Beer to Serve: The Story of Red Bear Brewing

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CONTENTS

MUSEUM WALK

Museum 2040 conjures a future shaped by shocking events in 4615 Theatre Company’s ambitious new, immersive production.

By André Hereford

BEER TO SERVE

Focusing on high-quality brews and a host of entertainment options, Red Bear Brewing Co. has become the go-to place in NoMa.

By John Riley Photography by Todd Franson

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Volume 26 Issue 42

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HUMBLED

Spend your gold on Simon Godwin’s extraordinary reboot of Timon of Athens, starring the phenomenal Kathryn Hunter.

By Kate Wingfield

SPOTLIGHT: DULCÉ SLOANE p.9 OUT ON THE TOWN p.12 THE FEED: THERAPEUTIC CHANGE p.19 THE FEED: BISEXUAL BAN p.20 COMMUNITY: RAYCEEN TO THE FINISH p.21 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p.21 FILM: ONWARD p.31 STAGE: THE BITTER EARTH p.35 STAGE: SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER p.37 NIGHTLIFE: ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS 11TH ANNIVERSARY p.39 NIGHTLIFE LISTINGS p.40 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 Saint Saint Brigid, “the Mary of the Gael” Cover Photography Todd Franson Metro Weekly 1775 I St. NW, Suite 1150 Washington, DC 20006 202-638-6830 All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization.

© 2020 Jansi LLC.

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COURTESY OF LOSHAK PR

Spotlight

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Dulcé Sloan

HE LGBTQ CROWD, THEY DON'T SUFFER FOOLS,” says Dulcé Sloan. “You're not getting a sympathy laugh.

They're not laughing for the sake of laughing. Other crowds, it’ll be like, they're trying, and they'll chuckle a little bit.”

Before setting out for Hollywood, Sloan honed her stand-up craft at Hideaway, a gay bar in Atlanta. “I know it helped me become a better comic,” she continues, ticking off a few things she learned from the experience. “You can't stumble through, you can't play around. You can have fun, but don't get up and be like, ‘Well, uh, um...’ They won’t have it. You cannot play around with them. They came to be entertained. You better get on the stage and present.”

In recent years, the 36-year-old has become a nationally known comic with increasing work on television and in film. Her career really took off in the fall of 2017, when she signed on as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor

Noah. “It’s a very interesting experience,” she says. “Sometimes you are just working, trying to find another story to do. Other days, you come into the office, and you don't think you have anything, but you get an email or a text... And then, within two hours, I'm shooting a sketch, and I'm on the show that night. It’s a very fast-paced environment.”

Ultimately, though, that work’s got nothing on stand-up. “I just really miss that interaction with the crowd, and the feeling, the excitement, that you get from the crowd.” This weekend, Sloan will get her stand-up fix while sharing the stage with several of the funniest females in the business, including Sasheer Zamata, Jen Kirkman, Catherine Cohen, and Margaret Cho. “I’ve worked with Margaret Cho before — she’s amazing!” says Sloan. “As a kid, I remember she had a special on HBO. She's the first standup comic I ever saw in my entire life.”

—Doug Rule

Dulcé Sloan performs Sunday, March 8, at 8 p.m., at RIOT! An International Women’s Day Comedy Event at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $29 to $69. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

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Spotlight THE WILD BUNCH (DIRECTOR’S CUT)

Upon its release in 1969, Sam Peckinpah’s revisionist western disturbed viewers and critics alike for its graphic violence (tame by today’s standards). Starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, and Warren Oates, The Wild Bunch has gone on to earn recognition by the Library of Congress’ U.S. National Film Registry, the American Film Institute’s 1998 list, “100 Years...100 Movies” (where it ranked No. 80), and “AFI’s 10 Top 10: Western” list (No. 6). Landmark’s West End Cinema presents three screenings of the 1995 re-release that restored 10 minutes, filling in gaps from the original American theatrical version. Wednesday, March 11, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m. 2301 M St. NW. Happy hour is from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.50. Call 202-534-1907 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

DON GIOVANNI

SCOTT SUCHMAN

The protagonist in Mozart’s anti-hero classic Don Giovanni fashions himself a real Don Juan, aiming to seduce and conquer all of the beautiful women he encounters, whatever it takes. Eventually, however, “time’s up” for Giovanni in this celebrated tragicomedy. Ryan McKinny takes on the title role in a Washington National Opera production directed by E. Loren Meeker and choreographed by Eric Sean Fogel. WNO Principal Conductor Evan Rogister leads the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. In Italian with English surtitles. To March 22. Opera House. Tickets are $45 to $299. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

FRANK SOLIVAN & DIRTY KITCHEN

Increasingly regarded as one of the genre’s best contemporary bands, the local progressive bluegrass act — or, if you prefer, New Acoustic American Roots Music — earned a Grammy nomination for its 2015 album Cold Spell. Solivan and his Dirty Kitchen crew of banjoist Mike Munford, guitarist Chris Luquette, and bassist Jeremy Middleton next take to Falls Church’s State Theatre for what is billed as “a very special show on Frank Solivan’s birthday weekend.”

Pierce Edens and the 19th Street Band will serve as opening acts. Sunday, March 8. Doors at 6 p.m. 220 North Washington St., Falls Church.

Tickets are $17 to $20. Call 703-237-0300 or visit www.thestatetheatre.com.

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Spotlight THE 39 STEPS

Actors cast in this comedic adaptation of one of Alfred Hitchcock’s early works certainly can’t phone in their performance — particularly not those, such as Gwen Grastorf and Christopher Walker, cast in Constellation Theatre Company’s new production as what the program simply lists as a “Cast of Dozens” (there are over 100 roles in all). Constellation’s production stars Drew Kopas as a British everyman who gets ensnared in a spy ring, then proceeds to have romantic dalliances along the way to clearing his name. Patricia Hurley does triple duty as his three paramours.

Extended to March 15. Source Theatre, 1835 14th St. NW. Tickets are $19 to $55. Call 202-204-7741 or visit www.constellationtheatre.org.

DEAD KENNEDYS

It’s been 42 years since one of the first and certainly one of the defining hardcore punk bands formed in San Francisco. Last year, the Dead Kennedys released the live compilation album DK40, which they continue to support on tour. Opening sets from Canadian hardcore act D.O.A. and Maryland’s “poop punk” veterans in Dingleberry Dynasty. Wednesday, March 11.

Doors at 7 p.m. 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $30. Call 202-265-0930 or visit www.930.com.

MAIRA KALMAN

An artist and illustrator whose work is frequently featured in the New Yorker, Kalman’s latest project is an illustrated edition of the Gertrude Stein’s classic book from 1933 that shed light on the life and times of her life partner, Alice B. Toklas. Full of color and Kalman’s signature sense of whimsy, the paintings, more than 60 in all, are intended to complement the text, but more importantly to add a new dimension to the work: through depictions of Stein at her desk, following visitors such as Sylvia Beach and Man Ray, and evoking “the unique modernist ferment that was 27 rue de Fleurus.” Sunday, March 8, at 5 p.m. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Call 202-364-1919 or visit www.politics-prose.com.

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ALEXANDER DAEV

Out On The Town

RUSSIAN NATIONAL BALLET

The grand national tradition of major Russian ballet works is the bread and butter of this 50-member company, which returns to George Mason University to present four classics over the course of a weekend. Under the direction of legendary Bolshoi principal Elena Radchenko, the company kicks things off Friday, March 6, at 8 p.m., with Tchaikovsky’s beloved fairytale Sleeping Beauty through exquisite choreography originally created by Marius Petipa and presented in an opulent production. At the Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, in Manassas, Va. Tickets are $33 to $55. Call 703-993-7759 or visit www.hyltoncenter.org. It’s followed on Saturday, March 7, at 8 p.m., with two beautifully tragic one-act ballets — Tchaikovsky’s passionate, star-crossed Romeo and Juliet (choreographed by Radchenko), and an adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen, featuring the work of choreographer Alberto Alonso and composer Rodion Shehedrin. The weekend concludes on Sunday, March 8, at 2 p.m. with Radchenko’s grand take on Prokofiev’s Cinderella. Concert Hall in the Center for the Arts, 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax. Tickets are $34 to $56 per performance. Call 888-945-2468 or visit www.cfa.gmu.edu.

Compiled by Doug Rule

FILM THE BIRDCAGE

Jean Poiret’s original farcical French play La Cage aux Folles inspired a 1978 French classic, a Broadway musical, and this 1996 big-budget Hollywood adaptation

by Mike Nichols. In this version, the gay couple at the story’s center is played by Robin Williams and Nathan Lane (who didn’t officially come out until two years later).

They’re supported by a stellar cast including Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Christine Baranski, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, and Hank Azaria. Two area Alamo Drafthouse locations present The Birdcage as part of their “Remakes & Hot Takes” series (“some are revered, some are controversial, all are worth another look”).

Tuesday, March 10, at 7:20 p.m.

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Alamo Drafthouse - One Loudoun, 20575 Easthampton Plaza, Ashburn, Va. Tickets are $10. Call 571-2936808. Also Wednesday, March 11, at 7:20 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse Woodbridge, 15200 Potomac Town Place, Ste. 100, Woodbridge, Va. Tickets are $10. Call 571-260-4413.

Visit www.drafthouse.com/northern-virginia.

plan in the works to redevelop Lifta as an upscale neighborhood. Yet an ad-hoc Israeli-Palestinian coalition in favor of preserving the site as an Arab village has helped to stymie such plans. Sunday March 15, at 2 p.m. Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, 4444 Arlington Blvd.

Free. Call 703-892-2565 or visit www.voicesfromtheholyhland.org.

THE RUINS OF LIFTA

THE UNORTHODOX

Voices from the Holy Land series, now in its sixth season and sponsored by an interfaith coalition of more than 40 area organizations, screen documentaries focused on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Next weekend’s offering focuses on an Arab village whose residents were driven out during the ArabIsraeli war in 1948, and to this day remains relatively untouched. Most other such villages have either been destroyed or repopulated by Israelis, and in fact, there has been a

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The stunning rise of Israel’s Shas political party is brought to life through the lens of one father’s improbable campaign to defend his daughter and speak out against routine discrimination and treatment of Sephardic Jews as second-class citizens. Set in 1983, Eliran Malka’s The Unorthodox has been a hit on the Jewish film festival circuit, and comes to the Edlavitch DCJCC, in a co-presentation by Sephardic Heritage International DC, for a one-week engagement.

In Hebrew with English subtitles.

Screenings are Friday, March 6, at 1 p.m., Saturday, March 7, 6 and 8:10 p.m., Sunday, March 8, at 3 and 5:10 p.m., and Tuesday, March 10, through Thursday, March 12, at 7 p.m. Cafritz Hall, 1529 16th St. NW. Tickets are $9 to $13. Call 202-7773210 or visit www.jxjdc.org.

STAGE ADA AND THE ENGINE

Playwright Lauren Gunderson (Shakespeare Theatre’s Peter Pan and Wendy) offers a whimsical and inspirational scientific history lesson about Ada Lovelace, best known as the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron and also as wife to Charles Babbage, called “the father of the computer.” In fact, Gunderson’s tale posits that Babbage may have invented the hardware, or “analytic engine”

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of the machine, but Lovelace is responsible for inventing “the language, the song, the soul of the thing, the programming.” Ada and the Engine rotates dates with Suddenly Last Summer. Previews begin March 8. To April 5. Gunston Arts Center, Theater Two, 2700 South Lang St. Arlington. Tickets are $40. Call 703-418-4804 or visit www.wscavantbard.org.

HEAD OVER HEELS

MUSEUM WALK

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Museum 2040 conjures a future shaped by shocking events in 4615 Theatre Company’s ambitious new, immersive production.

HE D.C.-BASED PLAYWRIGHT RENEE CALARCO HAS SAID THAT SHE WROTE THE new immersive, multimedia theater experience Museum 2040 to be “unproducible, impossible, and experimental.” So it seems she found ideal collaborators with the 4615 Theatre Company, because when Artistic Director Jordan Friend (pictured) first read the script for the future-set epic, he didn’t see the undoable, he saw “a green light.”

“I read it and I was like, ‘Oh, this is eminently producible. It's just different,’” says Friend. “It calls for use of multiple rooms. We have a space with multiple rooms. It calls for multimedia elements. We have an in-house video designer. So from a technical standpoint, there are far scarier shows in a lot of ways.” Since founding the company with a bloody production of The Duchess of Malfi that sprawled around his family’s house in Chevy Chase, Friend has been staring down challenges that might scare off less intrepid impresarios.

“My producing director Greg Strasser calls what we do ‘impossible theater,’” he says. “I think what he means when he says that, is that...we choose something that seems impossible at first glance, because we always recognize that the distance between what we think we're capable of and what seems impossible is always going to be the most interesting solution.”

The most daunting challenge in constructing Museum 2040 might be in how best to describe and market the concept to an audience. As Friend acknowledges, “How do you communicate to people what this is? That's a huge bridge to say, ‘You're coming to a play, but you're going to be walking around and there's going to be actors among you. Then you're going to sit down and watch a panel discussion where you can ask them questions.’”

Entering the space at Dance Loft on 14, patrons pass through museum-style security before being allowed thirty minutes to freely roam the “American Museum of Reconciliation,” filled with artifacts that tell the harrowing story of America post-2020. The museum is also filled with cast members, portraying curators, panelists, even the security. “There is a character-driven story that unfolds and we don't want to completely obscure that from people,” says Friend. “But there are also some heavy-duty spoilers that would be diminishing the experience if we gave away just what transpires.”

What transpires, however, might vary significantly from night-to-night. “There's just the fact that no two performances are going to be the same,” says Friend, “because every audience is different. If we have a 10-person house, that's a very different experience from a 30-person house, which is the maximum — we can only take 30, tops, per performance. The dynamics of the play change based on who our crowd is, what age are they, how many are there. It's a really different show each time.” —André Hereford Museum 2040 runs through March 29 at Dance Loft on 14, 4618 14th St. NW. Tickets are $20.

Patrons under 30 pay only $16.50. Call 301-928-2738, or visit www.4615theatre.com.

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Promoted as a show offering “all the drama of a 16th-century romance with a queer twist,” Head Over Heels is most easily described as a jukebox musical featuring the hits of the Go-Gos. Tony-winning writer Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) first got the notion to blend the female quartet’s fun and effervescent pop with Philip Sidney’s sprawling, sensational Renaissance prose poem The Arcadia for an upbeat celebration of love and identity, and all those, you might say, who’ve got the beat. Head Over Heels features numerous characters questioning their sexuality, experimenting with their gender identity, and pursuing queer relationships, all while taking heed (or not) of the gender-fluid, nonbinary oracle, Pythio (Topher Williams). Monumental Theatre Company kicks off its new season with the company’s Jimmy Mavrikes directing. Opens March 5. To March 23. Ainslie Arts Center in Episcopal High School, 3900 W. Braddock Rd., Alexandria. Tickets are $40. Call 703-933-3000 or visit www.monumentaltheatre.org.

QUEENS GIRL: BLACK IN THE GREEN MOUNTAINS

With this world-premiere production at Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre, playwright Caleen Sinnette Jennings completes the Queens Girl trilogy she launched in 2015 with Queens Girl in the World at Theater J. Chronicling the adventures of bright-eyed, brownskinned Jacqueline Marie Butler, the first play explored the young girl’s dawning sense of self as a young black girl in the Civil Rights era. It was followed by last year’s Queens Girl in Africa, exploring her family’s move to Nigeria in the wake of the assassination of Malcolm X. Now, Butler returns to the U.S. for college in Vermont in the era of a raging Vietnam War and heightened tensions on college campuses after the Kent State killings. Felicia Curry stars and Paige Hernandez directs. The play christens a new, 211-seat performance space in Everyman’s complex. To April 12.

Upstairs Theatre, 315 West Fayette St. Baltimore. Tickets are $59 to $69. Call 410-752-2208 or visit www.everymantheatre.org.

RASHEEDA SPEAKING

Two co-workers — one black, one white — are driven apart by the

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to $68. Call 301-581-5100 or visit www.ampbystrathmore.com.

BRUCE HORNSBY & YMUSIC

BERNARD/EBB SONGWRITING AWARDS CONCERT

Some of the area’s best and most original music artists will perform at this 6th annual competition created by Cathy Bernard in honor of her late uncle Fred Ebb, the legendary lyricist responsible, with his writing partner John Kander, for an abundance of major Broadway musicals, including Cabaret and Chicago. The Bernard/Ebb trophy is open to songwriters working in various genres, all drawn from a local pool of applicants (more than 160 entries were received this year). Produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, the 2020 finalists are Hayley Fahey of Derwood, Md., Genna Matthew of Charlottesville, Eric Scott of North Beach, Md., Maimouna Youssef of Baltimore, and DuPont Brass, a D.C. ensemble. A three-person jury of music industry veterans will give feedback throughout the show and then select the Grand Prize Winner and recipient of $10,000 plus 25 hours of recording studio time. Friday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club, 7719 Wisconsin Ave. Tickets are $15 to $20, plus a recommended $20 minimum purchase per person. Call 240-330-4500 or visit www.bethesdabluesjazz.com.

machinations of their boss in a tense workplace thriller by playwright Joel Drake Johnson. The situation spins wildly out of control in this incisive, even incendiary, dark comedy that examines the prevalence of ingrained racism in America, even in a time, and a place, some claim to be “post-racial.” The Ally Theatre Company’s Ty Hallmark directs the show to close out the third season of her young but already Helen Hayes Award-winning organization, one focused on producing theater intended to acknowledge and confront systemic oppression in America. Opens Friday, March 6. To March 22. Joe’s Movement Emporium, 3309 Bunker Hill Road, Mount Rainier, Md. Tickets are $15 to $25. Call 301-699-1819 or visit www.joesmovement.org.

THE CAKE

A devout and conservative cake baker in North Carolina tries not to think too hard, or much at all, about the complexities of things or the discrepancies of religious teachings. Until the girl she helped raise

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returns home to marry another woman. Bekah Brunstetter’s play was inspired by the U.S. Supreme Court case Masterpiece Cakeshop v.

Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

Dawn A. Westbrook directs.

Through March 7. Richmond Triangle Players, The Robert B. Moss Theatre, 1300 Altamont Ave. Richmond. Tickets are $10 to $35.

Call 804-346-8113 or visit www. rtriangle.org.

WEEP

Nu Sass Productions, the female-focused local theater company, presents a modern retelling of the Latin folktale “La Llorona,” or “The Weeping Woman,” centered on a woman accused of drowning her two children and the public defense attorney assigned to her high-profile case. Boneza Valdez Hanchock and Carolyn Kashner play the two women who form an unlikely friendship in this psychological thriller, written by D.C. playwright Amanda Zeitler, that touches on hot-button issues of racism, abortion, immigration, and misogyny.

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Bess Kaye directs. Now to March 14. Caos on F, 923 F St. NW. Tickets are $20. Call 202-215-6993 or visit www.nusass.com.

MUSIC A CAPPELLA LIVE!

AMP, Strathmore’s intimate cabaret venue, presents a modern twist on the classic touring Motown revue next weekend when four a cappella acts share the stage. The lineup includes the charming, boy band-inspired the Filharmonic, established gospel/R&B group Committed, American Idol-popularized electronic/dance artist and beatboxer Blake Lewis, and the international collective Women of the World.

The concert is overseen by Deke Sharon, a leading force behind NBC’s The Sing-Off, which gave the world Pentatonix. Sharon was also the arranger and music director of the Pitch Perfect movies. Friday, March 6. Doors at 6:30 p.m. Amp by Strathmore, 11810 Grand Park Ave. North Bethesda. Tickets are $42

You can always count on Bruce Hornsby to perform in concert his sentimental, richly textured ’80s pop hits, including “The Way It Is,” “Mandolin Rain,” and “The Valley Road.” But the singer-songwriter from Williamsburg, Virginia, has a vast catalogue that goes well beyond the tried and true. His newest album, Absolute Zero, is a wide-ranging set that includes forays into experimental jazz fusion, avant-garde classical as well as progressive rock. The 2019 album finds Hornsby collaborating with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon on a couple of strong selections, and roughly half of the tracks feature yMusic, the extraordinary Brooklyn-based contemporary classical chamber ensemble featuring a string trio, flute, clarinet, and trumpet. Next week at Strathmore, both acts will perform individual sets, but the key attraction is to see them join forces and jam together. Friday, March 6, at 8 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Md. Tickets are $38 to $88. Call 301-581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

CHRISTIAN DOUGLAS

Over the past few months, Christian Douglas has managed the feat of breaking into the competitive local theater scene as an ensemble member in two high-profile musicals — Newsies at Arena Stage and Gun & Powder at Signature Theatre.

Douglas is preparing to branch out further as a 2020 Artist in Residence at Strathmore. Douglas gets the spotlight for two shows set for March, in which he’ll perform songs from his EP Lonely Paradise, as well as “Modern Love,” his Strathmorecommissioned song cycle inspired by a New York Times column of the same name. Wednesdays, March 11 and March 25, at 7:30 p.m. 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda.

Tickets are $19. Call 301-581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

GAY MEN’S CHORUS OF WASHINGTON: GENDEROSITY

For its fourth concert of the season, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington offers a glam-rock spectacle celebrating gender and self-expression. Naturally, the program includes over-the-top costumes, dancers, and drag queens to go well beyond the music.

GMCW’s Thea Kano will direct the concert with choreography by Craig Cipollini, James Ellzy, and Danny Aldous. The song list ranges from “Dancing Queen” to “Vogue,” “Changes” to “Born This Way,” along with musical numbers from La Cage Aux Folles (“A Little More Mascara”), The Wiz (“Home”), and Aida (“My Strongest Suit”). Joining

the chorus on stage as the program’s special guest will be Batalá, D.C.’s diverse, all-women percussion group. Saturday, March 14, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 15, at 3 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. Tickets are $25 to $65. Call 202-328-6000 or visit www.thelincolndc.com.

ON A WINTER’S NIGHT: 25TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR

Cliff Eberhardt, John Gorka, Patty Larkin, Christine Lavin, and Cheryl Wheeler reunite to perform and celebrate a “moveable feast of song,” also dubbed a mini-folk festival. Ultimately, the concert pays tribute to the 1994 compilation that Lavin assembled featuring winter love songs from some of her favorite singer-songwriters.

Saturday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $$45.

Call 703-549-7500 or visit www. birchmere.com.

RED BARAAT W/ANJALI TANEJA

Jazz artist Sunny Jain conceived of and leads the bhangra-rooted party band Red Baraat, a Brooklyn-based ensemble returning to D.C. on their annual Festival of Colors tour.

This year’s party, which celebrates spring rites as well as the South Asian Diaspora in America, features an opening set from Anjali Taneja, a D.C.-based R&B singer-songwriter who weaves together soulful melodic elements with South Asain rhythmic influences. Friday, March 6. Doors at 6:30 p.m. The Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW. Tickets are $20 to $25. Call 202-787-1000 or visit www.thehamiltondc.com.

FANTASTIC FUNGI

Louie Schwartzberg’s entertaining documentary shines a light on the many ways mycelium and mushrooms can heal and save the planet, as responses to pressing medical, therapeutic, and environmental challenges. Narrated by actress Brie Larson, the film features insights and observations from bestselling authors and journalists Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Eugenia Bone (Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms), medicinal fungi advocate Paul Stramets, and best-selling author and alternative medicine doctor Andrew Weil (Spontaneous Healing). Wednesday March 11, at 8 p.m., followed by post-screening Q&A with Stephen Apkon, an executive producer of the film. At the Avalon Theatre, 5612 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $10.50 to $13. Call 202-966-6000 or visit www.theavalon.org.

ROBERTO FONSECA

Born into a family of Cuban musicians, this world-renowned jazz pianist spent years touring with Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club and Cuba’s greatest living diva, Omara Portuondo. Fonseca is currently touring in support of his ninth solo album, the wide-ranging 2019 set Yesun, which finds rap, funk, reggaeton, and electronica mixed in with his standard jazz. Calling it “the album I’ve always wanted to make,” the artist says in an official release that Yesun, ultimately, “presents a Cuba without borders,” one that “bridges...my Afro-Cuban traditions and other styles of music I’ve absorbed.” Tuesday, March 10.

Doors at 6:30 p.m. The Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW. Tickets are $24.75 to $49.75. Call 202-787-1000 or visit www.thehamiltondc.com.

DANCE MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY: THE EVE PROJECT

For its return to the Kennedy Center, the dance company named after the woman widely regarded as the mother of modern dance pres-

ents a collection of new commissions inspired by the late Graham’s work plus several of her signature classics. Another celebratory nod to the 19th Amendment's centennial, the EVE Project features new works including Untitled (Souvenir)

by Pam Tanowitz and Lamentation Variations by Aszure Barton, Liz Gerring, and Michelle Dorrance, each riffing on Graham’s iconic solo of the same name. Repertory works to be presented at various performances include Graham’s Diversion of Angels, Ekstasis, and Chronicle. Thursday, March 5, through Saturday, March 7, at 8 p.m. Performances are followed by a free talk with company artists, collaborators, and creative team members. Eisenhower Theater. Tickets are $25 to $69. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

READINGS & LECTURES (HER)STORY: ALL-BLACK WOMAN POETRY SHOWCASE

Presented by the local queer black writer/activst C. Thomas, this showcase features works of poetry that generally celebrate the strength of black women, touch on the wisdom they’ve gained as passed down from relatives and ancestors, and share experiences of joy and pain and healing. KaNikki Jakarta, the Poet Laureate of Alexandria, hosts the evening, which features writers Gail Danley, Theresa Tha Songbird, Miss Butterfly Free, and Luki. Friday, March 6, at 7 p.m. The Athenaeum, 201 Prince St., Alexandria. Tickets are $10. Call 703-548-0035 or visit www.nvfaa.org.

STORY DISTRICT: SHE COMES FIRST

Every second Tuesday, Story District presents a program featuring everyday people sharing personal stories they’ve been coached

to tell in seven minutes, and all focused on a particular topic. For March, which is Women’s History Month, the program focuses on “stories about women taking a stand, turning the tables, and breaking the ceiling,” all told one at a time. Storytellers including Qudsiya Naqui, Yasmin Elhady, Jenna Huntsberger, Janelle Brevard, Molly Kelly, Anne Hofmann, Coby Ones, Jasmine Jones, and HRC’s Charlotte Clymer. Tuesday, March 10. Doors at 6:30 p.m. Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. Tickets are $20 plus fees. Call 202-667-4490 or visit blackcatdc.com.

ART & EXHIBITS ARTY QUEERS: D.C.’S LGBTQ+ ART MARKET

The DC Center for the LGBT Community offers the chance for local LGBTQ and queer-identified artists to showcase and sell their works on the second Saturday of every month, including March 7, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Prospective

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art buyers can expect to see original artworks in a range of media, including painting, pottery, photography, jewelry, glasswork, textiles, and clothing. Perfect time to pick up a few extra-special gifts!

The DC Center, 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. Call 202-682-2245 or visit www.thedccenter.org.

BEHIND THE LENS FEATURING GOLIE MIAMEE

Works by local travel photographer and visual artist Golie Miamee are featured as the Winter 2020 exhibit at Art14, the seasonal art series at the Coldwell Banker Dupont/ Logan office on 14th Street. On display to March. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, 1617 14th St. NW. Call 202-387-6180 or visit www.facebook.com/CBRBDupont.

MARTIERENE ALCÁNTARA

HILL CENTER GALLERIES: REGIONAL JURIED EXHIBITION

THE IN SERIES: WOMEN COMPOSERS FESTIVAL

With a full weekend of performances, the Women Composers Festival showcases the work of women across various genres, from popular song to spoken word. Yet, opera is at the heart of the festival, with new stagings of two operas. Ana y Su Sombra, Gabriela Ortiz’s tells of a young girl conflicted about her family’s move from Mexico to the U.S. It plays Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8, at 3 p.m. Here Be Sirens is Kate Soper’s take on the three mythical singers of Homer’s Odyssey as they search for the meaning of their own existence. It plays Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8, at 7 p.m. The festival launches with a Gala Concert, featuring excerpts from women-written operas performed by four female singers, on Friday, March 6, at 7 p.m. The festival also offers two themed cabarets: “Dorothy Fields,” a toast to the American lyricist and her standards, including “The Way You Look Tonight,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” and “On The Sunny Side of the Street,” performed by Jennifer Timberlake with pianist Reenie Codelka (Friday, March 6, 9:30 p.m.), and “Love Songs,” an experimental, interactive hour-long work by Canadian/Serbian composer Ana Sokolovic, performed by Maribeth Diggle and beatbox artist Shodekeh (Saturday, March 7, at 9:30 p.m.) At GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. Tickets are $25 per program, or $80 for a Festival Pass. Call 202-234-7174 or visit www.inseries.org.

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Over the years, this exhibition, featuring works in various mediums and subjects, has grown to include 85 artists from D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. This year’s juror is Myrtis Bedolla, owner of Baltimore’s Galerie Myrtis. Bedolla selected 94 pieces of original hanging work, in any medium, submitted by 85 artists, including Kasse Andrews-Weller, Olga Bauer, Katherine Becker, Julie Byrne, Sally Canzoneri, Sam Dixon, Sean Dudley, Christopher Fowler, Charles Gaynor, M. Alexander Gray, Tara Hamilton, Wan Lee, Joey Manlapaz,Khanh Nguyen, Felicia Reed, Robert Weinstein, and Alla Zareva. On display to April 18. At the Old Naval Hospital, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. Call 202-549-4172 or visit www.HillCenterDC.org.

OUTBREAKS: EPIDEMICS IN A CONNECTED WORLD

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Great Influenza, the Smithsonian presents a (now harrowingly timely) exhibition on epidemiology and human health that, per the spread of coronavirus, shows itself to be as timely as ever. From HIV to SARS to Ebola, Outbreaks shows how viruses can spread from animals to people, why some infectious diseases become pandemics, and the collaborative ways many have been stopped or curtailed. Today, pandemic diseases remain one of the greatest threats to individuals and society, due to an increasingly interconnected, increasingly mobile, increasingly urbanized and industrialized global world. Ongoing to 2021. National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Call 202-633-1000 or visit mnh.si.edu.

THE DIVINE FEMININE

For the month of March, Gallery Underground, the visual arts space for the Arlington Artists Alliance and part of Crystal City’s Art Underground, presents an intriguing painting show featuring representative and abstract works by four female artists. Beth Hudgins, Linda Maldonado, Elise Ritter, and Deborah Taylor each envision the exhibition’s titular theme through unique imagery interpreting the feminine side of spirituality in the natural world, in human relationships, and in other facets. In addition, the main gallery will feature new works by gallery members ranging from paintings to sculpture, ceramics to woodworking. Opening Reception and Meet The Artists is Friday, March 6, from 5 to 7 p.m. On display through March 28. Crystal City Shops, 2100 Crystal Drive, Arlington. Call 571-483-0652 or visit www.galleryunderground.org.

ABOVE & BEYOND LA TI DO: THE MUSIC OF NEAL LEARNER

Anya Randall Nebel and Larry Grey co-host the next D.C. iteration of the musical variety cabaret La Ti Do. The March edition presents an evening of original music from Neal Learner, co-creator of the musical Soul Redeemer, which debuted at last year’s Capital Fringe. Guest performers include Jessica Jellish, Cathy McCoskey, Paige Washington, Anthony Williams, and Fernando Luciano Delgado, with music direction by Josh Cleveland. The program also offers spoken word from C. Thomas, the local queer poet of color. Monday, March 16, at 8 p.m.

Le Mirch, 1736 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $20 at the door.

Call 202-629-3577 or visit www.latidoproductions.com.

POETRY & PASTIES

Every second Saturday of the month, the Anacostia location of Busboys and Poets plays host to a diverse open mike/burlesque event over brunch explicitly designed as a “#queer-affirming, #POC-centered, #femme-focused space.” Poetry & Pasties (@poetryandpasties on social media) is hosted by poet and sex educator Jennifer Eden, who identifies as a Black queer femme.

Saturday, March 14, at 1 p.m. 2004 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE. Call 202-889-1374 or visit www. busboysandpoets.com. l

OFFICIAL STATE PORTRAIT

theFeed

Northam

THERAPEUTIC CHANGE O

Virginia becomes first southern state to ban conversion therapy ban. By John Riley

N TUESDAY, VIRGINIA GOV. RALPH NORTHAM signed a bill into law banning conversion therapy on minors in the commonwealth. Northam’s signature sets Virginia up to become the 20th state to protect LGBTQ youth from being coerced into therapies that attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, once the bill takes effect on July 1.

Sponsored by Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), the bill prohibits licensed medical professionals from attempting so-called “sexual orientation change efforts,” by classifying the practice as a form of “unprofessional conduct” the punishment for which could be the revocation of a medical providers’ license to practice.

The bill also prohibits taxpayer funds from being used to reimburse conversion therapists or agencies that refer LGBTQ youth to such therapists — though it does not apply to parents or counselors who act in a non-professional capacity as religious advisers.

The measure passed the House of Delegates last month by a 66-27 vote, with 11 House Republicans voting in favor.

It also passed the Senate on a largely party-line vote, with Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Upperville) the lone Republican voting with Democrats to approve the ban.

Several Republicans, particularly in the Senate, objected to the bill because they felt that existing regulations —

approved last year by the state boards that license therapists, social workers, and psychologists — were sufficient enough to convince medical professionals to avoid engaging in the practice, and to protect youth from being coerced into the therapy “Conversion therapy sends the harmful message that there is something wrong with who you are,” Northam said in a statement issued defending his decision to sign the bill into law. “This discriminatory practice has been widely discredited in studies and can have lasting effects on our youth, putting them at a greater risk of depression and suicide. No one should be made to feel they are not okay the way they are — especially not a child. I’m proud to sign this ban into law.”

Hope added in a statement: “Conversion therapy is a dangerous, destructive practice. We should be supporting and celebrating our LGTBQ youth, not putting them in harm’s way.”

Virginia is the 20th state to ban conversion therapy, which a majority of medical and mental health experts say is ineffective in changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Some studies even indicate that individuals subjected to conversion therapy may be at greater risk of psychological distress, including depression, self-harm, or suicidal ideation.

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theFeed saved with these critical protections from conversion therapy,” Sam Brinton, the head of advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project, an organization that seeks to prevent youth suicides.

“At The Trevor Project, we hear from LGBTQ youth in crisis every day and we know that those who are subjected to conversion therapy are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide. This bold action will send a message to all LGBTQ young people in the great Commonwealth of Virginia that they are loved and deserve support,” Brinton added. “Conversion therapy has no place in modern society and as the first of many LGBTQ-affirming bills to reach the desk of Governor Northam, we are happy to sweep conversion therapy into the dustbin of history.”

The bill was also praised by the Campaign for Southern Equality, which noted called the bill — the first ever to be passed by a legislature in the American South — an “historic breakthrough” for the LGBTQ community. “[This bill is] a clear signal of the rapidly growing public support for LGBTQ equality in the South and sends a salient message: LGBTQ youth must be treated with respect, love, and support,” the Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, the

Campaign’s executive director, said in a statement.

Last year, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper became the first Southern state governor to issue an executive order to prohibit the use of taxpayer funds to reimburse practitioners of conversion therapy.

Several states across the nation have introduced bills to ban the practice, including Kentucky, where a Republican is the lead sponsor.

Adam Trimmer, a survivor of conversion therapy who lives in Virginia and serves as the commonwealth’s ambassador for the #BornPerfect campaign seeking to ban the practice in all 50 states, praised Northam’s decision to sign the ban into law.

“I endured anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy, and it was devastating — the only effect it had was a negative one, robbing me of years of my life and requiring so much time, energy, and therapy to pick up the pieces,” Trimmer said in a statement. “Because of this law, this no longer has to be a reality for the next generation…. This is a historic affirmation of LGBTQ dignity and equality, the first in the South to protect our youth from this dangerous and discredited practice.” l

BISEXUAL BAN

Miss Staten Island banned from St. Patrick’s Day parade after coming out as bisexual. By Rhuaridh Marr

S

TATEN ISLAND’S ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE banned Miss Staten Island Madison L’Insalata from participating after she came out as bisexual. L’Insalata, 23, came out to the New York Post on Saturday, and said she planned to show her support for the LGBTQ community during the Sunday parade by wearing rainbow attire.

“There’s no rule against me wearing a rainbow,” L’Insalata said. “I want people to see the colors and ask questions.”

But hours later, she was banned from participating in the parade for “safety reasons.”

Parade director Larry Cummings contacted pageant director Jim Smith and told him that none of the pageant winners, including L’Insalata, would be riding in the parade, with all winners and their drivers banned.

Two pageant winners — Miss Staten Island’s Outstanding Teen Angelica Mroczek, and Miss Richmond County Gabrielle Ryan — had already announced plans to boycott the parade over its lack of LGBTQ representation. Ryan, whose mother is lesbian, told the Post that her title meant “standing up for what is right and challenging what is wrong, and not just using it as an opportunity to take photos in a pretty crown.”

The Staten Island parade is the only New York City borough that continues to refuse to allow LGBTQ groups to openly participate. Speaking to the Staten Island Advance last month, Cummings called the parade “a non-sexual identification parade and that’s that,” and said a local Pride Center would not be allowed to participate. “No, they are not marching,” he added.

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But Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon told the Advance that Cummings claims of “safety” concerns in banning L’Insalata were questionable.

“The New York City Police Department is in charge of the safety of the people here marching at the parade. I trust them,” McMahon said on Sunday. “I would leave that for them to decide, and I don’t think that’s really a very valid argument.”

Speaking to CNN, L’Insalata said she did “not see [the ban] coming at all.”

“It was a curveball,” she added. “But when I heard it, I was shocked and a bit upset.”

Smith, the pageant director, told CNN that he wasn’t surprised at Cummings’ reaction to L’Insalata’s coming out, saying he “knew nobody would change his mind” about banning the pageant winners.

“It was very difficult to tell them,” he said. “I felt screwed.

This was one of the biggest events of the year in Staten Island.”

L’Insalata ultimately attended the parade, wearing a rainbow scarf and sticker, but as a spectator rather than a participant.

WCBS-TV reports that a number of community leaders and fellow spectators applauded her when she appeared, and L’Insalata said she hoped it would further discussion about LGBTQ representation in the parade.

“I knew that people would talk about it, and that’s all I wanted,” she said, “Because the more people that know about it, the more likely it is to change.” l

Community

FRIDAY, March 6

ADVENTURING outdoors

GAY DISTRICT, a group for

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.

METROHEALTH CENTER

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.

group hikes 8 moderate miles with several hundred feet of elevation gain in Greenbelt Park, Md. Bring beverages, lunch, and the $2 trip fee.

Walk begins at 10 a.m. at the College Park Metro Station.

Return by 2:30 p.m. For more information, contact David, 240-938-0375, or visit www. adventuring.org.

JULIAN VANKIM

GBTQQI men between the ages of 18-35, meets on the first and third Fridays of each month.

8:30-9:30 p.m. The DC Center.

2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

Visit www.gaydistrict.org.

Join LGBTQ people all over the D.C. area for GoGayDC’s monthly FIRST FRIDAYS HAPPY HOUR SOCIAL at The Commentary, located in the Westin Arlington Gateway.

Ballston Metro is two blocks away. Free to attend.

Everyone welcome. 7-9 p.m.

801 N. Glebe Rd., Arlington, Va. For more information, visit www.gogaydc.org.

SATURDAY, March 7

CENTER GLOBAL, a group that

RAYCEEN TO THE FINISH The Ask Rayceen Show’s penultimate season will showcase everyone from artists to politicians during a vital election year.

W

E ARE SO DELIGHTED TO BE KICKING OFF THE ninth season of The Ask Rayceen Show, because 2020 is the season of change,” says Rayceen Pendarvis. “There’s so much in the air, with the election, politics — so many people are just feeling the need for change, to be in spaces that accept them and not just tolerate them. The Ask Rayceen Show is a place that celebrates the fullness of the LGBTQ community and our allies.”

The show was created as a forum to showcase various artists, newsmakers, and community activists. Pendarvis sees his hosting role as a way to further the forum’s mission of educating, motivating, and supporting the LGBTQ community in the D.C. area.

Joining Team Rayceen this year is Krylios, a longtime volunteer, emcee, and online content producer for Team Rayceen’s YouTube channel. Earlier this week, the show’s season premiere kicked off with performances and interviews featuring KiDé, the DMV-based soul/R&B duo consisting of Kia Bennett and Desiree Jordan, burlesque performer Ganja Kitty, and PoetRaeMonet.

On April 1, the show will host the annual #AskRayceen MiniBall, a popular pageant-meets-fashion-show where competitors strut their stuff, show off, and vogue for prizes, with the grand prize going to a contestant who best imitates their favorite celebrity. In May, the show presents its annual community forum, followed by a Pride-themed event in June and an annual poetry slam in July, to include a panel discussion previewing The DC Center’s OutWrite literary festival.

Pendarvis plans to hold a special forum ahead of the June 2 primary and June 16 Ward 2 special elections for the D.C. Council.

In addition, Pendarvis is embarking on a project in which she has been holding one-on-one interviews with local candidates seeking public office in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The interviews will be posted to YouTube over the coming weeks and months.

The ninth season of The Ask Rayceen Show will be the show’s penultimate. “We will celebrate our tenth season in 2021, and after that, I’m formulating something new,” she says. “We’re going to go into a whole new chapter of the Team Rayceen experience.”

—John Riley The Ask Rayceen Show is generally held on the first Wednesday of each month. The next scheduled show is Wednesday, April 1, at 7 p.m. at the HRC Equality Center, 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Doors open at 6 p.m. For more information, email AskRayceen@ gmail.com. You can also follow Team Rayceen Productions (@ TeamRayceen), The Ask Rayceen Show (@AskRayceen), or Rayceen Pendarvis (@RayceenHRH) on Twitter or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TeamRayceen.

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 & cul-

ture group tours sites near Williamsport, Md., connected with Lee’s retreat from Gettysburg in 1863. Bring beverages, lunch, and a few dollars for transportation. Carpool at 9:30 a.m. from the GrosvenorStrathmore Metro Station.

Return by 4 p.m. Drivers needed. For more info, contact Craig, 202-462-0535 or criaghowell1@verizon.net.

FCPS PRIDE, a professional,

advocacy and social group for FCPS employees (both LGBTQ and allied), 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 Bakery Cafe, 4125 Hummer Rd., Annandale, Va. For more information, visit www.fcpspride.org.

Weekly Events 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, March 8 LAMBDA SCI-FI holds a

monthly meeting and social for LGBTQ sci-fi, fantasy, and hor-

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ror fans. Bring snacks or non-alcoholic beverages to share. Meeting starts at 1:30 p.m. Social from 2-4:30 p.m. For location and more details, visit www.lambdascifi.org.

Weekly Events BETHEL CHURCH-DC progressive and radically inclusive church holds services at 11:30 a.m. 2217 Minnesota Ave. SE. 202-248-1895, www.betheldc.org.

ing-and-affirming congregation, offers services at 10 a.m. Virginia Rainbow UU Ministry. 4444 Arlington Blvd. For more info, visit www.uucava.org.

UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL MEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-

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/

MONDAY, March 9

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.

FAIRLINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH is an open, inclusive church. All welcome, including the LGBTQ community. Member of the Reconciling Ministries Network. Services at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. 3900 King Street, Alexandria, Va. 703-6718557. For more info, visit www. fairlingtonumc.org.

FRIENDS MEETING OF WASHINGTON meets for worship, 10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW, Quaker House Living Room (next to Meeting House on Decatur Place), 2nd floor. Special welcome to lesbians and gays. Handicapped accessible from Phelps Place gate.

Hearing assistance. Visit www. quakersdc.org.

INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT, God-centered

new age church & learning center.

Sunday Services and Workshops event. 5419 Sherier Place NW. Visit www.isd-dc.org.

LUTHERAN CHURCH OF REFORMATION invites all to

Sunday worship at 8:30 or 11 a.m.

Childcare is available at both services. Welcoming LGBT people for 25 years. 212 East Capitol St. NE. Visit www.reformationdc.org.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpreted) and 11 a.m. Children's Sunday School at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW. For more info, call 202-638-7373 or visit www.mccdc.com.

RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH,

a Christ-centered, interracial, welcoming-and-affirming church, offers service at 10 a.m. 680 I St.

MARCH 5, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

UNITARIAN CHURCH OF ARLINGTON, an LGBTQ welcom-

ing and inclusive church. GLBT Interweave social/service group meets monthly. Services at 11 a.m., Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th St. NW. For more info, call 202-3873411 or visit www.universalist.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

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SW. For more info, call 202-5544330 or visit www.riversidedc.org.

Weekly Events DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

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

DC’S DIFFERENT DRUMMERS

welcomes musicians of all abilities to join its Monday night rehearsals.

The group hosts marching/color guard, concert, and jazz ensembles, with performances year round.

Please contact Membership@ DCDD.org to inquire about joining one of the ensembles or visit www.

DCDD.org.

The DC Center hosts COFFEE

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

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

US HELPING US hosts a black

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

Visit www.ushelpingus.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.

TUESDAY, March 10 The DC Center holds a roundtable discussion as part of its COMING OUT DISCUSSION GROUP on the second Tuesday and fourth Thursday of each month. This group is for those navigating issues associated with coming out and personal identity. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Whitman-Walker Health holds its weekly GAY MEN’S HEALTH AND WELLNESS/STD CLINIC. Patients are seen on a walk-in basis. No-cost screening for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. Hepatitis and herpes testing available for a fee.

Testing starts at 6 p.m, but should arrive early to ensure a spot. 1525 14th St. NW. For more information, visit www.whitman-walker.org.

WEDNESDAY, March 11 LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB meets at

The Dignity Center for Duplicate Bridge. No reservations needed.

Newcomers welcome. 7:30 p.m. 721 8th St. SE (across from the Marine Barracks). Call 202-841-0279 if you need a partner.

LEZ READ, a book discussion group focusing on works by lesbian and queer-identified authors, meets at Politics and Prose on the second Wednesday of each month. 7:3010:30 p.m. 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, downstairs coffee shop. For more information, visit www.meetup.com/Lez-Read.

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.

FREEDOM FROM SMOKING, a

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

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, March 12 The DC Center’s LGBTQ FIRST

RESPONDERS AND MILITARY SERVICE MEMBERS SUPPORT GROUP seeks to help active duty

military members, Reservists, and present or former firefighters, EMTs, and law enforcement officers. Due to the sensitive nature of this group, discussions, names, and attendance will be kept confidential. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

The EQUALITY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, an affiliate of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, holds its signature social event on the second Thursday of each month. Take the time to network, meet D.C.-area LGBTQ and allied business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals, and make connections. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Moxy Washington, D.C., 1011 K St. NW. Pre-registration required. For more information, visit business.eccdc.biz/events. l For more events, visit www. metroweekly.com/community/ calendar.

MARCH 5, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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I Focusing on high-quality brews and a host of entertainment options, Red Bear Brewing Co. has become the go-to place in NoMa.

By John Riley Photography by Todd Franson

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T’S FRIDAY MORNING AT RED BEAR BREWING CO., and Lizzo’s “Good as Hell” is blaring from the speakers as employees prepare food in the kitchen, clean glasses and fill ice in the bar area, and move stock around from various deliveries. The brewery is busier than a beehive, with each employee flitting to and fro, earnestly focused on completing their individual tasks.

At the center of the hustle and bustle are the brewery’s co-owners, Bryan Van Den Oever, Simon Bee, and Cameron Raspet, three craft beer aficionados who relocated from Seattle and pooled their talent and resources to open the District’s first and only 100% gay-owned brewery on March 9 of last year.

“I just got my hair cut, so I’m feeling ‘Good as Hell,’” jokes Van Den Oever as he rolls his neck with an imaginary hair toss and bops to the music while checking the email on a laptop perched at the end of the main bar. “Also, Simon says he’s never heard the song, so I figured I’d play it for him.”

Bee, who has slung his bags over one of the cushy,

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lounge-style chairs in the corner of the front bar, has his laptop open on the table alongside a book filled with notes he’s scribbled. Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Raspet is overseeing the staff and making sure everything is in order ahead of the doors opening at 1 p.m.

Together, the owners are like the three legs of a tripod, each bringing balance to life at Red Bear. Without one, the other two cannot function as efficiently. And each man brings part of his unique personality into the business.

Van Den Oever, gregarious and playful, is as comfortable in a glittery, sequin-studded red cape as he is a flannel shirt and jeans. As the director of business development and marketing, he serves as the public face of the brewery. Bee, by contrast, is the tall, strong, silent type who looks like he’d be more comfortable cutting timber in the Pacific Northwest — he did the bulk of the woodwork in the bar, after all. An ambitious striver, he’s the certified cicerone who serves as director of brewing operations.

Raspet, the quiet, organized one, serves as director of operations.

He’s a steadying influence, the pragmatic partner who ensures the brewery is up to code, oversees the back-of-the house staff, and is in charge of payroll and human resources.

“It’s a good dynamic,” says Raspet. “Bryan is definitely the whimsical one and the character who brings the charisma that’s needed for this kind of business. I’m the one that more or less keeps them on task. And Simon is kind of the middle ground, where Bryan and I can sometimes cause strife or can butt heads, and Simon serves as the intermediary. But Simon also runs his own little part of the show, since he specifically runs the brewery. I think we work well together.”

It was Bee who first came up with the notion of opening up a nanobrewery after he decided he wanted to pursue a passion for brewing beer — which he had been doing at home for 11 years — on a much larger scale.

“Home brewery was basically a hobby, something I did for fun on the weekends in my past life,” says Bee, who previously worked as a property manager in Seattle. “I got burned out on my career, and decided that I was in a good spot to be able to open a business by myself. I was looking at something pretty small until I got together with Bryan and we realized we could do something a little bit bigger and better.”

Bee and Van Den Oever then enlisted the help of Raspet, who was poised to start a new career when Boeing, where he had worked for 15 years as a flight test engineer, began asking employees to agree to voluntary layoffs.

“I just wanted to do something else,” says Raspet. “Bryan and Simon had been pondering this idea of opening a brewery somewhere, and they came to me right around the same time that Boeing was asking for voluntary layoffs. And it was like, ‘Well, this is coincidental timing. Let’s see where this goes.”

The Name Game IT SEEMS THERE’S a backstory for everything at Red Bear, including how the name was generated.

“Simon and I started with the brewery idea, and we came up with a whole list of names,” says Van Den Oever. “Some I liked, some he liked, and some were just names. We did a Facebook poll back in 2015 among our family and friends, and they overwhelmingly chose Red Bear — mainly, I think, because they know we’re both gingers. I actually hated the name when we first started, but it grew on me and now I’m like, ‘I love it. I'll take it.’ We were actually shocked that the name was trademarkable.”

Above Red Bear’s main bar hangs a menu boasting various 26

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“We’re doing something that you don’t really see in craft breweries that attracts people to us. I think of our ‘feel’ as being like a little bit of a misfit — and I think that’s a lot of fun, and a little bit edgy.”

—Simon Bee types of craft beer, including three that are named after each of the owners. Van Den Oever’s namesake, a double IPA brew called Twinsies (Pew, Pew, Pew!), refers to an inside joke with his twin brother, Ryan. Raspet’s namesake, Cammy Cam Cam, an ESB, is based on a nickname his grandmother gave him. Bee’s is Skookum, a beer inspired by red ales that are common to the Seattle area.

Each co-owner took a unique path to their current partnership. For Van Den Oever, born in Pipestone, Minn., and raised in small-town Iowa, that path ran through the military. An Army Reserve veteran who was deployed overseas in 2002 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Van Den Oever eventually obtained an associate’s degree and moved to Seattle in 2006, where he began working as a nuclear medicine technologist. Although he had to hide his sexual orientation from his fellow soldiers while serving in the military, Van Den Oever says that “people knew, but nobody cared.”

Raspet, a Washington State native, was born and raised in a “standard Seattle” household with a father who was a firefighter and a mother who was a homemaker. An outdoors enthusiast, Raspet — who also shares a military background with Van Den Oever — went to college for a degree in electrical engineering, first working at a job where he designed nuclear weapons before switching careers to work at Boeing.

Bee, who was raised in a blue-collar English immigrant family in the Seattle suburbs, entered property management when he moved to Seattle and bought a fixer-upper that he was later able to flip for a profit, investing that money in order to save up enough to pursue his idea of opening a brewery.

While all three largely found acceptance from their families and friends after coming out, Bee’s journey of self-realization occurred much later in his life than his two co-workers, who came out in their late teens and early 20s.

“I’m a bit of what they would call a late bloomer,” he says. “I was married for a little while to a female for about eight years and then that basically didn't work out. It was a combination of just wanting to go our separate ways.

“I was like, well this is probably the right time to come out,” he adds. “I was really kind of afraid of what was going on, and there was this big buildup of just expecting everybody to react a certain way. But everybody was super cool. My folks took a little bit of time to kind of adjust and get used to it, but they came around.... My dad was a mechanic and a business owner, so I think he is probably pretty proud of the fact that I was able to start a business and I have that same entrepreneurial spirit.”

Inclusivity on Tap SINCE OPENING A YEAR ago, Red Bear has carved a special niche for itself within the bar/brewery community. Not only is the 7,000 square-foot space the biggest bar operating in D.C.’s

Simon Bee

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“We can be very flexible on the styles that we have here. You should be able to find anything you’re interested in — light beer, dark beer, sour, sweet, big ole pastry styles if you want.”

—Bryan Van Den Oever 28

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Cameron Raspet

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trendy NoMa neighborhood, its single-floor layout takes advantage of space to make it feel less cramped than other bars that have to spread themselves over multiple floors. Additionally, Red Bear’s designation as a gay-owned brewery — even though the bulk of its clientele aren’t necessarily LGBTQ — and its focus on inclusivity make it an appealing spot for craft beer connoisseurs to let their hair down on the weekends while leaving behind any pretensions.

“On the weekend, in the early afternoon, you can find the families here with their kids and the strollers,” says Van Den Oever. “People from all walks of life. But then in the evenings, like Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, clearly this is a younger crowd. It depends on the event that's going on.”

Due to Red Bear’s proximity to Gallaudet University, the owners have tried to reach out and cater to an underserved community by hosting ASL events. The brewery also markets itself as a hangout for self-described “board game geeks” who can play any number of classic games while they down their beers. Red Bear has hosted special events, such as community forums and panel discussions, and regularly features monthly drag shows, as well as drag bingo events on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month.

“I think it’s that we’re doing something that you don’t really see in craft breweries that attracts people to us,” says Bee. “I’ve never seen any brewery that focuses on minority groups. I think of our ‘feel’ as being like a little bit of a misfit, and I think that’s a lot of fun, and a little bit edgy.”

Even though most of Red Bear’s clientele are straight, the brewery’s drag-themed events remain among its most popular.

On the first Friday of each month, the brewery hosts a “Slay Them” contest for amateur drag queens, with the winner earning $50 and a chance to perform in a future drag event at Red Bear. On May 8, the winners from each month’s contest will compete for honors in a Slay Them Pageant.

“We’ve got a crown, they get a bigger prize, they get more bookings,” notes Van Den Oever. “These drag performers are all relatively new or just getting into drag. They're not polished queens or kings. They’ve all just started working in the drag community and this is a platform to springboard their career.”

Besides Slay Them, Red Bear also hosts a monthly drag show, the Desiree Dik Drag Show Extravaganza, which provides additional performance opportunities for local drag queens.

“Desiree is very ambitious, and she said, ‘Let’s do this, this, and this.’ And we were like, ‘Let’s go for it and see what happens,’” Raspet says of the brewery’s star queen.

“Just walking in the door, the hostesses greet me, the crowd is ‘oohing,’ everyone says hi, even the kitchen staff,” says Dik. “We all work as a team. Everyone at Red Bear has always been really welcoming, and takes care of every drag performer. I know drag performers say Red Bear is a place that treats them very well and where they are respected. The audience is laid-back, fun, very open-minded. I always have a blast with them. They’re always very positive and screaming and cheering at the shows.”

Beer’s the Thing ENTERTAINMENT OFFERINGS BRING in the crowds, but it’s the beer that makes people stick around, and Red Bear is intentional about the different brews it has on tap — basing its decision partially on market trends, but also on feedback from its customers.

“The three of us come together and really talk about what styles we want, what season is it in, really mapping out what customers are going to want and doing our research,” says Van 30

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“Where Bryan and I can sometimes butt heads, Simon serves as the intermediary. But Simon also runs his own part of the show, since he runs the brewery.

We work well together.

It’s a good dynamic.”

—Cameron Raspet

Den Oever. “It does help that we have so many tap lines that we can be very flexible on the styles that we have here. You should be able to find anything you’re interested in — light beer, dark beer, sour, sweet, big ole pastry styles if you want.”

“In the fall, you’ll see a lot of German beers, and pumpkin beers. That’s what I think of when I think of fall seasonals,” adds Bee. “Winter beers are a bit heavier because it's kind of cold out and people want something heavy and dark. In springtime, people are ready for something that’s a little bit lighter, more refreshing. And usually a lot of the spring beers just spill into summer. It’s so hot here in D.C. that we just hold those offerings all the way until fall.”

Red Bear provides regular training for its employees to make sure they’re “educated and know what’s going on” about the various types of beers, Bee says, in case they are asked for recommendations by a customer. They also make extensive use of social media to promote any new brews on tap, helping customers know what to expect before they even set foot in the bar.

“Every time we have a new beer released, we try to push it out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook,” Bee says. “That’s a really good way for us to say, ‘Here are the ingredients going into the beer,’ here’s some flavor profiles, here’s a bit of background on it.”

Despite the brewery’s success in its first year, Van Den Oever is intentional about seizing various marketing opportunities to ensure business remains steady.

“We’re brand new, so you always have that lingering fear that nobody’s going to walk in the door,” he says. “I know we have fabulous beer. The beer is delicious. The cocktails are amazing.

We have great shows, but you just never know. Are people into it? Do people want to be here? You always have that lingering fear. I hate that because we’ve put a lot into this.”

He also notes that NoMa is still an up-and-coming neighborhood that is undergoing gentrification — which will inevitably bring other potential competitors to the area.

“We know more restaurants and bars will be coming to NoMa, but right now we just don’t feel that pressure yet,” says Van Den Oever. “It is going to come. But we just need to be savvy. We hope that we are building ourselves up to be a cornerstone of the neighborhood.”

That said, Van Den Oever doesn’t begrudge any other bar or club owners the chance to set down roots in the neighborhood.

“We're super excited for Town 2.0 to open up on North Capitol and K. We're very excited about that,” he says. With a chuckle and another toss of his head, he adds, “Maybe together, we can make NoMa the new gayborhood.” l Red Bear Brewing Co., at 209 M St. NE, will celebrate its 1st Anniversary on Saturday, March 7, from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. DJ Silence Echoez spins at 1 p.m. and DJ Shea van Horn spins at 8 p.m. Desiree Dik performs at 9 p.m. Visit www.redbear.beer.

DISNEY-PIXAR

Movies

Magic Hour

Onward leaps through plot holes aplenty to land at its still-heartwarming conclusion. By André Hereford

B

Y SOME STROKE OF WIZARDRY, DISNEY-PIXAR’S FANTASY-ADVENture Onward (HHHHH) casts a spell of questing action and brotherly love that magically obscures the movie’s lapses in its own logic and obvious mechanics.

Formulaic might best describe the story, which ticks off the protagonist’s precisely handwritten goals like boxes on an audience survey card, asking, “What would you like to see the hero accomplish?”

That hero is Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland), a bright, unassuming elf celebrating his sixteenth birthday in a wondrous world of dragons, mermaids, and pegasus unicorns.

Every imaginable fantasy creature can be found dwelling in Ian’s peaceful hometown of Mushroomton, where, according to the prologue, the magic of yore has faded into memory. So now these elves, trolls, cyclopes, and things live like ordinary suburban Americans — uh, Mushroomtonians. The joking juxtaposition of outlandish beasts and beings just shopping, riding the bus, waiting tables, and going about their quotidian lives suggests potential for more outrageousness than anything the makers of this PG-rated comedy put forth.

Still, the premise does yield sight gags and outright laughs with characters like the Pixie Dusters, a biker gang of pissy sprites and fairies, and Corey the Manticore, who remembers when this fantastical world was dangerous and wild. Voiced by Oscarwinner Octavia Spencer, Corey gets roped into a quest pursued by Ian and his lovable doofus older brother Barley (a suitably animated Chris Pratt). The Lightfoot brothers’ late dad left them a way to rediscover some of their world’s forgotten magic, and possibly even bring him back to life to spend one more glorious day with his two boys.

A tad morbid, and definitely manipulative, dad’s gift could have been designed by a Disney story-bot fed hours of those tear-jerking videos of servicemen and women surprising their frazzled little loved ones at school pep rallies and sweet sixteens. Except Ian and Barley’s dad hasn’t been away fighting a war, he’s been truly gone — just like

the magic they’ll need to reunite with him.

Heartstrings won’t be plucked lightly but yanked hard like a headless horse to water.

The plot also appears headless at times, playing fast and loose with the film’s own logic of time and space.

Fortunately, director and co-writer Dan Scanlon spins the siblings’ quest into a rollicking, chase-filled adventure, buoyed by a zippy score by brothers Jeff and Mychael Danna. The animators don’t produce mind-blowing visuals, but the physical dimensions of these mythological creatures and their quasi-suburban realm register strongly, as in a suspenseful sequence teetering over the vertiginous heights of a bottomless pit. It’s up to Ian and whatever magic he can muster to cross that pit and a series of perilous obstacles. The quest might also have been designed by a story-bot, but one well-acquainted with video games and the original level-up thrill of heroic odysseys.

Not so well-versed in adventure lore, Ian has a lot of learning to do in order to tick off the boxes on his aforementioned list of self-improvement goals. He could use some improvement, because he’s not the most compelling hero, or even the more compelling Lightfoot. Holland lays on the aw-shucks wholesomeness as thick as Aunt Bee’s pancake batter, leaving Ian a whip-smart teen with zero edge and limited charm.

Time and time again, Pratt’s supporting bro Barley comes to the rescue of Ian and

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the movie, with his good vibes, ’70s party van, and expert knowledge of the historically based role-playing game that guides the siblings’ pursuit. Lending quest-obsessed Barley a natural, goofball joie de vivre, somebody’s favorite Chris injects much-needed enthusiasm to the enterprise, and helps keep the going light when this resurrection story passes through gloomy territory.

As the fearsomely drawn but sweet-natured manticore, Spencer likewise applies a hearty, spirited tone that fits the Pixar mold of poignant action and zany humor. As Ian and Barley’s loving

mom Laurel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus isn’t given much opportunity to be zany, or notably funny, unless P90X jokes are still a thing.

However, Laurel does get to jump in and swing a sword when the need arises. And even more notably, Lena Waithe portrays a casually gay cop, Officer Specter, who mentions a girlfriend then continues to play a role in the story. So it’s nice to see that Disney has embraced the inclusion of LGBTQ folks in their fantasies of elves, trolls, cyclopes, and things. Let’s wish them onward to including a queer character as the hero of a human quest. l

Onward is rated PG, and opens in theaters everywhere on Friday, March 6. Visit www.fandango.com.

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GERRY GOOSDTEIN

Stage

Humbled

Spend your gold on Simon Godwin’s extraordinary reboot of Timon of Athens, starring the phenomenal Kathryn Hunter. By Kate Wingfield

C

HARMINGLY ELECTRIC AND BURSTING WITH PERSONALITY, SIMON Godwin’s reboot of Timon of Athens (HHHHH) is not just an exciting retelling of this Shakespeare play, it is something of an event. Not only is this a female Timon, but she comes in the inimitable form of Kathryn Hunter, one of the most charismatic embodiments of a Shakespearean character you are ever likely to meet.

Tiny, wiry, and with a voice as big and husky as a stevedore’s, Hunter is the kind of actor whose Shakespeare is emoted not just with voice, but with the entire body. A choreographed, understated wonder, Hunter’s every move, gesture and reach of the hand serves the text. Like great dance, it is simpatico with the music of the language and it is truly gratifying to experience. Is it dramatic, flamboyant, grand? Yes. Does it work? Absolutely.

But if Hunter’s physical presence is the first thing to grip the attention, her phenomenal command of Shakespeare’s language and meaning is equally front, center and mesmerizing; her phrasing, pauses, and choice of emphasis pure magic. It is as if she, quite simply, hands out the meaning of the words and the emotion behind them. It is an educated kind of accessibility — joyous for those who are familiar, a revelation for the newly initiated. Add the choice to have Timon engage with the audience — be it with knowing looks or directly — and the effect is warm, personable, and yet another way in which this production invites the audience to relax and engage.

It’s also a clever approach for a play that isn’t known for its grand events or historical tragedy, but more as a clever, ultimately pessimistic, contemplation of selfishness.

Set in two parts, the tale begins with the too-generous Timon who, when the money finally runs out, finds that her supposed friends — all who have been eager recipients of lavish gifts — quickly disown her. In disgust, Timon leaves her fallen estate and

makes camp in the wilderness, where she is approached in turn by former friends, politicians, thieves, one true compatriot, and a band of rebels (criminals, in the play as written). As each person interrupts Timon’s solitude, she challenges their selfishness while revealing more of her own philosophy on humankind’s best purpose.

But even if this is something of a “small” story compared to Shakespeare’s other plays, he and likely co-author Thomas Middleton do generate a host of clever one-liners and insults, mind-blowingly relevant commentary on greed and empty promises, and some truly beautiful riffs on the sun, moon, and life, as the world beyond Athens becomes more and more profound to Timon.

Carrying this journey, Hunter’s larger-than-life Timon is pitched perfectly: like one of Shakespeare’s kings, as generous and unassuming as she is, it is soon clear that she has a questing mind and soul, living an internal life apart from the fray. And yet, reinterpreted as a female role, Hunter brings Timon an entirely new dimension, with a fascinating energy. She hugs, strokes and shows tender compassion and yet, once her fortunes are gone, she fights, rails, and clomps around like a free-spirited kid. It is a beautifully genderless telling, not least because there is no story here of male threat or female

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GERRY GOOSDTEIN

submission. Hunter takes her beyond her gender and into her personhood and the play utterly blossoms with it.

Of course, this concept of Timon is a shared enterprise between Godwin and Hunter, and her star turn is carefully, skillfully balanced with the overall vision of a colorful, fastpaced entertainment that plays with mood, moving seamlessly between the fun and the somber. Set in a slightly surreal, futuristic Greece, scenic and costume designer Soutra Gilmour skillfully orchestrates some complex and thoroughly messy scenes and has fun with the snazzy outfits of the sycophantic aristocrats surrounding Timon before her fall. But she also gives Timon a

wonderfully expressive sackcloth after she takes refuge on the Greek hinterlands, which Hunter carries with flair. Lighting designer Donald Holder plays with attractive neon hues and then tamps it all down into a stark, bold light as Timon contemplates her disappointment in human nature. A semi-onstage band playing interludes of Greek folk music and Christopher Shutt’s quieter mood-setting soundscape is effective and brings a further sense of intimacy.

Supporting Hunter is a compelling and cohesive cast, with Arnie Burton standing out for his low-key, post-punk Apemantus, who shows a genuine, if gruff, affection for Timon. As Flavius, John Rothman offers an agitated, tightly wound right-hand man who brings some convincing angst to the sudden loss of Timon’s stature and safety as her debts become due. In the role of fair-weather friend Sempronius, Daniel Pearce delivers some giggle-worthy one-liners and generally raises the irony meter, while Zachary Fine’s Painter vacillates convincingly between twittering obsequiousness and seriously greedy.

Yonatan Gebeyehu is a charismatic Poet, if shouting a bit more than expressing at times. Both Liam Craig’s Demetrius and Dave Quay’s Lucullus bring complementary color and Elia MonteBrown makes for an interestingly grim rebel leader, Alcibiades.

Of the younger players, Adam Langdon shows a willing presence and energy.

For the chance to see an infrequently staged play and an unforgettable Timon, if you have the gold, use it for this. l

Timon of Athens runs through March 22 at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Michael R. Klein Theatre, 450 7th Street NW. Tickets are $35 to $120. Call 202-547-1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org.

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MANAF AZZAM

Stage

In the Life

Built around a pair of potent performances, This Bitter Earth explores an interracial gay couple’s love and conflict. By André Hereford

A

STAGE VAST ENOUGH TO CONTAIN MULTITUDES IS VIRTUALLY shrunk down to the intimate size of a shared bed, and a shared life, in Otis Ramsey-Zöe’s well-crafted production of This Bitter Earth (HHHHH). The romantic drama, by GLAAD Media Award-winning playwright Harrison David Rivers, charts the progress of writer Jesse and activist Neil from strangers who meet at a protest rally, to lovers who fit together despite their deep-rooted differences.

Jesse (Justin Weaks) is black and Neil (Noah Schaefer) is white, but their predominant contrasts are in temperament and in their tactics for processing the injustices they see in the world. For a major twist in their relationship, and in the play, is that Neil is heavily involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, while Jesse directs revolutionary energies towards his writing.

A racial reversal that easily could come off as gimmicky instead reads as sincere from both sides. Rivers’ clever script pokes fun at Neil’s supposed white guilt, and Jesse’s apparent apathy, but represents neither as mere stereotype. Although, occasionally, the play does cast Jesse as a witty spokesperson for a type of opinionated, educated black gay man. The prickly writer describes his work as a meditation on blackness and queerness, and he makes a persuasive argument that ending racism in America isn’t about him marching with BLM, it’s about white people changing how they deal with racism.

Neil professes that his relationship with Jesse does change how he thinks of race, and

how he experiences it in the world. The assured direction and Schaefer’s engaging performance ensure that we believe Neil is earnest in his activism. Schaefer renders Neil’s impressive capacity for empathy as not a pose, but a steadfast conviction that he can learn from Jesse, and from the pain and anger triggered by events like the shooting deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. Jesse, in turn, learns to embrace every emotion that comes with loving himself and loving his partner.

When Jesse sincerely counts his blessings, Weaks finds the joy, gratitude, and fear underlying the act.

The couple’s happiness together isn’t promised, but the audience will join them in hoping for it, as Jesse and Neil’s romance proceeds in elegantly nonlinear fashion. Scenes are shuffled and repeated, and dealt out of order — yet continually add up to a winning hand. Abetted by John D. Alexander’s extraordinarily nimble lighting, Weaks and Schaefer jump chronologically across months and years, capturing the rhythm of how a new couple flirts, or how long-time partners fight, or how drunk partners can flirt and fight simultaneously. The dynamic duo creates

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MANAF AZZAM

a warm, physical intimacy that envelops the house, and aids the audience in keeping track of the story’s rapid changes in time and location.

The direction also demands that the actors physically envelop the audience, entering and exiting Brian Gillick’s set of painted platforms from all four corners of the house.

They might bicker or tease each other across a chasm of space. They might team up centerstage for duets of boyfriend drama, or cede the stage to their partner for one of several powerful monologues. In particular, Weaks makes soulful music of a speech in which Jesse describes a dream of dining and dancing with African-American legends from Zora, Langston, and Baldwin, to Nina, Latifah, and Marian Anderson.

The production is steeped in music and atmosphere, finding equally effective uses for strains of Nina Simone and the poetry of D.C. gay cultural icon Essex Hemphill. In fact, the distinct, formative cultural touchstones of Jesse’s existence are thoroughly represented, and add personalizing detail both to the character and the world of experiences he introduces to Neil. Conversely, the play suffers somewhat for denying much access to Neil’s formative experiences. Who, if anyone, were his Essex and Langston and Baldwin? We do learn enough about Neil’s background to see the issue of class rear its ugly head in the couple’s relationship. It’s yet another difference to embrace or overcome as the pair attempts to grow something beautiful from the bitter earth where first their love was planted. l This Bitter Earth runs through March 2 at the Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Place SE. Tickets are $40.

Call 202-241-2539, or visit www.theateralliance.com.

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DJ COREY

Stage

Cool Summer

AvantBard offers a lushly entertaining double-bill of Tennessee Williams’ tart and tempestuous ladies. By André Hereford

A

VANTBARD THEATRE SETS A SULTRY MOOD FOR TENNESSEE Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer (HHHHH) by commencing the evening with Williams’ lesser-known one-act, Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen.

Featuring an unnamed Woman (Miss Kitty) and Man (Erik Harrison) lounging in a Hell’s Kitchen flophouse, the brief drama — written in 1953, four years before Summer — bears no relationship to the later play, and traverses only the slightest plot of its own.

The audience surrounds scenic designer David C. Ghatan’s set of tall window panes practically caging the couple inside, echoing their palpable sense of feeling trapped — with each other, with their lot in life. Director Christopher Henley sends the Woman ranging from windowpane to windowpane as she sings her pain, then, in a shout, the play is done. Talk to Me Like the Rain serves as a pleasing, if insubstantial, amuse-bouche for the Southern-fried main course of Williams’ lengthier one-act classic.

More substantially, the evening’s prologue establishes the incandescent presence of Miss Kitty, who has far fewer lines playing officious assistant Miss Foxhill in Suddenly Last Summer, but nevertheless can take full command of a moment with merely a pause. Her Miss Foxhill utterly belongs in the upper-crust New Orleans household of society widow Violet Venable, embodied with venomous appeal by a wonderful Cam Magee. Portraying pithy, imposing Violet, Magee conveys a distinctively Southern flavor of demonstrative, but she isn’t pointlessly florid. She’s matter-of-fact — about her grand life, her opinions, and her contempt for niece Catherine Holly (Sara Barker), since young Cathy won’t stop “babbling” the most horrid story about what caused the sudden death last summer of Violet’s beloved son Sebastian.

The widow Venable has summoned psychiatrist Doctor Cukrowicz (Matt Sparacino) to her manse to discuss ways of treating Cathy into silence. The play, of course, builds to Cathy spilling every awful detail of what happened to her same-sex-loving cousin Sebastian, and Barker molds her performance suitably to the rising crescendo of Cathy’s emotions and stunning revelations. Hers is a florid turn, but if there’s any writer whose language can absorb such flamboyant moves, it’s Tennessee Williams.

Sparacino goes too far in the other direction, rendering an opaque Cukrowicz who works as interlocutor to draw out Cathy’s truth, but doesn’t much affect the temperature otherwise. Harrison, who spends most of Talk to Me Like the Rain lounging in silence, finds a consistently amusing register for his Summer supporting role as Cathy’s dim brother George, alongside Megan Morgan’s smart turn as their mother Mrs. Holly, caught between her love for Cathy and her fealty to Violet’s dough. Wrapped in her fox stole, Mrs. Holly appears desperate to please the more powerful Violet, despite the potential cost to her own daughter. Money, power, and morality mix bitterly in the Venable household, sweetened by the honey-dripping poetry of the Bard of the South. l

Suddenly Last Summer runs in repertory with Ada and the Engine through April 5 at the Gunston Arts Center, 2700 South Lang Street in Arlington, Va. Tickets are $40. Call 202-628-6161, or visit www.avantbard.org.

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NightLife Photography by Ward Morrison

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Scene

Ziegfeld’s/Secrets 11th Anniversary - Sat., Feb. 29 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

DrinksDragDJsEtc...

Thursday, March 5 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports DC EAGLE $5 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 GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets of Bud Products all night • Sports Leagues Night NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • 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, March 6 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 • $5 Cover starts at 7pm, $10 after 9pm • RuPaul’s Drag Race Viewing, hosted by Crystal and Brooklyn, 8pm • Birds of Prey Drag Show at 10:30pm • 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 • Davon Hamilton Events presents District First Friday: Underwear Party, 10pm-close • All Body Types Welcome • Featuring DJs, GoGo Dancers, and Drink Specials • $10 Cover (includes clothes check) • SBY Power Program will be on-site conducting HIV testing for Free Entry

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

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

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

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

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,

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

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

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

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+

Saturday, March 7 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-3am • Video Games • Live televised sports AVALON SATURDAYS Battle of the DJs: Ed Bailey vs. Wess, 10pm-4am • Drag Show, 10:3011:30pm, hosted by

Ba’Naka and a rotating cast of drag queens • $4 Absolut Drinks, 10pm-midnight • 18+ • $20 Cover, $25 VIP • Tickets available at Eventbrite.com DC EAGLE Open at 5pm • Happy Hour until 9pm • $5 Cover except for special events • Saturday Kink in the Main Bar, 9pm-close • Hummer Dance Party, 9pm-close • 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 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 • 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, March 8 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 4-7pm, $12 a plate • Cigar Sundays and Cruisy Sundays • $3 off all Whiskeys & Bourbons and Rail, $5 Chivas Regal • Serving until 2am

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Fabulous Sunday Champagne Brunch, 10am-3pm • $24.99 with four glasses of champagne or mimosas, 1 Bloody Mary, or coffee, soda or juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Piano Bar Night, hosted

by John Flynn, 6-9pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Karaoke with Kevin downstairs, 9:30pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted

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

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

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

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Select Appetizers • Dinner and Drag with Miss Kristina Kelly, 6:30pm • No Cover • 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, March 9 DC EAGLE Too Smart Trivia every week • Happy Hour until 9pm, $2 off all drinks • Free Pool play • $2 Bud & Bud Lights

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Singles Night • Half-Priced Pasta Dishes • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long • Singing with the Sisters: Open Mic Karaoke Night with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, 9:30pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Half-Priced Burgers • Paint Nite, 7pm • PokerFace Poker, 8pm • Dart Boards • Ping Pong Madness, featuring 2 PingPong Tables

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

Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports

with Sasha Adams and Brooklyn Heights, 7-9pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Shaw ’Nuff Trivia, 7:30pm

DC EAGLE Jockstrap Tuesdays: First Drink Free for Guys in Jockstraps • Twisted Tuesdays in the Eagle’s Nest • Hosted by DMV Kiki Nights (Vogue Beats, House, GoGo)

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

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

Tuesday, March 10 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy

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

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 • Half-Priced Burgers and Pizzas, 5-10pm • Schitt’s Creek Watch Party, Second Floor, 9pm

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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, March 11 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 • $5 Rails, Wines & Domestic Drafts FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • $6

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Burgers • Beach Blanket Drag Bingo Night, hosted

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

MARCH 5, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Thursday, March 12 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports DC EAGLE $5 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 GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets of Bud Products all night • Sports Leagues Night NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • 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+ l For more specials not featured in print, visit www.metroweekly.com/ nightlife/drink_specials.

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LastWord.

People say the queerest things

“Tonight, LGBTQ people showed up in record numbers and cemented our status as a crucial constituency to court. ” — ALPHONSO DAVID, president of the Human Rights Campaign, in a statement after exit polling from NBC News showed record participation by LGBTQ voters in Democratic primaries on Super Tuesday. Around one in ten voters identified as LGBTQ, with half identifying as “very liberal.” David added, “LGBTQ people and our rights have been on the ballot for decades, compelling us to register to vote and participate in politics rather than let others decide our rights for us.”

“Texas is witnessing a rainbow revolution, with openly LGBTQ candidates winning key swing districts that can determine the fate of the state House come November.

”

— Former Mayor ANNISE PARKER, president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, in a statement celebrating after a number of LGBTQ candidates and incumbents won their primary races in Texas, including out lesbian Gina Ortiz Jones, who is competing for a seat in Congress. “[Texas remains] one of the most homophobic and transphobic state legislatures in the nation...and the best remedy for that nonsense is to elect more LGBTQ leaders who will stand up to the bigotry and hatred,” Parker said.

“Why would you want someone at your wedding who doesn’t believe in you or your love?”

— Actress and author HANNAH HART, in an emotional video posted to her YouTube channel revealing that her ultra-conservative father, who is a Jehovah’s Witness, won’t be attending her wedding to partner Ella Mielniczenko. “I wanna tell anyone who’s watching who has a parent that doesn’t choose you, I want you to know that you are still worthy of so much,” she said.

“And just because they are rejecting the moments of joy in your life and these moments to celebrate and to share, doesn’t mean you have to live your life rejecting them.”

“They would rather carry out mass surgeries than executions because they know the world is watching them. ” — Iranian LGBTQ activist SHADI AMIN, speaking to The Sun about the Iranian government allegedly forcing gay men to undergo gender-affirming surgery under threat of imprisonment or death. “The government believes that if you are a gay man your soul is that of a woman and you should change your body,” Amin said. “We think this is a way to fight the existence of homosexual people because you change their body and you solve the problem.”

“I was brainwashed for 28 years.

I’m now able to start exploring who I authentically am. ” — MCKRAE GAME, a former conversion therapy advocate, speaking to The Guardian about his experience.

“I realized I had been used as a tool by the church,” he said. “It wanted to say, ‘Look, this guy changed, you can, too.’

But I had not changed.”

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