Nathan made his feature film debut with “Nate & Margaret” (Co-Wrote/Produced/Directed). It sold for worldwide distribution prior to completion. It also received a commendatory review from Roger Ebert.
Nathan acted in Joe Swanberg’s early films and IFC series, “Young American Bodies” and appeared in Frank V. Ross’s “Audrey the Trainwreck”, in addition to making a handful of award-winning short films. He also co-created and directed a TV pilot, “Bad Sides”, which was a finalist in the Chicago Comedy TV Pilot Competition. His first leading role in the film, “Blackmail Boys”, won various film festival awards and sold for worldwide distribution. His short film “Cock N’ Bull” was selected to screen in the 2013 Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival, which he also acted in. In 2014, his short “Grown This Way” won a best film award in Outfest’s Fusion Lab.
In April of 2015, Nathan wrapped up directing his second feature film, “Miles”. The story centers around a high school senior who joins the girls volleyball team in hopes of winning a college scholarship after his father’s untimely death. It stars Molly Shannon, Paul Reiser, Missi Pyle, Tim Boardman, Annie Golden, Yeardley Smith and Stephen Root. In 2016, “Miles” has won Audience Choice Awards at both Outfest and the Sidewalk Film Festival.
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Our 16th Annual FurrBall Auction, Dinner and Dance is going to be at the new Grand Davenport Hotel on Saturday, November 21, 2015- from 6-11pm. This elegant but fun event brings together community and animal lovers to raise funds to help our homeless animals and celebrates the human-animal bond that the Spokane Humane Society has been cultivating in Spokane since 1897.
· Social Hour
· Silent Auction
· Dinner
· Live Auction of Fully Decorated, Themed Christmas Trees
· Two Parades of Adoptable Animals
· Dance to Jazz Northwest
The Spokane Humane Society is a non-profit organization that provides love and a temporary home for unwanted pets that have been surrendered by their owners as well as abandoned animals and strays transferred from other shelters. The average cost of caring for one animal is $468 monthly. This cost includes spaying or neutering, micro-chipping, current vaccinations/medications, food, shelter, and sometimes a toy. We rely solely on community support to help us care for these animals.
Seating is limited. Buy your tickets now – $125 per guest. This event sold out in 2014.
Please call Jennifer Anderson for tickets and more information. 509-467-5235 ext. 212
or purchase online at www.spokanehumanesociety.org
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Stacy Cossey is currently the volunteer Spokane Organizer for WAmend. She was an active signature gatherer in last year’s campaign and this year is organizing volunteers as well as signature gathering. She is a member of the Steering Committee and Executive Committee.
Stacy was a Financial Consultant for 27 years at a major Wall Street firm. It was the sub-prime crisis that helped her see the game behind Wall Street’s hype which inspired her to get all of her clients out of the market before the 08-09 crash. Coming to terms with a reality that was significantly different than the story Wall Street has told was personally and professionally profound.
Now she feels political activism and her personal spiritual journey is the best therapy for the world we live in.
Initiative 735 will make Washington the 18th state to ask Congress to overturn Citizens United. — We are a local grassroots movement with no big out-of-state donors.
Initiative 735 doesn’t change the tax code and won’t affect your wallet. It’s about taking a principled stand to take power over elections back from the federal government.
in 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v FEC that corporations, unions and special interests can spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for or against political candidates. It has led to obscene amounts of money being poured into elections. It’s part of the reason why the amount spent on elections by campaigns and outside groups grew 555% from 1984 to 2014!
Jerrod Galles (Fred Casely/Ensemble) has been itching to get back on The Modern stage since closing Anything Goes! Some of his favorite shows have been Rock of Ages, Nunsense, Avenue Q, Grease, and The Wild Party. Jerrod wants to thank the Modern team involved for creating such a great show and giving us the opportunity to show it to all of you! Special thanks to all the incredible support from my family and friends.
Floor pic 2015Marcus was born and raised in Spokane, graduating from Mead High School (’96) and Gonzaga University (’00). He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. In 2007, he received a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Washington.
Many paths led Dr. Jim Kublin to where he is today: executive director of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), based at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. A good place to start is the 16 days he spent struggling to finish the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest sled-dog race — the lesser known and more demanding cousin to Alaska’s Iditarod.
Sam LaFrage is a 2012 graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, and was selected as a member of the 2013 New York Academy Company. As an actor, his Off-Broadway credits include “Palm Tree in a Rose Garden” (Jim Strong), “Happy in the Poorhouse” (Stevie), “The Rivals” (Bob Acres), and “Improbable Fiction” (Brevis). Other NYC credits include: “Blithe Spirit” (Charles). “The Wake of Jamey Foster” (Wayne), “Am I Blue?”(John Polk), “The Bear” (Smirnov), “The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year” (He), among others. Sam has worked along side of and collaborated with Douglas Carter Beane, George Heslin (Founder of the Origin Theatre Company, NYC), director/playwright Derek Ahonen (Founder of The Amoralists Theatre Company, NYC), Barbara Rubin (Market Theatre in Joannesburg, South Africa) and Denis Reid (Yale School of Drama). He has written and directed two plays (“The Commedia Cinderella” and “The Commedia Rapunzel”) both of which premiered at Columbia Children’s Theatre in South Carolina.
Governor Inslee Jay Inslee is a fifth-generation Washingtonian who grew up in the Seattle area. His father, Frank, was a high school teacher and coach. His mother worked as a sales clerk at Sears & Roebuck. Jay worked his way through college and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in economics before earning his law degree at Willamette University. He and his wife, Trudi, then moved to Selah where Jay worked as a prosecutor and they raised their three sons. Jay first became involved in public service in 1985 when he and Trudi helped lead the effort to build a new public high school in Selah. Motivated to fight against proposed funding cuts for rural schools, Jay went on to represent the 14th Legislative District in the state House of Representatives. He continued serving communities in the Yakima Valley when he was elected to Congress in 1992. The Inslees later moved back to the Puget Sound area where Jay was elected to Congress in 1998, serving until 2012. Jay and Trudi are proud grandparents of three. Besides writing and illustrating books for his grandchildren and sketching scenes from around Washington, Jay is an avid cyclist and charter member of Hoopaholics. During his time in Congress, Jay became known as a forward-thinking leader, especially on issues of clean energy and the environment. He co-wrote a book, “Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean-Energy Economy,” about the job-creating potential of the clean tech industry. As governor, Jay’s top priority is growing Washington’s innovative industries such as clean energy, IT and life sciences, and strengthening existing industries such as aerospace, agriculture, maritime and military. Since 2013, Washington has experienced a seven-year low in unemployment rates, record exports and notable growth in Washington’s key industries. To continue growing these industries, Jay knows we must strengthen our schools so we can better equip our children to compete for these good-paying jobs. And we must bring a new culture of efficiency and performance to state government to more efficiently serve the people and businesses throughout Washington state. During his time as governor, some of Jay’s top accomplishments include: •Historic investments in education ◦Largest-ever state investment in early learning ◦All-day kindergarten and smaller class sizes in K-3 ◦First-in-the-nation tuition reductions for all college students ◦More than $3 billion in funding for K-12 basic education ◦Increased financial aid opportunities in higher education ◦Teacher training and mentoring programs •A bipartisan transportation package ◦The 16-year, $16 billion package addresses critical maintenance and safety needs, creates ~200,000 jobs and includes: ◾More than $1 billion for multi-modal improvements, including transit, bicycle, pedestrian, vanpool and safe routes to school investments ◾Incentives for alternative fuels, making it the greenest transportation investment package in state history ◾Authorization for Sound Transit to pursue a $15 billion light rail expansion that will create a regional light rail network from Everett to Tacoma •A more efficient and transparent state government ◦Launched Results Washington, a nationally-recognized data-driven effort to improve the efficiency and transparency of state government ◦Recognized as one of the most transparent and open governors for his commitment to public disclosure and policy of not using executive privilege to withhold records. More from the Washington Policy Center and Nisqually Valley News. •Reinvestment in critical services ◦Reversed deep budget cuts and invested more than $700 million in mental health funding ◦Enhanced efforts to reduce homelessness including creation of a new Office of Homeless Youth Prevention and Protection ◦Funded more child protective and child welfare service workers ◦Restored significant funding for state parks ◦Passed prevention and response measures for oil spills along rail lines •Improved health care for Washington ◦Successful implementation of health care reforms lowered Washington’s uninsured rate to an all-time low of 6 percent ◦Increased the quality and reduced the cost of health care •Climate action ◦Designed a path forward for state government to reduce carbon pollution and improve energy independence with Executive Order 14-04 ◦Directed the Dept. of Ecology to develop a Clean Air Rule to cap carbon emissions to continue to reduce pollution in our state ◦Increased the accessibility and affordability of electric vehicles ◦Working with West Coast leaders in the Pacific Coast Collaborative and with leaders around the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions •Overdue cost-of-living increases. The 2015-2017 budget gave state employees and teachers pay raises for the first time since 2008.
Jeffrey A Johns started singing and dancing ever since he was old enough to walk and talk. In fact, he was performing in his church choir before he even knew how to read! At a young age he performed in local theatre and the oldest running Minstrel Show in the world. I guess it’s no surprise that Jeffrey still loves the music of Vaudeville. When he wasn’t on stage, Jeffrey was a competitive swimmer and a Boy Scout. To many people’s surprise, this song and dance guy eventually earned the rank of Eagle Scout. After high school Jeffrey went off to college and continued studying theatre, but decided he also wanted to focus on children’s entertainment. He graduated from Manhattanville College with a degree in Elementary Education and Performance.
Operation BRUCE VILANCH is an actor (occasionally an actress), writer (occasionally a re-writer), comedian (occasionally for money, often for causes) and sex surrogate (seasonal). He has co-authored twenty-three Academy Award spectacles, winning two writing Emmys in the process (almost as good a nominee/win ratio as Meryl Streep’s). He has also been nominated for seven other Emmys — one of them was for his participation on the celebrity panel of HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, where he resided for six years just to the left of Whoopi on your screen.
Jack Andraka was just a fifteen year old Maryland high school sophomore when he invented an inexpensive early detection test for pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers. After a close family friend died of pancreatic cancer, Andraka (then a ninth grader) became interested in finding a better early-detection diagnostic test. He learned that the lack of a rapid, low-cost early screening method contributed to the poor survival rate among individuals with pancreatic cancer. After thinking further about the problem, he came up with a plan and a budget to put his ideas in motion.
Raised by a wild pack of Jews, otherwise known as her mother and siblings, Dana Goldberg is a force of nature on stage. She sets the standard for smart comedy, and her timing and tongue-in-cheek edginess is why she continues to collect loyal fans in cities all over the world. Goldberg’s quick wit and playful stage presence is spreading like wildfire! Voted one of the “Top Five Funniest Lesbians in America,” CURVE Magazine raves, “One of the brightest star in a stellar comedy landscape!” The Irish Post writes, “Dana’s sharp, insightful observations are concealed behind an easy-going chatty style. This makes her one of a handful of comics able to transfer their work across the Atlantic.” The Advocate.com named Goldberg one of the top three LGBT comedians in the country.
Morgan now calls New York her home and has embraced its culture and diversity. She has taken musical theatre training workshops with Laura Benanti, Jason Robert Brown, Sierra Boggess and film/TV with casting director, Maria Hubbard. She studies voice with vocal coach and music director, Kevin David Thomas and Laura Menard. Her dance training includes: theatre, tap, ballet and jazz at Broadway Dance Center. She enjoys singing at Birdland Jazz Club on Monday nights at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party.
We also welcome 
Daniel Franzese is an actor and singer, who recently starred as ‘Eddie Bear’ on the sophomore season ofHBO’s critically acclaimed seriesLooking. Franzese’s character ‘Eddie’ is the one of the only HIV+ character that has been on scripted television in the last two years. His performance has been praised for leading the way to erase stigmas of HIV/AIDS through a performance of a counselor in a homeless shelter for gay and trans teens. ‘Eddie Bear’ is the romantic interest for Frankie J Alvarez’s HIV- character ‘Agustin’ pioneering a discussion for the HIV Prevention drug PrEP. Their relationship shows an uplifting modern portrayal of a serodiscordant couple, meaning that one partner is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative. Daniel’s involvement with HIV/AIDS awareness goes beyond the screen as an official ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
The Internet is getting a whole lot gayer! International drag darling Sherry Vine and former Here-TV executive Josh Rosenzweig are combining their style, humor and sensibility into a one-stop, digital destination for all of the world’s LGBTQ entertainment needs. gaySVTVworld premieres February 14 with original shows, specials, music videos, short films and more: all free at YouTube.com/MissSherryVine.
JORGE CRUISE is internationally recognized as a leading celebrity fitness trainer and is the #1 best selling author of over 20 books in 16 languages, with more than six million books in print. He is a contributor to The Steve Harvey Show, The Dr. Oz Show, Extra TV, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Rachael Ray Show, Huffington Post, First for Women Magazine, and the Costco Connection. He hosts The Jorge Cruise Show with over 12 million listeners.
Del Shores has written, directed and produced successfully across studio and independent film, network and cable television as well as theatre. Shores’ career took off with the play Daddy’s Dyin’ (Who’s Got The Will?) in 1987, which ran two years, winning many Los Angeles theatre awards, including LA Weekly’s Best Production and Best Writing. The play has subsequently been produced in over 2,500 theatres worldwide. A movie version of Daddy’s Dyin’ was released in 1990 by MGM starring Beau Bridges, Tess Harper, Judge Reinhold, Keith Carradine and Beverly D’Angelo. Shores wrote the screenplay and executive produced the film. Sordid Lives, his fourth play, opened in Los Angeles in 1996 and ran 13 sold-out months. The play went on to win 14 Drama-Logue Theatre Awards, including three for Shores for writing, directing and producing. There have since been over 300 additional stage productions of the play. In 1999, Shores wrote and directed the film version of Sordid Lives starring Beau Bridges, Delta Burke, Olivia Newton-John, Bonnie Bedelia, Leslie Jordan and Beth Grant along with most of the original cast from the play. Opening in only eight theatres across the country, the little film that could took in nearly two million dollars in its limited release. The movie became a cult phenomenon and became the longest running film in the history of Palm Springs with a record ninety-six weeks.
