Provincetown Report by Jacky
The info you're looking for is in red.

My partner, KathyU, and I vacationed in Provincetown for Carnival week, as we have for the past several years. I've been vacationing in Ptown for 14 years. This year, we got a special treat. Ilene Chaiken was in town to receive the National Service Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Below is a chronology of all things L-word and Chaiken.

Suzanne Westenhoefer
We saw comedien Suzanne Westenhoeffer on Tuesday night. Suzanne's had a few comments on The L Word. She said she doesn't understand why everyone is complaining about the characters being so good looking and that they don't represent "us." She said something along the lines of "yeah, we wouldn't want people to think we're hot and have lots of sex."

Kate Clinton
We also saw comedien Kate Clinton. Kate says Shane is based on her. I hope she didn't feel too badly when the whole house laughed out loud. :-) Like Suzanne, Kate made mention of the attractive actors and how viewers complain about the looks of the actors. Kate's take: "I have four words for you: TEL-E-VIS-ION." :-)
Kate also said something about not liking Jenny. The roof was nearly blown off with applause and cheers. Check out Kate's article in The Progressive called "What the L".

The L Party

On Saturday night, we attended The L Party at "The Pied"--the nicest women's bar in town. We all got official t-shirts and temporary tattoos (what the hell--why not?!). There were soundtrack give-aways all night long. Chaiken was at a $350 a plate dinner prior to the party. It was part of NGLTF's weekend events. She walked into The Pied with Kate Clinton, Urvashi Vaid, and a guy who was with her every time I saw her. Ilene watched Kate dance with a bunch of women up on a platform. After a while, they made their way to the deck to get some fresh air. At this point, it was picture time.

Chaiken then went back indoors and went up on the platform to do a brief Q&A session. I asked her, "Will you be filming on The L Word cruise with Olivia? " Her reply: Yes, they will be filming the TENTH episode on the Olivia cruise. I then asked her, "Who will be on board the cruise?" This was really funny because she sort of paused, and I started naming names. I knew there were to be "four or five" cast members, according to Olivia, and by process of elimination based on spoilers, I said "Dana" and she said "Dana". Jacky: "Alice." Ilene: "Alice." Jacky: "Shane." Ilene: "Shane." Jacky: "Jenny." Ilene: "Jenny." At this point, she broke eye contact and added that "Carmen," one of three new characters would also be on the cruise.

Some other Q & As:

--Are you making money? Chaiken was flabbergasted. The person asking the question explained she hoped they were making money so the show would continue. Hey, The Pied is a bar, and it was crystal clear with this question. ;-p Chaiken assured Tipsy that there will be a Season 2 starting in February '05. 13 episodes. No surprises.

--Chaiken said there will be three new characters played by "beautiful actors." (See comments above by Westenhoefer and Clinton and see Chaiken's comments in Mincing No Words about beautiful actors vs. the rest of us.)

--Will all the characters be returning? Chaiken: No. Someone shouted out, "MARINA!" and then there was a small chorus of booing. Chaiken laughed and smiled, a bit shyly.

--Will The L Word film in Provincetown? Chaiken said she thinks that Ptown is fabulous and The L Word will have to work it out to do some filming in Ptown in Season 3.

Last: a walk on role was auctioned off. The money went to the NGLTF. The winner got the part for $4000. Her picture is here:

The Deck Party
Sunday afternoon was the big event--Chaiken receiving her National Service Award from the NGLTF. Read her speech.

Chaiken was introduced by Kate Clinton. Kate used part of the routine we heard from her show a few nights before. It was a lengthy intro--about as along as Chaiken's five minute speech.

I have the entire speech on tape. In the future, I'll transcribe it and post it.

After the speech, Urvashi Vaid and Kate Clinton auctioned off yet another walk on role. When this one got to around $3000, the bidder asked if two of them could appear as a couple. Chaiken graciously agreed. The bidding kept on going, though. It was between two people at around $7000. Chaiken, who was standing right next to me, sent someone to tell Urvashi and Kate that BOTH parties would get walk on roles if they would agree to $7500 donations. They did. NGLTF made $15,000 compliments of Ilene Chaiken.

After the auction, I got an opportunity to get some soundtracks autographed.

I had a really good chunk of time talking to Ilene. Here's what I found out (much of this we already knew):
--They're currently filming the 7th episode.
--She's very excited about Sandra Bernhardt and Jane Lynch as guest stars.
--They are adding music and performers as they film each episode. The group Betty will be on the show. Also, Ilene was very excited about the "only out classical musician", a guitarist, who will be on the show--Sharon Isbin.
--She also rattled off a list of Season 2 directors.

See all the pictures:
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4

I hope to have more information on Season 2 Previews in the upcoming weeks!