Event

You Better Call Your Mother

Former actor/ current chef, Jamestown native, Mitchell Anderson, walked off stage at the 1996 GLAAD Awards after telling the audience he was gay, and was advised to call his mother. At that time he was a little bit famous from a ten year TV and film career and playing a gay character on Party of Five.
A nerdy, over-achieving boy, who spent his school years trying to get elected class president and not disappointing his parents,came to terms with being gay just as he was starting his career in 1983 and as the AIDS crisis was raging. Like most young gay actors, he lived sort of in and sort of out of the closet. But the spontaneous decision to come out that night changed the trajectory of his life forever.
You Better Call Your Mother, directed by fellow Juilliard alum, actress/cabaret artist Courtenay Collins, and accompanied by Jamestown's own Cindy Lind Hanson, is a collection of stories and songs that look back on his 60+ years andthe journey from closeted actor to accidental activist. And how, by choosing to live an authentic life, he has gotten to know love and happiness, success and hard work, and that his parents were indeed proud of him before they died.
Proceeds for this show will be donated to Jamestown Pride for the restoration of the AIDS Memorial Park in downtown Jamestown.