Arts & Entertainment

Calendar: Oct. 5

Parties, exhibits, concerts and more through Oct. 11

Published

14 years ago

October 4, 2012

A still from ‘Call Me Kuchu,’ which will be screened at the Katzen Art Center in Washington next week. (Blade file photo)

TODAY (Friday)

Whitman-Walker holds HIV testing at Anacostia Metro Station (1101 Howard Road SE) this afternoon from 1-3:30 p.m. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.

Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts Bear Happy Hour tonight from 6-11 p.m. This event is for people 21 and older. There is no cover charge. For details, visit towndc.com.

The Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8th St., S.E.) is having its happy hour tonight starting at 5 p.m. All drinks are half off until 7:30 p.m. After 9 p.m., admission is $10. The dance floor opens at 11 with DJ Tim-Nice and DJ Cameron. For details, visit thebachelorsmill.com.

Phase 1 (528 8th St. SE) has its weekly dance party with DJ Jay Von Teese tonight starting at 7:30. Cover is $10. For more information, visit phase1dc.com.

The D.C. Asian Pacific American Film Festival continues tonight at 7 at Freer and Sackler Gallery of Art (1050 Independence Ave. SW) and later at 8 at the Goethe-Institut (812 7th St. NW). The festival is featuring films through Sunday, and tickets range from $12-$20. A VIP pass for all the screenings is $88. For details, visit http://www.apafilm2012.com.

Saturday, Oct. 6

Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, is helping in food preparation and packing groceries for Food and Friends (219 Riggs Road, NE) this morning at 8. Later in the same morning, the group volunteers with the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation at Falls Church PetSmart (6100 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church) at 11:45 a.m. The organization is looking for dog handlers for their adoption events. For more information, visit burgundycrescent.org.

Adah Rose Gallery (3766 Howard Ave., Kensington) hosts the opening reception for “The Day Turned Into the City and the City Turned Into the Mind,” a series of paintings by Tom Drymon and photographs by Julie Wolstynski, this evening at 6:30. The night will include live music by White Chihuahua. For details, visit adahrosegallery.com.

Sunday, Oct. 7

Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) holds its weekly Martini Sundays and Homowood Karaoke tonight. Karaoke starts at 10 p.m. and there is no charge for admission. For details, visit cobaltdc.com.

Town (2009 8^th St., N.W.) hosts “WTF: Check Up” tonight starting at 10. Cover is $5. For more information, visit towndc.com.

Monday, Oct. 8

The Youth Working Group Meeting is this evening at 6 at the D.C. Center (1318 U St., NW). The group is dedicated to positively impaction D.C. youth. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts its Martini Monday tonight at 10 p.m. There is now cover charge and martinis are $5. For more information, visit cobaltdc.com.

Whitman-Walker Health (1701 14^th St., NW) holds its HIV+ Newly Diagnosed Support Group tonight at 7. It is a confidential support group for anyone recently diagnosed with HIV and the group welcomes all genders and sexual orientations. For details, visit whitman-walker.org.

Tuesday, Oct. 9

DC Bi Women meets tonight at 7 at Dupont Italian Kitchen (1637 17^th St. NW) in the upstairs room. For details, visit thedccenter.org.

Green Lantern (1335 Green Court, N.W.) hosts its Safer Sex Kit packing program tonight from 7-10:30. The packing program is looking for more volunteers to help produce the kits because they say they are barely keeping up with demand. Admission is free and volunteers can just show up. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

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.

Whitman-Walker Health (1701 14^th St., NW) holds its Coming Out-Women support group tonight at 7 p.m. This is a 10-week confidential discussion group for women who are exploring their interest in other women. It is open to all women regardless of age or experience in the coming out process. Registration is required to attend. For details, visit whitman-walker.org.

Wednesday, Oct. 10

Whitman-Walker Health (1701 14^th St., NW) holds its gay men over 50 support group this evening at 6:30 p.m. The group is for gay men entering a new phase of life. Registration is required to attend. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.

The Lambda Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 at the Dignity Center (721 8^th St., SE) for duplicate bridge. Everyone is welcome and reservations are not needed. For more information, visit lambdabridge.com.

Rainbow Response Monthly Meeting meets tonight at 7 at the D.C. Center (1318 U St. NW). This is a group of individuals collaborating to address intimate partner violence among the LGBT people in the D.C. area. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Phase 1 (525 8^th St. SE) hosts Jell-o wrestling tonight at 9. Attendees can enjoy $3 Miller Lights and Bourbon Gingers along with $4 shots of Hornitos. The club asks attendees to bring a towel and a change of clothes if they want to wrestle. For details, visit phase1dc.com.

The Big Gay Book Group meets tonight at 7 p.m. to discuss the gay classic “Kiss of the Spider Woman” by Manuel Puig, which explores sharp dialogue between a young socialist revolutionary and a middle-aged movie-obsessed gay man in an Argentine jail cell. Members meet at 1155 F Street NW, Suite 200. Newcomers welcome. For details, e-mail to [email protected] or visit biggaybookgroup.com.

Thursday, Oct. 11

Whitman-Walker Health provides HIV testing at The Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8^th St., S.E.) tonight at 10. For details, visit whitman-walker.org.

“Call Me Kuchu,” a documentary about LGBT individuals in Uganda, is being screened at the Katzen Arts Center (4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW) this evening at 5:30. A q&a session will take place after the showing. For details, visit thedccenter.org.

D.C. Center hosts a reception with Blessed B Rwomushana, who works with Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights for Youth in Uganda, tonight at 6. There is a $5 suggested donation. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, is helping in food preparation and packing groceries for Food and Friends (219 Riggs Road, NE) this evening at 6. For more information, visit burgundycrescent.org.

Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W) is hosting its weekly Best Package Contest tonight at 9 p.m. There is 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.

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Washington Blade photography department

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Theater

‘Feeling Afraid’ explores life of a neurotic stand-up comic

Navigating sex, work, and possibly love in London

Published

2 days ago

June 20, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Steven Webb in ‘Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen’ (Photo by DJ Corey)

‘Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen’
Through July 12
Studio Theatre
1501 14th St., N.W.
$55-$102
Studiotheatre.org

Wordily yet rightly titled, solo show “Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen” dives deeply into the world of a neurotic stand-up comic as he navigates sex, work, and possibly love in London.

Busy arranging hookups and dates on “The App,” the 36-year-old gay funnyman juggles a full dance card; still he’s never been in a romantic relationship. While he’s willing to give love a shot, he’s not pressed about it. As he says, he harbors no fear of dying alone.

Currently making its American premiere at Studio Theatre, this darkly humorous Edinburgh Fringe import features terrific out English actor Steven Webb as The Comedian who’s about to explore what it means to spend all his time with one man.

At Studio’s intimate Mead Theatre, Kat Heath’s minimal set says standard comedy club (fluorescent tube lighting, the mic with a long cord, a single stool backed by a rose-colored curtain), but gay playwright Marcelo Dos Santos has conjured something much more than a live comedy set.

Yes, The Comedian bounces onstage in his red Converse high tops, jeans, and pink shirt with a huge mouth emblazoned on the back, but he delivers more than jokes. At times hilariously self-deprecating, then dark, and occasionally a lesson on what makes standup work, this is a layered, well-acted piece.

With Webb (a keen caricaturist of types and voices) playing all the parts while conducting The Comedian’s hilariously frenetic interior monologue, “Feeling Afraid” takes us through a summer of love. It seems after six chaste dates with The American, our nervous hero has found Mr. Right. The American is earnest, smart, hesitant to initiate sex. He’s also well built with a beautiful smile. And strangely, he’s been medically advised not to laugh aloud.

The Comedian delights in the joys of new love: dates, first kisses, sex, and then suddenly spending all of his time with the adored. Visits to art galleries become fun. Eating home cooked meals followed by grim documentaries is a thing. The Comedian is beguiled as his own boyish figure fills out, but something isn’t right. He can’t entirely relax.

Along the way we meet the Aussie doctor, our protagonist’s longtime hookup; a young runner with some exceptional body parts; the random third in a failed threesome; grumpy working comics, male and female; and an ineffectual counselor.

Webb gives a lightning-fast performance that boggles the mind (in terms velocity and virtuosity). He can be impish, very impish. He’s nervous energy incarnate, flashing jazz hands, grimacing but handsome when still. He’s likeable, a necessity when delivering a hilariously rude joke just feet away from two stone-faced audience members. (Perhaps they were laughing on the inside? At any rate, they stayed through the end the show.)

Produced by the team behind Fringe hits “Fleabag” and “Baby Reindeer,” small stage works that were developed into major TV screen successes, “Feeling Afraid” is funny for sure, and it’s also highly confessional, sexually explicit, and raw.

Written by Dos Santos during COVID lockdown, the piece was a smash hit in the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe before finding further success in London. Its depiction of a youngish queer guy navigating the big city rings entirely true. Like so much Fringe stuff, the one-man show is delightfully lewd and standup inspired.

One little moan: the show closes cleverly but too abruptly with its star dashing offstage without sufficiently basking in the admiration and applause of his thoroughly chuffed audience.

They say third time’s a charm, and regarding “Feeling Afraid,” I’d agree. After two performance cancellations (first for laryngitis and the second involving faulty air conditioning on an especially muggy June evening), I made my third trek to Studio where I found both the actor and AC in very fine fettle. And truly, Webb’s work was more than worth the wait.