Pride Has a Secret

JANUARY 31, 2019

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CONTENTS

VISIONARY

Pointless Theatre Company often adapts nontraditional works for the stage in an even more nontraditional way.

By Randy Shulman

THE SECRET OF PRIDE

As Capital Pride prepares to reveal this year’s theme, we asked the city’s seven LGBTQ Prides why celebrating our diverse community matters now more than ever.

By Randy Shulman | Photography by Julian Vankim

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Volume 25 Issue 38

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FRIGHT GALLERY

Jake Gyllenhaal and an amusing ensemble cast get chased by killer art in the weird but flat Velvet Buzzsaw.

By André Hereford

SPOTLIGHT: ALVIN AILEY’S DANIEL HARDER p.7 OUT ON THE TOWN p.10 VISIONARY: POINTLESS THEATRE COMPANY p.12 BALTIMORE BOND: KEEGAN THEATRE’S SUSAN MARIE RHEA p.14 THE FEED p.19 COMMUNITY: SEEKING SUPPORTERS p.21 COVER STORY: THE SECRET OF PRIDE p.24 GALLERY: LONG VIEW’S NEW YEAR/NEW ARTISTS p.31 STAGE: TWELVE ANGRY MEN p.32 STAGE: KLEPTOCRACY p.33 FILM: VELVET BUZZSAW p.35 NIGHTLIFE p.37 SCENE: AVALON SATURDAYS p.37 LISTINGS p.38 NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS p.39 PLAYLIST: DJ CHORD p.43 SCENE: UPROAR p.45 LAST WORD p.46 Real LGBTQ News and Entertainment since 1994

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

© 2019 Jansi LLC.

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JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

RICHARD CALMES

Spotlight

Alvin Ailey’s Daniel Harder I T’S NO EXAGGERATION TO SAY THAT DANIEL HARDER has grown up on the stages of the Kennedy Center. On several different stages at the Kennedy Center, to be more precise.

“From the Terrace Theater, to the Eisenhower Theater, and now to the Opera House,” says the dancer, ahead of his upcoming return to the Kennedy Center with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

“I had my first performance at the Kennedy Center dancing with Debbie Allen,” Harder says. “For many years she was one of the artists-in-residence there, and she put on several children's productions that I had the opportunity as a young dancer to be a part of. I also performed in the Spirit of Kwanzaa with the Dance Institute of Washington there. And of course now with Ailey Company, for the last nine seasons.”

Appearing on the current tour in classic repertory pieces like Revelations, Harder also performs in new works like Ronald K. Brown’s The Call, and dances the title role in Lazarus, a 2018 premiere choreographed by the great Rennie Harris. A two-act, hip-hop-flavored ballet, Lazarus was inspired by the life of founder Ailey, and is a performance that Harder is particularly excited to share with audiences in

celebration of the company’s 60th anniversary season.

“It's a very powerful ballet,” he says. “Rennie Harris used the legacy of Mr. Ailey — [coming] from segregation in the deep South in the ’30s, and growing up during that time, and then creating a company during the Civil Rights Movement. It’s about how he was able to move through that, and still triumph, and create this amazing vehicle.”

Lazarus beautifully complements another amazing vehicle for Ailey’s legacy — his signature work Revelations, which Harder describes as “essential viewing.”

“The idea of going through trials and tribulations, and finding that light at the end of the tunnel, so that you can feel jubilant, and know that there is more — I think that's the power of the piece,” he says. “I think that's the power that we find within performing the work every time. And it's different every time for that reason. Because some days I may not have as many burdens to bring to specific sections of Revelations, so I have to dig deeper. And then there are other times where I have a lot on my spirit, and so it's a cathartic experience for me. And I would hope that that would translate to the audience, and take them on a cathartic journey as well.” —André Hereford

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs February 5 to 10 in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Tickets are $59 to $219. Call 202-467-4600, or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Spotlight BERLIN PHILHARMONIC WIND QUINTET

Heralded by many as the greatest ensemble of its kind in the world — particularly renowned for adventurous playing, technical skill, and sonic brilliance — this quintet returns to the Clarice at the University of Maryland to perform works spanning three centuries of music history. The program includes an arrangement by the quintet’s flutist, Michael Hasel, of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Three Fantasies for Mechanical Organ, as well as Carl Nielsen’s Quintet for Winds, and György Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet. In addition to Hasel, the roster includes oboist Andreas Wittmann, clarinetist Water Seyfarth, bassoonist Marion Reinhard, and horn player Fergus Mcwilliam. Thursday, Feb. 7, at 8 p.m. Gildenhorn Recital Hall in the Clarice, University Boulevard and Stadium Drive. College Park. Tickets are $25. Call 301-405-ARTS or visit www.theclarice.umd.edu.

ANGELA J. DAVIS: POLICING THE BLACK MAN

Key issues of the Black Lives Matter movement are explored and analyzed in an anthology featuring essays by some of the nation’s most influential and respected criminal justice experts and legal scholars. Originally published in 2017 and issued in paperback last year, Policing The Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment was edited by preeminent criminal justice expert Davis, a former director of the D.C. Public Defender Service and currently a law professor at American University. Monday, Feb. 4, at 6:30 p.m. Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW. Call 202-387-1400 or visit www.kramers.com.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES

The Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, Va., presents the 1983 Tonywinning Broadway musical by Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein, an adaptation of Jean Poiret’s 1973 uproarious French farce. The plot focuses on gay couple Georges and Albin, who pretend to be straight while entertaining the homophobic parents of their son’s fiancée. The Riverside production features a large, 17-person cast led by Christopher Sanders as George and Gabe Belyeu as Albin. And because Riverside is styled as a dinner theater, patrons partake in a three-course, prixfixe meal prior to every performance. To March 3.

95 Riverside Parkway, Fredericksburg, Va. Tickets are $69 for dinner and show, or $50 for show only.

Call 540-370-4300 or visit www.riversidedt.com.

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JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Spotlight THREE SISTAHS

Chekhov meets gospel, rhythm & blues, bebop, and funk in a musical set at the height of the civil rights and anti-war movements 50 years ago. MetroStage presents its fourth revival of a show it calls an “iconic favorite” across its 35 seasons, this time with Roz White, Kara-Tameika Watkins, and Ayana Reed as the three strong women reflecting on their lives. Thomas W. Jones II returns to direct his own book and lyrics, with a story by Janet Pryce inspired by Chekhov.

Music by William Hubbard. To Feb. 24. To Nov. 9.

1201 North Royal St., Alexandria. Tickets are $55. Call 800-494-8497 or visit metrostage.org.

THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN

In one of her most memorable roles, the late Debbie Reynolds played the infamous survivor of the RMS Titanic, Molly Brown, whose tagline was: “I may give out, but I won’t give IN!” Landmark Theatre’s West End Cinema offers a 55th anniversary screening of Charles Walter’s 1964 movie musical adaptation of Meredith Willson’s Broadway hit as part of its weekly Capital Classics series. Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m. 2301 M St. NW. Happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are $12.50. Call 202-534-1907 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

GREENSKY BLUEGRASS

Diehard fans, known as the Campers, travel far and wide to catch the fiery live performances, complete with full light show, of this progressive bluegrass band from Kalamazoo, Michigan, which aptly describes its sound as “mixing the acoustic stomp of a stringband with the rule-breaking spirit of rock & roll.” After more than living up to expectations with its debut last year at the Anthem, the quintet returns for two more shows to warm up your winter and kick-start another February.

Opening is Michigander Billy Strings, chosen as one of “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know” by Rolling Stone in 2017. Friday, Feb. 1, and Saturday, Feb. 2. Doors at 6 p.m. The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. Tickets are $40 to $75. Call 202265-0930 or visit www.theanthemdc.com.

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Out On The Town

CLASSICALLY DOPE: WAVELENGTH WINDS W/KONSHENS THE MC

The Mars Urban Arts Initiative of Washington Performing Arts presents the second annual edition of the performance-based discussion Music Distilled. This year’s event features Classically Dope, a collaboration between rapper Konshens The MC and local classical quintet Wavelength Winds that explores the intersections among hip-hop, classical music, and social change. Through music, the ensemble tackles subjects such as the power of belief, racial inequality, stereotypes, and police brutality. The event takes place at the LGBTQ-owned-and-operated distillery Republic Restoratives, with the concert and post-show conversation fueled by craft cocktails and light bites. Saturday, Feb. 2, at 2 p.m. 1369 New York Ave. NE. Tickets are $35. Call 202-733-3996 or visit www.washingtonperformingarts.org.

Compiled by Doug Rule

FILM HOME FRONT: PORTRAITS FROM SHEIKH JARRAH

Documentaries focused on the Israel-Palestine conflict screen for free as part of Voices from the Holy Land series, now in its fifth year and sponsored by an interfaith coalition of more than 40 area organizations. Home Front: Portraits from Sheikh Jarrah focuses on several residents of a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, the traditionally Palestinian area of the Holy City, showing their struggles amidst increasing Israeli settlement expansion — from a Palestinian teenager forced to give up part of his home to the settlers, to an American-born Israeli mother drawn into anti-settlement demonstrations after her children’s arrest, to a veteran of

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the Israeli army who has become one of the leaders of the resistance campaign. Following the screening will be a Q&A discussion moderated by Philip Farah, co-chair of the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace. Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2:30 p.m. The Library in the Islamic Center of Maryland, 19411 Woodfield Road, Gaithersburg.

Free. Call 240-912-4976 or visit www.voicesfromtheholyhland.org.

THE ICE KING

British ice skater John Curry helped transform what had become a dated sport into an exalted art form. He’s also credited as the first openly gay Olympian, having come out the night he won gold for a rebelliously balletic routine at the Winter Olympics in 1976. A story of art, sport, sexuality, and rebellion, James Erskine’s 2018 documentary presents Curry, another unfortunate

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

and untimely casualty of AIDS, as a lost cultural icon, and a man whose body was a battleground in every area of life, from his personal relationships, to interactions and altercations in public, to prejudice in the professional setting — specifically his “unmanly” elegance on the ice.

Erskine will speak at a special area screening of The Ice King as part of the morning Cinema Sundays series at Baltimore’s oldest movie theater, The Charles. The screening is presented by The Next Ice Age, the Baltimore-based “dance company on ice” and figure-skating presenting organization celebrating its 30th anniversary. And the company’s co-founders, Nathan Birch and Tim Murphy, both original members of the John Curry Company featured in the documentary, will also take part in a post-screening Q&A. Sunday, Feb. 3. Doors at 9:45 a.m.

Charles Theatre, 1711 N. Charles St.,

Baltimore. Call 410-727-FILM or visit www.thecharles.com.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

Landmark's E Street Cinema presents Richard O’Brien’s camp classic, billed as the longest-running midnight movie in history. Landmark's showings come with a live shadow cast from the Sonic Transducers, meaning it's even more interactive than usual. Friday, Feb. 8, and Saturday, Feb. 9, at midnight.

Landmark's E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672 or visit landmarktheatres.com.

THE SEA HAWK

Both a swashbuckling adventure and a period piece about Elizabethan England’s struggles with Spain, Michael Curtis’ 1940 black-and-white film starred Errol Flynn as privateer Geoffrey

Thorpe. The Library of Congress presents a free screening of one of the great pirate romances of the time as part of the series “The Film Music of Erich Korngold,” honoring one of the earliest and most influential composers in the history of Hollywood. Although best known for The Adventures of Robin Hood, the Austrian-born Korngold was nominated for an Oscar for his rousing score to The Sea Hawk, recognized as a high point in his career. Thursday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m.

Pickford Theater in the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. SE. Tickets are free but required. Call 202-7075502 or visit www.loc.gov.

DJ COREY

STAGE A PERFECT ARRANGEMENT

VISIONARY

Pointless Theatre Company often adapts nontraditional works for the stage in an even more nontraditional way.

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E ARE IN THE BUSINESS OF CREATING ORIGINAL MULTIDISCIplinary spectacles,” says Matt Reckeweg, co-artistic director of Pointless Theatre Company. “Officially, our mission is to smash the boundaries between puppetry, dance, music, and the visual arts. We use the term spectacle to describe the work that we create, because we don't really make traditional plays. We are often looking at ballets or silent film or multimedia work or concerts [to adapt]. We rarely produce just a straight play, if you will.”

Such is the case with the company’s latest endeavor, Visions of Love. The hour-long, movement-based show is based on the Charlie Chaplin 1931 classic City Lights, in which the silent star’s iconic “Little Tramp” grows devoted to a blind flower girl and, through happenstance, changes her life forever.

“This play, in particular, has been such a joy to make because the story is about kindness,” says the 31-year-old Southern Maryland native, who directed the piece. “To call it a romance is, I think, a little deceptive. It's actually about friendship and generosity.

“Our company has been making a lot of challenging works that are dark or that are an investigation of big social issue,” he continues. “With the political climate as it is, theater artists know the necessity of making work that challenges. But, on the flip side, if all of our work is that, then it starts to become taxing. So, this piece is a breath of fresh air from that.

We've been calling it a valentine to our audiences.”

The biggest challenge in adapting City Lights, says Reckeweg, was deciding what to “keep from the film, and what to add to it to make our own. Audiences can watch the film before they come, so we had a certain desire to pay homage to it. But there's also us wanting to adapt it to our own aesthetic for the stage.”

Among Pointless’s regular aesthetics is the deployment of puppets alongside human actors. For this production, the puppets were created by Alex Vernon, a member of the Happenstance Theatre Company. “Alex designed these gorgeous sculpted foam puppets that look like they're carved out of wood,” marvels Reckeweg. “If they were true wood, they would be much heavier. Still, you'd be surprised at how a piece of foam starts to feel heavy when you're carrying it over the course of an hour. Your arm starts to really wear out. We call them puppet muscles. It's a real thing.” He pauses. “Or maybe that's just something we made up.” —Randy Shulman Visions of Love plays weekends through Feb. 9. At Dance Loft on 14, 4618 14th St. NW. Tickets are $32. Call 202-621-3670 or visit www.danceloft14.org.

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JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Maryland’s Greenbelt Arts Center, a community theater organization, presents Topher Payne’s comedy focused on the Lavender Scare, the antigay federal witch hunt of the 1950s that provided an inadvertent early spark to the gay rights movement. Jonathan Meeker and Susan Harper lead the volunteer cast, directed by Ann Lowe-Barrett, playing two State Department employees who have been ordered to root out “sexual deviants” in their office — all the while hoping no one discovers that they’re not actually the married couple they pretend to be, nor are they straight. In fact, they live together in a Georgetown duplex with their respective same-sex partners, played by Win Britt and Ronda Ansted. Opens Friday, Feb. 1. Weekends to Feb. 23. Greenbelt Arts Center, 123 Centerway. Greenbelt, Md. Tickets are $22. Call 301-441-8770 or visit www.greenbeltartscenter.org.

AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’

Joe Calarco directs Signature Theatre’s production of Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show, for which he converted the Shirlington complex’s large Max Theatre into a 1930s-era Harlem nightclub in tribute. Iyona Blake, Kevin McAllister, and Nova Y. Payton lead an all-star cast performing the Waller-penned hits from the Tony-winning musical, including “The Joint Is Jumpin’,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” and “Handful of Keys.” Mark G. Meadows serves as musical director and onstage pianist, with choreography by Jared Grimes.

To March 10. 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.

FUN HOME

Baltimore’s Center Stage offers a chance to see the stunning, heartfelt show based on the work of lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel (Dykes to Watch Out For). Hana Sharif directs the company’s production of this Tony-winning coming-of-age and

coming-out musical with a cast that includes Andrea Prestinario, Molly Lyons, Jeffry Denman, and Michelle Dawson. To Feb. 24. 700 North Calvert St., Baltimore. Tickets are $20 to $74. Call 410-332-0033 or visit www.centerstage.org.

CAMERON WHITMAN

NELL GWYNN

BALTIMORE BOND

Keegan Theatre shines a spotlight on playwright Paula Vogel’s brilliant love letter to her deceased brother.

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AULA VOGEL'S MIND IS BATSHIT,” SAYS SUSAN MARIE RHEA. “SHE JUST HAS this wild intelligence.” Rhea, Keegan Theatre’s artistic director, is nice and blunt in her assessment of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, particularly in light of her recent work staging The Baltimore Waltz. Vogel, a native of the area, first came to national prominence in 1992 with the play, which incorporates comedy, farce, fantasy, drama, suspense, and tragedy. (Along with nods to the play’s namesake dance.) Vogel developed the play to commemorate her brother Carl, shortly after his death from AIDS-related complications at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital.

“She wrote it for and about, and as a love letter to, her brother,” Rhea says. “This was her way [of dealing with] the grief and the experience. [While] it’s 100-percent autobiographical...the story is not told in a traditional way. So it’s not realism.”

Vogel has embellished certain real-life aspects, or even imagined what might have been had the close siblings had more time together. Vogel also alters reality by having the sister be the one stricken with a newly recognized terminal illness — the farcical Acquired Toilet Disease. The rapid and somewhat mysterious spread of ATD engenders rampant paranoia, blame, and prejudice — “a pointed comment about when AIDS first came onto the scene,” says Rhea — and gay men like Carl became society’s biggest bogeymen. Another twist on reality is a trip the siblings take to Europe — where Anna “goes on a sex rampage” that puts the promiscuous gay stereotype to shame. There’s also a “pretty vicious indictment of how governments...handled the AIDS crisis. She's kind of jabbing away at a number of things, but it’s done in a satirical and comical way.”

Rhea calls The Baltimore Waltz “multi-layered and complicated,” yet also “a remarkable and stunning piece of theater.” She’s long wanted to direct the show, but waited until she felt the company “had the infrastructure and the right people and the right cast” in place to successfully pull it off. She hopes audiences will give it a chance. “Keegan tends to do more traditional, direct storytelling, so it’s a little bit out of our normal wheelhouse,” she concedes.

“People are either going to walk out and go, ‘I have no idea what just happened,’ or they're going to love it. I think it's one of those kinds of plays that it works on a bunch of levels. My hope is that people, even if it's a couple of days later, go, ‘Oh!’ They start connecting some of the dots.”

—Doug Rule The Baltimore Waltz runs to Feb. 9, at Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $40 to $50. Call 202-265-3767 or visit www.keegantheatre.com. The performance on Saturday, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m., is a benefit for Whitman-Walker Health and will be followed by a RealTalk DC presentation featuring spoken word artists Mary Bowman and Dwayne Lawson-Brown.

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JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

A darling of the Restoration theater becomes the mistress of King Charles II in Nell Gwynn, Jessica Swale’s heartwarming and hilarious portrait of a rare woman from the 17th century, originally commissioned by Shakespeare’s Globe and the recipient of the 2016 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. Alison Luff heads a cast that includes Regina Aquino, Christopher Dinolfo, Catherine Flye, Quinn Franzen, Michael Glenn, and R.J. Foster as King Charles II. Musicians Kevin Collins and Zoe Speas will bring to live the original music composed

by Kim Sherman. Robert Richmond directs. Now to March 10. 201 East Capitol St. SE. Tickets are $42 to $79. Call 202-544-7077 or visit www.folger.edu.

SUBMISSION

Now in its 30th anniversary season, SCENA Theatre presents the U.S. premiere of a work based on French author Michel Houellebecq’s bestselling novel that imagines a Muslim political party winning the 2022 French presidential election with support from Europe’s Socialist party. Robert McNamara directs the thought-provoking dystopian satire, which mixes fictional characters with real French politicians, including Le Pen and François Hollande, depicted as capitulating to the Muslim Brotherhood as it seizes power and implements Sharia law.

David Johnson, Ron Litman, Stacy Whittle, Kim Curtis, Greg Ongao, and Colin Davies comprise the cast for this darkly comic drama. To Feb. 10. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $35 to $45. Call 202-399-7993 or visit www.scenatheatre.org.

THE BROTHERS SIZE

Before he wrote the work that inspired the Oscar-winning film Moonlight, Tarell Alvin McCraney offered this compelling story of family, devotion, and belonging, set deep in the Louisiana bayou.

Weaving in flights of poetry, music, and West African mythology, The Brothers Size focuses on the relationship between the hardworking and steady Ogun Size and his aimless younger brother, recently released from prison. Virginia’s 1st Stage offers a production starring GaryKayi Fletcher, Thony Mena, and Clayton Pelham, Jr., and directed by José Carrasquillo. The design team includes Giorgos Tsappas on sets, Moyenda Kulemeka on costumes, William K. D’Eugenio on lights, and Sarah O’Halloran on sound. In pre-

ticket price) with the consort’s Robert Eisenstein and other performers 90 minutes before the first performance. Friday, Feb. 8, and Saturday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30 to $60. Call 202-537-2228 or visit www.nationalcathedral.org.

GAY MEN’S CHORUS: WORKING: A MUSICAL

FIRST CHEFS: FAME AND FOODWAYS FROM BRITAIN TO THE AMERICAS

The named and unnamed heroes of British and American farms, plantations, kitchens, and markets over the past several centuries are given the spotlight in the latest exhibition at the Folger Shakespeare Library, focused on eating and drinking in the early modern British world. First Chefs identifies five such pioneers by name: chorister-cum-farmer Thomas Tusser, author of a how-to agriculture guide that circulated for over two centuries; Robert May, who adapted French recipes for English palates as author of the first cookbook for professional cooks; Hannah Woolley, the first woman to earn a living as a food writer but whose name and cooking advice would go on to be appropriated by male publishers; the plants-obsessed pirate William Hughes, who chronicled the fruits and vegetables of the Caribbean and became the first English writer to describe cacao and chocolate to British audiences; and chef Hercules, one of President George Washington’s slaves, famed for his expertise in early American cooking until he stole his way to freedom.

By combining the Folger’s unparalleled collection of food-related manuscripts and books with objects and archaeological finds from Mount Vernon and Jamestown, as well as from other museums and the Library of Congress, the exhibition is able to help shine renewed or recovered light on a vast many others who shaped early modern culinary life and culture, both directly and indirectly. Now to March 31. Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol St. SE. Call 202-544-7077 or visit www.folger.edu.

views, with opening night Saturday, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m. To Feb. 24. 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Rd., Tysons. Tickets are $39. Call 703-854-1856 or visit www.1ststage.org.

MUSIC BALTIMORE SYMPHONY FEATURING PAUL HUANG

Huang, the young TaiwaneseAmerican violinist and the 2017 winner of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists takes center stage to perform Aram Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto, a work said to require tons of technical skill exud-

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ing Russian Romanticism with a touch of Gershwin. With Markus Stenz leading the BSO, the program also features Mozart’s muchloved Symphony No. 40 in G Minor and Beethoven’s trilling Leonore Overture No. 3. Friday, Feb. 8, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 10, at 3 p.m.

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore. Also Saturday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $90. Call 410-783-8000 or visit www.bsomusic.org.

FOLGER CONSORT: THE FOOD OF LOVE: ROMANTIC RENAISSANCE MUSIC

Songs about food, drink, and

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

love from French and Italian Renaissance composers are the pre-Valentine’s Day toast by this noted early music ensemble, performing in the acoustically rich Washington National Cathedral.

The acclaimed vocal ensemble Les Canards Chantants will make its Washington debut by joining the consort and the viol consort Arcadia Viols, who will also play “table music” for strings, including selections from Schein’s Banchetto Musicale, written to accompany dinner in the sophisticated courts of Germany. Robert Aubry Davis, host of WETA’s Around Town, will lead a discussion (included in the

For its winter production, the Gay Men’s Chorus puts its nontraditional spin on the musical by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) that celebrates everyday working people, based on the book by Studs Terkel. Naturally, the chorus’ version features men and men in drag performing the roles in what is billed as the first such gender-bending staging of Working, which debuted on Broadway in 1978. The chorus will perform the show as it was revised

by Schwartz and director Gordon Greenberg for a 2012 Off-Broadway production, which introduced two new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, joining a score featuring Schwartz’s original compositions plus others by Craig Carnelia, James Taylor, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, and Micki Grant. Saturday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 10, at 3 p.m.

The Paul Sprenger Theatre in the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $20 to $39.

Call 202-399-7993 or visit www. atlasarts.org.

JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL: THE SONGS & STORIES OF HEDWIG

The original Hedwig will perform the groundbreaking rock songs he wrote with composer Stephen Trask in the special touring concert “The Origin of Love.” Mitchell will also share stories from the history of the musical that started way Off Broadway 20 years ago and then became a quirky, well-regarded indie film, and most recently a star-studded Tony-winning sensation on Broadway. Mitchell is also expected to preview songs from his latest work, the narrative musical anthology series Anthem. Friday, Feb. 8, at 8 p.m. National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets are $54 to $79. Call 202-628-6161 or visit www.thenationaldc.org.

NSO: BEETHOVEN’S “EMPEROR”

Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, Musical America’s 2019 Artist of the Year, marks his first collaboration with NSO Music Director Gianandrea Noseda and the NSO performing Beethoven’s most famous piano concerto, the triumphant Fifth, known as “Emperor.”

The program also features the symphony performing Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6. Thursday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m., and Friday, Feb. 1, and Saturday, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $15 to $89. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

I St. NW. Tickets are $35 to $38.

Call 202-408-3100 or visit www. sixthandi.org.

DANCE DISSONANCE DANCE THEATRE: REWIND 2 FAST FWRD

Founded and led by choreographer Shawn Short, the D.C.-based Dissonance heads up to Baltimore to perform a mixed-bill evening.

Presented on the campus of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, the program includes popular works from past Dissonance seasons, including Walk With Me, Gospel Suite, Bleak, and Love Is My Game, along with three works in their season premiere: Home, So Cold, and Twitch. Sunday, Feb. 10, at 5 p.m. Proscenium Theatre in the Performing Arts and Humanities Building, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore. Tickets are $15 to $25.

Call 410-455-2917 or visit www. ddtdc.org.

TONI BRAXTON

Things have hardly gone as anyone expected or hoped for the eldest of the singing Braxtons from Maryland’s Anne Arundel County since she exploded on the music scene a quarter century ago. Honored as Best New Artist in 1994, Braxton scooped up six Grammy Awards in her first decade for her sauntering and sultry R&B hits “Another Sad Love Song,” “Breathe Again,” “Un-Break My Heart,” “You’re Makin’ Me High,” and “He Wasn’t Man Enough.”

This year marks Braxton’s best showing at the Grammys in more than two decades, with three nods for last year’s Sex & Cigarettes. The album offers plenty of comfort soul food for any longtime fan, crowned by its two singles, the moving, Grammy-nominated ballad “Long As I Live” and the rousing mid-tempo jam “Coping.” Braxton will be ably supported by the reunited R&B trio SWV to properly mark the occasion. The concert will focus on hits from Braxton as well as SWV, the latter responsible for “Weak,” “Right Here (Human Nature Remix),” and “You’re The One.” Friday, Feb. 1, at 8 p.m. Theater at MGM National Harbor, 7100 Harborview Ave., Oxon Hill, Md. Call 844-346-4664 or visit www.mgmnationalharbor.com.

SHARON VAN ETTEN

There’s no mistaking her distinct vocals or her incisive songwriting, but Remind Me Tomorrow, Van Etten’s first release in five years, sounds worlds removed from the folky arrangements of Are We There. Partnering up with producer John Congleton has given Van Etten a chance to play with a more complex and interesting sound, setting the album apart from the spare and intimate instrumentation that defined her previous work. While Van Etten may have traded guitars for analog synths, her lyrics have lost none of their matter-of-fact emotional depth. If anything, the more expansive soundscapes give

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her lyrics more room to breathe and allow her already powerful vocals to convey a gravitas that was impossible in intimate acoustic arrangements. Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Doors at 7 p.m. 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $30. Call 202-2650930 or visit www.930.com. (Sean Maunier)

VALERIE JUNE

Live Nation presents this noteworthy gospel-informed jazz/blues artist, whom a few years ago was called one of the country’s “most intriguing, fully formed new talents” by a New York Times critic. June tours in support of 2017’s The Order of Time. Saturday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m.

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. 600

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

READINGS ROGER MCNAMEE: ZUCKED: THE EDUCATION OF AN UNLIKELY ACTIVIST

An early supporter of Facebook and a longtime mentor of Mark Zuckerberg, this major Silicon Valley investor more recently has been doing everything in his power to stop the social media behemoth.

Facebook is damaging personal privacy and threatening democracy, McNamee asserts, and yet the company, from the top down, is unwilling to accept or even consider the negative socio-cultural effects it’s caused as anything more than a public relations problem. An insider’s story, Zucked is an eye-opening read. Thursday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m.

Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Call 202-364-1919 or visit www.politics-prose.com.

ABOVE & BEYOND GILDED LILY BURLESQUE: TASSELS & CHAMPAGNE: BOOTY NIGHTS!

Baltimore burlesque troupe presents this 10th annual early Valentine’s show celebrating the era of the 1970s, “a funkadelic time when style was groovy and free love was blazin.’” The “Love Train” for the evening includes Mab Just Mab, billed as “D.C.’s Own Sideshow Gal,” and GiGi Holliday, “D.C.’s Legitimate Love Child,” plus “Baltimore’s Sicilian Queen” Maria Bella, “The Fringe Fatale” Nona Narcisse, “The Attractive Nuisance” Ruby Spruce, and “The Uncontainable” Mourna Handful.

Foxy Tann, “The Boss of Burlesque” from Minneapolis serves as femcee, while “The Velvet Valkerie” Valeria Voxx is stage manager. And handmade burlesque accessories — from

pasties to hair flowers to tassels — will be available for purchase from Bella’s Tchotchkes. Saturday, Feb. 9, at 7 and 10 p.m. Creative Alliance at the Patterson, 3134 Eastern Ave. Baltimore. Tickets are $25 in advance, or $28 at the door.

Call 410-276-1651 or visit www.creativealliance.org.

PHILLIPS AFTER 5: CARNIVAL AROUND THE WORLD

The pre-Lenten winter bacchanal, popular the world over, may not come into full bloom for another few weeks. Yet you can get an early start on the celebration at the next First Thursday event, the monthly after-hours affair at the Phillips Collection mixing art, entertainment, live music, and food and drink — so popular, it tends to sell out in advance. Patrons are invited to decorate a mask for wearing as well as purchase a Caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail, for drinking while they groove to the global rhythms of Black Masala and roam around the exhibition space of the impressive, impressionism-rich modern art museum in Dupont Circle. Thursday, Feb. 7, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. 1600 21st St. NW. Tickets are $12, or free for Phillips members. Call 202-387-2151 x247 or visit www.phillipscollection.org.

THE BLACK LGBTQ EXPERIENCE

Team Rayceen presents an evening of live music, poetry, comedy, and more to celebrate Black History Month. WUSA 9 anchor Larry Miller will join Rayceen Pendarvis and Beverly “Miss Chocolate” White as co-hosts, and DJ Heat will provide the music. AHF Pharmacy will sponsor light refreshments, and HIV testing and sexual health information will be available in commemoration of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Thursday, Feb. 7, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The first floor community room of the Cleveland Park Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free.

Call 202-282-3080 or visit www.

TeamRayceen.eventbrite.com.

THE DC GURLY SHOW: 14TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

Launched amidst the drag kings at a DC Kings show back in the day, the DC Gurly Show now has top billing as D.C.’s longest-running queer burlesque troupe. Next week’s show celebrates the many — and many types of — veteran performers as well as newcomers who give a good “gurly” show. The focus is on expression and individual performance, no matter gender or gender identity, much less sex or sexual orientation. Thursday, Feb. 7. Doors at 8 p.m. DC Comedy Loft and Bier Baron Tavern, 1523 22nd St. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-293-1887 or visit www.dcgurlyshow.com. l

theFeed

HATEFUL CRIME

E

Empire star Jussie Smollett hospitalized after suspected racist, homophobic attack. By Rhuaridh Marr

MPIRE STAR JUSSIE SMOLLETT HAS BEEN THE victim of a suspected hate crime in Chicago, according to reports. The actor, who came out as gay in 2015, was beaten by two men who yelled “racial and homophobic slurs” around 2 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan 29, according to a Chicago Police Department statement.

The men proceeded to “batter the victim with their hands” and then poured an “unknown chemical substance” on Smollett. The men then tied a rope around Smollett’s neck before fleeing the scene. Smollett took himself to an area hospital, where he was described as being in “good condition.”

Chicago P.D. is treating the attack — which they described as potentially being a “possible racially-charged assault and battery” — as a potential hate crime.

Smollett was visiting the city for a concert this weekend.

He reached Chicago late Monday night, and reportedly went to a Subway for food, according to TMZ. The gossip site claims that the men who attacked Smollett screamed “This is MAGA country” while attacking Smollett, yelled “Aren’t you that faggot Empire n****r?”, and that the substance poured on Smollett was bleach — though those reports are unverified.

As of press time Wednesday, police have yet to make any arrests and, according to PEOPLE, a Chicago P.D. spokesperson said there are no solid suspects at this point. The attackers wore masks, but Chicago police wouldn’t confirm what, if anything, was said to Smollett, and whether the liquid thrown on Smollett was bleach, which Smollett apparently believed it to be. Smollett was also confirmed to have been alone at the time of the attack.

GLAAD released a statement after news broke about the attack, saying they had reached out to Fox and Smollett’s team to “offer assistance as well as support for him.” They added: “Jussie is a true champion for LGBTQ people and is beloved by the community and allies around the world.”

Senators Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) called the attack on Smollett an “attempted modern-day lynching” in separate tweets, and reiterated calls for legislation that would make lynching a federal crime (Harris and Booker sponsored such a bill last year).

“Jussie Smollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery,” Harris tweeted. “This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.”

Booker tweeted: “The vicious attack on actor Jussie Smollett was an attempted modern-day lynching. I'm glad he's safe. To those in Congress who don't feel the urgency to pass our Anti-Lynching bill designating lynching as a federal hate crime — I urge you to pay attention.”

Lee Daniels, co-creator of Empire, posted an emotional response to news of the attack on Tuesday.

“It’s taken me a minute to come to social media about this because, Jussie, you are my son,” Daniels, who is gay, said in a video. “You didn’t deserve nor anybody deserves to have a noose put around your neck, to have bleach thrown on you, to be called ‘die faggot, n***a’ or whatever they said to you.

You are better than that. We are better than that. America is better than that” Daniels continued: “We have to love each other regardless of what sexual orientation we are, because it shows we are united on a united front and no racist fuck can come in and do the things that they did to you. Hold your head up, Jussie.

I’m with you. I’ll be there in a minute. It’s just another fucking day in America.”

Smollett came out publicly in 2015 during an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, telling DeGeneres that there’s “never been a closet that I’ve been in.” He added that his decision not to disclose his sexuality up to that point wasn’t an attempt to “hide or deny who God made me. There is, without a doubt, no closet that I’ve ever been in…and I just wanted to make that clear.”

Speaking to Metro Weekly last year, Smollett gave a fiery sermon on the state of the nation in Trump’s America.

“As Americans, we give ourselves way too much credit,” he said. “We lie to ourselves about how wonderful we are, when we are not. We are great people. We are fierce, forceful, forthright, good people at our cores, but this country has not reflected that. What we have to remember is we had eight years of Obama, of feeling inspired, of feeling like somehow things were going to be okay, but during that period, we lost our ability to fight. We got comfortable, we got complacent.

That’s why we’re in the situation that we’re in right now.

“Let us remember that Obama, for this country, is the anomaly,” he continued. “Trump is actually not such a huge misrepresentation of what our country in fact is. He’s what our country was built on — lies, deceit, thievery, let’s be honest…. This country is fucked up. It is. Point blank. Period.

There’s no getting around it. We’ve got to clean it up.” l

PUBLIC OPPOSITION

According to a new poll, 70% of Americans oppose Trump’s transgender military ban. By John Riley

A

NEW POLL SHOWS THAT A SUPER-MAJORITY of Americans oppose the Trump administration’s attempts to bar transgender people from serving in

the military.

According to a Quinnipiac University National Poll, 70% of American voters say that transgender people should be

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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theFeed allowed to serve in the military, putting them at odds with President Trump and his closest advisors. Only 22% agreed with the president that transgender people should be banned from the Armed Forces.

However, support for transgender military service is split along party lines, with strong support among Democrats and independents, but Republicans opposing the idea by a 50% to 40% margin. The poll, conducted from Jan. 25-28, surveyed 1,004 voters from across the nation, with a margin of error of +/-3.7%.

“It’s crystal clear that the far majority of Americans reject Donald Trump’s reckless, discriminatory attack on our nation’s brave transgender service members,” Ashley Broadway-Mack, the president of the American Military Partner Association, said in a statement. “Instead of singling out transgender troops for discrimination, Donald Trump should reverse course and honor them for the heroes they are. Transgender service members have proven time and again that what matters is their ability to accomplish the mission — not their gender identity.”

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request from the Trump administration to review lower court rulings attempting to block the Trump administration from carrying out the president’s proposed ban on transgender military personnel.

But the court also lifted preliminary injunctions issued by lower courts, meaning that the administration may move forward with the ban as the underlying challenge to its constitutionality works its way through the courts.

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JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Yet despite the partial victory for the administration, the president’s call for a ban on people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria or have undergone a gender transition seems to remain unpopular.

According to research from the Williams Institute, an estimated 15,500 transgender adults were serving in the U.S. military, including 8,800 on active duty and 6,700 in the National Guard of Reserves. There are also an estimated 130,000 transgender veterans.

Supporters of transgender military service have noted that much of the “concerns” expressed by the Trump administration — that the presence of transgender people will somehow harm military readiness or disrupt unit cohesion, or that providing transition-related healthcare for transgender troops will inflate the military’s budget — have not been proven in other countries where transgender people are allowed to serve, or in the United States military since July 2016, when former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter lifted previous prohibitions on transgender service.

“For the past two-and-a-half years, thousands of qualified, transgender individuals have made our nation’s armed forces better, in every measurable quality, with their authentic service,” said Andy Blevins, the executive director of OutServe-SLDN, which is representing several plaintiffs in one of the cases currently challenging the transgender ban.

“We look forward to continuing our representation of these proud and selfless patriots, and reminding this administration that military policy cannot be defined by baseless and discriminatory rationalizations.” l

Community THURSDAY, JAN. 31 Weekly Events AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION offers free

walk-in HIV testing by appointment from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-5 p.m. at its Blair Underwood Wellness Center, 2141 K St. NW, and its AHF Healthcare Center, 4302 St. Barnabas Rd., Suite B, Temple Hills, Md., and from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at its Benning Road location, 1647 Benning Rd. NE, Suite 300. For more information, visit www. hivcare.org.

WARD MORRISON

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH

Shakir (center) at SMYAL’s 2018 Fall Brunch

SEEKING SUPPORTERS

I

SMYAL plans to engage young professionals interested in helping LGBTQ youth reach their full potential.

THINK THERE ARE A LOT OF REALLY ENGAGED PEOPLE WHO HAVE MOVED to D.C. for jobs, and are looking to connect with organizations that do LGBTQ-related work,” says Sultan Shakir, the executive director of Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates & Leaders, better known as SMYAL. “We want to let them know that they can donate, and how else to engage with our organization.”

To promote its work serving approximately 15,000 LGBTQ youth in the greater D.C. area, SMYAL’s Young Donors Committee is hosting “SMYAL for the New Year,” a networking event geared towards young professionals that will highlight the organization’s various initiatives, from providing comprehensive sex education to a housing program for LGBTQ homeless youth.

Shakir hopes that those in attendance will either get involved directly with the organization or use their connections to link SMYAL with others who may be better suited to provide additional funding or resources. For instance, one of the professionals who came to a past Young Donors event has since started working with the dozen youth enrolled in SMYAL’s housing program, to help with resumé writing, mock interviews, and other skills to assist them in obtaining jobs.

As he looks forward to the upcoming year, Shakir has plans to expand SMYAL’s program offerings, particularly those that promote wellness, tackling issues like HIV and mental health counseling.

“HIV rates in the District among youth are higher than they should be, compared to other cities, so we’ve partnered with the Washington AIDS Partnership to train people on sex education and healthy relationships,” he says. “Those young people can then spread awareness by training or educating their peers.

“We’re also going to be helping destigmatize mental health counseling. A lot of the youth we work with have experienced some type of trauma, so we’re going to work on initiatives that encourage them to seek help early, as opposed to waiting until things seem dire.”

—John Riley SMYAL for the New Year is Sunday, Feb. 10, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Franklin Hall, 1348 Florida Ave. NW. Light hors d’oeuvres will be served. Tickets cost $10 per person.

For more information, visit www.smyal.org.

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

DC AQUATICS CLUB practice

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

DC FRONT RUNNERS run-

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

DC LAMBDA SQUARES, D.C.’s

gay and lesbian square-dancing group, features mainstream through advanced square dancing at the National City Christian Church. Please dress casually. 7-9:30 p.m. 5 Thomas Circle NW. For more info, call 202-930-1058 or visit www. dclambdasquares.org.

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds

practice. The team is always looking for new members.

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

THE DULLES TRIANGLES

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

For more information, visit www.dullestriangles.com.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-

Walker Health. 9 a.m.-12:30

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

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

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

METROHEALTH CENTER

offers free, rapid HIV testing.

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

STI TESTING at Whitman-Walker

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

US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics

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

FRIDAY, FEB. 1 GAY DISTRICT, a group for

GBTQQI men between the ages of 18-35, meets on the first and third Fridays of each month. 8:30-9:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

For more information, visit www. gaydistrict.org.

Join LGBTQ people from all over the D.C. area for Go Gay DC’s monthly FIRST FRIDAYS HAPPY HOUR SOCIAL at Pinzimini Lounge in the Westin Arlington Gateway. No Cover. Ballston Metro is two blocks away. 6:30-8:30 p.m.

801 N. Glebe Rd., Arlington, Va. For more information, visit www.meetup.com/GoGayDC.

SATURDAY, FEB. 2 ADVENTURING outdoors group

takes a very strenuous hike to see scenic Little Devils Stairs Canyon with numerous waterfalls in northern Shenandoah National Park.

Round-trip distance is 8 miles, with 1800 feet of elevation gain.

Experienced, aerobically fit hikers only. Bring beverages, lunch, sturdy boots, layered clothing, and about $15 for fees. Carpool at 8:30 a.m. from the East Falls Church Metro Kiss & Ride lot. For more info, contact Joe, 202-276-5521, or visit www.adventuring.org.

CENTER GLOBAL, a group that

advocates for LGBTIQ rights and

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JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

fights against anti-LGBTIQ laws in more than 80 countries, holds its monthly meeting on the first Saturday of every month. 12-1:30 p.m. The DC Center, 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

KHUSH DC, a support group for

LGBTQ South Asians, hosts a meeting at The DC Center. 1:30-3 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

For more information, visit www. facebook.com/khushdc.

SUNDAY, FEB. 3 ADVENTURING outdoors group

hikes 8 miles with 1100 feet of elevation gain to scenic overlooks and spectacular rock formation in northern Shenandoah National Park. Bring beverages, lunch, sturdy boots, layered clothing, and about $12 for fees. Carpool at 9:30 a.m. from the East Falls Church Metro Kiss & Ride lot. For more information, contact Peter, 202-302-9606, or visit www.adventuring.org.

Weekly Events LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULS

MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH

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

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.

HSV-2 SOCIAL AND SUPPORT GROUP for gay men living in the

DC metro area. This group will be meeting once a month. For information on location and time, visit www.H2gether.com.

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 ser-

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

UNITARIAN CHURCH OF ARLINGTON, an LGBTQ welcom-

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

WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH HIV/AIDS SUPPORT GROUP

for newly diagnosed individuals, meets 7 p.m. Registration required.

202-939-7671, hivsupport@whitman-walker.org.

TUESDAY, FEB. 5 Weekly Events DC AQUATICS CLUB practice

session at Takoma Aquatic Center.

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

UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL MEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

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.

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

Route distances vary. For meeting places and more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.org.

MONDAY, FEB. 4

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds prac-

CENTER AGING, an LGBTQ

seniors group of The DC Center, will hold the first of its MONTHLY ADVOCACY MEETINGS to gauge feedback on The Center’s programs and services for older adults, and see what other issues may need to be addressed. This meeting will be immediately after the Center’s regularly scheduled weekly Coffee Drop-In. 12:30-1:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

tice. The team is always looking for new members. All welcome.

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

THE GAY MEN'S HEALTH COLLABORATIVE offers free

Weekly Events

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.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS

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

STD TESTING is available at AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Benning Road location, 1647 Benning Rd. NE, from 2-6 p.m. on Mondays.

For more information, visit www. aidshealth.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.

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.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 6 BOOKMEN DC, an informal mens

gay-literature group, discusses Edward White’s The Tastemaker: Carl Van Vechten and the Birth of Modern America at the Cleveland Park Library. All are welcome. 7:30 p.m. 3310 Connecticut Ave. NW. For more information, visit www. bookmendc.blogspot.com. l

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THE

SECRET OF

Ryan Bos, Capital Pride Alliance

PRIDE As Capital Pride prepares to reveal this year’s theme, we asked the city’s seven LGBTQ Prides why celebrating our diverse community matters now more than ever.

By Randy Shulman • Photography by Julian Vankim

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JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Pride has a secret.

Regrettably, it’s not one we’re allowed to tell you... just yet. That’s the job of the Capital Pride Alliance, who tonight, January 31, at the organization’s annual “Pride Reveal” at City Winery DC, will unveil this year’s secret theme. Trust us, it’s one that will have you shouting your Pride from the rooftops.

“This year is a marker of an important milestone in our movement, commemorating the 50 years since the Stonewall Riots in New York City,” says Ryan Bos, Executive Director of the Capital Pride Alliance, offering a sly hint about the theme. “When you look at our history prior to Stonewall, there are forces in our community that continue to want to silence our community, as well as continue to keep people in the closet. This year is about looking at our past and hoping to give folks strength to be out and proud and to speak up. That is how progress occurs, and how we can continue to strive toward equality and respect for everybody.”

(To see the final logo and full theme, visit this article at www.

MetroWeekly.com after 9 p.m. tonight.)

Washington, D.C. is lucky — our city is absolutely awash in LGBTQ Pride celebrations. In addition to Capital Pride, there’s DC Black Pride, Trans Pride, Youth Pride, Latinx Pride, Asian Pacific Islander Pride, and Silver Pride. The Capital Pride Alliance, which helps to produce Trans and API Pride, is working to establish itself as a support hub for all the Prides.

“Each Pride is different, with unique opportunities to educate, engage, empower, and celebrate who we are as an LGBTQ+ community,” says Bos. “I see all of the city’s Prides complementing each other and providing the national capital region a unique experience to reach more people. I am excited to work more closely together, so we can continue to connect more people to support services, opportunities, and to each other.

“Ultimately, our goal is for all the Prides to feel a sense of belonging within the Alliance and a willingness to seek out the opportunities in supporting each other and working together,”

Elle Michelle Washington, Youth Pride

he continues. “We want to find the best ways to support all of the Prides.”

“I think the respective Prides actually can grow all of us together,” says Ashley Smith, President of the Capital Pride Alliance. “We can all share between the Pride events and truly have learning take place across all parts of our community and across our multiple identities.”

Diversity is key, says API’s Ryan Velandria McCarthy, who joined CPA’s board last year. “Capital Pride has made great strides in the past couple of years to foster diversity. Their leadership has taken a proactive approach to ensuring that the organization's Board of Directors reflects the rich diversity of our community.”

“I am excited to see the collaborative efforts of the different Pride organizations,” adds Nikisha Carpenter, President of Youth Pride. “It will only strengthen and diversify our community. There are also other organizations that service the LGBTQ community — not just Pride organizations. And fostering relationships and doing events with organizations that are providing day-to-day services will increase diversity in our community.”

For this special Metro Weekly Forum, we asked members from the seven Prides to weigh in on why their events are so vital to the LGBTQ community, and to speak frankly about the challenges they face as they grow. It’s hard not to take enormous pride in the work that these people — many of them volunteers — do to ensure our community has a voice that remains out, loud, and proud.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR VERY FIRST PRIDE EXPERIENCE, AND HOW IT INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU NOW PLAN FOR PRIDE. ASHLEY SMITH, 43, PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, CAPITAL PRIDE:

Ian Brown, Capital Trans Pride

My first pride was in Atlanta, Georgia where I lived at the time. I did not know for sure how I identified or what this whole gay pride thing was about. I was totally shocked at what I saw and the overwhelming feeling of inclusion for the first time in my life to be free in this envi-

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

25

ronment. Each year, as I have become more and more engaged with Pride events, I think of creating an environment that is welcoming for each person coming for the first time, and what their potential experience will be.

BEN DE GUZMAN, 46, ADVISOR, ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER (API) PRIDE: My first Pride was in Washington, D.C., during my sum-

mer internship. I was still a newbie to the LGBTQ community, and the idea that I would end up marching [in the parade] was inconceivable, much less organizing the Mayor’s contingent.

My clear memory of that first Pride was seeing an Asian group

ty to come together and celebrate one another.

NANCY CAÑAS, 38, PRESIDENT, LATINX PRIDE: My first experi-

ence was at the 2011 Capital Pride Parade. I joined a local Latinx nightclub group the day of the parade. I saw Latino GLBT History Project’s group at the parade and I knew at that moment I wanted to help organize future DC Latinx Pride events.

NIKISHA CARPENTER, 40, BOARD PRESIDENT, YOUTH PRIDE: My

first Youth Pride was in 2005. I was a DC Drag King and my friend Sara Mindel, a board member at the time, recruited me to perform. When I arrived, Sara informed me they had enough performers, but I stayed to enjoy the event. I was moved and inspired by all young people gathered, the talented performances, and the heartfelt testimonials. I knew then it was something I wanted to be a part of and support.

RYAN BOS, 44, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CAPITAL PRIDE ALLIANCE: While experiencing my com-

ing out, I couldn’t understand the power or purpose in Pride, specifically marching and waving a flag to tell everyone you were “gay” — until my first Pride experience in Baltimore in 1999. I had moved to the area the previous year from college in Indiana, had begun to meet a strong group of gay friends, and Pride was something you just did. I am so thankful for that experience, because I was able to witness and feel the power in gathering with peoRyan Velandria McCarthy, API Pride ple who have shared similar, though maybe marching and I have always been mindful of the need to make not the same, experiences as me. I was not alone. It also showed sure that Pride reflects the diversity in our communities. me the richness of our diversity, and gave me the confidence to wear the colors of the rainbow with Pride. The experience at my IAN BROWN, 38, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF WORKSHOPS FOR first Pride reminds me to ensure we can continue to push to be CAPITAL TRANS PRIDE: 2016 was the first time I attended Pride the most inclusive we can be to give as many people their first, as a transgender-identified person. I was overcome with so many second, third or 100th Pride experience. emotions from seeing myself reflected in many of the parade contingents. I want to help to create that same experience for HOW HAS YOUR ORGANIZATION’S PRIDE EVOLVED OVER THE someone else. I want everyone that comes to Capital Trans Pride YEARS? 2019 to leave with something meaningful, whether it be the experience of being able to self-identify in a safe space, insight BEN, API PRIDE: What’s been fun is seeing how more straight into their transition, information about community resources, friends and colleagues are joining in as the years have gone by. or, maybe best of all, a friend or ally.

KENYA, DC BLACK PRIDE: DC Black Pride has grown to be a space JOSEPH IZZO, 70, PLANNING COMMITTEE MEMBER, SILVER PRIDE: to showcase inclusiveness and to love and celebrate each other.

My first Pride Festival was in June, 1980. I had been out as a gay DC Black Pride is a space where many people come to escape man since June, 1979. The festival was held at P Street Beach the realities of their homes and to be immersed in a celebration near the Francis School & Recreation Pool. The parade and fes- unlike any other. tival has always been my way of experiencing the diversity of our community and to connect with organizations of interest to me. RYAN B., CAPITAL PRIDE: When I got involved as Executive Director back in 2012, there was a desire to expand the thinkKENYA HUTTON, 40, DIRECTOR, DC BLACK PRIDE: My very first ing of what it means to have and experience Pride. In the time at DC Black Pride was with my gay mentor. He packed up beginning, Pride was a place that for many was the only time all of his mentees, didn't tell us where we were going and hit of year they were in a physical space with other people who the road. I was so young and naive. It wasn't until many years were “OUT” as LGBTQ+. Today, many people are fortunate later I realized that we had come to DC Black Pride. It was to be able to be out in the various facets of their life, all year my first time seeing a community of Black and Brown people long. We began a campaign #HAVEPRIDE365 to support, enjoying each other. As I've gotten more involved in DC Black encourage, acknowledge, and recognize this change in our Pride, I've held on to that sense of community celebration. culture and communities. In addition, we organized more Times may have changed what DC Pride looks like, but at the events, developed new partnerships, and debated the role we core it is and will always be a time and space for the communi- can and should play as an organization to support our LGBTQ+ 26

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

community all year long, not simply in June.

RYAN VELANDRIA MCCARTHY, 37, CAPITAL PRIDE BOARD MEMBER, API PRIDE: Asian

Pacific Islander Pride has yet to be institutionalized here in Washington. From what I understand, API Pride events in the past have been ad hoc and relatively infrequent. This year, we're trying to build a coalition of activists in the community to together take ownership of API Pride, with the hope of making the event a permanent fixture in the Capital Pride line up. So far, we have had excellent collaboration with a number of Washington's API groups, including AQUA, APIQS, Khush DC, and KQTDC. We are thrilled about the partnerships!

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES WHEN PLANNING YOUR PRIDE? ASHLEY, CAPITAL PRIDE: The biggest challenge is wanting to

make the experience greater for each member of our community year over year. Also to make sure we are increasingly focused on how to be inclusive of all of our community members.

BEN, API PRIDE: We want to make sure that more immigrant

communities can feel involved in Pride. Many of them aren’t proficient in English, so we want to push the envelope and see about translating materials into other languages.

D MAGRINI, 63, SILVER PRIDE: I think our challenge for the first

year was to think big enough. We learned the elder community is there and ready to come together to learn, dance and plan for the future. I enjoyed meeting our community partners and attendees. We truly had fun!

KENYA, DC BLACK PRIDE: Funding. Many large organizations

either don't know about smaller, localized Pride celebrations or simply don't understand their significance. When it comes to funding, this means they often show financial support to only one Pride, assuming it supports all of their constituents. In reality, many of their constituents are attending Pride celebrations that better reflect their own communities and backgrounds, but are not receiving said funding.

NIKISHA, YOUTH PRIDE: The YPA board has been planning Youth

Pride for many years — the logistics of planning the event we can do in our sleep. The challenges come with spreading the word, marketing, social media, and website updating and reaching out to schools and other organizations. If we could find a few dedicated volunteers that have a few hours a week to assist with those tasks, I believe we would increase our impact.

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE YOU’RE IN COMPETITION AGAINST YOUR FELLOW D.C. PRIDES? DO YOU FEEL ANY PRESSURE TO OUTDO OTHER PRIDE CELEBRATIONS IN OTHER MAJOR CITIES? D, SILVER PRIDE: No. Each Pride event has meaning and impor-

tance. My first Dyke March meant as much as my first Silver Pride. I felt celebrated. I felt in community. I felt Pride!

JOE, SILVER PRIDE: Silver Pride is “just getting on our feet” this

Kenya Hutton, DC Black Pride

second year of organizing to support older LGBTQ Seniors and to enlist their participation. We're a “work in progress,” and definitely not trying to compete with any of the other Prides.

KENYA, DC BLACK PRIDE: No. The wonderful thing about having

different pride celebrations is representation. No single Pride can showcase the LGBTQ experience of the Latino, transgender men and women, API, etc., communities. We all have a right to be represented and to share our narratives. We all have a right to be celebrated. Each Pride, both local and across the nation, is unique. There's no need to try to outdo one another. When we make this a competition instead of a celebration, we have truly lost the essence of Pride celebrations.

RYAN B., CAPITAL PRIDE: Not at all. We are called an alliance for

a reason, increasingly so. Each Pride provides different opportunities for people to gather, learn, and celebrate. As for other cities, there is some healthy and motivating competition, but we take advantage of the opportunities to learn from and support each other.

STEPH NIAUPARI, 26, VICE-PRESIDENT, LATINX PRIDE: I think

there is a perception that there is competition between the events. However, I don’t believe there is. I think the community is big enough for us to embrace multiple events. It would be incredibly difficult for any one event to cater to all of the needs of the community and multiple identities.

HOW DO YOU RESPOND WHEN PEOPLE ASK WHY THERE IS A NEED FOR SEGMENTED PRIDE CELEBRATIONS? ASHLEY, CAPITAL PRIDE: The LGBTQ+ Community is not just

made up of one group of people. It is comprised of so many unique people, cultures, experiences, socioeconomic makeup, races, and accessibility. All of these members should have a space to celebrate Pride within the community that speaks to them, as well as be able to celebrate Pride as one large group.

There is a need to learn from those who have gone before us and share with those who want to learn more and many times that can be done in those events which may speak to the individual in their respective community. Through the partnership growing between all Prides, we can create those safe spaces in all of JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

27

our celebrations and share knowledge which will allow for us to grow further as we work together.

IAN, CAPITAL TRANS PRIDE: Our community is so rich and diverse

that I don’t believe any one event can address the unique needs of every member. The more the merrier. It’s all for the betterment of our collective community.

KENYA, DC BLACK PRIDE: Again, representation. We are all dif-

ferent. Though there may be some common threads, it is that uniqueness of our individuality that is important to showcase.

Equally important, those unique narratives should be shared from our own communities. Having community Pride celebrations allows each of us to be celebrated in a fashion that is authentic to our culture and our community.

NANCY, LATINX PRIDE: We want to celebrate our differences, our

uniqueness. My pride as a queer Latinx mother is not the same as a non Latinx gay man. Representation is important, and one group or demographic cannot and will not represent us all.

RYAN M., API PRIDE: The different Prides provide spaces where

before Massachusetts. Many leading voices in many social justice movements are openly LGBTQ Asian Americans — including undocumented activist Jose Antonio Vargas (Filipino American), Rep. Mark Takano (Japanese American) as the first LGBTQ person of color in Congress, and even writer and trans activist Janet Mock (native Hawaiian).

D, SILVER PRIDE: We are all aging. I find it really powerful to be

with my Silver peers, we’ve seen so much and have so much to share. It’s also really wonderful to share space with our younger comrades and find ways to continue to be in community across differences in age.

ELLE MICHELLE WASHINGTON, 28, SPOKESPERSON, YOUTH PRIDE: I believe that any kid who has the courage to come out

should be celebrated and loved. Kids always have the hardest time coming to terms with who they are and no one should make them feel as if who they are is invalid. Youth are our future and they deserve to be celebrated.

IAN, CAPITAL TRANS PRIDE: I think it’s safe to say that the trans-

gender community is currently under attack. As trans-folx, we need the support and allyship of the broader queer community. I believe it’s only a matter of time before they come for another marginalized group. Stand with us today so that we can continue standing with you tomorrow.

KENYA, DC BLACK PRIDE: Our Pride is a pride

for the entire community. All are welcomed to experience the energy and history of DC Black Pride. Even though our Pride showcases the experiences and culture of the Black and brown LGBTQ community, all are welcome.

Each pride can be used as a time for learning, understanding, and conversations to heal a greater community.

NIKISHA, YOUTH PRIDE: If you can remember

what it was like growing up and coming out, that feeling of being different or having someone you care about go through it, then you Joseph Izzo, Silver Pride should care about Youth Pride. These times in more voices can be heard. They represent an additional conduit D.C. are particulary hard for LBGTQ youth with political tension to bring more people into Pride. Also, importantly, the Prides are and gentrification; the LGBTQ high school drop-out rates due an opportunity to showcase and give visibility to the the vibrant to harrassment and bullying, youth employment discrimination impacting youth development and growth, and housing prices and diverse elements of our community! continuing to rise as does youth homelessness. It’s important for STEPH, LATINX PRIDE: Each Pride is unique, and represents a youth to know what resources are available to them, what their community that is often forgotten throughout the year. The pop- rights are, and to connect with other youth that have similar and ulation didn’t feel represented by the mainstream LGBTQ move- different life experiences and backgrounds. Youth Pride Day ment, so they created their own. I see it as survival. The work provides an opportunity for young people to do all of these in a of solidarity begins with supporting each Pride with resources safe and supportive environment designed with and for them. and shifting the focus from building corporations to building RYAN B., CAPITAL PRIDE: Because it’s not “my” pride. The sustainable communities.

Capital Pride Celebration is our community’s Pride, and WHY SHOULD THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY CARE ABOUT YOUR PAR- through the Capital Pride Alliance and our partnerships, our TICULAR PRIDE? community has the opportunity to shape, create, and empower our diverse community. We are in the Nation’s Capital, which BEN, API PRIDE: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have a gives us the unique responsibility to honor, recognize, and unique role in the LGBTQ community in many ways. The mod- uplift our local community, while ensuring we use the platern marriage equality movement started in Hawaii a decade form and voice we have on the national stage, to ensure we as 28

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

a community are heard, seen, and respected.

DO YOU VIEW PRIDE AS MORE OF A POLITICAL EVENT, A COMMUNITY GATHERING, OR ENTERTAINMENT EVENT? WHY? BEN, API PRIDE: It’s all three because the personal is political and

part of changing hearts and minds means changing culture.

D, SILVER PRIDE: I tend to still long for the more political march-

es. But nothing beats being in the parade and sharing all that love and pride as a community.

resilient through all we have endured. We're still here and not going anywhere!

RYAN B., CAPITAL PRIDE: Pride to me is the acknowledgement

of accepting oneself, in all the complexity, layers, and imperfections that each of us are. We then extend our sense of Pride by providing space and opportunity for others to acknowledge and accept the same in themselves.

RYAN M., API PRIDE: Unfortunately, we are surrounded by

IAN, CAPITAL TRANS PRIDE: I view CTP19 as

a community gathering that, in its very existence, has become a political statement. Audre Lorde thought of self-care as an “act of political warfare.” Standing in our authenticity and truth is a form of self-care, and is now up for political debate. I refuse to be erased and I demand to be recognized.

KENYA, DC BLACK PRIDE: I think Pride is all of

those things at once. All of those parts move together to create something very powerful.

Pride is a time and space where our community gathers in support of something to show our political power and influence changes to ensure our community's future.

RYAN M., API PRIDE: Pride celebrations mean

different things to different people. Through our diverse programming, we aim to provide many ways for people to participate — from smaller events to the larger Parade and Festival weekend, from political discussions to parties, there is something for everyone. Our community is diverse in every way, and while it is always a political act to simply gather to be out and proud, we recognize the need for balance and to respect the wide array of interests we all have.

WHAT DOES PRIDE MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY? ASHLEY, CAPITAL PRIDE: Pride is an experience, a feeling, a cele-

bration, a learning experience, and a time to unite with members of my community. Being part of the creation of the Pride experience is another great part of why the work we do in creating Pride Celebrations is so important, to see that first time attendee to Pride share their experience and how Pride has changed their life forever.

BEN, API PRIDE: Pride means living in my truth out loud and in

all my communities.

D, SILVER PRIDE: Pride to me? It means I define me. I am won-

derfully, fearfully made. And so are you!

ELLE, YOUTH PRIDE: Pride to me is having the chance to cele-

brate who you are. Living authentically and boldly in your truth without any hesitation or fear.

KENYA, DC BLACK PRIDE: Pride means community. It is a time

that, as a community, we can come together as one to celebrate each other in the face of opposition. Pride means we have been

Nancy Cañas, Latinx Pride

prejudice and homophobia — from the media, political leaders, passing strangers, even our own families. It becomes all too easy for LGBTQ+ folks to internalize this homophobia and hate. Pride is an outlet for individuals in our community to turn what was once a source of shame into something to celebrate, something to be proud of. l Youth Pride Day is Saturday, May 4. For more information on volunteering, visit www.youthpridealliance.org.

Silver Pride is Friday, May 10. For more information on volunteering, email jizzo4102@gmail.com or Dmagrini@whitman-walker.org.

Capital Trans Pride is Friday, May 17. For more information on volunteering, visit www.capitalpride.org/volunteer.

DC Black Pride is Friday, May 24-26. For more information on volunteering, visit www.dcblackpride.org.

DC Latinx Pride is Saturday, June 1 through Thursday, June 6. For more information on volunteering, visit www.bit.ly/ LHPVOLUNTEER. The Capital Pride Celebration is scheduled to start on Friday, May 31, and concludes with the parade on Saturday, June 8 and the festival on Sunday, June 9. For more information on volunteering, visit www.capitalpride.org/volunteer.

API Pride has yet to set a date, but for more information on volunteering, visit www.capitalpride.org/volunteer.

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Gallery

Breukers - Untitled 3

Minah - Forever Being Extended

Hester - Vessel E

Long View Gallery: New Year/New Artists N EW WORKS BY FRANCIE HESTER, GREG MINAH, Frank Campion, and Stefan Breukers are featured as part of the first show of 2019 at the small, privately-run gallery. Long View has long been a leading fixture in its trendy part of Shaw as well as a prime example of how art and art-centric spaces can help revitalize and shape neighborhoods. On display to March 3 at Long View Gallery, 1234 9th St. NW. Call 202-232-4788 or visit www.longviewgallery.com. l

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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SCOTT SUCHMAN

Stage

Dirty Dozen

The ensemble of Ford’s Twelve Angry Men attacks the courthouse drama with all the subtlety of a WWE cage match. By André Hereford

T

HESE MEN ARE ANGRY ALRIGHT. ASSEMBLED IN A NEW YORK CITY court of law to decide a first-degree murder case, twelve jurors, all male, argue, fight, and offend with scant provocation. Their ready combativeness suits the times, of course. Civic bodies convened for the purpose of coming to level-headed decisions based on facts and principles of law have been known to degenerate into petty squabbles and in-fighting.

That was true at the dawn of the Civil Rights Era, when Reginald Rose first wrote the Emmy-winning Twelve Angry Men teleplay that he then adapted for the stage and the classic film. And the divisiveness that often overtakes these dozen strangers is an apt reflection of what’s true now.

But the jurors of Sheldon Epps’ new production of Twelve Angry Men (HHHHH) at Ford’s Theatre just seem especially, and unconvincingly, quick to leap at each other’s throats. The pitch of “Let me at him!” rage feels too easily provoked and insufficiently supported by the characterizations and performances.

Set entirely inside the jury room, the play wants to establish an ebb and flow of discussion and debate that erupts into outbursts and confrontation. It’s democracy in action, the turbulent yet steady process of thoughtful and emotional deliberation that leads to a just consensus.

Woefully, Epps and company render this exercise in democracy an unsubtle exercise in every character getting his turn to talk — or, rather, lose his cool.

Some of them listen, too, at the behest of Juror #8 (Erik King), who first suggests that the group at least deliberate over the evidence before unanimously deciding the 32

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

defendant’s guilt. And the audience listens, absorbing every detail of a mystery, as the men — representing different types, classes, and backgrounds — argue the facts of the case.

Their arguments are shaped — or tainted — by their own personal biases. One juror wants to convict because he was persuaded by the physical evidence, while another just wants to wrap up deliberations so he can make it to his ballgame. One man, blue-collar Juror #10 (Elan Zafir), is prepared to condemn the 16-year old defendant, not merely because he believes the boy is guilty, but because he holds people like the defendant in utter contempt. “They breed like animals,” he sneers.

In the ’50s, when fair-minded Juror #8 was Henry Fonda and there were only white men in the jury room, the audience knew who “they” were. Given the diverse casting of this production, “they” are whomever else doesn’t have a seat at the table. Rose’s play definitely still poses trenchant arguments. It’s the arguing that feels rote in this production, a rinse, spin, repeat cycle of each juror rising from the table to plead his case only to get shouted down or uplifted. continues on page 34

C. STANLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

Stage

Power Play

Kenneth Lin’s Kleptocracy offers clever politics, but is let down by cheap imagery and a bland central performance. By Kate Wingfield

I

NTENDED AS A DARKLY WRY, MILDLY EXISTENTIAL COMMENTARY ON the rise of Vladimir Putin amid the excesses of the Russian oligarchs, Kenneth Lin’s Kleptocracy (HHHHH) is clever but somewhat hard to pull off. There is a strong narrative thread here with Lin’s vignettes essentially tracking the meteoric rise of oil-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the arrival on the political scene of the seemingly mild-mannered former KGB agent Putin. While Khodorkovsky gets richer and more politically ambitious, Putin becomes subtly ominous, coming and going like the Grim Reaper at a party, dropping sometimes clever, sometimes obtuse clues to a puzzle only a Russian could understand. When the United States tries to negotiate a lucrative deal with Khodorkovsky, ideologies collide like grinding gears and Putin reveals himself to be a lot smarter and more ruthless than perhaps anyone expected.

But this is no history lesson. Instead, events are posited not so much to tell the story, but rather as points of cerebral departure. Every scene and every word bubbles with symbol and allegory, with Lin’s characters delivering a kind of running expository when they are not waxing existential.

It is certainly intellectually stimulating and occasionally — thanks to a very dry-witted Putin — amusing, but with so much going on, a play like this needs not just a strong, but a nimble vision. Put simply, it calls for the kind of energy, dexterity and unfettered imagination that allows a company like Woolly Mammoth, for instance, to bring the goods on so much of their outré fare. Director Jackson Gay covers the ground at Arena Stage’s production, but despite some strong performances, things fail to fizz, with more of the color and imagination coming from Nicholas Hussong’s snazzy projections than

the dynamics on stage.

Matters are not helped by Max Woertendyke’s one-dimensional Khodorkovsky (appearing in a parade of unconvincing hairdos signaling his status and age). Although he has energy and charisma, Woertendyke keeps his Khodorkovsky at the same “actorly” pitch throughout. There simply isn’t enough variation or nuance. If it is intended to emphasize Khodorkovsky as symbol versus plain-old-man, it nevertheless gets tiresome. That said, it doesn’t all fall on Woertendyke’s doorstep; Lin doesn’t give him much to work with besides a penchant for edicts. Reference is made to his Jewish heritage, for example, but Lin makes no exploration of just how important this might be in a country with a long anti-semitic history and how it might inform Khodorkovsky’s callousness towards fellow Russians, his hunger for power, or Putin’s animosity.

As unfortunate as this is, much is salvaged in some of the other performances here, which manage to be fun or engaging while they deliver Lin’s messaging. Case in point is Candy Buckley’s White House Official. Sounding like it might have been written for a man (hats off to director Gay for casting Buckley if that is the case), she

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

33

C. STANLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

takes it and runs. Arriving to broker U.S. corporate and political interests in cutting an oil deal with Khodorkovsky, the Official is keenly aware of the political complexities and jostling in the “new” Russia. Playing to the crowd, Buckley uses masterful emphasis to suggest the meaning behind her words while channeling some hilarious swagger, delivering the perfect blend of comical bravado and cynical savvy. It’s the kind of bold choice that rewards a patient audience — truly vital in a play that vacillates between toying with the obtuse and talking inside political baseball.

Another standout is Christopher Geary, delivering his Putin — the man and the myth — with a knowing, urbane, and amusingly deadpan spin. To his credit, Geary seamlessly manages Lin’s complex portrait, drawing Putin by turns as observant cypher, cool sociopath, and eccentric who enjoys spouting existential poetry and speaking in riddles. Had there been chemistry with Khodorkovsky, things might have really taken off.

As Inna Khodorkovsky, the second wife of the tycoon Khodorkovsky, Bronte England-Nelson provides a believable blend of grit and angst, even if — through no fault of her own — Lin’s opening scene in which a young Khodorkovsky woos/stalks her is toe-curlingly unconvincing. As the play ends, Lin’s purpose for this early scene becomes clear, but if it works in retrospect, it certainly doesn’t when actually viewed.

Which leads to a further quibble: between Khodorkovsky’s repulsive attempts to control the young, half-starving Inna and Putin’s savoring of poetry about the large derriere and “smell of a voluptuous tart,” Lin dips into the kind of territory occupied almost exclusively by male writers who think nothing of expressing their important ideas at the expense of women’s dignity. Women may no longer be men’s chattel in law, but they certainly remain their chattel in entertainment — even if it is dressed up as metaphor or symbol in a sophisticated political play. This isn’t a drama about gender or sexual politics, so what does making reference to odorous “tarts” do that other imagery can’t? It feels like a cheap attempt to keep the audience awake and it’s beneath everyone.

Such hobbyhorses aside, those thrilled to find a play on such a niche subject will likely be content to ignore the flaws and enjoy Lin’s obvious expertise and brainy flair. Those less engaged with the politics will have to settled for a few good performances and some insight into just how much “meddling” there has always been between the world’s current, and former, superpowers. l

Kleptocracy runs to Feb. 24 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth Street SW. Tickets are $76 to $115.

Call 202-488-3300 or visit www.arenastage.org. continued from page 32

Character intros are followed by insults, then defenses, attacks, reflection, and reconciliation. The formula could be propped up by compelling characters, but only half of the ensemble nail down a character who lives and breathes beyond their respective jury number, and façade of traits and opinions.

The other half just programmatically adopt combative or defensive stances.

As two of the most vocal, Jurors 8 and 10, King and Zafir do standout work, playing men who reside on opposite poles of compassion and fairness. Christopher Bloch, as Juror #4, and Bru Ajueyitsi, as Juror #5, contribute fine turns as men from

opposite poles of privilege. And, as one of the more understanding jurors among the twelve, Craig Wallace, a Ford’s favorite, conveys a man who’s brought decades of life experience into that jury room.

The room itself, with its towering ceiling and high banks of windows, conveys the importance of a jury room, signaling the weight of this or any jury’s duty in deciding guilt or innocence.

In that sense, scenic designer Stephanie Kerley Schwartz and the production crew manage to deliver more character with an impressive space than some of the actors do with pages of dialogue and a handful of onstage tirades. l

Twelve Angry Men runs through February 17 at Ford’s Theatre, 511 Tenth St. NW. Tickets are $17 to $64.

Call 888-616-0270, or visit www.fords.org.

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JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

NETFLIX

Movies

Fright Gallery

Jake Gyllenhaal and an amusing ensemble cast get chased by killer art in the weird but flat Velvet Buzzsaw. By André Hereford

V

ELVET BUZZSAW ( ) DOESN’T PRESENT ITSELF AS A thriller right away. The oddball film starts out as a straight-faced satire of the ostentatiously arty crowd gathered at Art Basel Miami. Writer-director Dan Gilroy gets in a few sharp jabs at what passes for seven-figure-priced conceptual art, and the swirl of attendant snobs and poseurs, including bitchy art critic Morf Vandewalt (Jake Gyllenhaal), imperious gallery owner Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo), and her fierce rival Gretchen (Toni Collette). But the parody runs towards the obvious, as summed up by the array of goofy art, wigs and wardrobes. Stefon or some other SNL character might emerge at any moment to drag Morf off to the hottest club in Miami.

Then, the Art Basel circus folds its tents, and Morf, Rhodora, and her beleaguered staff all return to their equally luxurious home turf in Los Angeles. Morf, who actively cultivates his status as a vital organism in the art world ecosystem, relaxes his perfected public persona to a degree when he’s lounging at home naked with handsome boyfriend, Ed (Sedale Threatt, Jr.).

Away from the Art Basel glare, the characters shift gears to a slightly lower key of sniping, dealing, and backstabbing. Rhodora sounds just as over-the-top ordering around her assistant Josephina (Zawe Ashton), and her installer Bryson (Billy Magnussen) sounds just as pretentious hyping his artwork, but they all seem a tad more human back in the off-season light. It’s a nice touch.

That’s when the movie intriguingly (although after too much setup) takes a darker turn towards the suspenseful and supernatural, as Josephina stumbles upon the artwork of her dead neighbor, a loner whom she didn’t know, except to remember

that he owned a cat. His unique pieces, signed with the name “Dease,” are striking enough that Josephina decides to sell them. Well, she steals them and tries to sell them, unleashing a dreaded curse that follows Dease’s pieces to every gallery and mansion where they find a new home.

The film is effectively elusive in the framing of the accursed art. Is Dease’s work the emperor’s new clothes or the real deal? What’s clear is that everyone who lays eyes on it finds the work mesmerizing enough to want a piece of a lucrative pie. And quite a few of Dease’s newfound fans end up dead, knocked off slasher-style in a succession of bloody, artwork-related murders. The script, meanwhile, continues to dig into the morally barren bottom of the commercial art world, epitomized by another gallerist, Jon Dondon (Tom Sturridge), a marketing savant who matches art to clientele using algorithms.

But the art world commentary plateaus along the way, as does the movie’s sense of purpose. Gilroy and Gyllenhaal’s previous team-up on the 2014 cult favorite Nightcrawler resulted in a brilliantly focused thriller that wound down to a pointed destination. By contrast, Velvet Buzzsaw stirs the pot for a while, then resorts to simply offing art folk.

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NETFLIX

The horror movie nastiness stays fun until the end, even as the story doesn’t arrive anywhere particularly impactful. Rather, the plot unravels into several disparate threads, from Morf’s intense love affair with Josephina, to a knives-out war over who will represent artist phenom Damrish (Daveed Diggs).

Russo, who made the most of a terrific role in Nightcrawler, is good but hemmed in by the scattered storytelling. Her queen

bee Rhodora is a pain in the ass, and seemingly driven by her ego and bottom line, but she still bears the tattoo of her bygone days as cofounder of a punk anarchist art collective known as Velvet Buzzsaw. The film begins to say something about how money and technology can corrupt art and those who deal in it, but then it says that same thing over and over, as the all-star cast runs screaming from deadly paintings. l

Velvet Buzzsaw is rated R, and is available for streaming on Netflix starting Friday, February 1. Visit www.netflix.com.

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NightLife Photography by Ward Morrison

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Scene

Avalon Saturdays - Saturday, Jan. 26 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

DrinksDragDJsEtc...

Thursday, January 31 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk

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NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets of Beer all night • Sports Leagues Night NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Visit pitchersbardc.com

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Bottles of Wine, 5pm-close TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers • Open Dancers Audition • Urban House Music by DJ Tim-e • 9pm • Cover 21+

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Friday, February 1 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 Rail and Domestic • $5 Svedka, all flavors all night long • Davon Hamilton Events presents District First Fridays Underwear Party, 10pm-close • Male GoGo Dancers • $5 Margaritas and $8 Long Island Drink Specials

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Open 3pm • Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Weekend Kickoff Dance Party, with Nellie’s DJs spinning bubbly pop music all night NUMBER NINE Open 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • Friday Night Piano with Chris, 7:30pm • Rotating DJs, 9:30pm PITCHERS Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am • Visit pitchersbardc.com

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 • Otter Happy Hour with guest DJs, 5-11pm ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm • Guest dancers • Rotating DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:30pm and 1:45am • DJ Don T. in Ziegfeld’s • Cover 21+

NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS Compiled by Doug Rule SUPER BOWL SUNDAY AT NELLIE’S When it comes to sports, nothing beats the Super Bowl. For this Sunday’s big game between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams, Nellie’s Sports Bar offers $15 buckets of Bud all day long in addition to its normal food and drink menu. Plus, there will be hot, shirtless ballers parading around with trays of jello shots — all members of the Washington Renegades rugby team. Finally, there’s “Super Bowl Squares,” a popular, in-house game in which patrons buy squares on a 100-square grid with the hope of winning some portion of the total pooled funds, which are dispersed after each quarter of the game. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. Nellie’s is at 900 U St. NW. Call 202-332-NELL or visit www.nelliessportsbar.com.

Saturday, February 2 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-3am • Video Games • Live televised sports AVALON SATURDAYS @Sound Check 1420 K St. NW Super Bowl Weekend Edition, 10pm-3am • DJ Matt Bailer • $4 Absolut drinks, 10-11pm • General admission $15 • VIP admission $20 • www. dougiemeyerpresents.com FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Saturday Breakfast Buffet, 10am-3pm • $14.99 with one glass of champagne or coffee, soda or juice • Additional champagne $2 per glass • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Freddie’s Follies

Drag Show, hosted by Miss Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm • Karaoke, 10pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5 Bacardi, all flavors, all night long • REWIND: Request Line, an ‘80s and ‘90s Dance Party, 9pm-close • Featuring 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

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PRODIGY SUPER BOWL PARTY AT A LEAGUE OF HER OWN If you’d rather have jello shots served and benefiting female ballers while taking in Super Bowl LIII, then head to Jo McDaniel’s queer-women preserve in Adams Morgan. Opened last August, ALOHO is tucked under Pitchers (which will be broadcasting the Superbowl as well), and should be bustling with queer ladies and their friends for a party hosted by the Washington Prodigy Women’s Tackle Football team. Other attractions include a 50/50 raffle, a football pool, prizes, and drink specials, including $3 jello shots, $4 domestic beer, and $5 for a “Prodigy Special Cocktail.”

The festivities begin at 5 p.m. ALOHO is at 2319 18th St. NW. Call 202733-2568 or visit www.facebook.com/alohodc.

RUMBA LATINA: NAUGHTY NIGHT The long-running monthly Latino party presented by Johnny Vasquez at Cobalt will serve as “The Official Going Away Party of Beaux Banks.” The dancer/adult film performer will be accompanied by fellow #HausOfBanks performers Boomer Banks and Calvin Banks for one last go-go before they exit D.C. for good. Strictly for those aged 21+ only, with drink specials all night, Rumba Latina features music by DJ E Z from El Zol 107.9 FM as well as Cobalt’s DJ Madscience. Taking the stage for special performances at this early Valentine-themed edition is “La Reina de la casa” Kassandra CHunters, Alessandra Conde, Gucci Michelle Michaels, Tori Love, Mayline Guerrero, Chomy, Mariah Black, and Godfrey Arbulu. Saturday, Feb. 2, starting at 10 p.m. Cobalt is at 1639 R St. NW. Cover is $15. Call 202-2324416 or visit www.facebook.com/cobaltdc.

PEACH PIT VS. SHADY PINES After a successful Veterans Day blowout last year, U Street Music Hall once again plays host to an expanded offshoot of Peach Pit, the popular party DJ Matt Bailer throws monthly at DC9. (The next iteration of that is set for Saturday, Feb. 16.) In U Hall’s subterranean space, the party grows to become a friendly battle pitting one decade’s pop music against another’s. Naturally, the ’90s are always the defending champ, as that decade’s music is the star of Peach Pit (the party’s name comes from that decade’s hit TV show, Beverly Hills 90210). But never underestimate the ’80s, at least not in terms of music. It was the decade, after all, that helped popularize electronic/dance music, new wave, synth-pop, house, and last but certainly not least, hip-hop. The ’80s also gave the world The Golden Girls.

In other words,the party pits spoiled-rotten Hollywood brats against lovely grand ladies from Miami’s Shady Pines. Still, everyone wins on the dance floor. Sunday, Feb. 3, starting at 10 p.m. No cover. U Street Music Hall is at 1115 U St. NW. Call 202-588-1880 or visit www.ustreetmusichall.com.

WIG NIGHT OUT The frivolous-for-a-cause affair makes its biggest move yet, from its most recent home bar, JR.’s, to the newer Pitchers. Funds raised will be shared between Whitman-Walker Health and Casa Ruby. So don your wildest wig and head to Pitchers at 2317 18th St. NW, on Saturday, Feb. 2, from 8 to 10 p.m. Suggested minimum donation of $10. Call 202-733-2568 or visit www.pitchersbardc.com. l

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JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

continued from page 39 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 DJ 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 • Visit pitchersbardc.com SHAW’S TAVERN Brunch with $15 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 • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm-4am • Guest dancers • Ladies of Illusion Drag Show with host Ella Fitzgerald • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:30pm and 1:45am • DJ Don T. in Ziegfeld’s • DJ Steve Henderson in Secrets • Cover 21+

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Sunday, February 3 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-12am • $4 Smirnoff and Domestic Cans • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Ella’s Sunday Drag Brunch, 10am-3pm • $24.99 with four glasses of champagne or mimosas, 1 Bloody Mary, or coffee, soda or juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Freddie’s Monthly Zodiac Drag Contest, hosted by Ophelia Bottoms, 8pm • Karaoke, 10pm-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

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 • Super Bowl on all TVs with sound • Full dining menu till 9pm • Visit pitchersbardc.com SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Dinner-n-Drag — Oh, and Superbowl, with Miss Kristina Kelly, 8pm • For reservations, email shawsdinnerdragshow@ gmail.com

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

TRADE Doors open 2pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 • GLAM BOX: A Monthly Dress-Up Dance Party, 9pm • Come in a look or find one in our house glam boxes • WalkOff Contest at 10:30pm • Music by Joann Fabrixx • Special guest hosts and performers

Monday, February 4 FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Singles Night • Half-Priced Pasta Dishes • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long • Singing with the Sisters: Open Mic Karaoke Night with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, 9:30pm-close

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Half-Priced Burgers • Paint Nite, 7pm • PokerFace Poker, 8pm • Dart Boards • Ping Pong Madness, featuring 2 PingPong Tables NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Shaw ’Nuff Trivia, with Jeremy, 7:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

Tuesday, February 5 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Taco Tuesday • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Drag Bingo with Sasha Adams and Brooklyn Heights, 7-9pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close NUMBER NINE Open at 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Visit pitchersbardc.com

Playlist

DJ CHORD 7 RINGS Ariana Grande TWERK FT. CARDI B City Girls

PROMISES 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 • DC Bocce, Second Floor, 6:30pm TRADE Doors open 2pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

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

by Ms. Regina Jozet Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes • Karaoke, 10pm-1am

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm • Bear Yoga with Greg Leo, 6:30-7:30pm • $10 per class • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR SmartAss Trivia Night, 8-10pm • Prizes include bar tabs and tickets to shows at the 9:30 Club • $15 Buckets of Beer for SmartAss Teams only • Absolutely Snatched Drag Show, hosted by Brooklyn Heights, 9pm • Tickets available at nelliessportsbar.com NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Visit pitchersbardc.com SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Piano Bar with Jill, 8pm

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

Thursday, February 7 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Gong Karaoke Contest, 8-10pm • Win Prizes for Best Performance • Hosted

by Labella Mafia and DeeDee Amor Dior • Open Karaoke, 10pm-close

NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Visit pitchersbardc.com SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • HalfPriced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Bottles of Wine, 5pm-close • “Two Scientists Walk Into a Bar” — Ask them anything, 6-8pm • DC’s Different Drummers Happy Hour, 6-8pm • Paint Nite, Second Floor, 7pm

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

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

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets of Beer all night • Sports Leagues Night

ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers • Open Dancers Audition • Urban House Music by DJ Tim-e • 9pm • Cover 21+ l

Sonny Fodera Remix Calvin Harris ft. Sam Smith

SYMPHONY Sick Individuals ft. Nevve

PUSH PULL Offaiah

DRIVE Tom Staar Remix Black Coffee & David Guetta

PNAU Go Bang

ELECTRICITY BPM Supreme Edit Dua Lipa

JUICE Lizzo

REVERSE IT CamelPhat

Catch DJ Chord at Number 9 on Friday, Feb. 1st. Follow him on Twitter at @djchordb.

Listen to this Playlist at www.spotify.com/metroweekly.

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Scene

Uproar’s Sunday Beer Bust - Sunday, Jan. 27 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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LastWord.

People say the queerest things

“I will burn your fucking house down to protect Jussie Smollett. Write that shit down. ” — ERIC HAYWOOD, writer, director, and co-executive producer of Fox’s Empire, responding on Twitter to news that star Jussie Smollett had been hospitalized after a suspected anti-gay and racist attack.

“Any actor who agrees to work on this film is complicit in keeping a predator in power and will be put on blast. ” — ANTHONY RAPP, on Twitter after reports that director Bryan Singer would retain his role helming upcoming film Red Sonja, despite multiple allegations of sexual misconduct with underage boys. Reporting by The Atlantic accused Singer of having sex with or groping at least three underage teenagers in California in the late ’90s. Singer denies the accusations.

“They just took an important stand that could accelerate acceptance for LGBTQ families everywhere.”

— SARAH KATE ELLIS, president and CEO of GLAAD, in a statement responding to news that the American Bar Association had passed a resolution supporting the parental rights of LGBTQ people. The ABA also urged lawmakers across the nation to repeal laws that discriminate against LGBTQ people, to “ensure the equal protection of all LGBT individuals under the law.”

“Part of me wonders sometimes if I would be more commercially successful if I wasn’t gay or not as ‘in your face gay.’”

— TROYE SIVAN, speaking on gay British singer Will Young’s Homo Sapiens podcast. Sivan, who has had two top ten albums and two top ten EPs in the U.S., wondered if sexuality was still a hindrance in the music industry, noting, “I think we’re in a really interesting time in music right now where we are seeing more and more queer artists pop up, but we don’t have a queer Taylor Swift, we don’t have a queer Rihanna, or a queer Beyoncé.... I still feel like there’s a really tall mountain to climb.”

“It seemed random but they were definitely calling him some gay slurs as they were beating him up. ” — JOSH STONEWOLF, bartender at Toasted Walnut, a gay bar in Philadelphia, speaking to 6ABC after a 50-year-old man was hospitalized following a suspected anti-gay attack. According to reports, four men and one woman exited a car outside the bar and attacked the man, as well as bystanders who tried to help him, before fleeing the scene. Stonewolf said the area was known as Philly’s “Gayborhood,” and added, “If this is happening at 13th and Walnut I don’t know where we’re supposed to feel safe.”

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JANUARY 31, 2019 • METROWEEKLY