Arts & Entertainment
Calendar: July 20
Parties, exhibits, concerts and more through July 26
‘Wild Night: A Burlesque Adventure,’ is coming to the Warehouse Theater on Saturday at midnight. (Photo courtesy Warehouse)
TODAY (Friday)
The HIV Working Group is doing outreach tonight at Town’s (2009 8th St., N.W.) Bear Happy Hour. It begins at 7 p.m. and tickets are $5. For more information, visit towndc.com or thedccenter.org.
Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, needs volunteers today through July 25 to help with the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall. To participate, visit burgundycrescent.org.
Whitman-Walker Health is having HIV Testing at Arena Stage (1101 Sixth St., S.W.) tonight at 5:30 p.m. For details, visit whitman-walker.org.
Touchstone Gallery (901 New York Ave., N.W.) is hosting two exhibits, “3D Collage the Adventure” by David Alfuth and “Being Affected” by Charles St. Charles until July 29. Alfuth’s artwork features are surreal 3-D collages consisting of newspapers, cloth, pressed flowers and other flat objects. St. Charles’ exhibition portrays faces with various reactions to shared circumstances. The exhibit is free. For more information, visit touchstonegallery.com.
Phase 1 (525 8th St. SE) is hosting its “Red, White & Boobs with D.C. Gurly Show” starting at 7:30 p.m. This event will have a special guest, Miss Flora Bush. Cover charge is $5. For more information, visit phase1dc.com.
Waverly Street Gallery (4600 East-West Highway, Bethesday) is hosting the exhibition “Heard it Through the Grapevine,” paintings and collage by Ronnie Spiewak today from noon to 6 p.m. Access to the exhibition is free. For more information, visit waverlystreetgallery.com.
The Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8th St., S.E.) is having its happy hour today starting at 5 p.m. All drinks are half off until 7:30 p.m. After 9 p.m., admission is $15, and after 11 p.m. admission is $3. The party includes a pool, video gaming system and card tournaments. For details, visit thebachelorsmill.com.
Green Lantern (1111 14th St., Green Court, N.W.) is hosting its “Pop Goes the World” party tonight at 10 p.m. Cover charge is $5. For more information, visit greenlanterndc.com.
Saturday, July 21
A reception will be held tonight at 6 for artists John Gascot’s and MG Stout’s art exhibit at the D.C. Center (1318 U St. NW). Wine and refreshments will be served. Many or the paintings are inspired by or named after songs. The exhibit will be up through Sept. 8 and attendees can visit for free during the D.C. Center business hours. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
Spunk-E Productions presents “Ink & Scruff” at Green Lantern (1111 14th St., Green Court, N.W.) tonight at 10 p.m. There’s a hot body contest, drink specials all night and music by DJ Tone. Cover is $5. For details, visit greenlanterndc.com.
Tilted Torch’s “Wild Night: A Burlesque Adventure” is at the Warehouse Theater (645 New York Ave. N.W.) tonight at midnight. This burlesque show allows audience members decide what happens in the story. The decisions will lead to consequences, danger and even death. General admission is $17. For more information, visit warehousetheater.com.
The Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.) tonight is hosting “Right Round,” its ‘80s alternative-pop dance night with DJ Lil’e. Tickets are $7 and doors open at 9:30. For more information, visit blackcatdc.com.
Town Danceboutique (2009 8th St., N.W.) is hosting an AIDS 2012 Conference Party tonight at 10 p.m. The party is to bring men together to kick off the conference weekend. The music is by DJ Chord. Cover is $8 before 11 p.m. and $12 after 11 p.m. There are $3 drinks before 11 p.m. A drag show starts at 10:30 p.m. For more information, visit towndc.com.
Sunday, July 22
Youth Score 2012 is hosting “Uniting an AIDS-Free Generation” today at the Bell Multicultural High School (3101 16th St., N.W.) from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. This basketball and soccer tournament will feature games are for ages 13-24 with great prizes for participants. The event is free. For details, visit facebook.com/YouthScore2012.
The Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.) is hosting the seven arts-related panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in its South Gallery. The show is free and will be up until July 27. The gallery is open daily between 10 a.m.-10 p.m. For more information, visit kennedy-center.org.
Monday, July 23
Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) is hosting its Martini Monday tonight at 10 p.m. There is no cover charge and martinis are $5. For more information, visit cobaltdc.com.
The Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8th St., S.E.) is offering half-price drinks all night long. A free pool and NFL, NBA and NCAA games will be on the flat screen TVs. Admission is free. For details, visit thebachelorsmill.com.
Tuesday, July 24
Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W) hosts its Flashback dance night with DJ Jason Royce starting at 10 p.m. There is no cover charge. For more details, visit cobaltdc.com.
Wednesday, July 25
The D.C. Center (1318 U St. NW) is hosting its Center arts meeting today at 5:30 p.m. Attendees are discussing things like chapbooks (handmade books of poetry), that are performed at Capturing Fire, the National Queer Spoken Word Summit, and Slam, a Busboys & Poets event. The meetings are free and occur on the fourth Wednesday of each month. For details, visit thedccenter.org.
Transgender Health Empowerment is hosting the benefit “Glam” at Omega (2122 P St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. Admission is $10 at the door and the event will include drinks and a drag show. All proceeds goes toward HIV/AIDS services for the trans community in D.C. For more information, visit thedccenter.org or contact Evan Hempel at [email protected].
HIV Prevention Working Group, an HIV/AIDS prevention outreach, volunteer and education program, meets tonight at 7 p.m. at the DC Center (1318 U St. NW). For details, visit thedccenter.org.
Thursday, July 26
Lambda Sci-Fi book group (1425 S St., N.W.) meets tonight at 7 p.m. The book for this month is “Welcome to Bordertown,” an anthology edited by Ellen Kushner and Holly Black. For more information, visit lambdascifi.org.
Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W) is hosting its weekly Best Package Contest tonight at 9 p.m. There’s a $3 cover and there are $2 vodka drinks. Participants in the contest can win $200 in cash prizes. The event is hosted by Lena Lett and music by DJ Chord, DJ Madscience and DJ Sean Morris. For details, visit cobaltdc.com.
The 13th annual Hagerstown Pride Festival was held at Doubs Woods Park in Hagerstown, Md. on Saturday, June 21.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Theater
‘Hunter S. Thompson’ an unlikely but rewarding choice for musical theater
‘Speaks volumes about how sad things land on our country’
‘The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical’
Through July 13
Signature Theatre
4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, Va.
$47 to $98
Sigtheatre.org
The raucous world of the counterculture journalist may not seem the obvious choice for musical theater, but the positive buzz surrounding Signature Theatre’s production of Joe Iconis’s “The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical” suggests otherwise.
As the titular, drug addled and gun-toting writer, Eric William Morris memorably moves toward his character’s suicide in 2005 at 67. He’s accompanied by an ensemble cast playing multiple roles including out actor George Salazar as Thompson’s sidekick Oscar “Zeta” Acosta, a bigger than life Mexican American attorney, author, and activist in the Chicano Movement who follows closely behind.
Salazar performs a show-stopping number — “The Song of the Brown Buffalo,” a rowdy and unforgettable musical dive into a man’s psyche.
“Playing the part of Oscar, I’m living my Dom daddy activist dreams. For years, I was cast as the best friend with a heart of gold. Quite differently, here, I’m tasked with embodying all the toxic masculinity of the late ‘60s, and a rampant homophobia, almost folded into the culture.”
He continues, “My sexuality aside, I like to think that Oscar would be thrilled by my interpretation of him in that song.
“Our upbringings are similar. I’m mixed race – Filipino and Ecuadorian and we grew up similarly,” says Salazar, 39. “He didn’t fit in as white or Mexican American, and fell somewhere in the middle. Playing Oscar [who also at 39 in 1974 forever disappeared in Mexico], I pulled out a lot of experience about having to code switch before finally finding myself and being confident just doing my own thing.
“As we meet Oscar in the show we find exactly where’s he’s at. Take me or leave me, I couldn’t care less.”
In 2011, just three years after earning his BFA in musical theater from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Salazar fortuitously met Iconis at a bar in New York. The pair became fast friends and collaborators: “This is our third production,” says George. “So, when Joe comes to me with an idea, there hasn’t been a moment that I don’t trust him.”
In “Be More Chill,” one of Iconis’s earlier works, Salazar originated the role of Michael Mell, a part that he counts as one of the greatest joys of artistic life.
With the character, a loyal and caring friend who isn’t explicitly queer but appeals to queer audiences, Salazar developed a fervent following. And for an actor who didn’t come out to his father until he was 30, being in a place to support the community, especially younger queer people, has proved incredibly special.
“When you hear Hunter and Oscar, you might think ‘dude musical,’ but I encourage all people to come see it.” Salazar continues, “Queer audiences should give the show a shot. As a musical, it’s entertaining, funny, serious, affecting, and beautiful. As a gay man stepping into this show, it’s so hetero and I wasn’t sure what to do. So, I took it upon myself that any of the multiple characters I play outside of Oscar, were going to be queer.
Queer friends have seen it and love it, says Salazar. His friend, Tony Award-winning director Sam Pinkleton (“Oh, Mary!”) saw Hunter S. Thompson at the La Jolla Playhouse during its run in California, and said it was the best musical he’d seen in a very long time.
“Since the work’s inception almost 10 years ago, I was the first Oscar to read the script. In the interim, the characters’ relationships have grown but otherwise there have been no major changes. Still, it feels more impactful in different ways: It’s exciting to come here to do the show especially since Hunter S. Thompson was very political.”
Salazar, who lives in Los Angeles with his partner, a criminal justice reporter for The Guardian, is enjoying his time here in D.C. “In a time when there are so many bans – books, drag queens, and travel — all I see is division. This is an escape from that.”
He describes the Hunter Thompson musical as Iconis’s masterpiece, adding that it’s the performance that he’s most proud of to date and that feels there a lot of maturity in the work.
“In the play, Thompson talks to Nixon about being a crook and a liar,” says Salazar. “The work speaks volumes about how sad things land on our country: We seem to take them one step forward and two steps back; the performance is almost art as protest.”
Photos
PHOTOS: Goodwin Living Pride Parade
Senior living and healthcare organization holds fifth annual march at Falls Church campus
The senior living and healthcare organization Goodwin Living held its fifth annual Pride Parade around its Bailey’s Crossroads campus in Falls Church, Va. with residents, friends and supporters on Thursday, June 12.
(Photos courtesy of Goodwin Living)
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