DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley

Dennis connects via Zoom with theater director-actor & writer Ryan O'Connor to discuss Ryan's production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music , which is currently playing at the Greenway Court Theatre in Los Angeles. He talks about the production's long journey to opening night, his casting of trans and non binary actors in major roles, reckoning with the play's period gender dynamics and br...

Dennis connects via Zoom with actor-writer-performance artist John Fleck whose musical satire It's Alive, It's ALIVE! is showing at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles through March 20. John talks about the show's central idea; that COVID is here to save us, not hurt us, where the original idea came from and where he got the inflatable COVID headress he wears through much of the show. He also recal...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Jonathan Wysocki, the writer and director of the 90's-set, coming-of-age movie Dramarama , about a group of high school theater nerds and their last murder mystery/slumber party together before graduation. Jonathan talks about drawing from his own school experience in writing the script, finding the perfect 90's vests for his characters to wear and the delicious naught...

Dennis is joined film lovers Glenn Gaylord (Senior Critic at the Queen Review) and actor-writer Drew Droege for Part 2 of their year-end look back at the Movies of 2021. Films discussed include: House of Gucci , Summer of Soul, No Time To Die, Licorice Pizza, The Sparks Brothers, Drive My Car, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Nightmare Alley, The Lost Daughter, The Power of the Dog, Cruella, Nic...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Glenn Gaylord, Senior Film Critic at The Queer Review , and actor and writer Drew Droege to look back at the Year in Movies 2021. This is Part One of two-parts. Movies discussed include: In the Heights, West Side Story, Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Everybody's Talking about Jamie, Flee, Summertime, Red Rocket, Pleasure, Jungle Cruise, Titane, Come On C'mon C'mon, C...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by filmmaker Matt Ogens, the director of the Netflix documentary Audible , a coming-of-age story about a deaf high school football player and the people in his life, including his gay male cheerleader friend. Matt talks about what drew him to the project, trying for ten years to get it made, having to constantly recast when students would graduate and finding finally a ho...

In his first official episode as part of the DNR Studios family of shows, Dennis chats via Zoom with D'Arcy Drollinger, the star, writer, director and co-producer of the new Dragsploitation flick Shit and Champagne . D'Arcy talks about the movie's stage origins, his creative inspirations--Mel Brooks, the Zucker Bros, Foxy Brown, Charlie's Angels--the pros and cons of having a swear word in your ti...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Stephanie Koenig, the writer-director-producer-star & editor of the feature film A Spy Movie, an action movie parody which recently dropped on You Tube. She talks about coming up with the idea while hanging with friends on a bench in Marina Del Rey, mining her Mission Impossible: Fallout obsession for tropes to skewer, doing her own stunts and how she strikes a balance...

Dennis connects via Zoom with author Eddie Shapiro to discuss his book A Wonderful Guy: Conversations with the Great Men of Musical Theater and the actors featured in it including Raul Esparza, Michael Cerveris, Joel Grey, Ben Vereen, Cheyenne Jackson, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Christopher Sieber, Jonathan Groff, Gavin Creel and many more. Eddie talks about why he thinks the world of musical theater...

Dennis chats via Zoom with performers Mitch Silpa & Drew Droege about their stage show "It's Mitch & Drew and We've Never Felt Younger," which plays Tuesday, November 23 at 8:00 PM at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles. They talk about some of the sketches that will appear in the show, including one that was conceived while they were watching The White Lotus and another that features the characters...

Dennis connects via Zoom with filmmaker Jesse Moss, the director of the new Amazon documentary Mayor Pete , about the history-making presidential campaign of openly gay South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg. Jesse talks about how he came to make the movie, how keeping up with Pete and the campaign was like being on The Amazing Race , how Pete and Chasten's love story became the center of the fi...

Dennis connects via Zoom with illustrator Glen Hanson whose work as been seen on everything from animated TV shows like Beetlejuice and Daria to magazines like GQ, Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide, for whom he did four different covers when Seinfeld went off the air. His ubiquitous illustration of the Golden Girls is on everything from book covers, to T-shirts to phone cases. Glen talks about whe...

Dennis connects via Zoom with poet Steven Reigns to discuss his new book A Quilt for David , which explores through poetry the story of David Acer, the dentist from Treasure Cove, Florida who was accused by multiple people of giving them HIV through dental work in the early 1990s. The story made national news, led to several $1 million-plus insurance settlements and turned David into a convenient...

After surviving a breakthrough case of COVID, Dennis returns with this Zoom with filmmaker Wes Hurley whose delightful autobiographical film Potato Dreams of America is currently playing the festival circuit and will be released in 2022. The film tells the story of how he moved from Eastern Russian at 16 when his mother became a mail order bride for an American man in Seattle. He talks about his d...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Todd Stephens, the writer director of the new film Swan Song , which is about retired hairdresser named Mr. Pat played by Udo Kier who busts out of his nursing home to do one last job, styling the hair of the dead society matron for her funeral. Todd talks about the real-life Mr. Pat who inspired the movie, collecting stories from people who knew the real Pat, and how...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor Arianna Ortiz one of the stars of the new film Nine Days , a unique and moving film about seven souls and the man who decides whether or not they're going to go to earth. Arianna talks about the role she plays Maria, what it's like to create a character with virtually no backstory and what made Nine Days a dream-come-true experience. She recalls how the audition...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by four of the creative forces behind the new film Summertime ; director Carlos Lopez Estrada, and actors / poets Paolina Acuña González, Raul Herrera and Marquesha Babers. Carlos shares the projects origin story, recalling how he saw a live performance of a group of LA poets and was so knocked out by their performances that he came up with the  day-in-the-life-of-Los Ang...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by comedian Julia Scotti who is the subject of the new documentary Julia Scotti: Funny That Way , which tells the story of how she began her career in comedy as Rick Scotti in the 80's and 90's before transitioning in her late 40's and going back into comedy as Julia. Julia talks about why she chose to trust filmmaker Susan Sandler to tell her story, how she was denied co...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by four of the creators behind the new audio drama 90069: West Hollywood - Brunch, Interrupted , which is one of a series of Zip Code plays produced by the L.A.-based Antaeus Theatre Company. The four guests are writer Sean Abley, actors Parnell Damone Marcano and Bill Brochtrup (who is also the company's Artistic Director) and sound designer Jeff Gardner.  The quartet ta...

On this special Pride month podcast, Dennis handles the audio editing on this one as he welcomes past podcast guest Steven Reigns to present a project he produced about the legendary disco star Sylvester's Los Angeles roots.  Here's the official synopsis:  Born in Watts, Los Angeles, to a middle-class African-American family, Sylvester developed a love of singing through the gospel choir of his ch...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Michael Anthony, author of the new book Life at Hamilton, which documents his experience as the Bar Manager at the Richard Rogers Theater where the Broadway sensation Hamilton premiered in 2015 and went on to become a global phenomenon. Mike talks about the book's humble beginnings as social media posts, how they gradually became more and more popular, the time he woul...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by singer-dancer-actor=model-porn star-Only Fans entrepreneur Valton Jackson who just released an EP of remixes for his sexy single "Shirtless" and also posted a spot-on video to Instagram, where he recreates Britney Spears' "Sometimes" video at a water villa in the Maldives. He talks about the making of that video, growing up in Georgia, how he got into performing and wh...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by his old pal, comedian Jim David to talk about Jim's hilarious new album Gay Jokes for Straight Cruisers , which he recorded on a trans-Atlantic cruise in March 2020. He talks about what inspired him to put the album together, the early-COVID time capsule quality of the album and the thrill of going to Number 1 on iTunes. Other topics include: how edgy the cruise lines...

Dennis connects via Zoom with actress and singer Kathy Deitch, one of the stars of the comedic musical homage Titanique,  which streams live on Sunday, May 2nd at 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PST.  Kathy plays "Kathy Bates as Molly Brown" in the send-up, which originated as a stage production that played both in New York and LA. Kathy talks about how she got involved in the show, her affection for Kathy Bat...

Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor Randy Harrison to discuss the play he's currently appearing in, Mike Bartlett's Cock,  which is streaming through April 18th through the Studio Theatre in Washington DC. In the play, he plays John, a self-identified gay man who leaves a long-term relationship, begins seeing a woman soon after and ends up torn between the two lovers. Randy talks about the themes o...