Arts & Entertainment
Bootylicious
Woolly Mammoth production explores black gay experience with bold humor
‘Bootycandy’
Through July 3
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
641 D Street, NW
$35-$65
202-393-3939
Phillip James Brannon and Jessica Frances Dukes in Woolly Mammoth’s ‘Bootycandy.’ (Photo courtesy of Woolly Mammoth)
Woolly Mammoth is wrapping up its season-long exploration of race, gender and sexuality with playwright Robert O’Hara’s “Bootycandy.” Comprised of 10 related vignettes, O’Hara’s fearless and very funny new work dives right into what it means to be black and gay in America — two subjects the 41-year-old playwright (he’s also the production’s director) has had a lifetime to consider.
As the title suggests, “Bootycandy” (a childhood term for penis used by the playwright’s mother and grandmother) confronts sexuality head on. Drawn loosely from O’Hara’s past, his refreshingly bold scenes are full of off-color laughs and scathing satire, but they don’t shy away from the heavier aspects of experience either.
When we first meet Sutter — the play’s imperfect hero and O’Hara stand-in played by Phillip James Brannon — it’s the ‘70s. He’s a chatty, Superman underwear-clad kid who is endlessly fascinated with his own bootycandy, always wondering what to do with it, how to take care of it and what ways it might help bring peace to the world. His harried mother (Jessica Frances Dukes) isn’t too sure what to make of her little boy, and as he grows older she remains equally mystified by his differentness.
Fast forward a decade to “Happy Meal” and Sutter is a sullen Jackie Collins-reading teen. At the dinner table he interrupts his mother’s loud talk to announce that a man followed him home from school. The revelation sets off a hilarious barrage of defeminizing remedies rattled off by his mother (this time played by Laiona Michelle) and well-meaning stepfather (Lance Coadie Williams) including no drama club, constant chores and throwing a ball. Through the humor, O’Hara (as playwright and director) and Brannon’s Sutter brilliantly atomize the scene with a mist of mystery and menace, hinting at the dangers that might come with the teen’s budding sexuality.
As the show moves forward, the little plays fit satisfyingly together like pieces from a puzzle. An early scene features a few ghetto gossips hilariously dishing a young woman who has named her baby girl Genitalia. That same unfortunately named girl appears later in the play as a not-to-be-messed with, fully grown, butch lesbian (Michelle again). Bald and sleekly suited, she stands on a Cancun Beach annulling her commitment to the woman she no longer loves.
Meanwhile, Sutter’s sexual odyssey continues. As he comes of age, he starts having sex with his closeted brother-in-law (Sean Meehan). In a darker episode titled “The Last Gay Play,” Sutter’s chance meeting with a nutty and briefly naked trick (also played by Meehan) presents him with an opportunity to get back at the world a little. Things get out of hand and the actors actually threaten to stop the show.
O’Hara effortlessly shifts from urban theater circuit (also known as modern chitlin’ circuit) humor to heartrending, more nuanced material and everything in between. Some moments of note include Williams’ tour de force monologue as an over-the-top fundamentalist preacher with a secret. Later in the play, four black playwrights (including an adult Sutter) unwittingly come together for a workshop moderated by a clueless white moderator. In a bit of meta-theatrical fun, each of the playwrights purports to have written one of the show’s segments.
The biting comedy is performed on a shiny stage beneath a shimmery proscenium arch (compliments of Tom Kamm) by a truly marvelous five-person ensemble who masterfully portray a much larger number of characters ranging in age, sexual orientation and in one actor’s case even gender. Kate Tuner Walker costumes the cast in spot on street clothes that perfectly place the action in the ‘70s, ‘80s, through to the present.
With “Bootycandy,” O’Hara puts it out there. And while some of the scenes hit better than others, the play never for a split second lacks for feeling or fun.
Sports
Jason Collins dies at 47
First openly gay man to actively play for major sports team battled brain cancer
Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to actively play for a major professional sports team, died on Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 47.
The California native had briefly played for the Washington Wizards in 2013 before coming out in a Sports Illustrated op-ed.
Collins in 2014 became the first openly gay man to play in a game for a major American professional sports league when he played 11 minutes during a Brooklyn Nets game. He wore jersey number 98 in honor of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student murdered outside of Laramie, Wyo., in 1998.
Collins told the Washington Blade in 2014 that his life was “exponentially better” since he came out. Collins the same year retired from the National Basketball Association after 13 seasons.
Collins married his husband, Brunson Green, in May 2025.
The NBA last September announced Collins had begun treatment for a brain tumor. Collins on Dec. 11, 2025, announced he had Stage 4 glioblastoma.
“We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma,” said Collins’s family in a statement the NBA released. “Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Collins’s “impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA, and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations.”
“He exemplified outstanding leadership and professionalism throughout his 13-year NBA career and in his dedicated work as an NBA Cares Ambassador,” said Silver. “Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others.”
“To call Jason Collins a groundbreaking figure for our community is simply inadequate. We truly lost a giant today,” added Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson in a statement. “He came out as gay — while still playing — at a time when men’s athletes simply did not do that. But as he powerfully demonstrated in his final years in the league and his post-NBA career, stepping forward as he did boldly changed the conversation.”
“He was and will always be a legend for the LGBTQ+ community, and we are heartbroken to hear of his passing at the young age of 47,” she said. “Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones. We will keep fighting on in his honor until the day everyone can be who they are on their terms.”
The Washington Blade will update this article with additional reaction when it becomes available.
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
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