Arts & Entertainment
Chaps and chains
Leather enthusiasts gear up for next weekend’s MAL events
Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend
Jan. 13-16
Various events
Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill
New Jersey Ave., N.W.
Full registration: $180 or by event
Leatherweekend.com
Last year's MAL Weekend. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Gay leather enthusiasts from all over the East Coast and beyond will be in Washington next weekend for the 32nd annual Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend, which typically draws between 2,000-3,000 to its various events.
The festivities kick off Thursday at 9 p.m. at the Eagle for a “former MAL title holders” bar night. Most events, though, will be at the Hyatt Regency — the event’s host hotel. The other main exception is the Sunday night “Reaction” dance, to be held at the 9:30 club. Having as much as possible at the Hyatt was a big reason organizers moved the weekend there after 10 years at the Plaza in Thomas Circle.
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Last year, the first held at the Hyatt, drew mixed reviews, even among organizers.
“It was OK,” says Patrick Grady, this year’s event chair. “This year should be much better though. We rented the entire hotel this time so there’ll be no non-MAL guests there. Last year was a mixed crowd but this year we have the entire 830 rooms.”
Grady says feedback from last year’s attendees was taken seriously.
“There were people who were upset last year,” says Peter Wesselton, a D.C. resident who has his own dungeon. “There were people who were upset with the way the hotel handled everything. There were a whole list of don’ts — no touching, no leather in the lobby … so a lot of guys were pretty pissed off …. These are professional people, lawyers, doctors, dentists with high standing who just want to be able to let their hair down and not be babysat.”
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Although the Thomas Circle locale gave them easy access to the Green Lantern, a pro-leather club that supports the event, Grady says overall the Hyatt makes more sense.
“We had more or less outgrown the Plaza and the guests have made comments that they like to have as much as possible under one roof,” he says. “We could never be sure how much space we’d have at the Plaza and with the potential for cold weather and snow — not that that deters many leather folks — but it just makes it more convenient. They can Metro to Union Station and then we’ll have shuttle buses to the two bars we’re visiting.”
ADD THIS EVENT TO YOUR FOURSQUARE TO-DO LIST!
The full package weekend is $180 and guests can register anytime for events. Staple events like “leather cocktails” and the Mr. Leather contest are once again on the schedule. Other events, like Blowoff and a new party dubbed “Luther,” piggyback on MAL but have no official ties to the weekend Grady says.
“The only things sponsored by us are the ones at the hotel and the Reaction Dance. They have other events at the Eagle and such and that’s fine, but unless it’s in the hotel, it’s not really part of MAL weekend,” Grady says.
Grady says he has “no idea” how many come from out of town for the weekend versus attendees from the D.C. area.
The event will be held per its contract at the Hyatt for two more years at least.
Full details are at leatherweekend.com.
Team DC, the umbrella organization for LGBTQ-friendly sports teams and leagues in the D.C. area, held its annual Night of Champions Awards Gala on Saturday, April 20 at the Hilton National Mall. The organization gave out scholarships to area LGBTQ student athletes as well as awards to the Different Drummers, Kelly Laczko of Duplex Diner, Stacy Smith of the Edmund Burke School, Bryan Frank of Triout, JC Adams of DCG Basketball and the DC Gay Flag Football League.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The 2024 National Cannabis Festival was held at the Fields at RFK Stadium on April 19-20.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering the @NatlCannaFest at RFK Stadium for @WashBlade . Stop by the LGBTQ+ booth and pick up a paper if you are here. pic.twitter.com/is7hnsaPns
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) April 20, 2024
Theater
‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
A ‘fully autobiographical’ work from out artist Adil Mansoor
‘Amm(i)gone’
Thorough May 12
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
641 D St., N.W.
$60-$70
Woollymammoth.net
“Fully and utterly autobiographical.” That’s how Adil Mansoor describes “Amm(i)gone,” his one-man work currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Both created and performed by out artist Mansoor, it’s his story about inviting his Pakistani mother to translate Sophocles’s Greek tragedy “Antigone” into Urdu. Throughout the journey, there’s an exploration of family, queerness, and faith,as well as references to teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations with his Muslim mother.
Mansoor, 38, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and is now based in Pittsburgh where he’s a busy theater maker. He’s also the founding member of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and the former artistic director of Dreams of Hope, an LGBTQ youth arts organization.
WASHINGTON BLADE: What spurred you to create “Amm(i)gone”?
ADIL MANSOOR: I was reading a translation of “Antigone” a few years back and found myself emotionally overwhelmed. A Theban princess buries her brother knowing it will cost her, her own life. It’s about a person for whom all aspirations are in the afterlife. And what does that do to the living when all of your hopes and dreams have to be reserved for the afterlife?
I found grant funding to pay my mom to do the translation. I wanted to engage in learning. I wanted to share theater but especially this ancient tragedy. My mother appreciated the characters were struggling between loving one another and their beliefs.
BLADE: Are you more director than actor?
MANSOOR: I’m primarily a director with an MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon. I wrote, directed, and performed in this show, and had been working on it for four years. I’ve done different versions including Zoom. Woolly’s is a new production with the same team who’ve been involved since the beginning.
I love solo performance. I’ve produced and now teach solo performance and believe in its power. And I definitely lean toward “performance” and I haven’t “acted” since I was in college. I feel good on stage. I was a tour guide and do a lot of public speaking. I enjoy the attention.
BLADE: Describe your mom.
MANSOOR: My mom is a wonderfully devout Muslim, single mother, social worker who discovered my queerness on Google. And she prays for me.
She and I are similar, the way we look at things, the way we laugh. But different too. And those are among the questions I ask in this show. Our relationship is both beautiful and complicated.
BLADE: So, you weren’t exactly hiding your sexuality?
MANSOOR: In my mid-20s, I took time to talk with friends about our being queer with relation to our careers. My sexuality is essential to the work. As the artistic director at Dreams of Hope, part of the work was to model what it means to be public. If I’m in a room with queer and trans teenagers, part of what I’m doing is modeling queer adulthood. The way they see me in the world is part of what I’m putting out there. And I want that to be expansive and full.
So much of my work involves fundraising and being a face in schools. Being out is about making safe space for queer young folks.
BLADE: Have you encountered much Islamophobia?
MANSOOR: When 9/11 happened, I was a sophomore in high school, so yes. I faced a lot then and now. I’ve been egged on the street in the last four months. I see it in the classroom. It shows up in all sorts of ways.
BLADE: What prompted you to lead your creative life in Pittsburgh?
MANSOOR: I’ve been here for 14 years. I breathe with ease in Pittsburgh. The hills and the valleys and the rust of the city do something to me. It’s beautiful, it’ affordable, and there is support for local artists. There’s a lot of opportunity.
Still, the plan was to move to New York in September of 2020 but that was cancelled. Then the pandemic showed me that I could live in Pittsburgh and still have a nationally viable career.
BLADE: What are you trying to achieve with “Amm(i)gone”?
MANSOOR: What I’m sharing in the show is so very specific but I hear people from other backgrounds say I totally see my mom in that. My partner is Catholic and we share so much in relation to this.
I hope the work is embracing the fullness of queerness and how means so many things. And I hope the show makes audiences want to call their parents or squeeze their partners.
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‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
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