Arts & Entertainment
Calendar: April 13
Concerts, exhibits, parties and more through April 19
In ‘The Adventures of White-Man’ part of ‘White Like Me: A Honky Dory Puppet Show,’ openly gay puppeteer Paul Zaloom operates diminutive characters and sets in a toy theater history. The action is live hi-def video-fed onto a large screen behind Zaloom so the audience can see what is going on. (Photo by Leigh Ann Hahn)
TODAY (Friday)
Violinist Rachel Barton Pine plays Wolf Trap (1645 Trap Rd., Vienna) tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 and available online at wolftrap.org.
Women in Their Twenties, a social discussion and dinner group, meets tonight from 8 to 9:30 p.m. at the D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.).
Town’s (2009 8th St., N.W.) Bear Happy Hour presents “Bearaoke” tonight from 7 to 10 p.m. on the first floor, with mistress of ceremonies Tre. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Special Agent Galactica’s Happy Hour Cabaret Show is tonight at the Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) from 6 to 9 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit pinkhairedone.com.
Strathmore’s Friday Night Eclectic continues tonight with Chelsey Green and the Green Project with Synchronicxity at the Mansion (10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda) at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Doors open at 8 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit strathmore.org.
Saturday, April 14
Mixtape D.C. is tonight at the Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.), a dance party for queer music lovers and their pals that features DJs Shea Van Horn and Matt Bailer playing an eclectic mix of electro, alt-pop, indie rock, house, disco, new wave and anything else danceable. There is a $10 cover for this event. Doors open at 9:30 p.m.
Green Lantern (1335 Green Court, N.W.) and 495 Bears presents “Bears Can Dance” tonight at 9 p.m. with DJ Bobby T. There is no cover for this event.
Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) has a couple things going on tonight. Raja, winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will appear, Kristine W. (see interview on page 51), an international dance music icon, will perform and DJ Jerome Farley will be spinning. Doors open at 10 p.m. Cover is $8 before 11 p.m. and $12 afterward.
Australian quartet the Jezabels play Red Palace (1212 H St., N.E.) tonight at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 day of the show and available online at redpalacedc.com. Doors open at 8 p.m.
DJ vANNIEty Kills presents “Anniething Goes” tonight at Jimmy Valentine’s Lonely Hearts Club (1103 Bladensburg Rd., N.E.) at 10 p.m. with back-to-back sets featuring guest DJs Juan and Hugo Zapata, Slant, Charles Martin and Prab K.
Openly gay puppeteer Paul Zaloom brings his latest solo comic puppet show “White Like Me: A Honky Dory Puppet Show” to Dance Place (3225 8th St., N.E.) tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are $22 for general admisison, $17 for DP Members, seniors and teachers, $10 for college students and $8 for children 17 and younger. Zaloom will also perform on Sunday at 7 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit danceplace.org.
Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church (6601 Bradley Blvd., Bethesda), Bethesda Jewish Congregation and the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation are co-sponsoring the“Community Of Caring AIDS Benefit Concert” tonight featuring jazz pianist, Fred Hersch at 7:30 p.m. There is a suggested donation of $35, $25 for seniors and students. The proceeds will be divided equally among Dennis Avenue Health Center HIV/AIDS Program, La Clinica del Pueblo of D.C. and the Association of Francois-Xavier Bagnoud South Africa Program. For more information, visit bradleyhillschurch.com.
Sunday, April 15
The All-American Rejects play 9:30 Club (815 V St., N.W.) tonight. Tickets are $30 and available online at 930.com. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Busboys & Poets presents “Borderlines: A Bilingual Spanish-English Open Mic” tonight at 5 p.m. in the Zinn room of its Hyattsville location (5331 Baltimore Ave., Suite 104) hosted by Henry Mills. The sign-up sheet opens at 4 p.m.
Rams Head OnStage (33 West St., Annapolis) is having a salute to Elton John with tribute artist Almost Elton John and the Rocket Band tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are $45 and available online at tickets.ramsheadonstage.com.
Monday, April 16
Regie Cabico and DonMike Mendoza host “La-Ti-Do D.C.” tonight at Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) from 8:30 to 10 p.m. Cover is $10 and includes a rail cocktail or house wine.
Busboys & Poets presents an author event featuring Michael G. Long tonight in the Langston Room of its 14th and V streets location (2021 14th St., N.W.) at 6:30 p.m. Long will be discussing and signing his new book, “I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters.”
Tuesday, April 17
Say Anything performs at Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.) tonight. Tickets are $18 in advance, $12 day of show and available online at blackcatdc.com. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Javier Colon, winner of NBC’s “The Voice,” plays Rams Head OnStage (33 West St., Annapolis) tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are $28.50 and available online attickets.ramsheadonstage.com.
Wednesday, April 18
D.C. Ice Breakers hosts its monthly open skate tonight from 8 to 9 p.m. at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex, on top of the Ballston Common Mall parking garage (627 N Glebe Rd.) in Arlington. After skating the group will hit a local bar for a social hour. Skating is $8 plus $3 for skate rental. For more information, visit dcicebreakers.com.
The Tom Davoren Social Bridge Club for gay bridge players meets tonight for social bridge at the Dignity Center (721 8th Street, S.E.). No partner is needed. Visit lambdabridge.com for details and click on “social bridge in Washington.”
Thursday, April 19
Fountains of Wayne plays 9:30 Club (815 V St., N.W.) tonight. Tickets are $25 and available online at 930.com. Doors open at 7 p.m.
There is a University of Maryland graduate and professional student happy hour tonight at Nellie’s (900 U St., N.W.) from 6 to 8 p.m.
Openly gay comedian Erin Foley plays Riot Act Comedy Theater (801 E St., N.W.) starting tonight at 8 p.m. with John Betz Jr., and Will Hessler opening. Tickets are $20 and available online at riotactcomedy.com. She will also perform Friday and Saturday.
Celebrity News
Silky Nutmeg Ganache talks sex and dating, gender, politics, weight loss journey
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ semifinalist grew up in Bible Belt
Uncloseted Media published this interview on July 7.
By SPENCER MACNAUGHTON, ISABEL STOKES, and BELLA SAYEGH | After appearing on the 11th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the first season of “Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World,” the sixth season of “RuPaul’s All Stars” and now the 11th season of “All Stars,” Silky Nutmeg Ganache, known by many as the Reverend, is undoubtedly a legend.
Born and raised in Moss Point, Miss., Ganache bears all in this episode of “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton.” She speaks about her relationship with gender, her 100-pound weight loss, what it’s like living as a queer person of color in a red state and why she’s calling on allies to stand up for the trans community.
Patrons enjoyed a night out at the popular LGBTQ venue Crush Dance Bar on Friday, July 3.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Theater
‘My Favorite Sociopath’ debuts at Shepherdstown’s CATF
Gay playwright Aurin Squire’s take on D.C. journalism in the ‘90s
‘My Favorite Sociopath’
Contemporary American Theater Festival
July 10-Aug. 2
Shepherdstown, W.Va.
Catf.org
Discernment. It’s a thing some people have, explains playwright Aurin Squire, especially when you’re gay or Black in America (Squire is both).
“You instinctively know when the mob is teaming up for the best interests of the powers that be. You can feel it in the air.”
In his sharp new satire “My Favorite Sociopath,” Squire writes about life experiences but set in a different time and place: It’s the 1990s, early days of the 24-hour news cycle, and three ambitious journalism students are pursuing success in D.C.
And now, Squire’s play, along with other new works, are making their world premieres at the annual Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) at Shepherd University in historic, queer-friendly Shepherdstown, W.Va. (just a 90-minute drive from D.C.).
“All of my plays are queer in some way,” says Squire, 46. “This one touches on harmless and dangerous lies. The characters are on the spectrum sexually, and it’s interesting how all that falls out.”
And he’s given it a lot of thought.
“Already as a kid, it seemed to me that the rage against rap music and sex was coming from closeted people resisting their own urges and temptations. For me, it was interesting to see a witch hunt led by witches. Queer people can always call out a lie.”
Since September, Squire has also been working with a TV show about the tech industry set in Silicon Valley. He says, “It seems the general flow of the tech industry is that humanity and civilization is finished and it’s just about accumulating as many goods as possible before everything collapses. In fact, those who are profiting actually agree. But for those who disagree, they believe the solution is to build bigger gates, but activists believe we can stop this”
Yet, he’s learned from folks associated with the show. “Many say the quickest way to divorce yourself from any responsibility or regulations — smash and grab. Otherwise, you have to stop and think and regulate your desires for greed and power”
Squire possesses a penchant for pithy titles. He laughs, explaining the first thing he wrote as a student at Juilliard was “Obama-ology,” the comedy with contemporary message. While a lot of people liked the name, it didn’t necessarily vibe with the author. He concedes that he chooses names based on “easy to remember” and titles that won’t be easy to lose as a file.
Another is “Defacing Michael Jackson,” a coming-of-age dramedy set in rural Florida in 1984, specifically Squire’s native town Opa-locka, Miami, a fantastical place famed for its fanciful Moorish revival architecture.
Living in the shadow of exotic structures, he wasn’t particularly fazed. Squire says “It wasn’t until returning to visit after my freshman year at Northwestern University in Chicago that I realized how weird it was: When you grow up in a place, you take surroundings for granted no matter how over the top.”
Now based in New York (where for two happy years, 2017-2019, he shared digs with drag king Murry Hill), Squire returns frequently to Miami to be with family, but this summer has been filled with both work and travel.
Currently, he’s in Shepherdstown with CATF shaping up “My Favorite Sociopath.” Later this summer he will travel to South Africa for research, followed by a silent writing retreat in Santa Fe, N.M.
Much of Squire’s work reflects the Latino, African, Caribbean, African-American, and Jewish cultures he grew up around in South Florida.
When asked if today’s winds of anti-multiculturalism worry him, he replies, “No, because that’s going to pass. Most people don’t like, people are seeing the negative results of it, and the young people coming up despise it. White male gamers were tricked momentarily through the algorithms into voting against their own interests and they’re now seeing how it’s not working out for them.
“Conservatives always try to stop progress and eventually they always lose. It’s just a question of where we’ll be in the middle of the end of civilization before that happens. I’d like to hope we can turn the ship around before then.”
In addition to “My Favorite Sociopath,” CATF summer season features three other world premieres (Lisa D’Amour’s comedy “The Smoker,” “Refugee Rhapsody” by Yussef El Guindi, “Best Line Wins: A Play Inspired by the Improvised Lives of Elaine May & Mike Nichols” by Beth Kander) and “¡VOS!” by Christina Pumariega.
CATF runs from July 10-Aug. 2 in three venues on the Shepherd University campus: Frank Center, Marinoff Theater, and Studio 112.
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