Arts & Entertainment
Calendar for Sept. 17
Friday, Sept. 17
Servicemembers United present “Beyond Repeal,” a rooftop gala and fundraiser tonight at the Servicemembers United office, 1725 I St., N.W., from 6:30 to 9 p.m. There will be an open bar and light hors d’oeuvres. Standard admission tickets are $50 and can be purchased at servicemembersunited.org. There are other packages available as well.
Wolf Trap presents “ABBA – The Music” tonight at the Filene Center, 1551 Trap Rd., in Vienna, at 8 p.m. Waterloo, an ABBA cover band, keep’s the group’s music alive with their “uncanny” resemblance and quality performances. Tickets are $25 for the lawn and $38 in-house and can be purchased at wloftrap.org.
Caliente Grande is tonight at Apex, 1415 22nd St., N.W., starting at 9 p.m. DJ Michael Brandon will be spinning the latin dance party in the main hall. There is a $10 cover charge. Attendees must be 18 to enter, 21 to drink.
The D.C. Cowboys host Brodeo tonight at Remingtons, 639 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E., from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. The party will feature country/western and disco/club music, live performances, giveaways, jello shots and an auction.
Saturday, Sept. 18
CBS Radio of Washington presents its signature event, HFSTIVAL, “We’re Taking You Back” today at Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Pky., in Columbia. This year’s lineup includes Billy Idol, Everclear, Third Eye Blind, Marcy Playground and more, including 18 local bands. Festival gates open at 10 a.m. and the concert goes from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tickets range from $35 to $50 and can be purchased at whfs.radio.com.
Burgundy Crescent Volunteers is holding a photo scavenger hunt today starting at the Taras Shevchenko monument at 22nd and P streets, N.W., at 10 a.m. BCV Social Committee members will be greeting participants as they arrive. Come with a group or alone. Everyone will end up in a group of three to six members with at least one camera. Each group will have two hours to take as many digital photographs from the supplied list of subjects as they can. The hunt will be done at noon and photos will be shared over lunch. Visit burgundycrescent.org for more information.
Merrifield Garden Center presents its latest weekly gardening seminar today. At the Merrifield location, 8104 Lee Highway, Renatta Holt will be talking about gardening in small spaces using container gardens and more. At the Fair Oaks location, 12101 Lee Highway, Peg Bier will be talking about creating gorgeous combinations of bulbs and perennials for long-lasting displays. At the Gainesville location, 6895 Wellington Rd., David Yost will be talking about building the lawn of your dreams. All seminars being at 10 a.m.
MIXTAPE D.C.’s two year anniversary party is tonight at the Rock & Roll Hotel, 1353 H St., N.W., from 8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. MIXTAPE is a dance party for queer guys and gals and their pals that features DJs Shea Van Horn and Matt Bailer playing an eclectic mix of electro, alt-pop, indie rock, house, disco, new wave and anything else you can dance to. $5 cover for 21 and over.
Allie Wilson and Jacob Pring present Cotton Candy, Green Lantern’s first 18 and older party. DJs David Merrill and Bryan Yamasaki will be providing the music. Green Lantern is located at 1335 Green Court, N.W. and the party will be held upstairs. There is a $10 cover fee.
Town is hosting its biggest theme party of the year tonight with its Red Party. The party will feature music by Tracy Young with music and video downstairs by Wess. Drag show starts at 10:30 p.m. Attendees are asked to wear red. Doors open at 10 p.m. with $3 rail drinks until 11. Cover is $8 before 11 p.m. and $12 after. Must be 21 and over to enter.
Sunday, Sept. 19
Pocket Gays present Pocket Rocket Sunday School: Summer Send-Off is tonight on the rooftop of Local 16, 1602 U St., N.W., from 3 to 9 p.m. Music will be by DJ Majr (SHIFT, Siren). There will be $5 Smirnoff drink specials, prizes and games. There’s no cover.
Monday, Sept. 20
Celebrity photographer, Adam Bouska, will bring the national NOH8 photo shoot to D.C., tonight at Cobalt, 1639 R St., N.W., from 4 to 7 p.m.
Bears do Yoga will meet at Green Lantern, 1335 Green Court, N.W., at 6:30 p.m. and last for an hour. This class serves as an introduction to yoga for people of all body types and physical abilities. To RSVP for the class, email [email protected].
Tuesday, Sept. 21
Drag Bingo will be at Nellie’s Sports Bar, 900 U St., N.W., tonight hosted by Shi-Queeta Lee, starting at 8 p.m. It’s free to play and there will be prizes.
Wednesday, Sept. 22
Mautner Project presents its speakers’ series Financial and Medical Planning with Michele Zavos and Mark Scurti at Mautner Project office, 1875 Connecticut Ave., N.W., at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 23
CAGLCC presents Thursday Morning MasterMind GROUP Meetings facilitated by Jay Vilar from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Intelligent Office, 1425 K St., N.W., Ste. 350. The agenda belongs to the group and each person’s participation is key. Peers give you feedback, help you brainstorm and set up accountability structures to keep you focused and on track.
Mautner Project presents its speakers’ series Financial and Medical Planning with Michele Zavos and Mark Scurti at Equality Maryland, 1201 Sharp St., in Baltimore at 6:30 p.m.
Phasefest 2010 kicks off tonight at Phase 1, 525 8th St., S.E., with Wicked Jezebel, Melissa Li, Kit Yan, Jenny Grind, Nikki Smith and Alex Voegele. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at phasefestdc.com. This event continues through Saturday.
Celebrity News
Silky Nutmeg Ganache talks sex and dating, gender, politics, weight loss journey
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ semifinalist grew up in Bible Belt
Uncloseted Media published this interview on July 7.
By SPENCER MACNAUGHTON, ISABEL STOKES, and BELLA SAYEGH | After appearing on the 11th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the first season of “Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World,” the sixth season of “RuPaul’s All Stars” and now the 11th season of “All Stars,” Silky Nutmeg Ganache, known by many as the Reverend, is undoubtedly a legend.
Born and raised in Moss Point, Miss., Ganache bears all in this episode of “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton.” She speaks about her relationship with gender, her 100-pound weight loss, what it’s like living as a queer person of color in a red state and why she’s calling on allies to stand up for the trans community.
Patrons enjoyed a night out at the popular LGBTQ venue Crush Dance Bar on Friday, July 3.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Theater
‘My Favorite Sociopath’ debuts at Shepherdstown’s CATF
Gay playwright Aurin Squire’s take on D.C. journalism in the ‘90s
‘My Favorite Sociopath’
Contemporary American Theater Festival
July 10-Aug. 2
Shepherdstown, W.Va.
Catf.org
Discernment. It’s a thing some people have, explains playwright Aurin Squire, especially when you’re gay or Black in America (Squire is both).
“You instinctively know when the mob is teaming up for the best interests of the powers that be. You can feel it in the air.”
In his sharp new satire “My Favorite Sociopath,” Squire writes about life experiences but set in a different time and place: It’s the 1990s, early days of the 24-hour news cycle, and three ambitious journalism students are pursuing success in D.C.
And now, Squire’s play, along with other new works, are making their world premieres at the annual Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) at Shepherd University in historic, queer-friendly Shepherdstown, W.Va. (just a 90-minute drive from D.C.).
“All of my plays are queer in some way,” says Squire, 46. “This one touches on harmless and dangerous lies. The characters are on the spectrum sexually, and it’s interesting how all that falls out.”
And he’s given it a lot of thought.
“Already as a kid, it seemed to me that the rage against rap music and sex was coming from closeted people resisting their own urges and temptations. For me, it was interesting to see a witch hunt led by witches. Queer people can always call out a lie.”
Since September, Squire has also been working with a TV show about the tech industry set in Silicon Valley. He says, “It seems the general flow of the tech industry is that humanity and civilization is finished and it’s just about accumulating as many goods as possible before everything collapses. In fact, those who are profiting actually agree. But for those who disagree, they believe the solution is to build bigger gates, but activists believe we can stop this”
Yet, he’s learned from folks associated with the show. “Many say the quickest way to divorce yourself from any responsibility or regulations — smash and grab. Otherwise, you have to stop and think and regulate your desires for greed and power”
Squire possesses a penchant for pithy titles. He laughs, explaining the first thing he wrote as a student at Juilliard was “Obama-ology,” the comedy with contemporary message. While a lot of people liked the name, it didn’t necessarily vibe with the author. He concedes that he chooses names based on “easy to remember” and titles that won’t be easy to lose as a file.
Another is “Defacing Michael Jackson,” a coming-of-age dramedy set in rural Florida in 1984, specifically Squire’s native town Opa-locka, Miami, a fantastical place famed for its fanciful Moorish revival architecture.
Living in the shadow of exotic structures, he wasn’t particularly fazed. Squire says “It wasn’t until returning to visit after my freshman year at Northwestern University in Chicago that I realized how weird it was: When you grow up in a place, you take surroundings for granted no matter how over the top.”
Now based in New York (where for two happy years, 2017-2019, he shared digs with drag king Murry Hill), Squire returns frequently to Miami to be with family, but this summer has been filled with both work and travel.
Currently, he’s in Shepherdstown with CATF shaping up “My Favorite Sociopath.” Later this summer he will travel to South Africa for research, followed by a silent writing retreat in Santa Fe, N.M.
Much of Squire’s work reflects the Latino, African, Caribbean, African-American, and Jewish cultures he grew up around in South Florida.
When asked if today’s winds of anti-multiculturalism worry him, he replies, “No, because that’s going to pass. Most people don’t like, people are seeing the negative results of it, and the young people coming up despise it. White male gamers were tricked momentarily through the algorithms into voting against their own interests and they’re now seeing how it’s not working out for them.
“Conservatives always try to stop progress and eventually they always lose. It’s just a question of where we’ll be in the middle of the end of civilization before that happens. I’d like to hope we can turn the ship around before then.”
In addition to “My Favorite Sociopath,” CATF summer season features three other world premieres (Lisa D’Amour’s comedy “The Smoker,” “Refugee Rhapsody” by Yussef El Guindi, “Best Line Wins: A Play Inspired by the Improvised Lives of Elaine May & Mike Nichols” by Beth Kander) and “¡VOS!” by Christina Pumariega.
CATF runs from July 10-Aug. 2 in three venues on the Shepherd University campus: Frank Center, Marinoff Theater, and Studio 112.
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