Josh Thomas of Everything's Gonna Be Okay - Metro Weekly - Jan. 30, 2020

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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January 30, 2020

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CONTENTS

FRENCH CONNECTION

A D.C. comedy veteran, Franqi French sets her sights on a national career after winning the StandUp NBC competition.

By Doug Rule

REALITY TV

Josh Thomas, star of the stunning new comedy Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, has his own unique way of looking at the world.

Interview by Randy Shulman

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Volume 26 Issue 37

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EXTREME MERRIMENT Delivered with ’70s style and flair, the Folger’s Merry Wives of Windsor is one of the best you’ll ever see.

By Kate Wingfield

SPOTLIGHT: NILO CRUZ p.7 OUT ON THE TOWN p.10 FRENCH CONNECTION: FRANQI FRENCH p.12 THE SINGING ATTORNEY: JESSICA CARTER ALTMAN p.14 COMPOSING WOMEN: STILE ANTICO p.16 THE FEED: MAYOR’S MANDATE p.19 THE FEED: VIRAL BIGOTRY p.19 COMMUNITY: BAKE OFF p.21 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p.21 FILM: OSCAR NOMINATED ANIMATED SHORTS p.31 STAGE: MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR p.33 STAGE: PILGRIMS p.35 STAGE: SPRING AWAKENING p.36 MUSIC: PET SHOP BOYS p.37 NIGHTLIFE: PITCHERS p.39 NIGHTLIFE LISTINGS p.40 NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS p.41 LAST WORD p.46 Washington, D.C.’s Best LGBTQ Magazine for 25 Years 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 Illustrators David Amoroso, Scott G. Brooks Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, Troy Petenbrink, 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 Saints Rose and Darren Cover Photography Ryan Pfluger 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.

© 2020 Jansi LLC.

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

M. RICHARD TOUSIGNANT

Spotlight

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Nilo Cruz

VEN THE MOST CELEBRATED PLAYWRIGHTS aren’t always afforded the opportunity to direct their own work. So Nilo Cruz, a 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winner for his drama Anna in the Tropics, is relishing the chance to apply his directorial vision to GALA Hispanic Theatre’s new production of his magical realist romance Exquisite Agony (Exquisita Agonía).

“I have been directing a lot of my work, and my work has been performed at GALA Theatre a couple of times,” Cruz says, noting the company’s productions of the Cuban immigrant drama Anna and the Spain-set love story, Beauty of the Father. “I feel like it's a theater that trusts me as a playwright, and of course now as a director. They've given me carte blanche and have left me alone...to explore the text with these actors, and to explore it as well with the designers.”

Among the cast joining Cruz on the Exquisite exploration

is GALA Hispanic Theatre veteran Luz Nicolas, starring as opera singer Millie Marcel, a widow who fixates on the young transplant recipient now living with her dead husband’s heart.

Nicolas originated the role in the production of Exquisite Agony that premiered earlier this year Off-Broadway, and reprises Millie for this staging paired with Joel Hernandez Lara as Amer, the object of Millie’s obsession and desire.

“I think that my characters are constantly projecting desires,” says Cruz. “They're projecting past relationships onto new relationships, onto new lovers. I think it's part of being human.

We sometimes want to stay in territory that we know instead of really starting with a tabula rasa. Sometimes we cling to past relationships, to past behaviors, to past passions that we've had, past histories. And we project them onto new people that come into our lives and vice versa. I think it's human nature to do that for some reason.” —André Hereford

Exquisita Agonía (Exquisite Agony) opens Feb. 6 at GALA Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. Through March 1.

Performances are in Spanish with English surtitles. Tickets are $20 to $55. Call 202-234-7174 or visit www.galatheatre.org.

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Spotlight

SILENT SKY

SCOTT SUCHMAN

Lauren Gunderson’s inspiring drama explores the determination, passion, and sacrifice of the women who redefined our understanding of the cosmos — Henrietta Leavitt and the women “computers” in the Harvard Observatory who transformed the science of astronomy, a decade before women gained the right to vote. Directed by Seema Sueko. To Feb. 23. 511 10th St. NW. Tickets are $20 to $52. Call 202-347-4833 or visit www.fords.org.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER: AILEY AT 60 TOUR

PAUL KOLNIK

The celebrated dance company returns to the Kennedy Center, performing a different mix of repertory works at each performance, all ending, per tradition, with Revelations, the masterpiece by the company’s late namesake.

Included are Darrell Grand Moultrie’s Ounce of Faith, an exuberant expression of what’s possible when a young person is encouraged to dream and A Case of You, by the company’s artistic director Judith Jamison. Tuesday, Feb. 4 through Sunday, Feb. 9 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets are $49 to $199. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org for a full schedule.

BRIAN GANZ WITH NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC

JAY MALLIN

Strathmore’s resident orchestra presents the 10th annual recital with renowned pianist Brian Ganz, who is vying to become the world’s first to perform every note Fryderyk Chopin wrote for piano, more than 250 pieces in all. The latest iteration in Ganz’s “Extreme Chopin Quest” series showcases Chopin’s growth as a composer by comparing his early waltzes, polonaises, nocturnes, and marches to later, more advanced examples in those formats, including Funeral March and Polonaise-Fantaisie. Piotr Gajewski conducts. Saturday, Feb. 1, at 8 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Tickets are $29 to $79. Call 301581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Spotlight A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

MARGOT SCHULMAN

The lives of two Afghan women are inextricably bound together in a play adapted by Ursula Rani Sarma from the best-selling novel by Khaled Hosseini (Kite Runner). Carey Perloff directs Hend Ayoub and Mirian Katrib leading a 12-member cast at Arena Stage in a show billed as a “gripping and heart-rending fight for survival [that] will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.” To March 1. Kreeger Theater in the Mead Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Call 202-488-3300 or visit www.arenastage.org.

ELECTRIC GUEST

The L.A.-based duo of vocalist Asa Taccone and drummer Matthew Compton has been compared to Scissor Sisters and Tame Impala, though there is something unique about Electric Guest’s particular brand of breezy, summery electropop. Their music inhabits a sonic space that recalls constant sun and haze, a carefree yet vast and lonely place in a constant, unhurried sort of motion. The duo is joined on tour by Luke Top on bass guitar and Reese Richardson on guitar and keys.

Friday, Feb. 7. Doors at 10 p.m. 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $26. Call 202-2650930 or visit www.930.com.

ROGER & ME

In his 1989 debut Roger & Me, the influential, rabble-rousing documentary filmmaker Michael Moore obsessively dogged General Motors CEO Roger Smith, in an effort to get him to discuss the closing of GM plants in Moore’s hometown of Flint, Michigan. Moore’s extraordinary debut returns to the big screen in Landmark Theatre’s Capital Classics series.

Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m.

West End Cinema, 2301 M St. NW. Happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.50. Call 202534-1907 or visit landmarktheatres.com.

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TRACEY SALAZAR

Out On The Town

KENNEDY CENTER’S LUNAR NEW YEAR 2020 CELEBRATION

For the traditional Chinese calendar, the new year begins on the new moon — which in 2020 was last Saturday, Jan. 25.

Fortunately, the traditional celebration lasts two weeks, and the Kennedy Center mostly follows suit with its 5th annual Lunar New Year slate of (mostly free) activities, with showcases of both Chinese and Korean culture. This year’s celebration, ushering in the Year of the Rat, is centered in the complex’s new outdoor campus the REACH, festooned with 100 stunning Winter Lanterns consisting of 10,000 LED lights depicting the Chinese Four Symbols and 12 Zodiac Signs, Panda Grove, and Mushroom Garden. The display of lanterns will be enhanced Thursday, Jan. 30, through Sunday, Feb. 2, with performances celebrating Korea, from a drum and spinning-dishes show from Freelak Company, to a group Mural Painting led by Julia Chon, to kite-flying led by a South Korean master. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

Compiled by Doug Rule

FILM BEST PICTURE 2020: SPOTLIGHT SERIES

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema will offer multiple screenings of all the nominees up for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards leading up to the ceremony, which airs on Sunday, Feb. 9.

Several films will screen every day starting Friday, Jan. 31, including 1917, Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Little Women, Marriage Story, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, and Parasite. All nine films will be shown on Sunday, Feb. 9. 7235 Woodmont Ave. Call 301652-7273 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com for the full schedule.

LOVE STORY

In the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, Fathom Events

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and the TCM Big Screen Classics series return to the big screen one of the most romantic films ever made, according to the American Film Institute. The screenings mark the 50th anniversary of Arthur Hiller’s 1970 blockbuster starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw. The screenings are framed by insights from TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz. Sunday, Feb. 9, at 1 p.m., and Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. Area theaters including Regal venues at Gallery Place (701 7th St. NW), Potomac Yards Stadium (3575 Jefferson Davis Highway), and Majestic Stadium (900 Ellsworth Dr., Silver Spring). Tickets are $15.

Visit www.fathomevents.com.

OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2020: DOCUMENTARY

Landmark Theatres presents this year’s nominees in the Documentary Shorts category, a 160-minute program that includes Carol Dysinger’s

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if You’re a Girl), the story of young Afghan girls learning to read, write, and skateboard in Kabul; Life Overtakes Me, a Swedish/American film from John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson about traumatized children of the refugee diaspora who are in such profound despair, they withdraw into a coma-like state; Yi Seung-Jun’s In The Absence, about the families and survivors still seeking justice after a passenger ferry sank off the coast of South Korea in 2014, taking the lives of hundreds of schoolchildren; Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan’s St. Louis Superman, a profile of Bruce Franks Jr., an activist and battle rapper who was elected to the overwhelmingly white and Republican Missouri House of Representatives, and his struggle to pass a bill critical for his community; and Laura Nix’s Walk Run Cha-Cha, about a couple who fell in love as teenagers in Vietnam

before the war, but only reunited years later as adults in California.

Opens Friday, Jan. 31. Landmark’s West End Cinema, 2301 M St. NW. Call 202-534-1907 or visit www. landmarktheatres.com.

OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2020: LIVE ACTION

There are five live action shorts nominated at the 92nd Academy Awards, all of which screen locally courtesy of Landmark Theatres in a 104-minute program. The nominees are Meryam Joobeur’s Brotherhood, about a hardened shepherd living in rural Tunisia who is deeply shaken when his oldest son returns home with a mysterious new wife; Yves Piat’s Nefta Football Club, a tale of two young brothers who come across a donkey in the desert wearing headphones over its ears; Marshall Curry’s The Neighbors’ Window, the story of a frustrated American wife and moth-

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er whose life is shaken up when she realizes she can see into the apartment of the free-spirited twenty-somethings who have moved in across the street; Bryan Buckley’s Saria, the tale of two inseparable orphaned sisters as they fight against daily abuse and unimaginable hardship in Guatemala; and Delphine Girard’s A Sister, about a Belgian woman in trouble who must make the most important call of her life. Now playing. E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Also Bethesda Row Cinema, 7235 Woodmont Ave. Call 202-452-7672 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

NICHOLAS KARLIN

PURPLE RAIN

FRENCH CONNECTION

A D.C. comedy veteran, Franqi French sets her sights on a national career after winning the StandUp NBC competition.

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HAD GAY UNCLES, I HAD A GAY AUNT,” FRANQI FRENCH SAYS. “THERE WAS always an element of LGBT around me growing up, so I didn't even know it was a thing you have to tell people.” French, who identifies as bisexual, continues: "It's not anything I ever really came out about. Even as a little kid, I always just kind of lived my truth. Sometimes I'd have a boyfriend, sometimes I'd have a girlfriend, and I never really explained that to anyone.”

Not until a year ago, that is, when the budding comedian decided “to start talking about my sexuality in my standup.” Before she could do that, however, she had to come out to one person in particular: Her daughter, who’s now 14. “That was the first time in my life [I was] nervous to say it out loud,” she says, “because I'm married to her dad, and I didn't know how her kid brain would process that.”

Turns out, the “kid brain” processed it just fine. “What, are you bi?” her daughter inquired after French revealed her interest in women as well as men. That was all there was to it, as far as her daughter was concerned. “I know what that is, I’m good. Can I go back to playing my game?”

Coming out to her daughter helped boost not only French’s stand-up, by freeing her to talk about her sexuality, but also her career standing. Earlier this month, French won the StandUp NBC competition, an award that includes a deal with NBCUniversal, among other opportunities. After years of work in the D.C. comedy trenches, French decided to pounce on the chance to launch a national career and officially moved to L.A. just over a week ago.

“I'm part of the NBC family now, which is amazing,” she says. “They've been absolutely fantastic. This is the first national network to get who I am as an artist. They see something in me worthy of moving forward. One of the most important opportunities for me is to bring more visibility to bisexual people — that we are a part of the community. This is genuinely who we are and how we feel. It's not because we're drunk, or in college, [or] confused.”

French, who returns to the area this weekend to perform two nights of stand-up, will never forget her roots. “D.C. made me the comedian that I am. So I'll always represent D.C. I'll always come back. And as my platform grows, I'm always going to shine a spotlight on D.C.” —Doug Rule Franqi French opens for Josh Blue this Friday, Jan. 31, at 7:30 and 10 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 1, at 7 and 9:30 p.m., at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse, 2903 Columbia Pike. Tickets are $25. Call 703-486-2345 or visit www.arlingtondrafthouse.com.

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Both Virginia Alamo Drafthouse cinemas kick off the month of February with a tribute to Prince and particularly the superb soundtrack he created for this 1984 semi-autobiographical film, which introduced several of the late musical legend’s biggest hits, among them “Let’s Go Crazy,” “When Doves Cry,” and the title track. Prince’s music is ultimately what sells Purple Rain, which tells a story of a tortured musician known simply as “The Kid,” played

by Prince. Appolonia and Morris Day co-star. Tickets to the Alamo Drafthouse screenings include glow sticks and inflatable guitars.

Monday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse at 20575 Easthampton Plaza, Ashburn, Va. Call 571-2936808. Also Monday, Feb. 3, at 7:20 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse at 15200 Potomac Town Place, Ste. 100, Woodbridge, Va. Call 571-260-4413.

Tickets are $14.30. Visit www.drafthouse.com/northern-virginia.

THE FIRST WIVES CLUB

Joshua Vogelsong presents a special February series at the cozy Suns Cinema in Mount Pleasant focused on campy classics and hosted by the drag persona Summer Camp. The CAMP! Series will offer up Muriel’s Wedding, The House of Yes, and Serial Mom in subsequent Mondays.

It launches Monday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m. with the divalicious dramedy from 1996 starring Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton as middle-aged college friends who reunite to plot revenge on their exes, all of whom left them for younger women(Sarah Jessica Parker, Marcia Gay Harden, and Elizabeth Berkley). 3107 Mount Pleasant St. NW. Tickets are $13.59 including service fee. Visit www. sunscinema.com.

STAGE GUN & POWDER

Solea Pfeiffer and Emmy RaverLampman star as sisters Mary and Martha Clarke in a World Premiere musical inspired by the true story of African-American twins who pass themselves off as white to help settle their mother’s sharecropper debt and seize the funds by any means nec-

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essary. Book and lyrics by Angelica Chéri and music by Ross Baum and featuring direction by Robert O’Hara (Broadway’s Slave Play). To Feb. 23.

MAX Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.

RÊVERIE

THE SINGING ATTORNEY

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For Jessica Carter Altman, the law is a satisfying profession, but music is a driving passion.

'VE BEEN SINGING SINCE AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER,” SAYS JESSICA CARTER Altman. “I joined my first chorus when I was about six years old.” Altman’s parents, however, urged their daughter to take a more secure career route. “The value of an education...was always the focus growing up from my parents,” she says. “And I always felt that a law degree gave me the power to do whatever it is that I wanted to do.” Still, for Altman, currently a litigation associate in the Washington, D.C. offices of international law firm Gibson Dunn, music remained a strong creative calling.

“When I was in law school, my mom asked if I would be interested in doing a duet with her at the Kennedy Center,” she recalls. “She had a show she tours every spring, and I immediately said ‘Yes!’ To perform at the Kennedy Center is such an honor, but to be able to perform with my mom made it that much sweeter. We did ‘All You Have to Do Is Dream.’”

In case you haven’t guessed, Jessica Carter Altman is the offspring of Lynda Carter, the renowned chanteuse and actress who first made Wonder Woman a household name, and Robert Altman, Chairman and CEO of ZeniMax Media, parent company of videogame publisher Bethesda Softworks (Fallout, Doom).

Recently, Altman dropped her first EP, No Rules, an infinitely listenable five-song sampling that showcases the 29-year-old’s rich, smooth-as-silk voice and covers a wide array of material, including a lovely rendition of Betty Who’s “Missing You,” a haunting, affecting take on the classic “Spooky” and a lively, ragtime-tinged performance of The Kinks classic, “Sunny Afternoon.”

“The EP’s name came from the idea that there are no rules to how you form your life,” says Altman. “It's okay to be an attorney and still be creative and do an EP — just basically forge your own path. It doesn't need to be one that's been well-worn, it could be a path that is not yet taken.”

Altman can’t quite pinpoint when she first realized that her mother was internationally famous for her iconic portrayal of Wonder Woman on network television. “I think that there was always some kind of knowing,” she says. “As I've gotten older, it's been nice seeing what role she played in so many people's lives, and what Wonder Woman has done for so many people.” —Randy Shulman No Rules is now streaming on all major music services, including Spotify and Apple Music. She will appear with her mother, Lynda Carter, in concert at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on April 25, at 7:30 p.m. Visit www.jessicacarteraltman.com.

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Fractal Theatre Collective, “dedicated to radical, innovative artwork,” presents a new play that focuses on the complexities of trauma and mental health for LGBTQ individuals. Written and directed

by Hannah Ruth Wellons, Fractal’s associate artistic director, Rêverie focuses on a woman whose night terrors have grown worse. A woman from her past reappears, questioning the validity of her memories of an incident from 10 years prior and further blurring the lines between reality and dreamstate. Ezra Tozian, Amber Monks, Noa Gelb, and Peter Mikhail star.

Thursday, Feb. 6, and Friday, Feb. 7, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 8, at 3 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. Lab Theatre I in the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $5 to $20. Call 202399-7993 or visit www.atlasarts.org

MUSIC GREENSKY BLUEGRASS

Diehard fans, known as the Campers, travel far and wide to catch the fiery live performances, complete with full light show, of this progressive bluegrass band from Kalamazoo, Michigan, which aptly describes its sound as “mixing the acoustic stomp of a stringband with the rule-breaking spirit of rock & roll.” The quintet returns for what’s become an annual sojourn of two nights at the Anthem, helping to warm up your winter and kick-start another February. Cris Jacobs serves as the opening act for the show on Friday, Jan. 31, while Ghost Light does the honors on Saturday, Feb. 1. Doors at 6 p.m. The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. Tickets are $42.50 to $65. Call 202-265-0930 or visit www.theanthemdc.com.

JANE BUNNETT & MAQUEQUE

The internationally heralded Canadian jazz artist and multi-instrumentalist Bunnett started a project five years ago to record and mentor young Cuban female musicians.

Now known as the all-female band Maqueque, Bunnett’s group in the past year alone has been voted one of the top 10 jazz groups by the prestigious DownBeat magazine’s critics poll and also snagged a Grammy nomination for their newest release, Oddara. The concert at the Atlas Performing Arts Center reunites the band with one of its founders, Daymé Arocena, who has gone on to solo acclaim. Sunday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m. Sprenger Theatre in the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $14 to $35. Call 202399-7993 or visit www.atlasarts.org.

LIZZ WRIGHT

A blues-fired R&B singer with a countrified air and gospel roots, the small-town Georgia-reared Wright sometimes powers her smoky contralto to its full-throttle extremes, but the point is never to showboat.

She never gets carried away or allows her focus to waver from the music, and the message of the music — with a remarkable repertoire of carefully crafted, well-refined songs to show for it. Wright’s songs are further bolstered by her skill, as an NPR critic put it, at being “a sophisticated straddler of down-home blues, jazz, gospel, folk, southern pop, and confessional singer-songwriter traditions.” Thursday, Feb. 6, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

Tickets are $39.50. Call 703-5497500 or visit www.birchmere.com.

MARYLAND LYRIC OPERA: THAÏS

For its latest season, this young, singer-focused company founded

by Brad Clark offers three new productions, all of which are dedicated to strong women as a toast to the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment’s ratification, allowing women the right to vote. The offerings include Massanet’s Thaïs in a fully staged production helmed by Claudia Zahn, with Louis Salemno conducting the MDLO Orchestra and Chorus. Sarah Joy Miller leads a cast also including Louis Otey, Allegra de Vita, Hunter Enoch, and Joe Brent, plus a ballet performed by local dance troupe Sarah Ewing & Dancers. In French with English surtitles. Thursday, Jan. 30, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 1, at 2 p.m.

Kay Theatre in the Clarice at the University of Maryland, University Boulevard and Stadium Drive.

College Park. Tickets are $25 to $50. Call 301-405-ARTS or visit www.theclarice.umd.edu.

MSTRKRFT

If you were asked to imagine an amalgamation of electronica, industrial rock, noise, and dance punk, something like MSTRKRFT would probably come to mind. In fact, the Canadian duo helped to define the gritty aesthetic of industrial dance music, with a sound best suited to dingy nightclubs and warehouse raves — and similar to that of the dance-punk band Death From Above 1979, another duo also featuring MSTRKRFT’s Jesse F. Keeler. KAI opens. Thursday, Feb. 6. Doors at 10 p.m. U Street Music Hall, 1115A U St. NW. Tickets are $15 to $25. Call 202-588-1880 or visit www.ustreetmusichall.com.

PRESSENDA CHAMBER PLAYERS

Named for the Italian Pressenda instruments made in 1844 that are owned by two ensemble members, the Ensemble-in-Residence of the Washington Conservatory offers a program featuring the Duo for Two

Cellos by Jean-Baptiste Barriere, Capriccio Sextet by Richard Strauss, and the G Major Quintet by Johannes Brahms. The players will include violinists Aaron Berofsky and Kathryn Votapek, viola players Amadi Azikiwe and Philippe Chao, and cellists Jan MuellerSzeraws and Tobias Werner, the founding artistic director of the group. After the concert, guests are invited to attend an informal Wine & Words Q&A with the performers over complimentary beverages. Saturday, Feb. 1, at 8 p.m.

Westmoreland Congregational Church, 1 Westmoreland Circle, Bethesda. Free, with suggested donation of $20. Call 301-320-2770 or visit www.washingtonconservatory.org.

WHITE FORD BRONCO

“D.C.’s all ’90s party band,” cheekily named after O.J. Simpson’s notorious failed getaway car, is a five-member ensemble consisting of singer/guitarist Diego Valencia, singer Gretchen Gustafson, guitarists Ken Sigmund and McNasty, and drummer Max Shapiro. White Ford Bronco sings through that decade’s songbook in all styles of popular music. Friday, Jan. 31. Doors at 7 p.m. Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. Tickets are $25 to $50. Call 877-987-6487 or visit www.unionstage.com.

DANCE DANA TAI SOON BURGESS DANCE COMPANY: A TRIBUTE TO MARIAN ANDERSON

The National Portrait Gallery’s choreographer-in-residence has developed another new work inspired by a current exhibition at the Smithsonian museum, this time “One Life: Marian Anderson,” and in honor of Black History Month.

Burgess’ tribute is an inspiring 30-minute piece reflecting on the contralto’s life, career, and historical standing as one of America’s greatest opera singers and civil rights icons. A cast of five dancers from Burgess’ company will perform a set of solo, duet, trio, and quartet dances that also weave in the exhibition’s artwork, and performed with accompaniment from pianist Jeffery Watson and soprano vocalist Millicent Scarlett. Scarlett will close the performance with Anderson’s iconic rendition of “My Country, ’Tis of Thee.” Monday, Feb. 3, Tuesday, Feb. 4, and Monday, Feb. 24, at 6:30 p.m., with a discussion prior to each performance led by exhibition curator Leslie Ureña about Anderson’s influence on the performing arts and American history. McEvoy Auditorium, 8th and F Streets. NW. Free, but early registration encouraged. Call 202633-8300 or visit www.npg.si.edu or www.dtsbdc.org.

LAYA MONAREZ

With several murals in the D.C. area, many of which were commissioned by the Latin American Youth Center, you’ve likely seen the work of Laya Monarez. The bisexual transgender Latinx artist, who works by day as Operations Coordinator at HRC, gets the spotlight at the art gallery in the DC Center for the LGBT Community through a display of her mixed-media work revealing the influence of famous surrealists ranging from Salvador Dali to Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The opening reception and artist talk, including lite fare and drinks, is Saturday, Feb. 1, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Center Arts Gallery, 2000 14th St. NW. Call 202-682-2245 or visit www.thedccenter.org.

PASSION FRUIT DANCE COMPANY: DANCE WITHIN YOUR DANCE

“What is the groove? How do you find it? How much weight does it hold in self-expression?” Those are the questions raised by the latest work routed in hip-hop and house dance styles and rhythms from choreographer Tatiana Desardouin and presented by her four-year-old New York-based street dance company, featuring core members Mai Lê Hô and Lauriane Ogay. Passion Fruit Dance Company promotes the authenticity of street and clubbing dance styles, aka social dances, while highlighting and exploring different social issues and individuals. Saturday, Feb. 1, at 8 p.m.,

and Sunday, Feb. 2, at 4 p.m. Dance Place, 3225 8th St. NE. Tickets are $15 to $30. Call 202-269-1600 or visit www.danceplace.org.

SHAWN STONE & MOVEMENT GRAFFITI: SHIFTING TECHNOLOGIA

A series of works that use trash “as a symbol of abandoned connection between the earth and ourselves,” SHiFTiNG TECHNOLOGiA draws a link between environmental issues and individual concerns from trash to self-love and acceptance — as conveyed through dance and movement as well as visual art and voice. It all stems from the creative mind and physical body of Stone, a college gymnast and pro-

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MARCO BORGGREVE

fessional acrobat for popular shows in Las Vegas and at Sea World in San Diego — until a spine injury ultimately altered his focus to work in the fields of classical dance and abstract painting. Stone earned his MFA in Dance from the University of Maryland last year with a version of this work, which premieres as an evening-length production. Friday, Jan. 31, and Saturday, Feb. 1, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 2, at 4 p.m.

Joe’s Movement Emporium, 3309 Bunker Hill Road, Mount Rainier, Md. Tickets are $10 to $25. Call 301-699-1819 or visit www.joesmovement.org.

THE NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA: SLEEPING BEAUTY

COMPOSING WOMEN

Stile Antico joins the Folger Consort for concerts heralding works

by Renaissance women.

M

ADDALENA CASULANA HAD HER FIRST BOOK OF MADRIGALS PUBLISHED before any other woman had published music in the world,” Rebecca Hickey (pictured, fourth from left) says. The time was 1566, in Tuscany. Over the past couple of years, Hickey’s group, Stile Antico, has been exploring the music written by Casulana and other female composers in the 16th and 17th centuries. “There was [an idea] going around at the time that women couldn't write music. They couldn't be composers. It was a man's job,” Hickey says. “But I think these women proved, actually, that they could do just as good at it as a man.

“Most of them were nuns and they were active musicians in their convents,” she adds. “[Some were even] responsible for all the music that went on in the convent. And people used to go to visit the convents just to hear the music that was being made.”

Hickey says the compositional styles of the works are “quite varied,” ranging from “intimate little madrigals for four voices” to “quite big, eight-part pieces for two separate choirs on a grand scale almost like Venetian music.”

The music was lost to the centuries until only very recently, thanks to groups such as Stile Antico, the acclaimed early music a capella group that has taken to regularly performing such works in concert. The British ensemble will do just that next weekend as a guest of the Folger Consort, focusing on the transcendent vocal counterpoint music of the late Italian Renaissance, particularly the work of its most famous composer, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Yet the program “Palestrina’s Perfect Art” also highlights his female composing compatriots, including Casulana, Raffaella Aleotti, Sulpitia Cesis, and Leonora d’Este. “You can hear they're very influenced by Palestrina and other composers who were very famous at the time,” Hickey says. The Los Angeles-based Renaissance brass group Tesserae Baroque will join the Consort’s string musicians and organist Webb Wiggins for the program with Stile Antico.

“Normally, Stile Antico performs concerts just with us — twelve acapella singers,” Hickey says.

“But for this concert we're going to be accompanied by brass and organ, which is probably authentic and might well have been done in the monasteries and convents and in performances in the Sistine Chapel in Rome.”

In addition to its work in trumpeting female Renaissance composers, the Grammy-nominated Stile Antico is celebrated for its organizational structure, with gender parity at the core. “We’ve got six women and six men, and we have no conductor,” says Hickey. “So everything is very equal.

And the women especially are very keen for this to be the case. Everyone has their say in how the group is run and how we do the music. It's a satisfying experience for everyone, because everyone gets their input into it.” —Doug Rule Stile Antico performs with the Folger Consort on Friday, Feb. 7, and Saturday, Feb. 8, at 8 p.m. in the great nave of the Washington National Cathedral, Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues NW. Tickets are $30 to $60. Call 202-537-2228 or visit www.folger.edu.

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Canada’s esteemed ballet company concludes its engagement at the Kennedy Center with the classic ballet, set to Tchaikovsky’s captivating music, that put the company on the international map when choreographer Rudolf Nureyev brought it to the company in 1972 and chose for the title role Karen Kain, then a principal dancer, now artistic director. Kain’s staging of the ballet is faithful to Nureyev’s vision, itself based on Marius Petipa’s original choreography. Thursday, Jan. 30, and Friday, Jan.31, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1, at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 2., at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $29 to $149. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

COMEDY FOLGER FRIDAY: HYSTERICAL WOMEN: A NIGHT OF STANDUP AND IMPROV

A handful of D.C.’s funniest women will take the stage at Folger Theatre to perform stand-up nodding to the production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. Set for two hours before the performance of Shakespeare’s comedy of feminine wiles, this Folger Friday stand-up event features Elahe Izadi, Kasha Patel, and Denise Taylor and is headlined

by Washington Improv Theater’s all-female-identifying ensemble Hellcat. Friday, Jan. 31, at 6 p.m. 201 East Capitol St. SE. Tickets are $12 including fee. Call 202-544-7077 or visit www.folger.edu.

THE TIME MACHINE ROAST

A comedy roast of nerdy, historic proportions, with a focus on dead celebrities — particularly heretofore hallowed, Hall of Famertypes, from emperors to inventors to entrepreneurs, more often than not straight, white men. That’s the name of the game at this show created by D.C.-based comedian and writer Benjy Himmelfarb and the late Dylan Meyer. Fellow nationally touring comedians join Himmelfarb for the roasting pursuit, getting into character and costume for “the meanest, funniest, most historically

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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munity,” Johnson says in a press note about the show. To March 8. A public reception, with a juror talk, interactive performance art, kissing booth, and DIY art-making activities, is set for Friday, Feb. 14, from 7 to 10 p.m. Target Gallery, 105 North Union St. Call 703-838-4565 or visit www.torpedofactory.org.

MARIA BARANOVA

PRESENT TENSE: DC PUNK AND DIY RIGHT NOW

BILL T. JONES/ARNIE ZANE COMPANY: WHAT PROBLEM?

The revolutionary New York-based dance and performance ensemble led by Jones, a two-time Tony Award winner and Kennedy Center Honoree, comes to George Mason University, where Jones is an Artist-in-Residence, to perform a world-premiere production. Co-commissioned by the GMU Center for the Arts, What Problem? examines group identity and its relationship to being alone and is set to spoken word and live music. The work features three thought-provoking sections: Jones in a rare solo performance, Jones alongside members of his company, and finally Jones, the company, and 30 participants from the greater Northern Virginia community who helped with the creative development and rehearsal of the piece in the week leading up to its premiere. Saturday, Feb. 1, at 8 p.m. Concert Hall, 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax. Tickets are $29 to $48. Call 888945-2468 or visit www.cfa.gmu.edu.

The 17th Annual D.C. Artist Solo Exhibition at Logan Circle’s boutique gallery Transformer features powerful photography by Farrah Skeiky that documents and celebrates D.C.’s hardcore punk music scene — as it exists today, that is. The exhibition, based on Skeiky’s forthcoming photo book of the same title, is fortunately not another nostalgic look back at the counterculture genre’s 1980s heyday. Present Tense reflects Skeiky’s experience as a witness, in her role as an established concert and event photographer, and also as an active participant, via time spent in the hardcore trenches as a punk guitarist, most recently with the queercore group Homosuperior.

Exhibition runs to Feb. 29, with an Artist Talk planned for Saturday, Feb. 1, between Skeiky and Cynthia Connolly, a photographer, curator, and author who helped inspire Skeiky and her work by virtue of Connolly’s seminal title Banned in DC: Photos and Anecdotes from the DC Punk Underground (79-86). 1404 P St. NW. Call 202-483-1102 or visit www.transformerdc.org.

WHEN WE FIRST ARRIVED accurate jokes you’ve ever heard.”

Friday, Jan. 31, at 7:30 p.m. Studio K in the REACH at the Kennedy Center. Tickets are $20 to $25. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

WASHINGTON IMPROV THEATER: ROAD SHOW

D.C.’s leading troupe for longform improv offers its annual “wintry mix” of vignettes featuring different ensembles, with each plot developed on-the-fly, spurred by a single audience suggestion. Each show is different, but all offer a grab bag of spontaneous comedy and longform improv, including the all-female-identifying group Hellcat, the slyly named all-African-American group Lena Dunham, the improvising playwrights of iMusical, and the improvised rockers in Heavy Rotation. To Feb. 2. District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC), 2438 18th St. NW. Tickets are $15 to $18. Call 202-462-7833 or visit www.witdc.org.

ART & EXHIBITS IT’S SOMETHING ABOUT COLOR: PAINTINGS BY JOAN BIXLER

A new exhibition at downtown’s Touchstone Gallery features a

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variety of vibrant, even exuberant artworks by Joan Bixler, reflecting the Northern Virginia artist’s love of color and her fascination with the interactions of light, shadows, and shapes. In large-scale paintings, Bixler often uses color and forms to create the effects of texture and depth, occasionally accenting or emphasizing things with the application of gold leaf, iridescent paint, or Venetian plaster — all touches that draw from Bixler Studios LLC, her decorative painting company serving commercial clients in the region. Closing Reception is Saturday, Feb. 1. Gallery C, 901 New York Ave. NW Call 202-347-2787 or visit www.touchstonegallery.com.

MK BAILEY: FEVER DREAM

Since the first full week in January, MK Bailey has been constructing a life-size, evolving collage in the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop through her work as the 2020 Gallery Artist Resident. This planned, five-week installation will continue to grow and adapt as Bailey responds to the gallery environment, and the evolution of the work will be documented through a series of paintings Bailey will make over the course of her residency. Bailey is a D.C.-based artist known for her oil paintings exploring themes of femininity,

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

kinship, and death that are often unexpectedly colorful images at the individual level but that tell a darker narrative when layered and collaged together. The opening reception is Friday, Jan 31, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Bailey will be in residency until Feb. 10. Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, 545 7th St. SE. Call 202-547-6839 or visit www.chaw.org.

MY QUEER VALENTINE

The contemporary exhibitions space of Old Town Alexandria’s Torpedo Factory Art Center presents a new group show focused on love and relationships from the LGBTQ perspective — with a diversity in perspective as well as in style, medium, and tone on display. Andy Johnson, director of Gallery 102 at George Washington University’s Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, served as the exhibition juror, ultimately selecting 16 artists, 8 of them from Virginia or the D.C. area: Veronica BarkerBarzel, Miki Beyer, Aurele Gould, Linda Hesh, Annika Papke, Lucas J. Rougeux, Todd Stonnell, and Matt Storm. Also represented are Adam David Bencomo, Mandy Chesney, and Cat Gunn, all from Baltimore.

“My Queer Valentine is as much a love letter to ourselves as it is a disclosing of longing to our com-

Before officially launching The Corner, Whitman-Walker will open the doors of its new cultural center for an art exhibition intended to increase community awareness about the nearly 7,000 asylum-seeking children who have been separated from their families and are being detained in holding pens by the U.S. government. More specifically, the exhibition features donated works of art by leading visual artists created in response to interviews with some of the detained children sharing their experiences. The exhibition has been curated by the Corner’s new executive director Ruth Noack and organized in close collaboration with DYKWTCA — an art initiative, led by artists Mary Ellen Carroll and Lucas Michael, whose name is an acronym for Do You Know Where The Children Are? More than 100 artists are represented, among them Jesse Presley Jones, Kay Rosen, Amy Sillman, Walead Beshty, Boris Torres, Dan Graham, Molly Gochman, POPE.L, Lisa Tan, and Xaviera Simmons. Sales of the donated artworks will benefit the Safe Passage Project, Terra Firma, Innovation Law Lab, and Team Brownsville. To March 29. 1701 14th St. NW. Call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org. l

GAGE SKIDMORE

theFeed

MAYOR’S MANDATE

Bloomberg

Mike Bloomberg unveils plans for how he’d promote LGBTQ equality as president. By John Riley

O

N TUESDAY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL candidate Mike Bloomberg unveiled his plans for how he’d promote equality for LGBTQ Americans if elected to the Oval Office.

Speaking on a call with reporters, Bloomberg, a former Republican-turned-independent now seeking the Democratic nomination, touted his record on LGBTQ rights as New York City Mayor from 2002 to 2014.

That record includes launching the New York City Commission for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Runaway and Homeless Youth, supporting the opening of the Harvey Milk School, the first public high school for LGBTQ+ students, and mandating LGBTQ competency training for workers in the city’s public hospital system in an effort to tackle LGBTQ health disparities.

Bloomberg also specifically highlighted his successful efforts lobbying Republican state lawmakers in Albany to approve marriage equality in New York, pointing to it as evidence that he could work across the aisle to get Republicans on board with some of his policy priorities.

“This is an issue that really does mean a lot to me, and so I wanted you to hear it directly from me today,” Bloomberg said. “I have a long history with this issue. I came out in favor of marriage equality back in 2005, which was a lot earlier than my opponents in this race. And I didn’t just talk about marriage equality, I worked to convince Republicans to vote for it…. I asked them to listen to their families, and especially their children.”

Bloomberg noted that, despite some progress over the years, there is no federal law prohibiting discrimination

against members of the LGBTQ community. Specifically, Bloomberg’s plan seeks to ensure equal treatment for LGBTQ Americans by pushing for passage of the Equality Act, a bill approved by the House of Representatives last year that prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ individuals in various aspects of their lives.

“The march for equality and justice has always been too slow. But, I will say, it has never stopped. And I think it’s up to the president to help pick up the pace,” Bloomberg said.

In response to a question from Metro Weekly about the former mayor’s ability to lobby Republicans to support legislation like the Equality Act — particularly in light of stated Republican support for the religious exemption-laden Fairness for All Act — sources close to the Bloomberg campaign say they believe that, if elected, he would be working with a Democratic-controlled House and Senate.

However, if either chamber were controlled by Republicans, those sources point to the former mayor’s ability to work with Republican lawmakers in Albany as evidence of his powers of persuasion and ability to build coalitions to achieve policy priorities.

Much of Bloomberg’s LGBTQ policy, with respect to economic empowerment, dovetails with his overall economic plan, which has specific planks dedicated to promoting housing stability and addressing economic disparities in rural America.

As part of his LGBTQ equality plan, Bloomberg promises to expand health coverage and nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people, including ensuring the right of transgender people to access medically necessary gender-af-

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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theFeed firming care. He vows to invest in HIV/AIDS research and prevention to curb the epidemic by 2030, and invest resources to address mental health issues and substance abuse.

To combat bullying and harassment in schools, Bloomberg has proposed a federal “Respect for All” initiative. He has promised to strengthen suicide prevention efforts, ban conversion therapy and pull federal funding for organizations that engage in it, and address youth homelessness. He supports the Do No Harm Act, which seeks to ensure that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act is not used to justify discrimination against minority groups.

Bloomberg also supports prosecuting the murders of transgender people as hate crimes, and has called for police to undergo culturally competent training that focuses on de-escalating conflicts and combating implicit bias, particularly with respect to LGBTQ individuals.

On immigration, Bloomberg believes that LGBTQ people who are fleeing violence directed against them because of their sexual orientation or gender identity should be granted asylum in the United States.

And with respect to military members and veterans,

Bloomberg will lift the current Department of Defense prohibition on transgender individuals enlisting and serving openly, including allowing transgender individuals to access gender-affirming care. He also promises to restore the benefits of soldiers who were dismissed under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

During the call, Bloomberg also accused President Trump of breaking campaign promises to be a “better friend” to LGBTQ people as president than his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton, pointing to Trump’s appointments of judges with documented anti-LGBTQ animus to the federal judiciary, and his various executive actions that prioritize so-called “religious liberty” at the expense of LGBTQ individuals and other groups.

“This is a fight and a cause I care deeply about. Expanding freedoms and rights is what America is all about. It’s what makes our country the place where the world wants to live,” Bloomberg said. “I did it all when I was in New York City.

You can look at the record. I am going to be a president for all Americans, and you can be sure of that…. And I’m going to bring our country back together to start repairing the damage that this president has done.” l

VIRAL BIGOTRY

White House-approved pundit says coronavirus will “purge” gay people. By Rhuaridh Marr

A

PASTOR AND RIGHT-WING BROADCASTER who was recently granted press credentials by the White House has claimed that the coronavirus was sent by God to “purge” LGBTQ people.

Rick Wiles, founder of Christian website TruNews, was credentialed to cover Donald Trump’s trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, Slate reports.

That decision to legitimize Wiles as a journalist was made despite TruNews’ history of promoting racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories.

They include Wiles suggesting that the “Jewish mafia” murdered President John F. Kennedy, and frequently calling President Barack Obama a “demon from hell” and the “jihadist-in-chief.”

Mere days after the Davos trip, Wiles used the Jan. 27 edition of TruNews to suggest that the spread of the coronavirus is a plague from God to “purge a lot of sin off this planet,” Right Wing Watch reports.

Wiles said China was the epicenter of the outbreak — which he called “one of the last steps of judgment” — because of its “godless communist government.”

He then turned his attention to the United States, suggestion things aren’t much better here — branding LGBTQ people “vile” and “disgusting” in the process.

“Look at the spiritual rebellion that is in this country, the hatred of God, the hatred of the Bible, the hatred of righteousness,” Wiles said. “Just vile, disgusting people in

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

this country now, transgendering little children, perverting them. Look at the rapes, and the sexual immorality, and the filth on our TVs and our movies.

“Folks, the Death Angel may be moving right now across the planet,” Wiles continued. “This is the time to get right with God.... The blood of Jesus Christ will protect you. Do not fear. If you are living right for God, if the blood of Jesus Christ is on you, you have no reason to fear this Death Angel.

“But those of you who are opposing the church of God, mocking God, attacking his servants, you’d better wise up because there is a Death Angel on the loose right now, and you are going to get an attitude adjustment.”

Wiles is no stranger to equating viral outbreaks with LGBTQ people. In 2014, he said that the spread of Ebola “could solve America’s problems with atheism, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, pornography and abortion.”

And in 2017 he said that Hurricane Harvey, which caused $125 billion in damages and caused over 100 deaths, was a result of the city of Houston’s “LGBT devotion.”

“Here’s a city that has boasted of its LGBT devotion, its affinity for the sexual perversion movement in America.

They’re underwater,” he said.

That same year, he claimed that if “God sent angels to this country, homosexuals would attempt to rape them” — adding, without evidence, that he had “read comments by homosexual rights activists [about] what they want to do to our Lord, Jesus Christ.” l

Community FRIDAY, Jan. 31

The DC Anti-Violence Project is hosting a SURVIVOR ART NIGHT, led by Christina Cappelletti, an artist and therapist with The DC Center. All those who have been survivors of or impacted by violence are welcome to join for a healing gathering of expressive arts. You will also have the opportunity to talk to other survivors of violence and learn about individual and group counseling options. Space is limited to 15 participants.

6:30-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. To RSVP, or for more information, email ChristinaC@ 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.

BET MISHPACHAH, founded

by members of the LGBT community, holds Friday evening Shabbat services in the DC Jewish Community Center’s Community Room. 8 p.m. 1529 16th St. NW. For more information, visit www.betmish.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Barry Farms Aquatic Center. 6:30-8 p.m. 1230 Sumner Rd. SE. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-

Walker Health. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW. 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 703823-4401. www.kiservices.org.

offers free, rapid HIV testing.

Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. To arrange an appointment, call 202-8498029. www.metrohealthdc.org.

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBTaffirming social group for ages 11-24. 4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road NW. Contact Tamara, 202319-0422, www.layc-dc.org.

WARD MORRISON

A FREE WORKSHOP ON SOCIAL ANXIETY will take place from 7-9 p.m. in a private residence near the Tenleytown Metro in Northwest D.C., near Wisconsin Avenue and River Road NW. Pre-registration for the workshop is required; details will be provided following registration. Visit www. socialanxietyhelp.com or call Larry Cohen at 202-244-0903.

METROHEALTH CENTER

SATURDAY, Feb. 1 ADVENTURING outdoors

BAKE OFF

Scarlet’s annual Bake Sale auctions off cakes and baked goods to raise money for SMYAL.

S

CARLET’S BAKE SALE HAS BEEN IN EXISTENCE since 1971,” says “Lady O,” vice director of the Scarlet’s Foundation Board. “It was started by a lady named Scarlet...to raise money for children's organizations. Over the years, it has morphed, and we have been raising funds for LGBTQI+ organizations.”

Proceeds from this year’s event will benefit SMYAL, the LGBTQ youth advocacy organization, to help support its transitional housing program for youth. Past beneficiaries have included the LGBT Fallen Heroes Fund, the Rainbow History Project, and Brother, Help Thyself.

“The event is open to the public,” says Lady O. “There is no fee to get in. Many of the leather clubs and other organizations, as well as individuals not connected to a leather club, will make these fantastic cakes that are then auctioned off to raise the funds. We’ve had cakes that have gone for thousands of dollars.”

People who bring their baked goods are asked to register their entries on-site by 1:30 p.m. on the day of the event.

That’s followed by a social hour, with the actual auction from 4-6 p.m.

“People can bring cakes, cupcakes, cookies, but the fancy cakes, for lack of a better word, are the big draws,” says Lady O. “We also accept other donations, if someone wants to donate an item [to be auctioned off], like leather goods.

A couple years ago, someone donated vacation packages.”

While the bake sale has adopted themes for auction items in the past, this year is being “left open to the imagination.” Prizes will be given out for the best individual and best club entries, the best commercial bakery entry, and the “director’s cut,” a special award recognizing an item — such as a unique, humorous, or creative take on a particular theme — that appeals to the Scarlet’s Foundation board.

While some take their cakes home, “many of the winning bidders are incredibly generous and put them up on a table for everyone to share. It’s a really fun experience that way.

You can have your cake and eat it, too.”

Scarlet’s Bake Sale is Sunday, Feb. 9 from 1 to 7 p.m. at The Crucible, 412 V St. NE. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/scarlets.foundation.

group hikes 14 strenuous miles with 1000 feet of elevation gain along the Appalachian Trail near Hagerstown, Md., from Washington Monument State Park to Black Rock Cliff and back. Bring beverages, lunch, sturdy boots, and about $10 for fees. Carpool at 8:30 a.m. from the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro Station. For more information, contact Jeff, 301775-9660, or visit www.adventuring.org.

CENTER ARTS hosts an open-

ing reception for mixed media artist and bisexual transgender activist Laya Monarez as she previews her new exhibit at The DC Center. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www. thedccenter.org.

CENTER GLOBAL, a group that

advocates for LGBTIQ rights and fights against anti-LGBTIQ laws in more than 80 countries, holds its monthly meeting at The DC Center. 12-1:30 p.m.

2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

CHRYSALIS arts & culture

group visits the Library of Congress to see exhibits on Rosa Parks, the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and comics as art. Free admission. Lunch follows. Meet at 11:30 a.m. past security at the ground-level entrance of the Old (Jefferson) Building on First Street SE between East Capitol Street and Independence Avenue.

For more information, contact Craig, 202-462-0535 or craighowell1@verizon.net.

FCPS PRIDE, a professional,

advocacy and social group for FCPS employees — both LGBTQ and allied, as well as LGBTQ students and parents — holds a coffee house social.

All ages welcome. Look for the people with rainbow stickers upstairs! 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Breeze

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Bakery Cafe, 4125 Hummer Rd., Annandale, Va. For more information, visit www.fcpspride.org.

Old Telegraph Road, Alexandria.

Visit www.hopeucc.org.

Weekly Events

CONGREGATIONAL TEMPLE – UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST for

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a practice session at Deanwood Aquatic Center. 9:15-10:45 a.m. 1350 49th St. NE. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterwards.

Route distance will be 3-6 miles.

Walkers meet at 9:30 a.m. and runners at 10 a.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW. For more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.org.

SUNDAY, Feb. 2 AGLA’S WOMEN’S GROUP meets

at a private home in Crystal City for a monthly potluck on the first Sunday of each month. Meet new women from around the D.C. area, socialize, and play games. Feel free to bring your own dishes and board games for sharing. Host will supply plates, silverware, glasses, and napkins. 5-7 p.m. For address and more information, RSVP to Julie Alexandrin at Julie@agla.org.

Weekly Events LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULS

MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH

celebrates Low Mass at 8:30 a.m., High Mass at 11 a.m. 2300 Cathedral Ave. NW. 202-232-4244, www.allsoulsdc.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Wilson Aquatic Center. 9:30-11 a.m. 4551 Fort Dr. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

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.

DIGNITYUSA offers Roman

Catholic Mass for the LGBT community. All welcome. Sign interpreted. 6 p.m. St. Margaret’s Church, 1820 Connecticut Ave. NW. For more information, visit www.dignitywashington.org.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST wel-

comes all to 10:30 a.m. service, 945 G St. NW. For more info, visit www. firstuccdc.org or call 202-628-4317.

HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST welcomes GLBT community for worship. 10:30 a.m., 6130

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Join LINCOLN

an inclusive, loving and progressive faith community every Sunday. 11 a.m. 1701 11th Street NW, near R in Shaw/Logan neighborhood. Visit www.lincolntemple.org.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA services at 11 a.m., led

by Rev. Emma Chattin. Children’s Sunday School, 11 a.m. 10383 Democracy Lane, Fairfax. For more info, call 703-691-0930 or visit www.mccnova.com.

NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, inclusive church with

GLBT fellowship, offers gospel worship, 8:30 a.m., and traditional worship, 11 a.m. 5 Thomas Circle NW. For more info, call 202-232-0323 or visit www.nationalcitycc.org.

ST. STEPHEN AND THE INCARNATION, an “interracial,

multi-ethnic Christian Community” offers services in English, 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., and in Spanish at 5:15 p.m. 1525 Newton St. NW. For more info, call 202-232-0900 or visit www.saintstephensdc.org.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF SILVER SPRING

invites LGBTQ families and individuals of all creeds and cultures to join the church. Services 9:15 and 11:15 a.m. 10309 New Hampshire Ave. For more info, visit www.uucss.org.

MONDAY, Feb. 3 Join LGBTQ people from around the D.C. area for a biweekly BOARD GAME NIGHT, hosted by a local Board Gamers Meetup group. 6-9 p.m. Panera Bread, 1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, basement level. For more information, visit www.meetup.com/DC-LGBTBoard-Gamers.

The DC Center holds a monthly VOLUNTEER NIGHT for those interested in giving back to the local LGBTQ community. Activities include sorting through book donations, taking inventory, or assembling safe-sex packets. 6:30-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

For more information, visit www. thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events 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

Weekly Events AD LIB, a group for freestyle con-

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

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

Visit www.ushelpingus.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9

FREEDOM FROM SMOKING, a

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.

TUESDAY, Feb. 4 Weekly Events THE GAY MEN'S HEALTH COLLABORATIVE offers free

HIV testing and STI screening and treatment every Tuesday.

5-6:30 p.m. Rainbow Tuesday LGBT Clinic, Alexandria Health Department, 4480 King St. 703746-4986 or text 571-214-9617. www.inova.org/gmhc

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS

holds an LGBT-focused meeting every Tuesday, 7 p.m. at St. George’s Episcopal Church, 915 Oakland Ave., Arlington, just steps from Virginia Square Metro. Handicapped accessible.

Newcomers welcome. For more info, call Dick, 703-521-1999 or email liveandletliveoa@gmail.com.

STI TESTING at Whitman-Walker

Health. 10 a.m.-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.

Support group for LGBTQ youth ages 13-24 meets at SMYAL. 4-7 p.m. 410 7th St. SE. For more information, contact Dana White, 202567-3156, or visit www.smyal.org.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 5 BOOKMEN DC, an informal men’s

gay-literature group, discusses And the Band Played On, by Randy Shilts, at the Cleveland Park Library. All are welcome to attend. 7:30 p.m.

3310 Connecticut Ave. NW. Visit www.bookmendc.blogspot.com.

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

JOB CLUB, a weekly support program for job entrants and seekers, meets at The DC Center. 6-7:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

For more info, email centercareers@thedccenter.org or visit www.thedccenter.org/careers.

NOVASALUD offers free HIV

testing. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite 200, Arlington.

Appointments: 703-789-4467. Visit www.novasaludinc.org.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9

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.

THURSDAY, Feb. 6 Weekly Events DC LAMBDA SQUARES, D.C.’s

LGBTQ square-dancing group, features an opportunity to learn about and practice various forms of modern square dancing. No partner required. Please dress casually. 7:309:30 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 prac-

tice. 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.

THE DULLES TRIANGLES

Northern Virginia social group meets for happy hour at the Cosmopolitan Lounge inside the Sheraton Hotel in Reston. All welcome. 7-9 p.m. 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, Second Floor. For more info, visit www.dullestriangles.com. l For more events, visit metroweekly. com/community/calendar.

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

23

Jos h Thomas is beyond d istraugh t .

“Ah, fuck, I lost a suitcase! Ah, fuck! I lost my suitcase at security. Ah, shit! I'm an idiot. I have to go.”

And with that Thomas, the inventive creator and star of Please Like Me and Everything’s Gonna Be Okay is off the line.

After a bit of schedule wrangling, the interview resumes a few days later, but not without its own set of issues, this time faulty cell service in the Hollywood hills that currently serve as the boyish 32-year-old Australian’s home in America. After twenty minutes, a connection is finally made.

“I'm yours,” he laughs.

Those unfamiliar with Thomas would do well to invest serious binging time into his shows, starting with Please Like Me, which opens with Thomas informing his girlfriend that they have to break up because he thinks he’s gay. The funny, deeply felt comedy, which ran for four seasons from 2013 to 2016, and

ing mechanism. He's never trying to hit the audience over the head with saying pedantically, ‘This is this way, this is this way, this is so black and white.’ He much more lives in that gray area.

As we were reading lines, his notes to me were always to just be real, to be natural, to be myself.”

“I think Josh has a unique, specific voice,” says Silas Howard, who directed five of the show’s ten episodes. “I love the use of humor, how it comes out of really messed up situations, and how imperfect everything is. What I love about this show is the honesty, like people say the wrong things, and then they do something totally different and counterintuitive. So you're getting to watch people fail. I think we need to have more acceptance of failure. There's a lot of great comedy that comes out of that.”

Thomas, who is unabashedly gay, creates shows that attempt to fully incorporate the LGBTQ experience. Please Like Me dealt, extremely poignantly, with one character’s fears of coming out in a magnificent scene that brilliantly incorporated Sia’s

REALITY TV Josh Thomas, star of the stunning new comedy Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, has his own unique way of looking at the world.

is now available on Hulu, is a stunning mix of humor and drama, as it follows a group of mopish, self-involved twentysomethings as they adjust to the daily rigors of adult life. The romances on the show — both gay and straight — are messy and real. More to the point, Thomas’ character — also named Josh — must cope with a mother who is manic-depressive and prone to bouts of suicide. It’s startling material for a comedy, and comes mostly from Thomas’ own life. Only the cataclysmic fourth season is not rooted in reality.

“The last season is not autobiographical at all,” he says, his strong Australian accent bright and buoyant. “It’s a bit weird when you start making up big life events for a character that's based on you.” After the series ended, Thomas had second thoughts and decided to do a fifth season, but the host network, Pivot, shuttered.

So he moved on to developing a new project, this time for the Disney-owned Freeform network, formerly ABC Family. The resulting show, Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, finds Thomas as Nicholas, half-brother to two American teenage girls, Matilda (the astounding Kayla Cromer), who is on the autism spectrum, and Genevieve (Maeve Press, equally astounding). In the premiere, their shared father reveals he’s dying of cancer and appoints Nicholas, an etymologist, as the girls’ guardian. As the episodes progress, challenges present themselves that are both minor (a broken finger) and major (Genevieve and her friends raid the medicine cabinet). Meanwhile, Nicholas attempts to navigate a relationship with the winsome and winning Alex, a dental student played with an abundance of warmth by Adam Faison.

“Josh has an amazing way of toeing the line between the comedic and the tragic,” says Faison. “He uses laughter as a cop24

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

“Chandelier.” It is television at its most poignant, sweet, and honest. Everything’s Gonna Be Okay is no less LGBTQ — but its tone is more self-assured, as Nicholas isn’t learning how to navigate new waters but rather stay afloat in familiar ones as he attempts to connect with someone special and lasting.

“Josh was very good about being like, ‘You know what?

This is life, and this is our truth’ to the network,” says Faison, who is gay. “He was like, ‘You know what? I'm going to speak to the audience that I want to speak to, and cater to them, and if other people show up and want to learn something about us, too, that's amazing. But if they choose not to, that's totally their prerogative.’

“First and foremost, what he does is not make it so much like he's trying to be, ‘We are queer, and it dictates every single thing about us.’ It's kind of just like, ‘We are humans that just so happen to be queer, and this is what we do.... It's something that I wish that I would've had growing up as a queer kid, as a role model.”

For his part, Thomas is happy with the latitude Freeform has provided him.

“Freeform is progressive,” he says. “This show is progressive.

I think probably the most controversial thing — and fair enough — is that I wanted to use the word faggot. I would say probably that the word faggot hadn't been used on any show that falls under the Disney umbrella. It was probably the only time that they really freaked out. They said, ‘We'll run it by GLAAD,’ and I laughed. I thought, ‘Why are GLAAD better authorities on being gay than I am?’ GLAAD said that it was fine. Maybe they think if you're a gay showrunner and you're a gay actor, you're allowed to use it. It’s our word.”

RYAN PFLUGER

Interview by Randy Shulman

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

25

about your childhood there.

JOSH THOMAS: You know, it wasn't that interesting. It was middle class. But I was definitely a weird kid, you know? I was loud and made a lot of mistakes and was always embarrassing myself.

MW: When did you come out to your parents?

THOMAS: I came out when I was 19. I was already pretty famous, so it was like a thing. My dad came to visit me in Melbourne, and I'd been living with my boyfriend for a year. I told him by a text message, I said, "Oh, by the way, I live with my boyfriend." Then someone told my mom and she called me, "What's this I hear about you having a boyfriend?" I said, "I can't talk now, I'm on the train." And then we never really spoke about it again.

I just didn't really want to talk to my parents about sex at all in any way. So I just kept putting it off the same way you'd put off doing taxes. I only really worked it out for myself really late. When I was a teenager, I had sex with a lot of girls and I liked it. It was fun. I don't really know how to explain that. I was into girls. It was kind of confusing. I kind of grew out of it.

I had a cute girlfriend and then I fell in love with a guy and I was like, "I don't really think I'm capable of being in love with a girl." That's what forced me to bother to come out. I always thought being gay was about sexuality, but it's not just sexuality. It's who you are capable of loving, which was a lot more powerful kind of epiphany to me personally than the sex.

MW: Was there a revelatory moment when you engaged with a guy?

THOMAS: I don't think as far as horniness goes there was a revelatory moment. I felt, "Hmm, I don't know if I'm going to have sex with any more girls." And then I had sex with the guy. It was definitely more — I dated him. He was my first boyfriend for two years. He was my first love, and that definitely was much more powerful than the dicks-in-butt experience of it all.

I feel like a lot of people on their sexuality journey are like, "Oh, I knew since I was nine years old." I definitely didn't and I don't think it was some deep-seated hiding of my true identity just because everyone was calling me a fag every lunchtime.

I don't think that's necessarily why I was interested in girls. I think actually I was for a bit, but life’s not that tidy, is it? I don't know — maybe I'm bisexual? Maybe I could kiss a girl again?

MW: I stumbled upon Please Like Me because the New Yorker reviewed it, and when Emily Nussbaum says watch something, I watch it. I was absolutely hooked from the first episode. I'd never seen a comedy show that dealt with issues as honestly and openly as Please Like Me — particularly depression and mental illness.

What was the experience of making that show like for you?

THOMAS: I had never been on a film set in my life, but I had things that I was really sure that I wanted to do. I really wanted to be realistic in it. I wanted to make both comedy and drama, which these days is normal. But we started pitching that show back when I was straight. We were in development on that show for a long time, and back then it was kind of an unusual idea to have both comedy and drama in the same show.

The thing that frustrated me when I looked at TV was that shows weren't realistic. They usually stuck to these really strong genres — shows where everybody is dramatic all the time and just share their most traumatic feelings and have fights. Those 26

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

are really silly. Shows where people are just funny all the time and don't have feelings — also really silly. So those are the things I wanted to do, but I didn't know how to make TV at all. I did a semester of National Creative Industries: Television, which is enough, actually. They teach you that there's cameras and there's actors and there's lights and that it costs money and you have to point the cameras at the actors and light them and then edit it together on budget. Which, actually, is all I needed to know. I think the success we had in that show was because I had no idea what the fuck I was doing. I knew what I liked and that was really it.

I never thought it was going to show in America. We were making it in a house in the suburbs of Melbourne and it just

FREEFORM/WALT DISNEY TV

METRO WEEKLY: You’re a native of Australia. Tell me a little bit

didn't seem like a big deal. We were just out there making this inexpensive little show. As the seasons go on, I technically got more proficient at how to make TV and I got better at knowing how to build moments. There's bigger, longer-lasting emotional moments as you go through Please Like Me. MW: I loved the way the show dealt with LGBTQ authenticity in almost every regard. But I also thought what was groundbreaking was the way it dealt with Josh’s relationship with his parents, specifically his mother and her suicidal tendencies. You just don't see that in sitcoms.

THOMAS: That struggle is obviously from my mom's real life and it was the central pitch of the show. One of the things that we were wanting to lean into was the first time my mom attempted suicide when I was, I think, 19. I want to say everything happened when I was 19, but surely some of the things must have happened when I was 18 or 20. But it was the first time I realized my mom had feelings. In a weird way, when you're a kid you sort of don't consider your parents' feelings, you don't consider them as being flawed. I think the central pitch was that it was a show about the main character discovering that his parents are dopes like everybody else. So that was the pitch of the show, was Josh working out that his parents are actually flawed people the same as everybody else.

MW: How close are you in personality to the characters that you portray?

THOMAS: I think Josh in Please Like Me is a slightly worse version of me and Nicholas in Everything's Gonna Be Okay is a slightly better version of me. I’m somewhere in the middle. You

can't write yourself that nice, you know? Of course, it's my own show, so I can make myself a paramedic, or I can give myself a job where I just go around rescuing kittens all day and seem like a really nice guy. But isn't it kind of gross to do that? If you look at other shows where the creator is the star, they're generally not great people because it would just be douchey to write yourself as some sort of hero all the time. You have to be honest about how flawed you are.

MW: What’s interesting about Josh is that despite some obvious, often bitter self-defense mechanisms he uses, he's actually very charming. You watch the show and think, "I want to be around this guy. I want him as a friend." He's magnetic. You can't help but adore him even when he's being vicious to his best friend Tom, which is often.

THOMAS: Yeah. I mean, I don't do anything that mean. The truth is sometimes people think he's being mean and I'm like, "No, I like to think he's naughty." I mean, he's also pretty emotionally frazzled. I can't remember to be honest. I do remember people getting mad at him for a while because he was being mean. Look at Girls, they've done some terrible stuff. Look at Larry David — he's not a good guy in his show.

MW: Your new show Everything’s Gonna Be Okay just started its ten-episode run on Freeform. It has a lot of similarities to Please Like Me in that it's dealing with topical issues — it strives to illuminate while making you laugh or touching your heart. Overall, though, it’s a kinder show.

THOMAS: Well, the series had to be kinder because it's dealing with teenage girls. And the central premise is of this boy, Nicholas, doing a hugely noble thing to look after these girls.

MW: But the show is no less authentic and at times quite startling.

It deals very frankly with autism. There is a scene in the fifth episode, about consent and its aftermath, that is remarkably, adroitly handled. I don’t want to discuss the specifics because I think viewers should experience it. But it left me gasping and very impressed.

THOMAS: I did so much autism research for this new show. The central kind of vibe I get from any kind of autism activism is they're just asking people to be more understanding. When you meet someone who is autistic, you don't know the person you're interacting with, you don't know what they're dealing with, you don't know their capacity for understanding, what their social skills are. You don't understand what their sensory issues might be, or what they might be going through in their life. To me, that feels like the central premise of most neuro-diversity activism.

So the kindness in Everything’s Gonna Be Okay comes from the fact you've got a character at the center of the show who is autistic. The messaging needs to be, "Hey, let's take a moment to appreciate that you don't know everything about every person that you meet, and try and treat them with kindness." It comes from that place. It was definitely a decision we made. That two-episode arc about consent and autism, which is, I would say, a generous amount of episodes for a single topic, came from research. I would talk to parents and caregivers of autistic teenagers, and they would be really nervous about their sex life, especially autistic girls.

I noticed that if their daughter had a diminished ability to

read social cues and then sex happens behind closed doors and the parent can't be there to help them, it just puts them in a position where their daughter could easily be taken advantage of. That seems to be one of the biggest fears of parents of autistic teenage girls and boys, but obviously more girls. Then I would talk to autistic girls, and they would get really frustrated that they're not given a chance to make their own decisions, that they're often infantilized, and that people with disabilities can often be sexualized. Those two viewpoints are really understandable, they're really powerful, and navigating those two things is really challenging.

One of the great things about a TV show is you can have multiple viewpoints and you don't have to pick a side. So, that's what those two episodes are about. Please Like Me was always just about my own life, but this show's research-driven. I'm just interested to see the way the world thinks of it and what kind of conversation it inspires. We don't take a point of view in this show because I don't really know how to have a point of view on it, to be honest.

MW: Do you have collaborators?

THOMAS: We've got a writer's room, and I've got a producing partner. A big part of my job is getting people on board. That's my real secret skill — being able to get people on board, to take the risks and tell stories that are scary stories to tell. They're definitely stories I feel nervous about telling. They're usually things that interest me, things that I feel haven't been covered on TV that much. If I don't find it that captivating then we're not going to do it. This is the stuff that I find really captivating.

MW: One of the interesting things about Everything’s Gonna Be Okay is that I would call it almost aggressively gay. I mean that in a good way, of course, but in the very first minutes we encounter this budding relationship between Nicholas and Alex.

THOMAS: It opens aggressively, yes. We cut to a gay kiss seven seconds in. My mom saw the pilot and was like, "Don't you think you should move the gay kiss later in the pilot because it might turn people off?" But I literally open on a gay kiss as a shield. I'm like, "I don't want you to watch this show if you're homophobic.

If you’re homophobic, you don't get to watch this show. You can go and watch another show.” Because I just don't have any interest in having a fan base that's homophobic. I'm just not interested in it.

MW: It's great to see a show deal with the conviction of gay relationships and sex the way both your shows do. The first full sex scene in Everything’s Gonna Be Okay is brief but it’s very clear you both take a turn at topping the other. It’s done in two simple cuts, and it’s artful.

THOMAS: Gay sex scenes to me are really important, and anal sex scenes are challenging because to heterosexual couples, of course, anal sex seems R-rated, right? But to me anal sex is actually pretty banal — it's just what we do. Gay sex is anal sex.

Please Like Me had two networks and a few different sets of executives and this show has a whole new set of executives, and the networks are very open to having gay sex scenes. But whenever we hint at it being anal sex, they get shy and I overreact. So I’ve had a lot of fights over the years about it. I very subtly make

“I don’t want you to watch this show if you’re homophobic. If you’re homophobic, you don’t get to watch this show. You can go and watch another show. Because I JUST DON’T HAVE ANY INTEREST IN HAVING A FAN BASE THAT’S HOMOPHOBIC.” JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

27

the point that we have to be able to show that they’re having gay sex — anal sex. Because if we're not showing anal sex, we're not showing gay sex. I say to them, "If you're telling me that I can't show anal sex, you're telling me I can't show gay sex. You're telling me that I can show gay heavy petting whereas we're allowed to show heterosexual sex. That's not fair."

It’s something that I'm very passionate about. It's something that I think I get to do because I am willing to stay on the phone longer about it than they are. Basically, my attitude towards getting anal sex scenes on TV is “Well, I don't have a family, and you guys do, so I'm happy to just stay on the phone and argue about it until we get to a resolution.”

As for the characters of Nicholas and Alex, I didn't want there to be too much of a conversation about whether they were tops or bottoms. But now it’s led to this conversation about them being vers, which is good as well.

MW: Cooking was so important in Please Like Me. Insects have replaced cooking here.

THOMAS: Yeah!

MW: What was the reasoning there? Are you an insect fan?

THOMAS: I hooked up with a boy once as he was leaving to go into the forest to research grasshoppers for a year. I just thought that was really charming. So I took it for my character of Nicholas. And then, in the process of researching it, I got really obsessed with bugs. I even had some pet bugs for a while. Those blue death feigning beetles they have in the second episode, I had some pet ones that I was pretty obsessed with. They ended up escaping, which was devastating. I wanted to get a tarantula, but I realized that I don't have my shit together enough for a pet tarantula. They're kind of pedantic to look after.

MW: Can a bug truly be a pet?

THOMAS: Yeah! You can have pet bugs, man! Those blue death feigning beetles are pretty popular pets because they're really pretty and you can leave them open in a bowl. They're really easy to look after if you're in the right climate. People have pet spiders, pet tarantulas. Some you can carry and some you can't.

Scorpions are really popular. You can get these scorpions that don't sting.

MW: Are you romantically involved at the moment?

THOMAS: No, for the first time in my life, I'm single. I’ve been single for a whole year! It's boring being single. It's just me and this dog, John from Please Like Me. He's here with me now. He's just doing some licking. That's what he's doing. He loves to lick.

That's all he does these days. He's really excited that I'm talking about him.

MW: What are you learning about yourself now that you're single?

THOMAS: I'm just bored, man. These hours in the evening. I don't know what people do with these hours in the evening. Watch TV, I guess.

MW: What do you do?

THOMAS: I don't know. I pat my dog, I watch a little telly, call someone. All the time I was with the boyfriend I was always lamenting that I never got to be single. Now I'm single, I realize it's very dull.

MW: If your characters are any indication of what you are like to be with on a date, you are probably the most interesting date in the world.

THOMAS: I'm not like that. And I’m not going on a date with anyone in L.A. — it's fucking torture, man. It is torture. I'm a celibate here. I can't deal with those boys down the hill in West Hollywood. No way. I can't. No thank you.

MW: So what is your ideal boyfriend?

THOMAS: You would know who I date! They're in my shows!

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

You can see the type of boy that I date. Usually, they’re very sweet, very understanding, funny boys who think I'm funny.

That's usually the go to. Also, quite smart.

MW: I've got to ask you to comment on the horrible fires in Australia.

THOMAS: There's a lot of houses that have burned and a couple of deaths but mostly it's been pretty devastating for our wildlife.

A lot of species we're worried that might go extinct. We've lost a lot of koalas. It's pretty crazy. In 2009, our climate change department of the government wrote a report saying that in 2020 these wildfires are going to be really big and that we need to prepare for them. The response of the government was to shut down the climate change department. They've had a climate change-denying government for 10 years.

The New South Wales government, the state where the fires are the biggest, cut the fire-fighting services by tens of millions of dollars because they just didn't want to believe that science.

They just didn't want to believe it. We were not as prepared as we should have been. It's been a disaster.

Often, conversation on climate change is about stopping it, but actually we need to believe it's true so that we can prepare for disasters like this. Australia didn't really believe it was true and we weren't as prepared as we should've been. I think people are acknowledging that now. Obviously, with natural disasters, you can't really blame anyone, but we definitely could have been better prepared.

MW: We're having the same problem in America with the Trump Administration denying climate change. I just don’t understand how people deny science.

THOMAS: I don't know, man. It seems to come from an economic point of view. Australia sells a lot of coal. We make a lot of money out of coal. But the fact is our coal isn't worth what it used to be and that industry is not as valuable anymore. We just keep doubling down on it. You can't make money if all your farms are burning down. That's a lot of industry that we're losing. I don't really get it.

MW: What do you think when you look at what's happening in America?

THOMAS: [Laughs.] American politics is nuts, man! I don't know.

It makes me feel better about Australia! You guys are fucking bananas.

MW: Before we go, I have to bring this up. You get into drag at one point in the show — and you give a great performance.

THOMAS: Thank you. I don't think I ever worked so hard in my life, oh, my God. Of course, it's like a dream if you can hire people to put you in drag. We put a lot of time into that. I don't know if it's very justifiable as far as the narrative goes because, as a TV creator whose main criteria is realism and authenticity, that scene probably falls outside the realm of those things. But I’ve got my own show and I thought, "Fuck it. I'm just going to do it."

MW: Did you come up with a drag name?

THOMAS: My drag name is Blessed.

MW: Say that again? I didn’t....

THOMAS: Blessed. B-L-E-S-S-E-D. [Laughs.] I deliberately chose a drag name that Americans can't understand when I say it in my accent. l Everything’s Gonna Be Okay airs Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c on Freeform. Watch previous episodes on the Freeform app and at www.freeform.go.com.

All four seasons of Please Like Me are available to watch on the Hulu app and at www.hulu.com.

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Movies

Memorable

Family Guys

Friendship and family drama dominate the seriously artful selections for the 2020 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts. By André Hereford

T

HE ART OF ANIMATION IS NO LAUGHING MATTER FOR MANY OF THE films comprising this year’s class of Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (HHHHH). While the Academy’s nominees for Animated Feature, including the blockbuster Toy Story 4 and the charming Missing Link, imagine colorful worlds of fantasy and adventure, the animated shorts generally draw on a more serious palette to portray extraordinary events in ordinary lives. On the whole, the current compilation achieves a sense of balance between pathos and exuberance over the course of 83 minutes and eight films (the five Oscar nominees, plus three Honorable Mention selections).

What remains striking about this group are the disparate ways these storytellers use animation to explore complex emotions. In the nominated Czech short “Daughter” (HHHHH), writer-director Daria Kashcheeva casts expressive papier mâché puppets in the dreamlike depiction of a grown daughter standing vigil beside her ailing father’s hospital bed. Confronting a dark and frightening moment in her adult life, she reminisces about her childhood being raised by this single dad who didn’t always understand her. The film’s elegant, tactile quality, and dialogue-free storyline, focus attention on the looks and gestures that express the daughter’s complicated love for her dad, and his for her.

Daddy-daughter bonding also anchors nominee “Hair Love” (HHHHH), written by Matthew A. Cherry, who co-directed with Everett Downing, Jr., and Bruce W. Smith.

Already a viral online hit, with 13-million Youtube views and counting, this confection subtly subverts stereotypes, offering a relatable scenario of a young black girl learning that her bountiful head of natural curls “takes a little bit of work and a whole lot of love” to tease and tame into the tight ’do she desires. The point of the film is that her loving, macho dad also needs to learn how to do his little girl’s hair in her mom’s absence.

And the film succeeds in combining a frank look at a family in flux, with its adorable girl’s-eye view of hair drama. The story’s impact might be blunted somewhat by the basic-looking digital animation, but its message asserting self-esteem and representa-

tion comes through loud and clear.

The nominated French short “Memorable” (HHHHH) lands a powerful impact with its message and style, essaying the poignant claymation tale of elderly painter Louis and his wife Michelle (ably voiced by André Wilms and Dominique Reymond) struggling together through his dementia. Filmmaker Bruno Collet softens the blow of such heavy subject matter with the bright-eyed visages of the painted marionette characters, the script’s dry sense of humor, and whimsical visual allusions to other painters, including Van Gogh. Adding the excellent score by composer Nicolas Martin, “Memorable” stands out as the strongest selection in the bunch, by virtue of its completeness as a vivid and compelling short story.

“Sister” (HHHHH), a nominated short

by L.A.-based Chinese filmmaker Siqi Song, might be just as vivid, depicting a young man’s recollections of his four years younger sister via plush, woolen, stop-motion animated characters. An insightful political commentary, the beautiful film falters slightly by leaning hard into its maudlin mood, epitomized by the heavy piano-and-strings score and tragic plot twist. Fortunately, the visual appeal and inventiveness of the quirky fabric figures stirs the imagination, as some compensation for the oppressive atmosphere.

The final Oscar nominee in the program, “Kitbull” (HHHHH), presents its bittersweet drama with more poise and buoyancy, the latter quality not a surprise

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Daughter

since this is the program’s practically required entry from Pixar Studios. Although, this slight but sweet story of a playful stray kitten who befriends a mistreated backyard pit bull happens to be a Pixar short that doesn’t much look like a Pixar short.

The animation is less slick, a little rougher around the edges, in an artfully soulful fashion that serves writer-director Rosana Sullivan’s affecting fable of friendship well.

Rachel Johnson’s short “Henrietta Bulkowski” (HHHHH) could use some of that soulfulness. An eye-rollingly twee stop-motion fable in the Wes Anderson mold, complete with

arch voiceover narration, the film relates the story of Henrietta, a lonely dreamer self-conscious about the abnormal bone mass fused to her spine giving her a pronounced hump. Based on the post-apocalyptic play The Snow Hen by Brooklynbased theatre company the Debate Society, the short features the voices of Christina Hendricks and Oscar-winner Chris Cooper, and, despite Henrietta’s preoccupation with becoming a pilot, the short never really takes flight.

“The Bird and the Whale” (HHHHH), on the other hand, might be thin on story, but evokes both depth and weightlessness with its richly impressionistic animation, hand-painted on glass by writer-director Carol Freeman and her crew. The bird and the whale of the title do take flight, as does this spirited, wordless delight. But the richest delight might be found in the program’s inclusion of one truly LOL-worthy film, the French comedy “Hors Piste” (HHHHH), directed by Léo Brunel, Loris Cavalier, Camille Jalabert, and Oscar Malet. Charting a two-man rescue team’s daring, and painful, attempts to save a climber stranded on a towering mountain peak, the short boasts the deft physical comedy of a Pink Panther or Coyote and Roadrunner cartoon, and more importantly in this case, provides necessary lighthearted balance to a brilliant show highlighting the serious art of animation. l

The 2020 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts are not rated, and are now playing at Landmark’s E Street and Bethesda Row Cinemas. Visit www.landmarktheatres.com/washington-d-c.

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

CAMERON WHITMAN

Stage

Extreme Merriment

Delivered with ’70s style and flair, the Folger’s Merry Wives of Windsor is one of the best you’ll ever see. By Kate Wingfield

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RRIVING LIKE A TRICKED-OUT CHERRY-RED 1970 CHEVY CHEVELLE, the Folger’s Merry Wives of Windsor (HHHHH) is magnificently ridiculous.

Reimagined (or, perhaps better said reinvented) by director Aaron Posner, this is Shakespeare in the manner of a 1970s style sitcom. It’s funny, fresh, most wholly irreverent and quite possibly the best Wives you will ever see. And that’s saying something: Wives, with its simple tale of the flamboyant Falstaff’s attempt to bed local wives while young lovers evade the marriage plans of anxious adults, is a play that can run tediously flat in the wrong hands.

But like a well-built V8 muscle car, this production has got power under the hood.

Adapted for speed and fun, Posner is firing on all pistons — not only does he highlight the natural comedy of the play, he spins it up for a savvy, contemporary audience. There is plenty of broad humor, but there are equal doses of Posner’s urbane-electric wit. The best of it will not be spoiled here, but suffice to say, this is a veritable playground of wordplay, cleverly delivered pastiche, and ironically employed hits of the ’70s.

And at the risk of sounding like a broken (vinyl) record, Wives is also, once again, a Folger ensemble at its most seamlessly cohesive, so pleasingly suggestive of a traveling troupe that has come to town, sharing lives and roles. These are actors who truly understand what it means to give it all to their character in the moment, but to give just as much to the wider mood, tone and, comedy of the piece. Combine these skills with Posner’s immensely clear vision and the result is a piece that moves and delivers like clockwork. But like all Folger at its best, the audience is always in on the joke, the players energized by the fact that every seat in the house is within intimate distance.

Such a great way to experience theater.

Also remarkable is the fact that this play’s Falstaff follows so quickly on the heels of the very different rendering in Folger’s recent Henry IV, Part One. That they in no way

argue is a tribute to both interpretations and the strongly defined “personality” of each production. If Edward Gero’s man was the canny but wounded survivor in a dangerous world, here, Brian Mani’s Falstaff is the irrepressibly louche buffoon — an unhingedly charismatic hippy-biker who is as hilarious as he is unreconstructed. Both are drawn with pitch-perfect sensibility and they live happily in alternate universes. As for Mani, he walks a highly skilled line, playing it to the hilt without losing any of Posner’s clever nuance.

Another standout is the ever-interesting Cody Nickell in the role of Dr. Caius, proving immensely giggle-worthy with a performance well in the vein of that finest of comedies, Blackadder. Playing the accent for all it’s worth, Nickell upends the usual clichés, giving his deranged suitor hilarious intensity. As his assistant, Mistress Quickly, Kate Eastwood Norris is also in her element, delivering guileless Midwesterner’s wordplay as fluidly as she does physical comedy. And always an indispensable cornerstone, Eric Hissom offers a suitably tortured, super-square Ford, neurotically fixated on whether he is being cuckolded, even if his alter-ego British rocker never quite flies as high.

In smaller roles, but nevertheless bringing so much of what makes this such fun, are Tommy A. Gomez as a fabulously pitch-perfect ’70s Latino-retro Justice Shallow, while Louis E. Davis as Mine Host somehow manages to deliver his

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CAMERON WHITMAN

Shakespeare with brilliantly fluid urban-contemporary flair. Todd Scofield, as the pious Sir Hugh Evans, offers a marvelously awkward space cadet with a surprisingly passable Welsh accent. As burnout Nym and a warmly genuine suitor Fenton, Dante Robert Rossi shows nicely drawn versatility, while Brian Reisman delivers a truly charming and gently charismatic Abraham Slender. Finally, mention must be made of Tony Ciseks’ understated mid-century set and Devon Painter’s clever costumes.

If there is a quibble, it’s a small one. Writ suitably large as the wives at the center of the play, Regina Aquino’s Mistress Page and Ami Brabson’s Mistress Ford certainly cover the ground. But as adept as they are, neither quite offers the kind of verve and nerve that would have made these women sing. Aquino tends to play it a tad too hard to the audience, while Brabson misses the opportunity to have more fun with the role. Though they never detract, they don’t especially enhance the shenanigans either.

But there is no stopping the fun here, and in the words of the ’70s band War, this “overfed, long-haired, leaping gnome” of a Falstaff will bring nothing but (apologies to Three Dog Night) joy to your world. l Merry Wives of Windsor runs through March 1 at the Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol St. SE. Tickets are $27 to $85.

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

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

CHRISTOPHER BANKS

Stage

Romantic Progress Lovers and immigrants take similar leaps of faith in the cross-cultural romance Pilgrims: Musa & Sheri in the New World. By André Hereford

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MBARKING ON A NEW RELATIONSHIP, OR A NEW LIFE IN A COUNTRY far from home, inspires a mix of fear and excitement, feelings that are tenderly rendered in the romance between Egyptian immigrant Musa and American waitress Sheri in Yussef El Guindi’s Pilgrims: Musa & Sheri in the New World (HHHHH).

Shirley Serotsky’s affecting production at Mosaic, if awkwardly paced at times, finds a sweet spot in its mingling of romantic comedy and cultural commentary with a streak of quiet melancholy.

The play’s sense of quiet is endearing, embodied in Ahmad Kamal’s charismatic presence as cabbie Musa, who, in his halting English, tends to find the right words to express his beaming attraction to Sheri. “No need for candles. You are the light in the room now,” he tells her, softening her defenses. Kamal deftly hints that Musa’s still waters might indeed run deeper than Sheri realizes. As the seemingly more cynical city girl, Rachel Felstein captures Sheri’s boldness, the loud brass she employs to fill up space and overcome whatever trepidation she feels as she and Musa take steps towards intimacy.

On an otherwise lonely night, after both have finished their late-night shifts, the waitress and the cab driver find themselves inside Musa’s tiny apartment. Despite insisting that she’s not the type to go up to a stranger’s apartment for sex, Sheri can’t disguise her desire. And even as she contemplates whether this could be the start of

something beautiful and lasting, she displays a reasonable fear that the encounter might turn out to be a mistake in any number of ways. The script and Felstein’s performance are a bit too insistent in portraying Sheri’s conflicting emotions, but the hard-hit point at least serves the play better than a subplot involving Musa’s roommate Abdallah (Freddie Lee Bennett), a Muslim immigrant from Sudan.

More devout than Musa in his spiritual practice, Abdallah makes a pilgrimage to Mecca, journeying closer to the customs and traditions that Musa now seriously questions for himself. The contrast between their two experiences is useful characterization, but Abdallah’s subsequent disappearance seems a fruitless distraction, particularly as Serotsky keeps the character posed silently in the background for stretches of the show. Garbed in white, Abdallah adds a stroke of mystery to scenic designer Nephelie Andonyadis’ beautiful painted backdrop, but he doesn’t add much to a story that doesn’t need him hovering nearby as the two lovers’ take their passionate leap together. l

Pilgrims: Musa & Sheri in the New World runs through February 16 at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $20 to $65. Call 202-399-7993, ext. 2 or visit www.mosaictheater.org.

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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C. STANLEY

Stage

Spring Loaded

Round House’s Spring Awakening is a fantastic-looking show that’s often overwhelmed by many moving parts. By André Hereford

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RILLIANT DESIGN AND EVOCATIVE LIGHTING DELIVER EYE-CATCHING visual impact that goes largely unmatched by overall emotional impact in Round House Theatre’s slow-burning production of Spring Awakening ( ).

In concept, the rock musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s truly disruptive 1891 play seethes with the savage youthful energy of sexually curious teens, set to Duncan Sheik’s music and Steven Sater’s book and lyrics.

Sparks of that electricity, tinged with liberation and tragedy, charge through this cast and staging, and up and down the scenery via LED light-strips. Yet, despite Adam Rigg’s fantastic-looking scenic design, and the story-enhancing effects of Colin K. Bills’ lighting, the scintillating choreography by Paul McGill, a few standout performances, and the hottest boy-on-boy kiss I’ve seen onstage in many a season, Alan Paul’s busy production doesn’t quite equal the sum of its parts.

And there are many moving parts — from furniture and trapdoors to concentric revolving stages — the mechanics of which too often steal focus from the game performers portraying these 19th-century schoolchildren “in bloom.” Percolating with pubescence, smitten Melchior (Evan Daves) and Wendla (Cristina Sastre), deeply unsettled Moritz (Sean Watkinson), and their schoolmates express a timeless adolescent preoccupation with the carnal aspects of their developing bodies and minds.

They sing and dance through their desires and frustrations effectively in a moving

“Touch Me,” featuring a lovely solo by Carson Collins as Georg, and hit the target of rebellious resignation with “Totally Fucked.”

But the musical highs are more an exception than the rule, due to tepid arrangements, much less assured singing than acting, and a seven-piece live band that, wherever they’re stationed and however they’re amplified, don’t sound live enough. Certainly their sound doesn’t convey what Tonya Beckman’s comically outraged schoolmistress calls “the creeping sensuality of these liberal-minded times.”

For that, look to the free-spirited choreography, or Cristina Sastre’s well-acted Wendla. Look to Collins’ turn as hotfor-teacher Georg, or the magnetic performance of Christian Montgomery as boy-crazy Hanschen. Seen recently as Seymour in Constellation’s Little Shop of Horrors, Montgomery seduces both James Mernin’s Ernst and the audience, wielding a healthy supply of sensuality and a palpable commitment to what the character discovers singing about “the words of his body” — his surging power to be utterly himself. l

Spring Awakening runs through Feb. 23 at Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, in Bethesda, Md. Tickets are $56 to $78. Call 240-644-1100, or visit www.roundhousetheatre.org.

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

PHIL FISK

Music

Tentative & Low The Pet Shop Boys’ latest offering has moments of brilliance, but it never quite congeals. By Sean Maunier

S

INCE THE 2013 RELEASE OF ELECTRIC, THE PET SHOP BOYS HAVE enjoyed a long, remarkable second wind. Hotspot (HHHHH), their third album since departing Parlophone, regrettably loses some of the adventurous energy they have brought to their other recent work. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe do step a little outside their comfort zone here and there, but for the most part they play things safe this time around.

Unusually for a Pet Shop Boys album, Hotspot gets off to a meandering start and takes a while to really pick up. “Will-o-the-wisp” starts us out on a hazy, dreamy note and the album remains in that territory for the next two tracks until “Dreamland,” a collaboration with Years and Years that bumps up the mood. This energy is sadly lost again on “Hoping For a Miracle,” another small-hours track.

Hotspot never coheres around a particular mood or set of ideas, but it does begin to find footing in its latter half. Unusually for a song all about resigned exhaustion, “I Don't Wanna” features distorted synths that keep it interesting and make it one of the more danceable tracks on the album. “Monkey Business,” the third single released, is a solid, serviceable Pet Shop Boys track, albeit one with horns and strings that suffuse their trademark dancepop with a disco-like feel.

The pace of the last single, “Burning the Heather,” allows it to fit in with the sleepier tracks on the back end of the album but is definitely an outlier in its lyrics and instrumentation. Coming towards the end of an album filled with solid, familiar Pet Shop Boys offerings, the song stands out not just for prominently featuring acoustic guitars to great effect, but for its vivid use of language. The lonely, brooding mood pairs well

with the hauntingly picturesque image of the seasonal destruction of the British landscape starkly captured in the lyrics.

“Sheepdogs are running/Hell for leather” is a strikingly evocative image, and probably the most inspired lyric on the entire record.

Just as “Burning the Heather” suggests Hotspot is coming down on a sobering, plaintive note, we are hit with a jarring tonal shift. “Wedding in Berlin” is celebratory, but oddly low-energy track built around the line, “We’re getting married because we love each other.” As awkwardly as it lands, the line “A lot of people do it/No matter if they’re straight or gay” recaptures some of the cautiously hopeful utopianism on display in “Dreamland.”

Rather than a far-off aspirational utopia, they nod towards a once-utopian dream that for many has not just come to pass, but has become mundane reality.

On their own, most of the tracks on Hotspot would stand as decent interludes on other Pet Shop Boys albums. Their major shortcoming is that all the building blocks are here, but they are barely assembled. We’re left with an album that reads simultaneously as a collection of singles and an album consisting almost totally of material that sounds as though it was written as filler. l

Hotspot can be purchased from Amazon and iTunes, and is available on most major streaming services.

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

NightLife Photography by Ward Morrison

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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Scene

Pitchers - Thursday, January 23 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

DrinksDragDJsEtc...

Thursday, January 30

Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk

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

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

DC EAGLE Happy Hour until 9pm • After 9pm, $4 Rail and Domestics for guys in L.U.R.E. (Leather, Uniform, Rubber, Etc.) • Lights Dimmed at 8pm • No Cover FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in

NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • ThurSlay, featuring DJ Jack Rayburn, 10pm 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 • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 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

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Friday, January 31 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports DC EAGLE Meaty Fridays Happy Hour 5-9pm • Free Hot Dogs all night and Pizza at 7:30pm • $2 off all drinks until 9pm • DJ Popperz spins • $5 Cover starts at 7pm, $10 after 9pm • Birds of Prey Drag Show in the Exile at 10:30pm • $10 Cover • Open until 3am FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close 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 NUMBER NINE Open 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • Friday Night Piano with Chris, 7:30pm • Friday Night Videos, 9:30pm • Rotating DJs 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 • Live Music with Luke James Shaffer, 9pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 • 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+

DC EAGLE 3701 Benning Rd. NE (202) 455-6500 www.dceagle.com

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR 900 U St. NW 202-332-6355 www.nelliessportsbar.com

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR 555 23rd St. S. Arlington, Va. 703-685-0555 www.freddiesbeachbar.com

NUMBER NINE 1435 P St. NW 202-986-0999 www.numberninedc.com

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

GREEN LANTERN 1335 Green Ct. NW 202-347-4533 www.greenlanterndc.com

PITCHERS 2317 18th St. NW 202-733-2568 www.pitchersbardc.com

NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS Compiled by Doug Rule

WIG NIGHT OUT Don your wildest wig and get wiggy with it at Pitchers this Saturday, Feb. 1, for a frivolous-for-a-cause affair now celebrating its 10th “wigaversary.” Over the past 10 years, the “fun philanthropy” event has raised over $95,000 for charities including this year’s beneficiaries: Whitman-Walker Health, Casa Ruby, and the Point Foundation. Wig Night Out is from 9 to 11 p.m. Pitchers is at 2317 18th St. NW. Suggested minimum donation of $10. Call 202-733-2568 or visit www.pitchersbardc.com.

Saturday, February 1 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-3am • Video Games • Live televised sports AVALON SATURDAYS Avalon Saturdays and 0ft Away present: Celebrating the Life of Sung Kim, 10pm-4am • Opening set

by Ty Jordan • Headliner: Joe Gauthreaux • $20 Cover, $25 VIP • Drag Show, 10:30-11:30pm, hosted by Ba’Naka and a rotating cast of drag queens • $4 Absolut Drinks, 10pm-midnight • 21+ DC EAGLE Open at 5pm • Happy Hour until 9pm • Saturday Kink, 9pm-close • Coat/Clothes check open • Serving until 3am

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 • REWIND: Request Line, an ‘80s and ‘90s Dance Party, 9pm-close • Music by DJ Darryl Strickland • No Cover 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

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

THE QREW: LOUNGE & LINGERIE PARTY Also this Saturday, Feb. 1, QREW DC, the queer womyn outfit co-founded by Kristen Voorhees and Danylle Kightlinger, welcomes those who’d prefer to wear something comfy or naughty on the DC9 dance floor, something they might otherwise wear in bed. We’re talking flannel PJs, onesies, teddies, sweats, and that “sexy little number” you’ve been waiting for just the right time to unveil in public. Music by DJ vodkatrina. The inclusive party for queer womyn and their friends starts at 10 p.m. and is free for the first hour. DC9 is at 1940 9th St. NW. Tickets are $10. Call 202483-5000 or www.dcnine.com.

THE BIRTH OF A DIK: THE ROAST OF DESIREE DIK Self-billed as “D.C.’s Own Blowup Doll,” the drag doll Desiree Dik has blown up alright: Over the past year she’s become one of the most prolific queens on the scene, in the process helping to break in the stage at the city’s newest venue for drag and related LGBTQ-popular entertainment, Red Bear Brewing Co. Styled as the Queen of the House at this fully gay-owned nano-brewery in the refurbished, historic Uline Arena building in NoMa, Dik will celebrate her birthday this Saturday, Feb. 1, by corraling her friends and frenemies for a night of shows and smack talk overseen by Roast Master Geneva Confection and featuring Alastor, Bratworst, Vee Vee, Hellurr Vatyme, Horchata, Hunter Paris Cartier, Logan Stone, Lula Lioness, Maxxi Overdrive, Scout Sonnor, and Sextia N’eight, plus video roasts by Jasmine Tea, Evali, and Baby. All that and music by Shea Van Horn. The Dik roast starts at 9 p.m. Red Bear Brewing is at 209 M St. NE. Call 202-849-6130 or visit www. redbear.beer.

SUPER BOWL LIV VIEWING PARTY AT NUMBER NINE When it comes to sports, nothing beats the Super Bowl — to watch, anyway, thanks to the blockbuster ads premiering in between pigskin play and the Halftime Show superstar concert.

This Sunday’s big game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, plus the co-headlining show featuring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, will be broadcast live from Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium to the many TVs scattered throughout Number Nine. And the Logan Circle bar will sweeten the deal with free pizza all evening long, plus 2-4-1 Happy Hour drinks until 9 p.m. While watching the game, keep your eyes peeled for shots of Katie Sowers, the first LGBTQ and first woman coach to appear at a Super Bowl in her capacity as assistant offensive coach for the 49ers. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. this Sunday, Feb. 2. Number Nine is at 1435 P St. NW. Call 202-986-0999 or visit www.numberninedc.com. l

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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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 • Time Machine and Power Hour, featuring VJ Jack Rayburn, 9:30pm 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 $16 Bottomless Mimosas, 10am-3pm • Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks •

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Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers TRADE Doors open 2pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets upstairs, 9pm-close • Fully nude male 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, February 2 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-12am • $4 Smirnoff and Domestic Cans • Video Games • Live televised sports DC EAGLE Open at Noon • Happy Hour until 9pm • Food served 5-8pm, $10 a plate • Cigar Sundays and Cruisy Sundays • Lights out at 8pm • $3 off all Whiskeys & Bourbons, $5 Chivas Regal, $15 bottomless Bud/Bud Light, $20 Bottomless Premium Drafts FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Fabulous Sunday Champagne Brunch, 10am-3pm • $24.99 with four glasses of champagne or mimosas, 1 Bloody

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Mary, or coffee, soda or juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Zodiac Monthly Drag Contest, hosted by Ophelia Bottoms, 8-10pm • Karaoke, 10pm-close

showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • Pop Goes the World with Wes Della Volla at 9:30pm • No Cover

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Karaoke with Kevin downstairs, 9:30pm-close

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

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 NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • Multiple TVs

SHAW’S TAVERN Brunch with $16 Bottomless Mimosas, 10am-3pm • Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-priced select pizzas and appetizers • Super Drag Sunday — Super Bowl and Drag Show, 6:30pm • For reservations, email shawsdinnerdragshow@gmail.com

TRADE Doors open 2pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

Monday, February 3 DC EAGLE Manic Mondays • Food served, 2-6pm • Happy Hour until 9pm, $2 off all drinks • Free Pool play • $2 Bud & Bud Lights, $15 bottomless premium drafts FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Singles Night • Half-Priced Pasta Dishes • Karaoke, 9pm

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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

Tuesday, February 4

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

DC EAGLE 2-4-1 Tuesdays • All Drinks, Buy one, Get one free • First Drink Free for Guys in Jockstraps

NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover SHAW’S TAVERN Join Shaw’s for the Iowa Caucus Results • Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Shaw ’Nuff Trivia, 7:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

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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 • Taco Tuesday • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long • Tito’s Tuesday: $5 Tito’s Vodka all night 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 NUMBER NINE Open at 5pm • 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

Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes • Karaoke, 10pm-1am

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 • State of the Union Watch Party • Schitt’s Creek Watch Party, 9pm

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 • Karaoke, 9pm

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

Wednesday, February 5 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports DC EAGLE Happy Hour until 9pm • Karaoke by D&K Sounds from 9pm-1am • $4 Rails, Wines & Domestic Drafts FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • $6 Burgers • Beach Blanket Drag Bingo Night, hosted

by Ms. Regina Jozet

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR SmartAss Trivia Night, 8-10pm • Prizes include bar tabs and tickets to shows at the 9:30 Club • Absolutely Snatched Drag Show, hosted by Brooklyn Heights, 9pm • $3 Bud Light, $5 Absolut, $15 Buckets of Beer 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 and Karaoke, 8pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink nor-

mally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

Thursday, February 6 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports DC EAGLE $4 Rail and Domestics for guys in L.U.R.E. (Leather, Uniform, Rubber, Etc.) • Lights Dimmed at 8pm FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close

• ThurSlay, featuring DJ Jack Rayburn, 10pm 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

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk

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

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

ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers, 9pm-close • “New Meat” Open Dancers Audition • Music by DJ Don T. • Cover 21+ l

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

For more specials not featured in print, visit www.metroweekly.com/ nightlife/drink_specials.

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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LastWord.

People say the queerest things

“My coach called me in and said they have a lot of parents that have been worried about their daughter being around someone who is gay.”

— KATIE SOWERS, assistant offensive coach to the San Francisco 49ers, who will be the first woman and first LGBTQ person to coach at the Super Bowl, revealing to NBC Sports that private religious school Goshen College in Indiana turned down her offer to coach the women’s basketball team because parents said her sexuality was “not something they would want around the team.”

“Without a doubt, President Donald Trump is the most pro-gay president in history.”

— Broward Log Cabin Republicans president ANDREW R. BRETT, in an op-ed for the South Florida Sun Sentinel arguing that Trump supports LGBTQ people and that activists and the media “will never openly accept this reality.” According to GLAAD, Trump’s administration has attacked LGBTQ people, rights, and equality 136 times in his three years in office.

“I don’t give a fuck, who are you to say that a bottom is worth less?”

— Adult film actor ARMOND RIZZO, in a tweet claiming that studio Blacks on Boys “pays bottoms way less than tops,” adding that the studio argues it’s because “the site is more top dominant.” In a follow-up tweet, he said the studio had offered to raise his fee, but called it “unjust you pay bottoms less and for that I decline working for you!”

“I have zero excuse

and could not attempt to justify it then or now.

”

— Ohio-based municipal court judge DAN HAZARD, in a statement after a homophobic letter he wrote while in college in 1993 came to light. Among various “concerns” about gay people, Hazard wrote: “I beg the homosexual community one thing: Please keep your AIDS to yourselves.” In his apology, he said the letter was “reprehensible and deplorable” and “hurtful to anyone that saw it in 1993 or today. I am sorry that it will hurt even more people today including my gay and transgendered family and friends whom I love dearly.”

“These nondiscrimination protections are critical to ensuring that LGBTQ people have the freedom to go about their daily lives with safety, privacy, and dignity.

”

— JAMES PARRISH, director of the Virginia Values Coalition, in a statement after a Virginia House committee

approved a comprehensive LGBTQ nondiscrimination bill known as the Virginia Values Act. After years of Republican stonewalling, the Democratic-controlled legislature is moving closer to protecting LGBTQ rights in the state.

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JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

JANUARY 30, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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