Arts & Entertainment

Gay themes at Fringe

Edgy D.C. festival features several LGBT stories, players

Published

15 years ago

July 7, 2011

Patrick Folliard

Laura Zam in ‘An Hour with Ken Johnson.’ (Photo courtesy of Fringe)

For this year’s Capital Fringe Festival, Laura Zam is stuffing a sock in her underpants.

Recently she explained: Along with a short wig and the suit and tie that she’ll wear to play the title motivational speaker in her one-woman show “An Hour with Ken Johnson” (at the Goethe Institut), she’s decided to complete the costume by adding a bulge down below.

“It’s fantastic to dress as a man,” says the seasoned performer. “I’ve played men in the past, but Ken is my most sustained male role. As a writer and an actor it’s allowed me to enter an entirely new world. The sock should only make it better.”

“What I’m doing combines comedy, theater and motivational talk,” continues Zam, a Brooklyn transplant who lives with her husband in D.C. “And Ken is part evangelical preacher and a little bit Anthony Robbins. He’s also a recovering Internet porn addict, and though he’s kind of weird and a bit of clown, he delivers a message of optimism and comments on human resilience. Hopefully audiences will have a laugh but also get something out of what he has to say.”

An annual performing arts event, the Capital Fringe Festival features more than 140 performances including theater, dance and music in various venues around town. It draws both accomplished and less experienced artists performing both well known and original, untested works. The results are uneven but rarely dull. Tickets are affordable.

Local African-American historian Anthony Cohen has twice retraced arduous Underground Railroad routes. After completing his second trek, walking from Alabama to Canada, Cohen uncovered an account describing how his runaway slave African-Jewish-Irish-Cherokee ancestor Patrick Sneed had traveled the identical path to freedom in 1849.

Blown away by his discovery, Cohen who is gay, began speaking about his connection to Sneed’s experience. For this year’s Fringe he’s adapted his lecture expressly for theater with a one-man show titled “Patrick & Me” (at Goethe Institut), supplementing the material with visuals and musical montages. “I went searching for the Underground Railroad,” says Cohen, “but the Underground Railroad was searching for me.”

At the Apothecary, Mixrun Productions presents Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” Only this time the tragic tale of betrayal and insanity is played out by present day bikers locked in a violent turf war. And while the company’s take on the classic is heavily abridged, says cast member Katie Wanschura who is gay, the text is otherwise mostly faithful. Because almost one third of the parts have been re-imagined as gay or bisexual, some pronouns have been changed.

A web designer by day, Wanschura is thrilled to be cast wily and wicked Edmund restyled as a flirtatious lesbian bartender at the aptly named Gloucester. “From behind the bar, I get to watch the story unfold,” she says. “Also I hit on the female patrons and interact with the audience. It’s great.”

For several years, Patrick Doneghy has toyed with the idea of doing a revue featuring men singing Broadway songs typically performed by women. With Dominion Stage’s “That’s What She Sang” at Studio’s Mead Theatre, he’s realized and expanded on the idea by writing, staging and acting in a juke box musical with a connected story.

Comprised of a seven man, mostly gay cast (Doneghy is gay), the show focuses on a queer men’s support group and the problems its members encounter. Songs include women’s tunes like “Gimme Gimme” from “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” and “Maybe This Time” from “Cabaret.”

“We’re exploring romantic mishaps here, not big social issues,” says Doneghy. “It’s a chance to hear music we all know in a new way and to hear some LGBT stories that don’t always get told.”

In “Cecily and Gwendolyn’s Capital Balloon Ride,” Philadelphia improv partners Kelly Jennings and Karen Gertz play a pair of time-traveling Victorian cultural anthropologists. Wherever they land — in this case Mountain at Mount Vernon Church– these curious, slightly loopy ladies take stock of their surroundings and set to work getting to know the locals.

“It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen,” says Jennings, who is gay. “While our characters kick off the conversation, the audience actually guides the show exploring subjects that are important to them. Participation isn’t mandatory, but once warmed up, almost everyone is willing talk; and people leave feeling they’ve connected with their community in a way that doesn’t happen in any other theater experience.”

For performance schedules and venue locations, go to capfringe.org.

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Photos

PHOTOS: ‘Studio 69’

Glitterati Productions hold party at Bunker

Published

3 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Michael Key

'Studio 69' was held at Bunker on Friday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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.

Published

9 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Staff reports

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

Theater

National tour of ‘Gatsby’ comes to National Theatre

Out actor Edward Staudenmayer talks playing the show’s gangster

Published

1 day ago

May 10, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Edward Staudenmayer plays Meyer Wolfsheim in ‘The Great Gatsby.’ (Photo courtesy National Theatre)

‘The Great Gatsby’
May 12-24
The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
$59-$196
Thenationaldc.com

Often dubbed “The Great American Novel” for its depiction of ambition and self-invention alongside the reversals of success, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” says it all in a fast read.

Set against the excesses and energy of the Roaring Twenties, “The Great Gatsby,” novel and now the same-titled hit Broadway musical with a jazz/pop original score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen, tells the story of Nick Carraway and his friendship with Jay Gatsby, an enigmatic millionaire intent on reuniting with ex-lover, Daisy Buchanan.

It was during a four-month 2025 run in Seoul, South Korea, that out actor Edward Staudenmayer first played the show’s heavy, Meyer Wolfsheim, a gangster who helped Gatsby make his murkily acquired fortune. As Meyer, Staudenmayer opens the second act with, appropriately enough, “Shady.”

Now three months into a year-long North American tour, the show is poised to enjoy a brief run at Washington’s National Theatre (5/12-5/24).

While putting on his eyeliner prior to a recent Wednesday matinee at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre, the upstate New York-based actor shared about Gatsby and a life in theater.

WASHINGTON BLADE: Despite your good looks and terrific voice, you’re rarely the leading the man. How is that?

EDWARD STAUDENMAYER: I’m definitely a character man. I’ve been painting lines on my face to play old men since I was in high school. I was the youngest freshman in college playing old Uncle Sorin [in Chekhov’s “The Seagull”].

There have been many villains. Some darker than others. Meyer Wolfsheim is a very bad guy, but he doesn’t haunt me once I’m offstage. I play a lot of pickleball.

BLADE: Is it true that like so many of Fitzgerald’s characters, Wolfsheim is famously based on someone the writer encountered in life.

STAUDENMEYER: That’s true, Wolfsheim is pretty much a direct portrayal of real-life mobster and 1919 World Series fixer [Arnold Rothstein].

BLADE: When did the 1925 novel first surface on your radar?

STAUDENMAYER: Like many of us, I was assigned “The Great Gatsby” in high school. It was short, and filled with sex and illicit activities. I thought it was great. Definitely wasn’t a Judy Blume novel.

Interestingly, the book wasn’t originally a huge a success for Fitzgerald, but because it was about war and having the girl at home, they gave it to GIs leaving for WWII. After returning, a lot of those guys went on the GI Bill and became English teachers. They assigned the book to their students.

BLADE The idea that the book’s first-person narrator, Nick Carraway, is gay and enamored with Jay Gatsby is long discussed among readers and scholars. Does the musical touch on that?

STAUDENMAYER: Yes, there’s conjecture about Jay and Nick, and it’s implied in our show. It’s also implied about Jordan Baker, Jay’s fleeting romantic interest. Ultimately, she’s a confirmed bachelor, and a professional golfer who only wears pants.

Our performers are really good. Josh Grasso who plays Nick is fantastic. I’ve had to stop watching him in his last scene; it’s not good for Meyer Wolfsheim to take his curtain call crying. Our Gatsby, Jake David Smith, is good too. He’s gorgeous like Superman and sings like an angel.

BLADE: Do you ever imagine backstory for your characters whose sexuality is undefined?

STAUDENMAYER: I do, but not with Wolfsheim. I don’t see it. I’m trying to be as butch as possible with this ruthless killer.

BLADE: Have you had to do that in your career?

STAUDENMAYER: For a long time, I wore a mask to hide my gayness. I worked hard on being believable, that I was into the girl or that I was a tough guy.

It’s a different world now, and it’s so refreshing to be around the younger actors today; they’re remarkably open and comfortable.

BLADE: What was your coming of age like?

STAUDENMAYER: I played high school football in Palm Springs [he chuckles, alluding to the arid gay mecca], and I was pretty good too. But much to the chagrin of my parents and coaches, I quit the team to act in our senior year play. My super butch dad played semi-pro football and he was an ex-cop. I’m named after him. While I didn’t become my dad, I’ve played him often on stage. He was a true Gaston [the bumptious rival in “Beauty and the Beast”]. And like Gaston, he used antlers in all his interior decorating.

BLADE: Did he live to see your success in theater?

STAUDENMAYER: He did. Life was challenging growing up but the last 10 years of his life we couldn’t get off the phone with each other [his voice catches with emotion]. He accepted me entirely, and we became very close.

BLADE: Looking ahead, is there a part you’d especially like to play?

STAUDENMAYER: Like all baritones I’d love to play Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd.” I’ve come close but it hasn’t happened yet. There’s still time.