Arts & Entertainment
Curator decries cut to ‘Hide/Seek’ exhibit
Ward says Smithsonian too quick to yank video
A firestorm of controversy continues over the decision earlier this month by the Smithsonian Institution to yank a four-minute video, “A Fire in the Belly,” from the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) exhibit charting the history of same-sex attraction in American art.
Speaking Monday night about the uproar, nationally recognized Smithsonian art historian David Ward, the co-curator of “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,” declared: “The Smithsonian was stampeded into making this decision” to remove the 1987 video by gay performance artist, painter and filmmaker David Wojnarowicz, who died of AIDS complications in 1992.
Ward called it “the pragmatic, bureaucratic decision” made by the Smithsonian head G. Wayne Clough, aimed at forestalling further congressional threats to cut back federal arts funding by incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). Boehner and Cantor had joined the fiercely homophobic Catholic League in saying that the video was anti-Catholic “hate speech” because it contained 11 seconds of a scene depicting ants crawling on a crucifix.
Supporters of the video point out that figures of the crucified Christ are often used in artistic expression to depict suffering — such as in a recent National Gallery of Art East Building exhibit of Spanish baroque portraits of the suffering Christ, shown with gory and blood-stained detail.
Ward told a packed auditorium at the DC Jewish Community Center, where a panel discussion titled “hide/SPEAK” was held to discuss the controversy, that he opposed Clough’s decision, and continues to criticize it as made much too quickly. “I’m not holding myself blameless” about how things were handled, he said, “but I am holding myself innocent.”
Ward said Clough made the decision “to create a firebreak” and “it was not so much for the gay issue but for Christian-ism,” a reference to the Catholic League complaint, but that this ostensible religious objection was nevertheless really a cover for blatant right-wing homophobia. “I’m not happy about” the Clough action, said Ward, “but if it works, great” — that is, to save the remainder of the exhibit, which is scheduled to run at the NPG through Feb. 13.
Ward also criticized the action announced last week by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, which warned Clough that unless the Wojnarowicz video is returned to the exhibit it will withhold all future funds to any Smithsonian museum. The Warhol Foundation funded $100,000 of the costs to mount the exhibit, part of $800,000 in total private donations for the show raised by Ward and co-curator Jonathan D. Katz over the past two years. Ward declared that, though “I find their reaction understandable,” it’s more important for such institutions to remain active in support for the arts at the Smithsonian galleries, which in the past has received a total of $375,000 in Warhol funding of various shows including “Hide/Seek.”
Ward also said he had contacted Canadian artist AA Bronson, a pioneer in art with gay themes, to implore him not to follow through on his request — made last week to protest the video removal — for the NPG to take down a print of one of his photographs in the exhibit, a harrowing photo of his partner just after his death of HIV/AIDS causes.
This photo, titled “Felix, June 5, 1994,” according to Ward is “so powerful an image” and is “the anchor for the last part of the exhibition, and I don’t want to lose this piece.” Bronson has also asked all artists in the exhibit to recall their work.
“But I want to keep the exhibit as whole as I can for the remaining six weeks of its run,” Ward told the gathering crowded with at least 300 supporters who cheered every reference to the importance of the show, which until the removal of the video had 105 pieces on display in this first-ever exhibition in a major American museum of art with same-sex attraction so front and center.
“The key fact remains that the show itself has not been cancelled,” he said. “We took a flesh wound but it’s not a mortal blow.”
“Hide/Seek” can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F streets, N.W. Ward will lead a private tour of the exhibit on Sunday, Feb. 6, with a focus on major gay and lesbian Jewish artists and subjects represented, such as writers Susan Sontag, Gertrude Stein and Allen Ginsberg and photographer Annie Leibovitz. For further details on this event, check with the DC JCC’s GLBT Outreach and Engagement (GLOE).
Glitterati Productions held the “Studio 69” party at Bunker on Friday, May 8.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
Washington Blade’s Pride on the Pier returns June 13 to kick off D.C. Pride week
Pride on the Pier officially launches Pride Week in D.C.
The Washington Blade’s annual Pride on the Pier celebration returns to The Wharf on Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 4-9 p.m., bringing thousands of LGBTQ community members and allies together for an unforgettable waterfront celebration to kick off Pride week in Washington, D.C.
Now in its eighth year, Washington Blade Pride on the Pier extends the city’s annual celebration of LGBTQ visibility to the bustling Wharf waterfront with an exciting array of activities and entertainment for all ages. The District Pier will offer DJs, dancing, drag, and other entertainment. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase for those 21 and older.
“Pride on the Pier has become one of the signature moments of Pride in D.C.,” said Lynne Brown, publisher of the Washington Blade. “There’s nothing like watching our community come together on the waterfront with live music and incredible energy as we kick off Pride week.”
Pride on the Pier is free and open to the public, with VIP tickets available for exclusive pier access to the Dockmaster Building. To purchase VIP tickets visit www.prideonthepierdc.com/vip.
Additional entertainment announcements, sponsor activations, and event details will be released in the coming weeks.
Event Details:
📍 Location: District Pier at The Wharf (101 District Sq SW, Washington, DC)
📅 Dates: Friday, 13, 2026
⏱️ 4-9PM
🎟️ VIP Tickets: www.PrideOnThePierDC.com/VIP
Theater
National tour of ‘Gatsby’ comes to National Theatre
Out actor Edward Staudenmayer talks playing the show’s gangster
‘The Great Gatsby’
May 12-24
The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
$59-$196
Thenationaldc.com
Often dubbed “The Great American Novel” for its depiction of ambition and self-invention alongside the reversals of success, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” says it all in a fast read.
Set against the excesses and energy of the Roaring Twenties, “The Great Gatsby,” novel and now the same-titled hit Broadway musical with a jazz/pop original score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen, tells the story of Nick Carraway and his friendship with Jay Gatsby, an enigmatic millionaire intent on reuniting with ex-lover, Daisy Buchanan.
It was during a four-month 2025 run in Seoul, South Korea, that out actor Edward Staudenmayer first played the show’s heavy, Meyer Wolfsheim, a gangster who helped Gatsby make his murkily acquired fortune. As Meyer, Staudenmayer opens the second act with, appropriately enough, “Shady.”
Now three months into a year-long North American tour, the show is poised to enjoy a brief run at Washington’s National Theatre (5/12-5/24).
While putting on his eyeliner prior to a recent Wednesday matinee at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre, the upstate New York-based actor shared about Gatsby and a life in theater.
WASHINGTON BLADE: Despite your good looks and terrific voice, you’re rarely the leading the man. How is that?
EDWARD STAUDENMAYER: I’m definitely a character man. I’ve been painting lines on my face to play old men since I was in high school. I was the youngest freshman in college playing old Uncle Sorin [in Chekhov’s “The Seagull”].
There have been many villains. Some darker than others. Meyer Wolfsheim is a very bad guy, but he doesn’t haunt me once I’m offstage. I play a lot of pickleball.
BLADE: Is it true that like so many of Fitzgerald’s characters, Wolfsheim is famously based on someone the writer encountered in life.
STAUDENMEYER: That’s true, Wolfsheim is pretty much a direct portrayal of real-life mobster and 1919 World Series fixer [Arnold Rothstein].
BLADE: When did the 1925 novel first surface on your radar?
STAUDENMAYER: Like many of us, I was assigned “The Great Gatsby” in high school. It was short, and filled with sex and illicit activities. I thought it was great. Definitely wasn’t a Judy Blume novel.
Interestingly, the book wasn’t originally a huge a success for Fitzgerald, but because it was about war and having the girl at home, they gave it to GIs leaving for WWII. After returning, a lot of those guys went on the GI Bill and became English teachers. They assigned the book to their students.
BLADE The idea that the book’s first-person narrator, Nick Carraway, is gay and enamored with Jay Gatsby is long discussed among readers and scholars. Does the musical touch on that?
STAUDENMAYER: Yes, there’s conjecture about Jay and Nick, and it’s implied in our show. It’s also implied about Jordan Baker, Jay’s fleeting romantic interest. Ultimately, she’s a confirmed bachelor, and a professional golfer who only wears pants.
Our performers are really good. Josh Grasso who plays Nick is fantastic. I’ve had to stop watching him in his last scene; it’s not good for Meyer Wolfsheim to take his curtain call crying. Our Gatsby, Jake David Smith, is good too. He’s gorgeous like Superman and sings like an angel.
BLADE: Do you ever imagine backstory for your characters whose sexuality is undefined?
STAUDENMAYER: I do, but not with Wolfsheim. I don’t see it. I’m trying to be as butch as possible with this ruthless killer.
BLADE: Have you had to do that in your career?
STAUDENMAYER: For a long time, I wore a mask to hide my gayness. I worked hard on being believable, that I was into the girl or that I was a tough guy.
It’s a different world now, and it’s so refreshing to be around the younger actors today; they’re remarkably open and comfortable.
BLADE: What was your coming of age like?
STAUDENMAYER: I played high school football in Palm Springs [he chuckles, alluding to the arid gay mecca], and I was pretty good too. But much to the chagrin of my parents and coaches, I quit the team to act in our senior year play. My super butch dad played semi-pro football and he was an ex-cop. I’m named after him. While I didn’t become my dad, I’ve played him often on stage. He was a true Gaston [the bumptious rival in “Beauty and the Beast”]. And like Gaston, he used antlers in all his interior decorating.
BLADE: Did he live to see your success in theater?
STAUDENMAYER: He did. Life was challenging growing up but the last 10 years of his life we couldn’t get off the phone with each other [his voice catches with emotion]. He accepted me entirely, and we became very close.
BLADE: Looking ahead, is there a part you’d especially like to play?
STAUDENMAYER: Like all baritones I’d love to play Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd.” I’ve come close but it hasn’t happened yet. There’s still time.
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