In Season 4 of The TMI Project Podcast: Pride Stories, co-hosts Julie Novak and Blake Pfeil profile 13 of our favorite LGBTQIA+ storytellers, all of whom share radically true pride stories to record history, explore identity, save lives, and celebrate being queer and alive!
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Podcast Co-Hosts
Julie Novak
TMI Project Workshop Leader
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
“To be a part of helping people release the shame that binds them, to see people transform in the most positive way after sharing their truth is what gives my life meaning. Countless times I have witnessed how the act of being seen and heard can create true connection and lasting change.”
Julie is a multi-talented performer, writer, and musician who enjoys making people laugh, feel loved, and consider their role in making the world a better place. Aside from co-founding TMI Project, Julie is a media producer and facilitator with The Future Perfect Project, a queer-led organization that offers free arts programming to LGBTQIA+ youth across the globe. She has performed all over the United States, including a tour of her one-person show America’s Next Top, which had a successful run in the NYC Fringe Festival. Currently, Julie is the host of No One Like You (broadcast on TMI Project media partner Radio Kingston/WKNY), a weekly program where she interviews everyday heroes who share uplifting stories about turning their kryptonite into their superpower. Learn more: julienovak.com
Blake Pfeil
Operations & Programs Manager
& TMI Project Workshop Leader
Pronouns: He/Him/His
“It’s humbling to be part of a mission committed to exploring the cultural dynamics of intersectionality. For centuries, the art of true storytelling has allowed for unheard voices to find an audience and untold stories to come to light. In a day and age when truth is constantly under fire, there is hope when all kinds of marginalized voices are able to find platforms like TMI Project to share common ground.”
Blake Pfeil is a multidisciplinary performance artist & writer whose original songwriting and theatrical work has been featured in notable stints at Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, Rockwood Music Hall, the Highline Ballroom, NY Live Arts, Kasteel Well (Well, Netherlands), Icaro Teatro (Queretaro, Mexico), Gyeonggi English Village (Paju, South Korea), Concordia College, Emerson College, Purchase College, the National YoungArts Foundation, Shakespeare Theatre of NJ, Huntington Theatre Company, New Repertory Theatre, BSP Kingston, Denizen Theatre, among others. Blake’s debut album Wallpaper is available anywhere you can stream/buy music online. He is the creator of the Joni Mitchell-inspired theatrical creation THE BBC, 1970 and is currently working on All-American Ruins, a collection of stories based on his experiences exploring abandoned buildings across the United States. Blake is one of the cofounders of NYC-based folk-fusion collective Macabre Americana, hosts “The Pfeil File” on Radio Kingston / WKNY (107.9 FM / 1490 AM in the Hudson Valley), and currently serves as Operations & Programs Manager at TMI Project. BFA, Emerson College; MA, Purchase College.
EPISODE #1 | How a Sticker for The Trevor Project Saved Ray’s Life
EPISODE #2 | Meet Your Hosts: Julie & Blake’s Gay Agenda
EPISODE #3 | Ness Breaks Through The Mirror
EPISODE #4 | What Marilyn Monroe Means to Zelda
EPISODE #5 | Liam Makes Room to Dance
EPISODE #6 | Bailey Finds True Strength
EPISODE #7 | Pat & Ralph: Pride Stories from LGBTQ Elders
EPISODE #8 | Windy’s Coming Out Story: Past, Present, and Future
EPISODE #9 | Kiebpoli & Erik: Black Trans Stories Matter (Season 5 Preview)
ABOUT TMI PROJECT & THE PODCAST
Since 2010, TMI Project has led more than 100 true storytelling workshops and staged live storytelling performances by nearly 2,000 storytellers, which have been presented to audiences of nearly 200,000. In the past, you had to wait on line to get seated in an off-broadway theater, a cafeteria in a detention center, or perhaps you were coming to hear activists perform their stories at the United Nations. Now, you can listen from anywhere in the world. Tune in and join us. While you listen, don’t forget to ask yourself, “What is my TMI story?” We all have one.
Podcast Partners
funders
TMI Project programming is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
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