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Wide open spaces

Local gay actor plans ambitious Riverfront performance

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‘The Nautical Yards’
April 26-29
The Yards Park, 10 Water Street SE
$30 premium seating; free general admission (lawn/standing)
Force-collision.org

John Moletress, right, and company. (Photo courtesy force/collision)

For its upcoming production, force/collision has shunned details like securing rights to a play or leasing a theater.  Instead, the new interdisciplinary company has opted to devise its own material — “The Nautical Yards” — and will premiere it outdoors at the Yards Park in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood located just south of Capitol Hill.

Inspired by the history and architecture of the adjacent Navy Yard, the hour-long performance blends movement, music and text to tell the story of two lovers separated by war and sea. And because it’s truly site specific, the production calls on its 30-person ensemble cast to make wide use of the open space, including its shallow canal, fountains, ultra-modern bridge and boardwalk.

“While [the performance] does draw on documented accounts of the Navy Yard civilian work force, personal war correspondence and letters and the mythology of water, it’s not a true narrative,” says John Moletress, director and force/collision founder. “I wanted to take all findings and source material and use it to respond to the architecture and the history. It’s a collage and layering of different images, musings and texts.”

Moletress, who’s gay, lives just two blocks from the park. He says when he first moved to the neighborhood four years ago, he instantly saw potential for drama. “The area was much less developed then — a lot of the big old buildings that have since repurposed were standing empty and abandoned. I asked the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District about doing a performance in one of the buildings then, but was told it was too dangerous. The structures were in bad shape and there was still a lot of scrap metal lying around from the 1950s.”

More recently, when Moletress approached the District about the Yards Park project, they were much more receptive, expressing eagerness to bring in varying kinds of arts to supplement their summer concert and movies series. Also, the late April performance dates coincide with a new residential building opening in the area as well as more restaurants and retail.

“The Nautical Yards” is the result of ongoing collaboration among director Moletress, composer Daniel Paul Lawson, choreographer Erica Rebollar, dance captain/assistant choreographer Ilana Faye Silverstein, costume designer Collin Ranney and talented force/collision company performers Karin Rosnizeck; Dane Figueroa Edidi, who typically performs by the name Lady Dane; Sue Jin Song; and Ranney, and busy local actor Frank Britton. (About 20 or so additional actors have been cast for the performance.) Britton, who’s bi, is thoroughly enjoying the entire site-specific performance experience. He describes dipping into the fountains as fun but chilly, and hopes for warm evenings during the show’s short run.

This is Moletress’ first foray into directing al fresco. Fortunately he has a loud outside voice, so giving directions to 30 performers in a well-trafficked park hasn’t been a problem. “It’s a wonderful way to engage in the arts and with your community in the outdoors, but it’s not without challenges. Because the process is very open,” he says. “You have to throw your ego out the window. All of your direction is on display. From the start, you’re getting feedback from all the locals who pass by. It’s interesting to see who chooses to be curious and engage and who runs away.”

“We have no rain dates. We’re playing it by ear,” Moletress says. “But if a performance is interrupted by bad weather, we can all wait it out in a nearby lumber shed. There’s room for everyone.”

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Books

A boy-meets-boy, family-mess story with heat

New book offers a stunning, satisfying love story

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(Book cover image courtesy of Random House)

‘When the Harvest Comes’
By Denne Michele Norris
c.2025, Random House
$28/304 pages

Happy is the bride the sun shines on.

Of all the clichés that exist about weddings, that’s the one that seems to make you smile the most. Just invoking good weather and bright sunshine feels like a cosmic blessing on the newlyweds and their future. It’s a happy omen for bride and groom or, as in the new book “When the Harvest Comes” by Denne Michele Norris, for groom and groom.

Davis Freeman never thought he could love or be loved like this.

He was wildly, wholeheartedly, mind-and-soul smitten with Everett Caldwell, and life was everything that Davis ever wanted. He was a successful symphony musician in New York. They had an apartment they enjoyed and friends they cherished. Now it was their wedding day, a day Davis had planned with the man he adored, the details almost down to the stitches in their attire. He’d even purchased a gorgeous wedding gown that he’d never risk wearing.

He knew that Everett’s family loved him a lot, but Davis didn’t dare tickle the fates with a white dress on their big day. Everett’s dad, just like Davis’s own father, had considerable reservations about his son marrying another man – although Everett’s father seemed to have come to terms with his son’s bisexuality. Davis’s father, whom Davis called the Reverend, never would. Years ago, father and son had a falling-out that destroyed any chance of peace between Davis and his dad; in fact, the door slammed shut to any reconciliation.

But Davis tried not to think about that. Not on his wedding day. Not, unbeknownst to him, as the Reverend was rushing toward the wedding venue, uninvited but not unrepentant. Not when there was an accident and the Reverend was killed, miles away and during the nuptials.

Davis didn’t know that, of course, as he was marrying the love of his life. Neither did Everett, who had familial problems of his own, including homophobic family members who tried (but failed) to pretend otherwise.

Happy is the groom the sun shines on. But when the storm comes, it can be impossible to remain sunny.

What can be said about “When the Harvest Comes?” It’s a romance with a bit of ghost-pepper-like heat that’s not there for the mere sake of titillation. It’s filled with drama, intrigue, hate, characters you want to just slap, and some in bad need of a hug.

In short, this book is quite stunning.

Author Denne Michele Norris offers a love story that’s everything you want in this genre, including partners you genuinely want to get to know, in situations that are real. This is done by putting readers inside the characters’ minds, letting Davis and Everett themselves explain why they acted as they did, mistakes and all. Don’t be surprised if you have to read the last few pages twice to best enjoy how things end. You won’t be sorry.

If you want a complicated, boy-meets-boy, family-mess kind of book with occasional heat, “When the Harvest Comes” is your book. Truly, this novel shines.

The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

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Photos

PHOTOS: Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch

LGBTQ politicians gather for annual event

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Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) speaks at the 2025 Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Victory Fund held its National Champagne Brunch at the Ritz-Carlton on Sunday, April 27. Speakers included Tim Gunn, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.), Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Music & Concerts

Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’

Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

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Singer Tom Goss is back. (Photo by Dusti Cunningham)

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co. 

Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.

For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.

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