Arts & Entertainment
Paths through pages
Kindle or ink and paper, this spring’s books will take you places
‘Frog Music’ (Image courtesy Little, Brown and Company)
Whether you’re looking for a fabulous read for a spring fling/getaway or you’re hoarding books for that long-anticipated summer vacation, there are lots of books to look for this spring and events you’ll want to attend.
Let’s start this trip with books.
It’s practically an Emma Donoghue signature: take one obscure historical event and wrap a “what if?” story around it — which is exactly what you get in “Frog Music,” due next month.
It’s 1876 and Blanche Beunon is nearly run over by a strange man on a penny farthing. When the man stops to make sure Blanche is OK, she learns that the man is actually a woman in men’s clothing. Jenny Bonnet knows who Blanche is; she’s seen Blanche dance and she knows that Blanche sleeps with men for money. Still, the two become friends — that is, until the night Jenny is murdered.
This imagined tale based on a real murder takes us on a trance-like journey from France to San Francisco.
‘Out in the Army’ (Image courtesy Biteback Publishing)
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” isn’t just something our military personnel know and have lived with. It happens in Great Britain, too, and in “Out in the Army: My Life as a Gay Soldier” by James Wharton (June), you’ll read about a boy who wanted adventure. To find it, he joined the Army and there, he became a man who struggled with disclosure: how to tell his loved ones and colleagues that he’s gay. This is one of those action-packed memoirs with pockets of truth and strength.
Moving on in this trip filled with books, you’ll want to read “Lost and Found in Johannesburg” by Mark Gevisser (April). It’s the story of apartheid, maps and how one led to an understanding of the other. You may find it fascinating that the author is a gay Jewish white born-and-raised South African married to a man of another race.
Then, landing back home, how about a trip to New York with “Nothing Like a Dame” by Eddie Shapiro, (February) a book of conversations with some of Broadway’s leading ladies. Peek in on Carol Channing, Chita Rivera, Patti LuPone, Kristin Chenoweth, Bebe Neuwirth and others. It’s almost like being there.
Almost.
Also just out is “Christ-Centered Consciousness” in which author John Ryan writes a meditation on how he found peace with being a gay believer.
Out novelist (and Washingtonian) Louis Bayard’s new book “Roosevelt’s Beast” tells of an action adventure involving Theodore Roosevelt and his son, Kermit, through Brazil’s Rio da Duvida circa 1914. It’s out March 18. Look for an interview with Bayard in next week’s Blade.
And then there are trips you can physically take this spring.
If you’re a book lover, make plans to attend BOOKS ALIVE! 2014 on March 29 at the Bethesda Marriott on Pook’s Hill. This event offers a chance to meet big-name authors and journalists, but aspiring authors will also have a chance to meet with literary agents at pitch sessions. Doors are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., early registration is $220 or $240 at the door, which includes morning coffee and a box lunch. For more information, call Deborah Gelin at 202-223-6161.
And before the spring’s over, be sure to attend the Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 17. Meet authors, find your next best read and get it signed.
Oh, and just in case you missed it in January, fans of legendary gay author Armistead Maupin will definitely want to check out his latest — “The Days of Anna Madrigal,” the end of the 40-year, nine-volume “Tales of the City” series that’s let us all get a surprisingly resonating taste of San Francisco’s LGBT community over the decades.
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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