Arts & Entertainment
Murder at St. Mark’s
Community players shine in lavish ‘Chicago’ production
The St. Marks players in rehearsal for ‘Chicago.’ (Blade photo by Michael Key)
‘Chicago’
music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb
based on book by Ebb and Bob Fosse
8 p.m. Friday-Saturday
4 p.m. Sunday
thru May 21
St. Mark’s Players
3rd and A Streets, S.E.
Washington
Tickets $20 ($18 seniors and students)
202-546-9670 or visit stmarksplayers.org
The Tony Award winning “Chicago: The Musical” — with its heart of purest bile, its lyrics by Fred Ebb, and its music by John Kander — mocks everything we claim to value in life (truth, love, justice, you name it). On the Capitol Hill stage of the St. Mark’s Players, consistently one of the area’s sharpest community theaters, it’s here through May 21.
This “Chicago” with its iconic choreography by Bob Fosse and later Ann Reinking is stylishly restaged by director Rick Hayes and choreographer Rikki Howie, sharply punched up with jokes and sight gags to fit this top-notch production neatly into the historic church’s tall-ceilinged but narrow nave. But it delivers the same signature Kander and Ebb tap-dance around a seedy world of jail cells, its story forever doomed.
The satirical story of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, and how they beat their respective murder raps, has been told many times before. At St. Mark’s it is staged with all the famed double-snap, wise crackle and syncopated pop that this show can be at its best.
Billy Flynn is portrayed by Eric Kennedy, who packs the part with animal appeal — a wolf’s whistle, a fox’s morals and a cat’s grin of self-satisfaction. Kennedy, who’s gay, imbues Billy with oodles of smarm and charm in the key role as the mercenary mouthpiece for the murderesses. But he’s more than being both sleazy and sleek in the role — Kennedy also has a great voice and a fine soft shoe to go with dark good looks.
Attention must also be paid to the three women playing the two roles of Velma and Roxie. Anya Nebel is Velma, with the voice and the lung power to belt it out and the comic tease to add sparkle to the part. Sharing the role of Roxie on different nights are the equally talented Kim Pyle (May 13-15) and choreographer Howie herself (May 20-21). All three ladies bring a comic sensibility as well as the chops and gams to sing and dance and just the right mix of curve, verve and nerve as they shimmy and shake and bring high-kicking whoopee to their dreams of making it big in show business.
Also noteworthy is Genevieve Williams as their jailor, Mama Morton, with her deep rumble of a contralto voice. With heavy hints that she is lesbian (Billy calls her “butch”), there’s real spice in this Mama’s gumbo.
Heather Cipu also deserves notice — she shines as Mary Sunshine, hitting every high note with her operetta-soprano ode to saccharine, “A Little Bit of Good,” though later she drops the goodie-two-shoes image and matronly frock to reveal a very different persona underneath. Finally, there is Stephen Yednock as poor, put-upon Amos Hart, the one and only decent person, Roxie’s good-natured but basically dimwitted husband who is prepared at every turn to take the fall for her if he can. Yednock brings real feeling to several songs, especially his solo lament, “Mister Cellophane.”
This staging of “Chicago” is simply great right down to the terrific ensemble who among them function like a chorus, singing and dancing different roles, including the females in a first-rate “Cell Block Tango,” wicked and wonderful in red lips and black leather, and in the opening song, “All That Jazz.” Other show-stoppers include “We Both Reached for the Gun” and “Nowadays.” Special kudos go to the show’s director, Rick Hayes, also the Players’ artistic director, and as the musical director, the veteran musician J. N. Wickert III, at the baton of an 11-piece orchestra. Both are gay, as is the Players’ president Jerry Dale Jr., who also serves as stage manager for this show.
Sports
Jason Collins dies at 47
First openly gay man to actively play for major sports team battled brain cancer
Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to actively play for a major professional sports team, died on Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 47.
The California native had briefly played for the Washington Wizards in 2013 before coming out in a Sports Illustrated op-ed.
Collins in 2014 became the first openly gay man to play in a game for a major American professional sports league when he played 11 minutes during a Brooklyn Nets game. He wore jersey number 98 in honor of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student murdered outside of Laramie, Wyo., in 1998.
Collins told the Washington Blade in 2014 that his life was “exponentially better” since he came out. Collins the same year retired from the National Basketball Association after 13 seasons.
Collins married his husband, Brunson Green, in May 2025.
The NBA last September announced Collins had begun treatment for a brain tumor. Collins on Dec. 11, 2025, announced he had Stage 4 glioblastoma.
“We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma,” said Collins’s family in a statement the NBA released. “Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Collins’s “impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA, and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations.”
“He exemplified outstanding leadership and professionalism throughout his 13-year NBA career and in his dedicated work as an NBA Cares Ambassador,” said Silver. “Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others.”
“To call Jason Collins a groundbreaking figure for our community is simply inadequate. We truly lost a giant today,” added Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson in a statement. “He came out as gay — while still playing — at a time when men’s athletes simply did not do that. But as he powerfully demonstrated in his final years in the league and his post-NBA career, stepping forward as he did boldly changed the conversation.”
“He was and will always be a legend for the LGBTQ+ community, and we are heartbroken to hear of his passing at the young age of 47,” she said. “Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones. We will keep fighting on in his honor until the day everyone can be who they are on their terms.”
The Washington Blade will update this article with additional reaction when it becomes available.
Glitterati Productions held the “Studio 69” party at Bunker on Friday, May 8.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
Washington Blade’s Pride on the Pier returns June 13 to kick off D.C. Pride week
Pride on the Pier officially launches Pride Week in D.C.
The Washington Blade’s annual Pride on the Pier celebration returns to The Wharf on Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 4-9 p.m., bringing thousands of LGBTQ community members and allies together for an unforgettable waterfront celebration to kick off Pride week in Washington, D.C.
Now in its eighth year, Washington Blade Pride on the Pier extends the city’s annual celebration of LGBTQ visibility to the bustling Wharf waterfront with an exciting array of activities and entertainment for all ages. The District Pier will offer DJs, dancing, drag, and other entertainment. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase for those 21 and older.
“Pride on the Pier has become one of the signature moments of Pride in D.C.,” said Lynne Brown, publisher of the Washington Blade. “There’s nothing like watching our community come together on the waterfront with live music and incredible energy as we kick off Pride week.”
Pride on the Pier is free and open to the public, with VIP tickets available for exclusive pier access to the Dockmaster Building. To purchase VIP tickets visit www.prideonthepierdc.com/vip.
Additional entertainment announcements, sponsor activations, and event details will be released in the coming weeks.
Event Details:
📍 Location: District Pier at The Wharf (101 District Sq SW, Washington, DC)
📅 Dates: Friday, 13, 2026
⏱️ 4-9PM
🎟️ VIP Tickets: www.PrideOnThePierDC.com/VIP
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