Arts & Entertainment

Triple triumph at Arena

Gay actor Rodriguez returns to D.C. for ‘My Fair Lady’

Published

14 years ago

November 29, 2012

Nicholas Rodriguez as Freddy Eynsford-Hill in Arena Stage’s production of ‘My Fair Lady.’ (Photo by Richard Anderson; courtesy Arena)

For New York-based actor Nicholas Rodriguez, Washington has become like a second home. After playing in three productions in so many years at Arena Stage, Rodriguez, who is gay, says he experiences D.C. as more than a place to grow professionally. It’s also somewhere he forges new friendships and simply enjoys the city.

“I’m always happy to come back to D.C.,” says the strapping Latino actor who began his collaboration with Arena Stage in 2010 when he was cast as Fabrizio, the lovesick young Italian in Adam Geuttel’s dreamy musical “The Light in the Piazza.” The following season he wowed local audiences as cowboy Curly in Arena’s stellar production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” for which he won a Helen Hayes Award.

And now Rodriguez is back in town playing Freddy Eynsford-Hill in Arena’s take on Lerner and Loewe’s’ “My Fair Lady.” Set in Edwardian London, young dandy Freddy falls hard for Cockney flower girl turned lady, Eliza Doolittle (Manna Nichols); but sadly it’s an unrequited love. Eliza has her romantic sights set on self-absorbed phoneticist Professor Henry Higgins (Benedict Campbell), who on a bet vows to teach Eliza how to speak, walk and act like an aristocrat.

When Rodriguez was initially approached by Arena to do “My Fair Lady,” his manager advised him to consider carefully. He pointed out that Freddy is a much smaller role than what his client is typically offered. But Rodriguez knew instantly that he wanted the part. “I thought it might be my only chance to do this show. When else will I be cast to play a British gentleman? It was never something that I saw myself playing, but I love a good challenge.”

Since Rodriguez believed he wasn’t a slam dunk as Freddy type wise, he was extra keen to honor all facets of the character including Freddy’s posh accent, so he set to work with two dialect coaches. The gorgeous-voiced tenor was also eager to do justice to his character’s iconic song “On the Street Where You Live.”

“It’s a song that I’ve been singing on some level or another since I was 15, but never in the show,” says Rodriguez, a native Texan who holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in vocal performance from the University of Texas at Austin. “Now is the first time I’m actually singing it with a British dialect and genuinely acting part. Beautiful songs can fall flat, so there’s no room for autopilot. It has to be acted and all the song’s questions must be answered.”

The other draw that repeatedly brings Rodrigues back to D.C., he says, is the ongoing prospect of working with Molly Smith, Arena’s artistic director who has staged the three Arena musicals in which Rodriguez has appeared.

“She doesn’t tell actors what to do, but rather teaches us to find our own way,” he says. “Under Molly, Arena possesses both artistic integrity and equally important — resources. All of us leave here better artists.”

Rodriguez considers Arena’s non-traditionally cast production of “Oklahoma!” the highlight of his career to date. For him, playing Curly was a magical experience. “It was an emotionally charged time at Arena. Not just opening a show but it was also the christening of the new Mead Center for American Theater. A mediocre show was not an option.” He remains close with much of the multi-racial cast, especially talented D.C. favorite Eleasha Gamble who played Curly’s girlfriend Laurey.

Early in his career, Rodriguez garnered fame playing the third corner of a hot and heavy gay love triangle on ABC’s daytime drama “One Life to Live,” but he mostly works in theater. In addition to originating the role of Tarzan on Broadway, he has appeared off-Broadway and toured in numerous national tours of musicals and sung in concerts internationally. He also serves as artistic director of Broadway Dreams Foundation, a New York-based non-profit national performing arts education program that brings the very best in musical theater training to all parts of the country. (mybroadwaydreams.com)

Will there be more Arena productions in his future? Probably. But next up, Rodriguez returns to New York where he lives with his partner of almost 10 years. In January, he’s slated to be part of a Joni Mitchell tribute at Manhattan’s 54 Below.

“I’m always looking ahead,” Rodriguez says. “I’m always excited to encounter the next lesson that’s coming my way.”

Related Topics:Arena Stage My Fair Lady Nicholas Rodriguez Out & About

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FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM

Out & About

LGBTQ Military Happy Hour set for Sept. 15

In-person gathering to be held at Tom’s Watch Bar

Published

12 hours ago

September 11, 2026

Tinashe Chingarande

A scene from the 2026 Capital Pride Parade. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Modern Military Association of America will host “Pride in Service: An LGBTQ+ Military Happy Hour” on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. at Tom’s Watch Bar.

This in-person gathering is the perfect chance to connect, share stories, and celebrate the diversity within the military community. Come relax, meet fellow LGBTQ+ service members and allies, and enjoy a fun, supportive atmosphere. Don’t miss out on an evening full of pride, camaraderie, and good vibes. Visit Eventbrite for more details.

Calendar

Calendar: September 11-17

LGBTQ events in the days to come

Published

12 hours ago

September 11, 2026

Tinashe Chingarande

Friday, September 11

Go Gay DC will host “Out in DC LGBTQ+ Community Social” at 7 p.m. at Hotel Zena.This is a chance to relax, make new friends, and enjoy happy hour specials at this classic retro venue. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

Women in their Twenties and Thirties will meet at 8 p.m. on Zoom. This is a social discussion group for queer women in the Washington, D.C. area. For more details, visit Facebook.

Saturday, September 12

Go Gay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Community Brunch” at 11 a.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant. This fun weekly event brings the DMV area LGBTQ+ community, including allies, together for delicious food and conversation. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

The DC LGBTQ+ Community Center will host screenings of “Princess Sparkles” and “Kiloran Bay” at 1:30 p.m. “Kiloran Bay” is a 13-minute musical short set amid the wild beauty of the Scottish Hebrides and the fierce joy of a wedding cèilidh. “Princess Sparkles” is about a girl who accidentally signs up to pet-sit a princess only to discover she’s actually a nippy, Fox News-watching pig. More details are available on the DC LGBTQ+ Community Center’s website.

Sunday, September 13

“Nellie’s DC Drag Brunch” will be at 12 p.m. at Nellie’s Sports Bar. Come get served like a queen by a queen. Join Sapphire Blue, Deja Diamond and their team of amazing drag performers for the most fun you’ll have all weekend. Tickets are $58.51 and are available on Eventbrite.

Monday, September 14

“Center Aging: Monday Coffee Klatch” will be at 10:00a.m. on Zoom. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ+ adults. Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of choice. For more information, contact Adam ([email protected]).

Tuesday, September 15

Center Bi Pan+ Roundtable will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is an opportunity for people to gather in order to discuss issues related to bisexuality or as Bi individuals in a private setting. Visit Facebook or Meetup for more information.

Wednesday, September 16

Job Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom upon request. This is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confidence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking — allowing participants to move away from being merely “applicants” toward being “candidates.” For more information, email [email protected] or visit thedccenter.org/careers.

The DC LGBTQ+ Community Center will host “Movement for Healing” at 3 p.m. This trauma- and yoga therapy–informed class is designed to help guests gently reconnect with their body and their breath. Through mindful movement, somatic awareness, and grounding practices, guests will explore how to release tension, increase mobility, and cultivate a deeper sense of safety and ease within. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.

Thursday, September 17

The DC Center’s Fresh Produce Program will be held all day at the DC LGBTQ+ Community Center. People will be informed on Wednesday at 5:00 pm if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email [email protected] or call 202-682-2245.

Virtual Yoga Class will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This free weekly class is a combination of yoga, breathwork and meditation that allows LGBTQ+ community members to continue their healing journey with somatic and mindfulness practices. For more details, visit the DC LGBTQ+ Community Center’s website.

Books

Historiography with heart

Pioneering author John D’Emilio continues to enlighten us in new book ‘Making Gay History’

Published

2 days ago

September 10, 2026

Charles Francis

(Book cover image courtesy of Duke University Press)

‘Making Gay History, Memoir of a Scholar-Activist’
By John D’Emilio
Dukeupress.edu/making-gay-history

“Dear Dr. Kameny,” wrote the earnest graduate history student almost 50 years ago. “As you know, the academic community only rarely deemed the lives of gay men and women to be worthy of serious scholarly study. To my knowledge, no American history faculty at a major university has yet sponsored a dissertation that deals with gays historically.”

That student was a young man from the Bronx who would change all that. His name is John D’Emilio.

“I must be able to uncover ‘manuscript’ sources, that is unpublished and unique historical materials,” he explained to D.C. gay civil rights pioneer Dr. Franklin E. Kameny who lived in a house stacked to the ceiling with “unique historical materials.” In reality, these were piles of correspondence with government officials and politicians, legal filings, mimeograph copies, gay newspapers, press releases, Mattachine Society brochures and picket signs. Frank Kameny, a self-described “pack rat,” invited D’Emilio into his private world of papers and memorabilia to begin uncovering an erased and forgotten pre-Stonewall history. This was one of many such research forays into “basements, garages and overcrowded living rooms” across America conducted by John D’Emilio. He was a young man on fire to complete a Ph.D. dissertation at the frontier of a distant galaxy — writing a scholarly gay and lesbian history backed by original research where there had been none, only a void.

Reading D’Emilio’s memoir “Making Gay History” (2026, Duke University Press) one has the sense of watching an emerging galaxy spinning around a galactic core of New York scholars and their mentors, young activists, and community historians throbbing with the New York City energy celebrated by Walt Whitman a century before in his epic poem “Mannahatta”. Spinning out of the ‘60s anti-Vietnam War activism; Marxist historical analysis, the Stonewall riots and gay liberation, we can see it coalescing around this one history student’s search for a dissertation topic and himself piecing together a new history that “no one had yet written about … a pioneering work in this newly emerging field.” D’Emilio pitches his idea for a dissertation that “spanned the length of U.S. history, moving from the religious teachings that shaped law and social attitudes … to how the federal government dealt with the increasing visibility of a homosexual world in the twentieth century.” With the blessings of Columbia’s Department of History, he completed his dissertation leading to the publication of his groundbreaking history: “Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States” (1983). When he received his first copy of the bound book in the mail, he “cradled the book in my arm holding it close to my chest….It was as if I had fathered a child.”

More so, D’Emilio fathered a new history. Historiography is the story of how history gets written, conducting original research, uncovering the data and creating the narrative(s) — often a snoozing read of academic process. But not this historiography. “Making Gay History” is a historiography with heart.

“Nothing was going to stop me from giving everything I had to this effort at making change in society and myself,” he declares while connecting with others who share his “boundless excitement for the collection of documents.” There were many others in this spiral with D’Emilio who are mentioned and play important roles. In the spiral were Jonathan Ned Katz (“Gay American History”, 1976); Allan Berube (“Coming Our Under Fire” 1990), Martin Duberman (“Hidden from History”, 1989); Daughters of Bilitis activists Del Martin and Barbara Gittings; Civil War historian Eric Foner and author/activist Larry Kramer. No libertarians among them. Well, maybe the divine Bette Midler who was well known for performing uptown at the Continental Baths who makes an appearance at a Washington Square rally.

He craved his parents’ approval. Among the most riveting scenes in the memoir are a series of family dinners in the Bronx with his old-school parents who go into near shock when he tells them he is gay. How to evade this any longer, especially now that his dissertation is going to be on homosexuality? It is a moving and hilarious sequence. After he says it out loud, “I am gay”: “No. No. No!” his father gasps. “This can’t be true. It can’t be.” D’Emilio thinks, “Oh my God, he’s going to die. I’ve killed my father.”

The D’Emilios — Vincent and Sophie — so resemble the wonderful Castorinis in “Moonstruck,” I am thinking “Oh my God, this is Cher coming out to her parents Cosmo and Rose.” The young graduate student survives the family dramatics even more certain that this was not just his success but “a gay liberation success.” From the family dinner table to the streets, he writes how he marched in the 1973 Pride parade beneath a banner held high: “Gay Socialists.” This man is a born scholar-activist.

D’Emilio does not seem able to pull back. There are passages that veer into autobiographical minutia, detail about the grind to earn a living from the University of North Carolina Greensboro to the University of Illinois Chicago. He writes, ”I would be living on less than half my usual salary for the year, but with the small amount of royalties that I got for my three books, plus some occasional speaking gigs and dipping into savings…”. Much of this is gray matter compared to the galaxy John D’Emilio helped energize that even now brightens our sky.

Charles Francis is president of The Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. and author of “Archive Activism: Memoir of a ‘Uniquely Nasty’ Journey” (University of North Texas, 2023)