Arts & Entertainment

Arts briefs: Aug. 24

Events slated for D.C. and Baltimore for the coming week

Published

14 years ago

August 23, 2012

Out actor Dixon returns to Signature

Signature Theatre presents a performance and book signing by Broadway veteran Ed Dixon for one night on Monday at 8 p.m.

Ed Dixon in ‘Sunset Blvd.’ (Courtesy Signature)

Dixon, who has had a 42-year Broadway career and is openly gay, is performing original compositions and narrating pieces from his memoir “Secrets of a Life Onstage and Off.” His journey takes the audience through his experiences with the likes of Leonard Bernstein and through his darkest period when he suffered from drug addiction.

Tickets are $20. For more information, visit signature-theatre.org.

Gay law group meets in D.C.

The National LGBT Bar Association holds its annual Lavender Law Conference and Career Fair, which ends Saturday, at the Washington Hilton Hotel (1919 Connecticut Ave., NW) this weekend.

The conference and career fair allows candidates to meet with LGBT-friendly recruiters from law firms, government agencies, LGBT rights groups and corporate legal departments. There will also be panel discussions from people in the career field and individual career counseling.

The point to the conference is to promote equality and diversity in government and legal work places. Candidates are encouraged to discuss their identity and recruiters are encouraged to portray their LGBT-friendly workplaces.

Registration fees vary between $185-$620. For more information, visit lgbtbar.org.

Sampson to give Alston House benefit performance

Comedian Sampson performs his show “No Shade … No Tea” in benefit of the Wanda Alston House tonight at 7 at the D.C. Arts Center (2438 18^th St., NW).

Sampson is an openly gay black comedian and activist. Though he is D.C. based, he has been touring the country since 2003 and has performed in venues such as Broadway in New York, Arena Stage and DAR Constitution Hall.

The Wanda Alston House is a youth homeless shelter for LGBT youths in the Washington area.

Tickets are $10. For more information, visit sampsoncomedy.com.

Lady Bunny at Town tonight

Lady Bunny

Legendary drag performer Lady Bunny performs tonight at Town (2009 8^th St., N.W.) at 10 p.m.

Lady Bunny is known for founding the New York outdoor drag festival Wigstock. She has also been featured in TV shows such as “Sex and the City” and the Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson. She contributes to Star magazine’s Worst of the Week Column and V Magazine named her one of the most notable residents in New York City, along with Marc Jacobs and Lady Gaga.

Cover before 11 is $8 and $12 after. There are also $3 drinks before 11 p.m. For more information, visit towndc.com.

Miss Charm City at the Hippo

Club Hippo (1 West Eager St.) hosts Miss Charm City 2013, an official preliminary to Miss Gay Maryland America, tonight at 10:30.

The event will include a pageant hosted by Miss Gay Maryland 2009 Sue Nami, Miss Gay Maryland 2011 Chi Chi Ray Colby, Miss Gay Maryland 2012 Stephanie Micheals, Miss Gay Virginia 2012 Jazmine Diamond, Miss Gay Atlantic States 2012 Araya Sparxx, Sabrina Sommers and Josie Foster.

Miss Gay America is a pageantry system for female impersonators. In order to qualify for the pageant, contestants must be male and at least 21. No hormones or breast implants are allowed.

General admission is $8 and reserved seating is $10. For more information, visit clubhippo.com or missgayamerica.com.

Grand Central goes Disney

Grand Central (1001/1003 N. Charles St.) presents “Welcom to Disneyland,” a cover performance, with appearances from Former Miss Gay Maryland Su Nami and Sabrina Sommers on Sunday at 9 p.m.

The performance covers the beloved songs and stories from the favorite Disney princesses.

Doors open at 8 p.m. and tickets are $10. For more information, visit centralstationpub.com.

Final Center youth events for summer slated

The Den lounge is opened to LGBT youths for its last weekend of the summer in the Gay and Lesbian Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland (241 W. Chase St.).

The Den includes art making, discussion group and a social club on Saturdays for attendees at the Center. On Sunday, its staff hosts a bike ride and a session on how to make bikes at Velocipede. This is the last weekend the Center will be holding these sessions this summer.

This is a free service for LGBT adolescents and young adults ages 13-24. For more information, visit glccb.org.

‘Dralion’ finishes run this weekend

Yao, the god of fire, in ‘Dralion.’ (Photo by Francois Barebeau; courtesy Cirque du Soleil)

“Dralion,” Cirque du Soleil’s acrobatic show that fuses influences from the East and the West, are running its last performances this weekend at 1st Mariner Arena (201 West Baltimore St.).

The show draws on the 3,000-year-old tradition of Chinese acrobatics combined with the more modern Cirque du Soleil twist.

In the show, the four elements of nature come to life: air is blue, water is green, fire is red and earth is ochre. When they are combined, balance is achieved.

Tickets range from $40-$165. For more information, visit cirquedusoleil.com.

Photos

PHOTOS: Denali at Pitchers

‘Drag Race’ alum performs at Thirst Trap

Published

11 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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