Arts & Entertainment
Deck the halls
Stuck on gift ideas? You can’t go wrong helping somebody give the home a festive flair
(photo courtesy of American Plant)
Not only can holiday-themed plants bring a room together, plants in the shape of a reindeer cannot go wrong. Like the mossed ivy reindeer from American Plant (5258 and 7405 River Road., Bethesda). They also offer custom holiday arrangements as well as recycled tin ornaments and tabletop pieces (americanplant.net).
Clever items from Home Rule. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
For several different gift ideas or must haves at any party, visit Home Rule (1807 14th St., NW). From ice trays shaped like the Titanic labeled “Gin & Titonic,” to an owl-themed cheese grater, both priced at $15, these small appliances can become the cutest things in your kitchen. And don’t forget creative Christmas ornaments for $5-$13 (homerule.com).
Home Morter and Pestle set from Good Wood (Blade photo by Michael Key)
No kitchen is complete without beautiful kitchen appliances, like ones found at Good Wood (1428 U St., NW). They sell be Home Kitchen appliances, which include wooden teak mortar and pestle for $37.50, measuring spoons for $25 and olivewood juice press for $24 (goodwooddc.com).
Vintage bar caddy
To take your party to days gone by, you can’t do it without a vintage bar caddy from Foundry (1522 U St., NW) for $209 (foundrybyfreeman.com).
Espresso cups from Millennium Decorative Arts. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Or for colorful pieces such as multicolored espresso cups and a variety of mirrors, visit Millennium Decorative Arts (1528 U St., NW). The espresso cups come in several colors and patterns, for $35 for each cup and saucer. The mirrors come in different styles, colors and sizes for $75 to $125 (millenniumdecorativearts.com).
Vintage and new ornaments at Miss Pixie’s, a winner in this year’s Best of Gay D.C. readers’ poll. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
If you are as excited for Christmas as Miss Pixie’s (1626 14th St., NW), step in to check out their small vintage ornaments that run from 25 cents up to $5, ceiling ornaments for $30, and even holiday molds for $12-$30 (misspixies.com).
Decorative bowls from Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
For classy home décor for any time of the year, go to Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams (1526 14th St., NW). Their inventory includes blue tinted glass blows for $50 to $130, decorative table centerpieces for $135 to $175 and ornamental boxes for $85 to $190 (mgbwhome.com).
To get traditional holiday plants or landscapes, go to Merrifield Garden Center (8132 Lee Hwy, Merrifield). Customers can also attend their holiday decorating classes, Santa hours and a Steinbach Nutcracker event (merrifieldgardencenter.com).
Salt-and-pepper shakers from Target. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
If you don’t want to break the bank giving your home a festive flair, Target has plenty of exclusive items that are colorful and inexpensive. Like Santa and Mrs. Claus salt and pepper shakers ($6.99), Christmas tree and Santa candles (various sizes and prices, all under $10), red or green cocktail shakers ($14.99), snow globes ($12.99) or nutcrackers ($12.99) in dozens of styles and more.
Even if you’re not crafty, Micheals (with several locations in the D.C. area) can give your home a ready-made holiday flair with tons of options.
Lemax pieces for village. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
Start your own holiday village or give that certain someone who likes retro flair a perpetual gift idea with village scenes and buildings from Lemax. Prices vary, but they almost all light up and will remind you of the train set you spent hours working on as a kid.
Snow angels from Michaels. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
Or give a whole room a silvery, wintry Michaels flair with color-themed pieces — there’s everything from Santas, silvery reindeer, sparkly candles, rhinestone-studded mirrors and more. Prices vary. These angels ($34.99) works as table centerpieces, tree toppers or decorative accents anywhere in your winter wonderland.
Mirrors from Christmas Tree Shops. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
Want to give something beautiful that’ll actually get used? These body-length wardrobe mirrors from Christmas Tree Shops ($39.99, various locations) come in several finishes and have a lovely Victorian flair.
And speaking of the home, if you and your partner have decided to use your gift money this year into the house, consider new window treatments. Window Wears has Hunter Douglas Duette Architella Honeycomb Shades and Pirouette Window Shadings on sale through Dec. 15. They’re online at windowwears.net.
The 2026 Capital Pride Parade was held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 20.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key, Robert Rapanut and Landon Shackelford)
Theater
‘Feeling Afraid’ explores life of a neurotic stand-up comic
Navigating sex, work, and possibly love in London
‘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.
The 2026 Baltimore Pride Festival, “Pride in the Park,” was held at Druid Hill Park on Sunday, June 14.
(Washington Blade photos by Linus Berggren)
Capital Pride draws tens of thousands to D.C.
Abelardo de la Espriella elected Colombia’s next president
US no longer refuge for LGBTQ refugees
Cool convertibles
PHOTOS: 2026 Capital Pride Parade
40 defining moments in LGBTQ pop culture history
Queer candidates, allies on the ballot in Md. primary
America’s founders sought ‘justice.’ That fight never ends.
Corporate LGBTQ Pride 2026 on life support
