Arts & Entertainment
Happy hour hangout
Nellie’s Sports bar de facto headquarters for many area LGBT sports leagues
Stonewall Bocce league players at a recent Nellie’s happy hour. (Photo by Kevin Majoros)
After spending several years in New York City and Chicago where the bar scene tends to have a neighborhood vibe, Doug Schantz came to D.C. hoping to recreate that neighborhood feeling when he launched Nellie’s Sports Bar in 2007.
“The original premise of Nellies was to create a neighborhood hangout for people to watch professional sports,” Schantz says. “I wanted to establish a friendly and approachable atmosphere where patrons would want to bring their friends.”
In a roundabout way of reaching the community, Schantz decided to focus some attention on the local LGBT sports teams. He began sponsoring leagues and tournaments and encouraging LGBT sports clubs to have happy hours at Nellie’s.
“Without any compromise, we sponsor any league that comes to us,” Schantz says. “We do it without any doubts.” The sponsorships turned out to be an incredibly good marketing strategy as almost all the LGBT sports athletes of D.C. live within a 3-5-mile radius of Nellie’s.
Another thing that Nellie’s has brought to the LGBT sports community is crossover in the sports teams. The teams are holding mixers together and it has resulted in athletes participating in multiple sports.
“The growth and awareness of LGBT sports in Washington D.C. can be credited in large part to Doug Schantz,” says JJ Johnson, a D.C. Gay Flag Football League board member. “He has given the LGBT sports leagues seed money, support and a place to go.”
If you happen to stop into Nellie’s on a Thursday night during the fall season, you’ll be surrounded by upwards of 80 people running around in T-shirts with Stonewall Bocce on the front and Nellie’s Sports bar on the back.
“Nellie’s Sports Bar and Doug have been amazing partners for us,” says Brien Bell, commissioner of the Stonewall Bocce League. “Years ago when we started Stonewall Bocce, Doug welcomed us to his home (Nellie’s) and was genuinely excited about partnering with us. He took a risk when others would not, because he believed in the value of sports like bocce and the importance of supporting our community. Five years later, he continues to support, motivate and inspire us. Stonewall Bocce would not be what we are today without Nellie’s.”
That kind of worship for Nellie’s is common among the leaders of the D.C. gay sports community. Who else has a bar that is crafted to their needs? Today, Nellie’s has evolved beyond professional and LGBT sports.
“Watching college sports has become a big portion of our business,” Schantz says. “I also predict that within five years, straight sports teams will begin coming to us for sponsorship.”
Following is a partial list of the LGBT sports clubs that meet at Nellie’s:
Every Saturday is CAPS Softball League (eight teams) beginning at 1 p.m.
Every Sunday is DCGFFL Flag Football (20 teams) beginning at 3 p.m.
Every third Tuesday is D.C. Rollergirls happy hour from 5-7 p.m.
Every second Tuesday is D.C. Singles Volleyball happy hour from 5-7 p.m.
Every first Friday (winter) is Ski Bums happy hour from 5-7 p.m.
Every other month, D.C. Strokes has a happy hour from 5-7 p.m. (dates vary).
Every other month (spring/summer) CTA Tennis has a happy hour from 5-7 p.m. (dates vary).
Every first Tuesday is D.C. Furies Women’s Rugby happy hour from 5-7 p.m.
Every Thursday is Stonewall Bocce Night beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Every first Wednesday is Team D.C. Velo (cycling) from 5-8 p.m.
Every second Thursday is Washington Wetskins (Water Polo) night from 5-8 p.m.
Every third Friday is Lambda Divers (Scuba) happy hour from 5-7 p.m.
Every fourth Tuesday is Ping Pong Madness Night beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Every fourth Thursday is Capital Splats Racquetball Club happy hour from 5-8 p.m.
Every fourth Wednesday (winter) is Washington Wolves Ice Hockey Club happy hour from 5-7 p.m.
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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