Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Open TV's 'Nupita Obama Creates Vogua' explores queer love
Special to the online edition of Windy City Times
by Ben Sanders
2015-08-18

This article shared 5653 times since Tue Aug 18, 2015
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


As a network executive for Open TV, an online platform for indie arts and artists, Aymar Jean Christian would rather promote the careers of others than worry about himself. But even he admitted that the network's latest pilot, Nupita Obama Creates Vogua, which he wrote and directed, was influenced by his own affairs.

The episode ( player.vimeo.com/video/134807299, vimeo.com/134807299 ) explores a queer love triangle, and features a few original performances. In the beginning, it's revealed that Reyes and Curtis are former lovers, but Curtis ended things when Reyes fell in love with Gia, who moved into their apartment. Curtis finds himself in a difficult position, because he can't afford to move out. Tensions eventually ease between the three of them through dance, as Reyes and Gia encourage Curtis—a vogue dancer—to bring out his alter ego "Nupita Obama," before teaching a vogue class. The three of them end up giving a final performance together that combines Reyes' specialty, yoga, with Curtis' talent for vogue to create "vogua."

Based on what Christian was going through during the writing process, it's clear how the relationship dynamics in the episode loosely mimic his own reality.

At the time, he was in an unstable place in his relationship with his partner of eight years, Derek McPhatter. Christian was living alone in Chicago while Derek was in L.A. on a writing fellowship for television. While Derek was gone, Christian developed many relationships with other queer people in Chicago, and so it took a while for Christian to adjust to living with Derek once he returned from L.A. after two years.

Christian emailed that he "took parts of his relationship—being in a committed relationship like Curtis/Reyes but having that person be new to my home like Curtis/Gia—and split it up amongst the characters."

Christian's personal story aside, he believes that the show will surprise viewers in a couple of ways. For one, the three stars—Chicago-based dancer and hip-hop artist Erik Wallace ( Curtis ); yoga and performance artist Kiam Marcelo Junio ( Reyes ); and drag performance artist Saya Naomi ( Gia )—are all queer people of color. Second, all the actors embrace their femininity in the episode.

"When we look at TV representations of gay people generally, but especially gay people of color, you don't necessary see a lot of gender nonconforming people of color on television," Christian said. "In the world that I live in there's people of all gender expressions and they are all very different and interesting and creative so I wanted to showcase that."

Another goal that Christian had in mind with this episode was to highlight what non-normative relationship configurations look like today. He felt that in 2015, at a time when a post-gay marriage America is a reality, it's time for networks to start representing same-sex configurations that aren't monogamous, because there are many couples who choose to live differently than that.

In fact, a 2013 study by San Francisco State University discovered that approximately 50 percent of gay male couples were deciding to be in non-monogamous relationships.

Aside from being Christian's brainchild, Nupita Obama Creates Vogua also happens to be the first pilot in the Open TV Presents series about artists exploring alternative relationships.

The inspiration behind this series is the show High Maintenance, created by Emmy-winning casting director,Katja Blichfeld and her husband, Ben Sinclair. Each High Maintenance episode features a different person who's buying weed from a nameless drug dealer. Christian liked this idea of featuring different actors one show after another, and that's what he originally intended to do with the first pilot; instead, the Open TV Presents series quickly morphed into a series of shorts. The next one on deck is Zackary Drucker's Southern for Pussy, and they are also scheduled to shoot Rashida Khanbey's pilot, Let Go and Let God, at the end of the month.

As Christian put it, he's "planting seeds on the Internet," and would eventually like to make more episodes of each show as long as more money heads Open TV's way.

And, if that happens, Christian doesn't see an end in sight.

"We're going to keep going until we can't go no more," he said.


This article shared 5653 times since Tue Aug 18, 2015
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

City Lit Executive Artistic Director Brian Pastor talks theater, comics, queerness
2024-03-26
City Lit Theater has announced its programming for the 2024-25 season—which will be the company's 44th. It will also be the first season to be programmed under the leadership of Brian Pastor (they/them), who will assume ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds
2024-03-21
It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman
2024-03-21
Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

RuPaul finds 'Hidden Meanings' in new memoir
2024-03-18
RuPaul Andre Charles made a rare Chicago appearance for a book tour on March 12 at The Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave. Presented by National Public Radio station WBEZ 91.5 FM, the talk coincided with ...


Gay News

Jamie Barton brings nuances of identity to her Lyric Opera 'Aida' performance
2024-03-18
Chicago's Lyric Opera is currently featuring a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida starring Michelle Bradley as Aida, Jamie Barton as Amneris and Russell Thomas as Radamès. The opera runs through April 7, 2024, with Francesca Zambello ...


Gay News

Oprah, Niecy Nash-Betts honored at GLAAD Media Awards
2024-03-15
Oprah Winfrey and Niecy Nash-Betts were honored at the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards that took place in Los Angeles at The Beverly Hilton on March 14. Winfrey received the Vanguard Award, introduced by iconic Chicago ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition'
2024-03-15
Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

Chicago History Museum announces "Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s - 70s exhibition
2024-03-14
--From a press release - CHICAGO (March 14, 2024) — The Chicago History Museum is thrilled to announce its upcoming exhibition, "Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s—70s." Set to open on Saturday, May 18, 2024, this exhibition is ...


Gay News

House-music festival on Aug. 30-Sept. 1; icons, Idris Elba to be part of it
2024-03-13
The ARC Music Festival—an event celebrating house music—will take place Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Chicago's Union Park, per WGN-TV. This will mark the fourth year that the festival will celebrate the genre at Union Park—less than ...


Gay News

Center on Halsted celebrates Dreams of Drag
2024-03-11
On March 9, Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., in partnership with the Ralla Klepak Foundation, presented the Dreams of Drag Spring Cohort Class of 2024. The event featured performances from a class of new ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer
2024-03-08
Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez is set to slay at The Big Gay Cabaret
2024-03-05
Out and proud performer Jai Rodriguez is set to play at The Big Gay Cabaret this March for three days. Presented by RuPaul Drag Racer Ginger Minj, this monthly series highlights the wide world of cabaret ...


Gay News

Center on Halsted hosts 6th Annual Intergenerational Talent Show
2024-03-03
On the evening of Feb. 29, Center on Halsted held its 6th Annual Intergenerational Talent Show in front of a packed audience at the Hoover-Leppen Theater. The event brought together participants of the Center's youth and senior ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor
2024-03-01
Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors
2024-02-25
Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.