Arts & Entertainment
Journalists promote literacy
D.C. tradition continues with Wednesday’s ‘Love Letters’ event
‘Love Letters for Literacy’
National Museum of Women in the Arts
1250 New York Ave., N.W.
Cocktails, 6:30; dinner and program at 7:30 p.m.
Reservations: $275
Washlit.org
202-387-9029
Go here for reservations
When John Arundel’s 9-year-old recently mentioned plans to follow in his father’s journalistic footsteps, the Washington Life Magazine associate publisher didn’t tell the precocious reporter to pick up a pen.
He told him to grab a book.
Former Defense Secretary William Cohen and his wife, Janet Langhart at last year’s literacy event. (Photo courtesy Washington Literacy Council)
“I told him he couldn’t be a journalist unless he stepped up his reading and read every day,” says Arundel, an LGBT community ally and one of three local journalists who will read from literary works they love at an event to raise adult illiteracy awareness in Washington.
The Washington Literacy Council hosts its annual “Love Letters for Literacy” fundraiser Wednesday. Now in its 19th year, the fundraiser and reception showcases the area’s top broadcasters, journalists and authors: Arundel will join Andrea Roane, an anchor at WUSA 9 and Washington Post writer Ruth Marcus.
Proceeds will help the nonprofit relocate and launch a branding campaign aimed at raising its profile and connecting more Washingtonians with reading help. The group estimates roughly 38 percent of the city’s adults have “very poor” reading skills. About 200 attended last year’s dinner.
“The need is great and we want to raise our capacity to help meet it,” says Helen Dalton, president of the board of directors at the council.
The event will include a dinner, a silent auction and an award ceremony recognizing champions of literacy.
But the highlight is arguably getting to hear local celebrities share some of the literature that shaped their careers and lives.
For Arundel, the book choice was obvious. The New York Times veteran will read from “The Kingdom and the Power: Behind the Scenes at the New York Times: The Institution That Influences the World,” a journalism classic by Gay Talese.
“Like Talese, I came to the New York Times in 1989 fresh out of college as an entry-level copy boy and spent two years covering the gritty underbelly of New York,” Arundel says. “It was a great education.”
The experience marked a seminal point in a journalism career that began with a kid’s column in the Fauquier Times-Democrat in Warrenton, Va. — “I wrote about skateboarding and all the things that kids like to read about,” he said — and has taken him through stints at The Miami Herald and The Washington Post. He now covers the philanthropic world at Washington Life, a publication he says has ties to the Human Rights Campaign.
Over the years, Arundel has watched as the rise in online media has dimmed the fortunes of larger publications like the Times. Nonetheless, Arundel believes the online revolution will ultimately prove to be a good thing.
“The positive side of all these blogs and this move toward self publishing is that there are more voices out there, so definitely it’s more of an opportunity for the LGBT community to expand its voice,” he says.
The Washington Literacy Council wants to ensure that more people can understand that voice. The council’s 100 volunteers provide one-on-one and group tutoring, computer training and job coaching to roughly 140 students each year, Dalton says.
This year’s Love Letters event, sponsored by the Washington Blade, coincides with a revamp of the group. The nonprofit will move from a location in Adams Morgan to a spot along 12th Street. Group leaders also will announce plans to change the group’s name to the Washington Literacy Center and unveil a new motto playing off their initials: “Where Lives Change.”
The 2026 Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather competition was held at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill on Sunday. Seven contestants vied for the title and Gage Ryder was named the winner.
(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Theater
Voiceless ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ a spectacle of operatic proportions
Synetic production pulls audience into grips of doomed lovers’ passion
‘Antony & Cleopatra’
Through Jan. 25
Synetic Theater at
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre
450 7th St., N.W.
Synetictheater.org
A spectacle of operatic proportions, Synetic Theater’s “Antony & Cleopatra” is performed entirely voiceless. An adaptation of the Bard’s original (a play bursting with wordplay, metaphors, and poetic language), the celebrated company’s production doesn’t flinch before the challenge.
Staged by Paata Tsikurishvili and choreographed by Irina Tsikurishvili, this worthy remount is currently playing at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre, the same venue where it premiered 10 years ago. Much is changed, including players, but the usual inimitable Synectic energy and ingenuity remain intact.
As audiences file into the Klein, they’re met with a monumental pyramid bathed in mist on a dimly lit stage. As the lights rise, the struggle kicks off: Cleopatra (Irina Kavsadze) and brother Ptolemy (Natan-Maël Gray) are each vying for the crown of Egypt. Alas, he wins and she’s banished from Alexandria along with her ethereal black-clad sidekick Mardian (Stella Bunch); but as history tells us, Cleopatra soon makes a triumphant return rolled in a carpet.
Meanwhile, in the increasingly dangerous Rome, Caesar (memorably played by Tony Amante) is assassinated by a group of senators. Here, his legendary Ides of March murder is rather elegantly achieved by silver masked politicians, leaving the epic storytelling to focus on the titular lovers.
The fabled couple is intense. As the Roman general Antony, Vato Tsikurishvili comes across as equal parts warrior, careerist, and beguiled lover. And despite a dose of earthiness, it’s clear that Kavsadze’s Cleopatra was born to be queen.
Phil Charlwood’s scenic design along with Colin K. Bills’ lighting cleverly morph the huge pyramidic structure into the throne of Egypt, the Roman Senate, and most astonishingly as a battle galley crashing across the seas with Tsikurishvili’s Antony ferociously at the helm.
There are some less subtle suggestions of location and empire building in the form of outsized cardboard puzzle pieces depicting the Mediterranean and a royal throne broken into jagged halves, and the back-and-forth of missives.
Of course, going wordless has its challenges. Kindly, Synectic provides a compact synopsis of the story. I’d recommend coming early and studying that page. With changing locations, lots of who’s who, shifting alliances, numerous war skirmishes, and lack of dialogue, it helps to get a jump on plot and characters.
Erik Teague’s terrific costume design is not only inspired but also helpful. Crimson red, silver, and white say Rome; while all things Egyptian have a more exotic look with lots of gold and diaphanous veils, etc.
When Synetic’s voicelessness works, it’s masterful. Many hands create the magic: There’s the direction, choreography, design, and the outrageously committed, sinewy built players who bring it to life through movement, some acrobatics, and the remarkable sword dancing using (actual sparking sabers) while twirling to original music composed by Konstantine Lortkipanidze.
Amid the tumultuous relationships and frequent battling (fight choreography compliments of Ben Cunis), moments of whimsy and humor aren’t unwelcome. Ptolemy has a few clownish bits as Cleopatra’s lesser sibling. And Antony’s powerful rival Octavian (ageless out actor Philip Fletcher) engages in peppy propaganda featuring a faux Cleopatra (played by Maryam Najafzada) as a less than virtuous queen enthusiastically engaged in an all-out sex romp.
When Antony and Cleopatra reach their respective ends with sword and adder, it comes almost as a relief. They’ve been through so much. And from start to finish, without uttering a word, Kavsadze and Tsikurishvili share a chemistry that pulls the audience into the grips of the doomed lovers’ palpable passion.
Out & About
Love board games and looking for love?
Quirk Events will host “Board Game Speed Dating for Gay Men” on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. at KBird DC.
Searching for a partner can be challenging. But board games are always fun. So what if you combined board games and finding a partner?
Picture this: You sit down for a night of games. A gaming concierge walks you through several games over the course of the night. You play classics you love and discover brand new games you’ve never heard of, playing each with a different group of fun singles. All while in a great establishment.
At the end of the night, you give your gaming concierge a list of the folks you met that you’d like to date and a list of those you met that you’d like to just hang out with as friends. If any two people put down the same name as each other in either column, then your gaming concierge will make sure you get each other’s e-mail address and you can coordinate a time to hang out.
Tickets cost $31.80 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
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