Giving a Voice to Queer Youth on Cape Cod
Seven years ago, Celeste Lecesne noticed a change in the young people he was meeting while speaking at schools. “They have each other in a way I didn’t have when I was their age,” he says. “There’s a narrative out there that queer young people are troubled.” But there’s another narrative, too. “They’re incredibly creative and resourceful. There’s never before been a generation that came of age knowing their history and having a community.”
In response to this new audience, Lecesne cofounded the Future Perfect Project in 2017. (Lecesne had previously cofounded the Trevor Project, an organization dedicated to suicide prevention efforts for LGBTQ youth, in 1998.) The new project is an amalgamation of creative ideas from queer youth around the country.
Before the pandemic, Lecesne traveled around the U.S. with Future Perfect Project cofounder Ryan Amador hosting workshops that encouraged queer youth to tell their own stories. The project then moved to an online format to enable participants to meet one another and make art together.
“We created two full-length albums of their songs and two seasons of short animations,” says Lecesne. In February, the Future Perfect Project launched a new podcast series called I’m Feeling Queer Today! “It’s literally handing the mic over to these young people and getting them to tell us what it’s like to be them,” he says.
The project is partnering with the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown this summer on a free workshop for 12 LGBTQ youth from Cape Cod ages 16 to 22. Participants will work together to create a podcast that will be included in the next season of the FPP’s new podcast series. The workshop begins in May with six online sessions for preproduction activities, continues in July with a weeklong in-person workshop during FAWC’s Queer Week, and ends with four online postproduction sessions.
A practicing Buddhist, Lecesne believes there is something uniquely powerful about the human voice. “One of the things that is said in Buddhism is that the voice does the Buddha’s work,” he says. The new podcast project is about amplifying those voices, enabling listeners to hear the stories of Cape Cod’s queer youth and envisioning a better future for all through mutual understanding and dialogue.
The application deadline for the program is April 30. See fawc.org and thefutureperfectproject.org for more information. —Dorothea Samaha
A Musical Collaboration at the Eastham Library
Pianist Jim Brosseau met vocalist and artist Mike Sullivan at the Gifford House in Provincetown last summer when Sullivan needed an accompanist. “We hit it off almost instantly,” says Brosseau. They liked a lot of the same material, including songs by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, the Beatles, and Elton John. “Within a few hours, we had a whole evening’s show put together,” Brosseau says.
That collaboration will culminate in a concert at the Eastham Public Library (190 Samoset Road) on Saturday, March 30 at 1 p.m. Brosseau and Sullivan will perform selections from the Great American Songbook along with Broadway tunes and jazz and pop standards — and at least one song from a musical written by Brosseau.
“I’ve been playing piano my entire life,” says Brosseau. Growing up in Detroit, he was offered piano lessons in elementary school, but he didn’t want to stay after hours. Instead, he taught himself how to play at home. As an adult, he began his career as a journalist for publications including USA Today, Town and Country, and Condé Nast Traveler. But music remained an important part of his life. “I always had my own piano,” Brosseau says. “I played occasional parties and things on the side.”
It wasn’t until he moved to Provincetown in 2010, however, that playing the piano became a much bigger part of his life. “I started getting gigs around P’town,” Brosseau says. “That led me to working with singers and to my Monday night gig at Tin Pan Alley.” There he hosts Friend’s Night, a showcase for local and visiting singers.
Brosseau has also written his own show. Titled Locked and Loaded: An American Musical, it addresses the issue of gun violence and has been performed in Provincetown and New York City. “I always say that Provincetown calls your creative bluff,” Brosseau says. “If you’re going to write or dance or sing, this is where you do it, because the next stop is the ocean.”
Brosseau says he’s drawn to musicals because of their ability to reach people. “Theater should entertain, of course,” he says. “But it should also leave you with something to think about. Whatever you’ve seen or heard should stay with you for a few hours, maybe a couple of days, maybe a lifetime.”
The concert at the Eastham Library is free. See easthamlibrary.org for information. —Eve Samaha
Going Bananas in Wellfleet
Oysters are usually at the top of the list when locals consider the emblematic food items of Wellfleet. But a look at local history may convince you that bananas belong up there, too.
On Saturday, March 30, the Wellfleet Historical Society (262 Main St.) will celebrate the third annual Banana Bash in honor of Wellfleet native Lorenzo Dow Baker (1840-1908), also known as the “Banana King.” He is credited with importing the first bananas to the United States from Jamaica in 1870. The event also celebrates Baker’s ties to Jamaica and the Outer Cape’s Jamaican community.
Born in a village on Wellfleet’s Bound Brook Island, Baker began his career as a schooner captain ferrying goods and workers around New England, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. He encountered bananas during a stop to repair his ship in Port Antonio, Jamaica, and made the fateful decision to bring some of the unusual fruits to the U.S. as a moneymaking venture. Within 15 years of importing those first bananas, Baker and his business partners established the Boston Fruit Company, which was later renamed the United Fruit Company (and is now Chiquita Brands International).
Although United Fruit’s practices in the decades following Baker’s death were oppressive and exploitative, his relationship to Jamaica was largely a positive one during his lifetime. He endowed several schools, hospitals, and churches and “adopted” young men and families who he supported throughout their lives.
Baker’s business activities extended to the development of the tourism and hospitality industry on the Outer Cape as well. After building the 62-room Chequessett Inn on a wharf near present-day Mayo Beach in 1902, Baker brought many Jamaican workers and their families to work in it alongside local workers; many of those Jamaican families are ancestors of members of the present-day local Jamaican community. (The Chequessett Inn was destroyed by ice damage in 1934, but Baker’s family summer home, Belvernon, still stands at 1515 Baker Ave. in Wellfleet.)
The free event, which takes place from noon to 2 p.m., will include family activities, Jamaican music — and, of course, banana-based treats including banana splits and banana bread. Donations are accepted. See wellfleethistoricalsociety.org for information. —John D’Addario
