Episode 100: The Red Shades & Z Space Transcription

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A transcript, lightly edited for clarity and length, follows.

VOC Red Shades Z Space Podcast EP 100 Mix 1

[00:00:00] George Koster: Welcome to Voices of the Community, which explores critical issues facing Northern California communities. We introduce you to the voices of community thought leaders and change makers who are working on solutions that face our fellow individual community members, neighborhoods, cities, and our region.

[00:00:28] George Koster: This is George Koster your host.

[00:00:33] George Koster: This episode is part of our series Exploring COVID nineteens impact on nonprofits and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area back in April of 2020 when we decided to create this ongoing series on COVID nineteens impact, first on nonprofits and then on small businesses in the San Francisco Bay area.

[00:00:52] George Koster: We like you had no idea how long the pandemic would go on and what the health and economic impact would be in our community. As we enter the second half of 2022 with the latest explosion of cases from the most recent COVID-19 Omicron mutations, along with the masking requirements being changed and folks getting their vaccinations, our communities are still struggling to deal with the health.

[00:01:17] George Koster: Economic, mental and societal impacts of the ongoing global pandemic. This all adds to the ongoing uncertainty of our ever-changing indoor and outdoor vaccinated and unvaccinated protocols and the politics of the pandemic that will drive how we all come back together as a unified. Or fractured community.

[00:01:37] George Koster: We will continue to shine a spotlight on the nonprofits and small businesses that make up the fabric of our community, along with the founders and staff who are struggling to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their operations, services, and sustainability, until we can all get to the other side of the pandemic.

[00:01:56] George Koster: Along the way, we will also share with you all the amazing solutions that our nonprofits, small businesses, foundations, and government leaders are working on to help us all get to the other side of the pandemic and come together to rebuild our communities with more economic, social, and environmental equality.

[00:02:14] Adrienne Price: I saw a presentation done by Felicia Elizondo in 2015 called Cruising the Tenderloin in the sixties, and she introduced me to the idea of the Compton's cafeteria riots and her life living in the Tenderloin in the 19 six. Trans sex workers who were fighting for their right to survive. And it sort of connected with the ideas that were coming out of my mind as I was making these voice memos.

[00:02:43] Adrienne Price: And that influenced the creation of the story to set it in 1966, the year of a competence, cafeteria riots, and to have that be an actual part of the show itself. So it's a hybrid of. Fantasy, you know, fiction and history. And this our 100 episode of our special series and the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our nonprofits, small businesses, and local government.

[00:03:08] George Koster: We reached it back out to the folks at Z Space to share with you how they have struggled through the pandemic to bring you a very unique show. The Red Shades a trans superhero rock opera. I'm joined remotely by Adrian Price, the writer and co composer of the Red Shades, a trans superhero rock opera, along with Rose Ozer, the interim producing director of Z Space and lead producer of the Red Shades.

[00:03:32] George Koster: Welcome to Voices of the Community, Adrian and Rose. Thank you. Thanks. So like to begin by just having you each share with the audience, just a little bit of your background. And so Adrian, why don't we start with you?

[00:03:43] Adrienne Price: Sure. So I have taken a bit of a twisty turny path to get to becoming a musical theater writer.

[00:03:50] Adrienne Price: I grew up playing violin. Classically trained violinist. And starting in high school, I started playing in rock bands, and I've always been interested in a lot of different art areas, so playing in bands, writing plays, writing screenplays, et cetera, and so forth. And this show, the Red Shades, is the first time that I've kind of put all those things together to create a rock.

[00:04:17] Adrienne Price: Opera. So I'm very excited about sharing this with the world. Finally, it's been seven years that I've been working on it, so feeling very ready to have it out in the world.

[00:04:27] George Koster: And Rose, share with the audience a little bit of your background and then I will ask you about Z Space as well.

[00:04:32] Rose Oser: Great. My name is Rose Ozer.

[00:04:34] Rose Oser: I've been working at Z Space. 2017, I was previously the associate artistic director, and then I became the interim producing director during the pandemic. And I've been excited about this show since I started at Z Space in 2017. We've been trying to make it happen and New Works take a long time to develop and we also had that pandemic in there.

[00:04:58] Rose Oser: So it's been quite a journey, but I'm really excited that it's finally happening and outside of Z space, I also write musicals and produce a dating show and do other things. I eat a large breakfast in the morning. I have a very full and meaningful life, and I'm grateful to be on the show right now.

[00:05:15] Rose Oser: Thanks, George.

[00:05:16] George Koster: Thanks, rose. That was good. Everyone should eat a nice, warm or cold breakfast in the morning. Could you provide a little background on Z Space itself for the audience members who don't know and, and you've been on the show before, along with, you know, Schaeffer and the before Times we're still the before times, but Z Space is a unique space in organizations.

[00:05:34] George Koster: So tell the audience a little bit about.

[00:05:36] Rose Oser: Yeah, we are unique and you know, sometimes confuse people a little bit because we are so unique. We are a multifaceted venue in the Mission district of San Francisco. We produce and present all new work, so by that we mean new theater or dance or opera or music that's.

[00:05:53] Rose Oser: You know, created by people who are living now making new things. And with this model we have a, a curated rental program. So we work with other arts organizations and independent artists to help them produce their work in our space. And then through our own z space producing program, we develop and produce shows.

[00:06:13] Rose Oser: So Red Shades is one of the pieces that we are developing in-house. At Z Space, and we are a nonprofit also within Z Space. We have a resident theater company called Word For Word. They've been around for 30 years with Z Space. We're celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2023. Congratulations us. And we also have a youth arts program that brings the word for word model into the classroom to help develop theater skills and literacy and creative expression.

[00:06:43] George Koster: Thank you. That was a good overview. I wanna go back to you, Adrian, and have you just kind of, you know, share with the audience what were the seeds of the creation of the Red Shades?

[00:06:51] Adrienne Price: I started writing it in 2015, even though I didn't know I was writing it. I had a job where I had a very long car ride commute and I just started, uh, recording audio demos of song ideas that would pop into my head without any really notion that I would do anything with them.

[00:07:07] Adrienne Price: And at a certain point it became clear to me that those songs. Were trying to tell some kind of story, and at the time that I was figuring that out, I was also learning more about trans history, especially trans history of the Bay Area. And I saw a presentation done by Felicia Elizondo in 2015 called Cruising the Tenderloin in the sixties, and she introduced me to the idea of the Compton's cafeteria riots and her life living in the Tenderloin in the 1960's trans sex workers who were fighting for their right to survive. And it sort of connected with the ideas that were coming out of my mind as I was making these voice memos. And that influenced the creation of the story to set it in 1966, the year of the competence cafeteria riots, and to have that be an actual part of the.

[00:08:02] Adrienne Price: Show itself. So it's a hybrid of fantasy, you know, fiction and history and yeah, I think that's where everything started. 20 15, 20 16. And then I recruited a friend to co compose the music with me, Janine Atkisson, and we wrote the first act together and presented it at El Rio. Queer Bar in the mission in 2017, and we ended up getting a lot of people excited about the show.

[00:08:31] Adrienne Price: And so that sort of helped. And that's when, when Rose first saw the show, that sort of helped to launch us into the next phase of development with Z Space.

[00:08:40] George Koster: And for the audience members who don't know much about the, you know, the early history of our trans community, especially in the Tenderloin, could you share with the audience a little bit more background on the Compton Cafeteria Riot?

[00:08:49] Adrienne Price: So in the mid. 20th century, there was really a intense crackdown on what we now call queer and trans people and lives and communities. You know, they were considered a threat to public decency, safety, et cetera. So there was a lot of police oppression at that time, and it was criminalized to be queer and criminalized to be trans, for example.

[00:09:16] Adrienne Price: There is a kind of saying that got passed around amongst. Trans community in that time that was called the three pieces of clothing rule. So you had to have three pieces of clothing that conformed to your gender, your sex assigned at birth, or else you could be arrested. So it was a very dangerous and violent time to be.

[00:09:38] Adrienne Price: Living in the Tenderloin, the Tenderloin became a hub for queer and trans community. There were a lot of bars that served that community and sort of underground nightlife, so that was kind of the powder keg that helped create the conditions for Compton's Cafeteria Riot. Which happened in August of 1966, and it took place in Jean Compton's cafeteria where it was a very popular place for what you might call drag queens or trans women, that the boundaries were a little bit different back then between those groups, but it was a place where you could sort of get some food and meet up with your friends and be yourself and the police decided to crack down on that.

[00:10:22] Adrienne Price: Place and tried to arrest a drag queen there, and it sparked this huge riot. And there were protests for days and that helped to sort of set in motion some of the kind of revolutionary impulses of queer community in that time and some of the changes that would reverberate to today. And it's remarkable that this happened three years before Stonewall, which is often considered the beginning of the queer liberation movement.

[00:10:50] Adrienne Price: But it wasn't until the early two thousands when Susan Stryker released the film Screaming Queens, which is a documentary about the Constance Cafeteria riots that it started to be more widely known and recognized. So that's sort of the basic story

[00:11:05] George Koster: and all that's led to the trans activist in the Tenderloin, the community to actually help create a trans historical district as well.

[00:11:13] George Koster: And I think Honey Mahoney had a hand in that, along with other civic activists in the trans community.

[00:11:18] Adrienne Price: Yeah, that's right. It's a historic trans neighborhood and it's really exciting the work that those activists are doing to create new resources and you know, sort of redistribute resources to trans communities that really need them desperately, especially trans communities of color and black trans communities in particular.

[00:11:41] George Koster: Thank you. That was very nice. We'll, uh, share that information in our newsletter to everyone when we push out the podcast with the broadcast of this show. I wanna just go back when you, Adrian, talk about opera, it's also a rock opera. So could you kind of share with the audience a little bit about, as I recall from what I read in photos, it's using a thrust stage and tell us a little bit about the audience experience they'll see and the performers.

[00:12:04] Adrienne Price: Yeah, well, part of creating new theater is that changes are happening all the time. So the thrust stage is not part of the show anymore, but there's now like a kind of horseshoe shaped platform, and the band is kind of nestled in there, and the performers can perform on top of the platform as well as sort of move around the stage.

[00:12:23] Adrienne Price: So the experience that audiences will get is, as I said, like a hybrid of. Fantasy and history. So for example, we have historical photos, archival material that's projected onto a screen, and then the characters themselves are fictional. They're not based on like a one-to-one correspondence between a character and.

[00:12:46] Adrienne Price: The historical person, but they sort of incorporate different aspects of different characters. So it's sort of a composite. And there is a full rock band, so guitar based drums and piano or keyboard, and it's a story told through music. That's the simplest way that I can put like what it means to be a rock opera.

[00:13:06] Adrienne Price: I'm not very invested in kind of policing the boundaries. Of the difference between like a rock musical and a rock opera. It's not that important to me. But what is important is that this is a story that is primarily told through music. The songs drive the story, and there are all sorts of different genres.

[00:13:25] Adrienne Price: It's primarily rock music, but there's ballads, there's more musical Theatery songs. There's some country tinged songs. Some kind of sixties r and b tinge songs. So it's a really a mishmash of kind of everything in the kitchen sink, the Maximalist vibe, which is something that is really part of my artistic ethos is just kind of throw everything at the wall and.

[00:13:48] Adrienne Price: See what sticks. And it's very high energy and it's a mix of different tones. Everything from kind of super high energy, you know, bouncy, danceable, rock music to, you know, more egi, more downtempo and contemplative songs. So you, you get the whole gamut with the show.

[00:14:08] George Koster: Thank you. And turning to you, rose, there's some interesting history to your point, going back to 2017 of Z space's, participation with the Red Shades and why, you know, Z Space wanted to host co-produce the Red Shades.

[00:14:20] Rose Oser: Yeah. Let me see if I can get all my years straight now that we live in the future. So I think I first saw the show in 2017. Yeah. And Adrian was. Self-producing, just getting it out there. And that's part of what I love about Adrian and part of why I felt the urgency of this show is that I think Adrian really knew that this was a show that people wanted to see and she just wanted to start, you know, making it happen.

[00:14:44] Rose Oser: And I have a lot of respect for Adrian for that. So we saw it. I would say we, I saw it at one point with Schafer, who's now our executive director, and Schafer identifies as trans and was also very, very excited about this show. And we started pursuing grant funding for it. I think that was back in 20. 17 or 2018, there's a lot of fundraising that goes into musical theater development.

[00:15:08] Rose Oser: So our first grant was from the NEA and that was to help develop the show. And then we did a workshop of some of the songs from the show in July, 2019. And that's when we brought in, uh, Idris Cooper, Oni and Rotimi, a AKA to co-direct. And they've been instrumental to the project. We kind of brought a team together.

[00:15:31] Rose Oser: Started experimenting with what does this mean for this show to now be in a theater space? Because Adrian had been working on it, um, in bar like spaces. And I think ultimately through this development process, it's become more of a musical theater type production in the sense that it's, you know, three acts in the audience.

[00:15:48] Rose Oser: Sits in their seats and experiences the full narrative. But that being said, it's still rock and roll and audiences are still gonna yell and clap and stomp their feet and all that good stuff. So we did that workshop in July, 2019, and then after that we really wanted to just focus on the text and the music.

[00:16:05] Rose Oser: So we did an internal reading in January, 2020, and that was of the full show. Um, so we brought in some actors. And we, yeah, really focused on the text and the music. And then at that point we were gonna gear up for a full show in fall 2020 something happened. So here we are, and now we're gonna be doing it.

[00:16:24] Rose Oser: First preview is October 13th, 2022. So we're, we're in the thick of rehearsals right now. And yeah, it's very exciting. And Z Space has a history of developing rock musicals. We developed wait lists by the Kilbane and a hundred Days by the Bankston. Also, part of the reason why I thought it was a good fit for Z Space is that it engages the trans and queer communities in a specific way, but it also fits into the broader, you know, artistic exploration that Z Space has been promoting since the beginning.

[00:16:57] Rose Oser: Yeah.

[00:16:58] George Koster: Thank you and staying with you, rose, you were gonna launch it fall of 2020. Obviously the Global Pandemic hit us. You were on the show back in that time period as well. Could you share with the audience a little bit of how COVID-19 has really impacted Z Space and the Red Shades, uh, program?

[00:17:15] Rose Oser: Oof. Well, we had to, you know, postpone it a few years.

[00:17:17] Rose Oser: Also say that during the pandemic we had specific project funding for Red Shades and we chose. To keep, I dunno if this is too Inside baseball, we chose to keep that money designated to Red Shades because we were committed to that show specifically. There was a point during the pandemic where we could have, um, some funders offered to have the project specific funding become general operating just so we could continue paying our rent.

[00:17:46] Rose Oser: And we said, no, we're gonna figure out how to pay rent and we're gonna keep saving this money. 'cause one day we're gonna reopen and we're gonna produce red shades. So for me personally, the Red Shades has been something that has helped guide me. I think because we are this multifaceted space, so much of our effort has to go into paying rent and keeping the building in good shape, all the kind of nitty gritty of just operating a venue.

[00:18:10] Rose Oser: But the Red Shades has been very artistically exciting to me, and specifically serving trans and queer artists. And it is just, you know, the impact of the pandemic has been huge on arts organizations, but it's also been enormous on individual artists. So there were certain folks who, you know, either were working on the show before or who I knew were gonna be working on it in the future, and I wanted to make sure we could.

[00:18:32] Rose Oser: Still support them. 'cause I think this show means a lot to a lot of individuals.

[00:18:36] George Koster: And Adrian, you're a writer, composer, creative person. How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact you and your ability to continue to keep moving forward on the Red Shades?

[00:18:47] Adrienne Price: Well, it put a pause on the project and it was sort of an indefinite pause because we didn't know exactly when we were gonna be able to bring it back in a way that was safe for our audiences and for our performers.

[00:18:59] Adrienne Price: And that was important to us, but it did mean a lot to me just personally, you know, that Schaffer and Rose in particular and Z Space were so committed to this project because, you know, they could have just said, oh, sorry, there's Global Pandemic. We can't do it. But they really prioritized. That they were gonna find a way to make this happen.

[00:19:18] Adrienne Price: And we thought about all different kinds of options. We're like, should we have it be an outdoor concert? Should we, you know, have it be a film? We just sort of spitballed a whole bunch of different ideas. But I think this is a show in particular that's so much about the live experience and there's so much that we can do on our stage at Z Space that we wouldn't.

[00:19:40] Adrienne Price: Be able to do if it were just sort of an outdoor concert kind of thing. I'm really glad that we were able to wait it out and produce it as a proper musical on that stage at Z Space.

[00:19:50] George Koster: And turning back to you Rose for a second, how difficult was it to basically try to bring it. Back to life, because we talked about this when you were first in the show, but I've done a whole series on performing arts spaces and you know, literally 90% of performing arts space, the industry itself was all laid off in 2020, going into 2021, and we've come back and then we've closed down and we've come back.

[00:20:11] George Koster: So how have you been able to working with the Adrian and the whole Z Space team tried to really bring the Red Shades to life and to a world premiere on October 13th.

[00:20:20] Rose Oser: It's been real hard. George. So hard. Well, I'll start with, there are so many things that are more expensive now. Everyone in the rehearsal room takes a COVID test twice a week, and if you've gotten a COVID test from CVS before, you know they cost at least $20 a pop.

[00:20:35] Rose Oser: Those add up every week for big teams. In spaces. Spaces. There's also, you know, other costs around understudies. We've had actors who have had to be out for some portion of the period due to COVID. It's still very present. It's harder to hire front of house staff right now. And when I say front of house staff, I mean bartenders, box office, anyone who's public facing.

[00:20:58] Rose Oser: I think those jobs used to be fun social jobs. And now actually they're very hard jobs. Or rather, I should say, maybe they were hard before and now they're even harder, that you're really, you know, you have to be checking vaccine and interacting with people. It's a different kind of job now. So I think that's much harder.

[00:21:13] Rose Oser: And I think we're all maybe trying to still get a hang of this whole like zoom in person hybrid thing. And when it comes to theater, like theater is really. Something that's always been about being in the room, being physical with people, sharing space, singing. So I think there has been some rockiness around trying to do some development or planning via Zoom when really we want this.

[00:21:38] Rose Oser: Thing to live and breathe in a theater. Yeah. And then I think also, you know, so much has changed for individuals. Many actors have left the Bay Area and I think people have different priorities around making theater. I think everyone who's working on this show really. Believes in the message of the show and trans and queer liberation and the San Francisco history.

[00:21:59] Rose Oser: So that's why we're all showing up every day to make it happen. But I think in general, theater is a lot harder. So part of it is about bringing that fun back.

[00:22:08] George Koster: Exactly. And in a safe way where people feel, you know, safe.

[00:22:11] Rose Oser: Mm-hmm.

[00:22:12] George Koster: And you know, for, for folks who've listened to the show and know me, I work at four different theaters in front of house and what I've noticed over the last year.

[00:22:19] George Koster: And a half of trying to come back is, you know, audiences, uh, you know, it's been about 30 to 50%. Some shows get a hundred percent, but most people are really cautious, I think. So some theaters now going into the fall of 2022 are dropping their vaccination requirement and going to just mass required inside.

[00:22:37] George Koster: So, um, you know, the other biggest piece of this is money. So I know Z Space, like all theater companies slash spaces have struggled for funds. And how can folks who are listening to the show and the public help participate in bringing the Red Shades to Z space, bring it to life in a world premiere?

[00:22:54] Rose Oser: Oh, that's such a great question, George.

[00:22:56] Rose Oser: If folks wanna donate, you can go to www.zspace.org/red shades. And there's a link specifically to donate to this show. You can also get tickets. Our tickets are sliding scale, starting at $0. So if you have $0 and you wanna see the show, please come. Please bring your friends. And if you have a lot of dollars and you wanna support trans artists and uh, nonprofit theater venue and a wonderful local playwright, then please give us a lot of money.

[00:23:30] Rose Oser: We're still trying to raise. $20,000. Today is September 23rd. We open on October 13th. So if you're feeling generous there, yes, we do still have a need. We're still fundraising and this show's important.

[00:23:43] George Koster: Thank you. And Adrian, how can folks who are listening help support the show and support you?

[00:23:47] Adrienne Price: I think Rose hit on a lot of the ways to support, but also just reminding.

[00:23:52] Adrienne Price: Folks that we would love if they could spread the word, share it on your social media, share with your friends, word of mouth. Really, there's a lot of excitement about the show, but it's important for us to spread the word as much as possible, you know, including to people who don't necessarily normally go to the theater, but who feel moved and inspired by this show's message.

[00:24:16] Adrienne Price: So please spread the word.

[00:24:17] Rose Oser: That's,

[00:24:18] George Koster: that's

[00:24:18] Rose Oser: gonna be really fun. One scandalous thing about me is that I really like fun and part of the reason why I like this show is 'cause it's really fun. And I think sometimes, especially coming out of the pandemic, we're so serious about so much theater stuff because we have to be.

[00:24:30] Rose Oser: 'cause we needed folks to save our venues and save our stories and save our artists and yes to all of that. And also the show's gonna be a blast. So come and have a great time with us.

[00:24:39] George Koster: Yes. Alright, so before we go to our final question, is there anything that I haven't asked that you would like to share or talk about?

[00:24:47] Rose Oser: We have such a talented cast and I would like to tell you how much I love this cast. We have, uh, Carmen Castillo, who is a New York actor. Carmen was in the touring production of Once, if you've heard of. The little musical one. Carmen's a rockstar. We've also got b Noel Thomas, who I adore, who's just in Zou at San Jose Playhouse is also gonna be an ACT's production of Christmas.

[00:25:13] Rose Oser: Carol B is killing it. We've got Ezra Reeves catch them now before they become a television star. We've got. Steele, who also posts a drag show at Oasis, who's in our ensemble. We've got May Ramos, Julio Chavez, Romeo Irby, and then we've got Adam Coy Neiman holding it down by playing all the villain roles and everyone is just immensely talented, really strong singers.

[00:25:37] Rose Oser: We've got. Sid Quincy and Matt Kuy Grande. Co music directing, and then we've got rock and band who's in our band, KB Boys Fury, Blair Switch, and Sid. It's a dream team. We've got a lot of queers. It's sparkly.

[00:25:54] Adrienne Price: Yeah. Everybody brings so much to their roles. Whether it's like their comedy chops, their drag chops, their dancing chop, their acting chops, just so much talent in the room.

[00:26:07] Adrienne Price: When I walk in there, I feel like it just lights up with everybody's energy. So yeah, you're gonna wanna see the show if only for the cast.

[00:26:16] George Koster: I like the act of phrase spark. Turning to our final question for each of you, and I'm gonna start with you Adrian, what do you think you've learned about yourself in these last two plus years of the pandemic?

[00:26:27] Adrienne Price: I think that I have learned that I am pretty darn resilient and that I can get through some tough times, some obstacles, some challenges. And how important it is to have strong support and strong community. And I think all of these are things that you could also learn by seeing the red shades. I think these are also themes that come up in the show directly.

[00:26:54] Adrienne Price: So it's kind of interesting when life imitates art that way.

[00:26:58] George Koster: Thank you. And Rose, how about yourself?

[00:27:00] Rose Oser: Hmm. Agreed with Adrian on the community. I think what I've felt during the pandemic, maybe also a feeling that we're all individuals. I feel like within the theater community there were so many different theater leaders who really all had to come together and, and freak out about when are we gonna reopen?

[00:27:19] Rose Oser: What's going on here? We have to make decisions. And so I feel like some of the organizational barriers kind of broke down. I feel like, you know, I am myself more so than I am Z space. And that ultimately even us, you know, working at arts organizations, we're all artists in our own right and we are all kind of working towards the same thing.

[00:27:37] Rose Oser: Then trying to tell important stories. Yeah. And I think that's also connected to community, that we need to take care of each other. 'cause that's all we've got.

[00:27:46] George Koster: And staying with that for a moment, rose, do you feel like there's some good things that have come out of the pandemic to support our performing arts community here in San Francisco?

[00:27:54] Rose Oser: Yeah, I think so. I think there have also been, you know, a lot more conversations about EDI and anti-racism work. I think now that it's a lot harder to produce theater. We're having more difficult conversations about which shows we select and why and what we put our resources into. So I do think we're all being more, well, I can't speak for everyone, but I think a lot of people are being more thoughtful about resources and sharing resources.

[00:28:19] Rose Oser: Yeah, so I think that's been positive and the connection between individual artists and arts leases. And

[00:28:24] George Koster: Adrian, how about you? Do you feel like something good has come out of the pandemic to help performing artists such as yourself?

[00:28:30] Adrienne Price: I think that artists have had to build community out of survival, out of necessity, and to sort of echo rose's.

[00:28:39] Adrienne Price: Point about breaking down barriers. You know, it's not that we're all competing against each other, even though it can feel like that at some moments. It's more that we're all kind of in the same boat and we need to look out for each other and support each other's work.

[00:28:54] George Koster: Thank you Adrian and Rose for sharing your wonderful work in the creation and production of The Red Shades, a trans superhero, rock opera, and Z space's support to bring this important show to the world.

[00:29:04] George Koster: We'll make sure that listeners have your contact information, website and social media, along with links to donate to the production of Red Shades, and of course to buy tickets to the Red Shades, which runs from October 13th to November 5th, 2022 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays starting at 7:00 PM at Z Space, which is located at four 50 Florida Street in San Francisco.

[00:29:24] George Koster: Please stay safe and healthy as we all work our way through this latest stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, and of course, all of its mutations.

[00:29:31] Rose Oser: Thank you. Thank you.

[00:29:33] George Koster: That's it for this episode of Voices of the Community. You've been listening to the Voices of Adrian Price, the writer and co composer of the Red Shades, a trans superhero rock opera along with Rose oer, the interim producing director of Z Space and the lead producer of the Red Shades.

[00:29:51] George Koster: To find out more about the Red Shade Show to purchase tickets and make a donation, please go to z space.org/red Shades. You can find out more about Z Space by listening to Schaefer and Rose in episode 12, and to find out more about the work of Word for Word, please listen to episode eight and our panel discussion with nonprofit organizations coming back to live shows in episode 82.

[00:30:16] George Koster: We hope that you enjoyed the insights, points of view and personal stories from the voices of Change makers and their nonprofits and small businesses featured in this series. To find out more and get engaged with the nonprofits, small businesses, and staff members featured in the series, please go to my website, george koster.com and click on Voices of the Community to find links to the extended versions of these interviews and to listen to the entire series.

[00:30:44] George Koster: After listening to these stories, we hope that you will consider making a donation and volunteering to provide a hand up to your fellow community members. Today's episode was made possible by the Audio Wizard and our associate producer, Eric Estrada and the Graphics Magic of Casey Nance from Citron Studios, along with the wonderful crew at the San Francisco Public Press and KSFP.

[00:31:06] George Koster: Voices of the Community is supported by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation, dedicated to a California where all low income workers have the power to advance economically more@irvine.org, voices of the Community is a member of Intersection for the Arts, which allows us to offer you a tax deduction.

[00:31:25] George Koster: For your contributions, please go to george koster.com and click on the donate link to make a donation to help us provide future shows. Just like this one. While you're on our website, you can enjoy our archive to pass shows which feature community voices working on solutions to critical issues facing Northern California communities.

[00:31:44] George Koster: And you can sign up for our newsletter to find out more about future shows as well as shows and events from the organizations that are included in our episodes. Take us along on your next COVID walk by subscribing to voices of the community. On Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[00:32:04] George Koster: You can follow us on Twitter at George Koster and we'd love to hear from you with feedback and show ideas. So send us an email toGeorge@georgekoster.com. I'm George Koster in San Francisco, and thank you for listening.

Thanks to our Sponsor

Voices of the Community is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation, dedicated to a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically. More at www.irvine.org

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We are fiscally sponsored by Intersection for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which allows us to offer you tax deductions for your contributions. Please consider making a donation to help us provide future shows just like this one. If you want to send us a check, please make checks payable to Intersection for the Arts and write [Voices of the Community] in the memo line of your check. This ensures that you’ll receive an acknowledgement letter for tax purposes, and your donation will be available for our project.

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