Arts & Entertainment
Calendar: June 8
Parties, exhibits, concerts and more through June 14

TODAY
Special Agent Galactica performs tonight at Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave. NW) from 6-9 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit blackfoxlounge.com or pinkhairedone.com.
Sharon Needles, winner of this season’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and fellow “Drag Race” contestants Phi Phi O’Hara and Dida Ritz perform this evening at Town (2009 8th St. NW). Doors open at 9 p.m. and the drag show begins at 10:30. Tickets are $20 for all guests 18 and over. For more details, visit towndc.com.
Women in Their 20s, a social discussion group for all lesbian, transgender and bisexual women, meets tonight from 8-9 p.m. at the D.C. Center (1318 U St. NW). Dinner at a nearby restaurant follows the discussion. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
DJ Drew G and DJ Keenan spin tonight at Cobalt (1636 R St. NW). Vodka cocktails are served free of charge from 11 p.m.-midnight. For more details, visit cobaltdc.com.
The Queen Extravaganza, the official Queen tribute band, plays tonight at the 9:30 Club at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit 930.com.
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Saturday June 9
The D.C. Center for the LGBT Community (1318 U St. NW) provides free HIV testing from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. today. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
Phase 1 (525 8th St. SE) hosts Apocalypto: Post Pride Parade Dance Party this evening. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and admission is $5. For more details, visit phase1dc.com.
Town (2009 8th St. NW) has the largest party of Pride weekend tonight, D.C.’s Pride Party. Doors open at 9 p.m. and tickets are $20. Admission is limited to guests 21-and-older with valid government-issued ID. Tickets can be purchased in advance on GrooveTickets.com, and more details on the event are on towndc.com.
The Lambda Sci-Fi group hosts a gaming party today for LGBT science fiction, fantasy and horror fans at 1425 S St. NW at 3 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to bring a snack and non-alcoholic drink to share, and their favorite board, card, RPG or other game to play. The group will take a break to watch the Pride parade and get dinner. For more information, visit lambdascifi.org or call 202-483-6369.
Adventuring, a D.C.-area LGBT outdoor group, hikes on Maryland Heights today overlooking Harpers Ferry, W.V. The group meets at 9 a.m. at the Grosvenor-Strathmore metro station. Please bring your own beverages, lunch, sturdy boots and bug spray. Transportation, admission and trip fees are $15. For more details, visit meetup.com/Adventuring-Gay-Lesbian-Hiking-Biking.
The Black Cat (1811 14 St. NW) hosts Hellmouth Happy Hour tonight from 7-8:30 p.m. One episode of the gay cult classic series “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” screens and a drink special is served. Tickets are free. For more information, visit blackcatdc.com.
The Black Cat (1811 14 St. NW) hosts Gay/Bash! tonight at 10 p.m. DJs Joshua and Dean spin rock and pop hits all night. The event is open to people of all ages and admission is $5. For more details, visit blackcatdc.com.
Sunday June 10
Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, volunteers today from 9 a.m.-noon for the D.C. Central Kitchen (425 2 St. NW). The activity is limited to 15 group members. Volunteers will help cook, but no prior experience is required. For more details, visit burgundycrescent.org.
“Pariah,” a film about a teenage black woman’s lesbian identity and her rocky familial relationships, screens tonight at Busboys and Poets (2021 14 St. NW) from 8-10 p.m. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
Phase 1 (525 8 St. SE) hosts the D.C. Kings Show tonight with performances by local drag kings. Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 and limited to 21-and-older guests. For details, visit phase1dc.com.
Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, helps out today at the Capital Pride festivities. If interested in participating, visit burgundycrescent.org.
Monday June 11
The Whitman-Walker Clinic (1701 14 St. NW) hosts an HIV+ Newly Diagnosed Support Group tonight from 7-8:30 p.m. Registration is required to attend the meeting, so call 202-939-7671 if interested. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.
Nellie’s (900 U St. NW) has its weekly Poker Face night starting at 8 p.m. this evening. Texas Hold ‘Em is the featured poker game for guests. For details, visit nelliessportsbar.com.
Tuesday June 12
DC Bi Women has its monthly group gathering tonight at the Dupont Italian Kitchen (1637 17 St. NW) from 7-9 p.m. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
The D.C. Kings, a local drag king troupe whose performances are not limited to just male impersonation, have a meeting tonight at Café Collage (1346 T St. NW) for current members and those interested in joining the group. The meeting for new kings begins at 7 p.m., and the general meeting begins at 7:45. Those interested should visit dckings.com for more information.
Adventuring, a D.C.-area LGBT outdoor group, has its Arlington Evening Bike Ride tonight. The group meets at the Clarendon Metro at 6:25 p.m. and the bike ride begins promptly at 6:30. Bring a helmet, water and $2 for the club. For more details, visit adventuring.org.
Wednesday June 13
Center Women, a group within the D.C. Center, gathers tonight at Mova (2204 14 St. NW) for the iCandy Happy Hour from 6-8 p.m. For details, visit thedccenter.org.
Rainbow Response, a group that addresses domestic partner violence among LGBTQ people in the D.C. area, meets tonight at 6 p.m. at the D.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence (5 Thomas Circle NW). For more information, visit thedccenter.org or rainbowresponse.org.
The Lambda Bridge Club meets at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Dignity Center (721 8 St. SE) for duplicate bridge. No reservations are needed to participate and newcomers are welcome. For more details and if you need to find a partner, visit lambdabrige.com.
Thursday June 14
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington hosts an open mic night this evening from 8-11 p.m. at Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave. NW). Admission is free and those who sing get a free drink. For more information, visit blackfoxlounge.com.
Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, helps Food and Friends (219 Riggs Rd. NE) with food preparation and grocery packing tonight from 6-8 p.m. The volunteer group size is limited to 10 per shift and will fill quickly. If interested, email [email protected] and visit burgundycrescent.org or foodandfriends.org for more information.
Cobalt (1639 R St. NW) hosts its weekly “best package contest” tonight with hosts Lena Lett and Ba’Naka. Participants in this exhibitionistic contest can win up to $200 in prizes. Tickets are $3, and 21-and-older attendees can buy $2 vodka drinks from 9-11 p.m. For more details, visit cobaltdc.com.
Theater
Trans performer, juggler premiering one-woman show

Circus of the Self
May 29-June 6
Spooky Action Theater
1810 16th St., N.W.
Pay-What-You-Can: May 2
All other performances: $35
Spookyaction.org
For Lucy Eden, tricks have proved a way into theater.
The Oakland, Calif.-based trans performer and juggler is premiering her one-woman show “Circus of the Self” at Spooky Action Theater in conjunction with WorldPride.
Directed by Spooky Action’s artistic director Elizabeth Dinkova, the autobiographical busking show is a unique blend of circus and serious storytelling.
Juggler first met director several years ago in Atlanta. Eden explains, “She was working at a theater down the street from the juggling club where I spent a lot of time. She needed people for a street fair. I agreed. Another collaboration soon followed.”
Previously, Eden had worked mostly as a roaming performer at Atlanta corporate events and street style pre-game shows for the Braves: “Those environments were a good way to work on material, to learn what tricks make people stop their talking and turn their attention to me,” she says.
Now based in Oakland, Calif., Eden, 40, has created a 77-minute-long one-woman show infused with burlesque, expert juggling, and a personal, sometimes difficult, story.
While she hesitates to say it’s the obligation of all trans people to tell their stories, she says, “In these times, if you get the opportunity, I believe you ought to take it.”
Recently, she took a break from preparations, to talk life and showbiz.
BLADE: How exactly did you learn circus tricks?
EDEN: I’m autodidactic. I taught myself to juggle in the last semester of college. Things had gone wrong and I was looking for distraction. So, when I found a “three ball learn to juggle” kit, I never looked back. That lead to advanced juggling, unicycling, and balancing objects on my face.
Things began to look up. Today, I try to resist everything in my life going back to circus tricks, it almost always does.
BLADE: It sounds almost preordained.
EDEN: For sure. It changed everything. Circus skills force you to face your own failure. When you drop a ball, you can’t convince yourself or the audience that it didn’t happen. Performing, like life, forces you to develop capacities to deal with internal and external failures.
It teaches us not take ourselves, societal rules, or the idea of what’s success too seriously.
BLADE: Juggling at a cocktail party to baring your past before a rapt audience must be quite a stretch.
EDEN: It is, but rather than making a dramatic leap, I leveraged the fun and draw of circus to engage people in a more difficult conversation.
BLADE: Spooky Action’s website warns about “frank discussions of transphobia and mental health.”
EDEN: Well yeah, I grew up in rural Georgia in the 1990s. You can only imagine. Trans is integral to my identity, and a hot button term right now. I think everyone sees and hears a lot of things about trans people that don’t in fact come from actual trans people.
A big part of why I wrote this show and brought it to D.C. is because I really want audiences to have as intimate and revealing look at me as a trans persona as I can give them. I think it’s only through knowing that we can get beyond all the noise, misinformation, and fear mongering.
BLADE: Lately I hear a lot of artists bandying about the term “queer joy.” Woolly’s website uses the term in describing aspects of your show. What does it mean to you?
EDEN: It’s an important thingfor us all to be focused on right now, but we’re in a place where joy is hard to access. So, to me, it’s complex; it’s an important yet nuanced pursuit.
BLADE: As a part of the vast and promising WorldPride (through June 8) entertainment lineup, what makes your show stand out?
EDEN: It’s fun. I wrote “Circus of the Self” with a queer audience in mind. I spend a lot of time and creative energy performing for a general audience. I want this to be different. As far as I know, there’s nothing quite like my show out there.
There are a lot of shows that are a combination of storytelling and circus parts but they tend to be surface level entertainment. I think of this as more standup with circus layered on; it’s modeled after queer comedians like Hannah Gadsby and Tig Notaro whose work is driven more by personality than jokes.
I have tried to write a show for a queer audience. It has all the things I need to see for myself but never have.
Movies
‘Things Like This’ embraces formula and plus-size visibility
Enjoyable queer romcom challenges conventions of the genre

There’s a strange feeling of irony about a spring movie season stacked with queer romcoms – a genre that has felt conspicuously absent on the big screen since the disappointing reception met by the much-hyped “Bros” in 2022 – at a time when pushback against LGBTQ visibility is stronger than it’s been for 40 years.
Sure, part of the reason is the extended timeline required for filmmaking, which tells us, logically, that the numerous queer love stories hitting theaters this year – including the latest, the Manhattan-set indie “Things Like This,” which opened in limited theaters last weekend – began production long before the rapid cultural shift that has taken place in America since a certain convicted fraudster’s return to the White House.
That does not, however, make them any less welcome; on the contrary, they’re a refreshing assertion of queer existence that serves to counter-balance the hateful, politicized rhetoric that continues to bombard our community every day. In fact, the word “refreshing” is an apt description of “Things Like This,” which not only celebrates the validity – and joy – of queer love but does so in a story that disregards “Hollywood” convention in favor of a more authentic form of inclusion than we’re ever likely to see in a mainstream film
Written, starring, and directed by Max Talisman and set against the vibrant backdrop of New York City, it’s the story of two gay men named Zack – Zack #1 (Talisman) is a plus-sized hopeful fantasy author with a plus-sized personality and a promising-but-unpublished first novel, and Zack #2 (Joey Pollari) an aspiring talent agent dead-ended as an assistant to his exploitative “queen-bee” boss (Cara Buono) – who meet at an event and are immediately attracted to each other. Though Zack #2 is resigned to his unsatisfying relationship with longtime partner Eric (Taylor Trensch), he impulsively agrees to a date the following night, beginning an on-again/off-again entanglement that causes both Zacks to re-examine the trajectories of their respective lives – and a lot of other heavy baggage – even as their tentative and unlikely romance feels more and more like the workings of fate.
Like most romcoms, it relies heavily on familiar tropes – adjusted for queerness, of course – and tends to balance its witty banter and starry-eyed sentiment with heart-tugging setbacks and crossed-wire conflicts, just to raise the stakes. The Zacks’ attempts at getting together are a series of “meet-cutes” that could almost be described as fractal, yet each of them seems to go painfully awry – mostly due to the very insecurities and self-doubts which make them perfect for each other. The main obstacle to their couplehood, however, doesn’t spring from these mishaps; it’s their own struggles with self-worth that stand in the way, somehow making theirs more of a quintessentially queer love story than the fact that both of them are men.
All that introspection – relatable as it may be – can be a downer without active energy to stir things up, but fortunately for “Things Like This,” there are the inevitable BFFs and extended circle of friends and family that can help to get the fun back on track. Each Zack has his own support team backing him up, from a feisty “work wife” (Jackie Cruz, “Orange is the New Black”) to a straight best friend (Charlie Tahan, “Ozark”) to a wise and loving grandma (veteran scene-stealer Barbara Barrie, “Breaking Away” and countless vintage TV shows) – that fuels the story throughout, providing the necessary catalysts to prod its two neurotic protagonists into taking action when they can’t quite get there themselves.
To be sure, Talisman’s movie – his feature film debut as a writer and director – doesn’t escape the usual pitfalls of the romcom genre. There’s an overall sense of “wish fulfillment fantasy” that makes some of its biggest moments seem a bit too good to be true, and there are probably two or three complications too many as it approaches its presumed happy ending; in addition, while it helps to drive the inner conflict for Zack #2’s character arc, throwing a homophobic and unsupportive dad (Eric Roberts) into the mix feels a bit tired, though it’s hard to deny that such family relationships continue to create dysfunction for queer people no matter how many times they’re called out in the movies – which means that it’s still necessary, regrettably, to include them in our stories.
And in truth, “calling out” toxic tropes – the ones that reflect society’s negative assumptions and perpetuate them through imitation – is part of Talisman’s agenda in “Things Like This,” which devotes its very first scene to shutting down any objections from “fat shamers” who might decry the movie’s “opposites attract” scenario as unbelievable. Indeed, he has revealed in interviews that he developed the movie for himself because of the scarcity of meaningful roles for plus-sized actors, and his desire to erase such conventional prejudices extends in every direction within his big-hearted final product.
Even so, there’s no chip-on-the-shoulder attitude to sour the movie’s spirit; what helps us get over its sometimes excessive flourishes of idealized positivity is that it’s genuinely funny. The dialogue is loaded with zingers that keep the mood light, and even the tensest scenes are laced with humor, none of which feels forced. For this, kudos go to Talisman’s screenplay, of course, but also to the acting – including his own. He’s eminently likable onscreen, with wisecracks that land every time and an underlying good cheer that makes his appeal even more visible; crucially, his chemistry with Pollari – who also manages to maintain a lightness of being at his core no matter how far his Zack descends into uncertainty – isn’t just convincing; it’s enviable.
Cruz is the movie’s “ace in the hole” MVP as Zack #2’s under-appreciated but fiercely loyal bestie, and Buono’s hilariously icy turn as his “boss from hell” makes for some of the film’s most memorable scenes. Likewise, Tahan, along with Margaret Berkowitz and Danny Chavarriaga, flesh out Zack #1’s friend group with a real sense of camaraderie that should be recognizable to anyone who’s ever been part of an eclectic crew of misfits. Trensch’s comedic “ickiness” as Zack #2’s soon-to-be-ex makes his scenes a standout; and besides bigger-name “ringers” Roberts and Barrie (whose single scene is the emotional climax of the movie), there’s also a spotlight-grabbing turn by Diane Salinger (iconic as Francophile dreamer Simone in “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure”) as the owner of a queer bar where the Zacks go on one of their dates.
With all that enthusiasm and a momentum driven by a sense of DIY empowerment, it’s hard to be anything but appreciative of “Things Like This,” no matter how much some of us might cringe at its more unbelievable romcom devices. After all, it’s as much a “feel-good” movie as it is a love story, and the fact that we actually do feel good when the final credits role is more than enough to earn it our hearty recommendation.

Friday, May 23
“Center Aging Monthly Luncheon and Yoga” will be at 12 p.m. in person at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. For more details, email [email protected].
Trans Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This group is intended to provide an emotionally and physically safe space for trans people and those who may be questioning their gender identity and/or expression. For more details, email [email protected].
Go Gay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Community Happy Hour” at 7 p.m. at DIK Bar. This event is ideal for making new friends, professional networking, idea-sharing, and community building. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
Saturday, May 24
Go Gay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Community Brunch” at 11 a.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant. This fun weekly event brings the DMV area LGBTQ community, including Allies, together for delicious food and conversation. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
Black Lesbian Mixer will be at 11 a.m. on Zoom. This is a support group dedicated to the joys of being a Black lesbian. For more details, email [email protected].
Sunday, May 25
“The Queen’s Table: A Women’s Empowerment Brunch” will be at 11 a.m. at Zooz. This event will celebrate queer women’s strength. For more details visit Eventbrite.
Monday, May 26
“Center Aging Monday Coffee and Conversation” will be at 10 a.m. on Zoom. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ+ adults. Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of choice. For more details, email [email protected].
Tuesday, May 27
Genderqueer DC will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a support group for people who identify outside of the gender binary. Whether you’re bigender, agender, genderfluid, or just know you’re not 100 percent cis — this is your group. For more details, visit genderqueerdc.org or Facebook.
Coming Out Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This support group is a safe space to share experiences about coming out and discuss topics as it relates to doing so. For more details, visit the group’s Facebook.
Wednesday, May 28
Job Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. This is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confidence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking — allowing participants to move away from being merely “applicants” toward being “candidates.” For more information, email [email protected] or visit thedccenter.org/careers.
Thursday, May 29
The DC Center’s Fresh Produce Program will be held all day at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. To be fairer with who is receiving boxes, the program is moving to a lottery system. People will be informed on Wednesday at 5 p.m. if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email [email protected] or call 202-682-2245.
Virtual Yoga with Charles M. will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a free weekly class focusing on yoga, breathwork, and meditation. For more details, visit the DC Center for the LGBT Community’s website.
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