Arts & Entertainment
Queery: Vanessa Holmes
The Black History Month concert singer answers 20 gay questions
(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Vanessa Holmes is starting a new chapter in life — in May, she’s scheduled to finish up a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and in March, she and partner Gia’Donna Nichols will tie the knot.
“This is definitely a new chapter,” the 55-year-old Lanham, Md., native says. “I feel like I could write a book right now. This year is very key to me feeling settled and finally some things are coming together that I’ve long awaited.”
Holmes, a 12-year Air Force veteran who works as a business manager at University of Maryland’s College of Journalism, met Nichols at Metropolitan Community Church of Washington (MCC-D.C.) where Holmes recently returned to the choir after an 18-month break. She’s singing in Sunday’s 2:30 p.m. Black History Month concert at the church (474 Ridge Street, N.W.) that’s dubbed “A Myriad of Sound.” It’s a new era for the church’s music program as it’s establishing itself under new direction. The concert will feature a variety of African-American musical styles.
Holmes says it’s important to honor Black History Month.
“If anyone knows our history, they’ll know that going way back to the way the slaves communicated, it was through singing,” she says. “Many times they weren’t allowed to speak, even their movement was controlled, but they sang while they worked. Sang negro spirituals and many songs written in those days reflected the struggles people had. It’s very important for us to continue to sing so we remember the struggles they faced and the struggles our community is still facing. I see lots of correlations. For me singing is a relief and a wonderful form of worship.”
Holmes has one adult son, Asa, a Baptist minister. She enjoys bowling, watching movies and quiet evenings at home with Gia. Holmes lives in Hyattsville, Md.
How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?
Since 1982. I was outed by my mother to my sister and that never felt right to me. I’m happy that we have a good relationship now.
Who’s your LGBT hero?
My Gia’Donna for her strength and belief that all people are equal and all of the pastors within the Metropolitan Community Churches who continue to fight for equality.
What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present?
We spend a lot of time at Annie’s and Busboys and Poets.
Describe your dream wedding.
Funny you should ask. We are about to make our dream come true. We are being married in our church, MCC-D.C., followed by a beautiful reception at the Oxon Hill Manor. The only thing better would be to be able to be married in our home state of Maryland.
What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?
Equality for all and finding a way to stop bullying, protecting the poor and underprivileged, getting guns and criminals off the streets.
What historical outcome would you change?
I would love to have seen what impact President Kennedy and Martin Luther King would have had on the world had they not been assassinated. I wish that slavery never happened and the destruction by Hitler, all wars, 9-11.
What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime?
The election of President Obama, the death of Michael Jackson and the recent death of Whitney Houston, wow!
On what do you insist?
Equal and fair treatment
What was your last Facebook post or Tweet?
A happy birthday message to a friend
If your life were a book, what would the title be?
“God’s Not Done With Me Yet!”
If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do?
Nothing. I love me just the way I am.
What do you believe in beyond the physical world?
I know there is a God somewhere that watches over all of us.
What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?
Continue to fight and keep people informed about what you need from us.
What would you walk across hot coals for?
Gia’Donna and my granddaughters.
What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?
That people define us by what they believe we do in the bedroom. We are a strong people that want equality and freedom to live our lives like everyone else.
What’s your favorite LGBT movie?
I really don’t have a favorite but really enjoyed a great love story, “Hannah Free.”
What’s the most overrated social custom?
I don’t know about overrated. I wish people would use the courteous ones more often like, saying excuse me, please and thank you when appropriate.
What trophy or prize do you most covet?
My life
What do you wish you’d known at 18?
Everything I know now. Not sure I would do anything different but life sure would make a lot more sense!
Why Washington?
I grew up just six miles away and never really appreciated what the city has. I’m close enough now to visit when I want, to enjoy everything the city has to offer and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I’m close to family and friends and it’s a central location for travel.
Theater
Rorschach stages ‘Dragon Play’ in unlikely, raw space
Out sound designer Madeline ‘Mo’ Oslejsek notes ‘sound is my bag’
‘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.
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’
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:
- Trailblazer Award – Adam Peck, District Wrestling
- Most Valuable Person Award – Sean Bartel (posthumously)
- Champion Award – Dan Martin
- Clark Ray Horizon Award – Manuel Montelongo, aka Mari Con Carne
- Bernard Jude Delia Award – Dr. Sara Varghai
- Platinum All Star Award – Centaur Motorcycle Club
To purchase tickets, visit Team DC’s website.
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