20 minute read
BEST BETS
good life BEST BETS
Our picks for things to see and do in January and February
BY STEPHANIE SIEGEL BURKE
Jan. 12, 14 & 15 ROLL OVER, BEETHOVEN
Even if you’ve worn out your recordings of A Hard Day’s Night, Revolver and the White Album, you can hear the Beatles in a whole new way when their songs get the symphonic treatment at BSO Pops’ Revolution: The Music of the Beatles. Led by conductor Jack Everly, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra highlights the songwriting brilliance of the Fab Four. The concert also includes projections of rare and intimate photos of the band.
8 p.m., $35-$90, The Music Center at Strathmore, North Bethesda, strathmore.org Alison Kysia, VisArts’ Bresler resident, in her studio
Jan. 11-March 12 ART ALL AROUND
Four art shows are on exhibit at VisArts this winter. The Concourse Gallery features a juried exhibition of artwork by emerging adult artists with disabilities who participate in VisAbility Art Lab, VisArts’ studio for neurodiverse artists working toward careers in the visual arts. The Gibbs Street Gallery will show work by 2022 VisArts Studio Fellow Jessica Valoris, a Washington, D.C., artist whose multimedia efforts include painting, sound collage and ritual performance based on traditions of her Black American and Jewish ancestry. The Kaplan Gallery shows work by VisArts Bresler Resident Artist Cecilia Kim, whose art explores the interplay between documentary and constructed image; Alison Kysia, a multimedia artist whose work focuses on Muslims and Islamophobia; and VisArts Bresler Resident Curator Gabrielle Tillenburg. See the VisArts website for the opening and closing dates of the various exhibitions.
Gallery hours noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday, noon to 8 p.m. Friday, free, VisArts, Rockville, visartscenter.org
Jan. 14 GRAPHIC CONTENT
Celebrate comics, graphic novels and fandoms at MoComCon, and don’t be surprised if superheroes, stormtroopers or other costumed sci-fi characters show up. The free event features a costume contest with categories for kids, teens and adults. Other programs include an introduction to manga, a life-size Candy Land, Beat Saber virtual reality video games, and a scavenger hunt. There are also hands-on crafts like button making and Take & Make Kits (while supplies last). Come early for an all-ages superhero-themed story time at 10:30 a.m., before the official event kicks off.
11 a.m. to 4 p.m., free, Germantown Library, montgomerycountymd.gov/library/programs/ mocomcon.html#section0
BEST BETS
Feb. 2 GUITAR HERO
When it comes to Kaki King, you can take your idea of an instrumental guitar concert and shred it. King, who has been called a guitar virtuoso and was the first woman named a “guitar god” by Rolling Stone magazine, plays in a unique percussive style. She’s known for jazztinged melodies and using multiple tunings. Her energetic live performances often include visual elements, like a light show projected onto the face of her guitar.
8 p.m., $25-$45, AMP by Strathmore, North Bethesda, strathmore.org
Feb. 10-March 19 FANCY FEET
Inspired by true events and based on the 2005 British film of the same title, the musical Kinky Boots tells the story of the unlikely partnership between a drag queen and a northern England shoe factory owner. Charlie Price inherits his father’s failing footwear business, but after he meets Lola, a flashy performer with a broken boot, the two join forces to produce a new line of high-heeled boots and save the business, despite the disapproval of many in their closed-minded community. The show features music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper. If the stage production were a movie, it would be rated PG-13, according to the theater’s website. Feb. 15-April 8 HOOP DREAMS
Based on the picture book by Thelma Lynne Godin and adapted for the stage by Gloria Bond Clunie, The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen is about Kameeka, who is confident that she finally will beat her rival and become the Hula-Hoopin’ Queen of 139th Street in Harlem, New York. But on the day of the competition, she also has to prepare for Miz Adeline’s birthday party. She’s so distracted that she ruins the cake. Luckily, “the hulahoopin’ itch” saves the day and the party spills onto the street. A joyful block party of a show, The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen celebrates the idea that it takes a village to raise a child. Best for ages 5-11.
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PHOTO BY MICHAEL VENTURA Ginger Ager at Gene’s Costumes
FANTASY FULFILLMENT CENTER
At the last remaining costume shop in this area, Ginger Ager can hook you up with Andy Warhol wigs, superhero capes and breeches worthy of Bridgerton
BY MARGARET ENGEL
GINGER AGER STANDS AMID crowded racks of costumes, masks and novelty props in her shop, Gene’s Costumes in Kensington. It’s two days after Halloween—a holiday for costume shops that’s like Christmas, Easter and the Fourth of July all rolled into one—and you can barely see any trace of the store’s floor. Garment and prop returns fill 11 gigantic plaid bags sitting under ceiling displays of Mardi Gras masks, devils’ pitchforks and barrister wigs.
Gene’s Costumes doesn’t have a lot of competition these days, at least not from similarly old-school shops, so the demand for Elvis suits, Bridgerton-style breeches and Marvel superhero capes has been intense. In addition, Ager and her small staff pull, measure and deliver costumes year-round for theatrical productions at local schools and theaters. Things were so busy this past fall that Ager’s parents drove from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and moved into her Silver Spring home for a week to help customers find just the right fantasy looks from the thousands of costumes stored on three levels.
Pointing to the neat bags of returns, Ager says, “We’ll just get this all put away, and then it’s Santa suits, elves costumes, Victorian carolers and the Grinch nonstop ’til Christmas.”
Ager, 59, a 1981 Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School grad, had sensible training for her career in masquerade. She worked at her family’s dry-cleaning business in Laurel and later at a Chevy Chase dry cleaner. She knows not to choose velvet or brocade costumes for high schoolers in drama productions, as those fabrics are easily damaged by water or snags, and has turned away customers she senses will not take care of a costume.
This converted house in Kensington is the place to find Andy Warhol wigs, dragon masks with light-up eyes, and plush spiders the size of suitcases. Costumes celebrating steampunk and Day of the Dead, and outfits for superheroes, flappers and Colonial soldiers fill its racks. There are mascot rentals, so oversize heads of both realistic and comic versions of animals line several shelves. Stage makeup, tiaras, wigs and shoes also are on offer. A not-too-elaborate costume can cost $35 to rent. A full getup, including hat and accessories, typically rents for $65 to $70.
The shop was created by Genevieve Showalter in the basement of her Wheaton home in the early 1960s, hence the name “Gene’s Costumes.”
The enterprise moved to its current location in the mid-1980s, when Ager began helping out part time. After
Showalter died in 1986, an assistant and
Showalter’s husband, Chuck, kept the shop going. In 1989, Ager was asked to buy it, and she took the leap.
At that time, the metro Washington area had around a dozen costume shops, some dating to the 1920s, when downtown hotels held costume nights and formal costume parties were part of the social scene.
In recent decades, pop-up Halloween stores, Amazon’s inventory and packaged costumes in big-box stores have shuttered many of the costume shops nationwide, according to Ed Avis, executive director of the National Costumers Association, based in Chicago. “The numbers have been going down steadily in the last 20 years,” he says, noting the group’s mailing list has dwindled to 1,000, of which 100 are brick-andmortar shops. “But drag, cosplay, comic-
con and new theaters are breathing new Artistic Director Darnell Patrick life into the costume world,” he says. Morris uses Gene’s Costumes for the “They’re an enthusiastic bunch—the fun full schedule of six to 20 yearly producof dressing up is just too vivid.”
At Gene’s, customers can still try on beautifully made costumes of wools and cottons, rather than Customers can still try on buying a one-size-fits-all synthetic outfit in a bag. With enough time, beautifully made costumes alterations are possible. A couple from Laurel recently spent an hour of wools and cottons, rather trying on purple velour suits and cheetah print capes for an upcoming 1970s party. The initially reluc- than buying a one-size-fitstant husband ended up renting two costumes in order to change half- all synthetic outfit in a bag. way through the party. His wife rented three, Ager says. She often gets invited to customers’ parties, but tions at his Ovations Theatre in Gaithonly attends the theatrical productions ersburg. “I can say the most random she costumes. item, and Ginger will have it,” he says. “Her collection is so extensive. We’ve pulled for four to five shows in one day.” Ager has bought out the stock of several shops that have closed, is connected to national costume vendors and keeps abreast of European sources for new outfits. At times, she walks two storefronts up the street to Urban Thrift for items. “We did a Mary Poppins play and needed multiple pairs of black pants,” she recalls. “A couple of thrift visits did it.” America’s resumption of social events is helping the fortunes of costume shops, according to a survey of the National Costumers Association’s members, Avis said. “People still want fantasy, magic and dressup in their lives,” he says. “Costumes allow people to be something other than their everyday selves.” n
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D’manda Martini at Drag Story Hour in November at Brookside Gardens
GETTING DRAGGED
Performers presenting local story hours have been facing protests—but community support and protection have toughened their resolve
BY AKIRA KYLES
D’MANDA MARTINI HAS BEEN performing as a drag queen for about a decade. Not until last summer did she feel she needed protection.
The trouble started one Saturday in June, during a Drag Story Hour at the Montgomery County Public Library in Silver Spring. When Martini arrived, families were already there—but even more people were trying to come in, which struck her as odd.
Some protesters left then, but a couple stayed and caused another interruption before security escorted them out, Martini says. They weren’t yelling, but they seemed intent on intimidating people, she recalls. “It kind of shook me up,” Martini says. “Like, who’s taking their time out at noon on a Saturday to disrupt an event with children and be ugly?”
Since then, protesters—including apparent right-wing Proud Boys—have descended on local Drag Story Hours. It’s a development that’s played out across the country, sometimes violently, in the past year-plus. And in November, an assailant attacked an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing five people.
Local drag performers and their advocates say the blowback has hardened their resolve and prompted them to organize to protect performers.
Martini is among several who have hosted what is now known as Drag Story Hour, which started in 2019, throughout Montgomery County.
“Drag Story Hour has the same essential purpose as any other story hour: to promote literacy while having fun,” says Beth DiGregorio, president of Drag Story Hour DC Metro. “We focus on creating safe and welcoming spaces for queer families. … Having a drag storyteller creates an atmosphere of joy that shows children there is no wrong way to be you.”
The readings are geared toward kids ages 2 to 12, DiGregorio says, and have included titles like Just Add Glitter by Angela DiTerlizzi, a shiny tribute to imagination, and The Kindness Book by Todd Parr, which celebrates the joy of being nice to others.
Conservative critics allege drag events are “grooming” children for sexual abuse and, in other parts of the country, have sought to restrict them. In June, a Texas state legislator announced he was drafting a ban on children attending drag shows, referring to “a disturbing trend in which perverted adults are obsessed with sexualizing young children.”
Some protests at drag events have turned violent, as in an October event in Oregon in which demonstrators threw rocks and smoke grenades, outlets have reported. The November attack in Col-
orado Springs has prompted some drag performers who are prominent nationally to turn to armed guards, according to news reports.
After the June run-in at the Silver Spring library, Drag Story Hour DC Metro representatives met Martini at her car and walked her inside to her next three venues the following day. Those events went without a hitch, and Martini says a friend’s child, who is gendernonconforming, helped her remember the importance of this kind of event.
In response to anti-drag demonstrators, LGBTQ groups like Parasol Patrol, which formed to protect drag performers and attendees at story hours, and other Montgomery County community members, including Kristin Mink, who was elected to the Montgomery County Council in November, decided to organize counterprotests.
At the Kensington library in July, Christopher Hefty was in full costume as drag queen persona Bella Naughty to join the Parasol Patrol.
Protesters “were continually trying to get into the event, and they would get in
be you.” —Beth DiGregorio
your face,” Hefty says. “People got really upset with just the fact that we were physically there and doing something fun.”
The August and September story hours at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton proceeded without incident, Martini says. But in October, counterprotesters weren’t there—and men showed up in “Proud Boys” baseball caps, with skeleton-face bandanas over their mouths. They carried signs that said “Science is real boy or girl” and the word “Groomers” with a red X drawn across it.
Afterward, Martini says, the protesters followed her to her car, shouting insults and shooting pictures and videos. She was harassed on Twitter and other social media accounts, she says.
The Proud Boys could not be reached for comment.
Between the Proud Boys and the Colorado shooting, safety has become a high priority for Drag Story Hour events.
“We have a really great group of supporters who are committed to showing up to each story hour to ensure attendees are able to get from their vehicles to the event without disturbance,” DiGregorio says. With colorful umbrellas, “We call this our rainbow wall, and it is designed to shield families both from the visual of the protesters, and if necessary, we play loud Disney music to shield them from hate speech. We work with venues who are committed to the safety of families and our storytellers, and each venue will have a different safety plan based on the location and layout.”
Martini fears that she or a family member will be contacted outside of her event appearances. But she has persisted, returning to Brookside Gardens for a November reading. That time, the hostile reaction came from a smaller group.
The Brookside Gardens events are to resume in April after a seasonal hiatus, according to DiGregorio.
Martini, for one, will be there. “If I’m reading to children, it’s to make them happy and have fun,” she says. “I firmly believe in what Drag Story Hour is, and that is reading stories to kids, to, first of all, allow kids to sort of see different kinds of people. ... Being exposed to different types of people and different cultures allows children to then have empathy for all of [them]. Being a person who is LGBTQ in front of kids allows them to then [say], ‘Oh wait, these are people— these are real people.’” n
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A chimp at the Maryland Zoo; a marmoset at Southwick’s Zoo in Massachusetts; Anthony Slamin and Lisa Daly at the North Carolina Zoo in 2020
INTO THE WILD
How old fire hose became a passion project for one Rockville couple, who now keeps it out of landfills and in the paws of animals who can use it
BY ALICIA OLTUSKI
LISA DALY AND HER HUSBAND, Anthony Slamin, were strolling through the National Zoo in April 2014 when they noticed a curious material inside an animal enclosure: fire hose. It was in frayed condition. So the couple, both of whom volunteered for the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service in Rockville for several years, contacted the zoo and were put in touch with Amanda Bania, the great-ape keeper at the time. Did she want some more of that hose? Bania said, “It’s like gold!’ We’ll take as much as you have!” Daly recalls.
Soon, the pair rounded up out-ofservice fire hose from local stations and dropped it off at the zoo. Bania was thrilled and suggested that the couple make donating hose more widespread. The result: Hose2Habitat, a nonprofit they founded that helps connect those who care for wild animals living outside their natural habitats with fire stations and other establishments that offer materials that can improve those animals’ welfare. Besides being widely available, used fire hose can be twisted and braided into forms that mimic ones that animals encounter—and need to encounter in order to stay stimulated—in the wild. It can be transformed into a mock piece of four-legged prey in need of catching and slaying just as easily as it can become the crevices of a jungle tree. Animals need to work for their food as part of their wellbeing, say zoological experts.
The next thing they knew, Daly and Slamin were fielding calls from all over the country. In turn, they got in touch with fire stations around the U.S. to gather even more resources. Daly, who is in her 40s, and Slamin, who is in his 60s, are quick to clarify that they didn’t come up with the idea of fire hose as an animal enrichment tool. “I like to talk about Hose2Habitat as being more of an idea pollinator,” Slamin says. In the course of running it, the couple brainstorms new things to make out of the material they have and offers workshops that teach caregivers, handlers and institutions how materials like fire hose can benefit wild animals unaccustomed to living in the wild. They’ve worked with a dizzying variety of species ranging from elephants, wolves, grizzly bears and rhinos to bats, anteaters, snakes and penguins (which are, per Daly, “hilarious to enrich”). Their work, they estimate, has resulted in the transfer of hundreds of tons of materials for animal enrichment purposes. An added bonus: By diverting the old hose to animals, the couple keeps that material out of the waste stream.
The impact that the couple has had on the zoo and sanctuary community is “more immense” than they probably even know, Bania says. “They are a truly amazing organization.” Board member Mandy Siegel Fahy, who works on the animal behavior team for the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, credits the group for “sharing ideas and inspiration.”
Daly and Slamin both work—Daly as a nonpartisan senior counsel at the U.S. House of Representatives and Slamin as an analyst for the federal government.
Last year, Daly and Slamin took two trips to the Amazon and other parts of Peru, hauling 600 feet of forestry hose in their luggage on one of the voyages, they say. They would work with animals “in situ,” or in a managed habitat in their original homeland, the goal being release into the wild. Many have been fed in ways that are not organic to life in the jungle (like eating from bowls) and lack the skills necessary for hunting. On the pair’s most recent trip, a goal was to “work on additional strategies to prepare the animals for planned release into the Amazon,” said Daly in an email. On their first day, the couple found themselves walking through jungle, watching the monkeys’ expert caretakers pluck fruit from trees. Then, using the forestry hose they’d brought, they wove a contraption that teetered, resembling the swaying branches of a tree. That creation served as a prototype that inspired 12 replicas built by the team caring for the monkeys, all of which the animals put to use.
Sometimes, Daly and Slamin’s work has a more immediate impact. In 2016, the couple—armed with fire hose—boarded a cruise out of Baltimore, and during a stop in the Bahamas they built a structure for a primate whose longtime mate had died. “The animal was depressed, and so we were thinking of ways to make her have to think about getting her favorite treats,” Daly says. The idea was to divert the primate’s attention from her grief. Pulling out a photo of a tall structure of knitted hose with food tucked into its nooks and crannies, Daly recalls how much it helped the animal. She and Slamin love seeing their services in action. Daly says, “It’s like an antidepressant for me.” n
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