Arts & Entertainment
Calendar through July 4
Find out everything happening in the District from this weekend through July 4
‘Blue Bouquet Series #1’ by Mary D. Ott at the Touchstone Gallery. (Image courtesy of Touchstone Gallery)
Friday, June 28
Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts Bear Happy Hour tonight from 6-11 p.m. There is no cover charge, and admission is limited to guests 21 and over. For details, visit towndc.com.
Special Agent Galactica performs tonight at the Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) from 6-9 p.m. Admission is free, and there will be an extended happy hour. For more information, visit blackfoxlounge.com or pinkhairedone.com.
Delta Elite (10 St., N.E.) hosts ladies night this evening from 10 p.m.-3 a.m. For more details, visit deltaelite.net.
“Some Like It Hot,” starring Marilyn Monroe, screens tonight at the historic Heurich House Museum (1307 New Hampshire Ave., N.W.) at 8 p.m. Admission is free, and guests are encouraged to bring a blanket. For more information, visit goldentriangledc.com.
Whitman-Walker Health provides four hours of free HIV testing today for National HIV Testing Day at Walgreens (1217 22nd St., N.W.) from 3-7 p.m. Visit whitman-walker.org for more information.
Saturday, June 29
Phase 1 of Dupont (1415 22nd St., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Booty Beach Ladies Dance Party.” The winner of the party’s bikini and board shorts contest will receive cash and prizes. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and admission is $5. Visit phase1dc.com for more information.
The 9:30 (815 V St., N.W.) Club hosts “1958,” a dance party featuring the music and videos of Madonna, Michael Jackson and Prince, at 9 p.m. DJ Dredd spins, and he came up with the theme to commemorate the year all three pop icons were born. Admission is $15. For details and to purchase tickets, visit 930.com.
The Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs and Friends present “LGBTQ Youth Kickball” in Field Eight at West Potomac Park (West Basin Dr., S.W.) at 1 p.m. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
The Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.) hosts “Hellmouth Happy Hour” tonight at 7 p.m. One episode of the gay cult classic television show, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” screens and a drink special will be served. Admission is free. Visit blackcatdc.com for details.
Whitman-Walker Health provides four hours of free HIV testing today for National HIV Testing Day at Walgreens (1217 22nd St., N.W.) from 3-7 p.m. Visit whitman-walker.org for more information.
Sunday, June 30
The Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8th St., S.E.) hosts karaoke tonight from 9 p.m.-midnight. Cover is $3, and there will also be pool, video gaming systems and cards. For more information, visit bachelorsmill.com.
Perry’s (1811 Columbia Rd., N.W.) hosts its weekly Sunday Drag Brunch today from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The cost is $24.95 for an all you can eat buffet. For details, visit perrysadamsmorgan.com.
The Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) presents “Tula’s Cabaret” this evening form 8-11 p.m. Admission is free. For more details, visit backfoxlounge.com.
The DC Center (1318 U St., N.W.) hosts a transgender discussion group tonight from 7-8 p.m. Visit thedccenter.org for more information.
Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Guil-Tea Dance Party” today from 3-8 p.m. DJ Shea Van Horn spins pop guilty pleasures all afternoon. Admission is free and limited to guests 21 and over. For more details, visit nelliessportsbar.com.
Monday, July 1
Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Monday’s a Total Drag [Show]” party tonight from 9 p.m.-2 a.m. An episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race screens at 9, and then a live drag show will be featured. Admission is 18+ and free. For details, visit cobaltdc.com.
The DC Center (1318 U St., N.W.) hosts coffee drop-in hours this morning from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. for the senior LGBT community. Older LGBT adults can come and enjoy complimentary coffee, and conversation with other community members. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
The DC Center (1318 U St., N.W.) has a volunteer night this evening from 7:30-9:30 p.m. For more details, visit thedccenter.org.
Tuesday, July 2
The Green Lantern (1335 Green Ct., N.W.) hosts its weekly FUK!T Packing Party tonight from 7-9 p.m. For more details, visit thedccenter.org or greenlanterndc.com.
Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts happy hour this from 4-9 p.m. this evening. There is no cover, and $1 rail drinks will be served. For more information, visit cobaltdc.com.
Finn and Porter (900 10th St., N.W.) hosts speed dating for LGBT women tonight from 7-9 p.m. Admission is $30. For more details and to register online, visit thedccenter.org.
DC Eagle (639 New York Ave., N.W.) hosts “$2 Tuesday” tonight from 4 p.m.-midnight this evening for the leather community. All domestic beer and rail drinks are $2. For details, visit dceagle.com.
The Mova Lounge (2204 14th St., N.W.) screens Will & Grace reruns tonight from 5 p.m.-3 a.m. Half-priced “Karen Walker Martinis” and “Just Jack Cocktails” will be served. There is no cover. For more information, visit movalounge.com.
Wednesday, July 3
Heist (1802 Jefferson Pl., N.W.) hosts its weekly open bar party tonight from 10-11 p.m. There is no cover charge and admission is limited to guests 21 and over. For details, visit heistdc.com.
The Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8th St., S.E.) hosts drag bingo during happy hour tonight from 5-7:30 p.m. All drinks are half price, and there will also be pool, video gaming systems and cards. Admission is free. For details, visit bachelorsmill.com.
Spoken word poet, Regie Cabico, performs tonight at the Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) from 7:30-9 p.m. Admission is $5. For more information, visit blackfoxlounge.com.
The Lambda Bridge Club meets tonight at the Dignity Center (721 8th St. N.W.) for Duplicate Bridge at 7:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Visit thedccenter.org for more details.
The Dupont Drawing Group meets tonight at 7 p.m. at The Church of the Pilgrims (2201 P St., N.W.) to draw from the live model. The session is self-directed with no formal instruction, and no materials are provided. Drawing spots and easels are available on a first come first serve basis, so guests should arrive anytime after 6:45. No reservations are required, and a modest fee to pay the model will be collected. For more information, visit paulreuther.com.
The Touchstone Gallery (901 New York Ave, N.W.) hosts a preview today from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. of two new exhibits, “Geometrics” by photographer Pete McCutchen and “Hot Off the Press” by monotype artist Mary D. Ott. Visit touchstonegallery.com for more information.
Thursday, July 4
Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts a “Nice Jewish Boys Pageant” tonight from 7:30-9:30 p.m. The final contestant will win the title of “Nicest Jewish Boy in Washington, D.C.” Admission is free, and drink specials will be served for guests 21 and over. For details, visit cobaltdc.com.
The Mova Lounge (2204 14th St., N.W.) hosts “GLBT College Night” this evening, with a vodka open bar for guests who have a college ID from 9-10 p.m. Admission is free and 18+. Visit movalounge.com for more details.
Brightest Young Things host a 4th of July Pool Party today at the Capitol Skyline Hotel (10 I St., N.W.) from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Admission is $15 and open to all ages. For details and to purchase tickets, visit brightestyoungthings.com.
Theater
Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth
First five shows a reminder that ‘pressure is a privilege’
Madly talented and preternaturally energetic, Reggie D. White, 38, is about to launch his first season as artistic director of D.C.’s boundary-pushing Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
White brings a lot to the job. As actor, playwright, and director, his varied resume includes a 2019 Broadway acting debut in Matthew López’s Tony Award–winning play “The Inheritance,” his semi-autobiographic play “Fremont Ave.” that opened to acclaim last season at Arena Stage, and a number of exciting regional directing credits.
A longtime admirer of Woolly, the out theater-maker was selected from a pool of candidates before receiving the offer last November and starting work in January. His season of five world premieres kicks off with gay playwright Steve Yockey’s “Venus” (Sept. 9-Oct. 4), a darkly funny study of modern relationships told through two lesbians looking back on their first encounter.
White was introduced to Woolly Mammoth as a pre-law student at Cal State Hayward in the San Francisco Bay Area, long before he foresaw a life in the arts. “As part of a random theater history course, I was assigned to write a paper on a counterculture company called Woolly Mammoth,” he recalls “Strange name. I was like what the hell is that?”
Nineteen-year-old White was intrigued. Research acquainted him with Howard Shalwitz who co-founded Woolly in 1980, and the company’s commitment to living playwrights and new work. He also learned how theater could be used as a tool for difficult conversations and shape the way people thought about social issues by employing imagination and rigor.
“Never in a million years did young me envision that one day I’d be Woolly’s third artistic director in its 46-year history,” says White. “It’s kind of serendipitously insane.”
WASHINGTON BLADE: Was there a moment when the enormity of the job hit you?
REGGIE D. WHITE: After I’d signed my contract and finished all the paperwork, I got my keys and sat in the theater by myself in the dark and thought about what an incredible honor it is to be trusted with what happens in this beautiful space [in D.C.’s Penn Quarter]. I might have cried. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember it’s real.
BLADE: Are you curating the upcoming 2026–2027 season?
WHITE: Yes, I am. It’s very rare that an incoming artistic director gets to program their first season, but I was lucky in terms of time. After being hired late last year, I asked Woolly’s managing director Kimberly E. Douglas, if she thought it would be crazy if I programmed the season. She warned me it would be hard.
I invoked tennis legend Billie Jean King’s maxim “pressure is a privilege” and got to work.
These plays [dubbed White’s “first five”] represent both the kind of theater that Woolly can do really well and speak directly to my voice as curator and how I want to contribute to the larger theatrical conversation in the DMV.
Getting here has meant a lot of late nights. But I knew the juice would be worth the squeeze.
BLADE: As a queer artistic director, what makes you unique?
WHITE: When I was playing in “Inheritance” on Broadway, after a performance, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayer came backstage to meet the cast. She spoke about how her lens on the world as a Puerto Rican woman shapes her decisions. Similarly, because I’m a queer Black man I see through a lens that shapes my work.
I know I’m not the only queer artistic director in town. For me, it influences how I make editorial decisions. Out of this season’s five plays there are explicitly queer characters in four [“Venus,” “Chanukkah Spectacular,” “Ten Grand,” and “Love I Awethu Further”] and I’m directing two [“Venus,” “Ten Grand”].
BLADE: Will we see familiar faces?
WHITE: Every show this season will feature a Woolly Mammoth company member in its cast. Our company also includes designers and directors who we’ll include. I’m invested in continuing to provide a showcase for their work.
BLADE: How do you think queer audiences will receive the season?
WHITE: Very well, I think. For queer people who’ve had to navigate the world subversively and solve problems in unique ways, I think it will be especially interesting. I find theater a potent place for questions.
Like all artistic directors. I’ll show up for the job in my own way. I’m just excited that I’ve been invited to bring the fullness of myself to the role.
Photos
PHOTOS: Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade
Annual LGBTQ celebration held in Dutch city during World Pride
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key are on assignment in the Netherlands through Aug. 10.
AMSTERDAM — The 2026 Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade was held on Saturday, Aug. 1.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Michael K. Lavers)
View on Threads
The LGBTQ organization Lambda Legal held its annual “Lambda Legal in the Pines” fundraiser on Saturday, July 25. The event was held at a house on Fire Island featured in Ryan Murphy’s 2014 HBO film, “The Normal Heart.”
Organizers say over $500,000 was raised to support Lambda Legal’s national litigation and advocacy work.
(Photos by Santiago Felipe)
Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth
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