2025 SEASON: SEX.
This programming season focuses on sex. The physical activity we engage in for pleasure, sport, and procreation. As part of this investigation, gender and the words we use to define how and with whom we have sex are also examined. The word “Sex” for this season is a corporal act and gender is a political construct.
Letters Read chose the word sex as the 2025 theme because it is blatant and attention-grabbing. It is also nuanced. For instance, what is legal and what is not? What modes of having sex are socially acceptable and not? This season, Letters Read will rely on information gathered from the Kinsey Institute website, the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast organization, and the Planned Parenthood archive at Newcomb Institute. Additional information will be based on recorded interviews with medical professionals and practitioners, and members of alternative networks for those outside official, legal institutions.
Letters Read has addressed sex in previous seasons, covering topics from text dating in the 2018 event to Lafcadio Hearn’s admiration for a beautiful young woman in 2017 and 2018, and episodes such as “Lemons to Lemonade” (2022 podcast), “Drugs, Sex, Rock & Roll” (2023 podcast), and the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 2024 podcast series. Sex is an integral part of the narrative. As is gender.
Gender, gender…on January 20, 2025, according to the presidential decree, there are two genders, male and female. Gosh, only two? Alternatively, the 2020 Letters Read LGBTQIA+ Glossary, the self-described reference spreadsheet that became outdated the moment it was published, no. Defining gender, like talking about sex is nuanced and much more complex. For language in the current age, Letters Read prefers an omnigender approach, possessing all genders. Omnigender refutes the concept of only two genders.
Here is the 2025 Letters Read, the sex cycle:
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- April introduction, listen to the mini-podcast HERE.
- Lust vs Love, listen to the mini-podcast HERE.
- Sex, Love, Gender, and Trust. A full episode, listen HERE.
- Having sex.
- Safer sex training during the HIV|AIDS crisis with Hywel Sims and sexual health in the current era.
- Crimes against nature and the law.
- Abortion: institutional, medical, and alternative.
- September: Terri Bartlett & the 1973 Formation of Planned Parenthood New Orleans. A live event in partnership with Planned Parenthood of the Gulf South.
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2024 SEASON: An Introduction to Family. Chosen & Blood
Comprising letters and documents from two very different kinds of families: families we are born with and those we choose. The first subject belongs to the first category, Josephine Louise Newcomb. Her’s is a family saga that turns venal. The second is the latter category with four case studies from the early days of the HIV | AIDS crisis in the late 20th century. These stories are presented in five-minute, incubator-style, experimental podcasts. The Newcomb and HIV | AIDS readings continue the 2023-24 theme, New York/New Orleans, and are live performances. Links to recordings for these are provided.
2004 LETTERS FROM THE 1980S HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC.
In partnership with the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana, Letters Read is producing four, incubator-style, mini-podcasts on early HIV/AIDS awareness and activism in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the country at large. Each launches on the dates that follow and remains available thereafter.
DIRECTOR’S PREAMBLE AVAILABLE HERE.
June 6 Mark Gonzalez, protest, and ACT UP. LISTEN HERE.
Aug 8 Noel Twilbeck and Crescent Care, LISTEN HERE.
Oct 18 Brad Ott, Activism & Underground Publishing, LISTEN HERE.
Dec 5 Pierre Rene “Peter” DeLancey, LISTEN HERE.
Dec 11 AIDS Hospice and Hywel Sims, LISTEN HERE.
October 29, 2024
THE JOSEPHINE LOUISE NEWCOMB STORY
Newcomb Institute, Tulane University.
A second reading from the letters of Josephine Louise Newcomb.
Nick Slie, Lisa Shattuck, Shadow Angelina Starkey, and Robert Valley.
LISTEN HERE.
April 18, 2024
THE LETTERS OF JOSEPHINE LOUISE NEWCOMB
Catapult, New Orleans
Chris Kamenstein, Shadow Angelina Starkey, and Robert Valley
research and editing by Jarret Lofstead and audio engineer Steve Gilliland.
LISTEN HERE.
March 10, 2024
LETTERS OF JOSEPHINE LOUISE NEWCOMB
A Preview Reading live at the Mudlark Theatre.
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November 5, 2023
INCUBATOR XI.
WATER & SALT Two Cities’ Dilemmas.
A production created from material collected during the creation of Drugs, Sex, Rock & Roll: A Year of Magic and Wonder. LISTEN HERE.
October 20, 2023
DRUGS, SEX, ROCK & ROLL A year of magic and wonder.
Geoff Munsterman and the director. LISTEN HERE.
July 16, 2023
ROBERT MOSES AND NEW ORLEANS’S RIVERFRONT EXPRESSWAY.
A preliminary reading by the director. LISTEN HERE.
April 30, 2023 The first post-Covid live event.
(This was a celebration at the Orange Couch
and was not recorded)
March 20, 2023
INCUBATOR X. Introduction to the 2023 Season, Director’s Note.
LISTEN HERE
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New Year’s Eve, 2022
Lemons to Lemonade, Magen Raine Gladden. The final second lady Louisiana artist in the 2022 cycle.
Geoff Munsterman narrates. Shadow Angelina Starkey reads as Gladden.
LISTEN HERE
Thanksgiving, 2022
Letters from the Street.
Literally sourced from New Orleans’s streets. Missives of all kinds. Notices, notes-to-self, lists, recipes, and formulas.
LISTEN HERE
September 28, 2022
Angela Gregory. The second lady Louisiana artist in the 2022 cycle.
Letters and missives to and from this eco-feminist artist, and Letters Read Executive Advisory Board member. Christopher Kamenstein reads Varisco’s letters and other correspondence of interest. Audio production by Steve Chyzyk, Sonic Canvas Studio.
LISTEN HERE
June 24, 2022
Michel Varisco. Presenting the first lady Louisiana artist in the 2022 cycle.
Letters and missives to and from this eco-feminist artist, and Letters Read Executive Advisory Board member. Christopher Kamenstein reads Varisco’s letters and other correspondence of interest. Audio production by Steve Chyzyk, Sonic Canvas Studio.
LISTEN HERE
April 1, 2022
The Only Person Ever Brought to Trial for Conspiracy to Assassinate President John F. Kennedy.
Robert Valley reads as the voice of Shaw, David Zalkind is Jim Garrison. Audio production is by Steve Chyzyk, Sonic Canvas Studio.
LISTEN HERE
December 31, 2021
INCUBATOR VIII: Mid-20th Century Foreign Intrigue & the Almighty American Dollar
Prelude to the April 1, 2022 reading, The Only Person Brought to Trial for Conspiracy to Assassinate President John F. Kennedy.
LISTEN HERE
November 25, 2021
Mad Men New Orleans-style!
Reading by Colin B. Miller. Audio production Steve Chyzyk and Steve Himelfarb, Sonic Canvas Studio and Paul Broussard for additional recording.
LISTEN HERE
November 7, 2021
INCUBATOR VIII: The Power of a Personal Letter
Prelude to the Thanksgiving, 2021 reading Mad Men.
Ron Thomson’s story about the letter he wrote to movie star Audrey Hepburn.
LISTEN HERE
July 15, 2021
Bananas Anyone?
Reading from a 1906 photo-album compiled in response to the last documented yellow fever outbreak in New Orleans and the United States. Readers are William Bowling and Grace Kennedy. Audio production by Steve Chyzyk and Sonic Canvas Studio.
LISTEN HERE
July 12, 2021
INCUBATOR VII: Yellow Fever, Mosquitos, and Monkeys
Prelude to the July 25, 2021 podcast, Bananas Anyone, project director Nancy Sharon Collins puts forth a science fiction theory to microbiology scholar Claiborne Christian, Ph.D., Tulane University, New Orleans.
LISTEN HERE
March 25, 2021
The Letters of Edgar Degas
Christopher Kamenstein reads as Degas.
Audio production by Steve Steve Chyzyk, Sonic Canvas Studio.
Nancy Sharon Collins, program director, emcees.
LISTEN HERE
March 18, 2021
INCUBATOR VI: Michel Musson, 1849
Prelude to the March 25, 2021 reading, The Letters of Edgar Degas.
LISTEN HERE
December 31st, 2020
A Conversation with Two Actors
A remote interview with two professional actors,
George Saucier and Colin Miller.
Audio production by Steve Steve Chyzyk, and Steve Himelfarb,
LISTEN HERE
August 20, 2020
The Letters of Skip Ward
A podcast hosted by:
Alexandria Museum of Art
Alexandria, Louisiana.
LISTEN HERE
April 26
, 2020
The Letters of Stewart Butler
The 14th Letters Read and first produced remotely and podcast.
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE
Readers: Dylan Hunter, Rebecca Hollingsworth, and emcee is Frank Perez.
Audio engineer Dylan Hunter as well.
Music is written and performed by Rob Hudak.
March 29, 2020
CANCELED Due to the Corona Virus Outbreak
Taboo Busting, a panel discussion
Hotel Monteleone, Riverview Room
Panelists: Dr. Thomas Bonner, Jr., John Whittier Treat, Marion Hill.
In conjunction with the New Orleans Tennessee Williams Literary Festival and the Saints and Sinners conference.
January 10, 2020
INCUBATOR III: A Preliminary Reading of Personal Letters to Stewart Butler
LISTEN HERE
October 26, 2019
LETTERS READ Anniversary & Fundraising Bash
4:00 to 4:45 pm
Orange Couch
2339 Royal St, New Orleans
The special reading by Christopher Kamenstein and project director, stationer, Nancy Sharon Collins.
September 25, 2019
LETTERS READ: Baroness de Pontalba
Louisiana State Museum
The Cabildo
701 Charters Street, New Orleans
August 25th, 2019
LETTERS READ: Lafcadio Hearn, Revisited
Crescent City Books
124 Baronne Street, New Orleans
July 20, 2019
LETTERS READ: CODEX II Open Mic Night
Crescent City Books
124 Baronne Street, across from the Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans
Watch and listen to Charlie Bishop talk about erasing his doctoral dissertation here.
February 13, 2019
LETTERS READ: The Desegregation of New Orleans Public Libraries
Nora Navra Library
1902 St. Bernard Avenue, New Orleans
Listen to the performance here.
November 25, 2018
LETTERS READ: The nature of property, property ownership, and the origins of Felicity Redevelopment.
St John the Baptist Catholic Church
1139 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans
June 29, 2018
LETTERS READ: The Janet Mary Riley letters
Loyola University Special Collections & Archives
J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library
6363 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans
Listen to the performance here.
June 2, 2018
INCUBATOR II: Dorian Bennett Talks about His Friend Tennessee Williams
LISTEN HERE
March 23, 2018
LETTERS READ: The Luck of Friendship
Le Petit Theatre Du Vieux Carre, French Quarter, New Orleans
Listen to the performance here.
February 14 (that’s right, Valentines Day), 2018
LETTERS READ: Text Dating
Antenna Gallery
3718 Saint Claude Avenue, New Orleans
Listen to the performance here,
and here
November 11, 2017
LETTERS READ: Veterans Day
Bastion
1901 Mirabeau Avenue, New Orleans
Listen to the performance here.
September 13, 2017
LETTERS READ: Letters of Regret
Antenna Gallery
3718 St Claude Avenue, New Orleans
June 29, 2017
LETTERS READ: Hermann and Grima Family Letters
Hermann-Grima House
820 Saint Louis Street, New Orleans
May 23, 2017
LETTERS READ: Lafcadio Hearn, Summer of 1886
Grand Isle Letters from Loyola University New Orleans Special Collections & Archives
Crescent City Books
124 Baronne Street, New Orleans
May 17, 2017
Sneak-peak to LETTERS READ
A Studio In The Woods
13401 Patterson Road, New Orleans