Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 309, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 7, 2015 Page: 35 of 38
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Denton Record-Chronicle
ArtsCommunitv
PAGE 3D
Weekly Review
Couples.......
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Sunday, June 7, 2015
DentonRC.com
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Andy Kropa/AP file photo
Jeanine Tesori, left, and Lisa Kron
adapted Alison Bechdel’s graphic
novel “Fun Home” into a musical,
which is nominated in a dozen cate-
gories in tonight’s Tony Awards.
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By Mark Kennedy
AP Drama Writer
NEW YORK — There is a coffin sit-
ting onstage. A lesbian is the narrator.
There are no movie stars in it. And we
are promised a suicide by Page 9 of the
script.
Fun Home, which goes into today’s
Tony Awards tied for the most nomina-
tions, doesn’t sound like it has the mak-
ings of a hit in New York, much less on
the road.
Think again.
While in the past most shows waited
until Tonys were handed out before
planning a tour, Fun Home announced
a national tour during the 2016-17 sea-
son weeks before the ceremony, a sign
that appetites for challenging fare is on
the rise.
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Jimmy Vaughn (a.k.a. Kindi) holds his sign of support for Alexis Bortell — a 9-year-old girl with epilepsy needing medical marijuana to survive — at
Quakertown Park on Friday.
“We are living in an exciting time,”
said Kristin Caskey, a Fun Home pro-
ducer. “I don’t know if this would have
existed 10 years ago.”
The poignant show, based on Alison
Bechdel’s graphic novel memoir about
growing up as a lesbian with a closeted
dad, coincides with the Supreme Court
preparing to rule on whether to allow
same-sex marriage nationwide.
“The show is capturing something
about the cultural consciousness that is
about this present moment,” said Sam
Gold, its director. “This is the moment
for a show like Fun Home?
Broadway bookers and producers
have had nervous moments before such
recent edgy shows as The Book of Mor-
mon and Kinky Boots hit the road, but
they went on to considerable success.
“We all, as an industry, have under-
estimated or been condescending may-
be about what the American public has
an appetite for,” said Meredith Blair,
president of The Booking Group, one of
the top agencies.
Blair, whose 12-member team is
planning the tours of Fun Home,
Something Rotten!, An American in
Paris and Curious Incident of the Dog
in the Night-Time, among many oth-
ers, learned plenty when she booked the
tour for Rent.
Power to the people
“We the People,” under his hip-hop
moniker Kindi earlier this week. In
just a few days, the song earned more
than a thousand plays online.
“Really, if we were to get into what
the song is really about, it’s about gov-
ernment not representing the people,”
Vaughn said. “Government taking
funds from people and making prom-
ises. I know people are divided on the
fracking issue. But I feel like if every-
body votes on the fracking, respect it,
you know?
“I feel like [politicians] just want
your money. They take your money
and make promises and then do what
they want with it.”
As an emcee called Kindi, Vaughn
raps with a slow, deliberate beat. His
anger is palpable, and he uses typical
rap slang to get his point across. There
are f-bombs and some harsh meta-
phors over a sample of keyboard,
snare and bass.
The song calls out state Rep. Myra
Crownover — rhyming “your time
wearing the crown is over” handily to
her last name — for subverting the lo-
cal vote to eliminate hydraulic fractur-
ing for natural gas within city limits.
The song also takes up a popular
cause in hip-hop — legalizing mari-
juana. He gives a shout out to Alexis
Bortell, a 9-year-old girl with epilepsy.
The Bortell family recently moved to
Colorado, where they can legally use
cannabis to treat Alexis’ epilepsy,
which typical medicines had failed to
control. Alexis’ family reported she
had her worst seizure in February and
stopped breathing.
“It breaks my heart that a Texas
family would have to leave their home
because they couldn’t get treatment
for her legally,” Vaughn said. “I’m glad
they were able to do that and get her
the help she needed in Colorado. But
it’s sad that a family has to leave Texas
for that. It’s not like she was going to
smoke weed.”
Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate
Bill 339 last Monday. The legislation
allows limited medical use of low-
THC cannabis oils for certain medical
conditions.
‘A lot of people think it’s a great
thing,” Vaughn said. “But it’s not really
that big of a step.”
The legislation legalizes the non-
euphoric component of marijuana
known to treat epilepsy, along with
other conditions. In “We the People,”
Vaughn rages against what the singer
sees as a puritanistic prohibition that
leaves cancer patients and wounded
war veterans suffering.
Vaughn hopes to shoot a music
Hip-hop artist
channels fracking
frustrations into track
By Lucinda Breeding
Features Editor
cbreeding@dentonrc.com
Denton resident Jimmy Vaughn
decided to channel his frustration
with Texas elected officials into some-
thing he loves: hip-hop music.
Vaughn is a 24-year-old graduate
of Texas Woman’s University with a
degree in legal studies. And like a lot of
Denton residents, Vaughn said he was
angry when state lawmakers passed
House Bill 40, which nullified not just
the Denton fracking ban — but any
other ban like it elsewhere in Texas.
The so-called ban on ffack bans
stirred Vaughn to write and record
See VAUGHN on 5D
See TONYS on 5D
Billie Jean King: Caitlyn Jenner
helps transgender tolerance
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1975, a year before Bruce Jenner earned
the unofficial title of “world’s greatest
athlete” by winning gold in the decath-
lon at the Montreal Olympics.
Jenner, 65, publicly transitioned
from Bruce in an interview with ABC’s
Diane Sawyer in April to Caitlyn on the
cover of Vanity Fair this past week.
“I am so happy he’s finally going to
be comfortable in his own skin; finally
Caitlyn will be,” King said. “It’s been a
long journey for Caitlyn, and I’m really
happy for her.”
King occasionally traveled in the
same circles with Jenner, given they
were two of the most recognizable ath-
letes in the 1970s.
“He was amazing when he won the
decathlon, so I would run into him ev-
ery so often,” King said.
“We actually did a commercial to-
gether, but I don’t think they ever
showed it.”
King was 29 when she defeated for-
mer professional tennis player Bobby
Riggs, 55, in the famed “Battle of the
Sexes” match in 1973, putting gender is-
sues in the spotlight.
She later helped pros accept a trans-
gender player in their ranks after she
started the Women’s Tennis Association
in 1973.
Renee Richards, who was denied
the opportunity to play as a woman in
the 1976 U.S. Open, was born Richard
Raskind, a former captain of the Yale
tennis team who had sex reassignment
surgery.
By Melissa Murphy
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Billie Jean King be-
lieves Caitlyn Jenner has given people
clarity about transgender issues beyond
the progress already made four decades
after they shared the international
sports spotlight.
“The interview with then-Bruce
Jenner, and now Caitlyn Jenner, really
helped people to be clear in under-
standing, especially about gender vs.
sexuality,” the 71-year-old former tennis
star said in an interview with The Asso-
ciated Press. “Everybody’s always get-
ting very confused with that. Then they
finally realized they have nothing to do
with each other.”
King won the last of her 12 Grand
Slam singles titles at Wimbledon in
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Frank Franklin ll/AP
Tennis champion Billie Jean King poses for portraits on Thursday in New
York. King said she believes Caitlyn Jenner has given people clarity about
transgender issues beyond the progress already seen four decades after
they shared the international spotlight as athletes.
See KING on 5D
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 309, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 7, 2015, newspaper, June 7, 2015; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1124824/m1/35/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .