Steven Canals: The Restorative Power of Art

LGBTQ&A

Jeffrey Masters

Society & Culture

4.7 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2018

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Steven Canals talks about how Pose began: from inspiration to the first draft to the first day on set. Pose was originally much darker and Steven describes why Ryan Murphy (his co-creator) pushed him to find the joy in the story in order and make it more accessible to a wider audience. Steven also talks about society's rich history of trans erasure, media not wanting to center the stories of people of color, and the impact that growing up in New York City during the AIDS Crisis had on him. Never miss an update! Sign up for our (short!) newsletter at www.LGBTQpodcast.com Join GLAAD's #AmpYourVoice campaign and make sure your voice is heard this election year. Click here to take the pledge to vote. LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and is part of The Advocate magazine.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From The Advocate magazine, this is LGBTQ and A.
0:07.2	I'm Jeffrey Masters, and today I'm talking to Stephen Canals, one of the creators of the new TV series Pose.
0:14.5	If you don't know what pose is, I'm impressed.
0:17.6	It is everywhere right now, and for a really good reason.
0:20.2	It is about the ball scene in New York City and it has the largest cast of trans
0:24.3	actors ever assembled. We talk about the challenges in getting this show made, what went
0:29.4	into it and how his vision for the show evolved while working with Ryan Murphy.
0:34.1	We also get into his past, his youth. Stephen grew up in New York City during the 80s. This was during the AIDS crisis, during the crack epidemic, and these were all really visible things that left a very big impact on him.
0:45.8	Now, if you enjoy the interview, please subscribe on iTunes. Subscribe, leave a comment, rank us five stars. All these things help our show grow. You can also check out
0:54.3	our other recent interviews of people like Kate Bornstein and Wilson Cruz. All right, let's get
0:58.6	to the interview. Without further ado, here's Stephen.
1:05.2	So you've been working on this script and the show for almost five years?
1:14.8	Four.
1:15.2	Four.
1:16.1	Okay.
1:16.4	So for somebody who's not been a part of ball culture, what compelled you to the story
1:21.5	made you keep returning to it year after year?
1:25.3	Start with a big question.
1:29.0	Well, I'm going to rewind to 2004 to a young closeted version of myself who is studying cinema at Binghamton University
1:45.5	and am introduced to the balls by a professor
1:51.3	who knew, I think she probably could sense
1:56.5	that I needed to find community, you know, as this young brown kid, you know, who very clearly
	...

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