Role: Mark
Company: The Civilians
Series: Let Me Ascertain You
Theater: Barrow Street Theatre, New York City
Date: April 29, 2013
Podcast Release: August 28, 2013

Pedro  appeared in The Civilians’ Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out!, an evening of documentary theater built from interviews with real people about sexuality, gender, identity, family, and LGBTQ+ life. Rather than playing fictional characters, the actors performed edited versions of the interview subjects’ own words.

Pedro portrayed Mark, a man living with HIV who spoke about loving someone who did not return his feelings and about the complicated way he viewed his diagnosis. A review published the following day described Pedro’s performance as particularly moving, noting the “resigned and sad smile” he used while Mark expressed the fatalistic belief that contracting HIV had somehow been inevitable.

The evening also featured performances by Laverne Cox, Paul Stovall, Jax Jackson, Stephen Plunkett, and composer Michael Friedman, with artistic director Steven Cosson introducing the pieces.

Pedro’s segment was later preserved as part of Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out! Part II, released as a podcast on August 28, 2013. The episode includes Jax Jackson performing an interview with Vincent, followed by Pedro performing Mark’s interview, and closes with Michael Friedman’s original song Horrible Seders. The original interviews were conducted by Ian Daniel and Dan Domingues.

Sources:
Mildly Bitter, “Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out!”, April 30, 2013
The Civilians, Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ All Out! Part II, released August 28, 2013

Listen: The Civilians – LGBTQ All Out! Part II on SoundCloud