Arts & Entertainment

Arts briefs: May 18

Casino night for Team D.C., Lambda Legal milestone and much more for D.C. and Baltimore

Published

14 years ago

May 17, 2012

Juliette Ebner

Nightly events planned at Grand Central

Grand Central Station (1001/1003 N. Charles St.) has a bunch of events coming up this week.

Saturday brings Rich Morel’s “Hot Sauce.” There’s a $10 cover.

Sunday is “Night of Broadway” starring Sue Nami, Jada B, Lola Mein, Anastasia Amor with special guest Aunye Diamond and hosted by Josie Foster from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tickets are $10

Monday and Tuesday will be karaoke with Nikki Cox from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Wednesday is “hump,” an electro-pop, alternative, indie dance night starting at 9 p.m. with DJ Arturo with Ryan Bartz and Travis Rice behind the bar.

Thursday is Ladies Night with DJ Lems.

Men’s Chorus performs at the Patterson

The Baltimore Men’s Chorus presents “Time and Elements” on Saturday at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson (3134 Eastern Ave.) at 8 p.m.

Directed by Tony Bianca and founded 20 years ago, the Chorus is sometimes campy, sometimes crazy, heartfelt and poignant. There will be a silent auction in the lobby and a post-show performance with Amy Willis in the Marquee Lounge.

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for CA members.

For more information, visit baltimoremenschorus.com. To purchase tickets, visit creativealliance.org.

Carmen Carrera, an alum of ‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race,’ will be at the Hippo for an Equality Maryland event Sunday. (Photo courtesy Logo)

Equality Md. holds wedding expo, drag contest

Equality Maryland is sponsoring two events Sunday in the Baltimore area.

First up is a LGBT wedding show at Sheraton Baltimore North (903 Dulaney Valley Rd., Towson) at 1 p.m. This is Sheraton’s first such event and all brides and grooms-to-be are eligible to win giveaways. There is a $5 admission charge and a portion of admissions will benefit the Trevor Project.

RSVP by calling 410-321-7400 or emailing [email protected].

After the wedding show, Equality Maryland hosts “So You Think You Can Drag” at Club Hippo (1 West Eager St.) starting at 6 p.m. with Carmen Carrera from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” singer Lea Gilmore, Deputy Chief Kaliope Parthemos and SEIU 500 Political Director Mark McLaurin as judges.

Tickets are $25 for attendees over 25 and $15 for attendees under 25 or with a valid college ID. The event is free for performers.

For more information on either event, visit equalitymaryland.org.

Coming out, poz group and others to meet at Center

The GLBT Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland (241 West Chase St.) has a large variety of groups meeting this week.

On Saturday, Sufficient As I Am, a group for youth 24 and younger dealing with issues of sexuality, coming out, relationships, family and more, meets in room 201 at 12:30 p.m.

POZ Men, an LGBT-affirming peer support group for all HIV-positive men, meets on Wednesday in room 202 at 6 p.m.

Women of Color, a social and discussion group, meets on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in room 202.

For more information on these groups and others, visit glccb.org.

Casino night to benefit Team D.C.

Team D.C. presents Casino Night on Saturday at Buffalo Billiards (1330 19^th St., N.W.) from 8 p.m. to midnight.

The night will include poker, blackjack and craps with dealers from local LGBT sports teams.

There is a $10 entry fee, which includes chips to play games and enters attendees to win raffle prizes. Proceeds from the night are split among the participating sports clubs.

For more information, visit teamdc.org.

Gay law organization celebrates milestone

Lambda Legal is celebrating Kevin Cathcart’s 20th anniversary as executive director on Tuesday at Studio Theatre (1501 14th St., N.W.) from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Lambda Legal was founded in 1973 as the nation’s first legal organization dedicated to achieving full equality for lesbian and gay people.

The evening will feature cocktails and hors d’oeuvres as the organization celebrates 20 years of historic legal victories.

Tickets range from $150 for individual tickets to $25,000 for district sponsor.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit lambdalegal.org.

Gaithersburg book fest draws 80 authors

The third annual Gaithersburg Book Festival with more than 80 featured bestselling and award-winning authors, is Saturday at the Gaithersburg City Hall Grounds from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Other festival activities include a spotlight on local authors, interactive writing workshops, a Children’s Village, a coffee house featuring performances from poets and singer/songwriters and more.

Admission, parking and handicap-accessible shuttle bus are free. For more information and a complete list of authors and events, visit gaithersburgbookfestival.org.

Local pros offer tips at Chamber event

The Capital Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce present “Best Impressions,” a panel giving the secrets to impress with style at the offices of Ackerman Brown PLLC (1250 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The panel will feature Brad Brenner of District Psychotherapy Consultants, Christopher Schafer of Christopher Schafer Clothier, David Beck of Salon Rouge and Dr. Howard Brooks of Skin Cosmetic Dermatology of Georgetown.

The panel is $25 for members and $45 for non-members.

For more information and to register, visit caglcc.org/MayBML.

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Theater

‘Feeling Afraid’ explores life of a neurotic stand-up comic

Navigating sex, work, and possibly love in London

Published

2 days ago

June 20, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Steven Webb in ‘Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen’ (Photo by DJ Corey)

‘Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen’
Through July 12
Studio Theatre
1501 14th St., N.W.
$55-$102
Studiotheatre.org

Wordily yet rightly titled, solo show “Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen” dives deeply into the world of a neurotic stand-up comic as he navigates sex, work, and possibly love in London.

Busy arranging hookups and dates on “The App,” the 36-year-old gay funnyman juggles a full dance card; still he’s never been in a romantic relationship. While he’s willing to give love a shot, he’s not pressed about it. As he says, he harbors no fear of dying alone.

Currently making its American premiere at Studio Theatre, this darkly humorous Edinburgh Fringe import features terrific out English actor Steven Webb as The Comedian who’s about to explore what it means to spend all his time with one man.

At Studio’s intimate Mead Theatre, Kat Heath’s minimal set says standard comedy club (fluorescent tube lighting, the mic with a long cord, a single stool backed by a rose-colored curtain), but gay playwright Marcelo Dos Santos has conjured something much more than a live comedy set.

Yes, The Comedian bounces onstage in his red Converse high tops, jeans, and pink shirt with a huge mouth emblazoned on the back, but he delivers more than jokes. At times hilariously self-deprecating, then dark, and occasionally a lesson on what makes standup work, this is a layered, well-acted piece.

With Webb (a keen caricaturist of types and voices) playing all the parts while conducting The Comedian’s hilariously frenetic interior monologue, “Feeling Afraid” takes us through a summer of love. It seems after six chaste dates with The American, our nervous hero has found Mr. Right. The American is earnest, smart, hesitant to initiate sex. He’s also well built with a beautiful smile. And strangely, he’s been medically advised not to laugh aloud.

The Comedian delights in the joys of new love: dates, first kisses, sex, and then suddenly spending all of his time with the adored. Visits to art galleries become fun. Eating home cooked meals followed by grim documentaries is a thing. The Comedian is beguiled as his own boyish figure fills out, but something isn’t right. He can’t entirely relax.

Along the way we meet the Aussie doctor, our protagonist’s longtime hookup; a young runner with some exceptional body parts; the random third in a failed threesome; grumpy working comics, male and female; and an ineffectual counselor.

Webb gives a lightning-fast performance that boggles the mind (in terms velocity and virtuosity). He can be impish, very impish. He’s nervous energy incarnate, flashing jazz hands, grimacing but handsome when still. He’s likeable, a necessity when delivering a hilariously rude joke just feet away from two stone-faced audience members. (Perhaps they were laughing on the inside? At any rate, they stayed through the end the show.)

Produced by the team behind Fringe hits “Fleabag” and “Baby Reindeer,” small stage works that were developed into major TV screen successes, “Feeling Afraid” is funny for sure, and it’s also highly confessional, sexually explicit, and raw.

Written by Dos Santos during COVID lockdown, the piece was a smash hit in the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe before finding further success in London. Its depiction of a youngish queer guy navigating the big city rings entirely true. Like so much Fringe stuff, the one-man show is delightfully lewd and standup inspired.

One little moan: the show closes cleverly but too abruptly with its star dashing offstage without sufficiently basking in the admiration and applause of his thoroughly chuffed audience.

They say third time’s a charm, and regarding “Feeling Afraid,” I’d agree. After two performance cancellations (first for laryngitis and the second involving faulty air conditioning on an especially muggy June evening), I made my third trek to Studio where I found both the actor and AC in very fine fettle. And truly, Webb’s work was more than worth the wait.