans-louisiana We listen to a set of letters from 1967. Written to Butler, they were authored by Ann Garza. Butler, who is 89, does not now remember Garza. He does, however, continue sending $200 monthly to help support the widow of Greg Manella. Greg is mentioned in this reading along with expectations and misgivings about being in a relationship in the middle of the last century. Ann struggles to find herself in her relationship. At the same time, Ann projects her own emotions on to those she imagines are Stewart’s for Greg.