Stonewall Audio Experience to Feature Voices of J. Harrison Ghee, Jenn Colella, and More

Scan a QR code on your phone and hear the voices of Broadway actors, Tony Award-winner J. Harrison Ghee, Claybourne Elder, Rosa Gilmore, Conrad Ricamora, and Tony nominee Jenn Colella, as they speak life into the public art at Christopher Park — as well as the park itself! — as part of the “Talking Statues” audio experience that now animates the Stonewall National Monument in New York City.

J. Harrison Ghee, in the role of Christopher Park, tells the story of the game-changing 1969 Stonewall uprising. The other four Broadway actors tell the origin story of artist George Segal’s four “Gay Liberation” statues located within the park. To access the audio installations, members of the public simply scan a QR code via signposts displayed at Christopher Park; they then receive a call on their mobile phone from Christopher Park or the “Gay Liberation” statues that transports them back in time and through history.

“Listening to audio offers an immersive experience that gives visitors the opportunity to engage with Christopher Park in a multidimensional way that a printed brochure simply can’t provide,” said Eric Marcus, co-producer of the Talking Statues activation at Christopher Park and founder and host of the Making Gay History podcast. “When the statues and the park ‘talk’ to you on your mobile device, you’re immediately drawn into the best kind of storytelling. We hope these brief audio pieces of about 6 minutes each pique the interest of visitors and listeners so they’ll be inspired to  explore more about LGBTQ history through the Making Gay History podcast’s back catalog as well as the extensive resource links and archival photos we provide on our website.”

“Just in time for Pride month, the Talking Statues audio experience has the power to engage countless New Yorkers and visitors at a site where LGBTQ history has been made,” said Ken Lustbader, co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, a co-producer of the activation. “Christopher Park, at the Stonewall National Monument, has played an important role in the history of the LGBTQ rights movement and is one of the hundreds of sites we’ve documented memorializing the past by making an invisible history visible. Even before the 1969 Stonewall uprising, the park was a favorite hangout for a diverse group of (often homeless) gay street youth and those who might identify today as transgender or nonbinary. By the time of the uprising, crowds took over the park and Christopher Street and, at its peak, several thousand people filled the streets.”

Talking Statues was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2013. Mobile technology is activated via QR code at each statue or site’s location. There are currently Talking Statues installations in Helsinki, London, San Diego, Chicago, Dublin, Berlin, Manchester, and several across New York City, including the Abraham Lincoln statue in front of the New-York Historical Society and the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument in Central Park. Visit www.talkingstatues.com to learn more. Partner organizations involved in bringing Talking Statues to Christopher Park include Making Gay History, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, Pride Live, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, National Park Service, National Parks Conservation Association, The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Stonewall 50 Consortium, The Alice Austen House Museum, and Talking Statues Association. 

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