Becoming Wilkinson

Send us a textIn Peter Leahy's own words:"What happens when you finally come out of the closet and stop living a lie?For many years, I saw myself as a coward – too scared to admit that I was gay and embrace who I was. Throughout my 20’s and 30’s, my active life was masked with what I believed was “normalcy,” but underneath I was tormented by sadness, emptiness and most importantly, self-loathing. Finally, I summoned the courage to walk away and eventually become a proud (and fabulous) gay man.Reaching out and being vulnerable to people is scary and you may fail the first time. You have the power to try again, to find your courage and become the best version of yourself, even if that means leaving everything and starting over. You can move from the world of shadows and hurtful ideas to a healthy sense of self. Whatever struggles you face, there’s no reason to handle them alone. I hope my story can inspire you to be your unique self and overcome life’s challenges. Authentic happiness is out there"!Contact Peter: glowingupgay@gmail.comBuy the book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/bNrpOTCPhoto: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com

Send us a textJASON STUARTWhen you think one of the most prolific character actors, who’s also an outrageous openly gay stand-up comedian, one name comes to mind.... Jason Stuart. After years of steady work in film and televi- sion, and over 150 credits on his IMDB page, actor and comedianJason Stuart has achieved a pinnacle of success many actors only dream of. "For the last few years, people have started to approach me and say, 'You're that guy,'" he explains with his characteristic gravelly laugh. Stuart has now established himself as one of those all-too-familiar faces who might just pop up anywhere, in any kind of role. And most recently he won the Worldwide Comedy Award for Best LGBTQ Comedian from some heaven weight stand ups like Margaret Cho to Billy Eichner to Tig Notaro to Wanda Sykes.Recently he had a major role in The Birth Of A Nation, and stars in the indie drama Hank, the action film Abducted on Showtime, the thriller Immortal and his new comedy series on Amazon, Smoth- ered which he won the Indie Series Award for Best Actor in a Comedy. Jason also has appeared in the award winning films Tan- gerine, Love Is Strange, Gia with Kindergarten Cop and Vegas Vacation among his fan favorites. He has wowed TV audiences with guest roles on such shows as Goliath, Swedish Dicks, Love (Judd Apatow), Sleepy Hollow, Real Rob, Entourage, The Closer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, House, Everybody Hates Chris, George Lopez, Will & Grace, Charmed and as “Dr. Thomas" on My Wife and Kids. As a stand up comic you have laughed with him on Gotham Comedy Live, Red Eye, One Night Stand Up, Wisecrack, Comics Unleashed and his own comedy special Making It To The Middle, his new comedy album I’m The Daddy and I Have Candy and autobiography Shut Up, Im Talking! From CCB Publishing.https://www.jasonstuart.comhttp://www.imdb.me/jasonstuartPhoto: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com

Send us a textDarya Teesewell (she/her) is a writer, storyteller and member of the Hollywood filmmaking diaspora. Darya is a woman of trans/queer history born in mid-century in Los Angeles at Cedars of Lebanon in Hollywood. She now lives in Cathedral City, California where being mid-century is the apex of fashion. Darya worked a below-the-line job in the film industry for forty years under another name making other people’s dreams come true; now she’s retired, on a pension and finishing a memoir about facing being trans at age 45 during the heady L.A. club days of the 1990’s. She’s tall, blonde and dresses like the world’s oldest rocker chick. She’s married to and in love with one woman for a long time and has two amazing kids.  She’s written for Huffington Post, Fourculture online magazine and has told stories at Strong Words in Los Angeles and in Palm Springs and read a piece as a part of Queerwise Los Angeles commemorating world AIDS day in December 2021.  Darya’s Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/daryateesewell/Photo: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com

Send us a textShawn Smith gives a historical perspective on the formation of the gay bear community and he also shares some insights about bears.  It's almost like sitting in a college class as he gives us some insider information and insights regarding the bear community.In addition to his knowledge and engagement in the bear community, his involvement in an emerging Gay college campus organization began a path of LGBT activism, advocacy, and community-building as the Gay Rights Movement began to coalesce in the mid-70's across America. Lured by the freedom and anonymity of big city life, Shawn shares his adventures along the road to freedom of sexual expression.A writer and storyteller by trade, he's now quasi-retired and slacking poolside: A dirty old man enjoying the free and Fabulously Gay life that Palm Springs has to offer.Contact Shawn at: macgizmoguy@hotmail.com  Photo: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com

Send us a textSteven Henke joined DAP Health in 2017 and was promoted to Director of Brand Marketing in 2019, He currently leads all strategic branding, marketing, and communications for the organization and Revivals Stores."I bring good people and great ideas together."Henke spent his first five years in the Coachella Valley as Client Strategies Manager for Gannett owned Desert Sun Media Group, an integrated media and marketing company that included The Desert Sun, DesertSun.com, DESERT magazine, and  Desert Outlook magazine. During his tenure, he developed innovative digital and social first marketing strategies that won first place International News Media Association (INMA) awards in 2014 and 2015.Deeply engaged in the local community, Henke has served on numerous boards and committees benefiting local non-profit organizations – including Seathletes, United Way of the Desert, Equality California, Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast, and Special Olympics. He served as President of the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce where he acted as creative director for the Palm Springs Chamber City Guide Magazine shining a bright spotlight on members of the chamber. He can be seen as a correspondent for NBC Palm Springs and heard on the Joey English show twice monthly discussing upcoming events and organizations that benefit residents of Greater Palm Springs.Before moving to the Coachella Valley, Henke lived in Minneapolis where he worked for Target Corporation, Sphere Trending, and Hanover Accessories focusing on strategic pathways driven by consumer and design trends.  Contact Steven: https://www.instagram.com/trendguy/Photo: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com

Send us a textMel discusses his journey on the professional side in this second episode. MEL ENGLAND has starred on Screen and Stage, Off-Broadway, internationally and across the USA, since his debut at age 10 in CYRANO DE BERGERAC, directed by British Actor/Director Anton Rogers at the Dallas Theatre Center. He's played Brad in the play ELECTRICITY for audiences around the country, from New York, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, to Minneapolis, where he won Best Actor in a Tour from Lavender Magazine. On film, he starred in the title role of RON AND LAURA TAKE BACK AMERICA for which he won a Best Acting Ensemble award (IIFC) and two Best Actor nominations (NYCIFF & IndieFest). The film, which he co-wrote and co-directed with co-star Janice Markham, earned 13 other wins and nominations, including Best Comedy & Best Director, co-starred Golden Globe Best Actress Nominee Irene Bedard and Jim J. Bullock, and can be seen on Amazon Prime. He stars in the feature BEST DAY EVER, Winner Best LGBT Film (IndieFest) also on Amazon, and appears alongside Academy Award Best Actress Nominee and Golden Globe Winner Sally Kirkland in ARCHAEOLOGY OF A WOMAN. He recently signed to star with Kirkland in the upcoming feature film LOVE ANONYMOUS. Other film roles include Mr. Ghoulden in the hilarious dark comedy feature PERSONA AU GRATIN, Winner Best Comedy (IndieFest USA) and co-starring alongside horror film star Sid Haig in the indie hit LITTLE BIG TOP (released worldwide on Netflix & Amazon). He also starred in the dark comedy PERSONA AU GRATIN (Best Comedy, IndieFest), and as a minister confronted with his own crisis of faith in HIGHLIGHTS (Best Drama Nominee, Moviefone Film Festival). Most recently, he can be seen in the feature FROM ZERO TO I LOVE YOU, and in the TV movie FAME AT DEADLY COST on Lifetime and internationally on Canal. On Stage, England's solo show SWIMMING WITH THE POLAR BEARS directed by Jill Andre, premiered Off-Broadway at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre, as part of a benefit for The Climate Project, featuring posters of the show signed by former Vice President Al Gore, and then toured world-wide, to the 2009 UN SUMMIT ON CLIMATE CHANGE in Copenhagen, LA, and the National Mall in Washington DC for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Other Off-Broadway credits include HECUBA, MARRIAGE with the Pearl Theatre Company.England has been a proud part of many notable "original" New York productions, including THE RING OF DEATH by Off-Broadway legend H.M. Koutoukas, director Chris Sanderson's MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in Washington Square, HONEYSUCKLES (developed for TV by FOX), SEA MONKEYS at Playwrights Horizons by Tony Nominee Chad Beguelin (THE PROM), FREDDY at LA’s Fountain Theatre, and KING OF CONNECTICUT with Phillip Seymour Hoffman. England studied with legendary acting teachers Stella Adler and Terry Schreiber, attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, trained with internationally acclaimed director Agousto Boal, with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company at the British American Theatre Institute, and is a graduate of Dallas' High School for the Performing and Visual Arts with Karon Cogdill & Jane Farris, and in the beginning at the children’s theatre program the Dallas Theatre Center, under the direction of Synthia Rogers. For Mel's full bio and other information, please go to: http://www.MelEngland.comPhoto: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com

Send us a textMel discusses in background and early life in this first episode. MEL ENGLAND has starred on Screen and Stage, Off-Broadway, internationally and across the USA, since his debut at age 10 in CYRANO DE BERGERAC, directed by British Actor/Director Anton Rogers at the Dallas Theatre Center. He's played Brad in the play ELECTRICITY for audiences around the country, from New York, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, to Minneapolis, where he won Best Actor in a Tour from Lavender Magazine. On film, he starred in the title role of RON AND LAURA TAKE BACK AMERICA for which he won a Best Acting Ensemble award (IIFC) and two Best Actor nominations (NYCIFF & IndieFest). The film, which he co-wrote and co-directed with co-star Janice Markham, earned 13 other wins and nominations, including Best Comedy & Best Director, co-starred Golden Globe Best Actress Nominee Irene Bedard and Jim J. Bullock, and can be seen on Amazon Prime. He stars in the feature BEST DAY EVER, Winner Best LGBT Film (IndieFest) also on Amazon, and appears alongside Academy Award Best Actress Nominee and Golden Globe Winner Sally Kirkland in ARCHAEOLOGY OF A WOMAN. He recently signed to star with Kirkland in the upcoming feature film LOVE ANONYMOUS. Other film roles include Mr. Ghoulden in the hilarious dark comedy feature PERSONA AU GRATIN, Winner Best Comedy (IndieFest USA) and co-starring alongside horror film star Sid Haig in the indie hit LITTLE BIG TOP (released worldwide on Netflix & Amazon). He also starred in the dark comedy PERSONA AU GRATIN (Best Comedy, IndieFest), and as a minister confronted with his own crisis of faith in HIGHLIGHTS (Best Drama Nominee, Moviefone Film Festival). Most recently, he can be seen in the feature FROM ZERO TO I LOVE YOU, and in the TV movie FAME AT DEADLY COST on Lifetime and internationally on Canal. On Stage, England's solo show SWIMMING WITH THE POLAR BEARS directed by Jill Andre, premiered Off-Broadway at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre, as part of a benefit for The Climate Project, featuring posters of the show signed by former Vice President Al Gore, and then toured world-wide, to the 2009 UN SUMMIT ON CLIMATE CHANGE in Copenhagen, LA, and the National Mall in Washington DC for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Other Off-Broadway credits include HECUBA, MARRIAGE with the Pearl Theatre Company.England has been a proud part of many notable "original" New York productions, including THE RING OF DEATH by Off-Broadway legend H.M. Koutoukas, director Chris Sanderson's MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in Washington Square, HONEYSUCKLES (developed for TV by FOX), SEA MONKEYS at Playwrights Horizons by Tony Nominee Chad Beguelin (THE PROM), FREDDY at LA’s Fountain Theatre, and KING OF CONNECTICUT with Phillip Seymour Hoffman. England studied with legendary acting teachers Stella Adler and Terry Schreiber, attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, trained with internationally acclaimed director Agousto Boal, with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company at the British American Theatre Institute, and is a graduate of Dallas' High School for the Performing and Visual Arts with Karon Cogdill & Jane Farris, and in the beginning at the children’s theatre program the Dallas Theatre Center, under the direction of Synthia Rogers. For Mel's full bio and other information, please go to: http://www.MelEngland.comPhoto: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com

Send us a textAUSTIN URBANAustin Urban shares his story in this "Anatomy of an Abusive Gay Relationship" and he also shares some insights into other men's personalities, wants and needs in his experience as a gay male escort.It's easy to look at someone else's failing relationship and to then make a judgment about it.  "Why is he putting up with that behavior from his partner"? "Why doesn't he just leave"?  "What does he see in him"?But life isn't always so cut and dried.  Sometimes there are unresolved issues from one's past that keep people in relationships that are not good for them. Sometimes fear or economic reasons come into play. And some people falsely believe that only male/female relationships are subject to abuse.  In this episode, Austin Urban shares the details in this "Anatomy of an abususive gay relationship".He also shares some insights into other men's personalities, wants and needs in his experience as a gay, male escort.Photo: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com

Send us a textIn the words of Terry Ray:"I  can't remember not wanting to be an actor.  To be fair, I can barely remember having hair, but still.  It's a passion I've fought hard to nurture and a dream I've never given up on, even when it defied all odds and all logic... and believe me, it usually did... Then one day I decided to quit waiting for the phone to ring for that one line as the theater manager on 7th HEAVEN (of course I used an example that I booked) and create my own opportunities by adding the hyphenates writer-producer to the acting thang.  I teamed with Larry LaFond and we amazingly hit a home run our first time at bat (look at me with the sports metaphors) with the incredibly successful little short film GAYDAR, which was in over 120 film festivals, won a ton of awards and was recently named by California Independent Film Festival as one of the 20 Best Comedy Short Films of all time. Larry and I also made a short film called THE COST OF LIVING, a way too timely comedy about life after global co-starring Jim J. Bullock, Molly Hagan & Greg Mullavey.  (More film festivals and awards).​I'm the creator, writer and star of HERE TV's first original sitcom FROM HERE ON OUT (available on Amazon Prime) with Juliet Mills as well as the co-creator-writer-producer-star (sharing that "co" with Wendy Michaels) of MY SISTER IS SO GAY (Amazon Prime) with Loni Anderson as my mother.   I got to co-star in 5 seasons of Michael Vaccaro's star-studded comedy CHILD OF THE 70s.  I wrote and co-created the game show MODD COUPLES now playing on Hulu, I co-wrote the 2017 TV movie LOVE UNPLUGGED.  My new show,  TV THERAPY features a different classic TV character (played once again by the original actor) in a therapy session today (with me as the doctor) with all the issue they would currently have...  ​Since 2016 I've been starring in ELECTRICITY (my debut as a playwright)....Mel England as my co-star we became  the longest running play in Palm Springs, performing in two venues at the same time: as an immersive theater experience inside a real Palm Springs hotel room and also on stage as Oscar's Bar & Cabaret Theater and then moving to The Desert Rose Playhouse as our final venue and we prepare for an Off-Broadway run.  ​I'm  the first instructor at the famed Actor's Lab's new Palm Springs branch of their acting school.   Maybe my master plan is starting to work"!          -Terry Ray                                                                                                                                                                                   Epilogue:  Terry's  latest play is THE LINCOLN DEBATE which explores the possibility that  Lincoln was actually gay.  It premiered in Palm Springs in December 2022 and will be returning in the Spring of 2023 at The Bent Theatre- Palm Spring's newest and only gay theatre.  Terry is also the managing director of The Bent.See Terry's full bio and other fun info at: http://www.terryray.tvPhoto: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com

Send us a textRob Rosen is a multi-award-winning and best-selling author/editor/anthologist.He's  the author of: Sparkle: The Queerest Book You'll Ever LoveDivas Las Vegas Hot LavaSouthern FriedQueerwolfVampQueens of the ApocalypseCreature ComfortFateMidlife Crisis FierceAnd God BelchedMary, Queen of ScotchTed of the d'UrbervillesSort of DeadGenie in a Vodka BottleBobby Ray Breaks the Universe. His short stories have appeared in more than 200 anthologies.  You can read some of his best ones in:Short SpurtsShort Spurts 2Short Spurts 3He is also the editor of: Lust in Time: Erotic Romance Through the AgesMen of the ManorBest Gay Erotica 2015Best Gay Erotica of the Year, Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4. Please visit him at www.therobrosen.comPhoto: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com