I met Evan Roberts through Facebook because he was looking for people named "Meryl" for a special project!
Evan is an artist and audio producer based in San Francisco, currently working at the New York Times. He has produced short films that appeared at notable festivals and his stories and documentaries have aired on public radio. He is also the creator of the occasional podcast Recollector and writes the intermittent newsletter Don't Be Precious, Darling.
Meryl Ann Butler: Thanks for visiting with OpEdNews, Evan! First, please tell us-- what exactly is a Merylthon?
Evan Roberts: A Merylthon is a marathon of Meryl Streep movies. But mostly it's a satisfying pun.
MAB: It certainly is!
MAB: What inspired you to create a Merylthon?
ER: The original idea came about in 2006 when my friend Kyle said she hadn't seen many Meryl Streep movies so we thought we'd have a movie night and watch a bunch of them and call it a "Merylthon." It didn't happen then, but I was raised on silly puns so it stuck in my head.
The idea didn't start to develop until after the pandemic when I heard about people renting out small theaters to watch movies unmasked with their pandemic pod of friends. So the Merylthon came out of missing being in community and gathering in public spaces. And I also read some of the book, The Art of Gathering, and was inspired to create a unique community event....
A lot of things inspired me - the idea of creating a unique experience and reason for gathering. I love movies and film festivals and honoring craft, I liked that it was a whimsical and light-hearted idea but then when I added the fundraiser piece it had this feeling of putting vitamins in your candy or something! You can have fun and it can be meaningful, too.
When the Four Star Theater got involved and Queer LifeSpace got involved, it really jumpstarted everything from a charming idea to a real event that could raise money for an important cause.
Queer LifeSpace provides affordable therapy to the LGBTQIA+ Bay Area community--which is really important to me because I've had four therapists throughout my adult life and therapy has saved me.
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