Arts & Entertainment
Shakeups on the seashore
Summer brings parking changes, new restaurants and more to Rehoboth
Blue Moon (Blade file photo)
Even though Rehoboth Beach is consistently rated by travel guides as one of the nation’s best and most popular LGBT resort towns, it does’t rest on its laurels. As with most years, this summer you will find a number of changes.
Tired of scrounging for quarters in order to park? Beginning May 25, drivers will be able to pay for parking spaces by phones and mobile devices using the Parkmobile system already employed in D.C.
“This will bring Rehoboth Beach into the 21st century, and I think it is a great convenience to the consumer,” says Joe Zuber, owner of Dos Locos.
The Board of Commissioners early this year agreed to change the regulations regarding restaurant and bar patios, writing new regulations to allow establishments with patios to remain open and serving food and drinks until 1 a.m. In September 2010, the city launched raids on establishments that had patios and arrested some owners of those establishments.
Rehoboth Beach has always had establishments that cater to its growing LGBT clientele. From the Blue Moon — now in its 31st year — to the soon-to-open Our Place (Henlopen Junction Mall, 715 Rehoboth Ave.), formerly the site of Nourish, which bills itself as a neighborhood bar that serves comfort food, there is a wide range of establishments to meet everybody’s needs.
Many establishments will offer live entertainment throughout the summer. The venerable Blue Moon (35 Baltimore Ave.), with its bright new back bar, will continue to host daily shows and Pamala Stanley will again perform from 6 to 8 p.m., from Sunday through Thursday beginning May 27. On Friday night, the Divas will perform their drag show from 9:45-11 p.m. and Saturdays at the same time will see Blue Moon Legends, a celebrity tribute show.
Many LGBT-owned establishments will host regular shows. In town, Aqua (57 Baltimore Ave.), with its scantily attired servers is a great place to be seen; the L Bar (622 Rehoboth Ave.) brings back Mandance on Saturday nights; and Dos Locos (208 Rehoboth Ave.), Cloud 9 (234 Rehoboth Ave.), Purple Parrot (134 Rehoboth Ave.) and Rigby’s (404 Rehoboth Ave.) will also host regular entertainment. Be sure to visit the Parrot’s Biergarten, where the Blade’s 2011 Best Rehoboth Bartender Jamie Romano holds court.
Sole, also on Baltimore Avenue is no more, and will be replaced by a new venture with an unusual name, (a)Muse, which will provide what they describe as locally grown modernized food. Other new additions include Cabo, a Mexican restaurant with rooftop bar and tequileria that replaces Porcini House on Wilmington Avenue; Nage (19730 Coastal Highway) is opening a gourmet deli next door called Root Gourmet. And next door to it will be a new Touch of Italy modeled on the Lewes location and featuring a sit-down restaurant.
There are many LGBT-owned restaurants in town, among them, MIXX, JAM, Eden, Finbar’s, Lori’s and Purple Parrot. And for ice cream you can go to Double Dippers on First Street, opposite of Nicola’s.
Lesbians have no shortage of options for going out. A popular lesbian-owned restaurant, the Seafood Shack (42 1/2 Baltimore Ave.) continues to serve fine food and offer great entertainment. Mikki Snyder-Hall, a resident of Rehoboth Beach notes that, “since 2003 there has been an increase in lesbian-friendly bars and restaurants.”
Among them are Rehoboth Ale House (15 Wilmington Ave.) and Charcoal Grill, which has moved from the same shopping center as Gelato Gal, to the Food Lion shopping center at the site of Zorba’s. Both Frogg Pond (First and Rehoboth Avenue) and Cloud 9 (234 Rehoboth Avenue) are praised by Snyder-Hall as being lesbian-friendly, and Saketumi on Route 1 is also known to have a lesbian following.
In addition to the many eating and drinking establishments, Rehoboth also has one of the few independent LGBT bookstores left in the United States, Proud Bookstore, which has moved to a larger location at the Village at the Sea Shops. Jocques LeClair, former manager of Rehoboth Lambda Rising, said his business “provides an outlet for those who visit Rehoboth who may come from areas that are less friendly to them.” He also promotes local authors and has provided book readings and promotions for LGBT writers. Shortly he hopes to begin a book club.
The only gay-owned coffee shop in town, the Coffee Mill (Rehoboth Mews, 127 Rehoboth Ave.) is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Hoda Kotb featured this establishment on the “Today” show and can be seen there on occasion. Expect to see events related to its anniversary.
CAMP Rehoboth (37 Baltimore Ave.) serves as a community center, with information on the LGBT community, a meeting hall and sponsor of several popular summer events. This year the Black and White Beach Ball returns on June 3, with an event to promote local artists. Christopher Peterson, a popular female impersonator, will return for one day only, as Judy Garland, July 28, to benefit CAMP Rehoboth. Earlier that day, Barbara Gittings Delaware Stonewall Democrats will hold its Summer Bash, this year featuring Delaware’s Attorney General, Joseph “Beau” Biden, III. It will be held at Mariachi’s on Wilmington Avenue. The event is called a must stop-by summer event for all of the state’s political leaders, and on July 6, GLSEN will hold a beach party at the CAMP Community Center.
On the second Saturday of each month there is an Art Walk, a tour of the numerous galleries in town. Most galleries have special events featuring numerous local and national artists. There are several other gay-owned galleries in town including Gallery 50 (50 Wilmington Ave.) and Phillip Morton (47 Baltimore Ave.).
Bin 66, a favorite wine shop has wine tastings on Friday evenings at its Rehoboth Avenue location and on Saturday evenings at its other location opposite Spring Lake on Route 1.
Rehoboth offers a wide range of activities, dining options and nightlife. Visit camprehoboth.com or rehobothfoodie.com for updated information.
Theater
José Zayas brings ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ to GALA Hispanic Theatre
Gay Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca wrote masterpiece before 1936 execution
‘The House of Bernarda Alba’
Through March 1
GALA Hispanic Theatre
3333 14th St., N.W.
$27-$52
Galatheatre.org
In Federico García Lorca’s “The House of Bernarda Alba,” now at GALA Hispanic Theatre in Columbia Heights, an impossibly oppressive domestic situation serves, in short, as an allegory for the repressive, patriarchal, and fascist atmosphere of 1930s Spain
The gay playwright completed his final and arguably best work in 1936, just months before he was executed by a right-wing firing squad. “Bernarda Alba” is set in the same year, sometime during a hot summer in rural Andalusia, the heart of “España profunda” (the deep Spain), where traditions are deeply rooted and mores seldom challenged.
At Bernarda’s house, the atmosphere, already stifling, is about to get worse.
On the day of her second husband’s funeral, Bernarda Alba (superbly played by Luz Nicolás), a sixtyish woman accustomed to calling the shots, gathers her five unmarried daughters (ages ranging from 20 to 39) and matter-of-factly explain what’s to happen next.
She says, “Through the eight years of mourning not a breeze shall enter this house. Consider the doors and windows as sealed with bricks. That’s how it was in my father’s house and my grandfather’s. Meanwhile, you can embroider your trousseaux.”
It’s not an altogether sunny plan. While Angustias (María del Mar Rodríguez), Bernarda’s daughter from her first marriage and heiress to a fortune, is betrothed to a much younger catch, Pepe el Romano, who never appears on stage, the remaining four stand little chance of finding suitable matches. Not only are they dowry-less, but no men, eligible or otherwise, are admitted into their mother’s house.
Lorca is a literary hero known for his mastery of both lyrical poetry and visceral drama; still, “Bernarda Alba’s” plotline might suit a telenovela. Despotic mother heads a house of adult daughters. Said daughters are churning with passions and jealousies. When sneaky Martirio (Giselle Gonzáles) steals the photo of Angustias’s fiancé all heck kicks off. Lots of infighting and high drama ensue. There’s even a batty grandmother (Alicia Kaplan) in the wings for bleak comic relief.
At GALA, the modern classic is lovingly staged by José Zayas. The New York-based out director has assembled a committed cast and creative team who’ve manifested an extraordinarily timely 90-minute production performed in Spanish with English subtitles easily ready seen on multiple screens.
In Lorca’s stage directions, he describes the set as an inner room in Bernarda’s house; it’s bright white with thick walls. At GALA, scenic designer Grisele Gonzáles continues the one-color theme with bright red walls and floor and closed doors. There are no props.
In the airless room, women sit on straight back chairs sewing. They think of men, still. Two are fixated on their oldest siter’s hunky betrothed. Only Magdelena (Anna Malavé), the one sister who truly mourns their dead father, has given up on marriage entirely.
The severity of the place is alleviated by men’s distant voices, Koki Lortkipanidze’s original music, movement (stir crazy sisters scratching walls), and even a precisely executed beatdown choreographed by Lorraine Ressegger-Slone.
In a short yet telling scene, Bernarda’s youngest daughter Adela (María Coral) proves she will serve as the rebellion to Bernarda’s dictatorship. Reluctant to mourn, Adela admires her reflection. She has traded her black togs for a seafoam green party dress. It’s a dreamily lit moment (compliments of lighting designer Hailey Laroe.)
But there’s no mistaking who’s in charge. Dressed in unflattering widow weeds, her face locked in a disapproving sneer, Bernarda rules with an iron fist; and despite ramrod posture, she uses a cane (though mostly as a weapon during one of her frequent rages.)
Bernarda’s countenance softens only when sharing a bit of gossip with Poncia, her longtime servant convincingly played by Evelyn Rosario Vega.
Nicolás has appeared in “Bernarda Alba” before, first as daughter Martirio in Madrid, and recently as the mother in an English language production at Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh. And now in D.C. where her Bernarda is dictatorial, prone to violence, and scarily pro-patriarchy.
Words and phrases echo throughout Lorca’s play, all likely to signal a tightening oppression: “mourning,” “my house,” “honor,” and finally “silence.”
As a queer artist sympathetic to left wing causes, Lorca knew of what he wrote. He understood the provinces, the dangers of tyranny, and the dimming of democracy. Early in Spain’s Civil War, Lorca was dragged to the the woods and murdered by Franco’s thugs. Presumably buried in a mass grave, his remains have never been found.
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(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Sweat DC is officially expanding to Shaw, opening a new location at 1818 7th St., N.W., on Saturday, March 28 — and they’re kicking things off with a high-energy, community-first launch event.
To celebrate, Sweat DC is hosting Sweat Fest, a free community workout and social on Saturday, March 14, at 10 a.m. at the historic Howard Theatre. The event features a group fitness class, live DJ, local food and wellness partners, and a mission-driven partnership with the Open Goal Project, which works to expand access to youth soccer for players from marginalized communities.
For more details, visit Sweat DC’s website and reserve a spot on Eventbrite.
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