Secrets :: Articles

Secrets
Articles

Updated 09-12-00

Cross-Dressing, Ab-Pressing Preppies
Added September 3, 2000

Dressed For Success: Katherine Moennig
Added August 15, 2000

Young American Boys Don't Cry
Added August 15, 2000

Celeb Spotlight on 'Young Americans' from TeenMag.com
Added August 15, 2000

Storylines in 'Young Americans' Shakespearean
Added August 15, 2000

Cross-Dressing, Ab-Pressing Preppies
By Jeffrey Epstein
From OUT Magazine
A new Drama serves up a potent mixture of homoeroticism and gender-role playing.
Take a few boys hunky enough to grace an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, a gender-bending girl whom Shakespeare would love, and one picturesque New England prep school, and you have all the makings of the summer's hottest new teen soap, the WB's Young Americans. Created by Steven Antin (who also penned the gay-inclusive Inside Monkey Zetterland), the show was launched from a Dawson's Creek crossover this past spring. But unlike Dawson and Pacey, the boys on this show proudly reveal their rippling abs-and did so within the first 20 minutes of the first episode, when during a routine sophomore hazing they were stripped to their boxer shorts and left in the town square. One student who avoided the mayhem was Jake, a lass who dresses as a lad so she can attend the prestigious Rawley Academy. "The other day I was in costume and I got directed to the men's room by a total stranger," laughs Katherine Moennig, who plays Jake-and, ironically, also went up for the leading role in Boys Don't Cry. "After a while I get so into it that I freak out a little-like I'm losing who I am." Things started off in more confusing ways for Jake's love interest, Hamilton, who had previously considered himself 100% hetero. "His poor character is going through so many conflicts," says Moennig. "When I reveal myself to him [as a girl], the character has a huge wash of relief, knowing that he's not gay." Moennig, a former tomboy, says she's totally comfortable walking in men's shows-although she's stopped using crotch-enhancing socks. "I did it for a while, but then I just got used to the walk," she explains. "Now I have it down. once you get the rhythm, you're safe."
Picture Caption: Katherine Moennig's Jake really keeps her man (Somerhalder) guessing

Dressed for Success: Young Americans
By Jenny Higgons
From Gist.com
Chances are that prestigious Rawley Academy, the setting for the new WB drama Young Americans, offers courses in a wide variety of subjects. But you can bet a lion's share of hefty trust funds that it doesn't include a class that one of its students, Jake Pratt, might find handy: "Masquerading as a Guy."
Despite that gap in the curriculum, however, Jake, who is really a girl named Jacqueline and played by actress Katherine Moennig, seems to be holding his/her own when it comes to disguising herself as a guy in order to attend the all-male prep school. Like any good student, Moennig diligently prepared for her challenging assignment. "I worked out a bit at the gym," she explains. "And because the majority of the cast is male, I was able to listen to what they were saying and observe how they acted."
Those male student bodies include fellow Rawley classmate Hamilton Fleming (Ian Somerhalder). Not only is he the son of the academy's dean, he was also the surprised recipient of a recent rooftop kiss when Jake's inner woman took over and she couldn't restrain herself from planting a kiss on the lips of the handsome, blue-eyed guy. Though the buss was a quickie, it left him quite freaked out and wondering about his strange, inexplicable attraction to his pal.
Though Jake has since revealed her true identity to a shocked and annoyed — and very relieved — Ham, Moennig is still mum on the details regarding the long-term course of their relationship. She will, however, admit that it won't be too long before she gets the opportunity to put on the female glitz. "I'll get to wear makeup soon," she says, "so I'm not worried about it."
Despite her spending most of her small-screen time wearing baggy pants, loose T-shirts and a bind around her upper torso, fans have started approaching Moennig when she's out and about on the street. "People say, 'Are you that Jake character on TV? You know, that guy-girl thing?' "
This kind of recognition is what Moennig was looking for when she left her hometown of Philadelphia to attend New York City's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Following her graduation, she apprenticed at Massachusetts' celebrated Williamstown Theatre Festival, where she recently appeared in a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Her professional past also includes two independent films, a music video and other stage work. Acting also runs in the family: Moennig is a cousin of Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the testosterone that permeates the heavily male YA set, Moennig fits right in when it comes to palling around with the cast — which also features Mark Famiglietti, Rodney Scott and Ed Quinn — between takes. "We rag on each other and blast music. And we hang out with the Teamsters, who are so much fun. Stuff like that." Just like one of the boys indeed!

Young American Boys Don't Cry
Wednesday, July 26, 2000
From TVGuide.com:
Katherine Moennig, who plays a girl pretending to be a boy on the WB prep school drama Young Americans, knows firsthand how tough life can be for an androgyne.
"I've gone out as myself, as Kate, and people have thought I've been a guy," the actress confesses to the TV Guide Channel. "And it throws me off a bit. But that's kinda good because it does throw me off. I'm not used to it so I just play along with it and it gives me something to work with."
Moennig, like Oscar-winning Boys Don't Cry star Hilary Swank, spent time preparing for her role by sneaking out into public places in full male makeup. She was fascinated to find that strangers on the street had no idea how to respond to her. "People treat women much more gentle, more careful," says the native New Yorker. "Men in general are much more harsh and brazen [with each other]."
Is there a chance we'll get to see Moennig's Young Americans (Wednesdays, 9 pm/ET) character, Jake, reveal her feminine side anytime soon? "Maybe," she teases. "Wait and watch the show. You'll see!" — Rich Brown

Celeb Spotlight on 'Young Americans' from TeenMag.com
From " TeenMag.com":

Young Americans premieres on July 12th right after "Dawson's Creek" which is appropriate since it's a spin-off of the popular show!
Y.A. features blue-collar New England townie Will (Rodney Scott) who infiltrates the billionaire boys club of blue-bloods, and finds kinship with his privileged room mate Scout Calhoun (Mark Famiglietti) who discovers he might be kin to local love interest, Bella (Kate Bosworth). Yikes! Talk about strange bedfellows! Stranger still, though, is how Jake (Katherine Moening) can maintain a platonic friendship with Hamilton (Ian Somerhalder) by convincing him that she's just one of the guys.
Sound "Creek-y" enough for ya? It is...be sure to tune in and let us know what you think about it!
Will (Rodney Scott) It has always been Will's dream to be a Rawley man, if for no other reason than to get away from his overbearing father, and he would do anything…anything to win a scholarship to the Academy. Now among the privileged class, Will gets a hefty dose of reality, and fears he may have gotten in a little over his head.
Scout (Mark Famiglietti)
Will's good-looking, charismatic, smart and filthy rich roomie, Scout is the epitome of everything Will ever hopes he can be. Scout, however, wouldn't mind being just a regular guy like Will, especially if that would help his chances with Bella.
Bella (Kate Bosworth)
The blonde town-girl grew up with Will, but doesn't understand his preoccupation with the Rawley affluence and wealth, though finds herself curiously drawn to Scout, "the Fresh Prince of South Hampton" as she calls him, much to the objection of her widowed father.
Hamilton (Ian Somerhalder)
It's not easy being the dean's kid on campus, especially for the precocious Hamilton, an outsider with most of the guys, who manages to strike up an unexpected friendship with Jake, a most unusual fella.
Jake (Katherine Moennig)
An East Coast prep-school hopper and astute computer hacker, Jake is just waiting for someone to catch on to a deep, dark secret, which may be revealed a lot sooner than later.

Storylines in 'Young Americans' Shakespearean
Susan King - Los Angeles Times
Spokane _ HOLLYWOOD -- The WB's core teen audience should brush up on their Shakespeare before tuning into the network's new series "Young Americans."
The show premiers Thursday at 5 p.m. on KSKN-22 in Spokane.
Set at a swank New England boarding school, "Young Americans" revolves around Will Krudski (Rodney Scott), a poor townie with a loving mother and surly father who gets a chance to attend Rawley Academy on a scholarship. The only problem is, he cheated on his entrance exam.
But the complications don't end there. His roommate is the rich but down-to-earth Scout Calhoun (Mark Farmiglietti), who is madly in love with the beautiful local girl Bella Banks (Kate Bosworth). But a deep, dark secret looks like it might derail their relationship. Meanwhile, the dean's son, Hamilton Fleming (Ian Somerhalder), finds himself strangely attracted to Jake Pratt (Katherine Moennig), who just happens to be a woman masquerading as a man.
"I wanted to tell classic stories," says creator and executive producer Steven Antin, a former actor who has written such indie films as "Inside Monkey Zetterling" and "SFW."
"The Jake character is Shakespearean -- that is totally `Twelfth Night.' I think most of the story lines in the shows are definitely Shakespearean in nature. The Scout and Bella thing is just a twist on `Romeo and Juliet.' How do I take two people who are totally and madly in love and what can I put between them to put them apart?"
And Will, the townie with dreams, Antin adds, is the ultimate antihero. "I always wanted to write a story about a Will Krudski. I feel like he's a guy who almost anybody can identify with. You want to take care of him and you want him to win. He often makes bad choices. It's really a wholesome show with characters who, for the most part, do the right thing but the big sort of aside is, `look closer -- there is a lot more happening there."'
Scott sees his character as more of a complicated kid at a complicated moment in his life.
"He has a lot going on inside of him," Scott says. "He's the kind of guy who wants to create a better life for himself. He's learning what life is about and he may do the wrong things, but he'll learn from it."
The character has been a real challenge for Scott because it's very close to him. "It's harder to play yourself than make up a character," he explains. "When you make up a character everything is make-believe. But to actually play something close to yourself, it's hard to let people in."
Like Will, Scott didn't have it easy growing up. "At this age, I was starting to go through some of the same things," says Scott, who hails from Ocean City, Md., not far from where the series films in Baltimore. "Life wasn't a walk in the park for me, and it certainly isn't for Will."
Bosworth, who, like her character, is still in high school, instantly bonded with Bella. "I love her strength. I love her self-sufficiency as a person," says the 17-year-old.
And after playing a character over an extended period of time, the young actress says that Bella has taken on a life of her own. "It's so funny from watching the first episode to (doing) episode six; there is such a dramatic difference because I have really sunk into it," she says.

| Back to Top |