Bios
Emily Ackman|1995 bio
Emily is 15 years old and was born and raised in Cambridge. She attends Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. This spring, Emily was involved in an HIV/AIDS awareness production that was presented in conjunction with a display of the AIDS Quilt at her school.
Endego Blue-Jones|1995 bio
Endego is 16 years old and will be attending Boston High next year. With Brandy Daniels, Endego won the Massachusetts Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth's Outstanding Performance Award at the 1995 Youth Pride March in June.
Prudence Browne|1995 bio
Prudence is a native of Trinidad. Her many interests include writing poetry and performing. Prudence was the co-spokesperson of BIGLYNY, the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Youth of New York during 1994-95. She is on the Commission for National and Community Service to the State of New York. Browne has appeared in Mary Ellen Strom's performance work Witness. She is the coordinator of the Women's Space at Project Reach. Prudence is an original member of School's OUT.
Beth Burgess|1995 bio
Beth was graduated this year from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She has worked with Boston Children's Theater, Actors Workshop and several local high school theaters. She plans to study theater in college beginning this fall.
Diana Casillas|1995 bio
Diana is working as the office manager and production management intern at Dyke TV. She is an original member of School's OUT. At present, Diana is pursuing her interests in writing and video making and is creating a single channel video project. Diana has attended The Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY and has been involved with the New Employment Opportunity Network. She worked as an intern at the Hetrick Martin Institute. Diana also has appeared in Strom's Witness.
Alex Cervantes|1995 bio
Alex is a student at Hunter College. He is involved with the Creative Writing project of the Y.E.S. Program. This is his first year with School's OUT.
Brandy Daniels|1995 bio
Brandy is a very pretty, 14-year-old transgender from Boston. She has a very understanding family. Everywhere she goes she lets the fine boys know.
Bridget Hughes|1995 bio
Hughes is the assistant director of Y.E.S. and recently finished her master’s degree in English at Rutgers University. She first joined Y:E.S. in 1989 as a volunteer director for Alternate Visions, an improvisational theater troupe made up of lesbian and gay youth, while working as a New York City high school English teacher. As
part of her work with Y.E.S., Bridget has developed and supervised the production of OutYouth, a bi-monthly newsmagazine written by lesbian and gay youth which is now being distributed nationally. Bridget is originally from Maryland, where she was a literacy tutor for adults at both The Learning Bank of Baltimore and for Project Literacy, Howard County.
Isa Murillo|1995 bio
Isa is a student at The Harvey Milk School in New York. She is a safe sex outreach worker for Project First Step. She also is an outreach worker at Ryan-Nina Community Center. Her poetry was published in the Hetrick Martin journal Voices Heard. This is her first year with
School's OUT.
Phillip Oteri|1995 bio
Phillip is from Watertown and was graduated from Watertown High this year. He is planning to go to Bunker Hill Community College this fall. Phillip likes acting and had his first professional theater experience this spring in Dirt by Abe Rybeck, presented by The Theater Offensive.
Nelson Rodriguez|1995 bio
Nelson is a writer and performer. He has appeared in Y.E.S.'s Alternate Visions theater troupe in productions of Divided by Normal, It's Not the Shoes, Soul Cages, Sweet Lemon Juice and Broken Glass. Nelson has participated in the photography workshop at The Hetrick Martin Institute in New York. He also created a video for the television event, We Interrupt This Program..., that aired on PBS December 1, 1993 for Day Without Art. Nelson appears in the film The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love, directed by Maria Maggenti and is an original member of School’s OUT.
Mary Ellen Strom|1995 bio
Strom works as an independent video maker, performer and teacher. Strom's single-channel video work has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, Artists Space, the ICA in Boston, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Kansas City Art Institute, the Videonale in Germany and the Madrid Festival, among others. Strom is an assistant professor in the Media Arts Department al Jersey City State College. Since 1991, she has been a project co-director with Barbara L. Tsumagari of We Interrupt This Program...., a television project of Creative Time and WYBE-TV for Day Without Art/World AIDS Day that is broadcast on December 1. The program is an artists' response to the AIDS crisis and focuses on the many voices of People With AIDS. "WIP" has been programmed by Deep Dish TV as well as carried by 17 PBS stations. Her video performance installation, Witness, originally produced at Dance Theater Workshop, involves surveillance cameras focused on performers who are working both on the street and inside the theater. Witness focuses on the economic status of women in the United States. Strom received a New York Performance ("Bessie") Award for Witness.
Since June 1993, Strom has directed School's OUT. She is currently working on PINK, a television program for girls that is a feminist alternative to traditional children's programming. Directed by Strom and produced by Barbara L. Tsumagari, the program is named for
and features a character called "Pink,'' created and performed by Ann Carlson. Pink has been developed at The Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, OH, and at The Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada. Strom was born in Butte, MT.
Here is her current website.
Travis Williams|1995 bio
Travis is a graduate of Wakefield High and lives in Dorchester. School's OUT is his first theatrical production, and he is loving it. He's raising a godson whose name is Shakeem Terrell. After this production, Travis plans to rest.