“Finding Fire Island” Interview with Creator Jess Rothschild
By: Devon DiComo
Finding Fire Island is a new Broadway Podcast Network docu-podcast series that brings to life how a sleepy, 19th-century beach town became a modern-day queer mecca for artists and the New York City theater community.
Created by Jess Rothschild, this podcast will take you behind the curtain of the mystique, legends and lore of the LGBT communities (Cherry Grove and The Pines) from folks who experienced their evolution from the 1950s to today. Starring: Joel Kim Booster, Margaret Cho, Matt Rogers, DJ Lina Bradford, Brian Moylan, Ben Rimalower, Paul Rudnick, and more!
I got to speak with Jess Rothschild about the creation of this podcast!
Devon DiComo: Can you share with us how you got started with the podcast, Finding Fire Island? What made you want to tell this story?
Jess Rothschild: Two years ago, I dedicated an episode of my other podcast “Hot Takes & Deep Dives” to Fire Island. It was myself and theater director Ben Rimalower truly being unhinged about our favorite experiences there while weaving in the history as well. That episode was so fun to record, and I always thought it could be fully fleshed out in some way. Ben Rimalower is now obviously a big part of Finding Fire Island!
DD: You mention that you’ve frequented Fire Island throughout your life! When did you discover that there was a story to be told here?
JR: Yes, I always came to Fire Island but knew very little about its history aside from The Invasion of The Pines (the annual July 4th event) in 1976 — which has been well documented. In 2018, a documentary titled Cherry Grove Stories by filmmaker Mike Fisher was released. It’s a collection of interviews with men and women who have been living in Cherry Grove since the 1950s moving forward telling their personal stories. That film really inspired me to go digging for more. I went on to meet and become friendly with Mike Fisher — he’s in the final episode dedicated to the off-season and surviving winter on the island. “Another Winter in a Summer Town” vibes.
DD: When did you collect your first interview on Fire Island? What made you decide to start that interview process? And what was the process of turning it into a full-fledged podcast?
JR: The first person I reached out to and recorded with was Bob “Rose” Levine, a drag performer who arrived in Cherry Grove in 1955 and still performs today at 90 years old. I began working on the episode outline in fall 2022 and once I was confident I could pull it off, I recorded with Bob “Rose” Levine in December 2022. I recorded the majority of the interviews in March and April 2023 with some final interviews actually on Fire Island in May.
I had a list of interviews, but Bob “Rose” Levine was extremely helpful in giving me contacts for others who would be very knowledgeable. The big three of Margaret Cho, Joel Kim Booster, and Matt Rogers were a wish list that would put it over the top in terms of quality and I still can’t believe they all wanted to do it.
DD: Give us a brief description of the show!
JR: I’d say it’s like learning history about the gayest place on earth, and your teachers are extremely entertaining people like Margaret Cho, Joel Kim Booster, Matt Rogers, writer Brian Moylan, and DJ Lina Bradford. It really marries the historical context with the present-day experience and rituals you see happening on Instagram with boys on the ferry and partying in The Pines.
DD: Why do you think this particular story is so important to tell right now?
JR: With issues like the “Don’t Say Gay” law in Florida and the banning of drag shows, it really harkens back to what was happening when being gay was criminalized in New York City, pre-Stonewall. Young gay people today never lived through raids in gay bars in the 1950s and 60s. They think it’s always been a party. Even The Fire Island Pines (now the gayest place on earth) was extremely closeted until the ‘70s. I think hearing the first-hand accounts of people who lived through raids and people being arrested for having sex on Fire Island in the 1950s-1960s is very powerful, compared to the free-for-all it is today.
DD: You said that while working on the project, you realized that this is one of the only pieces of media about Fire Island from the perspective of a woman. Can you speak about that?
JR: Nearly every single well-known piece of media about Fire Island (ie: The Normal Heart, Longtime Companion, When Ocean Meets Sky, the film Fire Island, episodes of American Horror Story) is about the white, gay, male experience.
This just perpetuates the stereotype that Fire Island is relentlessly male, which it is not.
I am a woman who loves hanging out in The Pines and I feel very welcomed there and am noticing more women there than ever before. Cherry Grove has always been mixed — men and women.
I want to make it clear that this is a place for women, trans, and people of color as well because every time I go, that is what I see. You would never know that by watching those representations of Fire Island I mentioned.
Every episode of the series features women, trans folks, and people of color so people can finally hear their experiences of Fire Island for the first time.
DD: What do you hope listeners take away from this podcast?
JR:
That being gay was not always a free-for-all even in the gayest place on earth
That Cherry Grove and The Pines are currently filled with women, trans, and people of color
The more women, trans, and people of color continue to come out to Fire Island, the more we will claim the space and shift it away from the stereotype of it being only for cis, white gay men
DD: What’s next for you?
JR: Definitely more interviews with iconic LGBT figures on my show, Hot Takes & Deep Dives. Perhaps a bottle episode (similar to my initial one-off with Ben Rimalower on Fire Island) centered on Provincetown, which I also love.
Finding Fire Island is available now on all podcast platforms. Upcoming episodes will be centered on the history of The Pines, The Invasion, the legendary sex and parties, stories of Madonna, Andy Warhol, and Liza Minnelli visiting, plus winter/the off-season.
