Arts & Entertainment
Calendar: March 7-13
Parties, support groups, exhibits and more for the week ahead
‘What’s Up Batman?,’ a piece from the ‘Portraits of Pop Culture’ exhibit which opens tonight at Del Ray Artisans. (Image courtesy DRA)
Calendar for LGBT D.C. for the week ahead.
Friday, March 7
Del Ray Artisans (2704 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, Va.) opens its “Portraits of Pop Culture” exhibit, a collection of artists’ cartoons and caricatures of important people in pop culture, with an opening reception tonight from 7-10 p.m. The exhibit is open through March 30th. Admission is free. For more details, visit thedelrayartisans.org.
Adodi D.C., a black same gender-loving men’s social/spiritual group, hosts its bi-monthly potluck discussion at Metropolitan Community Church of Washington (474 Ridge St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. featuring guest journalist and author Wyatt O’Brian. O’Brian will be talking about intimate partner violence and abuse. Please bring food to share. For details, call 202-360-1143 or email [email protected].
“Ladies and Laughter,” a benefit for Mautner Project of Whitman-Walker Health and the Human Rights Campaign is at Artisphere (1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Va.) tonight from 7-11 p.m. Lesbian comedians Michele Balan, Gloria Bigelow and Dana Goldberg will perform with comedian Chelsea Shorte emceeing the event. Tickets are $75 for general admission and $100 for VIP. For more details and to purchase tickets, visit whitman-walker.org.
Gay District, a facilitated group discussion focused on building understanding of gay culture and personal identity for men ages 18 through 35, meets at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) tonight from 8:30-9:30 p.m. For details, visit thedccenter.org.
Saturday, March 8
Team D.C. hosts its annual fashion show and model competition at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) tonight from 7-10 p.m. Fashions include club wear, swim wear, underwear and more. Tickets are $15 and proceeds help support the Team D.C. College Scholarship program for LGBT student athletes. You can bid for the clothes right off the models. For more details, visit teamdc.org/fashionshow.
The Mautner Project of Whitman-Walker Health holds its “24th Annual Mautner Project Gala and Dance” at JW Marriot (1331 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.) tonight from 6 p.m.-midnight. Honorees include Maryland Delegate Heather Mizeur and former Mautner Project Executive Director Leslie J. Calman. Entertainment provided by Kellye Gray and DJ Rosie. Tickets are $250. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.
Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts “BEARZERK,” a bear party, tonight at 10 p.m. Music by DJs Dean Sullivan, Tommy Cornelis and George D’ADHEMAR. Well and domestic drinks are $5. Jamesons, Jagers and fireballs are $6. Cover is $5 before midnight and $7 after. Admission is limited to guests 21 and over. For details, visit cobaltdc.com.
Sunday, March 9
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 more details, visit perrysadamsmorgan.com.
Nellie’s Sports Bar hosts its weekly drag brunch today with two seatings at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. For a full menu, including vegetarian options, visit nelliessportsbar.com.
Adventuring, an LGBT outdoors group, hosts a “Snickers Gap” hike today at 8:30 a.m.The hike is along the Appalachian Trail and centered on Snickers Gap where Route 7 crosses the blue Ride in Round Hill, Va. Bring lunch, boots, beverages and $15 for transportation fees. Meet in the Kiss and Ride lot of the East Falls Church Metro Station (2001 N Sycamore St., Arlington, Va.). For more information, visit adventuring.org.
Monday, March 10
The D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.) hosts coffee drop-in hours this morning from 10 a.m.-noon 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.
Youth Working Group holds its monthly meeting at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) this evening from 6-7:30 p.m. The group works to support and advocate for D.C.’s LGBT youth. For more details, visit thedccenter.org.
The D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W..) hosts coffee drop-in hours this morning from 10 a.m.-noon 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.
Us Helping Us (3636 Georgia Ave., N.W.) holds a support group for gay black men to discuss topics that affect them, share perspectives and have meaningful conversations. For details, visit uhupil.org.
Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.) hosts poker night tonight at 8 p.m. Win prizes. Free to play. For more information, visit nelliessportsbar.com.
Tuesday, March 11
D.C. Bi Women hosts its monthly meeting in the upstairs room of Dupont Italian Kitchen (1637 17th St., N.W.) from 7-9 p.m. tonight. For more details, visit thedccenter.org.
SMYAL (410 7th St., S.E.) holds free and confidential HIV testing drop-in hours from 3-5 p.m. today. For details, visit smyal.org.
Wednesday, March 12
The Lambda Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for duplicate bridge. No reservations required and new comers welcome. If you need a partner, call 703-407-6540.
Big Gay Book Group meets tonight at 7 p.m. at 1155 F St., N.W. Suite 200 to discuss “The Martin Duberman Reader: The Essential Historical, Biographical and Autobiographical Writings” by Martin Duberman, who founded the first graduate program LGBT studies and his writings have focused on the medical community’s attempt to “cure” homosexuality. Newcomers welcome. For more details, email [email protected].
Queer for Christ, a young-adult LGBT Christian group, hosts a March Happy Hour at Larry’s Lounge (1836 18th St., N.W.) tonight from 7-9 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/groups/QFCDC.
Rainbow Response, an LGBT intimate partner violence prevention group, meets in the third floor conference room at 5 Thomas Circle N.W. today from 6-7 p.m. For details, visit thedccenter.org.
Thursday, March 13
Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, volunteers today at Food and Friends (219 Riggs Rd., N.E.) from 6-8 p.m.. Come help with food preparation and packing groceries. Coffee and donuts will be provided. For details, visit burgundycrescent.org.
Rude Boi Entertainment hosts “Tempted 2 Touch,” a ladies dance party, at the Fab Lounge (2022 Florida Ave., N.W.) Doors open at 10 p.m. Drink specials $5 and vodka shots $3 all night. No cover charge. Admission limited to guests 21 and over. For more details, visit rudeboientertainment.wordpress.com.
Theater
José Zayas brings ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ to GALA Hispanic Theatre
Gay Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca wrote masterpiece before 1936 execution
‘The House of Bernarda Alba’
Through March 1
GALA Hispanic Theatre
3333 14th St., N.W.
$27-$52
Galatheatre.org
In Federico García Lorca’s “The House of Bernarda Alba,” now at GALA Hispanic Theatre in Columbia Heights, an impossibly oppressive domestic situation serves, in short, as an allegory for the repressive, patriarchal, and fascist atmosphere of 1930s Spain
The gay playwright completed his final and arguably best work in 1936, just months before he was executed by a right-wing firing squad. “Bernarda Alba” is set in the same year, sometime during a hot summer in rural Andalusia, the heart of “España profunda” (the deep Spain), where traditions are deeply rooted and mores seldom challenged.
At Bernarda’s house, the atmosphere, already stifling, is about to get worse.
On the day of her second husband’s funeral, Bernarda Alba (superbly played by Luz Nicolás), a sixtyish woman accustomed to calling the shots, gathers her five unmarried daughters (ages ranging from 20 to 39) and matter-of-factly explain what’s to happen next.
She says, “Through the eight years of mourning not a breeze shall enter this house. Consider the doors and windows as sealed with bricks. That’s how it was in my father’s house and my grandfather’s. Meanwhile, you can embroider your trousseaux.”
It’s not an altogether sunny plan. While Angustias (María del Mar Rodríguez), Bernarda’s daughter from her first marriage and heiress to a fortune, is betrothed to a much younger catch, Pepe el Romano, who never appears on stage, the remaining four stand little chance of finding suitable matches. Not only are they dowry-less, but no men, eligible or otherwise, are admitted into their mother’s house.
Lorca is a literary hero known for his mastery of both lyrical poetry and visceral drama; still, “Bernarda Alba’s” plotline might suit a telenovela. Despotic mother heads a house of adult daughters. Said daughters are churning with passions and jealousies. When sneaky Martirio (Giselle Gonzáles) steals the photo of Angustias’s fiancé all heck kicks off. Lots of infighting and high drama ensue. There’s even a batty grandmother (Alicia Kaplan) in the wings for bleak comic relief.
At GALA, the modern classic is lovingly staged by José Zayas. The New York-based out director has assembled a committed cast and creative team who’ve manifested an extraordinarily timely 90-minute production performed in Spanish with English subtitles easily ready seen on multiple screens.
In Lorca’s stage directions, he describes the set as an inner room in Bernarda’s house; it’s bright white with thick walls. At GALA, scenic designer Grisele Gonzáles continues the one-color theme with bright red walls and floor and closed doors. There are no props.
In the airless room, women sit on straight back chairs sewing. They think of men, still. Two are fixated on their oldest siter’s hunky betrothed. Only Magdelena (Anna Malavé), the one sister who truly mourns their dead father, has given up on marriage entirely.
The severity of the place is alleviated by men’s distant voices, Koki Lortkipanidze’s original music, movement (stir crazy sisters scratching walls), and even a precisely executed beatdown choreographed by Lorraine Ressegger-Slone.
In a short yet telling scene, Bernarda’s youngest daughter Adela (María Coral) proves she will serve as the rebellion to Bernarda’s dictatorship. Reluctant to mourn, Adela admires her reflection. She has traded her black togs for a seafoam green party dress. It’s a dreamily lit moment (compliments of lighting designer Hailey Laroe.)
But there’s no mistaking who’s in charge. Dressed in unflattering widow weeds, her face locked in a disapproving sneer, Bernarda rules with an iron fist; and despite ramrod posture, she uses a cane (though mostly as a weapon during one of her frequent rages.)
Bernarda’s countenance softens only when sharing a bit of gossip with Poncia, her longtime servant convincingly played by Evelyn Rosario Vega.
Nicolás has appeared in “Bernarda Alba” before, first as daughter Martirio in Madrid, and recently as the mother in an English language production at Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh. And now in D.C. where her Bernarda is dictatorial, prone to violence, and scarily pro-patriarchy.
Words and phrases echo throughout Lorca’s play, all likely to signal a tightening oppression: “mourning,” “my house,” “honor,” and finally “silence.”
As a queer artist sympathetic to left wing causes, Lorca knew of what he wrote. He understood the provinces, the dangers of tyranny, and the dimming of democracy. Early in Spain’s Civil War, Lorca was dragged to the the woods and murdered by Franco’s thugs. Presumably buried in a mass grave, his remains have never been found.
Cupid’s Undie Run, an annual fundraiser for neurofibromatosis (NF) research, was held at Union Stage and at The Wharf DC on Saturday, Feb. 21.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Sweat DC is officially expanding to Shaw, opening a new location at 1818 7th St., N.W., on Saturday, March 28 — and they’re kicking things off with a high-energy, community-first launch event.
To celebrate, Sweat DC is hosting Sweat Fest, a free community workout and social on Saturday, March 14, at 10 a.m. at the historic Howard Theatre. The event features a group fitness class, live DJ, local food and wellness partners, and a mission-driven partnership with the Open Goal Project, which works to expand access to youth soccer for players from marginalized communities.
For more details, visit Sweat DC’s website and reserve a spot on Eventbrite.
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