A Very Public Secret Hustler

The Lyric Theatre

Will is one of the stars of The Lyric Theatre singers, still being used as a main attraction on advertising.
He's even in the latest mass email campaign:

Will told me in the first month of his desire to be an singer/performer; he's always on stage with this group with whom he performs regularly under the direction of Bob Bachelor, the director of the company.

Will has been cast as a lead singer a variety of times and reviewers love him. His handsome face can often been seen in the ads and press copy for current shows, like the writeup by Kathryn Greenaway in The Montreal Gazette where he is bottom and cornered.

For another Chrismas show

he's upfront and central, looking at the Director, Bob Bachelor, in the years online ad for the next show,

Mr. Bachelor has featured Will often, and has used him many times singing to another man on stage, a kind of wink and nod to the gay audience this company enjoys, and certainly to the older men in the crowd who fancy being the center of attention from Will. He's even on their facebook page postings, in the same setting, again, with and older man as his center of attention;

More than just a chorus member

Will is a popular member of the chorus, clearly known to the President of the Lyric Theatre Singers, Louise Dorais where they are FB friends, and in a variety of her postings and pictures: posting pics 1 or posting pics 2
He has been used in many recruiting videos and pictures for the theatre, even while he was listing and working in massage on Rent.Men, Leolist, and Rentmasseur.

Will boasted to me many times that other members of the Lyric knew he did massage. We talked about this a lot, where I argued that calling his sex work by the name massage made people think he was like Richard Gere in American Gigilo, or some nice young man setting up a table and stroking your back, where in actuality, Will has little skill and nor formal training at massage. From his own descriptions to me and my experiences with him, I know his encounters are mostly about nudity, sex work, men touching him for money. He told me his couples massages always involved sex.

Specifically, the Lyric members Will told me knew about his sex work were Marie Alexiou (past member), Ian Burke (past member), Danielle Hoyt, Timothy Adams, Tarik Azgui, and Justin Muniz. Other members he hinted knew of his massage work were Katherine Fournier and Chris Barillaro, though I never quite knew what he meant when he would say they 'understood he did massage'.

As we all know, once information like this is discussed in a small group setting, it spreads, so I'm sure there are others who know now, and may even have known then, of Will's massage & sex work.

Other Companies

He's also the public face in minor companies, likeThe 7 Wonders Theatre Company where he is regularly featured and has done past shows that are featured on sites likeThe Montreal Theatre Hub. Will, or Bill Fech, is a known actor in Montreal.

Will had told me his true love is musical theatre, but he also tries to perform in serious companies, like The Snowglobe Theatre under the direction of Peter Giser where he most recently played minor roles in Hamlet
with some flare. He has been a selling face for the theatre, too -- helping to recruit more members and has been in mutiple online ads for workshops for the theatre, so the director clearly enjoys having him as one of the faces of the theatre. Many straight men are charmed by Will, and his sexual persona helps sell many things.

Academics

Unlike many other sex workers, Will is pursuing a PhD in Flim Studies -- a very uncommon pastime for men on Rent.Men or Rentmasseur. We discussed his program and his department from time to time, and I had asked him more than once if his advisor, H. Wasson, PhD knew he was a sex worker. He said 'he thought she knew he did massage' -- which is a lovely evasive and deceptive manner to answer the direct question. (See section on deception below). Since I've been on faculty at two major universities (and one minor one), I am quite familiar with academic life; I knew Will was not telling me all that had been discussed or occurred between him and his advisor.

His department shouldn't be surprised at Will's nakedness and sexual displays for money -- his first interview that I could find in the campus news specifically talks about doing nudity in public for many shows before he came to Concordia.

Since, recently, Concordia University has had a lot of press coverage about sexual policies and behavior recently, in national The CBC , regional The Star, and local outlets Montreal Gazette, it would be reasonable if Dr. Wasson informed the program director, Masha Salazkina department chair, Jean-Claude Bustros or even the new President of Concordia, Graham Carr. In my experience at Harvard, Wellesley, and Oakland University, departmental information lines flow upward very quickly, expecially about sexual matters. And Will performs with an affiliated music group, the Lyric Theatre Singers (see above), many times during the year, so he's visibile both in classrooms and on the main stages, which makes him all the more visible as a symbolic member of the Concoria community.

When Will first arrived at Concordia, he went by the name Bill Fech -- and he was already using his double entendre, sexually provactive style of writing (see close readings or deception) to accent his suitability to spend the night with older men of the cinema, including well know gay faculty members like Prof. Thomas Waugh, or filmmakers like Jon Jost.

writing as Bill Fech

Other Academic contacts

Will had once been approached for erotic massage (or more - it was unclear whether this client contact came from Rent.men or Rentmasseur) by the husband of a faculty member at Dawson College, where Will wanted to find employment after finishing his PhD. I had strongly encouraged him not to have sex with the husband of a man from whom he wanted a reference, work, or academic advancement. Much as with his theatre or chorus work Will often blurred the boundries of his paid, personal, and sexual intimacies, and that of his professional or academic life. I warned him that no one every really got a faculty job from sexual favors. I don't know if he ever went through with the Dawson college erotic massage, though I know that Will had regular clients with students from other colleges; he once told me that when he needed 'pocket money' he could just call an Arab student at McGill (one of a few, he mentioned) and the guy would pay for a session

While I have know a few escorts who entertained academic careers, it is dangerous to be such a public instructor and/or lecturer at the same time you post public ads for massage and sex work. Will and I visited this topic many times and I had ecouraged him to consider the serious ramifications of what he was doing.

Teaching ESL/Editing/Writing

Even while moonlighting as a masseur and sex worker, Will's education and comfort with his public persona allows him to operate at times as a freelance editor and a teacher of ESL with two companies, Partenaire Linguistique des Entreprises

and the Sullivan Language Center.

Both the principles of these companies must clearly know Will's intellectual, performance, and complex interpersonal skills - they are primary sources of referance on his EFA CV with and must know is special skills quite well.

One of my favorite quotes comes from his editing intro blurb on the now defunct "The Ink Quill": "the words we use (or misuse) continue to matter a great deal." You will see that when Will writes, he's always conveying more than one idea.

This online company was used by Will Fech for meeting clients who need editing and other services. It is referenced on most of his other groups and his Ink Quill CV listed academic contacts as references, including Ezra Winton and Marc Steinberg at Concordia.

This all goes so show how much Will was in the public eye along with his skills at performace and presentation, which goes a long way to explain how was I deceived by a man with such a lovely countenance and polite manners.

Sexy Public Displays

We shouldn't forget that chamelions are predators - and one simple method for detecting a predator is looking for attributes which don't match his environment. In this case, when Will tried to fit into social domains in which he had little experience, he usually made clothing choices that revealed his underlaying intentions and or motivations.

Our first expensive dinner in the Plateau at Lemeac was on a cold and rainy night; I picked Will up at his apartment lobby, we got a cab, and when we arrived and Will took off his coat (we sat in the window by the door) he had worn only a white t-shirt with tight dark jeans. I asked him if he wanted something to wear since, while it was lovely to look at his nipples erect in the cold, he was clearly cold.

Many other times Will chose sexy clothing at odd times -- like when he gave a pre-film lecture of the film by Kubrick: The Killing at of the Montreal Film (Discussion) Club (CineClub). In the cool Fall weather, he wore a form fitting short-sleve shirt with two buttons open at the top so his chest hair teased the audience, especially when he leaned onto the dias so he could speak into the microphone (which he needn't have done -- they extend -- he knew this). But leaning in a well-fitted, open shirt at a Kubrick film talk (**discuss more parallels with film here) showed off his body and well formed ass, which really was the scene we might have storyboarded.

He did the same at his opening lecture I attending at his explicit invitation (though he feined surprise) at Concordia. Again, he wore a tight shirt with the top two buttons undone and leaned on the dias with his back arched slightly downward -- truly a 'fucking' position. He had even gaily thrown a scarf around his neck before the start of the class to the clapping and laughing of some of the students. Performance in clothing at the start of a class *** more here about sexual showing in lectures***. Will wore this same kind of outfit when he lectured on 'Moonlight' -- I began to see that he often had his clothing in public settings styled to reveal his sexy prowess.

Will showed me his first suit coat, again too small, but body fitting. He loved wearing it on stage. Will loved to show his ass at snooker, laying on the table at least once every 15 minutes during all the games we played. I used to comment on it, but realized if I brought it out more, he might stop doing it -- and I loved seeing his ass and legs on display in public settings (as did he).