Project Description:
Three years ago, I was paired with a gay-senior-pen-pal named Ric. We chat weekly, and he updates me on his life (most of which is spent at The Queens Center For Gay Seniors).
I am a trans person who often struggles to envision a future for myself, and people like Ric remind me that a long life of queer joy is possible (and that queer community doesn’t have to melt away as you grow older).
I wanted to create a reminder of this for a wider audience, so I wrote Old Queens — a half-hour mockumentary series that follows a group of rowdy 70-year-olds at the Queens Center For Queer Seniors & their 27-year-old program director, Kara.
The beating-heart of the show is the intergenerational queer friendship between Ric (a 75-year-old gay man who came out later in life and is now going hog wild) and Kara (a 27-year old lesbian who failed out of nursing school and is looking for new purpose).
It has the classic humor and heart of shows like Parks & Rec and Abbott Elementary mixed with the newer queer-er comedic leanings of Search Party and Hacks.
Bios:
Reid Pope (they/them) is a comedian, playwright, and Jew (despite the ironic last name). As a comedian, Reid was named a 2022 New York Comedy Festival Content Creator To Watch and won a Best Of Fest award at the 2022 Big Pine Comedy Festival. Their work has been featured in PAPER, Vulture, and Boys With Plants Magazine. Reid's pilot Old Queens was a finalist for the 2022 Yes And... Laughter Lab and a Top Ten pick for the 2023 ATX TV Festival Pitch Competition. As a playwright, Reid has been a finalist for the 2023 Terrence McNally Incubator and developed plays with Jewish Plays Project, Normal Ave, Primetime Theatre, The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, and Edinburgh Fringe. They are a New Georges Affiliated artist. B.A. Brown | M.F.A. NYU Tisch
A Little Extra
How has your process changed over time?
While I tend to work in a fast-and-furious manner, I'm learning to slow down.