Arts & Entertainment
Celebrating wins, looking ahead
Local gay sports teams savor victories, gear up for fall activities
Gay diver Ben Takai of the Montgomery Dive Club won three gold medals in July in Honolulu. (Photo by Cliff Betita)
With summer coming to a close, the LGBT sports community of Washington has wrapped up some successful sporting adventures and also has many new ones approaching this fall.
Congratulations to the District of Columbia Aquatics Club for winning an unprecedented 10th title in the large team category at the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatic Championships in Honolulu. The swimmers took the crown by defeating strong teams from West Hollywood Aquatics and Team New York Aquatics. They are currently in training for the next Championships to be held in Reykjavik, Iceland in June. More on the swimmers can be found at swimdcac.org.
Congratulations to Ben Takai of the Montgomery Dive Club for sweeping the diving events at the same IGLA Championships in the 25-29 age group. Ben struck gold in the 1-meter springboard, 3-meter springboard and the 10-meter platform. The diving club is online at montgomerydiveclub.org.
Congratulations to the 13 members of the D.C. Strokes Rowing Club who medaled in seven events at the USRowing Masters National regatta in Oklahoma City, Okla. The rowers won medals in men’s, women’s and mixed events to cap off a long sprint race season. Check them out at dcstrokes.org.
Congratulations to the Chesapeake and Potomac Softball League whose members are welcoming home three teams having just competed in the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Association Softball World Series in Chicago. The CAPS won the bid to host the World Series in Washington in 2013 over Portland and Dallas. The event is expected to draw about 160 teams and 2,000 players from member cities across North America. The fall season begins for the CAPS begins Sept. 11. Information on softball is at eteamz.com/caps.
The Capital Tennis Association is hosting the Capital Classic XIX tournament on Sept. 16-18 at the Hains Point Tennis Center. Singles and doubles will be contested on clay and hard courts in five different divisions. Fall tennis leagues are forming now and begin in October. Information on the tournament and the tennis team is at capital-tennis.org.
Team D.C. will be hosting a dodgeball tournament on Sept. 24 at the Columbia Heights Recreation Center. Teams consist of eight players and you can register a full team or sign up individually to be placed on a team. Details are at teamdc.org.
The Lambda Links Golf Club will continue to play on different courses on weekends through the fall season and nonmembers are welcome. Members will also be hosting their annual club championships on Sept. 25 and their halloween tournament on Oct. 27. Tee times are at lambdalinks.org.
The Washington Renegades rugby football team kicks off the fall season with match play on Saturday. The ruggers made it to the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union quarterfinals in the spring of 2011 and are looking for another successful season. Match days are posted at www.dcrugby.com.
The D.C. Gay Flag Football league starts its fall season on Sunday at the Carter Barron Fields on 16th and Kennedy. The ever-growing league is now boasting 16 teams that will compete weekly for the coveted championship trophy. League stats and information is at dcgffl.org.
Having just wrapped up the second Summer of Freedom League and hosting the Rehoboth Beach Classic XIII coed soccer tournament last weekend, the Federal Triangles Soccer Club is gearing up for a full slate of league action this fall. On Sept. 21, players will host the second United Night Out at RFK Stadium as the D.C. United take on Chivas USA. The event is part of the Night Out series brought to you by Team D.C. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at unitednightout.com. The Triangles can be found at federaltriangles.org.
On Sunday, members of the D.C. Frontrunners will compete in the 9-11 Memorial Run 5 K in Arlington. The event kicks off the fall race circuit for the Frontrunners which continues into December. More information on the group is at dcfrontrunners.org.
The Rainbow Spinnakers Sailing Club continues its two-hour sails on weekends into the fall season. Nonmembers are welcome and you can be an experienced sailor or a beginner looking to experience sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. They can be found at rainbowspinnakers.org.
The Lambda Divers Scuba Club is heading to Cozumel, Mexico for the week-long 20th anniversary of the Diving For Life charity event. In October, the group heads to the Caribbean for some diving off the coast of Grand Cayman. Check out your options at lambdadivers.org.
LGBT Family Day with the Washington Nationals is being held Sept. 18. Same-sex couples are invited to bring their kids for a special day at the ballpark. Tickets are just $16 and game time is 1:35 p.m. as the Nats take on the Florida Marlins. Info is at nationals.com/lgbtfamily.
Lambda DanceSport is offering up an all new location on Wednesdays and Sundays during its ‘DanceSport at DuPont Circle’ series. Lessons are being offered in country-western, international Latin and international ballroom. lambdadancesport.com.
The 2026 Capital Pride Parade was held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 20.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key, Robert Rapanut and Landon Shackelford)
Theater
‘Feeling Afraid’ explores life of a neurotic stand-up comic
Navigating sex, work, and possibly love in London
‘Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen’
Through July 12
Studio Theatre
1501 14th St., N.W.
$55-$102
Studiotheatre.org
Wordily yet rightly titled, solo show “Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen” dives deeply into the world of a neurotic stand-up comic as he navigates sex, work, and possibly love in London.
Busy arranging hookups and dates on “The App,” the 36-year-old gay funnyman juggles a full dance card; still he’s never been in a romantic relationship. While he’s willing to give love a shot, he’s not pressed about it. As he says, he harbors no fear of dying alone.
Currently making its American premiere at Studio Theatre, this darkly humorous Edinburgh Fringe import features terrific out English actor Steven Webb as The Comedian who’s about to explore what it means to spend all his time with one man.
At Studio’s intimate Mead Theatre, Kat Heath’s minimal set says standard comedy club (fluorescent tube lighting, the mic with a long cord, a single stool backed by a rose-colored curtain), but gay playwright Marcelo Dos Santos has conjured something much more than a live comedy set.
Yes, The Comedian bounces onstage in his red Converse high tops, jeans, and pink shirt with a huge mouth emblazoned on the back, but he delivers more than jokes. At times hilariously self-deprecating, then dark, and occasionally a lesson on what makes standup work, this is a layered, well-acted piece.
With Webb (a keen caricaturist of types and voices) playing all the parts while conducting The Comedian’s hilariously frenetic interior monologue, “Feeling Afraid” takes us through a summer of love. It seems after six chaste dates with The American, our nervous hero has found Mr. Right. The American is earnest, smart, hesitant to initiate sex. He’s also well built with a beautiful smile. And strangely, he’s been medically advised not to laugh aloud.
The Comedian delights in the joys of new love: dates, first kisses, sex, and then suddenly spending all of his time with the adored. Visits to art galleries become fun. Eating home cooked meals followed by grim documentaries is a thing. The Comedian is beguiled as his own boyish figure fills out, but something isn’t right. He can’t entirely relax.
Along the way we meet the Aussie doctor, our protagonist’s longtime hookup; a young runner with some exceptional body parts; the random third in a failed threesome; grumpy working comics, male and female; and an ineffectual counselor.
Webb gives a lightning-fast performance that boggles the mind (in terms velocity and virtuosity). He can be impish, very impish. He’s nervous energy incarnate, flashing jazz hands, grimacing but handsome when still. He’s likeable, a necessity when delivering a hilariously rude joke just feet away from two stone-faced audience members. (Perhaps they were laughing on the inside? At any rate, they stayed through the end the show.)
Produced by the team behind Fringe hits “Fleabag” and “Baby Reindeer,” small stage works that were developed into major TV screen successes, “Feeling Afraid” is funny for sure, and it’s also highly confessional, sexually explicit, and raw.
Written by Dos Santos during COVID lockdown, the piece was a smash hit in the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe before finding further success in London. Its depiction of a youngish queer guy navigating the big city rings entirely true. Like so much Fringe stuff, the one-man show is delightfully lewd and standup inspired.
One little moan: the show closes cleverly but too abruptly with its star dashing offstage without sufficiently basking in the admiration and applause of his thoroughly chuffed audience.
They say third time’s a charm, and regarding “Feeling Afraid,” I’d agree. After two performance cancellations (first for laryngitis and the second involving faulty air conditioning on an especially muggy June evening), I made my third trek to Studio where I found both the actor and AC in very fine fettle. And truly, Webb’s work was more than worth the wait.
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(Washington Blade photos by Linus Berggren)
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