Arts & Entertainment
Working to end HIV
Foundation plans D.C. fundraiser to boost vaccine effort
Zachary Barnett will be in town next week for an HIV benefit at Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. (Photo courtesy Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams)
Abzyme Research Foundation is partnering with Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams (1526 14th St., N.W.) and Cork Wine Bar for “Taste for Change,” a wine tasting and fundraising event to support an effort to end HIV/AIDS, on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
“We’re really excited to bring the presentation to D.C.,” says Zachary Barnett, executive director and found of ARF. “There’s a lot of energy … with the non-profit world and the government sector.”
ARF is a non-profit organization hoping to end HIV/AIDS by researching abzyme technology to produce the world’s first effective therapeutic HIV vaccine. Barnett compares this technology to the recent advancements and FDA approval for a shingles vaccine.
“Once you’re infected with chicken pox, you have that virus in your cells forever, but what the vaccine does … it’s effectively suppressing new outbreaks of infection,” Barnett says. “What we’re talking about is effectively the same. What if we could create a vaccine after you’ve already been infected, that would suppress the virus in your system.”
Barnett, infected by a partner in 2008, was recently named one of The Advocate’s “40 Under 40.” His nomination came at a time when he was considering being more public about his status. A friend had recently called him out on it.
“The chain of events was so weird,” Barnett says. “I kind of made the decision … and then The Advocate called me a couple days later … It was a really cool and serendipitous chain of events. I was happy to be given the opportunity to do it.”
Barnett started as a marketing and events consultant when he moved to New York City in 2006.
After finding out he was infected, Barnett brought his skills and passion to the world of HIV research advocacy.
“Fundraising and non-profit work, a lot of it is storytelling and communication,” Barnett says. “Creating event series and forums to talk to people and engage in communication is key to success, especially in the beginning.”
What started as a moment of personal crisis became a reason for Barnett to do more research on HIV/AIDS and its treatments, including the state of HIV/AIDS internationally. This research brought led him to a 2008 video by CBS, “Possible HIV Cure” with Dr. Sudhir Paul and his science team at University of Texas.
Barnett reached out to Paul and with the help of Marie LaFrance from Interview Magazine, threw a gala for the researcher and launched a PSA featuring Wilson Cruz, Justin Bond and Lady Bunny to engage supporters.
“I’m incredibly inspired by the doctors we’re working with,” Barnett says. “I think they’ve developed such an interesting, creative approach to battling the disease.”
Paul was first awarded a grant from the National Institute of Health in 1990. He’s published a paper identifying the CD4 binding site on the HIV outer coat as the “Achilles heel” of HIV. He has found that the human immune system has the innate ability to produce abzymes.
An abzyme, or an antibody-enzyme, is capable of starting the destruction of targeted molecules. A single molecule of an abzyme can trigger the destruction of thousands of target molecules and abzymes produced in animals have successfully blocked infection of human cells by genetically diverse HIV strains.
“This is completely hypothetical, and maybe getting ahead of ourselves, but … the abzyme technology has numerous applications,” Barnett says. “If this turns out to be a really dynamic technology that has the ability to make an impact on HIV, I’m excited to see where else we can take it.”
ARF’s goal is to raise $1.5 million for a FDA Phase I human trial, ideally in an HIV-positive population, to prove the E-Vaccine is safe and will induce antibodies that neutralize HIV in laboratory tests. According to its website, ARF, which has already covered its operation funding for the year, has raised $50,000 so far.
“We’re looking at a post-infection vaccine … exploring alternatives for daily anti-retroviral treatment. Can we develop a vaccine that will produce a robust antibody response in populations infected by HIV?,” Barnett says of the endeavor.
The Phase I human trial is the third milestone required to obtain FDA approval, according to an introduction brochure by ARF. The last being phase two and three efficacy trials to prove that the E-Vaccine will protect individuals who are at risk of being infected and prove control of virus infection occurs in infected individuals receiving the vaccine.
The organization has already secured a donor who will match the first $200,000 donated.
For more information on the organization or to donate, visit endhiv.com. The organization can also be followed at twitter.com/endhiv. To learn more about the fundraising event and to RSVP, email [email protected].
Team DC, the umbrella organization for LGBTQ-friendly sports teams and leagues in the D.C. area, held its annual Night of Champions Awards Gala on Saturday, April 20 at the Hilton National Mall. The organization gave out scholarships to area LGBTQ student athletes as well as awards to the Different Drummers, Kelly Laczko of Duplex Diner, Stacy Smith of the Edmund Burke School, Bryan Frank of Triout, JC Adams of DCG Basketball and the DC Gay Flag Football League.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The 2024 National Cannabis Festival was held at the Fields at RFK Stadium on April 19-20.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering the @NatlCannaFest at RFK Stadium for @WashBlade . Stop by the LGBTQ+ booth and pick up a paper if you are here. pic.twitter.com/is7hnsaPns
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) April 20, 2024
Theater
‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
A ‘fully autobiographical’ work from out artist Adil Mansoor
‘Amm(i)gone’
Thorough May 12
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
641 D St., N.W.
$60-$70
Woollymammoth.net
“Fully and utterly autobiographical.” That’s how Adil Mansoor describes “Amm(i)gone,” his one-man work currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Both created and performed by out artist Mansoor, it’s his story about inviting his Pakistani mother to translate Sophocles’s Greek tragedy “Antigone” into Urdu. Throughout the journey, there’s an exploration of family, queerness, and faith,as well as references to teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations with his Muslim mother.
Mansoor, 38, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and is now based in Pittsburgh where he’s a busy theater maker. He’s also the founding member of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and the former artistic director of Dreams of Hope, an LGBTQ youth arts organization.
WASHINGTON BLADE: What spurred you to create “Amm(i)gone”?
ADIL MANSOOR: I was reading a translation of “Antigone” a few years back and found myself emotionally overwhelmed. A Theban princess buries her brother knowing it will cost her, her own life. It’s about a person for whom all aspirations are in the afterlife. And what does that do to the living when all of your hopes and dreams have to be reserved for the afterlife?
I found grant funding to pay my mom to do the translation. I wanted to engage in learning. I wanted to share theater but especially this ancient tragedy. My mother appreciated the characters were struggling between loving one another and their beliefs.
BLADE: Are you more director than actor?
MANSOOR: I’m primarily a director with an MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon. I wrote, directed, and performed in this show, and had been working on it for four years. I’ve done different versions including Zoom. Woolly’s is a new production with the same team who’ve been involved since the beginning.
I love solo performance. I’ve produced and now teach solo performance and believe in its power. And I definitely lean toward “performance” and I haven’t “acted” since I was in college. I feel good on stage. I was a tour guide and do a lot of public speaking. I enjoy the attention.
BLADE: Describe your mom.
MANSOOR: My mom is a wonderfully devout Muslim, single mother, social worker who discovered my queerness on Google. And she prays for me.
She and I are similar, the way we look at things, the way we laugh. But different too. And those are among the questions I ask in this show. Our relationship is both beautiful and complicated.
BLADE: So, you weren’t exactly hiding your sexuality?
MANSOOR: In my mid-20s, I took time to talk with friends about our being queer with relation to our careers. My sexuality is essential to the work. As the artistic director at Dreams of Hope, part of the work was to model what it means to be public. If I’m in a room with queer and trans teenagers, part of what I’m doing is modeling queer adulthood. The way they see me in the world is part of what I’m putting out there. And I want that to be expansive and full.
So much of my work involves fundraising and being a face in schools. Being out is about making safe space for queer young folks.
BLADE: Have you encountered much Islamophobia?
MANSOOR: When 9/11 happened, I was a sophomore in high school, so yes. I faced a lot then and now. I’ve been egged on the street in the last four months. I see it in the classroom. It shows up in all sorts of ways.
BLADE: What prompted you to lead your creative life in Pittsburgh?
MANSOOR: I’ve been here for 14 years. I breathe with ease in Pittsburgh. The hills and the valleys and the rust of the city do something to me. It’s beautiful, it’ affordable, and there is support for local artists. There’s a lot of opportunity.
Still, the plan was to move to New York in September of 2020 but that was cancelled. Then the pandemic showed me that I could live in Pittsburgh and still have a nationally viable career.
BLADE: What are you trying to achieve with “Amm(i)gone”?
MANSOOR: What I’m sharing in the show is so very specific but I hear people from other backgrounds say I totally see my mom in that. My partner is Catholic and we share so much in relation to this.
I hope the work is embracing the fullness of queerness and how means so many things. And I hope the show makes audiences want to call their parents or squeeze their partners.
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‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
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