John Cameron Mitchell
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John Cameron Mitchell

John Cameron Mitchell (born April 21, 1963) is an American writer, actor, and director.
Mitchell was born in El Paso, Texas. The son of a retired general in the U.S. Army, he grew up on army bases and in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he attended Catholic schools. His mother is from Scotland and emigrated to the United States as a young woman.
He wrote Hedwig and the Angry Inch, an off-Broadway musical play about Hedwig, a transgendered rock musician chasing after an ex-lover who plagiarized her songs, in 1998. Three years later, he directed the feature film version of the play, casting himself as Hedwig. The film and play were critical hits and have each spawned an avid cult following.
He also appeared as the gentle country lad, Dickon, in the Broadway musical version of The Secret Garden as well as the acclaimed off-Broadway musical Hello Again for which he received a Drama Desk nomination in 1994. He can be heard on the original cast recordings of both shows.
After the success of Hedwig, Mitchell expressed an interest in financing, writing, and directing a film which would be of high quality, but would incorporate explicit sex in a naturalistic way. That movie would be called Shortbus. Completed in 2006 after a 2-year long talent search and shooting process, it was presented in May 2006 at the Cannes Film Festival. Mitchell was also the executive producer for the film Tarnation, a critically praised and award-winning documentary about the life of a gay man named Jonathan Caouette. In 2005, Mitchell also directed the Scissor Sisters video of their song "Filthy/Gorgeous," which was banned from American MTV for its explicitly sexual content. That same year, he also directed the video for Bright Eyes' "First Day of My Life".
The openly gay Mitchell has made something of a name for himself as a pundit on gay culture and gay rights, appearing on shows like Politically Incorrect and various VH1 programs.
Mitchell currently lives in New York City.

External links

John Cameron Mitchell and the Scissor Sisters's video of Filthy/Gorgeous
BBC Collective Shortbus feature including John Cameron Mitchell video interview
John Cameron Mitchell at the Internet Movie Database



Stephen Trask
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stephen Trask is an award-winning musician and composer.
He was the music director and house band member at the New York drag club Squeezebox, where he performed with stars like Debbie Harry, Lene Lovich and Joey Ramone, as well as various drag queens.
Trask composed the music and lyrics for the off-Broadway stage musical and 2001 film Hedwig and the Angry Inch, about a transexual rock star named Hedwig. In the show, Trask's real-life band Cheater performed as Hedwig's band "The Angry Inch". He received an Obie Award for the play and a Grammy award nomination for the movie.
He has also done two films with filmmaker Paul Weitz. He composed the score for 2004's In Good Company and American Dreamz, for which he also co-wrote the numerous songs the contestants sing. In addition, he scored the 2003 movie Camp: A Comedy about Drama, and The Station Agent.
Trask lives in Lexington, KY and is openly gay.
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