Arts & Entertainment
Shadow of the Big O
Gay designer Nate Berkus steps into spotlight with his own show
The television landscape is abundantly peppered with gay characters and shows — “Mad Men,” “Glee,” the hilarious “Modern Family,” all of which have been well documented. So we’re focusing on something new that, on its surface looks innocuous, but is actually a television first — an openly gay man with his own daytime show.
“The Nate Berkus Show” premieres Monday as a syndicated daytime show cleared for 95 percent of the country including all NBC-owned-and-operated stations (check local listings here). The Chicago-based designer, who became famous for his guest appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” is launching his own program as Winfrey starts the final season of her own show. He has his own Chicago-based design firm and is a best-selling author. He also hosted the short-lived reality show “Oprah’s Big Give” in 2008.
During a media conference call Tuesday, Berkus discussed his new show, its format, some of his guests and his thoughts about being an openly gay public figure.
“I’ve never played anybody but myself on TV so it’s not my intent to anything differently now,” Berkus says. “If anything, people will be seeing more of me than they ever have before, so my day-to-day will definitely be part of the show. Being on ‘Oprah,’ I was never front and center, so this has taken some getting used to.”
The series is conceived as an exploration of a “broad range of lifestyle subjects providing take-away information and inspiration that will make a real difference in viewers’ daily lives,” according to promotional materials.
Berkus says some of the recurring segments will find him designing spaces with a 3-D gaming technology device that was designed for him, the “Nate Crate” which will ship materials to viewers all around the country to fulfill a show-issued challenge and a segment in which Berkus cohorts will comb neighborhoods for curbside trash pickup that will hopefully contain treasures worth refurbishing that will eventually be auctioned for charity. Celebrity guests will also appear. Dolly Parton and Elizabeth Edwards have already taped segments.
“The sky is the limit,” Berkus says. “I’m gonna be out there every day so everything is going through my lens. It’s my show, with my name and my stamp on everything. Viewers will see how inept I am in the kitchen, they’ll see the tension between my mother and I, they’ll really see all facets.”
While lesbians such as Rosie O’Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres and Rachel Maddow have thrived with their own shows, observers are calling Berkus’ the first show of its kind hosted by a gay man since Jim J. Bullock hosted the short-lived “Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show” in 1996. Is Berkus’ sexual orientation important or just a side note?
“It’s important for me as a person to put my best foot forward,” he says. “I don’t define myself only as being gay or only as being Jewish. I think all of us have lots of different facets. But it is an enormous responsibility for several reasons. I try to lead by example.”
Berkus says there are no immediate plans for a visit from the big O though she may “if it makes sense.” He says Winfrey taught him to “always speak my truth, remain authentic and learn to listen before I speak.”
And what about the stereotypes of being a gay designer? How has Berkus overcome that?
“I don’t know that I have,” he says. “But it hasn’t been an issue at all.”
The Petal Release Party and Drag Show was held at Spark Social on Friday, July 31. Performers included Tiara-Missou, Labianna and Darcy de la Cuadra.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Celebrity News
Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Kylie Minogue made surprise appearance alongside gay icon
AMSTERDAM — Madonna on Sunday headlined the final night of the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam.
The gay icon took the stage shortly before 2:30 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday) during Club Confessions, a set that MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term HIV care, organized.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage inside Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall that can hold up to 6,000 people.
Stuart Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album and “Confessions II,” which debuted on July 2, DJed the set.
Kylie Minogue made a surprise appearance. She and Madonna performed a new remix of “Love Sensation” from “Confessions II.”
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
“Throughout my career, I’ve always supported efforts to fight HIV and AIDS, and that fight begins with education and access,” said Madonna in a MISTR press release. “With MISTR, (CEO) Tristan (Schukraft) is expanding access to HIV prevention and sexual healthcare for everyone. Through this work, he’s helping preserve and strengthen LGBTQ+ spaces while investing in the communities and culture that have long sustained us.”
Minogue in an Instagram post thanked Madonna, Price, Schukraft, and MISTR.
Madonna appeared at The Abbey in West Hollywood, Calif., in April. Madonna in June celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York’s Times Square.
Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced the World Pride Music Festival that also featured Bebe Rexha and Paris Hilton, among others.
“Pride has always been about bringing our community together,” said Resnicow. “At a moment when too many people are being told to hide or make themselves smaller, gathering openly, joyfully, and without apology matters more than ever. I couldn’t be prouder of what this festival brought to life in Amsterdam — one dance floor, completely free.”
Theater
Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth
First five shows a reminder that ‘pressure is a privilege’
Madly talented and preternaturally energetic, Reggie D. White, 38, is about to launch his first season as artistic director of D.C.’s boundary-pushing Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
White brings a lot to the job. As actor, playwright, and director, his varied resume includes a 2019 Broadway acting debut in Matthew López’s Tony Award–winning play “The Inheritance,” his semi-autobiographic play “Fremont Ave.” that opened to acclaim last season at Arena Stage, and a number of exciting regional directing credits.
A longtime admirer of Woolly, the out theater-maker was selected from a pool of candidates before receiving the offer last November and starting work in January. His season of five world premieres kicks off with gay playwright Steve Yockey’s “Venus” (Sept. 9-Oct. 4), a darkly funny study of modern relationships told through two lesbians looking back on their first encounter.
White was introduced to Woolly Mammoth as a pre-law student at Cal State Hayward in the San Francisco Bay Area, long before he foresaw a life in the arts. “As part of a random theater history course, I was assigned to write a paper on a counterculture company called Woolly Mammoth,” he recalls “Strange name. I was like what the hell is that?”
Nineteen-year-old White was intrigued. Research acquainted him with Howard Shalwitz who co-founded Woolly in 1980, and the company’s commitment to living playwrights and new work. He also learned how theater could be used as a tool for difficult conversations and shape the way people thought about social issues by employing imagination and rigor.
“Never in a million years did young me envision that one day I’d be Woolly’s third artistic director in its 46-year history,” says White. “It’s kind of serendipitously insane.”
WASHINGTON BLADE: Was there a moment when the enormity of the job hit you?
REGGIE D. WHITE: After I’d signed my contract and finished all the paperwork, I got my keys and sat in the theater by myself in the dark and thought about what an incredible honor it is to be trusted with what happens in this beautiful space [in D.C.’s Penn Quarter]. I might have cried. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember it’s real.
BLADE: Are you curating the upcoming 2026–2027 season?
WHITE: Yes, I am. It’s very rare that an incoming artistic director gets to program their first season, but I was lucky in terms of time. After being hired late last year, I asked Woolly’s managing director Kimberly E. Douglas, if she thought it would be crazy if I programmed the season. She warned me it would be hard.
I invoked tennis legend Billie Jean King’s maxim “pressure is a privilege” and got to work.
These plays [dubbed White’s “first five”] represent both the kind of theater that Woolly can do really well and speak directly to my voice as curator and how I want to contribute to the larger theatrical conversation in the DMV.
Getting here has meant a lot of late nights. But I knew the juice would be worth the squeeze.
BLADE: As a queer artistic director, what makes you unique?
WHITE: When I was playing in “Inheritance” on Broadway, after a performance, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayer came backstage to meet the cast. She spoke about how her lens on the world as a Puerto Rican woman shapes her decisions. Similarly, because I’m a queer Black man I see through a lens that shapes my work.
I know I’m not the only queer artistic director in town. For me, it influences how I make editorial decisions. Out of this season’s five plays there are explicitly queer characters in four [“Venus,” “Chanukkah Spectacular,” “Ten Grand,” and “Love I Awethu Further”] and I’m directing two [“Venus,” “Ten Grand”].
BLADE: Will we see familiar faces?
WHITE: Every show this season will feature a Woolly Mammoth company member in its cast. Our company also includes designers and directors who we’ll include. I’m invested in continuing to provide a showcase for their work.
BLADE: How do you think queer audiences will receive the season?
WHITE: Very well, I think. For queer people who’ve had to navigate the world subversively and solve problems in unique ways, I think it will be especially interesting. I find theater a potent place for questions.
Like all artistic directors. I’ll show up for the job in my own way. I’m just excited that I’ve been invited to bring the fullness of myself to the role.
PHOTOS: Petal Release Party
Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth
PHOTOS: Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade
Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade draws hundreds of thousands
BLADE ENDORSEMENT: Susan Stewart for mayor of Rehoboth Beach
PHOTOS: Lambda Legal in the Pines
Calendar: July 31-August 6
Taiwan’s government has failed to update process to change gender markers on ID documents
