Hit Singles
By Roger Brooks, Jessica Voelker, and Steve Wiecking
Cruise Director (Party)
Meet, Don’t Drink, and Be Merry
I was just one of those kids who was not into school," confesses Bainbridge Island native Evan Wright. Then he stumbled across The Teenage Liberation Handbook, an adolescent’s manifesto for independent education. He dropped out of school, started teaching himself, and worked day jobs while also volunteering. By the time he was 23 he was ready to come out of the closet. Four years later, he’s putting all his get-up-and-go to use.
Last summer he organized TakeOut, a gay community event held at Pravda, a 5,000-square-foot loft on Capitol Hill. For $10 attendees were treated to a banquet-style dinner donated by local restaurants, a cooking demonstration from a local chef, a live DJ, screened film clips from Three Dollar Bill Cinema, gay UW frat guys staging a food fight in schoolboy outfits, booths from local nonprofits for “a festival kind of atmosphere”—and no alcohol. “I wanted to focus on really connecting to people and taking away anything that would be a distraction,” Wright notes. Although some of the marketing for the event mentioned that alcohol would not be served, not all of it did. “I didn’t know if 200 people were going to show up and say, ’Where’s the booze?’” he laughs. But 200 people did show up, and none of them expected a martini.
“My experience of learning what it means to be a gay man increasingly meant new ways of meeting people,” he says. “So I decided to start interviewing people, asking gay men when it felt good being around other gay people and when it felt crappy. The main thing I wanted was to give people a new context in which to meet.”
The success of the July party spurred Wright’s entrepreneurial drive. “Putting TakeOut together was really inspiring for me,” says Wright. “I’d like to see a long-term series of events in Seattle in the [same] model and spirit. I’m excited to get this going.” And he’s going—he’s prepping for more gay-themed parties under the auspices of a business he’s calling Congress. In other words, he’s ready to represent the people. Congress, www.congressevents.com
Published: June 2008
