Arts & Entertainment

Animal instinct

Rising star Sebastian Stan brings depth to gay role on Sigourney Weaver-helmed political family series

Published

12 years ago

July 20, 2012

T.J. Hammond, played by Sebastian Stan, raises a glass to his family of ‘Political Animals’ in the new USA Network series. (Photo courtesy USA Network)

Being the first openly gay child of the “First Family,” would be pressure enough, but “Political Animals’” T.J. Hammond still can’t find peace now that his mother is the Secretary of State, and divorcing his father, the former President of the United States.

“I don’t know this personally, but one of the things I’ve tried to research is the idea of how do you exist in the world as an individual when your parents’ persona is constantly an umbrella over your identity,” says Sebastian Stan, who plays T.J. in the new USA network political drama which premiered this week about a former First Family coping with change in the years after the White House (It airs Sunday nights at 10).

While many young LGBT people T.J.’s age face pressure and depression, and may experiment with drugs and alcohol like the character, most don’t do so under the microscope of the media, with a mother — former First Lady Elaine Barrish played by Sigourney Weaver, whom Stan calls a “sweet soul” — in the cabinet of the incoming President.

T.J. copes with the pressure by acting out and pushing the envelope, much like another set of first kids, the Bush twins, whom Stan says T.J. may be able to relate to.

“Its like someone handing you the same plate of breakfast every day,” Stan tells the Blade, saying he doesn’t know personally what it would be like to be under such a microscope, but has tried to research extensively this complicated character. “’Well this is now my life, and this is what I gotta do.’ And you get bored. Its like, ‘Why? I want more? I want something else. I don’t want to be pigeonholed.’ And I think that maybe … you want to branch out, you want to be different, you want to do your thing, you don’t want to constantly have to live in the shadow of your parents, which is unfortunately what these characters are living under.”

Stan says that the show from acclaimed producers Greg Berlanti and Laurence Mark, which also stars Ellen Burstyn and James Wolk who plays T.J.’s twin brother, attempts to pull back a curtain on the private lives of these very public people.

“When these people go home, and they sit down at dinner, what do they talk about?” Stan says. “How are they with themselves?”

The character differs greatly from another gay character he played in a political family on NBC’s “Kings,” because, while the young prince Jack Benjamin was strong-willed, driven and knew what he wants, T.J., Stan says, is much more fragile and lost and feels that he’s been pigeonholed in a way that does not fit him, and he’s searching for escape.

“Someone says to you, ‘Guess what? You’re going to live in this box.’ And how do you deal with that?” Stan says, saying T.J. and his straight twin Douglass deal with the pressure in vastly different ways. “T.J. deals with it by numbing, as an alcoholic and a drug addict.”

Though T.J. has strong allies in the family like his grandmother Margaret, played by Burstyn, and his powerful mother, unlike the “Kings” character, T.J. has little control over his life, and Stan, who’s straight, wonders what the young son raised in the spotlight might do with the freedom that a life of anonymity might lend.

“Ultimately he’s just a character that’s trying to find himself and trying to be heard that’s desperately wanting to be loved … Does he have a choice, and if he had a choice, what would he do with it.”

Stan says working with veteran actress Sigourney Weaver is “phenomenal,” and that he’s grateful to share a set with the “Alien” star.

“She’s an incredibly generous person, as well as an actress,” he says. “A powerhouse … The level of etiquette and discipline and commanding the set that she brought on was absolutely awesome. Made everyone feel very special … You always knew when she was going to walk in. You felt her presence.”

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Nightlife

Ed Bailey brings Secret Garden to Project GLOW festival

An LGBTQ-inclusive dance space at RFK this weekend

Published

3 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Evan Caplan

Ed Bailey's set at last year's Project Glow. (Photo courtesy Bailey)

When does a garden GLOW? When it’s run by famed local gay DJ Ed Bailey.

This weekend, music festival Project GLOW at RFK Festival Grounds will feature Bailey’s brainchild the Secret Garden, a unique space just for the LGBTQ community that he launched in 2023.

While Project GLOW, running April 27-28, is a stage for massive electronic DJ sets in a large outdoor space, Secret Garden is more intimate, though no less adrenaline-forward. He’s bringing the nightclub to the festival. The garden is a dance area that complements the larger stages, but also stands on its own as a draw for festival-goers. Its focus is on DJs that have a presence and following in the LGBTQ audience world.

“The Secret Garden is a showcase for what LGBTQ nightlife, and nightclubs in general, are all about,” he says. “True club DJs playing club music for people that want to dance in a fun environment that is high energy and low stress. It’s the cool party inside the bigger party.”

Project GLOW launched in 2022. Bailey connected with the operators after the first event, and they discussed Bailey curating his own space for 2023. “They were very clear that they wanted me to lean into the vibrant LGBTQ nightlife of D.C. and allow that community to be very visibly a part of this area.”

Last year, club icon Kevin Aviance headlined the Secret Garden. The GLOW festival organizers loved the its energy from last year, and so asked Bailey to bring it back again, with an entire year to plan.

This year, Bailey says, he is “bringing in more D.C. nightlife legends.” Among those are DJ Sedrick, “a DJ and entertainer legend. He was a pivotal part of Tracks nightclub and is such a dynamic force of entertainment,” says Bailey. “I am excited for a whole new audience to be able to experience his very special brand of DJing!”

Also, this year brings in Illustrious Blacks, a worldwide DJ duo with roots in D.C.; and “house music legends” DJs Derrick Carter and DJ Spen.

Bailey is focusing on D.C.’s local talent, with a lineup including Diyanna Monet, Strikestone!, Dvonne, Baronhawk Poitier, THABLACKGOD, Get Face, Franxx, Baby Weight, and Flower Factory DJs KS, Joann Fabrixx, and PWRPUFF.

Secret Garden also brings in performers who meld music with dance, theater, and audience interactions for a multi-sensory experience.

Bailey is an owner of Trade and Number Nine, and was previously an owner of Town Danceboutique. Over the last 35 years, Bailey owned and operated more than 10 bars and clubs in D.C. He has an impressive resume, too. Since starting in 1987, he’s DJ’d across the world for parties and nightclubs large and intimate. He says that he opened “in concert for Kylie Minogue, DJed with Junior Vasquez, played giant 10,000-person events, and small underground parties.” He’s also held residencies at clubs in Atlanta, Miami, and here in D.C. at Tracks, Nation, and Town.

With Secret Garden, Bailey and GLOW aim to bring queer performers into the space not just for LGBTQ audiences, but for the entire music community to meet, learn about, and enjoy. While they might enjoy fandom among queer nightlife, this Garden is a platform for them to meet the entirety of GLOW festival goers.

Weekend-long Project GLOW brings in headliners and artists from EDM and electronic music, with big names like ILLENIUM, Zedd, and Rezz. In all, more than 50 artists will take the three stages at the third edition of Project GLOW, presented by Insomniac (Electric Daisy Carnival) and Club Glow (Echostage, Soundcheck).

Out & About

Washington Improv Theatre hosts ‘The Queeries’

Event to celebrate queer DMV talent and pop culture camp

Published

4 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Tinashe Chingarande

The Washington Improv Theatre, along with the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC, will team up to host “The Queeries!” on Friday, April 26 at 9:30 p.m. at Studio Theatre.

The event will celebrate Queer DMV talent and pop culture camp. With a mixture of audience-submitted nominations and blatantly undemocratically declared winners, “The Queeries!” mimics LGBTQ life itself: unfair, but far more fun than the alternative.

The event will be co-hosted by Birdie and Butchie, who have invited some of their favorite bent winos, D.C. “D-listers,” former Senate staffers, and other stars to sashay down the lavender carpet for the selfie-strewn party of the year.

Tickets are just $15 and can be purchased on WITV’s website.