Tag Archives: theater

Isolation 2

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Callen Harty

When I was a boy I could easily spend hours in my bedroom by myself, playing games with my toy cars. I wouldn’t race them on orange tracks with loop de loops or push them across the floor as fast … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alone, ambulance, boy, bus, change, child, connection, depression, domestic violence, dump truck, dying, family, Firat, friends, games, Hot Wheels, hug, human, introvert, isolation, lonely, love, lovers, Matchbox cars, Mercedes, nature, people, pickup truck, police car, public speaking, recession, safer-at-home, shy, small talk, social constructs, social contact, social distancing, social settings, socially awkward, society, stories, suffering, taxi, theater, touch, town, toy cars, uncertainty, witnessing, writer | Leave a comment

Proud

Posted on May 26, 2019 by Callen Harty

Twenty years ago I was working at OutReach, which is Madison, Wisconsin’s LGBT Community Center. I was also heavily involved at Broom Street Theater, a unique theater company that produces nothing but original works. I was an actor, director, and playwright … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged actor, age, angst, Art & Soul Innovations, audiences, Brian WIld, Broom Street Theater, bullying, changed lives, coming out, confusion, Crown Point, director, Eau Claire, emotion, equality, family, feelings, first loves, friends, gays, Green Bay, harassment, hate, ideas, identities, Indiana, joy, laughter, lesbians, LGBT, LGBT Community Center, LGBT rights, life, love, Madison, mentor, mentors, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, non-profit, opinion, OutReach, performance, Platteville, plays, playwright, Pride Youth Theater Alliance, Proud Theater, queer, queer youth theater, reality, River Falls, sexual assault, shyness, skit, Sol Kelley-Jones, stage, suicide, Sun Prairie, Sunshine Jones, survivor stories, teen years, theater, transgender, Wausau, Wisconsin, wonder, youth | 2 Comments

Musical Notes

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Callen Harty

Singing brings joy to the human heart. Perhaps there are those few who hear the joy of song and react negatively because they have hardened themselves to their own happiness. And perhaps there are those few whose souls withhold … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged a capella, actors, audience, band, barriers, Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home, Born Free, Brian, Capitol, character, chorus, clarinet, embarrassment, experimental plays, funerals, God, happiness, heart, high school, human, If, instrument, Irish, Jay Indik, joy, karaoke, languages, Madison, music class, musical, musical theater, notes, open mic, Perfect Harmony Men's Chorus, perfect pitch, Proud Theater, quartet, rotunda, shame, sheet music, singing, Sister Mary Carlo, Solidarity Sing Along, Somewhere My Love, songs, theater, Til There Was You, Tiptoe Through the Tulips, university, voice, We Shall Overcome, weddings | Leave a comment

The Gift

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Callen Harty

April 18, 1989. A gay bar in Denver, the Triangle. A can of beer in hand, cigarette in the other. I was there alone, so I wasn’t there to be with friends, I wasn’t there looking for someone for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alcohol, alcoholic, bar, beer, blackouts, childhood, cigarette, Colfax Avenue, Denver, depressed, downward spiral, drink, drugs, drunk, emotions, faith, gay bar, gift, good will, hair of the dog, hangovers, human, human rights, insecure, Irishman, jobs, joy, just laws, life, love, mistakes, mixed drinks, numbness, pain, pleasure, public speaking, rock bottom, sobriety, social drinking, sorrow, stubbornness, suicide, theater, trauma, Triangle, understanding, Wisconsin, worthless, writing | Leave a comment

Silver Anniversary

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Callen Harty

In May of 1991 I had just moved back to Madison, Wisconsin after four years in Denver, Colorado. Denver was beautiful and I loved it and had made many friends there, but it was never home. I had also recently … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged AIDS, Broom Street Theater, cancer, connection, couple, dementia, Denver Colorado, disagreements, gay politics, Happy Birthday, hold hands, Hotel Washington, I love you, kiss, life partner, love, Madison Wisconsin, Milwaukee PrideFest, movies, music, philosophy, politics, Proud Theater, relationship, religion, Rod's Bar, sober, suicide, support, theater | 1 Comment

After Creation

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Callen Harty

Writing, or any kind of creative action, can be hell sometimes, and it can even be worse after the creative act is completed and out into the world. Sometimes people think of writers, actors, or other artists as living glamorous lives. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged actors, Amazon, art, articles, artists, books, Central Time, child sex abuse, creation, critics, Empty Playground: A Survivor's Story, Goodreads, Isthmus, J. K. Rowling, Madison, marketing, media, movie deals, musicians, painters, poems, royalties, sales, sex assault, Stephen King, stories, survivors, targeted marketing, theater, vulnerability, Wisconsin Public Radio, writers, writing | Leave a comment

Still Magic

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Callen Harty

My first opening night was actually an opening day, way back when I was in 5th grade. I had written a play and directed several neighborhood kids in it. The performance space was a basement in my neighbor’s house and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged actor, Alice in Wonderland, Arsenic and Old Lace, audition, Broom Street Theater, Bryn Magnus, Clifford Odets, Dancing with My Other, Dream Quest, Golden Boy, heart attack, Kathie Rasmussen, Madison WI, Mark Hawley, Might, opening night, performance, play, stage, Talking Spirits, theater, Triggered, Tweedledum, UW-Madison | Leave a comment

Thirty Years at Home

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Callen Harty

The moment I walked through the front door of Broom Street Theater the first time I felt at home. I knew it was where I belonged. For years I had enjoyed theater as an audience member and in high school … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acting, Artistic Director, arts, Barefoot in the Park, basset hounds, Broom Street Theater, Bryn Magnus, catharsis, child sex abuse, Cosmopolitan, Denver, directing, Dream Quest, Fiddler on the Roof, gay pirate musical, gun violence, Hamlet, hangwoman, Jesus, Joachim Decwell, Joel Gersmann, Madison, Might, Natural Hostages, plays, playwright, Sam Clement, satire, theater, Triggered, writing | 2 Comments

Proud

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Callen Harty

Proud Theater truly is an annual demonstration of “art, heart, and activism”, a phrase used by founder Sol Kelley-Jones to describe what this unique theater group is all about. As one of the fortunate people to be an adult mentor … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged activism, kids, LGBT, Proud Theater, queer, social change, Sol Kelley-Jones, stories, theater, youth | Leave a comment

Filthy Director

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Callen Harty

On Sunday night I had the privilege of a seat at Madison, Wisconsin’s Broom Street Theater with a couple dozen other theater members and associates to watch a pre-screening of Filthy Theater: A Film About Joel Gersmann, a documentary about the theater’s iconic … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acting, art, Broom Street Theater, creativity, directing, Joel Gersmann, legacy writing, mentor, photography, plays, theater | 9 Comments

Invisible Boy

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Callen Harty

In 2010 I wrote Invisible Boy, a play about surviving childhood sex abuse. It was produced at Broom Street Theater in Madison, Wisconsin, where it ran for 18 performances over six weekends. In 2011 it was produced at the North East … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged child sex abuse, Invisible Boy, play, production, script, survivor, theater, video | Leave a comment

Tag Archives: theater

Proud

Musical Notes

Silver Anniversary

After Creation

Still Magic

Thirty Years at Home

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