Helen Hayes Awards - Rick Hammerly and Felicia Curry

MAY 9, 2019

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CONTENTS

OH, JACKIE!

Funny lady Jackie Hoffman adores her gay audience, and they can love her right back as she hosts GMCW’s Spring Affair.

By André Hereford

AWARDS WORTHY

Helen Hayes Awards co-hosts Rick Hammerly and Felicia Curry set the stage for D.C. theater’s biggest night.

Interview by André Hereford Photographed on location at The Anthem by Todd Franson

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Volume 26 Issue 2

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BLOOD AND NIGHTMARES Michael Kahn’s curtain call at The Shakespeare Theatre Company is the breathtaking, deeply satisfying The Oresteia.

By Kate Wingfield

SPOTLIGHT: THE 39 STEPS p.7 OUT ON THE TOWN p.10 THE JXJ FESTIVAL p.12 JACKIE HOFFMAN: PLAYING HOST p.14 LINH HOANG: FIGHTING FOR FAIRFAX p.19 STOLI’S BOTTLE SERVICE p.20 COMMUNITY: BOOK SMART p.21 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p.21 SCENE: YOUTH PRIDE DAY p.24 COVER STORY: RICK HAMMERLY AND FELICIA CURRY p.28 STAGE: THE ORESTEIA p.34 STAGE: LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST p.36 STAGE: THE CHILDREN p.37 SCENE: ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS p.39 NIGHTLIFE LISTINGS p.40 NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS p.41 LAST WORD p.46 Real LGBTQ News and Entertainment since 1994

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Online Editor at metroweekly.com Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley Contributing Editors André Hereford, Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrator Scott G. Brooks Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, Troy Petenbrink, Bailey Vogt, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla Patron Saint Scott Hammar Cover Photography Todd G. Franson Metro Weekly 1775 I St. NW, Suite 1150 Washington, DC 20006 202-638-6830 All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization.

© 2019 Jansi LLC.

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MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

KATIE SIMMONS-BARTH

Spotlight

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The 39 Steps

MONG THE DOZEN OR SO CHARACTERS MICHAEL Wood plays in The 39 Steps, a whiz-bang spoof of one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous early works, one appears onstage for a mere 12 seconds.

“You can do a lot in 12 seconds,” says the 35-year-old actor. “You can tell people a whole story in 12 seconds. It’s during a moment when we are leaping back and forth, rapid fire, between a lot of different characters in a kind of bravado moment. It’s a lot of fun to do.”

Adapted by Patrick Bristow, The 39 Steps features only four actors. “One plays our leading man,” says director Joseph W. Ritsch. “The three others play everybody else from the film. I think it's 30 characters between them. It moves real fast.”

“I get to play a very antagonistic...professor who is making life very difficult for the leading man,” says Wood. “It's fun to get to play a villain, because often I'm cast as nice guys or best friends. Someone else I get to play is Mrs. McGarrigle

[pictured above, center]. She’s a Scottish innkeeper and is smitten with the leading man and his leading lady.”

Wood doesn’t think audiences need to watch Hitchcock’s film before coming to the show to fully appreciate it. “Go home and watch the film afterwards. But you don't have to be a cinephile, you don't have to be a Hitchcock lover, because it's all built into what we're doing.”

Ritch, who serves as Rep Stage’s Producing Artistic Director, selected The 39 Steps because he wanted to provide audiences comic relief from the rigors of the daily world. “For a lot of us right now, particularly those of us in the LGBTQ community, there's a lot of things to be worried about with the current administration. So just to go and have two hours to forget about all that, and laugh in a communal environment, I think, is really important. As a producer, as I get older, I feel like my heart is opening up to the importance and the power of pure entertainment. Sometimes we just need to come to the theater to have a good time.” —Randy Shulman

The 39 Steps runs through May 19 at The Horowitz Center’s Studio Theatre at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, in Columbia, Md. Tickets are $15 to $40. Call 443-518-1500 or visit www.repstage.org.

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Spotlight TOSCA

ELISE BAKKETUN

Ethan McSweeny directs a production of Giacomo Puccini’s striking, suspenseful drama, a sumptuous tale of ill-fated love that amazes and captivates new and longtime opera lovers alike. Keri Alkema takes on the title role opposite Riccardo Massi as her rebellious lover Cavaradossi (except for the Sunday matinees on May 12 and May 19, when Latonia Moore and Robert Watson substitute) in a Washington National Opera production of the work set in 18th century Rome and featuring elegant sets depicting grand Roman scenes provided by Seattle Opera. Speranza Scappucci serves as conductor. Performances start Saturday, May 11. To May 25.

Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets are $35 to $300.

Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY

COURTESY OF GREENWICH ENTERTAINMENT

Saturday Night Live alum Molly Shannon portrays Emily Dickinson in Madeleine Olnek’s humorous yet bold reappraisal of the iconic 19th-century American poet based on her private letters. Susan Ziegler plays Dickinson’s passionate, lifelong romantic lover, friend, and sister-in-law Susan. Wild Nights with Emily — billed as “a timely critique of how women’s history is rewritten” — shows a side of the poet that few knew existed, a marked contrast from her stoic, reclusive reputation. Opens Friday, May 10.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Also Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema, 7235 Woodmont Ave. Visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

ANNIE JUMP & THE LIBRARY OF HEAVEN

RYAN MAXWEL

The edgy, innovative, and immersive local company Rorschach Theatre presents Reina Hardy’s play about finding one’s place in the universe and intelligent life in the neighborhood. Specifically, the play focuses on a small-town teen and science genius confronted by a popular girl at school who might be the disguise of an intergalactic supercomputer tasked with bringing humanity to the stars. Medha Marsten directs a cast including Zach Brewster-Geisz, Vanessa Chapoy, Robin Covington, Aron Spellane, and Emily Whitworth.

Now to May 19. Lab Theatre II in the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $19.99 to $29.99. Call 202-399-7993 or visit www.atlasarts.org.

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MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Spotlight SOYLENT GREEN

Next up in the popular Capital Classics series at Landmark’s West End Cinema is this 1973 nihilistic sci-fi film from Richard Fleischer (Fantastic Voyage).

Charlton Heston stars as a NYPD detective in the dystopian distant future — actually, 2022, so not so distant now — investigating the murder of an executive at rations manufacturer Soylent Corporation. What he finds is responsible for one of the most famous shouted lines in cinema history. With Edward G. Robinson in his final screen role. Wednesday, May 15, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m. 2301 M St. NW. Happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.50. Call 202-534-1907 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

ECE OGULTURK

JILL BIDEN

The former Second Lady offers a reading and discussion of her candid new memoir about the challenges of public scrutiny, complicated family dynamics, and personal losses. A community college professor and an advocate for military families and the fight against cancer, in her book Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself, Biden reveals how she built a family and a life of her own apart from her famous husband Joe Biden, who is once again running for president. Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. 600 I St. NW. Tickets are $45 including one book. Call 202-4083100 or visit www.sixthandi.org.

TERESA CASTRACANE

MARY STUART

Jason Loewith directs an Olney Theatre Center production of Friedrich Schiller’s bracing, 19th Century Shakespearean political drama about one of England’s most storied rivalries, that between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth I. Catholic Mary is a threat to Protestant Queen Elizabeth’s reign, but her murder isn’t a clear or easy way to eliminate the threat — especially considering the fact that the two are cousins. In previews.

Runs to June 9. Theatre Lab, 2001 OlneySandy Spring Road, Olney, Md. Call 301-9243400 or visit www.olneytheatre.org.

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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RYAN MAXWELL

Out On The Town

SIDE SHOW

The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts presents the musical by Bill Russell and composer Henry Krieger (Dreamgirls) — with additional material by Bill Condon — as performed by adult students in its Creating a Musical Role class at the school’s Woodward Hall, a block north of the Old Patent Office Building. The company’s Deb Gottesman directs, with musical direction by Alex Tang, this show about famed entertainers and Siamese Twins Daisy and Violet Hinton. Remaining performances are Thursday, May 9, through Saturday, May 11, at 7:30 p.m. 733 8th St. NW. Tickets are 15. Call 202-824-0449 or visit www.theatrelab.org.

Compiled by Doug Rule

FILM FROM SELMA TO STONEWALL: ARE WE THERE YET?

Busboys and Poets presents the latest installment in its monthly Focus-In! Film Series, featuring a screening of a documentary that examines the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the progress of the LGBTQ movement, and present-day activists’ involvement in civil rights and social justice issues. A live-streamed discussion, moderated by Cathy Renna, will follow, featuring panelists Bishop Gene Robinson; Ashley Smith, the board president of the Capital Pride Alliance; Sheila Alexander-Reid, the director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs; and Rebecca York, community engagement and youth leadership coordinator for SMYAL. Free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served. Full service provided. 6:308:30 p.m. Busboys and Poets, 2004 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE. For more information, visit www. busboysandpoets.com.

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THE HUSTLE

Anne Hathaway (with an English accent, no less) and Rebel Wilson team up in a female-centred remake of 1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, itself a remake of 1964’s Bedtime Story. Directed by Chris Addison (Veep), The Hustle was apparently watered down from an R-rating to PG-13 — and the verdict is still out on whether that’s a good or bad thing. Opens Friday, March 10.

Area theaters. Visit www.fandango. com. (RM)

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

Landmark's E Street Cinema presents its monthly run of Richard O’Brien’s camp classic, billed as the longest-running midnight movie in history. Landmark's showings come with a live shadow cast from the Sonic Transducers, meaning it's even more interactive than usual.

Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11, at midnight. 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672 or visit www. landmarktheatres.com.

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

STAGE GOD OF CARNAGE

A playground altercation between two boys brings together two sets of upper-middle-class Brooklyn parents for a meeting to resolve the matter in Yasmina Reza’s Tonywinning play, a shrewd and vicious comedy. Shirley Serotsky directs the Keegan Theatre production starring the company’s artistic director Susan Rhea, Lolita Clayton, Vishwas, and DeJeanette Horne. To May 25. 1742 Church St. NW. Call 202-265-3767 or visit www.keegantheatre.com.

GRAND HOTEL THE MUSICAL

Eric Schaeffer directs one of his favorite musicals, a multiple Tonywinning work from 1989 with a book by Luther Davis and music and lyrics by Robert Wright, George Forrest, and Maury Yeston. Based on the 1929 novel by Vicki Baum that also spawned two World War II-era movies, Grand Hotel The Musical is set in a lavish hotel in Weimar Republic Berlin — and staged in such a way at Signature Theatre that audiences will feel like

they are sitting in the hotel’s lobby.

A fading ballerina, a destitute baron, a wannabe starlet, and an ailing bookkeeper are just a handful of the many characters who come and go in the show, with Signature stars Bobby Smith and Natascia Diaz leading a large cast also featuring other Signature veterans including Nicki Elledge, Kevin McAllister, Crystal Mosser, and Lawrence Redmond. Jon Kalbfleisch leads the orchestra while Kelly Crandall D’Amboise helms the choreography. To May 19. MAX Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.

INTO THE WOODS

HHHHH Somebody’s hauled a fabulous eight-piece orchestra into the enchanted forest of Ford’s Theatre’s production of Into the Woods, and the brilliant, Tony-winning score, conducted by music director William Yanesh, sounds great. The mostly sharp delivery of director Peter Flynn’s talented cast can keep the listener hanging on every word of Stephen Sondheim’s winding

lines. Ford’s production beautifully conveys the weight and lightness of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s journey into the woods, where characters forced to coerce, deceive, or steal from strangers can find whatever they believe might bring them happiness. To May 22.

511 10th St. NW. Tickets are $20 to $83. Call 888-616-0270 or visit www.fords.org. (André Hereford)

PHOTO COURTESY OF ISLE OF KLEZBOS

JUBILEE

RATED JXJ

Isle of Klezbos

The Edlavitch DCJCC combines two well-established events into one large, adventurous festival.

M

ERGING THE 29-YEAR RUN OF THE WASHINGTON JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL and 20 years of the Washington Jewish Music Festival into one powerful stream of programming, organizers at Edlavitch DCJCC are kicking off JxJ, a month-long slate of events around D.C. bringing together art, film, music, and discussion.

Ilya Tovbis, founding director of JxJ (that’s “J-by-J”), describes the ambitious project as a multidisciplinary approach to offering the festival audience “a more broad and engaging perspective.” In addition to world premiere films and live music performances by artists like punk rock accordionist Daniel Kahn and his band Painted Bird, JxJ also includes a new category of hybrid arts programs called Studio.

According to Tovbis, who joined WJFF seven years ago, the multipronged approach is about sparking meaningful, organic connections. “We don't put on the festivals simply to have a great concert or an entertaining movie, even though that's, of course, part of the experience that we hope people come away with,” he says. “But really, what we're doing as a Jewish institution is we hope to engage people's understanding of what the Jewish experience is through the arts, whether that be music or film.”

JxJ also continues the film festival’s long-running Rated LGBTQ program of queer-themed films, this year adding performers to the LGBTQ lineup, including queer Yiddish folk duo Book of J, and “all-gal klezmer sextet” Isle of Klezbos. “It's a pretty large festival, just by the raw number of events,” Tovbis says. “So we understand that just about no one — I think it's probably even physically impossible — [can] attend everything.”

However, there are programs that might make dashing between venues worthwhile. Case in point, a 100-year old silent film, Different from the Others, stands out as a must-see gem. The candid, pro-gay 1919 drama, produced in Weimar Germany, follows the romance between a virtuoso violinist and his pupil.

A hit with German audiences upon its release, Different from Others was later buried by the Nazis, who destroyed prints of the film. Presented Thursday, May 16 in partnership with GLOE and the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, the slice of cinema history promises to broaden perspectives of the gay, Jewish experience, along with other elements of the JxJ program that Tovbis believes often go unnoticed.

“We have 60-plus international guests that are coming in from Mexico City and Israel and Europe and all throughout the U.S. and Canada, to share really premier work,” he says. “I think of the artistry that's here, and hearing from the makers and the creators is really exceptional. People should try to make a few of the screenings and concerts [where] they otherwise wouldn't be able to interact in person with artists.” —André Hereford JxJ Festival runs through May 26 at various venues throughout D.C. and MD. Tickets are $13.50 to $30 for a single program. Multi-program passes range from $30 to $195.

All-Access passes are available for $325. Call 202-777-3250, or visit www.jxjdc.org.

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MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Arena Stage presents a world-premiere a cappella-infused play written and directed by Tazewell Thompson and featuring spirituals including “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” Dianne Adams McDowell serves as music director and vocal arranger for this chronicle of the world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers, an AfricanAmerican troupe who shattered racial barriers as they captivated royalty and commoners alike while travelling the globe. The 13-person cast includes Shaleah Adkisson, Joy Jones, Zonya Love, Sean-Maurice Lynch, and Jaysen Wright. To June 2. Kreeger Theater in the Mead Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Tickets are $41 to $95.

Call 202-488-3300 or visit www. arenastage.org.

SPUNK

An unearthly Guitar Man and Blues Speak Woman interweave three tales based on short stories by the Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston and adapted by Jelly’s Last Jam’s George C. Wolfe.

The Signature Theatre production is directed by Timothy Douglas and stars Jonathan Mosley-Perry and Iyona Blake, with Drew Drake, Marty Lamar, Ines Nassara, and KenYatta Rogers. Mark G. Meadows (Ain’t Misbehavin’) serves as musical director for the show, which is infused with live blues music composed by Chic Street Man. To June 23. The Ark, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.

THE WHITE SNAKE

In Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of the ancient Chinese legend, a snake spirit transforms itself into a woman in order to experience the human world, and in the process falls in love with a pharmacist’s assistant. Allison Arkell Stockman directs a production from her company Constellation Theatre that features live original music from multi-instrumentalist Tom Teasley and dulcimer virtuoso Chao Tian, plus a signature bold acting ensemble led by Eunice Bae, Momo Nakamura, and Jacob Yeh. To May 26. Source Theatre, 1835 14th St. NW. Tickets are $19 to $45. Call 202-204-7741 or visit www.constellationtheatre.org.

COMMUNITY AND COLLEGE P.S. YOUR CAT IS DEAD

James Kirkwood, Jr.’s play was one of the first stage works to address gay themes. But it was also a flop in its original Broadway incarnation, and far overshadowed by its gay writer’s contribution to another, superior 1975 production that also tackled gay themes — the musical A Chorus Line. Virginia community theater company Dominion Stage revives the play about a man who catches a burglar in the act and proceeds to hold him hostage over a long New Year’s Eve. Weekends to May 18. Gunston Theatre Two, 2700 South Lang St. Arlington. Tickets are $20. Call 571-DS-SHOWS or visit www.dominionstage.org.

ANDREW WERNER

THE HEIDI CHRONICLES

OH, JACKIE!

J

Funny lady Jackie Hoffman adores her gay audience, and they can love her right back as she hosts GMCW’s Spring Affair.

ACKIE HOFFMAN KNOWS HOW TO HAVE FUN ONSTAGE, WHETHER IN HER acclaimed one-woman shows, camping it up on Broadway as Grandma in The Addams Family, or as prissy Prudy Pingleton in Hairspray. Lately, the Second City vet has added a linguistic twist to her dead-on delivery, co-starring as Yente the matchmaker in Joel Grey’s phenomenally successful Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof, currently playing Off-Broadway at Stage 42 in midtown Manhattan.

“Oh God, it'll be a year in July,” she says. “[It] was supposed to be just a summer thing last year, and then it took off and we extended it to the end of the year, and then we moved theaters, and now we're running there through the summer, God willing.”

While Hoffman has been tickling audience funny bones with her marvelous portrayal, the actress says that exercising her musical-comedy talents in a familiar but still foreign tongue definitely has kept her on her toes. “I call it mouth aerobics,” she says. “It's like a really physical language and you really have to chew on it. And then the concentration has to be even harder, because you know you can't fuck up, because you can't ad lib. It's very intense.”

Taking a one-night break from the show, Hoffman will join the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington as emcee of their annual Spring Affair fundraising gala on Saturday, May 11th, at the Ritz-Carlton.

Touting a Greek-inspired “Legends of Olympus” theme, the evening promises to place committed LGBTQ ally Hoffman among an appreciative crowd. Known not just for her work in theatre, but for numerous film and TV roles — including an Emmy-nominated performance as Joan Crawford’s fiercely protective maid Mamacita in Ryan Murphy’s FX series Feud — Hoffman is well-aware of the special relationship between gay audiences and the divas they love. She clearly cherishes the relationship, and shows it with her proud support of LGBTQ causes.

“I mean, without them I really don't have much of an audience. And I believe they should be treated like first-class citizens, because they are,” says Hoffman. “Also, I'm in the theater, I'm in the arts. So, you know, gay people are my world. And I'm very happy about that.” —André Hereford The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington Spring Affair is Saturday, May 11, at the Ritz-Carlton, 1150 22nd Street NW. Tickets are $225 per person, or $2,250 for a table of ten.

Call 202-293-1548, or visit www.gmcw.org.

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MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

The University of Maryland School of Theatre Dance and Performance Studies presents its students in a production of Wendy Wassterstein’s witty and heartfelt coming-of-age story, a Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play touted as newly resonant in our current #MeToo and #TimesUp era. Remaining performances Friday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, May 11, at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Kogod Theatre in the Clarice, University Boulevard and Stadium Drive. College Park.

Tickets are $10 to $25. Call 301405-ARTS or visit www.theclarice. umd.edu.

THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION

Will Jarred directs a production from the community-oriented Little Theatre of Alexandria of Evan Smith’s theological comedy with a twist. The Savannah Disputation is a witty tale about the crisis of faith an odd-couple pair of sisters face courtesy of a young door-to-door evangelist. To May 18. 600 Wolfe St., Alexandria. Tickets are $21 to $24.

Call 703-683-0496 or visit www. thelittletheater.com.

MUSIC AMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA: THE MUSIC OF JERRY HERMAN

Founding Music Director Luke Frazier closes out the APO season with the tribute show “I Am What I Am: The Music of Jerry Herman,” full of classic tunes from the musical theater legend’s musicals, from Hello, Dolly! to La Cage aux Folles to Mack and Mabel. The show, to be performed in the round at Arena Stage, features celebrity guests including Kathy Najimy from Sister Act, Paige Davis, aka the perky host from Trading Spaces, Mauricio Martinez from the Gloria Estefan-themed musical On Your Feet!, Alexis Michelle of RuPaul’s Drag Race, local stage powerhouse

Bethesda. Also Sunday, May 19, at 3 p.m. Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore.

Tickets are $10 to $90. Call 410-7838000 or visit www.bsomusic.org.

CHICK COREA & BELA FLECK

Longtime collaborators and multiple-Grammy winners return to the Music Center at Strathmore for a casual, intimate evening and another run through their genre-busting blend of rock and flamenco with jazz, bluegrass, and electric blues in support of the live duet double-album Two, featuring the pianist Corea and banjoist Fleck. Friday, May 10, at 8 p.m. 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Tickets are $35 to $75. Call 301-581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

JULIAN BRIAD

EX HEX

BEN PLATT

“Love is good until it’s gone, that’s what you’ve learned,” Ben Platt sings on “Temporary Love,” an ode to love of the lasting kind. The dramatic song, the third track from Sing To Me Instead, is Exhibit A that the 25-year-old Tony-winning power-piped star of Dear Evan Hansen was inspired by the au courant pop sound of that musical and of its writers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul — the duo behind the gay-popular, affirming vocal anthems from the film The Greatest Showman. Platt’s marvelous debut registers more fully as a gay millennial artist’s modernized take on folk-pop in the classic singer-songwriter mold. Essentially, this is what might result from an unlikely pairing of Joni Mitchell with Elton John: Songs of bracing, unadorned sincerity, embellished by theatrical showmanship. Saturday, May 11. Doors at 6:30 p.m. The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. Tickets are $50 to $130. Call 202-888-0020 or visit www.theanthemdc.com.

Tracy Lynn Olivera, and Paul Roeckell, the APO NextGen award winner. Further reinforcement comes from select members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and the Congressional Chorus, plus three accompanying pianists: Karen Walwyn, Scott Beard, and Chris Urquiaga. Saturday, May 18, at 8 p.m. Fichandler Stage in the Mead Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Tickets are $35 to $75.

Call 202-488-3300 or visit www. theamericanpopsorchestra.org.

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BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: BRAHMS VIOLIN CONCERTO

The BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney takes center stage as the featured soloist performing a beloved Brahms masterwork, featuring some of the most beautiful melodies in classical music. Led by Peter Oundjian, this BSO program also includes Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, perhaps the most poignant and powerful of the Russian’s 15 symphonies. Saturday, May 18, at 8 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Singing guitarist Mary Timony leads this homegrown D.C. powerhouse female trio also featuring drummer Laura Harris and singing bassist Betsy Wright. The band tour in support of new sophomore set It’s Real, another punchy collection of timeless rock and roll full of amped up guitar chords and powerful harmonized vocals. Another local outfit, The Messthetics — a powerhouse instrumental rock trio featuring Fugazi’s drummer Brendan Canty and bassist Joe Lally along with guitarist Anthony Pirog — is one opening act (along with Clear Channel) for a sure-tobe-electric weekend-starting hometown show at the 9:30 Club. Friday, May 10. Doors at 8 p.m. 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $25. Call 202-2650930 or visit 930.com.

MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND

Shara Worden, or Shara Nova, is another classically inspired baroque pop artist, a kindred spirit to her former labelmate Sufjan Stevens as well as Bryce Dessner of The National and not too far removed from Rufus Wainwright and, increasingly, Zola Jesus. And her multifaceted career — which includes occasional work as an opera singer and a classical composer — informs the music she makes through her dramatic indie-pop act My Brightest Diamond. Currently a four-piece with Chris Bruce, Earl Harvin, and Jharis Yokley, the band tours in support of last year’s accomplished, electronic-leaning set A Million and One. Tunde Olaniran opens. Thursday, May 16.

Doors at 7 p.m. Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE. Tickets are $20 to $22. Call 202-388-ROCK or visit www.rockandrollhoteldc.com.

PAN AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: ETERNAL TANGO

Maestro Sergio Alessandro Buslje directs the PASO in a presentation of its signature tango show featuring 30 musicians, including Latin Grammy Award-winner

Rodolfo Zanetti on bandoneon and Pablo Estigarribia on piano, plus two pairs of international tango dancers, performing traditional and nuevo tangos full of passion and elegance. Sunday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are $55 to $65.

Call 202-467-4600 or visit www. kennedy-center.org.

THE SELDOM SCENE

Formed nearly 50 years ago in Bethesda, the Seldom Scene was instrumental in launching the progressive bluegrass movement and is still considered one of the genre’s leading purveyors. Naturally, it remains especially popular in its hometown region. Saturday, May 11, at 8 p.m. BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Dr., Germantown, Md. Tickets are $25 to $45. Call 301-528-2260 or visit www.blackrockcenter.org.

DANCE BOWEN MCCAULEY DANCE COMPANY: SPRING PERFORMANCE

Lucy Bowen McCauley’s celebrated local contemporary dance company returns to the Kennedy Center for a mixed program including a world premiere from McCauley set to Igor Stravinsky’s “Suite Italienne” from Pulcinella, played live by Arlington’s National Chamber Ensemble. The bill also includes: At the Seams, a new duet danced by Choreographer-in-Residence Ilana Goldman and Washington Ballet’s Sona Kharatian and performed to live music from composers/musicians Logan Castro on cello and Daniel Smith on piano; Lissajous, McCauley’s dance commissioned

by Drexel University with musical accompaniment by composer Dr. Jordan Alexander Key; and the return of McCauley’s Du Vent et des Vagues, set to Franz Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage performed by pianist Nikola Paskalov. Friday, May 17, and Saturday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m.

Terrace Theater. Tickets are $40 to $50. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

READINGS STORY DISTRICT: HE SAID, SHE SAID, THEY SAID

D.C.’s local storytelling organization showcases locals telling original true stories on a common theme on the second Tuesday of every month. Cara Foran hosts the May edition focused on “the same experience through two different points of view.” Tuesday, May 14. Doors at 6:30 p.m. Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. Tickets are $20 plus Ticketfly processing fees. Call 202-667-4490 or visit www.blackcatdc.com.

PANDORA XFINITY AWESOME GIG

ONE YEAR: 1968, AMERICAN ODYSSEY

MAX

A headliner at last year’s Capital Pride Concert, the New York-based pop singer-songwriter is known from his stint as a main cast member on the Nickelodeon series How to Rock, as well as for “Lights Down Low,” his moving power ballad that has been a streaming juggernaut in recent years.

In advance of a new album and world tour, the 26-year-old LGBTQ ally returns to the area for a free intimate acoustic performance and Q&A with music producer/engineer Matt Squire. The Xfinity Awesome Gig Powered by Pandora is presented at City Winery DC’s Garden, 1350 Okie St. NE, on Thursday, May 16, at 7 p.m. Free with RSVP. Call 202250-2531 or visit www.citywinery.com.

ART & EXHIBITS CAROLINA MAYORGA: PINK RANCHOS AND OTHER EPHEMERAL ZIP CODES

The Colombian-American artist Mayorga spurred development of this multimedia project after a year of artistic investigation on issues of home and homelessness — colored by the artist’s infatuation with a certain red hue. By applying the pigment to new works of her own as well as others from the permanent collection of the Organization of American States’ Art Museum of the Americas, Mayorga offers her bicultural interpretations of those living in exile, displacement, dislocation, relocation, and eviction.

The artist puts a “pink” spin on works by Ignacio Iturria, Eduardo Giusiano, Ricardo Supisiche, Rubens Gerchman, Amelia Peláez, Consuelo Gotay, Dora Ramírez, Roser Muntañola, and Roberto Matta. On display to May 19. 201 18th St. NW. Call 202-370-0147 or visit www.AMAmuseum.org.

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MAY IS ALL ABOUT TRANS: ART EXHIBITION

This year’s month of programming celebrating D.C.’s transgender community, launched by Trans Pride founder SaVanna Wanzer, introduces an exhibition featuring 30 pieces of art from a diverse and talented group of 15 area artists identifying as transgender, non-binary, genderfluid, Two-Spirit, and/or agender. Westminster Presbyterian in Southwest D.C. hosts a show featuring: Alex Ramirez, Ameirah Neal, Autumn Towne, Dorian Blue, Edith Flores, Kay Wrenn, Sir Max Even, Molly Stratton, Nona Conner, Star Bennett from Check It Enterprises, and Zayn Thiam, plus Ahanu, Alexa Elizabeth Rodriguez, Kariwase Duprey, and Xemi Tapepechul from the Nelwat Ishkamewe Two-Spirit Art Collective. Opening Reception is Saturday, May 11, from 3 to 5 p.m.

On display to June 14. 400 I St. SW. Call 202-484-7700 or visit www. mayistransdc.com.

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Before all eyes turn to the Stonewall Uprising, the event that sparked our modern LGBTQ movement exactly 50 years ago, the National Portrait Gallery offers one last look at its exhibition focused on events the year prior — an equally momentuous if less queer year. It was also the year this great Smithsonian museum made its public debut, no less. A time capsule of sorts, the exhibition features 30 portraits showing 1968 to be as revolutionary and tumultuous as they come, as Americans across disciplines put forth new ways of thinking that overturned the status quo — in regards to the Vietnam War, which reached a turning point in 1968, and the Civil Rights Act, which was signed into law, to name but two. It was also the year that Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, and when the Apollo 8 spacecraft completed the first manned orbit of the Moon. Other prominent newsmakers whose portraits grace this one-room exhibition: Arthur Ashe, Joan Didion, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Sidney Poitier. To May 19. National Portrait Gallery, 8th and F Streets.

NW. Call 202-633-8300 or visit www.npg.si.edu.

TODD G. FRANSON

Metro Weekly’s central portrait photographer for most of the past 23 years as well as the magazine’s longest-serving Art Director. Yet the focus is on artworks the professional photographer and graphic designer has created for other projects and pursuits, all of which are available for sale. The exhibition goes as far back as Franson’s days as a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design, with four stylized gloves from the series Wear & Tear: Inspired by Irving Penn, newly reborn and printed on aluminum.

A more recent passion of Franson’s has been capturing artistic shots of foliage, blooms, and landscapes at the National Arboretum. And then there are the dazzling and quirky photographs that come closest to conveying Franson’s personal sensibility — perhaps none more so than Dancing Bear, a vividly colored image of a bustling amusement park at dusk foregrounded by a giantsized teddy bear wearing a propeller beanie. Ongoing. The Center Arts Gallery, 2000 14th St. NW. Call 202-682-2245 or visit www. thedccenter.org.

ABOVE & BEYOND LA-TI-DO: SONGS FROM TV AND MOVIES

Regie Cabico and Don Mike Mendoza’s variety show features higher-quality singing than most karaoke, often from local musical theater actors performing on their

night off, and also includes spoken-word poetry and comedy. Held at Bistro Bistro in Dupont Circle, Mendoza and Anya Randall Nebel host the next La-Ti-Do — moved to a Tuesday evening this month to make way for the Helen Hayes Awards the night before — with Kaylen Morgan the music feature and Sippin on Soma the spoken word feature. Guests performing songs from the big and small screens include Melissa Anne, Joseph Benitez, Michelle Eisenstein, Katie Ganem, Kaeli Patchen, Tiffany Lynn Royster, Michael Sandoval, Jarreau Williams, and Nick Xin, all accompanied by music director Paige Rammelkamp. Tuesday, May 14, starting promptly at 8 p.m. 1727 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $20, or $15 if you eat dinner at the restaurant beforehand. Call 202328-1640 or visit www.latidoproductions.com.

MARYLAND PSYCHIC FAIR

The Elks Lodge, in a small, tucked away town outside of Baltimore, welcomes all of those interested in activities and phenomena going beyond explanations of science (and reason). The focus is on psychics, mediums, and healers and those interested in readings, sessions, and discussions, or in buying related crafts, books, oils, crystals, and ephemera. More than 30 vendors are scheduled to participate, including: the duo of “certified psychic medium” Annie Larson & “certified angel messenger & intuitive” Linda Pisani; Cheryl & Norman Howdyshell of the Fredericksburg, Va.-based shop The Grove of Brite Blessings; Hawaiian shaman and Reiki MasterTeacher/ Interfaith Minister Cilaudett Knox; Rev. Ella Fales, “Healing & Spirit Messages with Ella”; clairvoyant, life coach, and “esoteric master” Dr. Gwen MacGregor; Holly Higgins of Chakra Charms; ordained Spiritualist minister and counselor Jacqueline Lunger; mixed-media/tarot deck artist Jo Offduty; mystic Joanne Amorosi of Mary Magdalene Medicine; “certified astrologer” the Rev. John Marani; Reiki master/reader Lou Foster and her Herb Fancy line of healing teas, soaps, and jewelry; “intuitive animal communicator” Maribeth Decker of SacredGrove.com, “where people and pets heal and connect”; Robin M. Strom-Mackey of the Delaware Paranormal Research Group and author of Anatomy of a Ghost and A Guide to Analyzing the Dead; radio/ TV psychics Sandy & Jim Young of “Angel Talk” shows; and Mexican shaman and “certified soul coach” Wendy Mata. Sunday, May 19, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bowie Elks Lodge No. 2309, 1506 Defense Highway, Gambrills, Md. Tickets are $5 plus $1.22 in service fees bought in advance, or $10 in cash only at the door. Call 301-261-3260 or search “Maryland Psychic Fair” at www. eventbrite.com. l

PHOTO COURTESY OF HOANG

theFeed

FIGHTING FOR FAIRFAX

V

Linh Hoang, the openly gay man running for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, is willing to get sued to protect LGBTQ people. By John Riley

ERY FEW CANDIDATES FOR POLITICAL OFFICE are willing to invite legal action against themselves.

But for Linh Hoang, it’s a matter of principle.

An openly gay man running this November to represent the Providence District on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Hoang believes that Fairfax’s elected leaders can — and should — take stronger stances in support of LGBTQ equality, whether it’s speaking out against bullying, or defending members of the transgender community when they are targeted for discrimination or violence.

“There are things we can do at the local level to make sure our residents are safe,” says the 36-year-old Merrifield resident. “As supervisor, I’ll introduce an ordinance to prevent discrimination in the workplace or housing because of your sexual orientation.”

Hoang, who has been married to his husband, Nick, for four years, acknowledges that introducing an LGBTQinclusive ordinance in the commonwealth’s largest county would be a bold move — one that would generate headlines, and lots of criticism, due to Virginia’s being a “Dillon’s Rule” state.

That means local county governments are prohibited from passing laws that go beyond the scope of those approved by the state legislature, such as adding “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” to nondiscrimination ordinances when the General Assembly has categorically refused to approve any sort of protections for LGBTQ individuals. The prospect of interference from the Republican-run General Assembly or the Attorney General’s Office would be likely, and Hoang would welcome the challenge.

“If the state wants to sue us, so be it,” he says. “I think we need to be courageous in taking a stand in defending our LGBT brothers and sisters.”

Equality and equity are two concepts Hoang speaks about frequently on the campaign trail. And his personal experiences as both someone who immigrated from Vietnam

to the United States at age 10 and as an openly gay man of color have shaped his views on supporting marginalized and underrepresented communities.

“I’m here in the United States because my father escaped from a re-education camp in Vietnam in search of freedom and opportunity,” he says. “Like so many immigrants who came to this nation before, he believed America was the land of opportunity. He was willing to risk everything, including his own life, so his family could have a better future.

“The first few years, it was hard. We lived with 10 people in a three-bedroom apartment in East Oakland, California.

Our parents worked multiple jobs to put food on the table,” Hoang says of his earliest years in this country. “But my parents always encouraged education. They wanted to make sure we worked hard in school and went to college.

“Seven years later, I had the chance to go to Georgetown University on a full scholarship. So education was my ticket out of poverty. It gave me the chance to attend a great university, a chance to work for some of the best technology companies in the world.”

Now, Hoang hopes to provide similar opportunities to the residents of his adopted home county.

“Fairfax County is my home. It’s a phenomenal place to live, to raise a family, and start a business,” he says. “We need to make sure it’s an even better place for everyone. We need to make sure that everyone has access to opportunities to reach their fullest potential, and I want to make sure we are becoming an inclusive Fairfax for all.”

Hoang has spent most of his career employed at some of the nation’s top technology companies as a management consultant, working with the U.S. government, federal agencies and the Department of Defense. He feels experience working in the private sector and with technology are assets that will help in fighting to make Fairfax economically competitive.

“Fairfax County is at an important crossroads,” Hoang MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

19

theFeed says. “Our economy and our communities are changing. We need to celebrate the growth in our county, and think about where we want to be in the next 10, 15, 20 years from now and think boldly about the future.”

Through his personal conversations with county residents and voters, Hoang sees three major priorities as essential to creating a better Fairfax County: diversifying the local economy, improving transportation, and ensuring the county’s school system — which ranks as one of the best in Virginia, if not the nation — continues to attract and retain talent while providing high-quality education to all students.

As a member of the board of the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority, Hoang helped connect small businesses with access to capital, which helped create thousands of jobs in Fairfax. He sees growing those small businesses as the key to remaking the county’s economy.

“No longer can we rely solely on federal government contracting,” Hoang says. “I want to position Fairfax to compete globally around the world, and empower small businesses to create jobs and industries of the future right here in Fairfax County. So think artificial intelligence, autonomous cars, all of the new technology — we need to attract those companies and bring them to Fairfax County.”

Another factor in improving life is education. While Fairfax County has its own Board of Education, funding for the school system is approved by the County Board of Supervisors. One of the things that troubles Hoang is what he sees as an exodus of teachers who leave because of better financial prospects elsewhere. He suggests raising teacher pay to retain high-quality educators, and working with the school board to refocus educational efforts on providing more training experiences around science, engineering, technology and math, as well as developing leadership and

interpersonal skills that will help graduates of the public succeed in the work world.

The candidate has incorporated several progressive themes in his campaign, including protecting parks and open green spaces, achieving a carbon-neutral footprint for all public facilities in the county, expanding the types of identification so undocumented residents can prove their identity, and ending any collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants. Currently, an estimated 12,000 Fairfax County residents are involved in deportation proceedings.

“As an immigrant, it’s very personal to me,” he says.

“I was welcomed and given so many opportunities in this country. As a member of the County Board of Supervisors, I will fight to end our collaboration with ICE, make sure we do not do anything unconstitutional, and provide legal representation for immigrants. Data shows that when people receive legal representation, their cases are more likely to be dropped and they can get immigration relief.”

Hoang feels his goals can be accomplished by reevaluating spending priorities and reapportioning money within the existing budget, rather than raising taxes.

“When I look at the budget, I look at it through the lens of equity: how do we make sure that your zip code does not dictate your future success? Wherever you live in the county, you should be able to attend great schools,” he says.

“When I become a supervisor, I’ll fight to make sure that no matter where you’re from, what color your skin is, who you love or how much money your family has, there’s a place for [you] here in Fairfax County.” l For more information on Linh Hoang’s campaign for Providence District Supervisor, visit www.linhforsupervisor.com.

BOTTLE SERVICE

Stoli partners with a local lesbian artist to launch a new bottle honoring Stonewall’s 50th anniversary. By Troy Petenbrink

K

NOWN FOR HER ICONIC 13-COLOR RAINBOW “LOVE” mural located on Blagden Alley in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood, Lisa Marie Thalhammer was tapped by Stoli Vodka to help design its new “Spirit of Stonewall” limited edition bottle honoring this year’s 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

Thalhammer welcomed the opportunity to work with Stoli and help share the often overlooked history of the LGBTQ community in a unique way. The D.C.-based lesbian artist and activist used a mural theme for the bottle’s artwork that she calls Stonewall LOVE. It incorporates emblematic LGBTQ imagery, including five hands and three protest signs at the corner of Gay and Christopher Streets outside of the Stonewall Inn, a high heel to represent the transgender activists who initiated the 1969 uprising, a sign spelling out “LIBERATION” in reference to the Gay Liberation Front that includes three gender symbols, and 20

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

a peace sign and protest fist holding a rainbow energy ribbon that swirls between fingers and brings the community together.

On Monday, May 6, Thalhammer joined Stoli in New York City for the new bottle’s official reveal during a special reception at The Stonewall Inn. The limited edition design will help raise funds for the “Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative,” which seeks to eliminate the social intolerances that profoundly impact the lives of LGBTQ citizens in America and abroad through awareness campaigns, educational programming, fundraising, and public dialogue.

Consumers will be able to purchase a Spirit of Stonewall bottle at select retail outlets beginning later this month.

Meanwhile, Thalhammer is painting an interior wall mural based on the Spirit of Stonewall bottle artwork for XX+ Crostino at 1926 9th St. NW. It’s scheduled to be completed by June 20. l

Community THURSDAY, May 9 Join Center Global, a group that advocates for LGBTIQ rights, fights against antiLGBTIQ laws internationally, and works with D.C.-area LGBTQ asylum seekers, for its 2019 CENTER GLOBAL RECEPTION. The reception, emceed by Rayceen Pendarvis, will celebrate the group’s accomplishments over the past year, with proceeds from ticket sales going to support local asylum seekers with transportation costs, grocery assistance, referrals to legal aid and social services, and case management. This year’s Global Advocate Award will be presented to Ty Cobb and the HRC Global Team, and the Global Courage Award will be presented to Gleb Latnik, a Russian LGBTQ human rights activist. Individual tickets cost $25 per person, with additional ticket packages available. 6-8 p.m. Room & Board, 1840 14th St. NW. For more information, visit thedccenter.org/centerglobal.

QUEER BOOK CLUB holds a

meeting in the lounge of The DC Center to discuss Broken Metropolis: Queer Tales of a City That Never Was, edited by Dave Ring. Wine and snacks provided. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH

offers free HIV testing and HIV services (by appointment). 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Decatur Center, 1400 Decatur St. NW. To arrange an appointment, call 202-291-4707, or visit www.andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB practice

session at Takoma Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS run-

ning/walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterwards. Route distances vary. For meeting places and more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.org.

DC LAMBDA SQUARES, D.C.’s

LGBTQ square-dancing group, features an opportunity to learn about and practice various forms of modern square danc-

BOOK SMART

Bookmen DC, a Gay men’s literary group, celebrates 20 years of reading with a “lit party” at The DC Center.

T

he idea behind our group was gay men discussing books either by gay authors or about subjects that gay men are writing about,” says Steve Honley.

“We’ve been around for 20 years since our first meeting on May 11, 1999.”

Honley, the facilitator of Bookmen DC, a group that has had many monikers over the years. “First, it was called the Potomac Gay Men’s Book Group. The founder, Bill Malone, worked at Whitman-Walker Clinic and started the group using donations of remainder books from a wholesaler in New York. Soon after that, people decided to get their own books, and we’d buy them through Lambda Rising, which gave us a regular discount until they closed. We changed our name to BoysnBooks. And then Bookmen in 2007.”

Bookmen DC currently meets twice a month, on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. Meetings on the first Wednesday, held at the lavishly renovated Cleveland Park Library, are dedicated to regular-length novels, while third Wednesdays, at The DC Center, deal with shorter stories and excerpts from anthologies. The group has about 100 members, with 15 to 20 that attend regularly, and the rest showing up a few times a year. “We’re very informal about membership,” says Honley. “It’s basically, ‘Come when you’re interested in the book.’”

Honley says people shouldn’t be shy or intimidated about sharing their thoughts. “Our meetings are really informal. It’s not like it’s a university course or anything like that. We’re just guys who like books and have interesting discussions. Generally, we’ll just ask people to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down and explain why.”

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the group will hold a party at The DC Center, with short remarks by four facilitators who preceded Honley. Finger foods will be provided, but attendees are encouraged to bring a potluck dish to share if possible. Honley also expects the party to serve as a reunion, with past members who have since moved away stopping by.

“We’re a pretty social group,” he says. “We normally go out to eat or drink at a neighborhood place after each meeting. So the party will be a very casual atmosphere, and people are more than welcome to stop by.”

—John Riley Bookmen DC’s 20th Anniversary Party is Wednesday, May 15 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at The DC Center, 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. The event is free of charge and open to all.

For more information, visit www.bookmendc.blogspot.com.

ing. No partner required. Please dress casually. 7:30-9:30 p.m.

National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW. For more info, call 202-930-1058 or visit www.dclambdasquares.org.

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds

practice. The team is always looking for new members.

All welcome. 7-9 p.m. Harry Thomas Recreation Center, 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE. For more information, visit www. scandalsrfc.org or dcscandals@ gmail.com.

THE DULLES TRIANGLES

Northern Virginia social group meets for happy hour at Sheraton in Reston. All welcome. 7-9 p.m. 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, second-floor bar.

For more information, visit www.dullestriangles.com.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-

Walker Health. 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2:30-5 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW, and 9 a.m-12 p.m. and 2-5 p.m. at the Max Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. For an appointment, call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICES, 20 S. Quaker Lane,

Suite 210, Alexandria, Va., offers $30 “rapid” HIV testing and counseling by appointment only. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Must schedule special appointment if seeking testing after 2 p.m. Call 703-823-4401.

METROHEALTH CENTER

offers free, rapid HIV testing.

Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. To arrange an appointment, call 202-849-8029.

STI TESTING at Whitman-

Walker Health. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2-3 p.m. at both 1525 14th St. NW and the Max Robinson Center, 2301 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE. Testing is intended for those without symptoms. For an appointment call 202-745-7000 or visit www. whitman-walker.org.

US HELPING US hosts a

Narcotics Anonymous Meeting.

The group is independent of UHU. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. For more information, call 202-446-1100.

FRIDAY, May 10 GAMMA is a confidential, vol-

untary, peer-support group for men who are gay, bisexual, questioning and who are now

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Oral Fixation you can listen to any story at METROWEEKLY.COM

just look for the “speak” button

or who have been in a relationship with a woman. 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Luther Place Memorial Church, 1226 Vermont Ave NW. GAMMA meetings are also held in Vienna, Va., and in Frederick, Md. For more information, visit www.gammaindc.org.

“May Is? All About Trans” presents an ART SHOWING featuring a showcase of art from transgender and gender-nonconforming artists. 3-5 p.m.

Westminster Presbyterian Church, 400 I St. NW. For more information, www.mayistransdc.com.

“May Is? All About Trans” presents an OPEN MIC SESSION, where transgender and gender-nonconforming people and their allies are invited to share their various talents. 5-7 p.m. Westminster Presbyterian Church, 400 I St. NW. For more information, www.mayistransdc.com.

“May Is? All About Trans” presents a screening of the movie TRANSMILITARY, a documentary about transgender military members struggling against the Trump administration’s ban on transgender service members. 7-9 p.m.

Westminster Presbyterian Church, 400 I St. NW. For more information, www.mayistransdc.com.

SILVER PRIDE is a free community event offering a day of workshops, resources, and social experiences for LGBTQ people 60 and over.

The event will commemorate Stonewall’s 50th anniversary year, and those who have been at the forefront of the movement for LGBTQ rights and liberation. 2-7 p.m. HRC Equality Center, 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW. For more information, contact Josh Riley, 240-498-6267 or jriley@whitman-walker.org.

WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES (AND THIRTIES), a social discus-

sion and activity group for queer women, meets at The DC Center on the second and fourth Friday of each month. Group social activity to follow the meeting. 8-9:30 p.m.

2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

SATURDAY, May 11 ADVENTURING outdoors group

takes a very strenuous 13.4-mile circuit hike with 2500 feet of elevation gain to a secluded pond in the southern part of Massanutten Mountain, with scenic overlooks above New Market, Va. Bring plenty of beverages, lunch, sturdy boots, bug spray, sunscreen, about $20 for fees, and money for an optional dinner on the way home.

Carpool at 8:30 a.m. from the East Falls Church Metro Station Kiss

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MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

& Ride lot. Return after dark. For more information, contact David at 540-535-5612, or visit www.adventuring.org.

CHRYSALIS arts & culture group

participates in an annual Open House for the Embassies of the European Union. Free, but bring money to purchase lunch. Please RSVP in advance. Meet at 9:30 a.m. at 20th and Q Streets, NW. Embassies close doors at 4 p.m. For more information, contact Craig, 202-462-0535 or craighowell1@ verizon.net.

The DC Center hosts a monthly meeting of UNIVERSAL PRIDE, a group to support and empower LGBTQIA people with disabilities, offer perspectives on dating and relationships, and create greater access in public spaces for LGBTQIA PWDs. 1-2:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, contact Andy Arias, andyarias09@gmail.com.

SUNDAY, May 12 “May Is? All About Trans” presents DENIZENS HAPPY HOUR, a social event celebrating the trans community. 2-4 p.m. Denizens Brewing Company, 1115 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Md. For more information, www.mayistransdc.com.

The DC Center hosts ARTY QUEERS, a new monthly indoor LGBTQ+ art market featuring original artwork, textiles, pottery, photography, jewelry, glasswork, textiles, and clothing created by queer artists. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, email Kimberley@ thedccenter.org.

MONDAY, May 13 Join the Youth Working Group for a DISCUSSION ON MENTORING

AND THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY

looking at programs and ways to become involved with and positively impact the lives of D.C. area youth. The event will feature remarks from Lindsay Reesing from Big Brothers Big Sisters of the National Capital Area. 6-7:30 p.m.

2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org/youth.

The Latino GLBT History Project and Create Your History are holding a series of IMAGE AND JOB CONSULTING SESSIONS for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. Sessions include resume writing and review and free haircuts provided by Fancy Nancy DC. 6-8 p.m. The Emergence Community Arts Collective, 733 Euclid St. NW. For more information, contact Danny, 202-682-2245, or danny. mendoza@thedccenter.org.

The LGBTQ Fallen Heroes Fund hosts the annual LGBT FALLEN HEROES MEMORIAL SERVICE to honor LGBTQ law enforcement officers and other uniformed public servants, which coincides with National Police Week. Blue line Arlington Cemetery Metro Station and Visitor’s Center Parking Lot are two blocks away from the memorial. 2-5 p.m. Women in Military Service for America Memorial, 2 Memorial Ave. Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Va. For more information, visit www. lgbtfallenheroesfund.org.

Weekly Events DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a practice

session at Dunbar Aquatic Center.

7:30-9 p.m. 101 N St. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

DC’S DIFFERENT DRUMMERS

welcomes musicians of all abilities to join its Monday night rehearsals. The group hosts marching/color guard, concert, and jazz ensembles, with performances year round. Please contact Membership@DCDD.org to inquire about joining one of the ensembles or visit www.DCDD.org.

The DC Center hosts COFFEE

DROP-IN FOR THE SENIOR LGBT COMMUNITY. 10 a.m.-noon. 2000

14th St. NW. For more information, call 202-682-2245 or visit www. thedccenter.org.

US HELPING US hosts a black gay

men’s evening affinity group for GBT black men. Light refreshments provided. 7-9 p.m. 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9

The DC Center’s TRANS SUPPORT GROUP provides a space to talk for transgender people and those who identify outside of the gender binary. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

WEDNESDAY, May 15 BOOKMEN DC, an informal men’s gay literature group, holds its 20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION at The DC Center. Four previous facilitators will give remarks at the event. Light refreshments will be provided. 7:30-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.bookmendc. blogspot.com.

“May Is? All About Trans” presents HIV VS. PREP, a discussion about HIV prevention and medications that can help prevent the spread of the disease. 6-8 p.m. WhitmanWalker Health at 1525, 1525 14th St. NW. For more information, www.mayistransdc.com.

OutWrite, D.C.’s LGBTQ literary festival, presents QUEER-Y

WRTING: TIPS FOR WRITING AN EFFECTIVE QUERY, a workshop

focusing on query emails that pitch a story to an agent or editor.

The workshop will be led by John Copenhaver, the author of Dodging and Burning. Free and open to the public. 7-8:30 p.m. The DC Center, 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org/outwrite.

The DC Center hosts a GET

EMPOWERED! SELF-DEFENSE WORKSHOP on how to defend

p.m. Newcomers with at least basic swimming ability always welcome.

Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more information, contact Tom, 703-299-0504 or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit www.wetskins.org.

yourself if you are verbally or physically harassed. Open to women, transgender, and gender-nonconforming people ages 16 and up.

6:30-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. To register, or for more information, visit www.defendyourself.org.

TUESDAY, May 14

Weekly Events

The DC Center holds a roundtable discussion as part of its COMING OUT DISCUSSION GROUP on the second Tuesday and fourth Thursday of each month. This group is for those navigating issues associated with coming out and personal identity. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

AD LIB, a group for freestyle con-

The DC Center is seeking volunteers to cook and serve a monthly meal for LGBTQ homeless youth at the WANDA ALSTON HOUSE on the second Tuesday of each month.

7-8 p.m. For address and more information, contact the support desk at The DC Center at supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

versation, meets about 6-6:30 p.m., Steam, 17th and R NW. All welcome. For more information, call Fausto Fernandez, 703-732-5174.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)

holds a practice session at Dunbar Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 101 N St. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

FREEDOM FROM SMOKING, a

group for LGBT people looking to quit cigarettes and tobacco use, holds a weekly support meeting at The DC Center. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org. l

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Scene

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Youth Pride Day at Dupont Circle - Saturday, May 4 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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y h t r o W s d r a w A co-hosts Helen Hayes Awards licia Curr y Rick Hammerly and Fe eater’s biggest night. th . .C D r fo e ag st e th set

reford Inter view by André He

by Todd Franson ation at The Anthem Photographed on loc

N

OT ONLY ONE OF D.C. THEATER’S FINest performers, Helen Hayes Award-winner Felicia Curry is also an adept quick-change artist. On a brisk spring morning inside a plush dressing room at The Anthem, Curry makes herself over, from fresh-from-pilates to front-cover-glam, in less time than it takes for her and actor-director Rick Hammerly to recount their rich history as friends and collaborators.

The pair’s easy rapport, spiked with warm, sibling-style ribbing, has developed over the past decade of fellowship both 28

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

onstage and off, performing at practically every theater in the Washington area. Now best buds, colleagues, and also neighbors in the same Brookland building, Hammerly and Curry might not agree on where exactly their friendship was first sparked, but they can agree they’ve shared some intensely emotional moments together.

For instance, at last year’s Helen Hayes ceremony, they got to share the stage as ecstatic winners. Curry received Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play for her raw, dynamic portrayal of a young

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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woman held captive by her husband in a war-torn nation in Factory 449’s production of Lela & Co. Hammerly — like Curry, a company member of Factory 449 — also took home a Hayes Award for Lela & Co., for Outstanding Director of a Play, his first-ever nomination in the category following four previous nominations as an actor, and one win, for playing Hedwig in Signature’s much-admired 2002 production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Curry had entered the 2018 awards with five prior nominations, and five losses, but with two fresh chances to win: for Lela, and also for her role as Sweet Thing in Arena Stage’s Nina Simone: Four Women. She says finally being recognized with an award was a magical moment. “I've been part of this theater community for quite some time and have been going to the Helen Hayes Awards for quite some time,” she says. “And to be singled out in a community like this with so many talented people, it really, really is an honor.”

For Hammerly, perhaps better known for his onstage turns in Hedwig, Angels in America, and The Legend of Georgia McBride than for his many directing and producing credits, simply “being nominated as a director” felt like a victory. “Before I’d won, I won,” he says, adding, “and, yes, it was even better [when] they handed me a trophy.”

Curry notes that the honor was doubly sweet for her last year, although for a different set of reasons. “I've been nominated before, but only for musicals,” she says. “Last year was my first year of being nominated for plays. But to win for this particular play, and for what Rick created, and what Rick helped me to create — again, that's why I used the word magical. Because how many people are lucky enough to create really amazing art with their closest friend? And — Rick and I have both said this — I think we were probably both more excited for the other one than we were for ourselves. I think we were all really excited, but I think both of us, when the other person won, were like, ‘Oh my God!’ It was just a really special night.”

This year, as co-hosts of the 35th Annual Helen Hayes Awards, Hammerly and Curry will apply their magical collaborative energy towards creating a special night for a whole new roster of nominees. As the pair preps for the big night, they took a moment to offer final words of advice to this year’s contenders.

“Remember what a nomination is,” says Hammerly. “It’s validation of your work. Someone has seen you and said, ‘Wow! That's good work. They should know it.’ And this is their way of telling you, we appreciate what you did, or we were moved by what you did, or we were so entertained, or laughed so much at what you did. There is something you did that struck a chord in a majority of judges for the Helen Hayes Awards that moved them in one way or another. That's extraordinary, and you are one of six or seven people in a category. All the theater that's done here.

Think about that. That is amazing!”

METRO WEEKLY: When and how did you meet?

RICK HAMMERLY: Oh my God. A trick question right off the bat!

FELICIA CURRY: It is a trick question. I don't remember the first

official meeting.

HAMMERLY: I don't either! I feel like she's always been attached to my hip. I think we knew each other through the theater community.

CURRY: I definitely knew who he was, because, at that time, Hedwig and all that stuff had happened. So I absolutely knew who he was. He was one of those: the Nancy Robinette's, the Naomi Jacobson’s.

HAMMERLY: Isn't that hilarious, because I never have thought 30

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

of myself as that. I'm always looking to them like, Oh my God, they are the— CURRY: To me, the epitome of what D.C. theater is.

HAMMERLY: Oh, you're good.

CURRY: That's true.

HAMMERLY: You’re an even better friend than I thought.

CURRY: So I knew who he was. But we didn't meet meet, I would say, until Christmas Carol.

HAMMERLY: When did we do the Dizzy Miss Lizzie show? Was that before or after Christmas Carol?

CURRY: I think it was after.

HAMMERLY: After? So honestly, don't remember the first time, but in 2010, I came on board A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theatre.

Felicia had been in the year before. And that was the first time we started working and actually spending time with each other.

And then I would say it's been a crash course ever since.

CURRY: [Grabbing her phone] Now I'm looking up Dizzy because I just need to.

HAMMERLY: You know, I came in for Finn McCool, remember?

CURRY: Oh my God! That was 2010.

HAMMERLY: So, Dizzy Miss Lizzie's Roadside Revue had me come in, very last minute, and asked if I would help them with a friend’s show they were doing called Finn McCool. And Felicia was in it. And what was great is, I knew enough about Felicia that I could say, “Hey, for this number I just need it to be more emotionally invested, I just need a few little tweaks,” and bam, Felicia was on it. I didn't have to worry about her, which was great. And then we just started spending more time together, we kept bumping into each other on other projects — I remember a reading out at the [now closed] Forum Theatre. But then, I would say the biggest thing where we spent time together, we did Adventure Theatre’s Oliver. And that was their first full-scale production, so it wasn't one of their 45-minute children shows.

Felicia played Nancy, and I played Fagin.

CURRY: They asked us to do that show.

HAMMERLY: But we shared the star dressing room at Roundhouse.

It was perfect. I’ve done that with, like, Holly Twyford and I shared a dressing room. I don’t know, I just get along better with women.

MW: Where did they put the actor playing Bill?

CURRY: Oh, Bill was another guy from this area but he was in a different dressing room. It was just us.

HAMMERLY: Which is hilarious. Then I used it for Georgia McBride, last year, and boy, did I feel lonely. There I am in this dressing room, I was like, “I miss Felicia.” Because what happened during that show — you know, I think we present ourselves as fairly confident people, fairly together— CURRY: Oh, absolutely.

HAMMERLY: —but the neuroses in that dressing room! And before each show, me, a wreck about running lines.

CURRY: We had a little system in the dressing room. He would run lines, I would come in and say my little thing, and I would get out of the way.

HAMMERLY: And then at the end of the show, if you came into our dressing room, on my side was the clear liquor, and on her side— CURRY: The brown liquor.

HAMMERLY: And we'd have a little toast to ourselves. And people from the cast would come by and join us or something, but it was the first time we spent concentrated time together.

CURRY: And really creating stuff, creating this relationship between these two [characters]. We knew Oliver, but we really wanted to add ourselves to it as much as we could, and really get

to the depth of what this story potentially could be.

HAMMERLY: And when you're brought in as, “Ooh, with Felicia Curry and Rick Hammerly in Oliver,” you feel a responsibility to up it. So we really worked to make these characters as three-dimensional as possible. For someone like me, I'm not the world's best singer. I can sing, and I can do character stuff. That’s why something like Hedwig or Oliver is perfect for me. I'm learning from this one — she can sing. I wanted to be able to be on the same level with her. It meant having to really work, character-wise, and make this relationship with us and the kids.

CURRY: We focused on us, but we really wanted the kids to be part of that storytelling. And I really love that ATMTC does that

for these young people — allows them to come in and do shows with professionals, because we treat them as such.

HAMMERLY: We had thirteen kids who were my gang, and they were boys, girls. The youngest was Lottie Doughty. She's always been like a forty-year old woman in a 10-year old's body. But I still talk with her mother. The kid who played Oliver, his mother still calls, “Hey Rick, do you think that we should do this, he got an offer for this, what do you think of that?” I love that we still have a relationship with these kids and their parents, and they're asking me. I wish I’d had someone at that age telling me, guiding me a little, because I was all over the place.

MW: Are you, sort of, godmothering a lot of theater kids?

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CURRY: Yes! Come on, godmother.

HAMMERLY: “Kiss my ring.”

CURRY: I love that.

HAMMERLY: I would just say that I am there if anyone needs

advice about something, or says, “What do you think of this, or what do you think of that? Should we audition for this, is this an okay organization, do you know so-and-so?” Absolutely. I love that.

CURRY: I think the young people we work with know that they can always reach out to either one of us if they have questions about anything. And I think that includes the Oliver kids, the Christmas Carol kids. Who even now, I just saw one of the Christmas Carol kids from one of our earlier years, and she was an intern at Signature Theatre. She’s like nineteen now.

HAMMERLY: And, by the way, I guarantee you is now a foot taller than Felicia.

CURRY: Oh, at least. Please. But yeah, I think that they all know that we're colleagues. That's the type of relationship we have with them.

HAMMERLY: I'm going to jump back to the dressing rooms. That year, Felicia and I got nominated for Helen Hayes Awards. Now, I found no shock that Felicia got nominated for that. But not 32

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

only did I get nominated, but so did “Oliver,” Franco Cabanas, in the same category I did.

CURRY: And more importantly, the ensemble. That was really special.

HAMMERLY: It was a great thing for us. We were really proud of that, because we felt like we gave a lot to that. Any time, first of all, you do a show with another artist, much less share a dressing room with them, you get the dirty, you get the neuroses, you get all of that. And it made us super close.

CURRY: Yep. HAMMERLY: And I knew right from the get-go that, “Okay, this is someone I want to work with in one capacity or another.” Whether it's we act on stage together — which, by the way, we're always looking for something, it's hard to find something we're both appropriate for — and I knew I wanted to direct her. Because I think one of the things that was frustrating, and I know it was for Felicia for a while, is that because Felicia can sing, they’re like, “Oh, she's a musical theater person!” So that's what she was called in for. Because Felicia has a ton of energy and works well with kids, “Ooh, let's call her for children's theater!” And three, because Felicia is threefoot four, “Let’s call her in to play children!”

CURRY: [Laughs.] I hate you.

HAMMERLY: So she got caught in this loop, and that's what she was playing. And the Felicia Curry I knew could do so much more, and we started talking about that, and we need to find something that shows that.

Felicia's like, “I've done this, I want to show people that I'm an actress, I can do a play, a straight play.”

So she started getting a little of that, and she did Disgraced over at Arena, and it was great. But every time she was cast in a play, and those are still far and few between, she was a tertiary role, or she was a supporting role. I was like, “This is ridiculous, we need something that shows you can carry a play on your own, but also what a range you have.” And when I read Lela and Co., I was like, not only is this a good play, but this can show off everything that Felicia is.

Working on that show, and being able to allow Felicia to show that.... I’m getting emotional.

CURRY: He says the range that I have, but he as a director brought things out in me. And I imagine that's because he knows me so well. He knows that this is not the threshold, he knows that there is something else, whether I know it or not, he does.

And he really did through that whole process. “That color is great, but what else can we find? What have you thought about this?"

MW: I saw the show, it was really intense. How does it test a friendship, to dig into material that's so dark and intense?

HAMMERLY: I have to be honest, it didn't test our friendship, I think it — CURRY: Strengthened it.

HAMMERLY: I really do. I trust her, and I know you trust me.

CURRY: All I can say is that even in the moments in the room where we had disagreements about where something should be going, I trust him. So at the end of the day if I'm saying, "I'm not really sure,” if he says, “Felicia, I really think what I'm thinking about is this," I step back and I trust him. He wants what's best for me, he wants what’s best for the show.

HAMMERLY: Exactly. She knows that I want to show off the best

that she can do. So, it's a very safe place to fail, to get it right, to do things.

CURRY: To try, yeah.

HAMMERLY: Felicia knows I am such a crier. I don't present that way, but literally anything can get me going. Talking to you right now is getting me going a little bit.

CURRY: I am not a crier.

HAMMERLY: In that room, creating, during rehearsal I would just, [mimes sobbing] “Okay, that's really good.” I was a mess! But this is how much Felicia trusts me. Felicia is a very emotionally connected actress, so she can tap into something very quickly.

During Lela, there were several moments which really warranted that. But Felicia's also so adept at that, that when we put up the show, and I came back a week later and saw Felicia cried like seven times, after the show I'm like, “Could I see you for just a moment? Here's the deal, you get three times in the show where you can let it go.”

CURRY: That's what he said.

HAMMERLY: “Otherwise you're doing the audience’s work for them. I want to be moved by you, but if you're doing it for me, I can just sit and watch. So I need you to choose those three moments, and you know what, I trust you. Those three moments are up to you. Now, I think if you don't cry at your baby's death, you've screwed yourself."

CURRY: “But that's on you.”

HAMMERLY: “That's your choice, girl.” Again, it wasn't changing it, that wasn't it. I knew how powerful you could be and I feel like you're taking a little power away from the show by doing that. And I know that's not the easiest thing to hear.

CURRY: But I needed to.

HAMMERLY: But she knows that I'm out there saying we want to keep this at this level, and this will help do that. As an actor, you have to have a director out there.

CURRY: Always.

HAMMERLY: We all think we know what we're doing, think we know the best for us. People like Bette Midler really think it, it's why she hasn't done a good role in about 20 years. She's undirectable, she won't listen, she knows everything. I will never believe that. You need that outside eye to say, “Listen, I’m not seeing this.” Because there's so many times you think you're conveying something, you think you're doing something, but it's not reading that way or it needs to be more specific.

CURRY: And you need a pair of eyes that you trust out there to tell you that. You just do.

HAMMERLY: Exactly. And back to your point about knowing each other really well, there are actors that we've seen on stage for years. Holly and Nancy, and I've seen Felicia on stage a lot. And Felicia does this thing with her thumb— CURRY: Oh god, he has to talk about the damn thumb.

HAMMERLY: — that whenever she does this, [holding his hands palms upward], her thumb's out. And she started doing this, and I said, “No, no, no. We're not doing that, Felicia.”

CURRY: We're not doing the thumbs out. Put it away.

HAMMERLY: This is a different character. Other people would not recognize that of Felicia. I do because I've seen her so much and I know her. And I think that's actually really exciting.

CURRY: It's so helpful.

HAMMERLY: It means you can really get rid of things and find new things if someone knows you well enough to say, “I've seen that a hundred times. Let's not use that this time.” It just made for an incredibly fulfilling experience doing that show. And not just with Felicia, but with everybody involved.

CURRY: And I was really proud of the fact that at the Hayes

Awards we were acknowledged as a production. I mean [Rick and I] were singled out, lighting was singled out, but at the end of that was the production. That really is a testament to what Rick put together, what Rick created. He put together that team of people, he had this vision, he got us all to a place to create this production that was very small. To be “Best Production,” I mean, there's two people in the show!

HAMMERLY: On top of that, it was a show that — you watched the audience, and I felt awful. We had several friends, or people we knew, who came and they couldn't even talk to us afterward.

They were just like [wipes away tears] and walked away and left.

People couldn't articulate— CURRY: The feelings.

HAMMERLY: To see that happen to an audience. I know it was dark, and I know it was heavy, but to watch Felicia move people that way, and to tell a story that needed to be told — and, as ugly as it was, people need to know it. Everyone needs to know what goes on all over this globe. It felt important, it felt personal.

CURRY: It felt like the type of theater that we want to always do.

Important, relevant, life-changing, question-asking.

HAMMERLY: Don't get us wrong— CURRY: You sometimes want to do a Georgia McBride. I get it.

HAMMERLY: Yes. I would look out at that audience at the end of Georgia McBride, and people were so happy. Older people, younger people. I was like, this show is uniting people and I've had more people contact me about that show saying, “I was so happy, you made me so happy.” Well, thank God, because a year ago I made you so sad. And it's one of the joys of that show. It was so happy.

MW: What do you most look forward to about co-hosting the Helen Hayes Awards together?

HAMMERLY: Even after years of performing I still get nervous on a stage and Felicia relaxes me. I feel very comfortable with her and I trust her. I know she trusts me. Now watch, now we'll fall on our faces, but I never feel like there is a moment where one of us won't be able to pick up the ball and keep it running. And so, of course I'll still be nervous but it won't be the same, you're not doing it alone. You have a partner who you trust, and I also have fun with Felicia and I think that's what I am looking forward to.

Just to show people once again our camaraderie and our comfort level and how much we do enjoy entertaining and, in this case, taking people's hands and sort of taking them through this awards experience in a classy and expedient manner.

CURRY: Rick and I always have a good time when we're together, so I think the thing I'm looking forward to is including everybody in the D.C. theater scene in that good time that we're having.

HAMMERLY: Yeah, what this night does, and one of the reasons it's always been so special to me, when you show up for those awards everyone there is either part of the theater community or supports the theater community. You don't have someone just wandering in off the street. And all of those people understand what it means to do theater. They understand the sacrifices, they understand the hardships, they understand the lack of money, they understand the frustration of not getting work sometimes, of hanging onto work. It's wonderful being in a room where everyone knows that. Where everyone knows what it means to do theater. l The 35th annual Helen Hayes Awards ceremony is Monday, May 13, starting at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.), at The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. Tickets are $100, or $50 for theater professionals, and include the post-show party. Call 202-337-4572 or visit www.theanthemdc.com.

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SCOTT SUCHMAN

Stage

Blood and Nightmares

Michael Kahn’s curtain call at The Shakespeare Theatre Company is the breathtaking, deeply satisfying The Oresteia. By Kate Wingfield

I

N A CHOICE THAT IS AS TOUCHING AS IT IS POWERFUL, MICHAEL Kahn caps his illustrious tenure as artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company with that most seminal of Greek tragedies, Aeschylus’ The Oresteia (HHHHH).

With a beautifully dark, spare, sinewy vision, Kahn gives us one of life’s most enduring struggles: the battle between our volcanic urge for revenge and a quietly abiding, yet momentous, capacity for compassion. This is Kahn in greatest communion with his art, his voice visceral and unwavering, and it is a profound note upon which to take his leave.

The brilliance starts with his commissioning of Ellen McLaughlin to adapt the play with a free hand — and through paring and building, she has hewn the trilogy into a deeply satisfying and most accessible arc. Her inclusion of a vital piece of prequel — the sacrifice of Clytemnestra’s daughter Iphigenia — is pivotal. It’s a choice that sets the emotional stage like no other and Kahn punctuates it with breathtaking stagecraft, as if to ask, how can we not feel that Clytemnestra is righteous in her horror and rage? And yet it begins a deadly chain-reaction that leads to more blood and nightmares.

Even adapted into modern English, the ideas here are writ large and this is less family drama than existential examination. At its heart, The Oresteia is a contemplation of where retribution might end and justice begins. But together with Kahn’s vision, McLaughlin injects a palpable humanity, a sense that the questions raised are never far from our own doorstep, now more than ever.

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If this sounds dry, rest assured it is anything but. Set in the shadows of dark, quarry-like cliffs, the House of Atreus is a barren abode that seems to float in space and time. Keeper of this palace of secrets and spirits is the volatile, half-mad Clytemnestra, waiting for her husband, the General Agamemnon, to return from the Trojan War. Watched warily by a Chorus of servants, we soon learn just how indelibly Iphigenia’s death has marked Clytemnestra’s heart and mind. When Agamemnon finally returns victorious, she succumbs to a basic human urge, but in doing so, condemns her family to a legacy of blood. As events unfold, Apollo and the Furies circle unseen like manifestations of unbridled, all-too-human imperatives, until the bloodlust threatens the family’s extinction.

Driving the emotional storm, this Clytemnestra is drawn with great credibility, tacking towards the contemporary, not just in language but manner. Owning this alpha completely, a superb Kelley Curran burns incandescent in all her grief, inconsolable anger, and destructive glory.

But if Curran serves it larger than life, she is not without nuance: even when her Clytemnestra is calm, we feel the dark waters beneath her surface running at

SCOTT SUCHMAN

speed. When they erupt, the display is magnificent.

A convincing match for this powerful woman is Kelcey Watson’s Agamemnon. Quietly exuding this man’s profoundly troubled psyche, Watson offers a subtle mix of warmth, bewilderment, and a leader’s all-embracing commitment. He is so wonderfully-drawn, it’s hard not to seek his side of the story, to ask that age-old question: what, in God’s name, were you thinking?

The Chorus, integral to the Greek tragedy, appear here as watchful house servants, talking to the family as much as to themselves. Like a kind of narrative cocoon, they question and reflect on what they see, rueful, agnostic, until they find by the end that they are no longer bystanders.

The verbal choreography is clever and complex, the individual comments rippling through the eight players with perfect timing and potency.

Their voices are alternately speculative, critical, and motherly, until they at last transform into McLaughlin’s answer to Aeschylus’ concluding trial. This is a deeply effective ensemble, but standouts are Helen Carey and Franchelle Stewart Dorn for their mother’s stoicism, and Alvin Keith and Corey Allen for convincing intensity.

As Clytemnestra and Agamemnon’s adult children, Rad Pereira offers a compelling immersion disturbed young Electra, and Josiah Bania gives his Orestes credible emotional trauma. In the small but meaningful role of Cassandra, Zoe Sophia Garcia

is an extraordinary, convincing presence, bringing a phenomenally realized view of the vanquished, a glimpse of all the human promise lost to war and vengeance.

Such are the themes in this extraordinary piece: as long as humans have walked the earth, harm has beget harm in an infinite array, be it vengeful murder or retaliatory war. Can such primal chains be broken and reset into new ways of being? If this Oresteia makes an offer, it is up to us to give an answer. And thus, Michael Kahn leaves us. l

The Oresteia runs through June 2 at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street NW. Tickets are $44 to $118. Call 202-547-1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org.

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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BRITTANY DILIBERTO

Stage

Love Machine

Folger’s Love’s Labor’s Lost is a wonderful — if uneven — reimagining of Shakespeare’s battle of the sexes. By Kate Wingfield

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OR SHEER COZY BRILLIANCE, YOU JUST CAN’T BEAT DIRECTOR Vivienne Benesch’s idea to set Love’s Labor’s Lost (HHHHH) in 1930s Washington using the Folger’s own Paster Reading Room as Navarre’s Court. Not only was the Folger library first opened in the thirties, it was the era of the Screwball Comedy and all their barb-slinging, thoroughly independent heroines. What better moment in modern American history for a re-up of one of Shakespeare’s battles of the sexes?

And this production isn’t just a clever idea, it’s captured with complete and utter charm. Sure, it’s a ridiculously idealized reimagining, but how lovely to look in on such a rose-colored world where books are read and handled like treasures, the lighting is incandescent, and nothing can travel faster than a letter. It starts with scenic designer Lee Savage’s ingenious recreation of the reading room, in all its wood-paneled splendor, continues with Tracey Christensen’s cheerfully elegant costumes, and positively thrives through a wonderfully textured cast of characters so cleverly drawn.

This is an incredibly wordy, pun-filled play — even by Shakespeare’s standards — and at the hands of this superb cast and Benesch’s sense of timing, the verbal calisthenics fly like an unstoppable babbling brook, while the humor is by turns broad, edgy, and subtle. One minute a character takes flight in a hilarious monologue, the next, the ensemble is choreographed into a visual joke. Benesch simply couldn’t do a better job in marrying the play with an irrepressible sense of humor and joy. If we don’t catch every word or reference, we absolutely follow the rom-com plot in which the King of Navarre and his courtiers prove no match for the Princess of France and her ladies-in-waiting.

At least until the intermission.

Unfortunately, all the mastery of the first half of the production never quite returns 36

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in the second. Uneven and far less subtle, it’s as if Benesch has left the helm.

Without the pitch-perfect sensibility and jaunty, sophisticated momentum of the first half, it’s not that it’s actually bad, it’s just nowhere near as good.

There is no doubt that the final events of the play create a challenge. When their wooing of the women fails, the men conspire to arrive disguised as a band of Muscovites to wow the ladies. But the women turn the tables on the men, disguising themselves far more effectively (at least as these fictions go). When the jig is finally up, it’s time for a courtly entertainment which soon devolves into subplot chaos. It’s all brought to an abrupt end by the news that the princess’ father has died.

The mood then — uncharacteristically for one of the Bard’s romps — turns solemn.

There might be no sure way of overcoming this tumble of events, but Benesch’s choice to broaden the comedy hurts more than it helps. The Muscovites are too brightly colored — garish in costume and performance alike. Their song and dance number might have worked if it was Three Stooges silly, but it’s just regular silly. The courtly entertainment then follows on too closely, clashes mightily in tone, and labors like self-indulgent continues on oage 38

CAROL ROSEBB

Stage

Aftermath

S

Jeanne Paulsen and Naomi Jacobson enact a gripping tug-of-war between frenemies in Studio’s vividly realized The Children. By André Hereford

ET INSIDE THE RUSTIC ENGLISH COTTAGE OF A COUPLE OF RETIRED nuclear physicists, Lucy Kirkwood’s 2018 Tony Award-winning The Children ( ) draws a world of references — from the Sexual Revolution to the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster — into its taut web of conflict and confessions. At the center of that web, and maybe the spider or maybe the fly, is Rose (Naomi Jacobson), an unexpected visitor to the home of Hazel (Jeanne Paulsen) and her husband Robin (Richard Howard).

Kirkwood’s plot unfolds cleverly, if plainly, along with Paulsen’s brilliant performance, to reveal Hazel as a quietly aggrieved wife. But Hazel first is introduced as the quietly aggrieved host to long-lost friend Rose, who was an engineer at the oceanside nuclear power plant where Hazel and Robin also worked for years as physicists. After a tsunami-triggered meltdown forced the evacuation, then closing, of the plant, Rose left for America, and Hazel and Robin stayed in the area, raising their children and tending their dairy cows.

Rose’s out-of-nowhere return following a 38-year absence becomes the catalyst for a major reckoning in Hazel and Robin’s marriage — however, it’s Paulsen’s Hazel who supplies the power driving this play. Bustling around hers and Robin’s comfortable if cluttered cottage, she appears to be the character with the most stable sense of self, yet the most frail sense of confidence. So she might have the most to lose, depending on what Rose wants out of this sudden visit.

Jacobson’s subtle turn as Rose keeps Hazel and Robin, and the audience, guessing about what Rose wants without belaboring the mystery. This threesome’s history is wrapped up in both their complicated romantic entanglements, and the cata-

strophic environmental damage caused by the nuclear meltdown, so there are several possible avenues down which this reunion might be headed. All the while, Kirkwood’s story suggests the many ways that toxic fallout from personal disasters, just like environmental disasters, can contaminate future generations.

Generally, young people have no say in the decisions that lead to nuclear disasters, or marital disasters, despite the fact that they’ll live with the consequences longer than their elders will. The Children mines this paradox — that the future is decided by those who have less of one — to both harrowing and humorous effect. Probably it’s to that point that Hazel and Robin’s oft-mentioned daughter, Lauren, doesn’t appear. Silencing the actual and figurative children of these characters might not be a virtue in terms of story potential, but it does make a statement.

The struggle of wills between Hazel and Rose also makes a statement about perceived schisms between single women and working moms, while conveying the play’s thoughtful balance between grave tension and biting humor.

The struggle of wills between Hazel and husband Robin, though, is less compelling. As one-third of a supposed love triangle, Robin amounts to a bit of a void

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where one point of this triangle should be, and Howard doesn’t register the lived-in performance that might fill in what’s missing on the page. Further, the script saddles him with a preponderance of dad jokes that won’t help sell the character — or the show, to some adults younger than those in the play.

Hazel, on the other hand, strikes a drily acerbic tone and, in general, wields sharper wit and intuition than her husband. Those attributes don’t necessarily make Hazel a more impactful or well-rounded character, but they do form a strong basis for Paulsen’s impactful and well-rounded performance.

Depending on where they’re seated, audience members might occasionally wish for a more well-rounded view of said performance, as the stage direction often positions characters with their back to one side of the house for significant stretches. Yet, director David Muse and scenic designer Tom Kamm do a remarkable job of suggesting the world outside that cottage, where Hazel and Robin’s children — along with everyone else’s — will have to contend with this trio’s choices for many years to come. l

CAROL ROSEBB

The Children runs through June 2 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Tickets are $20 to $97.

Call 202-332-3300, or visit www.studiotheatre.org.

BRITTANY DILIBERTO

continued from oage 36

vaudeville (save for Louis Butelli’s talents). No vibe, no matter how accomplished, can withstand such a beating. Playing (at least) the Muscovites small and amusing would have felt far more in keeping.

Still, it’s impossible not to get behind this production thanks to numerous stand-out performances. For sheer comic fabulousness, Eric Hissom seriously relishes his Don Armado, a Spanish visitor to the court, while Butelli’s librarian Holofernes is as hilari-

ous as he is brilliantly delivered.

As the King of Navarre, Joshua David Robinson’s regal but unpretentious man is one hundred percent on-point, his language gorgeously melodic and convincing. As Berowne, Navarre’s most talkative courtier, Zachary Fine starts with a rather robotic energy, but evolves into immense verbosity, bringing much color, fun and expression. Playing her with an intelligent warmth, Amelia Pedlow’s Princess of France, just about avoids being too holier-than-thou, while Kelsey Rainwater brings an interesting edge to an impressively-drawn Rosaline, prime lady-inwaiting. In smaller roles, Megan Graves is a completely convincing Mote, while Edmund Lewis gives his working man Costard comic presence. Transforming seamlessly between the ditzy Jacquenetta and street-wise Boyet, Tonya Beckman shows impressive chops. The list goes on: everyone adds something here.

Thus, even with the travails of the second half, this is one of Shakespeare’s wildest wordy rides delivered through a wonderfully unique and evocative lens.

It’s not perfection, but it’s pretty damn close. l

Love’s Labor’s Lost runs through June 9 at Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE. Tickets are $42 to $79.

Call 202-544-7077 or visit www.folger.edu.

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NightLife Photography by Ward Morrison

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Scene

Daryl Wilson’s First Fridays Freak Show at Ziegfeld’s Secrets - Friday, May 3 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

DrinksDragDJsEtc...

Thursday, May 9 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets of Bud Products all night • Sports Leagues Night NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Thirst Trap Thursdays, hosted by Venus Valhalla, 11pm-12:30am • Featuring a Rotating Cast of Drag Performers • Dancing until 1:30am

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Bottles of Wine, 5pm-close TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers, 9pm-close • “New Meat” Open Dancers Audition • Music by DJ Don T. • Cover 21+

Destinations A LEAGUE OF HER OWN 2317 18th St. NW 202-733-2568 www.facebook.com/alohodc AVALON SATURDAYS Soundcheck 1420 K St. NW 202-789-5429 www.facebook.com/ AvalonSaturdaysDC 40

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Friday, May 10 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 Rail and Domestic • $5 Svedka, all flavors all night long NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Open 3pm • Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Weekend Kickoff Dance Party, with Nellie’s DJs spinning bubbly pop music all night

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR 555 23rd St. S. Arlington, Va. 703-685-0555 www.freddiesbeachbar.com GREEN LANTERN 1335 Green Ct. NW 202-347-4533 www.greenlanterndc.com

NUMBER NINE Open 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • Friday Night Piano with Chris, 7:30pm • Rotating DJs, 9:30pm PITCHERS Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price,

5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 • Otter Happy Hour with guest DJs, 5-11pm ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm • Guest dancers • Rotating DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:45pm • Music by DJ Jeff Eletto • Cover 21+

Saturday, May 11 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-3am • Video Games • Live televised sports

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR 900 U St. NW 202-332-6355 www.nelliessportsbar.com NUMBER NINE 1435 P St. NW 202-986-0999 www.numberninedc.com PITCHERS 2317 18th St. NW 202-733-2568 www.pitchersbardc.com

NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS Compiled by Doug Rule

AVALON SATURDAYS @Echostage 2135 Queens Chapel Rd. NE Trifecta: A Capital Pride Kickoff Party, 9pm-4am • Featuring DJs Delvis Gonzalez, Isaac Escalante, and Steve Sidewalk • 21+ • Portion of proceeds benefit Capital Pride • $25 general admission • For tickets, visit www.dougiemeyerpresents.com FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Saturday Breakfast Buffet, 10am-3pm • $14.99 with one glass of champagne or coffee, soda or juice • Additional champagne $2 per glass • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Freddie’s Follies Drag Show, hosted by Miss Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm • Karaoke, 10pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5 Bacardi, all flavors, all

night long • Freeballers Party, 10pm-close • Music

by DJs BacK2bACk • $5 Fireball, $5 Margaritas, $8 Long Island Iced Teas • No Cover • Clothes check available NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted

by Chanel Devereaux, 10:30am-12:30pm and 1-3pm • Tickets on sale at nelliessportsbar.com • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-3am • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guest DJs playing pop music all night NUMBER NINE Doors open 2pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • Pop Tarts, featuring DJs BacK2bACk, 9:30pm

SHAW’S TAVERN 520 Florida Ave. NW 202-518-4092 www.shawstavern.com TRADE 1410 14th St. NW 202-986-1094 www.tradebardc.com ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS 1824 Half St. SW 202-863-0670 www.ziegfelds.com

NICKS FLIX 2: WITH DJ TRAVIS ISLAND The best and most ambitious video jockeys do twice as much work as their strictly audio counterparts, and for a fraction of the fame. Which is why you may not know the name VJ Tre, although you certainly know his work if you had ever set foot in Omega, where he mixed and played music videos for a dozen years before the ultimate video bar shuttered in 2012. These days, Tre has worked to boost recognition of his craft by adopting a different, telling alias, DJ Travis Island.

Over the past year, the Saturday night regular at Uproar has presented annual video parties, each devoted to a different gay-favorite pop diva, from Madonna to Kylie Minogue. And then there’s Stevie Nicks.

Certainly few others could even claim the kind of Nicks expertise Tre has, having served nine years as the opening and closing VJ for “Night of a 1000 Stevies,” the annual New York extravaganza touted as “the largest and best-loved Stevie Nicks fan event in the world.” Fresh from last weekend’s shindig, Tre promises unique video edits and “original, live and exclusive remix video clips” of Nicks and Fleetwood Mac for the second annual Nicks Flix, set for this Saturday, May 11, starting at 10 p.m., on the top level of Uproar at 639 Florida Ave NW. Call 202-462-4464 or visit www.facebook.com/uproarloungedc.

TRIFECTA! A CAPITAL PRIDE WARM-UP PARTY Hard as it may be to believe, we’re only a month away from all of the annual Pride celebration, but three leading local LGBTQ party promoters have joined forces to throw a Pride-sized party for those who just can’t wait to get their rainbow-hued groove on. This Saturday, May 11, Avalon Saturdays, Chorus DC, and the Cherry Fund present a dance party at Echostage sure to have clubgoers on their feet dancing to beats from a trifecta of today’s most popular East Coast-based club DJs: D.C.’s X Gonzalez, Miami’s Isaac Escalante, and New York’s Steve Sidewalk. Organizers also promise additional live performances for the party starting at 9 p.m. and running as late as 4 a.m. A portion of the proceeds go to the Capital Pride Legacy Foundation. Echostage is at 2135 Queens Chapel Rd. NE. Tickets are $25 to $30 plus fees.

Call 202-503-2330 or visit www.echostage.com.

THE COVEN AT TEN TIGERS PARLOUR Every second Saturday of the month comes a queer women-centered “witchy dance party” in the Petworth restaurant/bar/intimate nightclub venue owned by D.C.’s ubiquitous Hilton Brothers (Brixton and Marvin). Kate Ross’ The Coven is “open to all genders, orientations, ideologies, and badasses,” and an event where — no surprise given the name — “dark couture is encouraged.” The May party features beats all night by DJ CynCity, from Morgantown, West Virginia.

Saturday, May 11, starting at 10 p.m. Ten Tigers Parlour is at 3813 Georgia Ave. NW. Cover is $10. Call 202-506-2080 or visit www.tentigersdc.com.

SLAY MY NAME WITH KC B. YONCÉ From Donna Slash’s Gay/Bash to Pussy Noir with Sissy That Tuesday, Trade’s stock-in-trade is, among other things, in presenting next-generation drag artists putting on next-level drag shows. At the top of 2019 the Logan Circle haunt introduced yet another hit spectacle, the star of whom is KC Cambrel, better known by his Queen Bey-inspired drag alias. The May edition’s thematic Category is “Motha Nature in Spring.” Patrons are invited to come dressed as their favorite diva and “show off your sickening lewk” in a Slay Off Contest. Desiree Dik will also perform as a special guest, while Wes the DJ is the diva on decks duty. Sunday, May 12, at 7 p.m. Trade is at 1410 14th St. NW. Call 202-986-1094 or visit www.tradebardc.com. l MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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PITCHERS Open Noon-3am • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am SHAW’S TAVERN Brunch with $15 Bottomless Mimosas, 10am-3pm • Homme Brunch, 12pm, Second Floor • Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • HalfPriced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • The Hal Williams Band for the Funk Parade!, 8pm TRADE Doors open 2pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

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ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets upstairs, 9pm-close • Guest dancers • Ladies of Illusion Drag Show with host Ella Fitzgerald in Ziegfeld’s • Doors open at 9pm, Show at 11:45pm • Music by DJs Keith Hoffman and Don T. • Cover 21+

Sunday, May 12 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-12am • $4 Smirnoff and Domestic Cans • Video Games • Live televised sports

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Ella’s Sunday Drag Brunch, 10am-3pm • $24.99 with four glasses of champagne or mimosas, 1 Bloody Mary, or coffee, soda or juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Piano Bar with John Flynn, 6-9:30pm • Karaoke, 9:30pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Karaoke with Kevin downstairs, 9:30pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted

by Chanel Devereaux, 10:30am-12:30pm and 1-3pm • Tickets on sale at nelliessportsbar.com • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-1am • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guest DJs

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • Pop Goes the World with Wes Della Volla at 9:30pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open Noon-2am • $4 Smirnoff, includes flavored, $4 Coors Light or $4 Miller Lites, 2-9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Dinner and Drag with

Miss Kristina Kelly, 8pm • For reservations, email shawsdinnerdragshow@ gmail.com TRADE Doors open 2pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

Monday, May 13 FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Singles Night • Half-Priced Pasta Dishes • Karaoke, 9pm

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long • Singing with the Sisters: Open Mic Karaoke Night with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, 9:30pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Half-Priced Burgers • Paint Nite, 7pm • PokerFace Poker, 8pm • Dart Boards • Ping Pong Madness, featuring 2 PingPong Tables NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail

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Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Shaw ’Nuff Trivia, with Jeremy, 7:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

Tuesday, May 14 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports

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FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Taco Tuesday • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long

PITCHERS Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Drag Bingo with Sasha Adams and Brooklyn Heights, 7-9pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Burgers and Pizzas, 5-10pm

NUMBER NINE Open at 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover

TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

MAY 9, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Wednesday, May 15 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • $6 Burgers • Beach Blanket Drag Bingo Night, hosted

by Ms. Regina Jozet Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes • Karaoke, 10pm-1am GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm • Bear Yoga with Greg Leo, 6:30-7:30pm • $10 per class • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR SmartAss Trivia Night, 8-10pm • Prizes include bar tabs and tickets to shows at the 9:30 Club • $15 Buckets of Beer for SmartAss Teams only • Absolutely Snatched Drag Show, hosted by Brooklyn Heights, 9pm • Tickets available at www.nelliessportsbar.com NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Piano Bar with Jill, 8pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 l

LastWord.

People say the queerest things

“It’s not the birds and the bees. It’s not biological anymore.

It’s not sex ed. It’s sexuality education.”

— Stephanie Yates, a California mother who opposes pro-LGBTQ sex education, speaking to the Associated Press. Yates started a Facebook page to protest the California State Board of Education, which is considering teaching kindergarteners about gender identity and recommending books on safe sex for LGBTQ high schoolers. Yates said the information “should be taught at home,” but Equality California’s Samuel Garret-Pate said such attitudes are why a new curriculum is necessary: “There is nothing obscene about providing accurate and comprehensive information to students at an age-appropriate level about how to have safe sex.”

our world, we will not have to talk about the fact that I am a woman, “Somedayorinabout being openly gay when I received a promotion like this.

But today is not that day.”

— LILLIAN BONSIGNORE, the New York City Fire Department’s new chief of Emergency Medical Services, speaking at a ceremony.

Bonsignore, who is lesbian, is the first woman appointed to the role and the FDNY’s highest-ranking openly gay member. “Today I proudly become somebody else’s possibility,” she said.

“The way we see it, our beer is for everyone to enjoy.”

— ANDY GOELER, vice president of marketing for Bud Light, in a statement announcing the launch of a new, limited edition rainbow-colored Bud Light bottle. Bud Light will donate $1 from every case sold to GLAAD, up to $150,000. “We hope to create something that everyone can feel proud to hold during Pride month that also makes a positive impact for GLAAD’s initiatives and the LGBTQ+ community overall,” he said.

“For me, kissing a man onscreen is no less appealing than kissing a woman onscreen. ” — TARON EGERTON, star of Elton John biopic Rocketman, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about filming kissing scenes.

“I’m not in any way repulsed by the male form,” he said. “It’s an uncomfortable thing regardless of who you’re with — it makes no difference as to your sexual preference.” The film, which opens May 30, reportedly does not shy from Elton John’s sex life, and Egerton said he threw himself into the role “a hundred percent.”

“They seem to be a marker for an environment where trans and non-binary youth are at risk.”

— GABRIEL MURCHISON, doctoral candidate at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, speaking to Reuters about research which shows that trans and non-binary teens who attend schools that force them to use facilities that match their sex at birth, rather than their gender identity, are more likely to be sexually assaulted or attacked.

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