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Calendar for Aug. 6

Friday, Aug. 6, to Thursday, Aug. 12

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Friday, Aug. 6

Open Mic Night tonight at the DC Center, 1318 U St., N.W., at 8 p.m. hosted by Mike Brazell. Everyone is welcome to a night of queer poetry and spoken word and is encouraged to come prepared to share.

Gloss presents First Fridays Ladies Night tonight at Apex, 1415 22nd St., N.W., featuring the DC Kings and the DC Gurly Show. DJ Rosie will be in the main hall. There is a $10 cover charge. Must be 18 to enter and 21 to drink.

Annie Oakley Wild West Festival starts tonight with an opening dance at the Governor’s Hall at Sailwinds Park, 200 Byrn St., Cambridge, Md., from 7 to 11 p.m. There is a $20 cover charge. The festival is a new event to celebrate famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The festival continues through the weekend. There will be music, pony rides, arts and crafts, re-enactments, food and beverages.

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, created and conducted by George Daugherty, will be at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center, 1551 Trap Rd., Vienna, Va., tonight at 8:30 p.m. The NSO provides live accompaniment as everyone’s favorite bunny brings new cartoons and music to life on large screens in-house and on the lawn, including classics “The Rabbit of Seville,” “What’s Opera, Doc?” and more.

The GLBT Arts Consortium and Capitol Hill Arts Workshop will offer Gilbert & Sullivan’s most popular opera “The Mikado” at CHAW, 545 7th St., S.E., at 7 p.m. Return to a time when merely flirting was punishable by death, and a poor tailor must compete with a second trombone for the favors of a beauty named Yum-Yum, and a formidable lady can be won with a pack of flattering lies and a sad, lovelorn song. And that’s only the beginning.

Saturday, Aug. 7

Ever wanted to dance like the crews on ABDC such as Poreotixs or Soreal Cru? Join the Joy of Motion Dance Center, 5207 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., at 11 a.m. for an Autobots vs. Decepticons workshop that will show all the latest street moves fused with illusions, tutting, popping and turfing and video choreography based on today’s hottest dance moves and concepts. Visit Joyofmotion.org for more information.

The DC Center and Tongues Afire DC invite queer women of color to a poetry workshop taking place at the DC Center, 1318 U St., N.W., at 1:30 p.m. Come explore your creative spirit in a workshop facilitated by local poet Jade Foster. For more information, contact Jade at: [email protected]

No Scrubs ‘90s Dance Party with DJs Will Eastman and Brian Billion at 9:30 club at 9 p.m. No Scrubs began in 2004 as a one-off concept party by Eastman and Billion. The idea was simple: play both guilty pleasures and underground classics you listened to growing up in the 90s. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at 930.com.

Drag Days of Summer by Scena at the H Street Playhouse, 1365 H. St., N.E., is a party following a performance of “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. There will be complimentary wine, beer and German food by Biergarten Haus. Drag attire is welcomed. Tickets can be purchased at scenatheater.org.

Sunday, Aug. 8

Hippiefest at Wolftrap’s Filene Center, 1551 Trap Rd., Vienna, Va., at 8 p.m. This “groovy” tradition continues with the best of the ‘70s featuring Jack Bruce of Cream, War, Mitch Ryder and Rare Earth.

Monday, Aug. 9

“Women to Watch 2010 Body of Work: New Perspectives on Figure Painting” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Ave., N.W. NMWA’s newest installment in the Women to Watch exhibition series centers on contemporary figurative painting. The 16 works in the exhibition reflect myriad styles and approaches, but all highlight figure painters’ embrace of the slow, subtle and singular processes involved in painting people.

Tuesday, Aug. 10

Join the Dance Institute of Washington for an innovative, family-friendly adaptation of a celebrated classic, West Side Story, at the Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods at Wolf Trap, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna, Va., at 10 a.m. When the Hip Hops challenge the Techni-Ques to a lively dance-off, it seems like everyone’s choosing sides. This fun, age-appropriate competition is the backdrop for a love story that makes two rivals reevaluate their differences and honor the importance of acceptance through their love of dance. Visit wolftrap.org to purchase tickets.

Wednesday, Aug. 11

Tribute to the British Invasion at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, at 7:30 p.m. Sixty of the D.C. area’s best performers, including Tommy Lepson, Eric Brace & Last Train Home, 4 Out of 5 Doctors, Margot MacDonald, Julia Nixon and more honor singers and bands that forever changed America’s musical landscape. Highlighting the years of 1964-1966, this show features hits originally performed by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Dusty Springfield and more.

Play Loteria, the Mexican version of bingo, but played with icons instead of letters and numbers, at The Palace of Wonders, 1210 H St., N.E., at 6:30 p.m. The icons were done by 54 of DC/MD’s top artists including David Amoroso, Kevin Sherry, Cameron Wolf and former Blade staffer Alan Defibaugh. The evening is hosted by burlesque waitress, Shortstaxx and alt drag performer, Lucrezia Blozia.

Thursday, Aug. 12

DCBiWomen, the area’s social group for bisexual and bi-curious women, will meet at Cafe Luna, 1633 P St., N.W., at 7 p.m. The group’s goal is to create an accepting, encouraging environment for bisexual women regardless of the gender of their partner or what they are looking for, meet other cool bi women, and affirm the existence of the bi-identity.

Jason Wu’s fashion collection meets its fine art inspiration at a special Phillips After 5 at The Phillips Collecton, 1600 21st St., N.W., from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Wu cites Robert Ryman’s painting as the muse for his fall 2010 TSE cashmere collection. For one evening, models act as living works of art in the Ryman exhibition, bringing Wu’s designs face-to-face with their fine art inspiration. A video of Wu’s fall 2010 ready-to-wear runway show is on view in the café, and a scavenger hunt leads visitors through the museum, collecting fashion and fine art facts for a chance to win prizes. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for students and visitors 62 and over, and free for members and visitors 18 and under and they can be purchased at phllipscollection.org/calendar.

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Theater

Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth

First five shows a reminder that ‘pressure is a privilege’

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Reggie D. White (Photo by Ambe J. Williams)

Madly talented and preternaturally energetic, Reggie D. White, 38, is about to launch his first season as artistic director of D.C.’s boundary-pushing Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

White brings a lot to the job. As actor, playwright, and director, his varied resume includes a 2019 Broadway acting debut in Matthew López’s Tony Award–winning play “The Inheritance,” his semi-autobiographic play “Fremont Ave.” that opened to acclaim last season at Arena Stage, and a number of exciting regional directing credits.

A longtime admirer of Woolly, the out theater-maker was selected from a pool of candidates before receiving the offer last November and starting work in January. His season of five world premieres kicks off with gay playwright Steve Yockey’s “Venus” (Sept. 9-Oct. 4), a darkly funny study of modern relationships told through two lesbians looking back on their first encounter.

White was introduced to Woolly Mammoth as a pre-law student at Cal State Hayward in the San Francisco Bay Area, long before he foresaw a life in the arts. “As part of a random theater history course, I was assigned to write a paper on a counterculture company called Woolly Mammoth,” he recalls “Strange name. I was like what the hell is that?” 

Nineteen-year-old White was intrigued. Research acquainted him with Howard Shalwitz who co-founded Woolly in 1980, and the company’s commitment to living playwrights and new work. He also learned how theater could be used as a tool for difficult conversations and shape the way people thought about social issues by employing imagination and rigor. 

“Never in a million years did young me envision that one day I’d be Woolly’s third artistic director in its 46-year history,” says White. “It’s kind of serendipitously insane.” 

WASHINGTON BLADE: Was there a moment when the enormity of the job hit you?

REGGIE D. WHITE: After I’d signed my contract and finished all the paperwork, I got my keys and sat in the theater by myself in the dark and thought about what an incredible honor it is to be trusted with what happens in this beautiful space [in D.C.’s Penn Quarter]. I might have cried. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember it’s real. 

BLADE: Are you curating the upcoming 2026–2027 season? 

WHITE: Yes, I am.  It’s very rare that an incoming artistic director gets to program their first season, but I was lucky in terms of time. After being hired late last year, I asked Woolly’s managing director Kimberly E. Douglas, if she thought it would be crazy if I programmed the season. She warned me it would be hard. 

I invoked tennis legend Billie Jean King’s maxim “pressure is a privilege” and got to work. 

These plays [dubbed White’s “first five”] represent both the kind of theater that Woolly can do really well and speak directly to my voice as curator and how I want to contribute to the larger theatrical conversation in the DMV. 

Getting here has meant a lot of late nights. But I knew the juice would be worth the squeeze.

BLADE: As a queer artistic director, what makes you unique? 

WHITE: When I was playing in “Inheritance” on Broadway, after a performance, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayer came backstage to meet the cast. She spoke about how her lens on the world as a Puerto Rican woman shapes her decisions. Similarly, because I’m a queer Black man I see through a lens that shapes my work.

I know I’m not the only queer artistic director in town. For me, it influences how I make editorial decisions. Out of this season’s five plays there are explicitly queer characters in four [“Venus,” “Chanukkah Spectacular,” “Ten Grand,” and “Love I Awethu Further”] and I’m directing two [“Venus,” “Ten Grand”].

BLADE: Will we see familiar faces?

WHITE: Every show this season will feature a Woolly Mammoth company member in its cast. Our company also includes designers and directors who we’ll include. I’m invested in continuing to provide a showcase for their work. 

BLADE: How do you think queer audiences will receive the season? 

WHITE: Very well, I think. For queer people who’ve had to navigate the world subversively and solve problems in unique ways, I think it will be especially interesting. I find theater a potent place for questions.

Like all artistic directors. I’ll show up for the job in my own way. I’m just excited that I’ve been invited to bring the fullness of myself to the role.

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PHOTOS: Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade

Annual LGBTQ celebration held in Dutch city during World Pride

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A scene from the 2026 Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key are on assignment in the Netherlands through Aug. 10.

AMSTERDAM — The 2026 Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade was held on Saturday, Aug. 1.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Michael K. Lavers)

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PHOTOS: Lambda Legal in the Pines

Fundraiser held at ‘Normal Heart’ house

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A scene from the 'Lambda Legal in the Pines' fundraiser on July 25. (Photo by Santiago Felipe)

The LGBTQ organization Lambda Legal held its annual “Lambda Legal in the Pines” fundraiser on Saturday, July 25. The event was held at a house on Fire Island featured in Ryan Murphy’s 2014 HBO film, “The Normal Heart.”

Organizers say over $500,000 was raised to support Lambda Legal’s national litigation and advocacy work.

(Photos by Santiago Felipe)

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