Sharon Gless Plays Lesbian Hannah Free And Greets QNY

by Tony Adams

In the low light of Miami Beach's Bar 721, I met up with Sharon Gless after attending the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival screening of her new film Hannah Free in which she plays a lesbian.

At the screening, Sharon Gless received a special Career Achievement MGLFF award for her many years of contribution to the festival. When presented with her award, she spoke to a very appreciative crowd at the Regal Theater on Lincoln Road. Given the no-nonsense roles she has chosen in her lengthy acting career, I was surprised by her emotional speech. It's after the break. 

Again, please pardon the lighting. The theater's spot light was not working.

I also spoke with Kathy Wolfe and Maria Lynn, founder and president respectively of Wolfe Releasing who won the MGLFF Trailblazer Award for their 25 years of LGBT film making. Their catalogue includes hundreds of films including a soon-to-be-released one about Mormons who do not agree with their church about Prop8 and LGBT issues.

I spoke with playwright Claudia Allen who wrote the play on which Hannah Free is based 20 years ago. She also wrote the screenplay. In Hannah Free, an elderly lesbian, played by Sharon Gless is hospitalized because of an injury, Her lifelong partner Rachel is in a coma and close to death in the same hospital. Rachel's daughter will not allow Hannah to enter her mother's room. Hard to believe that this story was written twenty years ago and still describes our current circumstances.