Arts & Entertainment

Calendar: Aug. 26

Parties, concerts, meetings and more through Sept. 1

Published

15 years ago

August 29, 2011

Judy Taylor's 11-panel ‘History of Labor in the State of Maine,’ removed from the headquarters of Maine's Department of Labor by Governor LePage in March, will be on display at Kaplan Gallery (155 Gibbs St.) in Rockville starting Tuesday. (Image courtesy of the Kaplan)

TODAY (Friday)

The Lodge (21614 National Pike) in Boonsboro presents Araya Sparxx’s All American Drag Off with specials guests Jessica Jade and Patti Lovelace. Seven contestants will be competing for a prize package worth over $1,000 including six guaranteed bookings at The Lodge, promo photo shoot by RAB2 Imaging and $500 cash prize. For more information, visit thelodgeMD.com/dragoff.

Grap Luva is hosting the Michael Jackson birthday celebration tonight at 9:30 Club with DJ Dredd spinning and Robin Bell providing video. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online at 930.com. Door open at 9 p.m.

Gospel legends Maggie Ingram and the Ingramettes, a cappella group Naturally 7 and urban jazz harmonicist Frédéric Yonnet will be performing as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Celebration Concert at the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.). This is a free performance but tickets are required. Reserved seating tickets will be distributed today starting at 4 p.m. in the Hall of Nations.

Beat City, a queer lounge night, is tonight at Chief Ike’s Mambo Room (1725 Columbia Rd., N.W.) from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. There is no cover for this 21-and-older event.

Busboys & Poets will be having an American Sign Language open mic night tonight at 11 p.m. in the Langston room at its 14th and V streets location (2021 14th St., N.W.). Anyone with sign language knowledge may sign up by e-mailing [email protected]. There is a $5 admission at the door.

Saturday, Aug. 27

Rams Head Promotions and 103.1 WRNR present Silopanna Music Festival featuring 20 acts on three different stages, including Matt and Kim, Pasadena and Tobias Russell. General admission tickets are $39.50 in advanced and $45 the day of show and V.I.P tickets are $195 in advanced and $225 the day of show. V.I.P tickets include complimentary drinks, a dinner buffet, private bathrooms and more. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit silopannafest.com.

Southwest Renaissance Development Corporation is hosting a panel discussion as at Westminster Presbyterian Church (400 I St., S.W.) today from 1 to 3 p.m. as part of its series, “Thinking About Jazz.” This month’s program will duscuss women such as Mary Lou Williams, Marian McPartland and Dinah Washington. Several members of the case of “Sistas Can Sang” will be discussing their own experiences.

Burgundy Crescent Volunteers seeks help as its members help the National Park Service paint park benches in Dupont Circle. Volunteers will meet up with NPS staff at 9 a.m. by the fountain in the circle, wearing clothes they don’t mind getting paint on and should plan on being there until noon. Interested volunteers should e-mail [email protected].

Will Eastman, Kid Color and Jerome Baker III will be at U Street Music Hall (1115 U St., N.W.) tonight at 10 p.m. with “Bliss.” Tickets are $10 and available online at ustreetmusichall.com. Attendees ages 18 to 20 must purchase tickets in advanced to gain entry. Pre-sale ends an hour before doors open.

Green Lantern (1335 Green Court, N.W.) hosts “Slippery When Wet” tonight from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. with prize packages and Manhunt giveaway. DJ Ace D.C. will be spinning.

Reportory Opera Theater of Washington has “A Grand Night of Opera” tonight at 8 at Immanuel Church on the Hill in Alexandria (3606 Seminary Road). Tickets are $15; $10 for ages 10-17 (under 10 free). Arias from operas by Mozart, Wagner, Gershwin and more will be performed. Visit repopera.org for details.

Sunday, Aug. 28

GLOE is having its sixth annual pool party “Tel Aviv (in D.C.) Beach Bash” today from 1 to 5 p.m. at the home of founder Stuart Kurlander and David Martin. Tickets are $5 and the exact address will be emailed upon registration. For more information, visit washingtondcjcc.org/gloe.

The fourth annual Summer Games with Shearon Van Riggins (Shea Van Horn and Aaron Riggins) and officiated by drag queen Summer Camp, is today from 1:30 to 4 p.m. at Meridian Hill Park and the theme this year is skin. Teams of four will compete in events for gold, silver or bronze metals. Events include all-you-can-eat bananas, Sharpie pen fencing and more. The games will be followed by the official after party at Nellie’s (900 U St., N.W.)

Camp Rehoboth and the Seashore Striders are holding the second annual “Sundance 5k: Run Walk or Sashay!” today in Rehoboth Beach, Del., with registration beginning at 6 a.m. The race kicks off at 7:30 a.m. General registration and sleepwalker registration is $25. For more information, visit camprehoboth.com.

Monday, Aug. 29

D.C. Different Drummers Capitol Pride Symphonic Band will rehearse tonight from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Reformation Lutheran Church, Capitol Hill (212 East Capitol St.). For more information, contact [email protected] or visit dcdd.org.

Brightest Young Things is having its happy hour tonight at the Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.) at 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 30

Federal Triangles Soccer Club Summer of Freedom league is having its closing party tonight at Nellie’s (900 U St., N.W.) starting at 6:30 p.m.

VisArts presents the work of Maine artist Judy Taylor whose 11-panel “History of Labor in the State of Maine” was removed from the headquarters of Maine’s Department of Labor by Govnernor LePage in March. The exhibition opens today at Kaplan Gallery (155 Gibbs St.) in Rockville, on the second floor. An opening reception and other events are scheduled for September. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit visartsatrockville.org.

Wednesday, Aug. 31

The Lambda Bridge Club will meet at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) across from Marine Barracks for duplicate bridge. No reservations are needed and newcomers are welcome. If a partner is needed, visit lambdabridge.com.

D.C. Different Drummer’s D.C. Swing! group will rehearse tonight from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Reformation Lutheran Church, Capitol Hill (212 East Capitol St.). For more information, contact [email protected] or visit dcdd.org.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is tonight at Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar (1101 H St., N.E.) with The Machine and special guest DJs spinning alternative music and obscure dance tracks from the ‘80s tonight from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Attendees must be 21 or older for this cover-free event.

Thursday, Sept. 1

“Shear Madness,” a comedy whodunit, will be performed tonight at the Kennedy Center Theater Lab (2700 F St., N.W.) at 8 p.m. “Madness” takes place in present-day Georgetown, in the Shear Madness Hair Styling Salon. Tickets are $42. Visit kennedy-center.org for more information and to purchase tickets.

Guttermouth, a punk band from California, will be performing at the Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.) tonight with The New Threat and Bumpin Uglies. Tickets are $13 and doors open at 8 p.m. For more information, visit blackcatdc.com.

Celebrity News

Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam

Kylie Minogue made surprise appearance alongside gay icon

Published

8 hours ago

August 2, 2026

Michael K. Lavers

Kylie Minogue with Madonna at the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam on Aug. 2, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Cejlon Studio)

AMSTERDAM — Madonna on Sunday headlined the final night of the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam.

The gay icon took the stage shortly before 2:30 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday) during Club Confessions, a set that MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term HIV care, organized.

“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage inside Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall that can hold up to 6,000 people.

Stuart Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album and “Confessions II,” which debuted on July 2, DJed the set.

Kylie Minogue made a surprise appearance. She and Madonna performed a new remix of “Love Sensation” from “Confessions II.”

(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)

“Throughout my career, I’ve always supported efforts to fight HIV and AIDS, and that fight begins with education and access,” said Madonna in a MISTR press release. “With MISTR, (CEO) Tristan (Schukraft) is expanding access to HIV prevention and sexual healthcare for everyone. Through this work, he’s helping preserve and strengthen LGBTQ+ spaces while investing in the communities and culture that have long sustained us.”

Minogue in an Instagram post thanked Madonna, Price, Schukraft, and MISTR.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue)

Madonna appeared at The Abbey in West Hollywood, Calif., in April. Madonna in June celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York’s Times Square.

Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced the World Pride Music Festival that also featured Bebe Rexha and Paris Hilton, among others.

“Pride has always been about bringing our community together,” said Resnicow. “At a moment when too many people are being told to hide or make themselves smaller, gathering openly, joyfully, and without apology matters more than ever. I couldn’t be prouder of what this festival brought to life in Amsterdam — one dance floor, completely free.”

Theater

Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth

First five shows a reminder that ‘pressure is a privilege’

Published

17 hours ago

August 2, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Reggie D. White (Photo by Ambe J. Williams)

Madly talented and preternaturally energetic, Reggie D. White, 38, is about to launch his first season as artistic director of D.C.’s boundary-pushing Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

White brings a lot to the job. As actor, playwright, and director, his varied resume includes a 2019 Broadway acting debut in Matthew López’s Tony Award–winning play “The Inheritance,” his semi-autobiographic play “Fremont Ave.” that opened to acclaim last season at Arena Stage, and a number of exciting regional directing credits.

A longtime admirer of Woolly, the out theater-maker was selected from a pool of candidates before receiving the offer last November and starting work in January. His season of five world premieres kicks off with gay playwright Steve Yockey’s “Venus” (Sept. 9-Oct. 4), a darkly funny study of modern relationships told through two lesbians looking back on their first encounter.

White was introduced to Woolly Mammoth as a pre-law student at Cal State Hayward in the San Francisco Bay Area, long before he foresaw a life in the arts. “As part of a random theater history course, I was assigned to write a paper on a counterculture company called Woolly Mammoth,” he recalls “Strange name. I was like what the hell is that?”

Nineteen-year-old White was intrigued. Research acquainted him with Howard Shalwitz who co-founded Woolly in 1980, and the company’s commitment to living playwrights and new work. He also learned how theater could be used as a tool for difficult conversations and shape the way people thought about social issues by employing imagination and rigor.

“Never in a million years did young me envision that one day I’d be Woolly’s third artistic director in its 46-year history,” says White. “It’s kind of serendipitously insane.”

WASHINGTON BLADE: Was there a moment when the enormity of the job hit you?

REGGIE D. WHITE: After I’d signed my contract and finished all the paperwork, I got my keys and sat in the theater by myself in the dark and thought about what an incredible honor it is to be trusted with what happens in this beautiful space [in D.C.’s Penn Quarter]. I might have cried. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember it’s real.

BLADE: Are you curating the upcoming 2026–2027 season?

WHITE: Yes, I am. It’s very rare that an incoming artistic director gets to program their first season, but I was lucky in terms of time. After being hired late last year, I asked Woolly’s managing director Kimberly E. Douglas, if she thought it would be crazy if I programmed the season. She warned me it would be hard.

I invoked tennis legend Billie Jean King’s maxim “pressure is a privilege” and got to work.

These plays [dubbed White’s “first five”] represent both the kind of theater that Woolly can do really well and speak directly to my voice as curator and how I want to contribute to the larger theatrical conversation in the DMV.

Getting here has meant a lot of late nights. But I knew the juice would be worth the squeeze.

BLADE: As a queer artistic director, what makes you unique?

WHITE: When I was playing in “Inheritance” on Broadway, after a performance, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayer came backstage to meet the cast. She spoke about how her lens on the world as a Puerto Rican woman shapes her decisions. Similarly, because I’m a queer Black man I see through a lens that shapes my work.

I know I’m not the only queer artistic director in town. For me, it influences how I make editorial decisions. Out of this season’s five plays there are explicitly queer characters in four [“Venus,” “Chanukkah Spectacular,” “Ten Grand,” and “Love I Awethu Further”] and I’m directing two [“Venus,” “Ten Grand”].

BLADE: Will we see familiar faces?

WHITE: Every show this season will feature a Woolly Mammoth company member in its cast. Our company also includes designers and directors who we’ll include. I’m invested in continuing to provide a showcase for their work.

BLADE: How do you think queer audiences will receive the season?

WHITE: Very well, I think. For queer people who’ve had to navigate the world subversively and solve problems in unique ways, I think it will be especially interesting. I find theater a potent place for questions.

Like all artistic directors. I’ll show up for the job in my own way. I’m just excited that I’ve been invited to bring the fullness of myself to the role.