Arts & Entertainment

Delicate dances

Studio double header explores romantic nuances

Published

11 years ago

May 4, 2013

Patrick Folliard

Actors Jon Hudson, left, and Alex Mills in ‘2-2 Tango.’ (Photo by Igor Dmitry; courtesy Studio)

‘Pas de Deux: Plays from New Zealand and Canada’
Through May 19
Studio 2ndStage
1501 14th Street, NW
$30-$35
202-332-3300
studiotheatre.org

Jim only likes to do it with the lights off. And when it’s the first time, he likes to go to the other guy’s place. But James, the interested guy that Jim just met at the club, doesn’t like to bring new guys home either. Sometimes it’s hard to get them out in the morning. This could be problematic. But despite the many little bumps that might derail their destiny before it even gets going, they become a couple — for a while anyway

Out playwright Daniel MacIvor’s “2-2 Tango” (now at Studio 2ndStage) hastily moves through the arc of Jim and James’ brief love affair beginning with their nocturnal meeting, an early passion, the blissful honeymoon to discontent and ultimate parting. Told mostly from inside the respective guys’ heads, MacIvor frames the same-sex romance as an ongoing dance with varied steps (disco, jazz and a seductive tango), beats and counts. And smartly director Eric Ruffin has cast a pair of appealing actors who can really dance as the lovers — Jon Hudson Odom plays Jim, the needier of the pair, and Helen Hayes Award-winning out actor Alex Mills is the more resilient James.

Not long after they meet, James says he’s independent and values an independent partner. Eager to please, Jim hastily nods in agreement, but his actions indicate otherwise. For him, independence isn’t a priority. James wants space. A cloying boyfriend isn’t what he had in mind. Things don’t look good.

But along the way, there are sexy exchanges, some songs and a lot of rug cutting (choreographed by Nancy Bannon) and quality hip shaking. And while McIvor’s one act flirts with the too cutesy, he captures the disparities of love with laser-like precision. The depiction of the couple’s not mutually sought breakup is uncomfortable to watch. It’s also the play and actors’ most honest moment.

“2-2 Tango” is one of two relationship-exploring plays that make up Studio2ndStage’s aptly-titled “Pas de Deux” (dance for two). The evening’s first one act is “Skin Tight,” a couple’s rough tumble down memory lane by New Zealand playwright Gary Henderson. Unlike McIvor’s piece, which focuses more on how people get together, Henderson’s play starkly reveals the details and intimacies of a longer union. But just because we’re dealing with a presumably more settled couple here, don’t expect the action (staged by Johanna Gruenhut) to be desultory or slow moving. Henderson’s one act opens with husband and wife wrestling wildly — a scene that initially reads more violent crime than playful roughhouse.

Tom and Elizabeth have been together forever. Recently they’ve lost their farm and now Elizabeth plans to go away. Together they reminisce: meeting as youths, the horrors of war, Elizabeth’s uneasy relationship with their daughter. Intermittently throughout the long conversation, they romp and wrestle (these kinetic antics belie the characters’ true age and reality). She shaves him with a straight edge razor. He peels an apple with a pocket knife. They engage in erotically charged knife play — the usual stuff. Led by the more emotional and impulsive Elizabeth, the married couple reveal the most tender and painful details of their relationship.

Henderson’s funny and heartfelt script is a stunning mix of poetic and plain language. As Tom and Elizabeth, Jens Rasmussen and Emily Townley are at home with the words and action; they give terrific, fearless performances.

JD Madsen’s simple sets are pleasingly spare: a patch of Astroturf and rusted bathtub for “Skin Tight” and a sleek sunken dance floor for “2-2 Tango.” Jedidiah Roe’s evocative lighting — quiet to fiery, and James Bigbee Garver’s ably done sound design add to the effect.

“Pas de Deux” is all about being with someone. And though dissimilar, they both convey the complexity and universality of relationships. So different, yet so well coupled.

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Nightlife

Ed Bailey brings Secret Garden to Project GLOW festival

An LGBTQ-inclusive dance space at RFK this weekend

Published

3 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Evan Caplan

Ed Bailey's set at last year's Project Glow. (Photo courtesy Bailey)

When does a garden GLOW? When it’s run by famed local gay DJ Ed Bailey.

This weekend, music festival Project GLOW at RFK Festival Grounds will feature Bailey’s brainchild the Secret Garden, a unique space just for the LGBTQ community that he launched in 2023.

While Project GLOW, running April 27-28, is a stage for massive electronic DJ sets in a large outdoor space, Secret Garden is more intimate, though no less adrenaline-forward. He’s bringing the nightclub to the festival. The garden is a dance area that complements the larger stages, but also stands on its own as a draw for festival-goers. Its focus is on DJs that have a presence and following in the LGBTQ audience world.

“The Secret Garden is a showcase for what LGBTQ nightlife, and nightclubs in general, are all about,” he says. “True club DJs playing club music for people that want to dance in a fun environment that is high energy and low stress. It’s the cool party inside the bigger party.”

Project GLOW launched in 2022. Bailey connected with the operators after the first event, and they discussed Bailey curating his own space for 2023. “They were very clear that they wanted me to lean into the vibrant LGBTQ nightlife of D.C. and allow that community to be very visibly a part of this area.”

Last year, club icon Kevin Aviance headlined the Secret Garden. The GLOW festival organizers loved the its energy from last year, and so asked Bailey to bring it back again, with an entire year to plan.

This year, Bailey says, he is “bringing in more D.C. nightlife legends.” Among those are DJ Sedrick, “a DJ and entertainer legend. He was a pivotal part of Tracks nightclub and is such a dynamic force of entertainment,” says Bailey. “I am excited for a whole new audience to be able to experience his very special brand of DJing!”

Also, this year brings in Illustrious Blacks, a worldwide DJ duo with roots in D.C.; and “house music legends” DJs Derrick Carter and DJ Spen.

Bailey is focusing on D.C.’s local talent, with a lineup including Diyanna Monet, Strikestone!, Dvonne, Baronhawk Poitier, THABLACKGOD, Get Face, Franxx, Baby Weight, and Flower Factory DJs KS, Joann Fabrixx, and PWRPUFF.

Secret Garden also brings in performers who meld music with dance, theater, and audience interactions for a multi-sensory experience.

Bailey is an owner of Trade and Number Nine, and was previously an owner of Town Danceboutique. Over the last 35 years, Bailey owned and operated more than 10 bars and clubs in D.C. He has an impressive resume, too. Since starting in 1987, he’s DJ’d across the world for parties and nightclubs large and intimate. He says that he opened “in concert for Kylie Minogue, DJed with Junior Vasquez, played giant 10,000-person events, and small underground parties.” He’s also held residencies at clubs in Atlanta, Miami, and here in D.C. at Tracks, Nation, and Town.

With Secret Garden, Bailey and GLOW aim to bring queer performers into the space not just for LGBTQ audiences, but for the entire music community to meet, learn about, and enjoy. While they might enjoy fandom among queer nightlife, this Garden is a platform for them to meet the entirety of GLOW festival goers.

Weekend-long Project GLOW brings in headliners and artists from EDM and electronic music, with big names like ILLENIUM, Zedd, and Rezz. In all, more than 50 artists will take the three stages at the third edition of Project GLOW, presented by Insomniac (Electric Daisy Carnival) and Club Glow (Echostage, Soundcheck).

Out & About

Washington Improv Theatre hosts ‘The Queeries’

Event to celebrate queer DMV talent and pop culture camp

Published

4 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Tinashe Chingarande

The Washington Improv Theatre, along with the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC, will team up to host “The Queeries!” on Friday, April 26 at 9:30 p.m. at Studio Theatre.

The event will celebrate Queer DMV talent and pop culture camp. With a mixture of audience-submitted nominations and blatantly undemocratically declared winners, “The Queeries!” mimics LGBTQ life itself: unfair, but far more fun than the alternative.

The event will be co-hosted by Birdie and Butchie, who have invited some of their favorite bent winos, D.C. “D-listers,” former Senate staffers, and other stars to sashay down the lavender carpet for the selfie-strewn party of the year.

Tickets are just $15 and can be purchased on WITV’s website.