Arts & Entertainment
After Irene, Rehoboth ready to party
The popular Blue Moon bar and restaurant was boarded up last weekend in preparation for Hurricane Irene, which triggered an evacuation of Rehoboth Beach. The Moon, along with the rest of town, is reopened and ready for the busy Labor Day weekend. (Photo by John Bator)
Rehoboth Beach’s summer season unofficially ends around Labor Day and it goes out with a memorable bang this weekend with drag volleyball and the Sundance party.
Begun as a fun game among friends in 1988, this year’s drag volleyball match is expected to attract more than 1,000 beach goers to the 23rd annual contest on Sunday at 1 p.m. The event, almost from the beginning, has been held on Poodle Beach at the south end of the boardwalk.
The event attracted national attention this year when Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford joined several of the players on the beach in a segment shown on NBC’s “Today” show, but as early as 1996 this event was featured in the USA Today as one of the fun things to see at the beach during Labor Day weekend.
Even though the teams play the game in drag, they treat the game seriously. Stan Cole, a Rehoboth Beach resident, notes that the first time he observed the event, “I thought I would see drag queens playing volleyball, but I saw good volleyball players in drag.”
The two teams keep their outfits secret from the public, but do share with each other what they will wear ever since there was a year in which both teams had the same theme. In the past, they have dressed as Hawaiian princesses, a wedding party, flight attendants and Lady Gaga’s multiple personalities, to name a few. In the early years, the players wore women’s bathing suits, but in subsequent years the costumes became more elaborate. During the first 10 years of competition, the costumers were designed by one of the players, Forrest Park, known affectionately as Flo.
They have never had inclement weather hold them back, playing in cold and damp weather, even during a downpour. They canceled the match in 1990 when anti-gay sentiment, including anti-gay beatings at Poodle Beach and signs around town promoting the city as “A family town” forced the organizers to worry about how such an event might fuel further anti-gay sentiment.
Over the years, organizers have been asked to turn the event into a fundraiser, but longtime participant Brent Minor says, “this event is purely fun, and we do not want to get involved in making it too complicated and giving us too many obligations.”
The same year in which drag volleyball began, the Camp Rehoboth community center organized an event called Sundance to honor the 10th anniversary of Camp founders Steve Elkins and Murray Archibald. The first event was a benefit for Whitman-Walker Clinic and Hero, an AIDS care provider in Baltimore, and raised $6,400. Over the years other groups, such as the Sussex County AIDS Committee, have benefitted from funds raised at this event but in recent years, the programs sponsored by Camp have been the primary beneficiary.
Each year since then, Camp has held the two-day event, the first day being an auction with items donated by up to 400 individuals and businesses, and the second a dance. Originally held at the Strand Restaurant on Rehoboth Avenue, it moved to the Convention Center in 1994. “The people at the Convention Center have been incredibly supportive all these years,” Elkins says. Elkins also points out how proud Camp is that this was the first gay-oriented event ever held at the Convention Center.
This year the auction will be held on Saturday from 7-10 p.m., and the dance, with music by Mark Thomas will be held the next day from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Numerous sponsors will be donating food and beverages. Also this weekend, the second annual 5K race to benefit Camp Rehoboth will be held. It was postponed from last weekend due to Hurricane Irene. Registration for the 5K begins at 6 a.m. at Camp Rehoboth on Baltimore Avenue and the race kicks off at 7:30 a.m. Go here for more information.
Other Labor Day weekend events:
Saturday, Sept. 3
Zoom Urban Lesbian Excursions is having its third annual Labor Day Sunset Sail on the American Spirit at the Gangplank Marina (600 Water St., S.W.). The group will gather at the nearby Cantina Marina at 6 p.m. before setting sail at 6:30. The trip is three hours long on the Potomac and includes drinks, food and music. Tickets for the sail cost $55 and can be purchased at phatgirlchic.com/zoom.
The biggest event in Rehoboth is Sundance, a two-night annual benefit for Camp Rehoboth Community Center. Tonight, the doors of the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center open at 7 p.m. with a silent auction and live auction. There will also be a dance Sunday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tickets are $45 either event or $80 for both and can be purchased online at camprehoboth.com.
Sunday, Sept. 4
Ladies 2000 and City Girl Productions present its Women’s Labor Day Weekend party at the Atlantic Sands Hotel (101 N. Boardwalk) in Rehoboth Beach, Del., tonight at 5 p.m. featuring DJ Steve Singer. Admission is $10.
The Ladies of Lure are celebrating Labor Day tonight with Spin at Club Hippo (1 West Eager St.) in Baltimore from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. with DJ Rosie and the DystRuXion Dancers. A game of flip-cup will run from 7 to 8 p.m. when the club doors open. General admission is $4, $8 to play flip-cup as well.
Monday, Sept. 5
The National Symphony Orchestra celebrates the Legends of Washington Music: John Philip Sousa, “Duke” Ellington, and Chuck Brown, the “Godfather of Go-Go,” tonight as part of its Labor Day Capitol Concert on the West Lawn of the Capitol Building at 8 p.m. This is a free event.
Olde Towne Gaithersburg has its 73rd annual Labor Day Parade today at 1 p.m. with WTOP traffic reporter Julie Wright as mistress of ceremonies. For more information, visit gaithersburgmd.gov.
The 2026 Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather competition was held at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill on Sunday. Seven contestants vied for the title and Gage Ryder was named the winner.
(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Theater
Voiceless ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ a spectacle of operatic proportions
Synetic production pulls audience into grips of doomed lovers’ passion
‘Antony & Cleopatra’
Through Jan. 25
Synetic Theater at
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre
450 7th St., N.W.
Synetictheater.org
A spectacle of operatic proportions, Synetic Theater’s “Antony & Cleopatra” is performed entirely voiceless. An adaptation of the Bard’s original (a play bursting with wordplay, metaphors, and poetic language), the celebrated company’s production doesn’t flinch before the challenge.
Staged by Paata Tsikurishvili and choreographed by Irina Tsikurishvili, this worthy remount is currently playing at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre, the same venue where it premiered 10 years ago. Much is changed, including players, but the usual inimitable Synectic energy and ingenuity remain intact.
As audiences file into the Klein, they’re met with a monumental pyramid bathed in mist on a dimly lit stage. As the lights rise, the struggle kicks off: Cleopatra (Irina Kavsadze) and brother Ptolemy (Natan-Maël Gray) are each vying for the crown of Egypt. Alas, he wins and she’s banished from Alexandria along with her ethereal black-clad sidekick Mardian (Stella Bunch); but as history tells us, Cleopatra soon makes a triumphant return rolled in a carpet.
Meanwhile, in the increasingly dangerous Rome, Caesar (memorably played by Tony Amante) is assassinated by a group of senators. Here, his legendary Ides of March murder is rather elegantly achieved by silver masked politicians, leaving the epic storytelling to focus on the titular lovers.
The fabled couple is intense. As the Roman general Antony, Vato Tsikurishvili comes across as equal parts warrior, careerist, and beguiled lover. And despite a dose of earthiness, it’s clear that Kavsadze’s Cleopatra was born to be queen.
Phil Charlwood’s scenic design along with Colin K. Bills’ lighting cleverly morph the huge pyramidic structure into the throne of Egypt, the Roman Senate, and most astonishingly as a battle galley crashing across the seas with Tsikurishvili’s Antony ferociously at the helm.
There are some less subtle suggestions of location and empire building in the form of outsized cardboard puzzle pieces depicting the Mediterranean and a royal throne broken into jagged halves, and the back-and-forth of missives.
Of course, going wordless has its challenges. Kindly, Synectic provides a compact synopsis of the story. I’d recommend coming early and studying that page. With changing locations, lots of who’s who, shifting alliances, numerous war skirmishes, and lack of dialogue, it helps to get a jump on plot and characters.
Erik Teague’s terrific costume design is not only inspired but also helpful. Crimson red, silver, and white say Rome; while all things Egyptian have a more exotic look with lots of gold and diaphanous veils, etc.
When Synetic’s voicelessness works, it’s masterful. Many hands create the magic: There’s the direction, choreography, design, and the outrageously committed, sinewy built players who bring it to life through movement, some acrobatics, and the remarkable sword dancing using (actual sparking sabers) while twirling to original music composed by Konstantine Lortkipanidze.
Amid the tumultuous relationships and frequent battling (fight choreography compliments of Ben Cunis), moments of whimsy and humor aren’t unwelcome. Ptolemy has a few clownish bits as Cleopatra’s lesser sibling. And Antony’s powerful rival Octavian (ageless out actor Philip Fletcher) engages in peppy propaganda featuring a faux Cleopatra (played by Maryam Najafzada) as a less than virtuous queen enthusiastically engaged in an all-out sex romp.
When Antony and Cleopatra reach their respective ends with sword and adder, it comes almost as a relief. They’ve been through so much. And from start to finish, without uttering a word, Kavsadze and Tsikurishvili share a chemistry that pulls the audience into the grips of the doomed lovers’ palpable passion.
Out & About
Love board games and looking for love?
Quirk Events will host “Board Game Speed Dating for Gay Men” on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. at KBird DC.
Searching for a partner can be challenging. But board games are always fun. So what if you combined board games and finding a partner?
Picture this: You sit down for a night of games. A gaming concierge walks you through several games over the course of the night. You play classics you love and discover brand new games you’ve never heard of, playing each with a different group of fun singles. All while in a great establishment.
At the end of the night, you give your gaming concierge a list of the folks you met that you’d like to date and a list of those you met that you’d like to just hang out with as friends. If any two people put down the same name as each other in either column, then your gaming concierge will make sure you get each other’s e-mail address and you can coordinate a time to hang out.
Tickets cost $31.80 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
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