Ryan J. Davis
Encyclopedia
Ryan J. Davis is an American theater director, writer, political consultant, and progressive activist. In 2006, a musical he conceived, White Noise received positive reviews and was featured on Good Morning America and ABC Primetime Live. In 2007 Davis' satirical attack ad against Rudy Giuliani, "Gays For Giuliani," received media attention from CNN, MSNBC, and a feature in The Washington Post. He is a contributing writer for The Huffington Post
and The Hill
, and also writes for his blog, Ryan J. Davis Blogs.
. He continued to work in indie theatre with The Storm Theatre and companies like NativeAliens, The Chip Deffaa Festival, and co-founding his own Conspiracy Theatre Company.
In 2004, returning to the theatre after sixteen months in politics, Davis directed a "sensational production" of Hedwig and the Angry Inch
in Rochester, New York
.
. The show features music and lyrics by Ben Cohn, Sean McDaniel, and a book by Jeffery Self. A star-studded concert of songs from the show is scheduled for February 2008 at New York's Metropolitan Room.
.
, was a media hit and was featured on Good Morning America and ABC Primetime Live.
White Noise was invited to participate in the 2006 New York Musical Theatre Festival. The show played to packed houses and was given a NYMF Award Of Excellence Honorable Mention for its score and named one of Talkin' Broadway's Best Shows of 2006.
Davis talked of threats the creative team received during the production in interviews with Radar
magazine and Broadway World. In the interview on Broadway World, Davis said; "We get hate mail. We get talked about on the hate message boards. I feel like I’m doing something right in life if white supremacists hate me; I'd be doing something wrong if they were fans."
star Anthony Rapp
has been announced as the host of the 2nd Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant set for Monday evening, April 28, 2008, 8 p.m. at New World Stages (340 West 50th St.). The event will mark the annual fundraising benefit for the Ali Forney Center (AFC).
Formerly titled "Mr. Broadway"—the name of the charitable event was changed due to potential trademark infringement (a point that is not conceded)—the evening will feature male cast members representing their respective Broadway shows. Contestants include Tommy Berklund, Mr. A Chorus Line
; Austin Eyer, Mr. Curtains
; Joe Komara, Mr. Grease
; Daniel Robinson, Mr. Hairspray
; and Marty Thomas, Mr. Xanadu
. Contestants will compete for the title crown through talent, interview and swimsuit competitions. Crowning the winner will be special guest Michael Riedel of the New York Post
.
Each of the contestants will go head to head in front of a panel of celebrity judges, but ultimately, the final vote is in the hands of the audience. The judges are Seth Rudetsky
(Rhapsody in Seth, Chatterbox, The Ritz), Hunter Bell, and Susan Blackwell
.
The Broadway Beauty Pageant of 2008 is written and conceived by Jeffery Self and directed by Davis, with musical direction by Jack Aaronson. The pageant includes original songs by Lisa Lambert (Tony Award-winner for The Drowsy Chaperone
), Glen Kelly (The Producers
, The Drowsy Chaperone
) and Eric Svejcar (Caligula
). The evening is produced by Davis and Jeffery Self in association with Tim Hur.
AFC was started in June 2002 in response to the lack of safe shelter for LGBT
youth in New York City. They are committed to providing LGBT youth with safe, dignified, nurturing environments where their needs can be met and where they can begin to put their lives back together. The center provides short- and long-term housing in Manhattan
and Brooklyn
, plus free medical care, HIV
testing, mental health services, showers, food, computer access and job training and placement at its drop-in center in Chelsea
. AFC is also dedicated to promoting awareness of the plight of homeless LGBT youth in the United States with the goal of generating responses on local and national levels from government funders, foundations and the LGBT community.
's Presidential campaign and along with Zephyr Teachout
and David Welch traveled to over thirty-five states on a grassroots tour of America, called The Drive For Democracy. Davis worked on the Dean Campaign in New Media, taking pictures and blogging about the tour. In the CNN Documentary on the Dean Campaign, True Believers, Davis describes how he came to be a part of the campaign; "I packed up all my stuff. I rented a car. And I drove up here."
After Dean's primary defeat, Ryan returned to Salisbury, Maryland
to serve as Campaign Manager on Chesapeake City Town Councilman Harry Sampson's unsuccessful campaign for Congress in Maryland's First District. Davis managed to get Harry Sampson the only newspaper endorsement of the primary and a mention in Wired Magazine
for the campaign's innovative use of internet fundraising.
After returning to New York City, Ryan began blogging at NotGeniuses, along with Joe Rospars and Ezra Klein
. It was during this time that he broke the story of the unfair expulsion of James Barnett
. The article was quickly picked up by The Houston Voice Soon Barnett's situation was picked up by both the mainstream and gay focused press, with national organizations such as the Human Rights Council discussing his situation with Bill O'Reilly
.
said that Davis was "a tangible influence on the presidential primary race." He did receive criticism in a Fox News interview from Patrick Sammon, President of The Log Cabin Republicans, who said "I was surprised to hear that this video had been produced by a gay person. I'm just confused as to someone who, as an advocate for gay rights, would use a video to kind of spread stereotypes of gay people." The ad was seen by millions of people when Mr. Davis was interviewed on CNN's The Situation Room, MSNBC, and a feature in The Washington Post. Davis responded to his critics in a front page interview in Gay City News: "It wasn't in the best taste in ads in this election cycle, but would those liberals like to see Giuliani as president? This is a war. We're at war."
This resulted in a blog war between Davis and Log Cabin Republicans bloggers but it resulted in Davis and some of the Log Cabin Bloggers in developing mutual respect and admiration for their opposing views towards political activism but found a core connection related to GLBT rights.
Davis was deemed "The Bad Boy Blogger" in blogs by LCR's Kevin Norte, but in February 2008, Davis flew out to Hollywood to join a coalition of gay activists to lobby Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
and First Lady Maria Shriver
to publicly oppose the Family Research Council's Anti-Gay Marriage initiative.
On April 11, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger came out officially against the Initiative at LCR's National Convention.
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
and The Hill
The Hill (newspaper)
The Hill, a subsidiary of News Communications Inc., is a newspaper published in Washington, D.C. since 1994.Its first editor was Martin Tolchin, a veteran correspondent in the Washington bureau of The New York Times....
, and also writes for his blog, Ryan J. Davis Blogs.
Early life
As a teenager Davis was a young conservative and at fifteen founded a conservative youth website called "The Conservative Teen E-Zine." The site attracted local media attention and helped him become the Student Council President at Salisbury Christian High School. At sixteen he was given an award for his years of service to the Catholic Church as an Altar Server by Bishop Santarelli. In 1999, at seventeen, he was John McCain's Maryland State Youth Coordinator, working largely on the Internet organizing voters.Theatre
Ryan moved to New York in 2000 and began working in the theater. His first New York credit was as Assistant Stage Manager on The Storm Theatre's production of Gillette starring NFL Hall Of Famer John RigginsJohn Riggins
Robert John Riggins, nicknamed "The Diesel", is a former American football running back in the National Football League for the New York Jets and Washington Redskins. Riggins was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992....
. He continued to work in indie theatre with The Storm Theatre and companies like NativeAliens, The Chip Deffaa Festival, and co-founding his own Conspiracy Theatre Company.
In 2004, returning to the theatre after sixteen months in politics, Davis directed a "sensational production" of Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical about a fictional rock and roll band fronted by an East German transgender singer. The text is by John Cameron Mitchell, and the music and lyrics are by Stephen Trask. The musical premiered in 1998 and has been performed throughout the world in hundreds...
in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
.
Big Tent: The Tammy Faye Musical
In May 2007 Davis directed a concert version of Big Tent: The Tammy Faye Bakker, at Off-Broadway's New World Stages, in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The show features music and lyrics by Ben Cohn, Sean McDaniel, and a book by Jeffery Self. A star-studded concert of songs from the show is scheduled for February 2008 at New York's Metropolitan Room.
My Life on the Craigslist
In November 2007, Davis directed Jeffrey Self in My Life on the Craigslist at Off-Broadway's New World Stages. The show focuses on a young gay man's sexual experiences on CraigslistCraigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
.
White Noise: A Cautionary Musical
In May 2006, Davis and Joe Drymala premiered their new musical White Noise at a pair of sold-out readings in Midtown Manhattan. The musical, inspired by the Nazi-Pop Duo Prussian BluePrussian Blue (duo)
Prussian Blue was a white nationalist pop pre-teen duo formed in early 2003 by the mother of Lynx Vaughan Gaede and Lamb Lennon Gaede, sororal twin girls born on June 30, 1992, in Bakersfield, California...
, was a media hit and was featured on Good Morning America and ABC Primetime Live.
White Noise was invited to participate in the 2006 New York Musical Theatre Festival. The show played to packed houses and was given a NYMF Award Of Excellence Honorable Mention for its score and named one of Talkin' Broadway's Best Shows of 2006.
Davis talked of threats the creative team received during the production in interviews with Radar
Radar (magazine)
RadarOnline is an American online publication. It started as a magazine first printed in 2003 as a test issue, relaunched twice in 2005 and 2006, and ceased publication in 2008. The magazine published articles on entertainment, fashion, politics, and human interest...
magazine and Broadway World. In the interview on Broadway World, Davis said; "We get hate mail. We get talked about on the hate message boards. I feel like I’m doing something right in life if white supremacists hate me; I'd be doing something wrong if they were fans."
Mr. Broadway Beauty of 2008
The original RentRent (musical)
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
star Anthony Rapp
Anthony Rapp
Anthony Deane Rapp is an American stage and film actor and singer best known for originating the role of Mark Cohen in the Broadway production of Rent in 1996 and later for reprising the role in the film version and the Broadway Tour of Rent in 2009...
has been announced as the host of the 2nd Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant set for Monday evening, April 28, 2008, 8 p.m. at New World Stages (340 West 50th St.). The event will mark the annual fundraising benefit for the Ali Forney Center (AFC).
Formerly titled "Mr. Broadway"—the name of the charitable event was changed due to potential trademark infringement (a point that is not conceded)—the evening will feature male cast members representing their respective Broadway shows. Contestants include Tommy Berklund, Mr. A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The book was authored by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, lyrics were written by Edward Kleban, and music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch....
; Austin Eyer, Mr. Curtains
Curtains (musical)
Curtains is a musical with a book by Rupert Holmes, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander, with additional lyrics by Kander and Holmes....
; Joe Komara, Mr. Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
; Daniel Robinson, Mr. Hairspray
Hairspray (musical)
Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues...
; and Marty Thomas, Mr. Xanadu
Xanadu
-Description of Xanadu by Toghon Temur :The lament of Toghon Temur Khan , concerning the loss of Daidu and Heibun Shanduu in 1368, is recorded in many Mongolian historical chronicles...
. Contestants will compete for the title crown through talent, interview and swimsuit competitions. Crowning the winner will be special guest Michael Riedel of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
.
Each of the contestants will go head to head in front of a panel of celebrity judges, but ultimately, the final vote is in the hands of the audience. The judges are Seth Rudetsky
Seth Rudetsky
Seth Rudetsky is an American musician, actor, writer, and radio host. He currently is the host of "Seth's Big Fat Broadway" on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio's...
(Rhapsody in Seth, Chatterbox, The Ritz), Hunter Bell, and Susan Blackwell
Susan Blackwell
Susan Blackwell is an American actress, writer and singer, best known for playing herself in the musical title of show. She has appeared in other plays, musicals, and television shows including Law & Order, P.S. I Love You, and Speech and Debate ...
.
The Broadway Beauty Pageant of 2008 is written and conceived by Jeffery Self and directed by Davis, with musical direction by Jack Aaronson. The pageant includes original songs by Lisa Lambert (Tony Award-winner for The Drowsy Chaperone
The Drowsy Chaperone
The Drowsy Chaperone is a musical with book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. It debuted in 1998 at The Rivoli in Toronto and opened on Broadway on 1 May 2006. The show won the Tony Award for Best Book and Best Score. It started as a spoof of old...
), Glen Kelly (The Producers
The Producers
The Producers commonly refers to Mel Brooks' series of comedic works about two con-men who attempt to cheat theater investors out of their money, only to have the scheme improbably backfire:...
, The Drowsy Chaperone
The Drowsy Chaperone
The Drowsy Chaperone is a musical with book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. It debuted in 1998 at The Rivoli in Toronto and opened on Broadway on 1 May 2006. The show won the Tony Award for Best Book and Best Score. It started as a spoof of old...
) and Eric Svejcar (Caligula
Caligula
Caligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
). The evening is produced by Davis and Jeffery Self in association with Tim Hur.
AFC was started in June 2002 in response to the lack of safe shelter for LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
youth in New York City. They are committed to providing LGBT youth with safe, dignified, nurturing environments where their needs can be met and where they can begin to put their lives back together. The center provides short- and long-term housing in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, plus free medical care, HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
testing, mental health services, showers, food, computer access and job training and placement at its drop-in center in Chelsea
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
. AFC is also dedicated to promoting awareness of the plight of homeless LGBT youth in the United States with the goal of generating responses on local and national levels from government funders, foundations and the LGBT community.
Politics and activism
In 2003, Davis joined Howard DeanHoward Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
's Presidential campaign and along with Zephyr Teachout
Zephyr Teachout
Zephyr Rain Teachout is an associate professor of law at Fordham University.She directed Internet organizing for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. Earlier, she co-founded and was the executive director of the Fair Trial Initiative, which supports attorneys working on death penalty cases...
and David Welch traveled to over thirty-five states on a grassroots tour of America, called The Drive For Democracy. Davis worked on the Dean Campaign in New Media, taking pictures and blogging about the tour. In the CNN Documentary on the Dean Campaign, True Believers, Davis describes how he came to be a part of the campaign; "I packed up all my stuff. I rented a car. And I drove up here."
After Dean's primary defeat, Ryan returned to Salisbury, Maryland
Salisbury, Maryland
-Demographics:Salisbury is the principal city of the Salisbury-Ocean Pines CSA, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Salisbury metropolitan area and the Ocean Pines micropolitan area , which had a combined population of 176,657 at the 2010 census.As of the census of 2000, there were...
to serve as Campaign Manager on Chesapeake City Town Councilman Harry Sampson's unsuccessful campaign for Congress in Maryland's First District. Davis managed to get Harry Sampson the only newspaper endorsement of the primary and a mention in Wired Magazine
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
for the campaign's innovative use of internet fundraising.
After returning to New York City, Ryan began blogging at NotGeniuses, along with Joe Rospars and Ezra Klein
Ezra Klein
Ezra Klein is a liberal American blogger and columnist for The Washington Post, columnist for Bloomberg, a columnist for Newsweek, and a contributor to MSNBC...
. It was during this time that he broke the story of the unfair expulsion of James Barnett
James Barnett
James Barnett is an American entrepreneur and community activist from Dallas, Texas. At 17, he created a social networking site for gay teens and young adults called My-Boi.Com, which resulted in his father moving him from his Christian high school and his outing to his parents...
. The article was quickly picked up by The Houston Voice Soon Barnett's situation was picked up by both the mainstream and gay focused press, with national organizations such as the Human Rights Council discussing his situation with Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
.
Gays For Giuliani
In August 2007, Davis produced and directed Gays For Giuliani, a satirical attack ad against former NYC Mayor and Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. The AdvocateThe Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
said that Davis was "a tangible influence on the presidential primary race." He did receive criticism in a Fox News interview from Patrick Sammon, President of The Log Cabin Republicans, who said "I was surprised to hear that this video had been produced by a gay person. I'm just confused as to someone who, as an advocate for gay rights, would use a video to kind of spread stereotypes of gay people." The ad was seen by millions of people when Mr. Davis was interviewed on CNN's The Situation Room, MSNBC, and a feature in The Washington Post. Davis responded to his critics in a front page interview in Gay City News: "It wasn't in the best taste in ads in this election cycle, but would those liberals like to see Giuliani as president? This is a war. We're at war."
This resulted in a blog war between Davis and Log Cabin Republicans bloggers but it resulted in Davis and some of the Log Cabin Bloggers in developing mutual respect and admiration for their opposing views towards political activism but found a core connection related to GLBT rights.
Bad Boy Blogger and the coalition led by Log Cabin Republicans leaders
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
and First Lady Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver is an American journalist and author of six best-selling books. She has received a Peabody Award, and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of...
to publicly oppose the Family Research Council's Anti-Gay Marriage initiative.
On April 11, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger came out officially against the Initiative at LCR's National Convention.
External links
- Dan Savage
- http://pundits.thehill.com/ryan-davis/Ryan J. Davis' Pundits Blogs for The HillThe Hill (newspaper)The Hill, a subsidiary of News Communications Inc., is a newspaper published in Washington, D.C. since 1994.Its first editor was Martin Tolchin, a veteran correspondent in the Washington bureau of The New York Times....
]