Arts & Entertainment
Arts news in brief: June 1
Events for the weekend and beyond in D.C., Baltimore and Rehoboth Beach
Dustin Lance Black (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Prop. 8-themed play comes to local theater
Woolly Mammoth Theater (641 D St., N.W.) is hosting a one-night reading of the play 8, written by the award-winning writer Dustin Lance Black, Monday at 7 p.m.
The play is about the federal constitutional challenge against California’s Proposition 8, which did not allow gays or lesbians to marry. Its first premiere in the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in New York City raised $1 million for American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER). Its West Coast premiere was led by an all-star cast with Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Martin Sheen and Theodore B. Olsen and raised $2 million.
Black is widely known for his screenwriting in “Milk” and “J.Edgar.”
Following the reading is a panel with Executive Director Rea Carey from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Maryland State Senator Richard Madaleno, Jr., Brian Moulton from the Human Rights Campaign and Matt Nosanchuk from the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
Tickets are $5. They can be purchased at the box office, over the phone at 202-393-3939, or by visiting woollymammoth.net.
For more information about “8,” visit 8theplay.com.
Chorus commemorates men and music
Gay Men’s Chorus is performing “Heart Throbs” Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Lisner Auditorium (730 21st St., N.W.).
The group will be paying tribute to men and music through fun and flirtatious musical selections by artists like Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, Boys II Men, N Sync, Backstreet Boys and The Beatles. The show presents a montage of fantasy dream dates and boy band crushes that will appeal to all ages and musical preferences.
Tickets range from $15-$50 and can be purchased at gmcw.org.
Rehoboth party celebrates 25 artists
Clear Space Theatre (20 Baltimore Ave., Rehoboth Beach, DE) is hosting the Black & White Beach Ball on Sunday evening from 5-8 p.m.
The event brings together 25 invited artists and their juried artwork that includes photography, charcoals, acrylic, oil, watercolor, sculpture and multimedia. The curators are artist and CAMP Rehoboth President Murray Archibald, Sondra Arkin, Gallery 50 owner Jay Pastore and graphic designer Andres Tremols. Professional auctioneer Lorne Crawford will be selling the artwork in the HeART of the Community Live art auction.
The evening will also include catered food and an open bar. Attendees should dress in black and white casual attire.
Tickets are $75 and can be purchased online at camprehoboth.com or at 302-227-5620.
Macy’s to host Pride panel discussion
Macy’s is hosting a panel discussion at its Metro Center location (1201 G Street, NW) Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the furniture gallery on the lower level. A discussion of progress of the LGBT community will include Nicholas Benton of Falls Church News Press; Candace Gingrich-Jones of Human Rights Campaign and Kevin Naff of Washington Blade.
For more information, visit macys.com/pride.
‘Prime’ time for sin
The Collective, a dance group with members representing Baltimore City and Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard and Hartford counties, presents “Prime,” part of its 13th performance season, on Saturday at the Baltimore Museum of Art (10 Art Museum Drive) at 2 and 8 p.m.
The show will feature seven works laced together with seven short solos built on the seven deadly sins. Themes of these sins will appear throughout the concert work as the dancers portray life with and without sin.
There will also be an encore of Jenny Seye’s “Complex Figures” and guest artist Adrienne Clancy’s “Sisters.”
Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for students and seniors.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit collective-dance.com.
Chenoweth has Baltimore and D.C. shows planned
Kristin Chenoweth, original star of the Broadway musical “Wicked,” plays the Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center (12 North Eutaw St.) on June 9 at 8 p.m.
Chenoweth will perform songs from countless performances, including “Wicked” and her new album, “Some Lessons Learned.”
Tickets are $200 and $350. The $350 tickets include a pre-concert buffet beginning at 6:30 p.m., access to the best seats for the concert and a post-show dessert and champagne reception. The $200 ticket includes a post-show dessert and coffee reception.
Chenoweth will also appear at DAR Constitution Hall in D.C. on June 10.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit france-merrickpac.com or kristin-chenoweth.com.
Gay-themed ‘Bent” at Mobtown
Baltimore’s Mobtown Players present Martin Sherman’s “Bent” at the Mobtown Theater at Meadow Hill (3600 Clipper Mill Road, Suite 114) opening tonight with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and matinees on June 10 and 17 at 4 p.m.
“Bent,” set in Hitler’s Germany, tells the story of Max, a man forced to by fear and shame to hide his sexuality and accepting who he is until he no longer can.
Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for students.
There will be a special benefit performance on June 10 at 4 p.m. Tickets for that performance are $25 and $15 of every ticket goes directly to Equality Maryland. The price also includes complimentary wine and a talkback session with the cast and crew after the performance.
The show runs through June 23.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit mobtownplayers.net.
Lesbian Md. delegate having birthday party
Democratic Delegate Mary Washington, a lesbian, is celebrating her 50th birthday with “Shake, Shake, Shake,” a dance party at Metro Gallery (1700 North Charles St.) at 7 p.m.
The party will begin with a vintage photo slide show, birthday wishes and cake. At 8:30 p.m. a live DJ will be providing the soundtrack for the dance party with music ranging from the ‘60s to today with drinks and light fare produced by Neopol of Belvedere Square.
Tickets range from $40 for young Democrats to $2,000 for platinum sponsors. Attendees must be 21 or older.
For more information on Washington and to purchase tickets or make a contribution, visit electmarywashington.com.
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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