Our guest is writer, educator, and theater maker Allison Vincent and we talk about the queer book that saved her life: the novella Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. Goodbye to Berlin is a Queer classic. Our hero moves to Berlin where he meets the incomparable Sally Bowles. They become roommates as he explores Berlin and his sexuality. The novella was adapted into the award-winning theatrical production and film Cabaret.
For Allison, it not only saved her in writing her college thesis, but it also provided visibility to her as a Queer woman to see herself represented in history. A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon. My name is J. Der Boghossian. And this…is not just another book podcast. Or, I want to live that. I want to feel that. I hope you feel a little bit more connected to this mysterious Queer world of ours.
How we have all these little hats to wear. How do we manage them? Is there a self that just observes the world, like a camera? Clicking away? What about the self we create or have to create to get by? This autobiographical novel is a Queer classic. The novel was adapted into the award-winning theatrical production and film Cabaret. Isherwood was an out Gay writer in his lifetime, having a life-long relationship with the painter Don Bacardi. As we kick off this episode, a quick shout out to Quatrefoil Library.
Allison, tell us about yourself: You are all the things. A writer. A teacher. A Theatermaker, tell me everything. I teach University Writing, mostly for freshmen, and I absolutely love it. We work off of a workshop model, and we just invite students to first learn to write from experience, which is kind of autobiographical, kind of memoir, which is interesting, coming from this study of Isherwood and his many versions of himself.
Then we have them write from sources, and then for their final project, they get to choose any topic they like to write a researched argument. So lots of creativity and lots of freedom, and they just basically are learning skills relevant to each project that they could take into their disciplines. As a theater maker, I generally classify myself as a divisor, which basically just means that I have my fingers in a lot of production pies. But I really, really love performing in front of an audience and telling stories that links all of my lives together as a writer, as a theater maker, and as a teacher.
