Pedro and I did something very un-grad-student-like last night. We went to a charity fundraiser...and won something.
I should start by saying that I don't really do charity fundraisers. I associate them with Botoxed socialites in sequined dresses who stand around with martinis having pictures taken by roaming photographers. I'm never sure where the value is, or why the Globe or the Improper Bostonian would publish those photos. That "scene" just never really made sense to me and was never something I aspired to.
So it was with some ambivalence last night that I went to ClimActs...Under a Big Top!, the annual fundraiser for the Theater Offensive. The Theater Offensive, under the direction of the ever-fabulous Abe Ryebeck, is an organization that I first got to know when Pedro's consulting firm worked with them as part of a social entrepreneurship investment initiative. The Theater Offensive's mission is "[to] form and present the diverse realities of queer lives in art so bold it breaks through personal isolation and political orthodoxy to help build an honest, progressive community." Their program with which I most identify is True Colors: Out Youth Theater, which involves GLBTQQA youth ages 14-22 in honest portrayals of and productive conversations about their lives through theater. Especially having seen The Mormon Proposition last night at the Indie Film Festival, it was wonderful to watch four young actors in the center of the ring stand tall and proclaim their pride.
ClimActs was held at the Big Apple Circus tent on City Hall Plaza. I knew it was my kind of party not so much when I saw the open bar as when I saw that the passed "hors d'oeuvres" were cotton candy, mini fried doughnuts, and gingerbread cookies. The main portion of the event involved the presentation of an award to Alan Cumming (accepted in absentia by Christian Siriano of Project Runway / Bravo fame), a couple of acrobatic acts, and a live auction of some pretty ridiculous -- and sometimes puzzling -- prizes (what is a "gay-friendly African safari"?). Christian Siriano really does look as young and tiny as he does on TV; disappointingly, there were no utterances that we could hear of "fierce," "hot tranny mess," or (as I've been informed about his latest phrase-du-jeur) "it's a moment."
I had seen the auction listing before coming to the event, and I knew that there was an item donated personally by Neil Patrick Harris that I might be interested in bidding on. Pedro had introduced me a couple of years ago to the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother (the show's creator, writer, and executive producer Carter Bays is a graduate of Wesleyan where Pedro also went). NPH had donated to the Theater Offensive a prize for a walk-on role on the show along with a tour of the set and a meet-and-greet with the cast. The auctioneer started bidding at $500, and the price quickly rocketed up, and then slowed down around $2,000. The auctioneer was focusing on a couple that sat near the center section of the tent. "$2,200," he called. "Do I have $2,300? Going once...going twice..." And then, for whatever reason, I raised my bid card and called out my bid. The drag queen from Jacque's Cabaret who was spotting the auction in my section started waving her little red pom-pom frantically at the auctioneer, but he couldn't hear her above the din. "Sold!" He yelled to the other bidder, and started to take down their number. Our dear drag queen friend, bless her heart, kept yelling until she caught his attention, and he turned toward me with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't hear you." I shrugged, figuring that I'd lost my chance (and, really, I'd be just fine keeping the money for grad school). He walked back over to the center section of the tent to the other bidders; I couldn't see him very well, but I could hear him ask them on the mic: "Will you let him have it?" They said yes.
And, just like that, Pedro and I won ourselves a walk-on role on How I Met Your Mother...!!!
I have zero buyer's remorse. It's only money, and it's for a good cause. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something completely crazy. It's a reason to go to California. I'm not sure yet which episode we'll get to participate in or when the taping will happen or when it will air, and the prize is contingent on CBS picking up a sixth season of the show. Pedro and I were talking about what a walk-on role might entail: on the show, the characters like to gather in this one bar near their apartment to hash out their existential questions, and I'm betting that the role will involve sitting at a table in that bar as an extra during one of those scenes.
Also, I ran into an old acquaintance at the fundraiser who is just now finishing his PhD in economics at MIT. He told me that he would be moving out to LA this fall because he had landed a job at one of the top liberal arts colleges on the West Coast (which our dear President Obama may or may not have attended before transferring to Columbia). This is heartening news -- although I'm nowhere near as smart as my acquaintance, and economics is arguably more "marketable" than history. Nevertheless, it's great to hear that one's friends in academia are landing in good jobs in desirable cities around the country.
Who knows? If I can't find a tenure-track job, maybe I'll call up NPH and give Hollywood a shot.
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