Arts & Entertainment
Looking ahead
A few events for your 2011 social calendar
Plans are still being made but many of the region’s signature annual LGBT events have been penciled in for 2011, mostly — but not always — in their usual slots.
The biggest out-of-the-norm loop will be Reel Affirmations, Washington’s annual LGBT film festival which has moved from its usual October slot to April 28 to May 7 (2011).
The 20-year-old festival staged by the non-profit One in Ten has moved its screening marathon because the economic crash of 2008 and the resignation of its former director left it in the red after the 2009 event. Three films were shown in October but the main event was bumped to 2011.
One in Ten has monthly selections now at the D.C. JCC on 16th Street. Look for “The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister” on Jan. 21, “Children of God” on Feb. 11 and “You Should Meet My Son” on March 11. Screenings are at 7 and 9:15 p.m. on those nights. Tickets are $12. Visit HYPERLINK “http://reelaffirmations.org/”reelaffirmations.org for details.
Phasefest, the indie music festival hosted each fall by lesbian bar Phase 1, will return with its fifth annual event. Founder Angela Lombardi starts making plans each year in January.
“I haven’t even started looking for headliners yet,” she says. “Basically I get through New Year’s and then start planning. I was just thinking today this is kind of my last week of not worrying about Phasefest. But we were really off the train last year with MEN headlining and I hope we have an even stronger year in 2011.
Phasefest runs from a Thursday to a Saturday in late September. The exact weekend hasn’t been selected.
Also usually in September is Ganymede’s GLBT Fall Arts Festival, though it wasn’t held per se this year and plans are still being decided for 2011. Ganymede had several strong productions this year — “Naked Boys Singing!,” “Falsettos,” “Edie Beale Live at Reno Sweeney” and several Galactica shows, but the organization has struggled financially.
Artistic Director Jeffrey Johnson says nothing for sure is planned.
“We have a lot to figure out,” he says. “Home, budget, etc., before we can announce anything.”
Capital Pride will be June 2 to 12 with all the usual events. No headliners have been announced yet. Latino Pride and Trans Pride usually plan their events to coincide with Capital Pride week.
D.C. Black Pride is usually the last weekend in May but no dates have been announced yet.
Another big event will likely be the 25th anniversary of Michael Kahn‘s spot as artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Publicist Lindsay Mady says an anniversary season is planned but details haven’t been finalized. Look for more information in late January or early February.
Team DC holds its annual fashion show and model search on March 12 at Town and look for the return of Night Out at the Nationals in July.
Other annual staples are the AIDS Walk, a Whitman-Walker benefit (usually the first Saturday in October), the Human Rights Campaign national dinner (Oct. 1), the SMYAL Fall Brunch (usually a Sunday in late September), and the Victory Fund’s National Champagne Brunch on March 20, among others.

The 2025 Silver Pride Resource Fair and Tea Dance was held at the Eaton Hotel on Wednesday, May 21.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)










Out & About
Queer film festival comes to D.C.
DC/DOX to showcase LGBTQ documentaries made by LGBTQ filmmakers

DC/DOX will host a film festival beginning on Thursday, June 12, at the Regal Gallery Place, Eaton Cinema, and the U.S. Navy Memorial Burke Theatre.
This festival will premier LGBTQ documentaries made by LGBTQ filmmakers. Each screening will be followed by in-person Q&As with the filmmakers.
For more details, visit dcdoxfest.com
Movies
Gay director on revealing the authentic Pee-wee Herman
New HBO doc positions Reubens as ‘groundbreaking’ performance artist

In the new HBO two-part documentary, “Pee-wee as Himself,” director Matt Wolf gives viewers a never-before-seen look into the personal life of Paul Reubens, the comedic actor behind the much loved television persona, Pee-wee Herman.
Filmed before Reubens passed away in 2023 from cancer, Wolf and his creative team created the riveting documentary, interspersing several interviews, more than 1,000 hours of archival footage, and tens of thousands of personal photos.
Determined to set the record straight about what really happened, Reubens discussed his diverse influences, growing up in the circus town of Sarasota, Fla., and his avant-garde theater training at the California Institute of the Arts.
Ruebens joined the Groundlings improv group, where he created the charismatic Pee-wee Herman. He played the quirky character during the Saturday morning show, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” and in numerous movies, like “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and “Big Top Pee-wee.” He also brought Pee-wee to Broadway, with “The Pee-wee Herman Show.”
To get an enigma such as Reubens to open up was no easy task for Wolf.
“I felt determined to get Paul to open up and to be his authentic self,” acknowledged Wolf at a recent press conference. “And I was being tested and I wanted to meet my match in a way so I didn’t feel frustrated or exhausted, I felt determined but I also, it was thrilling to go this deep. I’ve never been able, or I don’t know if I ever will, go this deep with another human being to interview them in an intimate way for over 40 hours.”
Wolf described the collaborative interview experience as a dream, “like we were in a bubble where time didn’t matter.” he also felt a deep connection to the material, having come of age watching “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to put words to it at the time, but I think it was my first encounter with art that I felt emotionally involved in,” noted Wolf.
“He continued: “I recognize that that show created a space for a certain kind of radical acceptance where creativity thrives. And as a gay filmmaker, I also recognize things like Pee-wee Herman marrying a bowl of fruit salad at a slumber party or dancing in high heels to the song, ‘Fever.’ That stuff spoke to me. So that was my connection to it.”
During the documentary, Reubens comes out as a gay man.
“Paul went into this process wanting to come out,” said Wolf. “That was a decision he had made. He was aware that I was a gay filmmaker and had made portraits of other gay artists. That was the work of mine he was attracted to, as I understood. And I wanted, as a younger person, to support him in that process, but he also was intensely sensitive that the film would overly emphasize that; or, focused entirely from the lens of sexuality when looking at his story.”
Their complicated dynamic had an aspect of “push and pull” between them.
“I think that generational difference was both a source of connection and affinity and tension. And I do think that the level to which Paul discusses his relationships and intimacy and vulnerability and the poignant decision he made to go back into the closet. I do have to believe to some extent he shared that because of our connection.”
Wolf hopes that the “Pee-wee as Himself” positions Reubens as one of the most “groundbreaking” performance artists of his generation who in a singular way broke through into mainstream pop culture.
“I know he transformed me. He transformed how I see the world and where I went as a creative person. And it’s so clear that I am not alone in that feeling. For me, it was fairly abstract. I couldn’t necessarily put words to it. I think people who grew up on Pee-wee or were big fans of Pee-wee, seeing the film, I hope, will help them tap into intangible and specific ways how transformative his work was for them. It really is a gift to revisit early seminal experiences you had and to see how they reverberate in you.”
He added: “So, to me, this isn’t so much about saying Paul Reubens is a genius. I mean, that’s overly idealizing and I don’t like hero worship. It’s more about understanding why many of us have connected to his work and understanding where he lives within a legacy of performance art, television, and also, broader pop culture.”
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