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Dan Savage: It gets better.
However bad it is now, it gets better.
And it can get great and it can get awesome.
Your life can be amazing.
But you have to tough this out here to live your life
so that you are around for it to get amazing
and it can and it will.
Narrator: In 2010, after a rash of teen suicides,
syndicated columnist Dan Savage created this YouTube video
and it quickly became a worldwide movement.
It was a message of hope for young people being bullied,
specifically lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender youth.
It inspired 50-thousand other videos of support
and even led to the creation of a musical theater production,
aptly named "It Gets Better."
Todd Makovsky: The motto of the chorus is
"Music with a Mission" and
the mission is to change hearts and minds through the arts.
Narrator: The cast features members of the
Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles.
They are in Lincoln as part of a weeklong residency.
Unidentified Community Member: But if you are a
student in an unsafe environment, there's not...
Rhonda Garelick: ...as you know, this is season 5 of the
Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium with a special LGBTQA focus...
RHONDA: The goal is to take performing arts and
use them as a way to open up larger conversations
and to sort of weave together the
experience of watching the arts with the critical
thinking that we normally teach at a university.
Sacha Sacket: How much is the community involved in these issues?
Because I believe it's important - that's why I'm here...
Narrator: Conducting workshops and lectures is
just one aspect of the community outreach effort.
Unidentified student: I think that maybe just
having an open dialogue about it is really hard...
♪ Lincoln High School choir singing ♪
Narrator: The residency culminates with a public
performance featuring a local choir onstage with
the cast in the show's finale.
♪ Lincoln High School choir singing ♪
Jason Currie: We've never had a high school choir before,
but they proved to be very well prepared.
And they sound great!
I can tell that it's something they care about and
they are concerned about just by the way they're performing.
Narrator: The Lincoln High School Mixed Chorus
gets just two days of rehearsals with key cast members.
Jason: You're too short to be back there.
You have to be in front where everyone can see you!
Nancy Flores: People suffering about like
suicide and depression, sometimes we don't know
who they are because they keep it inside.
♪ Lincoln High School choir singing ♪
Nancy: We sing to them and they might be one of the audience
and might like hope for another day.
♪ Lincoln High School choir singing ♪
NANCY: Like, I'm really kind of shy, I don't like being
like in front of the audience but then I'm like,
you know what, I'm just going to like do it.
(laughs)
♪ Lincoln High School choir singing ♪
Narrator: The show is full of humor...
Tootsie: The Nazis are here!
Come with us...
(Laughter)
Mikey D: Have you never seen the Wizard of Oz?
Thadd: What, are you serious?
Tootsie: Just play the damn movie!
(Big laughter)
Narrator: Yet the messages in the performance
address very serious issues.
Anson: Dear Mom and Dad, I'm so sorry.
Everyone at school hates me.
I just couldn't handle it anymore and I know you
would hate me too if you knew the truth.
I hope you can forgive me someday.
I love you.
CJ
♪ MUSIC ♪
Narrator: Cast Member Sacha Sacket wrote three
of the songs in the show.
As a teenager, he was bullied
because other students perceived that he was gay.
Sacha Sacket: ♪ "He tries to understand..." ♪
SACHA: People wouldn't talk to me,
it was sort of like gay by association.
I was very much a person that isolated and
kept things bottled in and didn't know how to ask for help
and I think that's the power of this show and
what we do with our outreach.
There are people here that want to help and
asking for help is not such a bad thing at all.
♪ IGB Performance Singing ♪
Narrator: For these actors, this isn't merely theatre
and it isn't political.
It's about saving lives.
Jason: The fact of the matter is, the suicide rate
among LGBT youth is 8 times as high as it is
for a heterosexual child and if I can go into one place
and one environment and have one child see that
there are options beyond what they can currently see,
I think that that is the point and the job that
we've done is - that's why we're here.
Anson: "Everybody has friends."
Christopher: "No, not everybody has friends!"
Anson: "That's preposterous!"
Christopher: "I'm telling you,
"I know this kid and he does not have any friends!"
BILLY THOMPSON: It's not an agenda of recruitment.
It's not the coming out show.
Tootsie: "You have someone to talk to,
"Don't you, honey?."
BILLY THOMPSON: We don't want straight kids to be gay,
we want to help your stay kids survive and succeed
and see that there's a future for themselves.
♪ Singing ♪
Jason: Okay, take that "brring" - you both got happier,
let's take that feeling of happiness and hope...
TYLER HOUSTON: The arts kind of provide a catalyst
or means of getting into someone, breaking through
someone's wall without necessarily having to
shout facts at them or opinions or statements.
It's a way to kind of blend that centerpiece
emotional language and kind of touching them
in a way they wouldn't have necessarily been
open to or thought to before.
♪ Singing ♪
Narrator: Not every choir member chose to participate,
but for those who did, this is more than just a performance.
♪ Singing ♪
Joey Allen Sherman: I feel like there's not enough opportunities
for someone to really help another person.
As a bi-*** male,
a couple years back they would have helped me
tremendously if I had someone say
what we're saying in this play.
♪ Singing ♪
Nyaleiny Pur: I have a lot of friends who are LGBT.
I think it's a great way to support them
and have them know that there's people who care.
People care, I care, like I care for your well being
and like I think everybody should be loved,
like everybody should have a friend with them.
♪ Singing ♪
(Applause and shouts from the audience)