After GUANTÁNAMO

After GUANTÁNAMO is a play with music that was staged as part of the 2006 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. It played from August 30 to September 8, at Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5 in Philadelphia. After GUANTÁNAMO is set in Miami and Cuba in 1992. A veteran of the First Gulf War seeks to conquer the giant U.S. naval base as a gift for his Cuban-American mother.

Written and directed by Tom Wilson Weinberg, the play was produced by Gershon Cattan with artistic design by Kevin Broad.

Playing the veteran, a pair of lovers, a hustler and a con-artist were Jeffrey Adam Baxt, Fernando González, Polly MacIntyre, Rit Saraswat and Meghan Wilkinson. The Elder Bush's Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney made guest appearances at all 12 performances.

Praise Our George

Praise Our George with music by Tom Wilson Weinberg and lyrics by Susie Day was released in July, 2004. The Apocalypse Yesterday Choir features Randy Hertzog, Rich Rockwell, Mark Schall and Tom Wilson Weinberg. The track was produced by Michael Faraci and designed and manufactured by Kris Landherr. The song spoofs the hyper-religiosity underlying Bush’s presidency and received substantial radio play and distribution on the Internet during the Bush-Kerry presidential race in 2004. Unlike THE TEACHINGS OF CHAIRMAN RICK, however, the song didn’t bring down the Bush presidency.

The Teachings of Chairman Rick

THE TEACHINGS OF CHAIRMAN RICK was a musical spoof on the former ultra-conservative U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. The words are taken primarily from the senator’s speeches, interviews and his official website. Produced by Gershon Cattan and designed by Kevin Broad, the show starred Emmanuel Carrera, Melissa Kolczynski and Chy Ryan Spain. It was part of the Philly Fringe Festival in 2005, then revived in 2006 before the election. Santorum was defeated by Democrat Bob Casey.

Bruhs and Gean

SIXTY YEARS WITH BRUHS & GEAN is a song-and-dance journey through the relationship of Bruhs Mero and Gean Harwood who met in 1929 and began a partnership that spanned the Great Depression, World War II, the McCarthy era, Stonewall and beyond. Pioneers for the LGBT community, Mero and Harwood came out publicly in the 1980s, appearing on television, in news articles and in the film SILENT PIONEERS. In 1985, they were the Grand Marshals of the New York Pride Parade. The show began as a choral work commissioned by the New York City Gay Men's Chorus in 1995. It premiered at Carnegie Hall and was later sung at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. In 2003 an expanded version was produced as part of the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival and later in New York and on Fire Island, produced by Michi Yamaguchi, directed by Jason Summers.

A new version of the show, produced by David Perkiss, was performed in Philadelphia in October, 2007. Click here for materials from that production.

Gean Harwood (left)
and Bruhs Mero on the boat to Fire Island
with their dog Topandy, 1937

Don't Mess with Mary

DON’T MESS WITH MARY is the official CD of Stonewall 25, the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. The CD includes six tracks, with original words and music by Tom Wilson Weinberg. "Bricks and Bottles" is a rock anthem with a fierce lead vocal by Jan Tilley, commemorating the queens who fought back against the New York City police in June, 1969, when they raided the Stonewall bar for the umpteenth time. "Safe Sex Slut" is a remake of the hit tune from "Ten Percent Revue." "Before Stonewall", also from "Ten Percent Revue", is a lush choral arrangement performed by the chamber choir of the New York City Gay Men's Chorus. "Don't Mess With Mary" is the title track performed by drag diva Tina Benez and backed up by Plato (who also arranged the Dance Mix), Steve Langley and Oscar Del-Nodal. The CD, a fundraiser for the Harvey Milk School of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, was featured on public television’s In The Life.

Get Used To It!

GET USED TO IT! was produced at The Courtyard Playhouse in New York (1992) by The Glines, published by Broadway Play Publishing Company and released on CD by Aboveground Records (1993). The New York production was directed by Tom Wilson Weinberg and the musical director was Wayne Barker. The original cast featured John O’Brien, Sebastian Herald and Todd Whitely. The album, produced by Wayne Barker, features George Howe, Jamie MacKenzie, Brad Whitaker and Wayne Barker. The show was later staged in Philadelphia and several other American cities.

Ten Percent Revue

TEN PERCENT REVUE premiered at Boston’s Arlington Street Church in 1985. It ran at The Gifford House for 10 weeks in the summer of 1986 and then again in ’87, ’88 and ’94. It had a ten-month run Off-Broadway in New York, first at the Susan Block Theater and then at the Actor’s Playhouse (1988). It was produced by Laura Green and directed by (no relation) Scott Green. It has been staged in some forty cities in the U.S., earning the Bessie Smith Award (Boston), two Drama-Logue Awards (Los Angeles) and three Golden Gull Awards (Provincetown). The show was produced in translation in Barcelona. The show is published by Broadway Play Publishing Company and was released on CD by Aboveground Records.