CREATIVE WORKS OF
ARCHIVE GUESTS
PETER
FITZGERALD
Filmmaker • Director
Peter Fitzgerald is an accomplished director and producer whose documentaries explore both classic cinema and the LGBTQ+ experience. His *Beyond Mr. Smith*, about gay Beyond Baroque founder George Drury Smith, won Best Documentary Short Subject–World Cinema at the 2018 Amsterdam International Film Festival. *Butch Please*, examining gay masculinity during the 2019 International Mr. Leather weekend, received the Best Documentary Short award at CineKink in 2022. His more recent project, *The Sisters Film*, focuses on the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and their controversy involving the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Fitzgerald began as a performer in Broadway’s *A Chorus Line* before executive producing MGM’s *That’s Entertainment! III*. He later directed the archival documentaries *Midnight Cowboy Revisited* and *West Side Stories*, followed by television specials including *Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star*, *Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest*, and *The Age of Believing: The Disney Live-Action Classics*. At Warner Bros., he produced numerous classic-film features, including documentaries about *Singin’ in the Rain*, *Easter Parade*, and Cole Porter’s work in Hollywood.
JOHNNATHAN
KORVER
Actor • Performer
Johnnathan Korver worked as a Hollywood character actor and dress extra for more than three decades, beginning his career in 1981. His film credits include *Die Hard*, *Torch Song Trilogy*, *The Naked Gun*, *Fatal Beauty*, *Night Life*, and *BearCity 2*. On television, he spent two years working on *Cagney & Lacey* and appeared in many of the era’s most popular dramas and comedies, including *Murder, She Wrote*, *Hunter*, *Matt Houston*, *Dallas*, *Dynasty*, *Sledge Hammer!*, *1st & Ten*, and *Parks and Recreation*.
Korver later appeared in digital series including *Old Dogs & New Tricks*, *Where the Bears Are*, *My Roommate the…*, and *A Fairy Tale in La La Land*, as well as commercials for Coca-Cola and NBC Sports. He credits his years working alongside Angela Lansbury and other accomplished actors, directors, and crews as his true education in acting, professionalism, and integrity. Also a fine artist and decorative painter, Korver produced, filmed, wrote, edited, and marketed a series of instructional painting programs before retiring from the entertainment industry.
MARK
LEE GOLDBERG
Editor
Mark Lee Goldberg is an accomplished editor with more than 20 years of experience shaping reality television, documentaries, scripted dramas, promotional pieces, and trailers. His credits include the feature film Street Justice and television productions such as My Feet Are Killing Me, Wife Swap, Celebrity Wife Swap, Shark Week, Guinness World Records Unleashed, and The Great American Tag Sale with Martha Stewart.
Known for finding compelling stories within vast amounts of footage, Goldberg brings a strong instinct for music, tone, pacing, and emotional structure to every project. His work also includes documentaries and special features created for Blade: Trinity, Murder on the Orient Express, and The Rundown. Across genres, his editing is guided by an ability to uncover the story at the heart of the material and shape it into an engaging experience for audiences.
MICHAEL
SAUL
Filmmaker • Director
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Michael Saul began making films as a teenager in the 1970s. A pioneer of the early LGBTQ+ and independent film movements, he later worked as a video artist in the San Francisco Bay Area, creating experimental films with electronic composer Steven M. Miller that screened at festivals around the world. After moving to Los Angeles in 1991, Saul continued producing short films, including *Hover*, his erotic gay vampire thriller, which premiered at Outfest and went on to screen internationally.
Saul made his feature directorial debut with *True Love* in 2004, followed by *Crush* in 2009 and *The Surface* in 2015, which had its world premiere at San Francisco’s Frameline festival. He also directed the award-winning short films *Go Go Reject* and *Adults Only*, both written, produced by, and starring Heath Daniels. Since 2015, Saul has expanded his work into animation and immersive media, directing projects for interactive, virtual reality, and fulldome productions.
DOUGLAS
SOESBE
Screenwriter . Novelist
Douglas Soesbe earned a bachelor’s degree in theater from Portland State University in 1971, followed by a master’s degree in playwriting in 1976. He then moved to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting, establishing a career that has spanned film and television. His produced television movies include The Wrong Woman (1995), Blind Terror (2001), Till Dad Do Us Part (2001), and Look Again (2011).
Soesbe wrote the independent feature drama Boulevard (2014), starring Robin Williams, Kathy Baker, and Bob Odenkirk. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and featured Williams in one of his final screen roles. Alongside his screenwriting career, Soesbe has worked extensively as a Hollywood story analyst at Universal Studios and Tri-Star Pictures, evaluating and developing scripts through successive drafts. In 1999, Universal gave him an emergency assignment to evaluate and help strengthen the screenplay for Meet the Parents. His detailed notes on its characters, relationships, and dialogue helped guide John Hamburg’s rewrites as the film moved toward production.
MITCHUM
TODD
Dancer • Educator • Choreographer
Mitchum Todd's career in dance spans performance, choreography, and arts education. As a concert dancer, he performed nationally and internationally with the Hamburg Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ze'eva Cohen and Dancers, Eleo Pomare Dance Company, and Pearl Lang Dance Company, and worked with acclaimed choreographers including Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, George Faison, and Jean Erdman.
A Fulbright-Hays Scholar, Todd traveled throughout India documenting dance and puppetry. His career later expanded into choreography and arts education, including a residency with the California Center for the Arts, Escondido and a ten-year association with the Lincoln Center Institute for Arts Education. He has also developed educational programs using movement to explore history, creativity, and learning.
JOHN
KAZANJIAN
Contemporary Artist
John Kazanjian is a metaphysical artist whose abstract paintings reflect the energy and emotional insight he has gathered throughout his life. Working entirely through improvisation, he allows each choice of color and every brushstroke to guide the next, creating one-of-a-kind works intended to reveal what he describes as the soul’s essence.
Rather than presenting images with a single fixed meaning, Kazanjian invites viewers to make their own discoveries and form a personal connection with each piece. His belief in the healing effects of color on the body, mind, and spirit is central to his work. Each canvas is also composed to be displayed from any of its four sides, allowing it to be rotated, rearranged, and experienced in continually changing ways.
MARK
LEE GOLDBERG
Contemporary Artist
Mark Lee Goldberg is a largely self-taught contemporary artist whose work explores identity, memory, and the emotional dimensions of everyday life. His evolving technique has moved from exacting realism toward a freer, more expressive impressionism. Through his distinctive balance of cool and warm colors, Goldberg translates the light and shadow of lived experience onto canvas, giving his work both visual warmth and emotional depth.
Goldberg’s paintings range from intimate portraits and figurative studies to sunlit gardens, architectural scenes, and dreamlike landscapes. Works such as *Margarita Bartender* and *Melancholy* reveal his ability to find psychological depth in ordinary moments, while his gardens, pools, and abstracted natural forms invite viewers into worlds that feel at once familiar, mysterious, and deeply personal.
CHRIS
FREEMAN
Singer • Musician
Born in Seattle, Chris Freeman began playing music at an early age and launched his recording career as a bassist in the city’s emerging rock scene. After performing and recording with several groups—including Attachments—he moved to San Francisco, where he joined Pansy Division in 1991. As one of the pioneering openly gay punk bands, Pansy Division challenged industry expectations and built an enduring international following.
After moving to Los Angeles, Freeman continued producing music while earning a bachelor’s degree in film and television editing. His feature-length documentary about Pansy Division premiered in London, screened at 34 film festivals worldwide, and won an Audience Favorite award in Chicago. He later became the lead singer of GayC/DC and a member of the original rock project MARY, continuing his commitment to openly gay music with humor, energy, and unapologetic visibility.
JOHN
WALZ
Concert Cellist • Music Educator
A Southern California native, John Walz is a celebrated cellist known for his virtuosity and expressive musicianship. A student of legendary French cellist Pierre Fournier, he has appeared as soloist with hundreds of orchestras internationally, performing more than 25 concertos and premiering works by distinguished composers, including John Williams and Michael Giacchino. As a premier Hollywood studio artist, his cello can be heard on some of cinema's most famous soundtracks, including Star Wars series, Titanic, Toy Story, Transformers, Ice Age and many more. Walz currently serves as principal cellist of the Los Angeles Opera, following two decades in the same position with the Long Beach Symphony, and is co-artistic director of Le Salon de Musiques.
In 1979, Walz and pianist Edith Orloff founded the Pacific Trio, now performing with violinist Roger Wilkie. The acclaimed ensemble has presented more than 900 concerts throughout North America and Europe. Walz's extensive recording career includes major concertos and chamber works by Dvořák, Haydn, Shostakovich, Bloch, Martinů, Vivaldi, Brahms, Smetana, and Beethoven. His career also encompasses film soundtracks and international concert appearances.
GREG
WHIPPLE
Musician • Vocalist • Actor
Greg Whipple earned his Bachelor of Music from Florida State University in 1993. After working as a singer in Orlando and Seattle, he established himself as an in-demand session vocalist and professional whistler in Los Angeles in 2002. A powerful tenor with an extensive baritone range, he has contributed to more than 300 film, television, commercial, and recording projects. His screen credits include Wicked, Frozen II, Toy Story 3, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Jungle Book, Pitch Perfect 2, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and WandaVision, including the Emmy-winning song “Agatha All Along.” He was also featured as a studio whistler on Jordan Peele’s Nope.nnWhipple has recorded and performed with the acclaimed a cappella groups m-pact and Sixth Wave, contributing as a vocalist, arranger, and producer. His career has also included collaborations with artists such as Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Andrea Bocelli, as well as international touring with Frankie Valli and Vox Lumiere. In 2018–2019, he performed the role of Gerald O’Hara in the China tour of Gone with the Wind: The Musical.
PAUL
JACEK
Actor • Writer • Comedian
Paul Jacek is a teacher, author, actor, and nationally headlining stand-up comedian who received his theatrical training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts/West. A longtime regular at Hollywood’s World Famous Comedy Store, he has performed across the country and at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. His work has been profiled in *The New Yorker* and *Edge* magazine.
Jacek has written for and collaborated with comedy legends Joan Rivers, Jack Burns, and Carl Reiner, including work on TV Land’s *How’d You Get So Rich?* He also co-hosted the popular L.A. Talk Radio program *Oh, Mary!* and created the one-man show *Secrets of a Beverly Hills Shampoo Boy*, which ran for a year in Los Angeles. He is also honored to be involved with Dear ONE.
AARON
LEVENTMAN
Actor • Playwright • Producer
Aaron Leventman is a playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor who studied film at Columbia University’s Graduate School. After working with the Provincetown Theatre Company, he moved to Santa Fe, where he performed in classical and original plays, commercials, short films, and features.
Leventman’s plays have received more than 30 productions nationwide. His acclaimed *Almost Adults* inspired Santa Fe’s first LGBT Theatre Day, while *Blanche in a Wheelchair* became a finalist in two New York playwriting competitions. He has also taught theatre and film, led programming for the Santa Fe Film Festival, and appeared as a guest host on Turner Classic Movies.
BILL
RUSSELL
Playwright • Lyricist • Director
Born in Deadwood and raised in Spearfish, South Dakota, Bill Russell discovered theater at an early age. While studying at the University of Kansas, he collaborated with composer Janet Hood on Sun, Son, a contemporary retelling of the Icarus myth that won the national BMI Inter-Varsity Show Competition. His off-Broadway writing debut, Fourtune, followed in 1980 and ran for 241 performances. He later wrote and directed Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, a moving theatrical response to the AIDS crisis that has been produced throughout the United States and internationally.
Russell made his Broadway debut as the book writer and lyricist of Side Show, earning Tony Award nominations for both Best Book and Best Score with composer Henry Krieger. His extensive body of work also includes Pageant, The Last Smoker in America, Lucky Duck, Kept, Unexpected Joy, and the Gay Games anthem “Take the Flame.” Russell’s contributions to musical theater have been recognized with honorary doctorates from Morningside College and the Boston Conservatory, as well as his induction into the South Dakota Hall of Fame.
JOHN
SPARKS
Artistic Director • Songwriter
John Sparks has played an influential role in developing new musical theatre and mentoring generations of writers. He founded and co-directed the Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop from 1979 to 2002 and later served as artistic director of ANMT. He also established the Writers’ Workshop at Theatre Building Chicago and served as its artistic director from 1999 through 2009. Across these programs, Sparks mentored more than 250 writers, including *Urinetown* composer and lyricist Mark Hollmann, Kleban Award recipients, and several Richard Rodgers Award winners.
Nearly 400 musicals developed by workshop members have been produced in theatres across the country. Sparks’s own work as a composer, lyricist, and book writer includes *Buddy’s Plane Is Down*, *Babes in Barns*, *Hans Brinker*, *On the Brink*, and *Wanting Miss Julie*, with productions in Los Angeles and Chicago. His theatrical career also includes acting credits in *Some One in the House* and *Maid in America*.
