PODCASTS
John Cameron Mitchell On the Bridge
“Hedwig” creator on his semi-autobiographical podcast
BY CHRISTOPHER MURRAY
“It’s topical, but it’s true,” said the
queer auteur John Cameron Mitchell
in his groundbreaking musical
and fi lm “Hedwig and the Angry
Inch.” The very same could be said of his newest
project “Anthem: Homunculus,” a “musical podcast”
now streaming on Luminary ( luminarypodcasts.
com ). Well… not strictly true. (Mitchell’s
profi le on Wikipedia has a link to “Dramatic
License” in the See Also box.)
“It’s my autobiography,” he has said. “With
friends helping because it’s less lonely.”
“Anthem: Homunculus” tells the story of
Ceann (pronounced KEY-ann), a speculative bio
sort of version of Mitchell.
“Ceann is me if I never left that small town”
he has said — and if he never moved to the big
city and took the risks he has to become, fi rst,
a sought-after actor (“The Secret Garden,” “Six
Degrees of Separation,” Larry Kramer’s “The
Destiny of Me”), then an innovative fi lm director
(“Hedwig,” “Short Bus,” “Rabbit Hole,” “How To
Talk To Girls At Parties”), and, recently, a favorite
TV actor (“Shrill” — what else?). This summer,
he won the Provincetown International
Film Festival’s Filmmaker on the Edge Award.
In “Anthem,” Ceann has a brain tumor and
in an act of desperation begins an online Kickstart
y fundraising campaign from his doublewide
trailer home to pay for medical treatment
that he otherwise has no access to. Topicality?
Check. There are 10 episodes in this fi rst season
and a smorgasbord of songs, written by Mitchell
and his collaborator, composer Bryan Weller,
and voiced by Mitchell himself along with faves
Glenn Close, Patti LuPone, and Denis O’Hare.
It’s visceral stuff for Mitchell and so, too, for his
listening audience. Strangely intimate, it pulls
you into the panic and despair and uncertainty
of serious illness, but then lifts you up with the
power of friendship, love, and music to heal our
souls, if not our heads.
Gay City News talked to Mitchell backstage
at the rally in Central Park as part of the Queer
Liberation March in June and later by phone
just hours after he had just taken the red-eye
to Portland for new shooting of “Shrill.” He had
a cold, had barely slept, was in full-on writing
mode and, though extremely polite, sounded
just miserable, so I proposed that we fi nish out
our conversation via email.
CHRISTOPHER MURRAY: At Gay Pride in
June, you and Stephen Trask performed “The
Origin of Love” from “Hedwig” at Town Hall and
sang that song the next day at the rally in Central
Park for the Queer Liberation March. What
COURTESY OF JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL
The multi-talented John Cameron Mitchell discusses “Anthem:
Homunculus,” his new “musical podcast.”
COURTESY OF LUMINARY
The fi rst season of the “Anthem: Homunculus” is available at
luminarypodcasts.com.
did it mean to you to participate?
JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL: It was my
fi rst time singing at a Gay Pride rally and this
particular one was so important for Stephen
Trask and me. We’ve enjoyed many advances in
queer rights since the nightmare of AIDS, but of
course they are all at risk with the unnamable
regime in power who is teaching a new generation
to hate.
MURRAY: Your character from “Anthem”
Ceann’s name means “head” in Irish. Before
that was Hedwig. Are you trying to tell us something?
Our heads are where we make up our
stories, our meanings, so it can be both a place
of imprisonment but also of liberation. Does
that resonate with what you’re trying to do with
Ceann’s story, as an artist?
MITCHELL: That’s correct, but also Ceann
has a brain tumor, which he’s forced to deal
with by crowdfunding his treatment. My parents
both had Alzheimer’s. As a storyteller, I
guess my greatest fear is to “lose my head”.
MURRAY: There’s something of the fairy tale
in a lot of your work and certainly was in the
character of Hedwig, formerly known as Hansel.
Is Ceann living out a fairy tale in “Anthem: Homunculus?”
Do you believe in miracles?
MITCHELL: Once the Bible fell short for me
as a young Catholic homo, fairy tales, myths,
and comic books replaced it. I still revere metaphor,
allegory, symbolism. I do believe in human
miracles. Liberals believe we are inherently good
and then the environment fucks with us. Conservatives
believe we are inherently bad (except
when seeking a profi t), and must be corralled
by social controls. Our song “The End of Love”
from “Anthem” is a break-up song with the God
I grew up with. A sample lyric: “The end of the
love is a deus ex machina. But ain’t that better
than a deus? So much more humane. So much
more remains after the play is over.”
MURRAY: You said in an interview that you
don’t so much identity as gay any more or certainly
not as strongly. Why not?
MITCHELL: Gay has become a marketing
niche. Like “top” and “bottom,” “man” and
“woman,” and “comedy” and “drama.” You slice
and dice so you can sell or be sold to — or to
decide what show belongs in which Emmy category.
Life has no niches, it’s a complex continuum
with nuance and surprising juxtapositions.
I don’t like to be marketed to and told what I am
or should like because of my gender or sexual
preference.
MURRAY: You’ve talked a lot about empathy,
queer folks’ special skills at it, empathy being
the opposite of “cancel culture.” Can you explain?
MITCHELL: The gift of being “other” is having
empathy for the downtrodden and oppressed.
“Woke” without empathy is just another form
of control. Here’s an example. If you believe in
prison reform and rehabilitation then you can’t
cancel people. We, as queer people, have been
canceled for centuries. Let’s make folks accountable
and safe but let’s not co-opt our oppressors’
bullying ways.
MURRAY: I was really surprised how intimate
the podcasts are. I’m used to podcasts having
reportorial distance. But you’re right under the
covers with me and it’s powerful and sometimes
unnerving.
MITCHELL: My composer Bryan Weller and
➤ JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL, continued on p.31
August 15 - August 28, 2 30 019 | GayCityNews.com
/luminarypodcasts.com
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