Arts & Entertainment
Hanks opens on the Hill
New oyster bistro slightly different from its sister locations
Gina Chersevani, left, and Jamie Leeds. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Jamie Leeds is doing something right — Hank’s Oyster Bar is a Dupont Circle mainstay that came to fruition in the spring of 2005. In 2007, she opened a second Hank’s in Old Town Alexandria.
Now she’s expanding the Alexandria location and she opened a third Hank’s Oyster Bar on Capitol Hill (633 Pennsylvania Ave S.E.) this week. Leeds says opening Hank’s on the Hill while expanding the Alexandria location is her “most exciting accomplishment.”
Leeds has partnered up with “mixtress” Gina Chersevani for this new venue. This 40-seat location features Leeds classics such as the lobster roll and her famous “Meat and Two” option, where patrons receive protein and two sides. This location also includes a 20-seat bar named The Eddy, where patrons can belly and enjoy a handcrafted cocktail.
Hank’s on the Hill feels like a New England cottage with white trim, light grey walls and whitewashed slats hanging from the ceiling. The white marble bar has a block of ice sitting front and center so Chersevani, who’s straight, and staff can carve ice for drinks. The raised oyster station at the back of the restaurant is purposefully the center of attention. Eventually, the Capitol Hill location will also have outdoor seating. Leeds is not anticipating the same trouble obtaining permits as in Dupont where half the outdoor seating area remains closed due to opposition from residents.
Leeds is excited to “deliver excellent seafood and become part of the neighborhood.” Her favorite items on the menu are the fried oysters and the molasses-braised short ribs. At the Capitol Hill location Leeds applies what she has learned from her other restaurants; one important lesson is surrounding herself with the right people. She looks for people who are dedicated, committed to teaching and service oriented. This is how she runs a successful business and balances her family life with partner Leslie Detenber and their son Hayden.
Leeds first hired Chersevani 10 years ago when working at 15ria. Thy have talked about working together and both were excited when the opportunity arose. Chersevani happily tells a story of an early experience with Leeds at 15ria when she had to make a Blueberry Smash — she simply threw the ingredients together, including frozen blueberries. Leeds was not impressed. Chersevani realized this was an opportunity to grow, and take her cocktails to the next level. Chersevani says that “training with chefs like Leeds has allowed her to become a better mixologist.” Cocktails should “tell a story,” and many of the stories she tells on the current Hank’s list are political.
The new mantra for Hank’s Capitol Hill is “swirling liquors and turbulent mixers” and Chersevani is excited to bring “better” cocktails to the neighborhood. Her beverage program consists of 20 intricate cocktails like her personal favorite, The Georgia Mafia, which contains peanut washed Michter’s Whiskey, Sweet Vermouth and marshmallow bitters. Chersevani dubbed this cocktail the “X-rated Fluffer Nutter.” She says that while it may be a small list at Hank’s on the Hill it’s a “small list with impact.”
On Tuesday night, I dined at Hank’s on the Hill and ordered grilled pork chop. I chose the heirloom tomatoes and the buttermilk onion rings as my sides. Both sides were palatable, but the pork chop was cooked unevenly and some morsels were juiceless. The short ribs were not available on the night I dined, but the fried oysters were and I agree with Leeds. The oysters were delicious fried bites that perfectly combined the crispy breading and delicate flavor of the oysters. I chose the Gnome Water Rebellion as my drink for the night and I was blown away by the freshness brought to the drink by the cucumber water and the overall balance of flavors.
Hank’s Capitol Hill “is not like anything else,” says Chersevani. “It will feel like home, with laughter and good times.” On the night I was at Hank’s the bar was bustling and Chersevani was chatting with patrons and handing out shots. Everyone was listening to her stories and enjoying the night. Hank’s on the Hill is open Sunday thru Wednesday from 5-10 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 5-11 p.m. The Eddy is open daily from 5 to midnight.
Dolly Parton died on Tuesday at a Nashville hospital. She was 80.
Her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said Parton passed away at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center “after bravely facing a brief battle with cancer.” Parton’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced his aunt’s death in a video posted to her Instagram page.
Born in Sevier County, Tenn., on Jan. 19, 1946, Parton was one of 12 children who grew up in poverty.
She moved to Nashville in 1964 and later became known as the “Queen of Country Music” with hits that include “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You.” Parton also starred in “9 to 5” and “Steel Magnolias.”
Parton in 1995 created the Imagination Library, which sends free books to children. Parton, among other things, donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center that helped fund research that paved the way for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, and gave another $1 million for Hurricane Helene relief efforts in Tennessee and North Carolina.
Parton was also a long-time LGBTQ ally.
She spoke in support of marriage equality and wrote “Travelin’ Thru,” a song that was part of the soundtrack for “Transamerica,” a 2005 film that documented a transgender woman’s trip across the country with her son. Parton in 2011 also appeared at the GLAAD Media Awards.
“Parton’s warm spirit, kindheartedness, and joie de vivre deeply resonated with the LGBTQ community, cementing her as a global queer icon whose art always held space for outsiders, no matter the risk,” said GLAAD on Tuesday. “Parton’s entire career was built on love and respect for all, and her unwavering allyship is a legacy that will last forever.”
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson in a statement said HRC is “heartbroken by Dolly’s passing.”
“She showed the world what it looks like to lead with love and stood with our community long before others in entertainment, using her voice and platform to create a world where LGBTQ+ people feel seen and celebrated,” she said. “Her music and her spirit touched millions; and her generosity, especially toward children, will be felt for generations. We will miss her dearly, and we will carry forward the light she shared with all of us.”
Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings also mourned Parton.
“Long before it was easy or popular, Dolly Parton told our community that we belonged, and she meant it. She championed children’s literacy through her Imagination Library, lent her voice and resources to the fight against HIV and AIDS, and stood up, time and again, for the community she embraced as her own, all with the humor, warmth, and grace that made the whole world fall for her,” said Jennings.
The Congressional Equality Caucus and U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who is the first openly trans person elected to Congress, are among those who also celebrated Parton’s life.
Theater
New GALA show about WWII spy full of conflict, intrigue
‘GARBO: The Actor Who Saved the World’ an inspired true story
‘Garbo: The Actor Who Saved the World’
Sept. 3-27
GALA Hispanic Theatre
3333 14th St., NW
$25-$50
galatheatre.org
Conflict, intrigue, and abundant imagination – all the elements for an extraordinary story. Add real-life Spanish spy Juan Pujol García who worked as a double agent loyal to the United Kingdom against Nazi Germany during World War II to the mix and it’s truly inspired.
Code-named “Garbo” by the British (a nod to his acting prowess), the anti-fascist’s mission took him from Madrid to Lisbon and later a London suburb where he created fictitious reports while unassumingly blending in with middle-class commuters.
By inventing a phony spy network of 27 agents with intricate backstories and tales of espionage worthy of Balzac’s pen, Garbo convinced Hitler’s generals that the D-Day invasion would hit Calais instead of Normandy, saving thousands of lives along the way.
And now the tale unfolds on stage in “GARBO: The Actor Who Saved the World,” a premiere thriller at GALA Hispanic penned by GALA artistic director Gustavo Ott, staged by Cuban director Carlos Celdrán, and starring out actor Kevin Jorges in the title role.
When Jorges was tapped to play Garbo, he (like the rest of the cast) was utterly unfamiliar with the play’s cunning protagonist.
But that changed quickly. Jorges, 37, has immersed himself in the biography and become increasingly interested and somewhat enamored with the character.
Charismatic with an easy smile and rich, warm voice, Jorges says he had to put aside his sensibility as a gay man in order to portray Garbo, who was a straight, patriarchal figure. But he also embraced similarities with the spy, like their shared aversion to physical violence.
And Jorges cites what he finds a pivotal moment: Garbo says to his British MI5 case officer and handler Thomas Harris (played by gay GALA veteran Carlos Castillo) that after what they’ve been through, neither will be what they once wanted to be. They are changed. They’ll never be the same.
Performed at 90 minutes in Spanish with user friendly English surtitles, “Garbo” is about imagination as resistance. “It’s also about a theatrical vocation that went unfulfilled,” says Ott. “That is perhaps the greatest disappointment of modernity: the insurmountable obstacles a vocation faces.
“Through his imagination, Garbo attempts to reclaim his lost calling—that of being an artist—and in his new trade as a spy, he uses it as a lifeline.”
Ott adds, “Walt Whitman viewed imagination as a traveling companion. He could rely on it when he was alone, when he lost hope, and when life slammed every door shut.”
Jorges was was attracted to acting at an early age, but the murder of his father in Caracas in 1999, made it more than an interest, theater became a refuge that saved him from tragedy. Today, he believes that theater is a refuge for many Venezuelan artists, it’s a way for them to contribute to society despite difficult circumstances.
Despite enjoying a successful early career in Caracas with many roles and accolades, Jorges had no choice but to seek new horizons. Political turmoil and economic collapse prompted him to leave Caracas in 2019 for Spain where he worked outside of his profession for a few years.
The actor credits “migrant persistence” for his return to the stage. On New Year’s Eve in 2022, Jorges made a pilgrimage to the famous monument to Cervantes at Plaza de España in Madrid where he made a heartfelt wish to act again.
Soon after, Jorges was collaborating with playwright and director Elio Palencia on “Timón Of(f) Caracas,” a personal one-man adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Timon of Athens, reframing the universal themes of betrayal, excess, and misanthropy to mirror the sociopolitical realities of Venezuela. To much success and acclaim, the production toured important cities throughout Spain.
It was Palencia who suggested to GALA’s Ott that Jorges hop the pond to play Garbo in D.C.
While he once viewed each acting job as an opportunity, Jorges now sees them as gifts. And, he says, the part of Garbo is a gift filled with possibilities: “It’s wonderful performing in Spanish with English translation. I love the interaction of culture. I really enjoy seeing the way things are done at GALA. Maybe sometime I’ll be performing in English too.”
Books
Exploring Renée Richards’s life through lens of a trans author
Surprises await in new book about pioneering tennis star
‘Finding Renée Richards’
By Julie Kliegman
c.2026, HarperOne
$28.99/272 pages
Come on in, the water’s fine.
Wade into it up to your ankles, your calves, your waist, you’ll be OK. You’ll adjust to the waves that swirl around you so come on, dive in, it’s all good. As in the new book “Finding Renée Richards” by Julie Kliegman, that goes for swimming, and for controversy.
Assigned to do a story on books written by trans tennis great Renée Richards, Julie Kleigman read the books and became “transfixed by a woman who had fought so hard to simply live as who she had long known she was….”. Their editor had figured that, as a nonbinary and trans individual, Kleigman would have “something incisive to say…” in an article. Instead, once they met and began interviewing Richards, Kliegman was left frustrated.
Born in the late summer of 1934, Richard Henry Raskind seemed to have arrived with a tennis racket in his hand. His mother was a psychiatrist; his father was an orthopedic surgeon who hoped “Dick” would follow his footsteps but Raskind was drawn instead to ophthalmology and tennis. He was also irresistibly drawn to wearing women’s clothing.
His sister knew of this pull and Raskind eventually came out to both parents, but few others on the tennis circuit were aware. When Raskind visited his hometown of New York City, however, he enjoyed furtively going out in women’s clothing but he also tried to squash the desire; in the meantime, he fell in love, married, fathered a son, and eventually learned that it was possible to become the woman he knew he really was.
To continue playing tennis professionally was a bonus.
And right there were the disagreements Kleigman had with Richards.
Richards, “To this day… [makes] a point of describing herself as a woman, period,” says Kleigman, but she firmly acknowledged Richard, almost as a separate individual, insisting that Kleigman use “him/his” pronouns when describing her earlier life.
And as for tennis and trans women’s participation in the sport, Richards had something even more frustrating to say.
Take that as a fair warning: you might be equally surprised at what author Julie Kliegman uncovered in “Finding Renée Richards,” and you may be truly gobsmacked by reading opinions from other women about the topic of trans women in sports.
That’s the main, huge point of interest in this fascinating book; the other is Richards’s life as seen through the lens of a trans individual. Kleigman’s wrestling with the 90-year-old Richards’ firmly dug-in heels is, in itself, worth your time as a study of highly varying viewpoints. That Kleigman and Richards have both lived at least a part of trans history is somewhat of a key to understanding how this book unfolds, as Kleigman offers up Richards’s tale. Readers who are able to read between the lines will be riveted.
If you’re a sports fan and you have opinions, you must read this book – and that goes double if it’s tennis you love. Also check out “Finding Renée Richards” if you just want a raucously good and very fine read.
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