Arts & Entertainment
‘Ashes’ to beauty
Gay-friendly singer Carpenter returns after challenging period
Mary Chapin Carpenter says summer wouldn’t feel right for her without a Wolf Trap performance. (Photo courtesy Wolf Trap)
Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin
With BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet
Saturday
8 p.m.
Wolf Trap
Filene Center
1551 Trap Road
Vienna, VA
$42 house, $25 lawn
wolftrap.org
After graduating from Brown University in 1981 with a degree in American Civilization, Mary Chapin Carpenter did something her fellow graduates may have thought a little peculiar — she started hitting small music clubs and pubs in the D.C. area, playing acoustic sets at such venues as Kramerbooks & Afterwords Café and Food for Thought.
“I was writing songs as a kid,” Carpenter says. “I played my Mom’s bass ukulele and graduated to her gut-string guitar. It was just something I loved to do. It wasn’t until I was playing local clubs in D.C. that I got the courage to play some of my own music. Until then, I was fervent about playing other people’s things. I came late to the idea that I could take [songwriting] somewhere. Writing was important to me, but it wasn’t something I imagined making a living from.”
Music, at the time, was just a hobby for her, and she always felt she would eventually have to stop passing the hat around and get a real job. Not long after making something of a name for herself around the area, she met guitarist John Jennings and her life would change forever. Jennings would convince Carpenter to take music seriously and become her producer and long-time collaborator.
By the early ’90s, thanks to Carpenter’s distinctive blend of folk and country, she became a radio staple. Songs such as “Never Had it So Good,” “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her,” “I Feel Lucky” and “Shut Up and Kiss Me” became hits, and she took home five Grammy Awards and was named Country Music Association’s Female Vocalist of the Year in 1992 and 1993. Over the years, she has recorded 12 albums that have sold more than 13 million units.
Her latest album, “Ashes and Roses,” reflects some of the trials and tribulations the singer has gone through over the past few years, including her divorce and the death of her father. She describes her writing as a journey, what she saw, felt and experienced along the way.
“They say that the worst, the most traumatic, things that people can go through in their lives are a divorce, the loss of a parent and serious illness,” she says. “All of those things have happened to me in the last few years. So these are the songs that came about when I started to write. To try and push them away or write about something else, did not seem possible. Songwriting is what I do. This is how I make sense of things, it’s how I seek connection and make my way through the world.”
On Saturday, Carpenter will team up with Grammy-winner Shawn Colvin (of “Sunny Came Home” fame) for a concert at Wolf Trap. These longtime friends share the stage as an intimate duo, performing material spanning their vast catalogs as well as some of their favorite songs.
“Shawn and I have been touring for the last year together and our friendship goes back nearly 30 years,” Carpenter says. “And with that comes a familiarity and mutual love of songs by one another and by other artists that we have grown up loving. So there will be stories, songs, songs by others, duets, solos — lots of things.”
Being back in the D.C. area means a lot to Carpenter, who has become a staple at Wolf Trap over the years.
“It always feels like my ‘hometown’ show … there is nothing better than standing on that stage on a beautiful summer evening, playing music for friends, family and lovely people who make you feel so embraced,” Carpenter says. “We have played there for so many years now, it always feels like a homecoming. It doesn’t feel like summer if there isn’t a Wolf Trap play.”
Carpenter has never been shy about expressing her opinions on things, from promoting the removal of landmines to supporting gay rights. When country singer Chely Wright came out in 2010, Carpenter was one of the few fellow singers to publicly support her, which she says was important to do for her friend.
While Carpenter appreciates that she has a strong LGBT following, she makes no distinctions regarding her audience and plays for everyone.
“When I look out into the audience and see the faces of people, I feel honored and privileged that they have chosen to spend their dollars on a ticket to see me and their time to connect with what I have to say in my music,” she says. “So the audience is one big wonderful collective of lives and I am thrilled they are out there.”
Theater
‘We Are Gathered’ a powerful contemplation of queer equality
Arena production dives fearlessly into many facets of same-sex connection
‘We Are Gathered’
Through June 15
Arena Stage
1101 Sixth St., S.W.
$70-$110
Arenastage.org
Aptly billed as a queer love story, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s terrific new play “We Are Gathered” (now at Arena Stage) dives deeply and fearlessly into the many facets of a same-sex connection and all that goes with it.
McCraney’s tale of two gay men’s romance unfolds entertainingly over two acts. Wallace Tre (Kyle Beltran), a tense architect, and his younger partner Free (Nic Ashe), a campy and fun-loving musician with a deep sense of quiet and peace are contemplating marriage after five years together, but one of the two isn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of imminent matrimony.
At 14, Wallace Tre (nicknamed Dubs) first learned about gay cruising via renowned British playwright Caryl Churchill’s seminal work “Cloud Nine.” It was an intoxicating introduction that led Dubs to an exciting world of sex and risk.
Soon after, a nearby park became a thrilling constant in his life. It remains a source of excitement, fun, danger, and fulfillment. The local cruising zone is also a constant in McCraney’s play.
One memorable evening, Dubs experienced a special night in the woods, a shadowy hour filled with exhilaration and surprise. That’s when Dubs unpredictably learned something he’d never felt before. That night in the park, he met and fell madly in love with Free.
In addition to being a talented playwright, McCraney is the Academy Award-winning Black and queer screenwriter of “Moonlight,” the 2016 film. He’s happy to be a part of WorldPride 2025, and grateful to Arena for making space for his play on its stage. McCraney says he wrote “We Are Gathered” as a contemplation of queer marriage and the right for same-sex couples, like opposite-sex couples, to marry anywhere in the United States.
For Dubs, it’s important that Free speak openly about how they met in the park. He’d like Free to share the details of their coming together with his supportive grandparents, Pop Pop (Craig Wallace) and Mama Jae (out actor Jade Jones). As far as they know, their grandson met Dubs at a lovely gathering with a nice crowd assembled under a swanky canopy. When in truth it was a park busy with horny guys cruising beneath a canopy of leafy verdure.
Understandably, Free is more than a tad embarrassed to reveal that he enjoyed al fresco sex with Dubs prior to knowing his boyfriend’s name. Clearly, in retrospect, both feel that their initial meeting is a source of discomfort, tinged with awkwardness.
There is a lot more to “We Are Gathered” than cruising. Dubs and Free are ardently liked by friends and family. Both are attractive and smart. Yet, they’re different. Free is quite easy going while Dubs is, at times, pricklier.
While Free is part of a happy family, Dubs’s people aren’t entirely easy. He grew up with a strung-out mother and a cold father (Kevin Mambo). Yet, his sister Punkin (Nikolle Salter), an astronaut, is very caring and close to him. While she doesn’t necessarily like “the gay stuff,” she very much wants to live in a world where there’s room for her gay brother.
Adeptly directed by Kent Gash, the production is memorable, and it’s not his first collaboration with McCraney. Ten years ago, Gash, who’s Black and queer, staged McCraney’s “Choir Boys” at Studio Theatre, another well-written and finely staged work.
“We Are Gathered” is performed in the round in Arena’s cavernous Fichandler Stage. The space is both a forest and various rooms created by designer Jason Sherwood and lighting designer Adam Honoré. It’s a world created by elevating a circular platform surrounded by charming street lamps both hanging overhead and lining the perimeter.
Ultimately, what takes place in “We Are Gathered” is a party, and something even more; it’s a paean to marriage, and a call to a sacrament.
Out & About
Justice-centered theater production comes to D.C.
Mexican Cultural Institute to host ‘La Golondrina’
The Mexican Cultural Institute will host “La Golondrina” on Friday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m. at its location on 2829 16th St. NW.
“La Golondrina” is a theater production that aims to elevate the conversation around hate crimes and the urgent need for dialogue and healing. It is also a powerful and deeply moving story that brings to the stage the emotional legacy of the Pulse nightclub shooting. The play explores that tragedy through an intimate encounter between two characters, Amelia (Luz Nicolás) and Ramón (Victor), whose connection unveils grief, love, and the enduring shadow of homophobia.
Tickets for this event are available on the Cultural Institute’s website.
Out & About
Celebrate Pride with a thoughtful book club
Second edition of ‘Books and Wine’ held at Urban Grape DC
Meet the World Image Solutions will host the second edition of “Books and Wine” on Thursday, June 5 at 5:30 p.m. at Urban Grape DC, a Black- and woman-owned winery in Washington, D.C.
The featured authors are: Beautiful Lawson, Chanele Ramos, and Pamela Coleman. All will read from works that reflect love, resilience, and queer identity across genres. For more details, visit Eventbrite.
In town for WorldPride? Take a D.C. LGBTQ walking tour
Hotel Monaco launches Pride-themed suite ahead of WorldPride
White House has ‘no plans’ to recognize Pride month
KINETIC Presents to offer six WorldPride nightlife events
Jessica Stern, D.C. Episcopal bishop to speak at WorldPride conference
Shakira cancels WorldPride concert
Bowser raises Pride flag over Wilson Building
Annapolis Pride postponed due to weather
WorldPride is here and LGBTQ Jews must be fully welcome
