Alexandra Billings
Alexandra Scott Billings (born March 28, 1962) is an American actress, teacher, and singer. Billings is the second openly transgender woman to have played a transgender character on television, which she did in the 2005 made-for-TV movie '' Romy and Michele: In the Beginning''. She is also known for portraying the recurring character Davina in the Amazon series ''Transparent'' and has played transgender characters in ''ER'', ''Eli Stone'', ''How to Get Away with Murder'', ''Grey's Anatomy'' and ''The Conners''. Early life Billings was born in Illinois into a multiracial family; she is of European American, African American, and Native American ancestry. Billings' father, Robert Billings, was a music teacher at Los Angeles Harbor College and the musical director for the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, which influenced her interest in theater. She assisted, working backstage with Carol Burnett and Yul Brynner. She also appeared in ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' and ''The Roar of th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Schaumburg, Illinois
Schaumburg ( ) is a village mostly in Cook County and partly in DuPage County in northeastern Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 78,723. Schaumburg is around northwest of the Chicago Loop and northwest of O'Hare International Airport. It is part of the Golden Corridor. In 2018 ''Money'' magazine ranked the Village of Schaumburg the Best Place to Live in Illinois. In 2017, ''Money'' ranked Schaumburg the 9th-best place to live in the United States. Along with Bolingbrook, Schaumburg has one of Illinois's two IKEA stores. It contains the Woodfield Mall, the 10th largest mall in the United States, which at most times has over 300 stores. Schaumburg's transition from a rural community to a suburban city began with Alfred Campanelli's first large-scale suburban-style development in 1959 and Woodfield Mall's opening on September 9, 1971. Schaumburg is bordered by Hoffman Estates and Palatine to the north, Inverness in northwest, Rolling Meadows to t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Los Angeles Harbor College
Los Angeles Harbor College (LAHC) is a public community college in Wilmington, California. It is one of two community colleges serving the South Bay region of Los Angeles. LAHC serves mainly students from Harbor City, Carson, San Pedro, Gardena, Lomita, Wilmington and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. LAHC accommodates over 8,900 students per semester, and is located between Wilmington and Harbor City, the heart of the Los Angeles harbor region. As of 2010, 37% of LAHC's population were part-time students, with 65% describing themselves as full-time. The school population is about 40% male and 60% female. Academics Like most community colleges in the state of California, LAHC offers programs for students to eventually transfer to a four-year university as well as occupational training programs in business and office administration, electronics technology, computer technology, and nursing. The college also offers a program for international students. Notable alumni * Gary ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Larry Kramer
Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to London, where he worked with United Artists. There he wrote the screenplay for the film ''Women in Love'' (1969) and received an Academy Award nomination for his work. In 1978, Kramer introduced a controversial and confrontational style in his novel '' Faggots'', which earned mixed reviews and emphatic denunciations from elements within the gay community for Kramer's portrayal of what he characterized as shallow, promiscuous gay relationships in the 1970s. Kramer witnessed the spread of the disease later known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) among his friends in 1980. He co-founded the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), which has become the world's largest private organization assisting people living with AIDS. Kramer grew frust ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Steppenwolf Theatre
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on Halsted Street. The theatre's name comes from Hermann Hesse's novel '' Steppenwolf'', which original member Rick Argosh was reading during the company's inaugural production of Paul Zindel's play, '' And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little'', in 1974. After occupying several theatres in Chicago, in 1991, it moved into its own purpose-built complex with three performing spaces, the largest seating 550. A recipient of the Regional Tony Award, several of its productions have transferred to Broadway. History The name Steppenwolf Theatre Company was first used in 1974 at a Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield. The company presented '' And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little'' by Paul Zindel, ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' by Tom Stoppa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Court Theatre (Chicago)
Court Theatre is a Tony Award-winning professional theatre company located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, where it was established in 1955. Court Theatre is affiliated with the University of Chicago, receiving in-kind support from the University and operating within the larger University umbrella. Court Theatre puts on five plays per season, which are attended by over 35,000 people each year, in addition to various smaller performance events such as play readings. History Charles Newell has been Artistic Director since 1994. In 2018, Angel Ysaguirre joined Court Theatre's leadership as executive director. In 2010, Court Theatre established itself as the Center for Classic Theatre at the University of Chicago. As explained on the theatre's website, through this position, Court Theatre is "dedicated to the curation of large-scale, interdisciplinary theatrical experiences". Court Theatre has used the University as a resource in many ways, including through t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Light Opera Works
Music Theater Works (formerly Light Opera Works) is a resident professional not-for-profit musical theatre company in Evanston, Illinois. It was founded in 1980 by Philip Kraus, Bridget McDonough, and Ellen Dubinsky. Music Theater Works has presented over 75 productions of operetta and musical theatre at Northwestern University's 1,000-seat Cahn Auditorium. Since 1998, in addition to its three annual productions in this theatre, Music Theater Works also produces a fourth, more intimate show, in the 450 seat Nichols Concert Hall. The company performs all of its productions in English with orchestra. History Kraus was the first Artistic Director of the company, serving from 1981 through 1999. The first production of the company occurred in 1981 with a staging of Gilbert and Sullivan's ''H.M.S. Pinafore''. Under Kraus' leadership, the company's main emphasis in programming centered on American, French and Viennese operetta, and Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. Lara Teeter succe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Miss Continental
Miss Continental is an annual female impersonation pageantry system founded in 1980 by Jim Flint. It takes place at the Baton Show Lounge in Chicago, Illinois, and is usually held over Labor Day weekend. In 1991, the Miss Continental Pageantry System created Miss Continental Plus for plus-size competitors weighing 225 pounds or more. Miss Continental Elite was created in 2004 for entertainers forty years of age and older. Miss Continental Plus and Miss Continental Elite had been held each year during Easter weekend in Chicago; now all are held during Labor Day weekend. Mr Continental was formed in 2003 for male entertainers. Winners References The Official Website of The Continental Pageantry System The Official Facebook Page of The Continental Pageantry System [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy (Grammy Legend Award), Oscar, and Tony ( EGOT). Minnelli is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour. Daughter of actress and singer Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, Minnelli was born in Los Angeles, spent part of her childhood in Scarsdale, New York, and moved to New York City in 1961 where she began her career as a musical theatre actress, nightclub performer, and traditional pop music artist. She made her professional stage debut in the 1963 Off-Broadway revival of ''Best Foot Forward (musical), Best Foot Forward''Scott Schechter (2004): ''The Liza Minnelli Scrapbook'', pp. 12–13. and received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for starring in ''Flora the Red Menace'' in 1965, which marked the start of her lifelo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939). She attained international stardom as an actress in both musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Renowned for her versatility, she received an Academy Juvenile Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Special Tony Award. Garland was the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, which she won for her 1961 live recording titled ''Judy at Carnegie Hall''. Garland began performing as a child with her two older sisters, in a vaudeville group " The Gumm Sisters" and was later signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. She appeared in more than two dozen films for MGM. Garland was a frequent on-screen partner of both Mickey Rooney and Gene Kelly and regularly collaborated w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List of people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards, awarded an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT). Streisand began her career by performing in nightclubs and Broadway theaters in the early 1960s. Following her guest appearances on various television shows, she signed to Columbia Records, insisting that she retain full artistic control, and accepting lower pay in exchange, an arrangement that continued throughout her career, and released her debut ''The Barbra Streisand Album'' (1963), which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Throughout her recording career, Streisand has topped the US Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 chart with 11 albums—a record for a woman—including ''People (Barbra Streisand album), People'' (1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Roar Of The Greasepaint—the Smell Of The Crowd
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jesus Christ Superstar
''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with much of the plot centered on Judas, who is dissatisfied with the direction in which Jesus is steering his disciples. Contemporary attitudes, sensibilities and slang pervade the rock opera's lyrics, and ironic allusions to modern life are scattered throughout the depiction of political events. Stage and film productions accordingly contain many intentional anachronisms. Initially unable to get backing for a stage production, the composers released it as a concept album, the success of which led to the show's Broadway on-stage debut in 1971. By 1980, the musical had grossed more than worldwide. Running for over eight years in London between 1972 and 1980, it held the record for longest-running West End musical before it was overtaken by '' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |