Jane Lynch, Carrie Brownstein, Jenn Colella & More Featured in Alison Bechdel's DYKES TO WATCH OUT FOR

Alison Bechdel’s “Dykes to Watch Out For,” the award-winning cartoonist’s iconic comic strip that ran from 1983 - 2008, was released as an episodic podcast in partnership with Audible today, led by a queer cast in time for Pride Month. Featuring stars like Jane Lynch, Carrie Brownstein, Roxane Gay, Roberta Colindrez, Jenn Colella, and more, with a script by Madeleine George and direction by Leigh Silverman, all episodes of “Dykes to Watch Out For” are available to stream now.

 

“I am blown away by this podcast; it’s such a great gift to hear the characters and their world come to audio life, talking and kvetching and playing softball and going to marches,” said Bechdel. “Often when I was drawing the comic strip I would wish it could have the extra dimension of a soundtrack - and now it does. The podcast is set back in the day, 1987, which makes it a fun history lesson, but at the same time, it’s a completely contemporary-feeling romp. I’m forever indebted to the formidable Susie Bright - the project is her brainchild, and she gathered a world class team to pull it off. Madeleine George has written a remarkable script, weaving my short comic strip episodes into a rich dramatic narrative that still retains much of the original language. And what can I possibly say about Leigh Silverman directing Jane Lynch and Carrie Brownstein and Roberta Colindrez and Roxane Gay? I’m absolutely speechless. But fortunately these actors have plenty to say, and they do so with dykey aplomb.”

 

“When I was young and freshly out, I pored over my paperback copies of "Dykes to Watch Out For," dreaming that I would one day get to live in a world as progressive, funny, sexy, and frankly dykey as the incredible community Alison created,” said George. “Spending time immersed in this world has been like getting to move into my dream world. To hear the beloved characters brought to life by this gang of superstars has been too good to be true. “Dykes to Watch Out For" is smart and political and just great storytelling - like Charles Dickens meets Audre Lorde, with a dash of lesbian pulp fiction thrown in. I can't wait for the world to hear it.”

 

All episodes of Dykes to Watch Out For are available now, and more information can be found here.

 

BIOGRAPHIES

 

ALISON BECHDEL 

is a cartoonist whose work includes the long-running comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” as well as the graphic memoirs “Fun Home,” “Are You My Mother?” and “The Secret to Superhuman Strength.” But she is best-known in some quarters for being the originator of “The Bechdel Test.” The stage-musical adaptation of Fun Home premiered on Broadway in 2015, and received five Tony Awards. Bechdel is the recipient of a Guggenheim and a MacArthur Fellowship. She lives in Vermont.

 

Madeleine George 

is a playwright and screenwriter whose plays include Hurricane Diane (Obie Award), The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, Precious Little, and The Zero Hour.  Honors include a Whiting Award, the Hermitage Major Theatre Award, and the Princess Grace Award.  Madeleine has written on shows for HBO and FX, and is currently a writer/producer on the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated mystery-comedy Only Murders in the Building.

 

Leigh Silverman 

has directed over 60 world premiere new plays and musicals. She received a Tony nomination for her direction of the musical Violet and received a 2011 Obie Award and 2019 Obie for Sustained Excellence. With DTWOF writer Madeleine George, she directed Obie winning Hurricane Diane and Pulitzer Prize finalist The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence. Her Broadway credits include: Grand Horizons; The Lifespan of a Fact; Violet; Chinglish; Well. Other projects with Audible include: Billy Crudup in Harry Clarke; Judith Light in All The Ways to Say I Love You; and the upcoming Yellow Face with 3AD Media and Daniel Dae Kim.

 

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