Arts & Entertainment

Calendar: events through next weekend

Published

15 years ago

December 9, 2010

The Roches, a sister act from New Jersey, play the Birchmere Dec. 17. (Photo courtesy of the Roches)

Friday

Trumpet Grrrl will be live at Baked & Wired (1052 Thomas Jefferson St.) from 7 to 9 p.m. This will be the first time Trumpet Grrrl performs with a full band. This is a free event.

Mautner Project will be hosting a dance and learn fundraiser at the Chevy Chase Ballroom and DanceSport Center (5207 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.) today from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Admission is $15 and will go to Mautner Project for all attendees who say they are there for the organization. Mini-classes in salsa, swing, waltz or fox trot argentine tango, will be offered.

She.Rex will be at Chief Ike’s (1725 Columbia Rd., N.W.) tonight from 9:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. This is a free event.

Apex (1415 22nd St., N.W.) presents Club Christmas, a holiday dance party with DJ Randy White. Attendees can sit on shirtless Santa’s lap and get a free photo. There is a $10 cover.

Secrets and MightyMen.com present “Big Brother” reality TV star and gay rodeo champion-turned-porn star, Steven Daigle, live tonight at 9 p.m. VIP passes will be available for $20 and include access to the VIP lounge, access to a waiter, a complimentary drink, a meet and greet with Daigle and a special performance. Visit secretsdc.com to sign up for a VIP pass. There will be a $5 cover before 10:30 p.m. and $10 after.

The Bethesda Art Walk is tonight from 6 to 9 p.m. and features 10 galleries that will stay open late in downtown Bethesda.

Kandi from “Real Housewives of Atlanta” will be at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) tonight. Town is also having its monthly So You Think You’re a Drag Queen contest tonight. Contestants should arrive at 10 p.m. Cover is $5 before 11 p.m. for those who are 21 and over and $10 after. It’s $10 all night for those 18-20.

Saturday, Dec. 11

AQUA D.C. will be holding its annual holiday party and membership meeting tonight at 1829 Phelps Place, N.W., from 7 to 10 p.m. E-mail [email protected] or call Andrew at 202-294-3456 or DeeJay at 571-292-7966 with questions.

Cosponsored by Domku Bar & Café and CoreHaus D.C., the Upshur Street Arts Fair is today from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the 800 block of Upshur St., N.W.

Girls Rock! D.C. is hosting a cheap art sale today from 1 to 8 p.m. at La Casa (3166 Mt. Pleasant St., N.W.). All art will be $50 or less and 50 percent of the proceeds will be donated to Girls Rock! D.C. For more information, visit girlsrockdc.org or e-mail [email protected]

Pamala Stanley will be performing at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) tonight at 9 p.m. There will be a $7 cover.

Ten LGBT groups are co-hosting a “Mega Skate Night and Social” tonight at 5:45 p.m. at the Ballston Common Mall in Arlington. The event will start with an hour of skating at the Capitals Complex and then move onto Bailey’s Pub in the mall. All beers will be $1 off and the pool tables will be free to use. Skating costs $8 plus $3 for skate rental. For more information, visit DCIceBreakers.org.

The Proud Bookstore (39 Baltimore Ave.) in Rehoboth will be hosting a five-author book signing today from 3 to 5 p.m. The authors scheduled to appear are Renee Bess, Lisa Gitlin, Sheri Reynolds, Stefani Deoul and Fay Jacobs.

DJs Ralphi Rosario and Abel will be at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) tonight for Winter Wonderland. Doors open at 10 p.m. and the drag show starts at 10:30. Cover is $8 before 11 p.m. and $12 after.

Allie Wilson and Jacob Nathaniel Pring present “Cotton Candy” at Green Lantern (1335 Greem Court, N.W.) tonight at 10 p.m. DJs David Merrill and Bryan Yamasaki will be providing music. This is a 18 and older party and admission is $5.

Sunday, Dec. 12

The D.C. Center is partnering with Human Rights Campaign for its National Capital Area holiday party at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) tonight from 7 to 10 p.m.

Pocket Gays is hosting its monthly party, Cake Face Sunday School today from 3 to 9 p.m. on the rooftop of Local 16. This month is in celebration of pocket Devon’s birthday. The roof is enclosed and heated. Music will be provided by DJ Keenan. This is a free event.

Church of the Holy City (1611 16th St., N.W.) will have a Christmas art concert today at 3:30 p.m. The concert will feature Gilda Kornhauser, Aman Shankardass and teenage musicians and singers. A reception will follow. This is a free event. For more information, visit swedenborgcenter.org.

Georgetown jingle is tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Four Seasons Hotel Washington. There will be a VIP/Sponsor reception from 4 to 5 p.m. There will be a silent auction, a performance by Pamala Stanley and more. Tickets can be purchased at georgetownjingle.com and range from $50 to $350.

Monday, Dec. 13

The Choral Arts Society of Washington presents “Christmas Music: The Treasured Holiday Tradition” at the Kennedy Center concert hall (2700 F St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. This event will be followed by the CASW 30th annual Holiday Gala. Tickets range from $15 to $65 and can be purchased at kennedy-center.org.

The American City Diner (5532 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) will be showing the film “Pretty Woman” starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. The movie starts at 8 p.m. The full menu will be available. Admission is free. For more information, visit americancitydiner.com.

Tuesday, Dec. 14

SpeakeasyDC will be hosting an open mic night tonight at 8 p.m. at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) featuring stories about being a guest, having guests and hospitality. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. This event will be catered by Nellie’s.

Join Burgundy Crescent Volunteers to help pack safer sex kits from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at FUK!T’s new packing location Green Lantern, 1335 Green Ct., N.W.

Street/Studio 2.0 is an exhibit which showcases artists who work in unconventional sites and media. It will be on display at Irvine Contemporary (1412 14th St., N.W.) The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or by appointment.

Wednesday, Dec. 15

SAGE Metro D.C. is hosting “LGBT and Home for the Holidays: designing and remodeling your home to stay independent for the holidays and beyond,” today at Residences at Thomas Circle from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Bill Millholland, executive vice president of Case Design and Remodeling will be the featured speaker.

The Studio Theatre presents “Superior Donuts” by Tracy Letts and starring Richard Cotovsky and Johnny Ramey, in his Studio Theatre debut, tonight at 8 p.m. Donuts is about a hippie who owns a donut shop and how a new employee changes his life. Tickets range from $35 to $50 and can be purchased at studiotheatre.org.

Thursday, Dec. 16

Penn State LGBTA Alumni Association will be having a holiday happy hour tonight at Nellie’s (900 U St., N.W.) at 6 p.m.

The Philips Collection (1600 21st St., N.W.) will have conservator Dana Hemmenway tonight for “TruthBeauty: Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art, 1845-1945” at 6:30 p.m. The discussion is included in admission to the exhibit. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for students and visitors 62 and over and free for members and visitors 18 and under.

A John Waters Christmas will be having an encore performance tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Birchmere in Alexandria. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased at birchmere.com.

Friday, Dec. 17

The Roches will be performing at the Birchmere (3701 Mount Vernon Ave.) in Alexandria tonight at 7:30 p.m. Lucy Wainwright Roche will be opening. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased at birchmere.com.

The Gay Men’s Chorus production “Men in Tights: A Pink Nutcracker” opens tonight at 8 p.m. at Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University.

Saturday, Dec. 18

Dan Noel will be celebrating his 50th birthday and has chosen Mautner Project as a beneficiary for his birthday benefit at Cloud 9 (234 Rehoboth Ave.) in Rehoboth tonight at 9 p.m. There is a suggested donation of $10 and the proceeds will go to Mautner Project and AIDS Delaware.

Sunday, Dec. 19

Eatonville Restaurant (2121 14th St., N.W.) will be holding another installation of its monthly series, Food and Folklore, which intertwines storytelling and food, tonight at 6:30 p.m. This month is Gullah with Charlotte Jenkins, author of “Gullah Cuisine.” To purchase tickets, visit eatonvillerestaurant.com

Lambda Divers will be having its monthly happy hour at Nellie’s (900 U St., N.W.) tonight from 5 to 7 p.m. $1 from every Nellie beer sold goes to Lambda Divers.

Drag

PHOTOS: Drag in rural Virginia

Performers face homophobia, find community

Published

9 hours ago

February 8, 2026

Landon Shackelford

Four drag performers dance in front of an anti-LGBTQ protester outside the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. (Blade photo by Landon Shackelford)

Drag artists perform for crowds in towns across Virginia. The photographer follows Gerryatrick, Shenandoah, Climaxx, Emerald Envy among others over eight months as they perform at venues in the Virginia towns of Staunton, Harrisonburg and Fredericksburg.

(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)

Books

New book explores homosexuality in ancient cultures

‘Queer Thing About Sin’ explains impact of religious credo in Greece, Rome

Published

12 hours ago

February 8, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy of Bloomsbury)

‘The Queer Thing About Sin’
By Harry Tanner
c.2025, Bloomsbury
$28/259 pages

Nobody likes you very much.

That’s how it seems sometimes, doesn’t it? Nobody wants to see you around, they don’t want to hear your voice, they can’t stand the thought of your existence and they’d really rather you just go away. It’s infuriating, and in the new book “The Queer Thing About Sin” by Harry Tanner, you’ll see how we got to this point.

When he was a teenager, Harry Tanner says that he thought he “was going to hell.”

For years, he’d been attracted to men and he prayed that it would stop. He asked for help from a lay minister who offered Tanner websites meant to repress his urges, but they weren’t the panacea Tanner hoped for. It wasn’t until he went to college that he found the answers he needed and “stopped fearing God’s retribution.”

Being gay wasn’t a sin. Not ever, but he “still wanted to know why Western culture believed it was for so long.”

Historically, many believe that older men were sexual “mentors” for teenage boys, but Tanner says that in ancient Greece and Rome, same-sex relationships were common between male partners of equal age and between differently-aged pairs, alike. Clarity comes by understanding relationships between husbands and wives then, and careful translation of the word “boy,” to show that age wasn’t a factor, but superiority and inferiority were.

In ancient Athens, queer love was considered to be “noble” but after the Persians sacked Athens, sex between men instead became an acceptable act of aggression aimed at conquered enemies. Raping a male prisoner was encouraged but, “Gay men became symbols of a depraved lack of self-control and abstinence.”

Later Greeks believed that men could turn into women “if they weren’t sufficiently virile.” Biblical interpretations point to more conflict; Leviticus specifically bans queer sex but “the Sumerians actively encouraged it.” The Egyptians hated it, but “there are sporadic clues that same-sex partners lived together in ancient Egypt.”

Says Tanner, “all is not what it seems.”

So you say you’re not really into ancient history. If it’s not your thing, then “The Queer Thing About Sin” won’t be, either.

Just know that if you skip this book, you’re missing out on the kind of excitement you get from reading mythology, but what’s here is true, and a much wider view than mere folklore. Author Harry Tanner invites readers to go deep inside philosophy, religion, and ancient culture, but the information he brings is not dry. No, there are major battles brought to life here, vanquished enemies and death – but also love, acceptance, even encouragement that the citizens of yore in many societies embraced and enjoyed. Tanner explains carefully how religious credo tied in with homosexuality (or didn’t) and he brings readers up to speed through recent times.

While this is not a breezy vacation read or a curl-up-with-a-blanket kind of book, “The Queer Thing About Sin” is absolutely worth spending time with. If you’re a thinking person and can give yourself a chance to ponder, you’ll like it very much.

Theater

‘Octet’ explores the depths of digital addiction

Habits not easily shaken in Studio Theatre chamber musical

Published

2 days ago

February 7, 2026

Patrick Folliard

The cast of Octet (left to right): Aidan Joyce, Jimmy Kieffer, Chelsea Williams, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Amelia Aguilar (sitting upright), Ana Marcu, Angelo Harrington II, and David Toshiro Crane. (Photo by Margot Schulman)

‘Octet’
Through Feb. 26
Studio Theatre
1501 14th Street, N.W.
Tickets start at $55
Studiotheatre.org

David Malloy’s “Octet” delves deep into the depths of digital addiction.

Featuring a person ensemble, this extraordinary a capella chamber musical explores the lives of recovering internet addicts whose lives have been devastated by digital dependency; sharing what’s happened and how things have changed.

Dressed in casual street clothes, the “Friends of Saul” trickle into a church all-purpose room, check their cell phones in a basket, put away the bingo tables, and arrange folding chairs into a circle. Some may stop by a side table offering cookies, tea, and coffee before taking a seat.

The show opens with “The Forest,” a haunting hymn harking back to the good old days of an analog existence before glowing screens, incessant pings and texts.

“The forest was beautiful/ My head was clean and clear/Alone without fear/ The forest was safe/ I danced like a beautiful fool / One time some time.”

Mimicking an actual step meeting, there’s a preamble. And then the honest sharing begins, complete with accounts of sober time and slips.

Eager to share, Jessica (Chelsea Williams) painfully recalls being cancelled after the video of her public meltdown went viral. Henry (Angelo Harrington II) is a gay gamer with a Candy Crush problem. Toby (Adrian Joyce) a nihilist who needs to stay off the internet sings “So anyway/ I’m doing good/ Mostly/ Limiting my time/ Mostly.”

The group’s unseen founder Saul is absent, per usual.

In his stead Paula, a welcoming woman played with quiet compassion by Tracy Lynn Olivera, leads. She and her husband no longer connect. They bring screens to bed. In a love-lost ballad, she explains: “We don’t sleep well/ My husband I/ Our circadian rhythms corrupted/ By the sallow blue glow of a screen/ Sucking souls and melatonin/ All of my dreams have been stolen.”

After too much time spent arguing with strangers on the internet, Marvin, a brainy young father played by David Toshiro Crane, encounters the voice of a God.

Ed (Jimmy Kieffer) deals with a porn addiction. Karly (Ana Marcu) avoids dating apps, a compulsion compared to her mother’s addiction to slot machines.

Malloy, who not only wrote the music but also the smart lyrics, book, and inventive vocal arrangements, brilliantly joins isolation with live harmony. It’s really something.

And helmed by David Muse, “Octet” is a precisely, quietly, yet powerfully staged production, featuring a topnotch cast who (when not taking their moment in the spotlight) use their voices to make sounds and act as a sort of Greek chorus. Mostly on stage throughout all of the 100-minute one act, they demonstrate impressive stamina and concentration.

An immersive production, “Octet” invites audience members to feel a part of the meeting. Studio’s Shargai Theatre is configured, for the first, in the round. And like the characters, patrons must also unplug. Everyone is required to have their phones locked in a small pouch (that only ushers are able to open and close), so be prepared for a wee bit of separation anxiety.

At the end of the meeting, the group surrenders somnambulantly. They know they are powerless against internet addiction. But group newbie Velma (Amelia Aguilar) isn’t entirely convinced. She remembers the good tech times.

In a bittersweet moment, she shares of an online friendship with “a girl in Sainte Marie / Just like me.”

Habits aren’t easily shaken.