Arts & Entertainment
‘Essentials’ for design
Long-time U Street shop owner offers eclectic furniture, accents
David Schaefer, gay owner of Urban Essentials on U Street NW. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
David Schaefer’s first foray into selling furniture came completely by accident while running a men’s clothing store in Rehoboth Beach.
To save money when moving storefronts, instead of buying the usual store fixtures that need to be attached to the wall, he’d use furniture as displays, hanging shirts in an armoire and laying pants on a dining table.
“People started coming and wanting to buy the armoires and dressers and tables … originally I thought we’d sell some of the furniture, but I didn’t think every week all the furniture would be gone and the clothing would be on the floor,” Schaefer says. “So, I had to learn the words special order.”
Schaefer, after working in Congress for 13 years, is now the sole owner Urban Essentials (1330 U St., N.W.), a furniture store with a bit of everything.
The store opened 12 years ago when it was the only shop of its kind on the street.
“When we came in … you could park anywhere on the whole block … it was like a ghost town,” Schaefer says. “It’s amazing, its wonderful, its a fantastic change … When we opened, people thought we were nuts.”
Now it’s surrounded by businesses, banks and apartment buildings.
The store itself is small but filled with items of all sizes. Items aren’t just put out for people to see like some of the bigger, box stores, but arranged into spaces that are fully designed.
The bedroom areas don’t just have a bed and dresser, but art work, lamps, rugs and other accessories, all for sale.
“We change out merchandise every week … we have a huge warehouse we pull from,” Schaefer says. “Changing it up in here … helps move things along.”
Sometimes items stay in the store for a while, but occasionally items will sell within a day or two.
Schaefer finds the products they sell by traveling to furniture and home shows, going as far as Montreal and San Francisco, looking for products that are different from what everyone else sells. He goes to about four a year.
“I’d like to go to Milan next year,” Schaefer says.
The store is not geared to just one style, selling a little bit of everything from candles and picture frames to beds and sofas. There’s no defined style in its showroom.
That variety makes it harder to detect seasonal trends though Schaefer sees more overall trends.
“People are moving to designs that reflect what they want in their lifestyle. They want softer. They want quieter. They want less outside influence,” he says. “They feel it’s their place away from all the reds and the oranges and the craziness out there.”
Schaefer has noticed a few newer, more specific trends in recent weeks.
“There’s a lot of people coming in ready for spring cleaning, ready to make a change,” Schaefer says. “I think the spring you hear that a lot more than any other time of the year.”
He’s also seen a lot of people come in to buy new mattresses, specifically Temper-Pedic mattresses.
Urban Essentials isn’t just about selling furniture. There are also two interior designers on staff who will help design an entire room, going to a client’s house and helping assess what can be done with the available space.
“It’s just as easy to walk someone around here as it is to walk around their apartment to tell them what they need a block away,” Schaefer says of the design aspect. “Why not go out there and help them? Make sure it’ll fit through the door.”
Nearby apartment buildings are actually what brought the store’s interior design aspect to a whole new level. The staff would go to the apartments and stage the model rooms prospective renters would look at.
“We wound up getting a lot of business from that,” Schaefer says. “It was like we got to have three or four show rooms at one time.”
He still has people asking and sometimes insisting to buy furniture that normally wouldn’t be for sale. Just now, it’s the furniture in his own home.
“I sold both of the sofas in my house, out of my house, because somebody had to have them, which is not the first time,” Schaefer says, chuckling.
For more information on the store and services they offer, visit urban-essentials.com.
Glitterati Productions held the “Studio 69” party at Bunker on Friday, May 8.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
Washington Blade’s Pride on the Pier returns June 13 to kick off D.C. Pride week
Pride on the Pier officially launches Pride Week in D.C.
The Washington Blade’s annual Pride on the Pier celebration returns to The Wharf on Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 4-9 p.m., bringing thousands of LGBTQ community members and allies together for an unforgettable waterfront celebration to kick off Pride week in Washington, D.C.
Now in its eighth year, Washington Blade Pride on the Pier extends the city’s annual celebration of LGBTQ visibility to the bustling Wharf waterfront with an exciting array of activities and entertainment for all ages. The District Pier will offer DJs, dancing, drag, and other entertainment. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase for those 21 and older.
“Pride on the Pier has become one of the signature moments of Pride in D.C.,” said Lynne Brown, publisher of the Washington Blade. “There’s nothing like watching our community come together on the waterfront with live music and incredible energy as we kick off Pride week.”
Pride on the Pier is free and open to the public, with VIP tickets available for exclusive pier access to the Dockmaster Building. To purchase VIP tickets visit www.prideonthepierdc.com/vip.
Additional entertainment announcements, sponsor activations, and event details will be released in the coming weeks.
Event Details:
📍 Location: District Pier at The Wharf (101 District Sq SW, Washington, DC)
📅 Dates: Friday, 13, 2026
⏱️ 4-9PM
🎟️ VIP Tickets: www.PrideOnThePierDC.com/VIP
Theater
National tour of ‘Gatsby’ comes to National Theatre
Out actor Edward Staudenmayer talks playing the show’s gangster
‘The Great Gatsby’
May 12-24
The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
$59-$196
Thenationaldc.com
Often dubbed “The Great American Novel” for its depiction of ambition and self-invention alongside the reversals of success, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” says it all in a fast read.
Set against the excesses and energy of the Roaring Twenties, “The Great Gatsby,” novel and now the same-titled hit Broadway musical with a jazz/pop original score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen, tells the story of Nick Carraway and his friendship with Jay Gatsby, an enigmatic millionaire intent on reuniting with ex-lover, Daisy Buchanan.
It was during a four-month 2025 run in Seoul, South Korea, that out actor Edward Staudenmayer first played the show’s heavy, Meyer Wolfsheim, a gangster who helped Gatsby make his murkily acquired fortune. As Meyer, Staudenmayer opens the second act with, appropriately enough, “Shady.”
Now three months into a year-long North American tour, the show is poised to enjoy a brief run at Washington’s National Theatre (5/12-5/24).
While putting on his eyeliner prior to a recent Wednesday matinee at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre, the upstate New York-based actor shared about Gatsby and a life in theater.
WASHINGTON BLADE: Despite your good looks and terrific voice, you’re rarely the leading the man. How is that?
EDWARD STAUDENMAYER: I’m definitely a character man. I’ve been painting lines on my face to play old men since I was in high school. I was the youngest freshman in college playing old Uncle Sorin [in Chekhov’s “The Seagull”].
There have been many villains. Some darker than others. Meyer Wolfsheim is a very bad guy, but he doesn’t haunt me once I’m offstage. I play a lot of pickleball.
BLADE: Is it true that like so many of Fitzgerald’s characters, Wolfsheim is famously based on someone the writer encountered in life.
STAUDENMEYER: That’s true, Wolfsheim is pretty much a direct portrayal of real-life mobster and 1919 World Series fixer [Arnold Rothstein].
BLADE: When did the 1925 novel first surface on your radar?
STAUDENMAYER: Like many of us, I was assigned “The Great Gatsby” in high school. It was short, and filled with sex and illicit activities. I thought it was great. Definitely wasn’t a Judy Blume novel.
Interestingly, the book wasn’t originally a huge a success for Fitzgerald, but because it was about war and having the girl at home, they gave it to GIs leaving for WWII. After returning, a lot of those guys went on the GI Bill and became English teachers. They assigned the book to their students.
BLADE The idea that the book’s first-person narrator, Nick Carraway, is gay and enamored with Jay Gatsby is long discussed among readers and scholars. Does the musical touch on that?
STAUDENMAYER: Yes, there’s conjecture about Jay and Nick, and it’s implied in our show. It’s also implied about Jordan Baker, Jay’s fleeting romantic interest. Ultimately, she’s a confirmed bachelor, and a professional golfer who only wears pants.
Our performers are really good. Josh Grasso who plays Nick is fantastic. I’ve had to stop watching him in his last scene; it’s not good for Meyer Wolfsheim to take his curtain call crying. Our Gatsby, Jake David Smith, is good too. He’s gorgeous like Superman and sings like an angel.
BLADE: Do you ever imagine backstory for your characters whose sexuality is undefined?
STAUDENMAYER: I do, but not with Wolfsheim. I don’t see it. I’m trying to be as butch as possible with this ruthless killer.
BLADE: Have you had to do that in your career?
STAUDENMAYER: For a long time, I wore a mask to hide my gayness. I worked hard on being believable, that I was into the girl or that I was a tough guy.
It’s a different world now, and it’s so refreshing to be around the younger actors today; they’re remarkably open and comfortable.
BLADE: What was your coming of age like?
STAUDENMAYER: I played high school football in Palm Springs [he chuckles, alluding to the arid gay mecca], and I was pretty good too. But much to the chagrin of my parents and coaches, I quit the team to act in our senior year play. My super butch dad played semi-pro football and he was an ex-cop. I’m named after him. While I didn’t become my dad, I’ve played him often on stage. He was a true Gaston [the bumptious rival in “Beauty and the Beast”]. And like Gaston, he used antlers in all his interior decorating.
BLADE: Did he live to see your success in theater?
STAUDENMAYER: He did. Life was challenging growing up but the last 10 years of his life we couldn’t get off the phone with each other [his voice catches with emotion]. He accepted me entirely, and we became very close.
BLADE: Looking ahead, is there a part you’d especially like to play?
STAUDENMAYER: Like all baritones I’d love to play Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd.” I’ve come close but it hasn’t happened yet. There’s still time.
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