Arts & Entertainment
Calendar: Oct. 12-18, 2018
Concerts, parties, support groups and more for the week ahead
The annual SMYAL Fall Brunch is Sunday morning. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Friday, Oct. 12
SMYAL hosts its National Coming Out Day Dance at Eastern Market North Hall (225 7th St., S.E.) tonight from 7-10 p.m. Youth ages 13-24 are invited for dancing, music by DJ Honey, food, performances and more.
Bang Salon and VIDA Fitness host “Runway to Recovery” a fashion show benefitting N Street Village, at Penthouse Pool Club (1612 U St., N.W.) tonight from 6:30-9 p.m. Ba’Naka Devereaux will host the show. DJ Alex Mavro will play music. All proceeds will benefit homeless and low-income women. Tickets are $30 and includes one glass of sparkling wine. For more information, visit nstreetvillage.org.
Gamma D.C. a support group for men in mixed-orientation relationships, meets at Luther Place Memorial Church (1226 Vermont Ave., N.W.) tonight from 7:30-9:30 p.m. The group is for men who are attracted to men but are currently, or were at one point, in relationships with women. For more information about the group and location, visit gammaindc.org.
Go Gay D.C. hosts its LGBTQ Community Social at the Embassy Row Hotel (2015 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.) tonight from 6-9 p.m. TJ Flavell will be on site to greet guests. All are welcome. There will be a cash bar and an appetizer and dinner menu available. Name tags will be provided. Dress code is casual attire. No cover. For more details, visit gogaydc.org.
Saturday, Oct. 13
VIDA Fitness hosts its fourth annual 5K Run/Walk at Hains Point in East Potomac Park (Ohio Dr., S.W.) today. Warm-up and stretch starts at 7:30 a.m. followed by the National Anthem at 7:55 a.m. The race kicks off at 8 a.m.
Bethesda Row Arts Festival is at 4841 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, Md., today from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. 190 artists will showcase and sell their work. There will also be live musical entertainment and performance art. For more details, visit facebook.com/bethesdaartsfestival.
Distrkt C: Dungeon, a gay dance party, is at the D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) tonight from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. DJ Kirk and DJ Joe Ross will play music. Tickets are $25.
Team D.C. hosts its Fall Casino Night at Buffalo Billiards (1330 19th St., N.W.) tonight from 8 p.m.-midnight. Attendees can play poker, blackjack and craps with their favorite teams. There will also be raffle prizes.
The Mighty Tucks hosts Rainbow Race Fundraiser, an “Amazing Race” style fundraiser, at Francis Field (2500 N St., N.W.) from noon-5 p.m. Teams of two will travel to Cobalt and Nellie’s Sports Bar and compete in games. Competitions will include finding hidden clues, trivia duels, navigating your partner through a maze and tightrope walking. The winning team will receive $200. There will also be prizes for best team name and best team outfit. Registration is $30 per team. All proceeds will be donated to Strength in Our Voices, a D.C.-based, LGBT-led non-profit that works toward defeating stigmas about mental health
Sunday, Oct. 14
SMYAL hosts its 2018 Fall Brunch at the Marriott Marquis (901 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.) today from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. There will be an open bar cocktail reception with a silent auction and a three-course brunch. Guests will also hear from community leaders and SMYAL youth.
Red Derby (3718 14th St., N.W.) hosts LGBTQ Prison Letter Writing Workshop today from 2:30-5:30 p.m. Attendees will write letters to an inmate pen pal. Stamps, envelopes and other materials will be provided. The event is free. For more information, visit facebook.com/redderby.
Silver Spring Record Fair is at Denizens Brewing Co. (1115 East-West Hwy., Silver Spring, Md.) today from 1-6 p.m. More than 20 vendors will sell records and local DJs will play music throughout the night. Nocturnal Wax, Marcello Bentine, Kenny M and Wade Hammes and Elliott Sloan will perform. For more details, visit facebook.com/citizensbrewco.
Monday, Oct. 15
Trixie Mattel brings her “Now With Moving Parts Tour” to Rams Head Live (20 Market Pl., Baltimore) tonight at 8 p.m. The “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3” winner will bring a mix of live music, comedy and drag.
Tuesday, Oct. 16
The D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) hosts its Packing Party from 7-9 p.m. tonight. Volunteers will assemble safer sex kits to distribute to the LGBT community. For more details, visit thedccenter.org.
Wednesday, Oct. 17
The Tom Davoren Social Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for social bridge. No partner needed. For more information, call 301-345-1571.
Bookmen D.C., an informal men’s gay literature group, discusses the poetry collection “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” by John Ashbery at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome. For details, visit bookmendc.blogspot.com.
Thursday, Oct. 18
Rainbow History Project Foundation hosts Cops and Queers: The History of the Police and the LGBTQ+ Community in D.C. at Thurgood Marshall Center for Service & Heritage (1816 12th St., N.W.) tonight from 6:30-9 p.m. Rayceen Pendarvis moderates the panel discussion featuring Earline Budd, Craig Howell, Mindy Daniels, Dee Curry and Brett Parson. The discussion will focus on the intersection between the LGBTQ community and the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Admission is free but RSVP is required.
BloominGays, a group for LGBT residents of Bloomingdale, LeDroit Park, Shaw and Eckington, hosts its fall kickoff happy hour at Tyber Creek Wine Bar & Kitchen (84 T St., N.W.) tonight from 9 p.m.-midnight. There will be happy hour drink specials and small bites. For more information, visit bloomingays.com.
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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