Arts & Entertainment
Black and gay in D.C.
Theater festival features two playwrights tackling sexuality, AIDS on stage
DC Black Theatre Festival
June 23-July 1
‘Moments of Truth,’ June 30
9 p.m., Navy Memorial Theater
701 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.‘11 x 8 ½ inches,’ June 29
9 p.m., Howard University Blackburn Center
2400 Sixth St., N.W.Ticket prices vary.
dcblacktheatrefestival.com
A scene from ‘Moments of Truth’ (Photo courtesy D.C. Black Theatre Festival)
In the upcoming DC Black Theatre Festival, a commemoration of African-American culture and works, two playwrights seek to shine a spotlight on the black LGBT community.
Monte Wolfe and Alan Sharpe, both black D.C. playwrights, have focused their pieces on sexuality, love and dealing with the complications of HIV/AIDS. Their plays are being featured in the festival, which starts June 23 and runs through July 1 at various locations in the D.C. area.
“A problem is a lack in visibility,” says Sharpe. “Representations of black gays have been very limited, and in the past those characters were used as something to ridicule.”
Sharpe’s piece, “11 x 8 ½ inches,” is a series of short scenes that explores the lives of black gay men living in D.C. Each scene explores ideas of sex and sexuality, sometimes entering into the erotic, raunchy and romantic. The piece is being featured in the New Works Reading Series, a part of the festival that showcases new works by upcoming and established playwrights in the area.
Reginald Richards, a gay actor in Sharpe’s play, says the piece works to break stereotypes of the “typical gay man.”
“People expect us to be very flamboyant and really sexual,” he says. “It is important for people to see we come with all different personalities and different ethnic backgrounds.”
Wolfe’s play, “Moments of Truth,” is also a series of short scenes that show a variety of people dealing with the complications of HIV/AIDS and how it affects love and relationships. With a less than $1,000 budget, the minimalist style keeps the focus on the short but charged interactions between the characters.
“There is something for everybody in the show, whether you are black, white, gay or straight,” he says. “It is about connecting AIDS to sexuality and working through those problems.”
Wolfe was diagnosed with AIDS in late 2004. This helped trigger his interest in HIV/AIDS outreach, in which he created the Brave Soul Collective, a theater company, in 2006. The company focuses on plays with LGBT themes.
Sharpe has been writing plays with LGBT themes since 1992. Coincidentally, he was also diagnosed with AIDS the same year. He and Wolfe have collaborated on several works, and Wolfe is an actor in one of the scenes of Sharpe’s piece.
“Alan has always been a mentor to me,” says Wolfe. “He makes it clear to me the character I want to perform and what I want to write about in my plays.”
Sharpe says that the festival is a good opportunity to shed light on talent that might otherwise be overlooked.
“It is amazing to see artists travel from all over the country to join together for a few days,” he says. “It allows artists to reach a broader range of audience.”
Barbara Asare-Bediako, an actor in Wolfe’s piece, identifies as, “a woman who just loves a woman.”
“My ultimate goal is to make black theater and gay theater a normal thing,” she says. “I want it so we can turn on the TV and it would just be part of society.”
However she says it is still important to focus on talent coming from the African-American community, and doing HIV/AIDS outreach. Asare-Bediako has been involved with several outreach programs, including HIPS, to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
“I had a cousin who passed,” she says. “I found out months after it happened. My uncle, his father, acts like he never had a son.”
Asare-Bediako also cites the high HIV/AIDS rate in the District as an important factor to consider when selecting themes for the festival. The newly infected HIV/AIDS rate among African-American women has nearly doubled in D.C.’s poorest neighborhoods in the past two years, according to a recent Washington Post report.
Despite their focus on LGBT themes, Sharpe and Wolfe work to keep all kinds of audience members involved.
“We focus on the universal elements and not on division,” says Wolfe. “We cry, we laugh, we dream just like everybody else.”
Jared Shamberger, an actor in Wolfe’s piece who also wrote some of the scenes, says the piece includes a little bit of everything and expresses that everyone experiences powerful moments of truth.
“Even though we do primarily focus on LGBT themes, LGBT people have heterosexual friends and vice versa,” he says. “I don’t think you could present the LGBT story without including the heterosexual experience as well.”
One of his scenes is about a heterosexual couple that just had unprotected sex for the first time before they even went on a first date. They talk about where they are as a couple and about getting tested.
Shamberger agrees that including themes that deal with the HIV/AIDS rate is important.
“The HIV infection is not making headlines anymore,” he says. “People are getting infected everyday still, and I think it is something that people should be made aware of.”
Both pieces develop their themes through short scenes rather than a longer narrative arc. Wolfe says this makes the piece more powerful.
“I think it keeps people on their toes,” he says. “I don’t think I want the audience to get married to one particular character. I want them to see some bits of themselves in all the characters.”
Sharpe and Wolfe say that including LGBT themes in the theater is a great way to make people aware of the LGBT community by drawing them into characters’ lives.
“Gay people go through the same thing, they fall in love and they get heartbroken,” says Bediako. “People need to see these stories, see that gay people live normal lives, whatever normal is.”
Shamberger says it is impossible to write a play about the African-American community without including the LGBT community.
“I think if we are trying to present the landscape of black experience we have to include LGBT people as well,” he says.
Music & Concerts
J. Lo, Troye Sivan, RuPaul added to WorldPride Music Festival
Two-day event to feature array of musical genres
WorldPride organizers on Tuesday announced two new headliners for the WorldPride Music Festival at RFK Festival Grounds (2400 East Capitol St., N.E.) June 6-7 in Washington, D.C.
Superstar Jennifer Lopez and gay pop artist Troye Sivan are set to headline, while drag trailblazer and TV star RuPaul will also take the stage for a DJ set.
Taking place over two days and nights and across three stages, WorldPride Music Festival will showcase a diverse range of music. Beyond pop stars and drag performances, house, EDM, techno, country, R&B, and a host of other genres will be heard across the weekend.
Featured LGBTQ audience fan favorites include Kim Petras, Rita Ora, Betty Who, and Marina. House and electronic fans will enjoy Zedd, Grimes, Purple Disco Machine, and Sofi Tukker. Other top-billing pop stars include Tinashe, Raye, and Grimes; Paris Hilton is also set to make an appearance.
Other artists that will bring their sounds to one of the stages include Aluna, Anabel Englund, Anne Louise, Coco & Breezy, Crush Club, Dombresky presents Disco Dom, Galantis, Hayla, Kaleena Zanders, Karsten Sollors, Leland + Friends, LP Giobbi, Matt Suave, Patrick Mason, Sasha Colby, Slayyyter, Spencer Brown, Trisha Paytas, and Ty Sunderland.
The music festival came together as a partnership between Capital Pride, Dreamland’s producer Jake Resnicow (who ran WorldPride in New York), and event promoter Club Glow, which has produced several music festivals in the region. Club Glow is set to host a separate festival, Project Glow, also to take place on RFK grounds the weekend prior to WorldPride.
Resnicow, as executive producer, noted that, “WorldPride Music Festival is a moment the world will remember. With legendary artists and our global community coming together, we’re creating an electrifying celebration that unites, uplifts, and amplifies LGBTQ+ voices like never before.”
Given the current political climate and anti-LGBTQ policies sweeping the country, “Hosting this festival in our nation’s capital makes it even more powerful — it’s not just a party, it’s a global movement.” Resnicow added.
Beyond the music, the festival will feature art installations and immersive experiences that celebrate the spectrum of LGBTQ culture, along with food and drink, specialty cocktail lounges, giveaways, and a VIP section. Proceeds from the event will benefit the nonprofit Capital Pride Alliance and other local LGBTQ community organizations, ensuring the festival’s impact extends beyond its two days of programming. WorldPride marks the 50th anniversary of Pride in the capital.
General admission, GA+, and VIP tickets start at $209.
Cupid’s Undie Run, an annual fundraiser for neurofibromatosis (NF) research, was held at Union Stage and at The Wharf DC on Saturday, Feb. 15.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
“Fuenteovejuna”
Through March 2
GALA Hispanic Theatre
3333 14th St., N.W.
$27-$50
Galatheatre.org
Inventively staged and strongly acted, GALA Hispanic Theatre’s production of Lope de Vega’s classic “Fuenteovejuna,” vividly brings to life an old but timely tale of injustice and power. A lot of theatergoers will find this work (first published in Madrid in 1619) painfully relevant.
Possibly Lope de Vega’s most produced play, this version of “Fuenteovejuna,” penned by renowned contemporary Spanish playwright Juan Mayorga, is markedly shorter than others you might have seen. While purists may not concur, it’s generally agreed that Mayorga has effectively condensed the plot and modernized the verse.
The action kicks off with cast members jovially sharing jokes that are mostly lost on those of us relying on the production’s English surtitles, but no matter, it creates a happy mood of a contented townsfolk whose lives are soon to be horribly disrupted. (From there on, all translation is clear and presents no difficulties.)
Lope de Vega based the play on a true incident. In 1476 in Southern Spain, village residents, unwilling to accept ongoing abuse, banded together and overthrew a brutish commander.
Here, the Commander/Comendador (played menacingly by Iker Lasker) sets upon the town and specifically the mayor’s daughter Laurencia (Julia Adun in her GALA debut). In short, the all-powerful bully makes the brave young woman’s life miserable, and as he grows increasingly insistent the situation becomes perilous.
Initially she relies on the protection of her male friends. But it’s not enough.
As Laurentia is further harassed and ultimately assaulted, she somehow becomes stronger, and emboldened. Disappointed by the town’s men, she calls on the women to rebel: “Sisters, take your places, and let’s do something that will shake the whole world.”
Like all the classics, the work’s themes are enduring. Justice, decency, and collective identity are among the pressing topics explored.
Also, integral to the play’s story is the love between Laurencia and her fiancé who becomes a target of the Comendador’s savagery. Additionally, there are fine examples of familial love and genuine friendship.
There’s a lot to love about out director Juan Luis Arellano’s glowing production. It moves swiftly and excitingly. He’s assembled a large cast of talented, experienced actors (including Luz Nicolás, who plays Flores, the Commander’s right-hand man) and an outstanding design team.
Arellano has thoughtfully imbued the piece with exceptional modes of storytelling.
For instance, off to the side but still clearly seen, DJ (Aldo Ortega) provides both mediaeval and rock music. Occasionally characters step away from the other players to narrate from a standing mic beneath a dramatic spotlight.
Scenic designer Giorgos Tsappas’s set is both a thing of beauty and unexpected functionality. Comprised of different elements that include a huge silver pendulum, a sandy floor, a curved wooden bench backed by a concrete-esque curved backdrop. All of its parts are smartly and organically integrated into the staging.
At the top of the second act, a door rather surprisingly opens, allowing the Commander surrounded by actors costumed in dark sheep masks, passage to the stage. It’s a striking image.
The set is compellingly lit by stalwart designer Jesús Díaz Cortés. He’s also responsible for the captivating visuals shot from overhead and projected on the imposing back wall. All the visual design work looks subtly expensive.
“Fuenteovejuna” is Lope de Vega at his best, and GALA’s production is the perfect means of introduction or a revisit.
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