Welcome to CazWorld.com. I am Caz Springer and I’m offering this as a view into my professional life and a bit of my life outside of the 9-to-5 and general work world. A lot of the professional theater world is not in the 9-to-5, so I have to expand those hours here.

I am an experienced writer and editor. I thrive in deadline-driven environments such as newsrooms, online publishing, and live theater. There’s nothing like live theater to hone quick thinking and creative problem solving. My tech theater training began at age 7 at a children’s summer stock theater on Cape Cod and continued on at CalArts and UMass-Amherst. During high school I was the Technical Director for the Children’s Repertory Company in Westchester County, New York. We performed at Lincoln Center and on Theater Row on 42nd St. in Manhattan. In those days I was known personally and professionally as Chesley Springer. Chesley is an honorable name meaning Protector of the Camp. (Shout out to pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.)

Beginning in 2003, I used my name Caz almost exclusively. Making that change helped everyone make a change with my pronouns. Does it matter that I was raised a female protector of the camp? Yes, for a number of reasons. For one, if anyone understands transformations and opportunities for growth, it is trans people. (Here I am including transsexuals, transgender people and our gender fluid allies.) I am noting this here in May, 2018, because starting in December, 2017, I have been the target of online harassment by a mentally ill family member. For him, I hope he’ll find a way to grow. Maybe learn something from MSNBC’s Joy Reid or for that matter President Barack Obama who found a way to honor the LGBT community and support same-sex marriage and equal rights. This relative is someone who used firecrackers to blow up my large paperback edition of Word is Out, the text accompanying the ground-breaking 1978 gay and lesbian documentary. Considering his views on gay and lesbian people, I could see no reason to test the waters on transitioning.

It also matters because when you read my interview with Alice Walker about her book The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart, you might wonder if her replies would have been any different in a conversation with someone she recognized as male. As much as gender matters in her work, it may be a something to ponder. Imogene Coca and I were like peas in a pod for five months when I worked as her dresser on the Makin’ Whoopee tour. Dressers tend to be the same gender as the actor they’re responsible for, though that is no hard and fast rule. And also, even then I was masculine. A masculine lesbian. My sexuality had nothing to do with my job performance and my sensibility and manner of dress worked perfectly in my care of Coca and her costumes.

My LGBT work has spanned from the iconic bi-coastal bookstore A Different Light, to LGBT journalism and the launch team for Book-of-the-Month Club’s Insightout online bookclub. Later in Arizona I worked with LGBT indie film production and DVD distribution company Ariztical and the LGBT community center Wingspan.

My editorial/advertorial work for BookSpan included managing my superb content team that provided content for a myriad of book clubs’ print and online needs. Repurposing, and editing for club character was key. The website always demanded fresh copy and the print mailings went out 13 times a year. We depended on freelance writers for additional content. My entrée was as a freelance writer providing author profiles and author interviews. For BookSpan it was vital to be able to provide long form interviews, features, tag lines and brief catchy copy.

I was a freelance copy editor before getting a seat on the rim for the Pulitzer-prize-winning Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, California.

I am a writer and a editor. I believe in teamwork and I am able to produce quality work independently.