Uncategorized | 3:18 pm | November 5, 2010 | By Melissa Cail

Yale “It Gets Better” video hits the web

The Yale Repertory Theatre and Yale School of Drama “It Gets Better Video” has hit the web.

The video, which is part of a campaign that offers encouragement to LGBT youth across the country who are dealing with bullying and issues of sexual identity, features testimonies from faculty, students, staff and guest artists from the Rep and School of Drama speaking from various spots in the Yale Rep Theatre, University Theatre and along York Street. Steven Padla, Press Director for the Rep, kicks off the film, discussing what it was like to be designated “the class faggot” in his seventh grade class at a Catholic school.

“It made me sick, physically sick—I missed 56 and a half days of school that year,” Padla recalls in the video. “Kids thought it was really funny, when I did go to school, to ask me if I had AIDS like Ryan White.”

Ellen McLaughlin and Kathleen Chalfant, who are currently performing in the Rep’s production of “A Delicate Balance” also spoke in the video while sitting on the play’s set. McLaughlin is straight and said that though she has no idea what it is like to come out, she was the target of bullying in sixth grade when girls in her class formed the “Hate Ellen Club.”

James Bundy, Dean of the School of Drama and Artistic Director of the Yale Rep, concludes the video alongside Deputy Dean and Managing Director Vicky Nolan and Associate Dean Joan Channick.

“We work in a community of 200 students from all over the United States and all over the world,” Bundy said while standing outside the University Theatre. “And we’re here to tell you, it does get better.”

The video was filmed on Monday by the Rep’s videographer David Kane.

Correction: November 6, 2010

An earlier version of this post misstated the name of Associate Dean Joan Channick.

Comments