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Charis to offer musical portrayal of coming out process
(by Kara Krekeler - April 29, 2009)
In a certain sector of society, the phrase “coming out” conjures visions of 16-year-old girls in frothy white ballgowns and elbow-length white gloves. In another sector, the phrase refers to the often-difficult process of revealing oneself as gay.
Charis: The St. Louis Women’s Chorus will combine those two definitions in “Charis Comes Out,” a concert that’s billed as a musical portrayal of the coming out process. The performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. May 1 and 2 at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park.
“We’re 16, and although we certainly won’t be wearing ball gowns and elbow-length gloves at the concert, we will be reintroducing ourselves to the St. Louis community,” said longtime Charis member Sharon Spurlock.
Charis was founded 16 years ago when Juliet Jackson and Cindy Sohn, a lesbian couple that sang in a Sweet Adelines choir, felt increasingly uncomfortable by the fact that they had to hide their relationship from the other chorus members. They approached the Gateway Men’s Chorus, a gay chorus that is still performing today, to seek guidance on forming a lesbian chorus.
“They were the first gay chorus in St. Louis, and it was typical of large cities” in the late 1980s to have a gay men’s group that inspired a female counterpart, said Dina Young, who joined Charis some 14 years ago.
The director of Gateway Men’s Chorus put Jackson and Sohn in contact with Jane Clark, a Methodist minister who helped found Charis, which is pronounced “care-is” and is named after an ancient Greek word referring to all aspects of women’s culture including music, dance and poetry. Young said that it often referred to “what women were doing on the island of Lesbos,” the Greek island that is the inspiration for the word “lesbian.”
Clark, who was straight, performed with the choir until her death two years ago. She also became an activist for gay and lesbian rights, and risked being defrocked for performing commitment ceremonies for three Charis couples and several other gay and lesbian couples.
In the early years, the chorus — which had just 12 members to begin with — grew primarily by word of mouth or through fliers posted at gay and lesbian bookstores. Now Charis, which consistently has between 30 and 35 members and a constantly evolving membership, finds new members through websites such as GayStLouis.com.
Young said that Charis’ membership includes “all who identify themselves as women,” including “out and proud” lesbians, straight women, bisexual women and transsexuals. It also doesn’t matter how well those women sing. “Our message that we try to convey is to be assuring and confirming” to women who may not feel comfortable in other choirs, Young said. “Some women come to us to sing who are just coming out, so [performing] is not always easy to do.”
That’s part of the reason that the upcoming concert focuses on the coming out process, from the shame and negative feelings most gay and lesbian individuals initially experience to the self-acceptance, pride and eventual political activism that often follow.
“I tried to come up with a plan that made it more of a story,” said Kourtney Strade, a Charis singer who makes her debut as the group’s artistic director with this concert.
To create the story, Strade chose a wide variety of songs, including “Natural Woman” — which will illustrate the point at which one realizes that it’s all right to feel attracted to another woman — and “Getting Married,” which accompanies the politically active portion of the program.
To further illustrate the coming out process, Charis has teamed up with Growing American Youth, a group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual teens. Members of the teen group will read from essays that they’ve written about their own coming out stories.
“This is a natural collaboration,” Strade said, adding that this “Coming Out” concert is the first time the two organizations have worked together. “It’s all about being OK with who you are.”
“We’ve never done a direct youth outreach program before. We always wanted to do it, and this time it just gelled,” Young added. She said that at a recent meeting with Growing American Youth, Charis members were able to see how coming out has changed since they were going through the process as teens. “Things have gotten better, but there are still battles to fight and still education to be done.”
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