Arts & Entertainment

Arts news in brief: Feb. 10

Scarlet’s Bake Sale, D.C. Front Runners featured in mini doc, Rainbow Families dance and more

Published

14 years ago

February 9, 2012

Juliette Ebner

Jose Guttierez at last year's Scarlet's Bake Sale (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Scarlet’s Bake Sale benefit returns

The 41st annual Scarlet’s Foundation Bake Sale is Sunday at the Eagle (639 New York Ave., N.W.) with cake drop-offs from noon to 3 p.m., judging at 3:30 p.m. and the auction beginning at 4 p.m.

Proceeds from the auction will benefit Moveable Feast, an organization based in Baltimore that provides food and other services in order to preserve quality of life for people with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening conditions, and Pets D.C., which provides public health education, exercise, pet food, veterinary care, grooming, foster care and adoptions services at no cost to individuals living with HIV/AIDS or other disabling conditions and their pets.

There are five categories being judged including Best Individual Entry, Best Commercial Entry, Best Club Entry, Most Creative Entry and the Directors Award.

For more information, call 202-347-6025 or visit dceagle.com.

Morabito at Cobalt; return of Flashback

DJ Susan Morabito is spinning at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) as part of Just Circuit, an event that happens every second Saturday of the month at 10 p.m.

Cobalt is also bringing back its popular Tuesday Flashback retro event next week (Valentine’s Day) with DJs Jason Royce and Erik Lars Evans in the 30 Degrees Lounge area. Rail drinks are two for one and there’s no cover.

Morabito has been playing for audiences for more than 25 years and has released seven CD collections. She has played at events such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institutes Benefit Gala, Stonewall Honors, Atlantis Gay Cruise and more.

She has recently been nominated for three Just Circuit Awards including Best DJ/Producer, Best DJ Podcast and Best DJ — Hall of Fame.

There is a $10 cover for this event. For more information, visit cobaltdc.com or Morabito’s official website, susanmorabito.com.

Gay running group featured in local doc

The Our City Film Festival, started by Yachad, a D.C. non-profit committed to affordable housing and community development, is Saturday and Sunday.

The festival begins with an opening night party featuring Christylez Bacon, a Grammy-nominated artists, Party Girl, a Costello cover band and Edge Theory, a progressive jazz band at the Sixth and I Synagogue (600 I St., N.W.) at 8 p.m. Entry is free with a film ticket or $8 without.

Starting Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at the Goethe Institute (812 7^th St., N.W.) the various films will be screened in groupings based on topic. At 12:45 p.m., the grouping, “Our Body” will feature a 13-minute documentary by Brian Beary and Marcel Acosta called “Fast Forward,” which provides a glimpse into the struggles and successes of founding D.C.’s now thriving gay and lesbian running club, The Front Runners.

Tickets are $10 for each film grouping and can be purchased online.

For more information on the festival, including a full schedule of films, visitourcityfilmfestival.com.

Gay art collective hosts monthly performance show

Hillyer Art Space (9 Hillyer Court, N.W.) is teaming up with local gay arts collective Boys Be Good for this month’s Soapbox, a monthly performance art showcase increasing exposure to this art form, on Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m.

The show will include performances by Armando Lopez Bircann, whose performance uses shadows and light; Andrew Fogle, whose poetic work stumbles into themes of lack, trauma, dislocation and more; Devon Hopkins, a Wesleyan grad, who works in social psychology, group dynamics and the intersection of social networking with post-modern choreography; and Jason Edward Tucker, who focuses on challenging the gaze through a concealment and confounding of gender and constructed identity.

There is a $5 suggested donation at the door.

For more information and a sample of past performances, visitartsandartists.org/hillier/events-soapbox.html.

Rainbow Families hosting kid-friendly dance

Rainbow Families is having its Mid-Winter Family Dance on Saturday at the Washington Ethical Society (7750 16^th St., N.W.) from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

The event will feature a family friendly DJ, dance games and activities. There will also be pizza, beverages and dessert.

This event is ideal for children ages 4 and over. A quiet room will be provided for younger children and their parents.

Registration is $10 for adult members and $13 for non-members. Registration for all children 5 and older is $5 and children 4 and younger can be registered for free.

For more information and to register for the dance or join Rainbow Families, visit rainbowfamiliesdc.org.

Related Topics:Cobalt D.C. Front Runners Out & About Rainbow Families Scarlet's Bake Sale Susan Morabito

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FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM

Photos

PHOTOS: Denali at Pitchers

‘Drag Race’ alum performs at Thirst Trap

Published

19 hours ago

April 14, 2026

Michael Key

Denali performs at the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show at Pitchers DC on April 9. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

Arts & Entertainment

In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI

‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’

Published

2 days ago

April 13, 2026

Baltimore Banner

Last year, Baltimore Center Stage refused to give up its DEI focus in the face of losing federal funding. They've tripled down. (Photo by Ulysses Muñoz of the Baltimore Banner)

By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.

Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.

“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

Books

Susan Lucci on love, loss, and ‘All My Children’

New book chronicles life of iconic soap star

Published

2 days ago

April 13, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy of Blackstone Publishing)

‘La Lucci’
By Susan Lucci with Laura Morton
c.2026, Blackstone Publishing
$29.99/196 pages

They’re among the world’s greatest love stories.

You know them well: Marc Antony and Cleopatra. Abelard and Heloise. Phoebe and Langley. Cliff and Nina. Jesse and Angie, Opal and Palmer, Palmer and Daisy, Tad and Dixie. Now read “La Lucci” by Susan Lucci, with Laura Morton, and you might also think of Susan and Helmut.

When she was a very small girl, Susan Lucci loved to perform. Also when she was young, she learned that words have power. She vowed to use them for good for the rest of her life.

Her parents, she says, were supportive and her family, loving. Because of her Italian heritage, she was “ethnic looking” but Lucci’s mother was careful to point out dark-haired beauties on TV and elsewhere, giving Lucci a foundation of confidence.

That’s just one of the things for which Lucci says she’s grateful. In fact, she says, “Prayers of gratitude are how I begin and end each day.”

She is particularly grateful for becoming a mother to her two adult children, and to the doctors who saved her son’s life when he was a newborn.

Lucci writes about gratitude for her long career. She was a keystone character on TV’s “All My Children,” and she learned a lot from older actors on the show, and from Agnes Nixon, the creator of it. She says she still keeps in touch with many of her former costars.

She is thankful for her mother’s caretakers, who stepped in when dementia struck. Grateful for more doctors, who did heart-saving work when Lucci had a clogged artery. Grateful for friends, opportunities, life, grandchildren, and a career that continues.

And she’s grateful for the love she shared with her husband, Helmut Huber, who died nearly four years ago. Grateful for the chance to grieve, to heal, and to continue.

And yet, she says of her husband: “He was never timid, but I know he was afraid at the end, and that kills me down to my soul.”

“It’s been 15 years since Erica Kane and I parted ways,” says author Susan Lucci (with Laura Morton), and she says that people still approach her to confirm or deny rumors of the show’s resurrection. There’s still no answer to that here (sorry, fans), but what you’ll find inside “La Lucci” is still exceptionally generous.

If this book were just filled with stories, you’d like it just fine. If it was only about Lucci’s faith and her gratitude – words that happen to appear very frequently here – you’d still like reading it. But Lucci tells her stories of family, children and “All My Children,” while also offering help to couples who’ve endured miscarriage, women who’ve had heart problems, and widow(ers) who are spinning and need the kindness of someone who’s lived loss, too.

These are the other things you’ll find in “La Lucci,” in a voice you’ll hear in your head, if you spent your lunch hours glued to the TV back in the day. It’s a comfortable, fun read for fans. It’s a story you’ll love.

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