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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Theater

Rorschach stages ‘Dragon Play’ in unlikely, raw space

Out sound designer Madeline ‘Mo’ Oslejsek notes ‘sound is my bag’

Published

2 hours ago

April 18, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Madeline 'Mo' Oslejsek (Photo courtesy of Oslejsek)

‘Dragon Play’
Through May 17
Rorschach Theatre
The Stacks @ Buzzard Point
101 V St., S.W.
$50 ($35 for students and seniors)
Rorschachtheatre.org

Celebrated for its site-specific, immersive productions, Rorschach Theatre puts on plays all over town. The unlikely spots have included greenhouses, church vestibules, closed retail spaces (including a vacant downtown big and tall men’s store) and historic locales like Rock Creek Cemetery’s Adams Memorial.

For its current offering “Dragon Play” (through May 17), a tale of love and longing, Rorschach is using a raw space in The Stacks at Buzzard Point, a new mixed-use neighborhood situated where the Anacostia and Potomac rivers meet.

Out sound designer Madeline ‘Mo’ Oslejsek considers all sites – whether traditional theatrical spaces or not – specific, particularly in terms of sound. She says, “Part of my practice is if you’re creating a soundscape for a theatrical production you’re also working with sound that already exists with the space.”

For instance, The Stacks space comes with its own unique qualities. It’s a large cement room that has a different reverberation, an echo.

“Some sounds (a car, dog bark) are planted or they might just happen. What starts as a live sound might be heard again as something recorded.”

Whip smart with a ready laugh, Oslejsek never set out to be a sound designer. She was going to direct. And now, the 2025 Helen Hayes Award nominee for Outstanding Sound Design (“Astro Boy and the God of Comics” at Flying V,) says, “Sound is my bag. Sometimes it seems that I’m the only one in the room thinking about it.”

As an undergrad studying theater at Ohio Wesleyan University, she was first exposed to sound design, but it didn’t make a big impression.

In grad school at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, she was interested in direction. But when students were offered a choice of three more specific tracks to choose from (performance, composition, and scenography, which includes sound design), Oslejsek was swayed.

“An introduction to scenography by the department head radically changed the course of my life,” she says.

What struck her most about sound was the subjectivity: “The core of my practice is that sound has no meaning until it’s experienced. All sound is noise. It’s just a pitch, active, or vocalization. It becomes real when you hear it and apply meaning to it. That’s very exciting to me.”

Today, Oslejsek and partner Caitlin Hooper, an actor and intimacy choreographer, are based in Baltimore but work primarily in D.C.

“It feels good to be in a place where art and queerness in art are celebrated. It’s not like that everywhere, and making that kind of work down the street from this White House where that’s not the vibe, is real resistance. That feels really meaningful.”

Also important to Oslejsek (who identifies alternately as queer and lesbian) is “queer as a practice,” a concept suggesting that a queer identity or practice does not seek to replace other identities but to encompass and bridge them.

“I’m queer because I like women, but the work is more about making room for what everyone in the room hears,” she says. “Never do I want to come into a space thinking I have all the answers. That’s no fun.”

As its title might suggest, Jenny Connell Davis’ play directed by Rorschach’s Randy Baker is filled with magic. “Dragon Play,” blurs the past and present; one world bleeds into the next; and, of course, there are dragons. At 80 minutes with no intermission, the play moves in and out of different timelines; increasingly things start to overlap.

And it’s also about the magic of relationships – all kinds. There’s a line where the dragon girl asks a Texas boy what he dreams about and he replies “you, always you.”

Oslejsek, 30, is touched by those words: “In my little gay heart, I cried. It makes me think of my partner. This play is about the idea of people who strike a match in your heart that never really goes away.”

In creating a layered soundscape, she brings her own brand of magic to the production. Her big goal was “not to play with how we think a dragon might sound, but rather with how does the world sound to a dragon.”

Sometimes sound design takes the lead, but in some productions, sound is purposely subtle or secondary, she says. Either way, sound can be monumental in shaping theater.

Calendar

Calendar: April 17-23

LGBTQ events in the days to come

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2026

Tinashe Chingarande

Friday, April 17

Center Aging Monthly Luncheon With Yoga will be at 12 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. Email Mac at [email protected] if you require ASL interpreter assistance, have any dietary restrictions, or questions about this event.

Go Gay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Social in the City” at 7 p.m. at Hotel Zena. This is a chance to relax, make new friends, and enjoy happy hour specials at this classic retro venue. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

Trans and Genderqueer Game Night will be at 7:00p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. This is a relaxing, laid-back evening of games and fun. All are welcome and there’ll be card and board games on hand. Feel free to bring your own games to share. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.

Saturday, April 18

Go Gay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Community Brunch” at 11 a.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant. This fun weekly event brings the DMV area LGBTQ+ community, including allies, together for delicious food and conversation. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

The DC Center for the LGBT Community will host “Sunday Supper on Saturday” at 2 p.m. It’s more than just an event; it’s an opportunity to step away from the busyness of life and invest in something meaningful, and enjoy delicious food, genuine laughter, and conversations that spark connection and inspiration. For more details, visit the Center’s website.

Sunday, April 19

Go Gay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Community Lunch” at 11 a.m. at Federico Ristorante Italiano. This fun weekly event brings the DMV area LGBTQ+ community, including allies, together for delicious food and conversation. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

Monday, April 20

“Center Aging: Monday Coffee Klatch” will be at 10 a.m. on Zoom. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ+ adults. Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of choice. For more information, contact Adam ([email protected]).

Tuesday, April 21

Center Bi+ Roundtable will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is an opportunity for people to gather in order to discuss issues related to bisexuality or as Bi individuals in a private setting.Visit Facebook or Meetup for more information.

Senior Self Defense Class with Avi Rome will be at 12:30 p.m. This inclusive and beginner-friendly class, led by Instructor Avi Rome, offers a light warm-up, stretching, and instruction in basic techniques, patterns, and striking padded targets. Each session is designed to be adaptable for all ability and mobility levels, creating a welcoming space for everyone to build strength, confidence, and community through martial arts. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.

Wednesday, April 22

Job Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom upon request. This is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confidence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking — allowing participants to move away from being merely “applicants” toward being “candidates.” For more information, email [email protected] or visit thedccenter.org/careers.

Asexual and Aromantic Group will meet at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a space where people who are questioning this aspect of their identity or those who identify as asexual and/or aromantic can come together, share stories and experiences, and discuss various topics. For more details, email [email protected].

Thursday, April 23

The DC Center’s Fresh Produce Program will be held all day at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. People will be informed on Wednesday at 5:00 pm if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email [email protected] or call 202-682-2245.

Virtual Yoga Class will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This free weekly class is a combination of yoga, breath work and meditation that allows LGBTQ+ community members to continue their healing journey with somatic and mindfulness practices. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.

Out & About

Team DC’s annual gala set for this weekend

LGBTQ sports organization to hold annual ‘Night of Champions’

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2026

Tinashe Chingarande

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Team DC will host “Night of Champions Gala” on Saturday, April 18 at 6 p.m. at the Georgetown Marriott.

This will be an evening of celebration and inspiration as Team DC honors remarkable individuals and supports the next generation of LGBTQ student-athletes.

There will be opportunities to support Team DC through auctions. The Silent Auction items will offer an array of unique goods and experiences. Additionally, Team DC will feature an exclusive selection of live auction items for those looking to make a significant impact.

This year, Team DC will recognize six outstanding awardees who have made significant contributions to the LGBTQ community and sports: