Diversity Rules Magazine

4 Diversity Rules Magazine March 2017 Tom D'Angora is a multi-award winning Producer/Director who currently produces two of the longest running musicals in New York eater history. Tom has been nominated for three Drama Desk Awards and is the winner of e Off -Broadway Alliance Award amongst others. Tom first made waves in NYC as a singer and comedi- an, winning the Backstage Bistro Award for Best Musi- cal Comedy for his one-man extravaganza, Divas I've Done. e show played for 3 years with sold out runs at Upstairs at Studio 54, in LA, Boston, and Provinc- etown. He was honored as one of Playbill.com's "Vo- cal Heros of 2003" and performed at Joe's Pub in their "Leading Men" concert alongside Broadway's biggest leading men at the time! In 2005 D'Angora was the youngest lead producer in NY to be at the helm of a major commercial production, A BROADWAY DIVA CHRISTMAS. Tom has served as producer/director to countless plays, films, albums, concerts, special events, and television shows. Tom gained notoriety for his in- novative use of celebrities in his productions and over the years has been blessed to work with some of the most notable names in show business. Tom D'Angora currently serves as lead producer and show runner for the mega hit NEWSICAL THE MUSICAL which has played over 2,000 performances at eatre Row. Tom worked for a year at Hillary for President in 2008 and traveled to 7 states (all of which HRC won) with that historic campaign. Most recently, Tom served as Hillary Clinton's LGBT Outreach Grassroots Coordi- nator. Tom's interview in the March issue will focus on this role and his thoughts moving forward in these now very turbulent and chaotic political and social times. JRK: Can you tell us a bit about your background, where you are from and all that good introductory "stuff?" TD: YES! I'm a New England Native (Cape Cod), but have been a New Yorker for 17 years. I'm a the- atre Producer/Director and currently have 3 long run- ning shows playing on 42nd st. at eatre Row. I have NEWSical e Musical, Naked Boys Singing!, and e Marvelous Wonderettes. Which are all absolute must sees :) I've been with my husband Michael for 15 years and we have the two cutest Yorkies in the whole world - Parker and Liza Minnelli (yes I am gay). Fun Fact: I have been lucky enough to be on the cover of this fabulous magazine with the cast of Naked Boys Singing in 2012 :) JRK: During the 2016 Presidential Campaign you were Hillary Clinton's LGBT Grassroots Outreach Coordinator. How did that come about? TD: I am a lifelong Hillary supporter. I have always believed she would be the greatest President this na- tion has ever seen. So I became heavily involved in the 2008 campaign and after her near win in the 2008 Primary I became very focussed on Hillary running in 2016. I began as a volunteer the day she announced she was running and within a few weeks joined the Grassroots department for the entire Primary process (I actually was Grassroots@HillaryClinton.com) A year later at Hillary's victory party for the NY Primary I was talking with HFA's amazing LGBT Outreach National director, Dominick Lowell, about adding a grassroots aspect to the LGBT outreach department. He loved the idea and within a month I moved cubicles and was on the LGBT outreach team. It was an incredible ex- perience and one of the highlights of my life. Working with the LGBT community on a daily basis kept me constantly inspired and kept me on my toes, because our community knows how to mobilize and fight for what we believe in. e LGBT community has always been a strong firewall for Hillary. I was and am incred- ibly proud to have played a small part in it. A Chat With Tom Fighting The Good Fight by Jim Koury, Editor/Publisher

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