Sordid Stories with Del Shores
Kendall and Corey met when Corey performed in Del Shores' play, "Sordid Lives." We were fortunate enough to befriend Del and share some amazing moments with him and his collaborators, including Leslie Jordan, Ann Walker and Beth Grant.
In this episode, Kendall and Del discuss their similarities including growing up in the Southern Baptist church, marrying women and the challenges of being gay in the South.
The Del Shores Foundation: LGBTQ
Guest bio:
Del Shores is the writer/director/producer of the films Sordid Lives, Blues for
Willadean, Southern Baptist Sissies and A Very Sordid Wedding. He wrote and
executive produced the MGM feature Daddy's Dyin';…Who's Got The Will? His
plays Cheatin’, Daddy’s Dyin’ (Who’s Got The Will?), Daughters of the Lone Star
State, Sordid Lives, Southern Baptist Sissies, The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer
Trash Housewife, Yellow, This Side of Crazy and A Very Sordid Wedding are all
published by Concord/Samuel French. In television, Del Shores wrote, directed,
executive produced and created the LOGO series, Sordid Lives: The Series. He also
wrote and executive produced Showtime's groundbreaking Queer As Folk for the
last three seasons, wrote and produced for Dharma & Greg and Ned & Stacey.
He has directed Academy Award winners Octavia Spencer and Whoopi Goldberg,
Grammy Award winner Olivia Newton-John; Emmy winners/nominees Beau
Bridges, Delta Burke, Leslie Jordan, Bonnie Bedelia, Bobbie Eakes, Patrika Darbo
and Rue McClanahan; Spirit Award winner Dale Dickey; Screen Actor's Guild
Award-winner Beth Grant; as well as Caroline Rhea, Debby Holiday and David
Steen.
As a performer, Shores has performed in hundreds of standup gigs and in 2018
completed a national tour of his critically acclaimed award-winning one-man
play Six Characters In Search Of A Play directed by Emerson Collins. The play was
filmed and is now streaming worldwide. His standup shows Del Shores: My
Sordid Life Del Shores: Sordid Confessions and Del Shores: Naked.Sordid.Reality
were filmed, also directed by Collins, and are distributed by Breaking Glass
Pictures. His tenth play A Very Sordid Wedding (based on his 2017 film) had its
world premiere September 2021, playing to sold out houses at Kalita Humphries
Theatre in Dallas for Uptown Players. Shores directed. In November 2021, he
directed his eleven play In Memoriam of Lena at Northwestern State University in
Natchitoches, Louisiana where his has teaches Playwriting and Acting For The
Camera yearly as a guest artist. Lena marked his first world premiere with a cast
of students. Shores has won multiple awards for his plays and films, including a
GLAAD Award, an NAACP Award and a LA Weekly Lifetime Achievement award
winner. In 2023 he was awarded The Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award by LA’s
The Celebration Theatre.
Shores shares the passion of The Del Shores Foundation in “finding and
facilitating success for the next generation of Southern LGBTQ+ writers.”
(delshoresfoundation.org). Shores resides in Los Angeles with his three little
bitches Bitsy Mae, Gracie Louise and Sissy Marie. He is the proud father of two
grown daughters Rebecca and Caroline.