Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Kearns, Michael
- Abstract:
- Clippings, flyers, manuscripts, photographs, programs, posters, scripts, and VHS videotapes of the works, theatrical performances, and appearances of Michael Kearns; a parent, playwright, producer, director, actor, author, and activist, who is openly gay and HIV-positive.
- Extent:
- 15.5 Linear Feet 10 archive cartons, 6 archive boxes, 5 flat archive boxes, and 1 archive shoebox
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
Box #, Folder #, Michael Kearns Papers, Coll2008-009, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Michael Kearns Papers primarily documents Kearns' theatrical and charitable contributions to the community from the early 1970s. He organized and produced various benefits and awareness raising events for political, HIV/AIDS, and community organizations including an annual event in commemoration of World AIDS day. The collection includes awards, clippings, correspondence, flyers, manuscripts, photographs, programs, scripts, and VHS videotape cassettes. To a lesser extent, the collection also includes materials regarding Kearns' personal life, including his relationship with his husband Philip Juwig (died 1992) and with his daughter Tia.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Michael Kearns was born in St. Louis, Missouri, 1950. He attended the Goodman Theater School in Chicago before making his way to Los Angeles in the early 1970s where he has acted on the stage, in television, and in motion pictures. Since the 1980s he has grown into the profession as director, producer, acting teacher, playwright, and author. Hollywood's first openly gay actor, Kearns has been involved in various theater productions throughout Los Angeles addressing HIV/AIDS while also appearing in mainstream television. In addition to more than a dozen produced plays and solo pieces including The Truth Is Bad Enough (1983), Intimacies (1989), More Intimacies (1990), Rock (1992), Attachments (1996), Tell-Tale Kisses (1998), Make Love, Not War (2005), and Once upon a Time in South Africa (2007), his writings have appeared in a wide variety of publications, including the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly and Advocate. He has authored seven books: T-Cells & Sympathy, Acting = Life, Getting Your Solo Act Together, The Truth is Bad Enough, The Solo Performer's Journey, The Drama of AIDS, and Life Expectancies. He received the 2002 Playwright’s Arena Award for Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theater acknowledging three decades of his work as an actor, writer, producer, director, teacher, and fundraiser. In addition to his artistic contributions Kearns has been honored for his philanthropic endeavors by numerous organizations. Among his philanthropic accomplishments was the creation of Southland Theater Artists Goodwill Event (STAGE), which since 1984 has raised millions of dollars for HIV/AIDS services and charities throughout Southern California.
SĂłcrates Silva
- Acquisition information:
- Gifts of Michael Kearns, July 2008, May-July 2011, October 2012, June 2013, March 2014, and June 2014, and dates unknown.
- Processing information:
-
Collection processed by Michael C. Oliveira, with assistance from SĂłcrates Silva, 2008. Additional materials processed by Kyle Morgan, 2015.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged into six series, Theater; Emcee, Model, and Speaker; Writings; Awards, Commendations, and Honors; Biographical; and Professional and Personal Papers. The Theater Series and the Writings Series are divided into subseries. The Theater Series includes the subseries: Playwright, Director, Actor, and Producer and the Writing Series includes the subseries: Author, Poet and Journalist, and Columnist. Each of these series and subseries are arranged alphabetically by the title or name of the performance, publication, or organization. With the following exceptions, readings by Kearns at ONE, Spoken Interludes and the West Hollywood Book Fair were placed at the end of the Actor subseries; and the folders of Editorials and Letters to the Editor along with articles about Family were placed at the end of the Journalist, Columnist subseries. The Professional and Personal Papers series comprises materials donated after the initial publication of the finding aid in 2008.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
- Terms of access:
-
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
- Preferred citation:
-
Box #, Folder #, Michael Kearns Papers, Coll2008-009, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
909 West Adams BoulevardLos Angeles, CA 90007, US
- Contact:
- (213) 821-2771