Arts & Entertainment

Arts news in brief: Oct. 5

Events in both D.C. and Baltimore for the coming week

Published

14 years ago

October 4, 2012

Erin Durkin

Perfume Genius plays the Hamilton next week. (Photo courtesy of Billions)

Musical ‘Genius’ to play the Hamilton

Perfume Genius, the performance outfit of openly gay Seattle-based singer/songwriter Mike Hadreas, plays the Hamilton at 14th and F (the old Border’s site at 600 14th Street N.W.) on Oct. 12. Dusted opens the 8:30 p.m. show.

Hadreas earned kudos for his jarring 2010 debut album “Learning,” which Drowned in Sound called “an album of rare redemptive beauty … one of the most uniquely endearing and quietly forceful debut albums of recent years.” Of new album “Put Your Back N 2 It,” he says, “Everyone has stuff. Staying healthy can be more depressing and confusing than being fucked up, but I want to make music that’s honest and hopeful.”

Tickets are $17. Visit thehamiltondc.com for details.

Interpretations by LuPone

Legendary Broadway singer/actress Patti LuPone comes to the Music Center at Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda) tonight and Saturday at 8.

Patti LuPone, gay news, Washington Blade

Patti LuPone (Photo by Ethan Hill)

In her show “Matters of the Heart,” she explores love songs by several different composers such as Stephen Sondheim, Cyndi Lauper and Joni Mitchell. She comes to the Strathmore right before she returns to Broadway in the David Mamet play “The Anarchist.”

LuPone is known for her performances in “Evita,” “Gypsy,” as well as “Les Miserables.” She has earned two Tony Awards along with Drama Desk Awards and the Society of London Theatre’s Olivier Award.

Tickets range from $45-$85. For more information, visit Strathmore.org.

Shi-Queeta’s back for more at the Howard

Howard Theatre (620 T St., N.W.) hosts the female impersonation show “Salute to the Divas” Wednesday at 8 p.m.

The show features celebrity female impersonator Shi-Queeta-Lee and other celebrity impersonators as they bring divas such as Tina Turner, Cher, Beyonce and Diana Ross to the stage. The cast also takes the audience to the likes of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Lee and company are returning after a successful debut at the Howard in August.

Shi-Queeta-Lee is a D.C. based female impersonator who has been featured in many big named shows and festivals such as Black Pride.

The doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 day of the show. For more information, visit thehowardtheatre.com.

Center event next Friday night

The D.C. Center hosts its annual Fall Reception at the Sofitel (806 15^th St. NW) on Oct. 12 at 7 p.m.

The reception is a benefit event for the Center and an opportunity to reflect on the work and contributions of several individuals in the LGBT community.

Tickets range from $45-$200. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Queen tribute band comes to Falls Church

“Almost Queen,” a tribute band to Queen, performs at State Theatre Virginia (220 North Washington St., Falls Church) at 7 p.m. tonight.

The tribute group is head by Joseph Russo, a previous Broadway performer, as he belts out the memorable lyrics made legendary by late gay singer Freddie Mercury. The band has previously sold out shows in New York and San Diego.

Tickets are $15. For more information, visit thestatetheatre.com.

Latin American gender/sexuality-themed film at Towson

Towson University’s film series “Gender, Sexuality and Desire in Recent Films from Spain and Latin America” presents “La Yuma,” Thursday evening at 6:30 in the College of Liberal Arts Room 3110 (8000 York Road).

“La Yuma” is the first full-length fiction film from Nicaragua in 20 years. It presents Yuma, a rebellious young woman who dreams of being a boxer and escaping the barrios of Managua. She falls in love with a journalism student from the other side of the city as they both try to attain their dreams.

This event is free. For more information, visit events.towson.edu.

Baltimore Black Pride events in full swing

Baltimore Black Pride events continue today through Thursday with several performances and parties in the Baltimore area.

Today begins with Ladies Happy Hour at Ziascoz (1313 E. Pratt St.) at 5 p.m. Later, DJ David Robertson takes over the party. Cover is $5 for both events. At the same time Station North Arts Café (1816 N. Charles St.) hosts “Meet-n-Greet Casual Affair of Art, Music and Fun” at 7. There is no cover for this event.

On Saturday, the Cultural Affair and Icons We Love Awards 10th Annual Gala and Fundraiser takes place at Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute Cultural Center (847 N. Howard St.) at 7. Individual tickets are $50 and a couple is $85.

Black Pride is hosting numerous spiritual services around the city at a number of participating spiritual centers. In the afternoon there is a Ravens Ladies Tailgate Party at 1313 E. Pratt St. at 2. Cover is $2. Later in the night, Paradox (1310 Russell St.) hosts the Finale: Legacy Global Village and Music Fest starting at 10. Cover is $8 before midnight and $12 after.

The official weekend may be over, but the celebration continues with a party for National Coming Out Day at Ziascoz (1313 E. Pratt St.) on Thursday at 5 p.m. There is no cover for this event.

For more information about Baltimore Black Pride, visit blackpridebaltimore.org.

‘Midsummer Night’ at Glass Mind

Glass Mind Theatre presents “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” at the Autograph Playhouse (9 W. 25^th St.) tonight at 8.

The production of Shakespeare’s “most lamentable comedy” features four lovers seeking solace in the woods when they are caught in the twisted plot of a fairy realm.

Regular tickets are $12, but discounted tickets for $8 are available to seniors, students and artists. For more information, visit glassmindtheatre.com.

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Books

New book reveals what we can learn from animal sex

‘Poking the Squid’ on homosexuality, gender swapping, and more

Published

3 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy W.W. Norton)

‘Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex’
By Perrin Roosevelt Ireland
c.2026, W.W. Norton
$29.99 241 pages

Birds do it.

According to Cole Porter, bees do, too, but it’s not exactly what he imagined. Wild and tame, avians, insects, and mammals all have sex – although not always as you’ve been told or for reasons you might think. Even educated fleas do it and, as in the new book, “Poking the Squid” by Perrin Roosevelt Ireland, humans can learn from them all.

If you read through scientific papers on animal reproduction, you might notice something unusual: for scientists, the word “sex” means a lot of different things.

Says Ireland, “It’s used to describe behaviors, biology, life histories, and more.”

That might be because animals are not simply binary.

Take, for instance, hyenas. It’s easy for the casual observer to mistake a male hyena for a female and vice versa because of stereotypes of anatomy. Mating, for hyenas, requires subordination for the male and a nifty trick on the part of the female’s body to get things done.

Our feathered friends are no birdbrains, either: black-browed albatrosses were once thought to be monogamous but global warming seems to have changed their nesting habits sometimes. Male flamingos have sex with one another, as a territorial thing; other birds and animals form same-sex pairs for other reasons.

The Chinese mantis eats her mate after fertilization. Female snakes, alpacas, guinea pigs, and monkeys are anatomically able to enjoy sex. Genitalia between species varies quite a bit; in fact, the vaginas of ducks “are highly complex.” Lionesses will mate up to 100 times when in heat. Female damselflies will change into a “third sex” to avoid overly aggressive mating males. Bearded dragons can change their sex, if needed, as can yellow clown goby fish. And seahorse pregnancy and birth sparked a book banning in Tennessee.

So, asks Ireland, if animals, including us, vary so much in biology and life, “… why are we using the word sex like it means something, anything, consistent?!”

Pick up “Poking the Squid,” page through it a few seconds, and you’ll see that the information here is largely told through cartoon-like drawings mixed with captions. It seems to be something on the lighter side, but don’t let that artwork fool you.

Author Perrin Roosevelt Ireland offers readers solid information that cozies up to the scholarly, with hard science, philosophy, feminism, and quotations from researchers to support it, thus furthering the narrative and hitting the points squarely. If you see the art and expect something lighthearted, comic, and small-talk-worthy, you could be disappointed.

On the other hand, if you want solid, wryly serious facts, you’re in for a treat.

There’s lots of learning to be gleaned here, and some slight nudge-wink whimsy to emphasize the absurdity of wrong-headed thinking. This can make readers feel like they’re in-the-know on the jokes, and the playfulness balances the seriousness of the information well.

So, serious, scholarly, or slightly silly, none of these are negative but you’re going to know what you want from a book like this. For the right reader, someone in the mood, “Poking the Squid” is wild.

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