Our Team

Michael Strangeways – Editorial Director

Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, with the waist line to prove it, he’s lived in Seattle since 2000. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, the novels of Angela Thirkell,”otters”, RuPaul’s Drag Race, vodka, chocolate,”I,Claudius”, Lizzie Borden, Natural disasters, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, the films of Joe Gage, kitties, chicken fried steak and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.

Twitter – @MJStrangeways

Adam McRoberts – Operations Director

Adam McRoberts has lived and worked in the Seattle LGBT community for the past 10 years and is thrilled to join the SGS family. Adam specializes in business branding, marketing and promotion and is bringing his 15 years of experience to SGS in an effort to create Seattle’s premier LGBT news and infotainment website. Adam lives on Capitol Hill and is active in the Seattle LGBT community, serving on the Board of Directors for Seattle Pride since 2006, among numerous other volunteer projects for the community.

Email – adam@seattlegayscene.com

Phone – 206-457-2432 ext 700

Xanna Don’t – Contributing Editor

After studying operatic vocal performance at Boston Conservatory in the late 1980’s, Xanna Don’t made a name for herself in her hometown’s alternative music scene; that name, according to The Boston Herald, was “The Country Queen of Boston.” She has toured with Southern Culture on the Skids, opened for Devo, Jerry Jeff Walker, The Old 97’s, The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, and Lucinda Williams, and played CBGB’s and The Bitter End in New York City. In 1994, Xanna moved her award-winning act to Austin, Texas, where she showcased for SXSW and appeared in indie films, including Office Space. Booking live music for Austin’s Gay Pride led to her proudest accomplishment: the creation and co-production of SXSW’s first ever all-gay music showcase, selling out Austin’s largest gay venue. During 8 years in Atlanta, Xanna served as a board member for their gay film festival and on Atlanta Film Festival’s screening committee, taught voice lessons, published her own ‘zine, and performed with her quintet. She was Entertainment Editor for Atlanta’s lesbian magazine, served as Interim Editor of ATL Free Press, and wrote the music preview for Atlanta Pride’s official guide distributed to 250,000+ attendees. In 2012, Xanna and her wife of 20 years relocated to the Pacific Northwest where she has served on the screening committee of Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, coordinated the festival’s Opening & Closing Nights’ Parties in 2013, and in 2014 was a guest judge for Seattle Pride’s singing competition, Pride Idol. Some of Xanna’s press quotes include: GIRLS-WORLD: “The Grande Dame of Austin Music” // AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: “Austin’s Underground Country Queen” // “Miss Xanna Don’t does. Sing great, that is.” / “…fiery twang vibe that has won fans over from Emo’s to Cibolo Creek Country Club to gay pride rallies.” // AMERICAN AIRLINES AMERICAN WAY: “[Mike] Judge [director of Office Space] was looking for the fabled ‘Texas big-hair look’…Miss Xanna was perfect.”// BOSTON GLOBE: “[one of] Boston’s most respected musical minds.”

L.A. Kendall

L.A. Kendall has been a fixture in the Seattle Nightlife Scene for nearly two decades, playing at and throwing some of Seattle’s hottest events. She founded Seattle’s hitgirl! collective in 1997, and has been a passionate advocate for women in the industry ever since. Along with her business partner and manager, David”D$” Richey, she’s been behind such popular Seattle parties as: Kiss My Ass, Hot Mess, Hard Times (and that’s just the recent past!). She’s also a vocalist – most well known for her single”Kiss My Ass” (produced by DJ Spire), being one-half of the short lived project by electro-pop-raptresses (as dubbed by Larry Mizell Jr. of The Stranger), Luxury A.K. (with Miss Adraboo), and for her most recently released E.P. with Sammy LaForge,”The Eyes Of Laura Kendall”. A typical set by L.A. Kendall might include Classic House, Disco, 80’s/’90’s classics, Top 40, Electro Remixes, Indie Jams, and original tracks (complete with live vocals), seemlessly mixed to keep the dance floor motivated. She’s also a business lady, booking and brokering talent including: Boy George, Princess Superstar, Spinderella, Tina T, Cazwell, Amanda LePore, DJ Shortee, Avenue D, Q Boy (aka Sam LeMann) – to name just a few! She’s also worked for the last 4 years consulting on talent for, and curating/managing the DJ stage at Seattle Pridefest.

David-Edward Hughes

Born and raised in Hawaii (the stork meant to drop him in NYC) David-Edward is a musical theatre encyclopedia according to his friends. Having co-founded an all teen musical theatre company at 14, he earned a BFA in Musical Theatre Acting from U.S. International University in San Diego. He has done over 50 roles in theatre including Norman in THE BOYS NEXT DOOR which earned him a Hawaii State Theatre Council Po’okela Award for Excellence by an Actor in a Play.
Making Seattle his permanent home 25 years ago he has acted in/directed and/or produced shows at Village, 5th Avenue, Re-Bar, AHA!, Straight Edge Theatricals, Cabaret de Paris and Thumpers. David is proud to have been Founding Co-Producer/Artistic Director of Showtunes Theatre from 1999-2009. He has also taught and coached musical theatre students. He has been Talkin’ Broadway’s regional correspondent for 15 years, and has also been a contributor to playbill.com and Backstage West. He and his husband James and their feline children Millie Dilmount and Trevor Graydon live on N. Beacon Hill.

Korra Q

Korra Q is your personal social chameleon. She’s into sci-fi, unsparkly vampires, and chicks who kick ass. She’s probably behind you, drinking a vodka soda and silently judging the service staff.

Twitter – @Kittyslap27

Miryam Gordon

Miryam Gordon is a freelance theater writer in Seattle and writes plays and directs a few.

Jeffrey Robert

Jeffrey Robert is a stand-up comedian, humorist, and artist who is busy taking his “The Gay Uncle Explains It All To You” One Gay Show to Fringe Festivals and other stages. He also produces and hosts “The Gay Uncle Presents Cabaret Gloria” at Skylark in West Seattle. He enjoys cappuccinos, Italian neo-realism, the color orange, 1977, Soul Music, dogs, cats, Brando and banchan.

Anna Rexia

Anna Rexia is a bio-queen and drunk who finds it easier to just pretend to be a drag queen than to correct people. She can be seen usually in a variety show as an albino dolphin or Tori Amos. No one knows why exactly.

Ryan Crawford

Born and raised in the PNW, Ryan Crawford devotes more time to Twin Peaks than is considered healthy. He is a dating columnist, online content marketer, social media manager, and Pokémon master. He recycles all of the things. His published writing is available through Examiner.com, MastodonDentist.com, CerebralCatalyst.com, Remark, and Gay City Anthologies vols 3-5.

Craig Trolli

Craig Trolli is an actor who performs as both a boy but also in various states of drag, including his version of Melanie Griffith, Meredith Baxter-Birney, and Sophia in Golden Girls Burlesque. He’s hoping to one day do a show called “Craig: a One Women Show”, which would hopefully explain why he thinks any of this is a good idea. If you have an opinion about that, send us your feedback!

John Boucher

John Boucher is a transmedia artist who works in text, image, and sound; a filmmaker who has written, directed, produced, and edited several films; the editor of the Seattle-based indie feature film Heart Breaks Open; the former assistant to screenwriter Stewart Stern at TheFilmSchool; a scholar who holds two film degrees from Seattle Central College and The Evergreen State College, and an MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics from The University of Washington Bothell; and a critic who harbors conflicted opinions about nearly everything.

Brad Gilligan

Brad Gilligan is one of our more polarizing writers. Born in the Midwest, his presence was bestowed upon us thanks to the United States Air Force. He has since retired from fighting for our freedoms, moved to Chicago, but remains a part of our staff reporting on pop culture, club kids/events, as well as other various topics to push your buttons.

Ary Den Otter

Ary Den Otter is an aspiring photographer and avid automotive nerd. When he’s not pouring over news of the hottest new rides, you’ll likely find him on a dirt trail far from the city. Ary is prone to long weekends spent exploring the great Pacific Northwest, getting his Toyota truck stuck in the pursuit of the next undiscovered abandoned place.

Ross Cornell

Originally from Illinois, Ross Cornell started dancing at the age of 6. Since then he has performed with several dance companies and studied dance performance at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. As an actor he has performed all over the country including the national tours of Footloose, The Music Man and CATS as well as locally at Village Theatre and The 5th Ave Theatre. Although retired from the stage, Ross keeps those dancing feet entertained as a professional ballroom dancer and instructor, not to mention choreographing productions for a popular drag brunch. Let’s just say, he never stops moving!

Brian Donahue – Technical Director

In addition to maintaining the site here at SGS, Brian Donahue also contributes design work to Seattle Pride and works full-time at a marketing firm in Belltown. Brian’s loves include design, coffee, and cats.

Email – info@seattlegayscene.com

Bill W. – Publisher Emeritus

Referred to only as Bill W., he has been active in Seattle’s gay scene for close to twenty years. And with a unique perspective on local gay entertainment his blog doesn’t fixate on any specific genre but covers everything gay; from the classic mega-circuit party to Seattle’s vibrant alterna-gay scene. The founder and publisher of the Seattle Gay Scene, he is proud that in 2015, the site will begin its ninth year of operation.

Twitter – @BillAtSGS