a&e features
‘Card’ tricks
Creator of hit Netflix series gearing up for third season
Beau Willimon on the set of ‘House of Cards’ with actress Robin Wright. (Photo courtesy Netflix)
‘An Evening With Beau Willimon’
Smithsonian Associates
A discussion with David Carr of the New York Times
National Museum of Natural History
10th and Constitution, N.W.
$30 ($25 for Associates members)
Thursday at 6:45 p.m.
Beau Willimon, the creator/writer/executive producer behind the hit Netflix series “House of Cards” will be in Washington — the show’s setting — next week for an appearance with the New York Times’ David Carr at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
On location in Baltimore where he and the crew are gearing up to film the third season, Willimon took a few minutes to talk about his characters, how far ahead he plans the show and why issues like sexual orientation probably don’t cross the minds of his lead characters, President Francis “Frank” Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and First Lady Claire Underwood (Robin Wright). His comments have been slightly edited for length.
WASHINGTON BLADE: You’ve said before the show (entire seasons of which are delivered at one time) works equally as well if somebody wants to “binge watch” or watch an episode at a time. Watching old serials like “Dallas” or “Dynasty” now on DVD, it’s so obvious the producers got a lot of mileage out of making the audience squirm and wait. What impact does the removal of that factor have on the show?
BEAU WILLIMON: The times they are a changing, for sure. But this began quite some time ago. As soon as box sets, DVR and On Demand came out, people began experiencing shows in binge-like fashion even if that term hadn’t yet been coined. I remember watching several seasons of “The Sopranos” and “Deadwood” like that. Even shows that were released week to week, a lot of people like myself and others experienced them several seasons at a time or you might watch a whole season over the course of days instead of weeks. I think those shows absolutely work if you watch them on a binge and Netflix has given people an opportunity to choose for themselves. There’s no requirement to watch them in a binge and a lot of people don’t. It’s just putting the experience in the hand of the viewer from day one.
BLADE: But does the fact that that’s even a possibility affect your pacing?
WILLIMON: No, because it has to be able to work both ways. A good story is a good story. We always thought of the first season as a 13-hour movie more than anything else. We had specific episodes that had a beginning, middle and end, but it’s really more like chapters of a book. If you’re reading a book, nobody tells you how much you should read in any given sitting. So we took that approach and I think it works.
BLADE: How has D.C. been to work with when you need establishing shots and that sort of thing?
WILLIMON: Great. Everyone in the film and television commission in Washington goes out of their way to help us out. There are a lot of security restrictions and rightly so since 9-11. It’s not as easy to film in D.C. as it may have been 20 years ago, but that’s the world we live in.
BLADE: “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner told Rolling Stone recently that he had a 10-minute conversation with Jon Hamm before they started shooting and told him the whole story of Don Draper, how it ends and everything. I’m not asking for specifics, but do you have “House of Cards” that planned out? Do you know how it ends?
WILLIMON: I don’t know if the conversation between Jon and Matthew encapsulated the entire series. Maybe it did. If that’s the case, Matthew had a very grand vision in mind. I always knew where the second season would end and I knew a lot of the big things that would happen along the way. I had conversations with Kevin and Robin and a number of the cast about where their characters were heading and the general direction of the story and where they would end up by the end of season two. I think it’s a good idea to give the actors as much information as possible. And I often made changes to the story based on what I was seeing in front of the camera and due to the fact that sometimes better ideas bubble forth in your head midway through the season. I also rely a lot on the discussions I have with the actors who, at a certain point, start to know the characters as well as the writer does. That dialogue feeds into the scripts we’re working on. Makes them richer, deeper, more complex. So I encourage that sort of collaboration.
BLADE: What would be an ideal number of seasons for you?
WILLIMON: I’m just tackling one season at a time. We’re at a day and age in television where people have come to expect a satisfying conclusion to a series and we definitely will aim for that with “House of Cards.” But as to the exact number of seasons, I don’t know yet.
BLADE: If backed into a corner, do you think Frank or Claire might push each other under the bus? They have an interesting marriage but it seems like self-preservation might trump all.
WILLIMON: You’re very sneaky in trying to get me to talk about upcoming seasons (laughs). One of the first things I established was that I wanted the show to be about marriage as much as anything else. Their marriage is certainly very unconventional. It doesn’t abide by a lot of the rules that a more traditional marriage does, but it works for them and they make each other stronger in the process. They do have their conflicts and they rub each other the wrong way and sometimes they’re a liability to each other, but so far they’ve always found a way around that and come out stronger in the process. As to how it will evolve, there’s only one way to find out.
BLADE: Their three-way with Meechum has generated a lot of fan discussion. What kind of dramatic purpose did it serve that they had a three-way with a man as opposed to a woman?
WILLIMON: Well yeah, sure. I think we should go back to the episode in season one where Frank says it best — I’m paraphrasing — but he essentially says that when he’s attracted to someone or something, he goes for it. He has a large appetite and he isn’t one to traffic in labels. He finds them limiting. A lot of people have asked me if Francis is gay, is he bi, is he pansexual? Is he any number of terms? And I don’t think Francis himself would have much patience for that conversation. His appetite is vast and we see him in all sorts of relationships. Some are purely transactional, some are based on love and respect as his marriage proves, and others are somewhere in between. In terms of the threesome between Claire, Francis and Meechum, what we were going after there was seeing a side of Francis and Claire that we don’t often get to see. They are human begins after all. They have desires and whims just like anyone else and they aren’t just always pure political calculations. Sometimes they have a few drinks and the circumstances might align in a way that the impulses take over. … I don’t think they’d ever be sloppy about it, but because they feel safe with him, that opens up possibilities. And one of the things I’m most proud of is that they don’t make much of a big deal out of it. The next day it’s back to business as usual. … That night was different than other nights, but it doesn’t mean the world was turned upside down and that’s fine. If we had made a big deal out of it, I think it would have been untrue to their characters and trying to place an accent on a syllable that didn’t deserve it.
BLADE: Are you straight?
WILLIMON: Yes. I mean if you’re going to use labels, I guess I would identify as straight.
BLADE: I’m intrigued that with all the technology available, you block out seasons with grids on dry erase boards. That’s so wonderfully old school.
WILLIMON: Well, we use Google docs and stuff like that too, but there’s still something to be said for having a big board in front of everyone on a wall where we can all see it. Throw something up, erase it. I guess you could do that with some sort of massive touch screen, but we do just fine with a dry erase board, some markers and a cork board with index cards. It all ends up in our Google docs and digital formats at some point.
BLADE: Tell us a little about the documentary you’re planning on Westerly Windina, the transgender Australian woman formerly known as pro surfer Peter Drouyn.
WILLIMON: I have a small production company called Westwood Productions with my producing partner, Jordan Tappis. He was a former pro world surfer so he’s very looped into the surfing community. He’s tight with a journalist named Jamie Brisick who has been writing about surfing for years. And Jamie got wind of Westerly’s story. Peter Drouyn was a hero to so many in surfing in the ‘60s and ‘70s, a true iconoclast. … He sort of fell off the face of the earth and Jamie wondered whatever happened to Peter Drouyn. And what he discovered was that Peter had fully realized herself as Westerly Windina and, of course, his curiosity took over. He began to interview her, to write about her and they eventually wrote a book. He approached Jordan and said, “I think we should do a documentary.” … It’s been quite a journey. Since we began filming, she did her operation and is fully a woman now physically. And the journey continues.
BLADE: With President Obama — and no disrespect meant to his work ethic or what he’s accomplished — but it felt to me like there was an inevitability to his presidency. That the planets had aligned in such a way for that to happen exactly when it did. Frank and Claire on “House of Cards” operate with an m.o. that for them to rise, others must go down. Is that an ethos you think works in the real world?
WILLIMON: Yes and no. Frank and Claire are an extreme version of power in Washington. They have no discernible ideology. Maybe Claire does on some issues a bit more than Frank does, but at the end of the day, they’re pursuing power for powers’ sake. I think most people who get into politics get into it for the right reasons. They want to serve their country, they want to make the world a better place. And yet the higher up the ladder you get and the more power you yield, you’re faced with all sorts of ethical choices and you have to make compromises for the sake of political expediency that might contradict deeply held beliefs. These ethical choices and contradictions erode your beliefs. In Francis and Claire, we have people who believe they’ve liberated themselves from such beliefs. They see ideology as quicksand that gives you no opportunity to navigate, to be flexible, to adapt. To a certain degree, I think that makes political sense. When you see, whether it’s the far right or the far left, people who are completely intransigent, then all you get is gridlock. The nature of politics is compromise.
Beau Willimon is slated for an appearance next week at the Museum of Natural History. (Photo courtesy PMK-BNC)
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Award-winning D.C. chef reaching new culinary heights
Anthony Jones of Marcus DC competing on ‘Top Chef’
In Anthony Jones’s kitchen, all sorts of flags fly, including his own. Executive chef at award-winning restaurant Marcus DC, Jones has reached culinary heights (James Beard Award semifinalist for Emerging Chef, anyone?), yet he’s just getting started.
Briefly stepping away from his award-winning station, Jones took a moment under a different set of lights. Recently, he temporarily gave up his post at the restaurant for a starring small-screen slot on the latest season of “Top Chef,” which debuted in March. (The show airs weekly on Bravo and Peacock).
Before his strategic slice-and-dice competition, however, Jones, who identifies as gay, draws from his deep DMV roots. In the years before “Top Chef” and the top chef spot at Marcus, he was born and raised in Sunderland, Md., in southern Maryland, near the Chesapeake.
Early memories were steeped in afternoons on boats with his dad bonding over fishing, and wandering the garden of his great-grandparents spread with fresh vegetables and a few hogs. “It was Southern, old-school ethics and upbringing,” he said. “Family and food went hand in hand.” Weekends meant grabbing bushels of crabs, dad and grandma would cook and crack them. Family members would host fish fries for extra cash. In this seafood-heavy youth, Jones managed time to sneak in episodes of the “OG” Japanese “Iron Chef” show, which helped inspire him to pursue a career in the kitchen.
Jones moved to D.C. after graduating from college, ending up at lauded Restaurant Eve, and met famed chef Marcus Samuelson, who brought him to Miami to be part of the opening team for Red Rooster Overtown. After three years, Jones moved back to D.C., where he ran Dirty Habit, reinventing and reimagining the menu, integrating West African flavors and ingredients.
Samuelson, however, wouldn’t let a talent like Jones stay away for too long. Pulling Jones back into his orbit, Samuelson elevated Jones to help him open his namesake restaurant Marcus DC, which has been named a top-five restaurant by the Washington Post. Since then, Jones has been nominated as a semifinalist for the RAMMYs Rising Culinary Star in 2026 and won the Eater DC’s Rising Chef award in 2025.
Samuelson’s Marcus is a tour de force interpreting the Black Diaspora on the plate, from the American South to West Africa, along with his signature “Swedopian” touches. Yet it’s Jones who has deeply informed the plate, elevating his own story to date. Marcus DC is primarily a seafood restaurant, which serves Jones well.
“Where I’m from is seafood heavy, and as I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve moved away from meat.” Veggies and fish are hero dishes. His own dish, Mel’s Crab Rice, was not only lauded by the Washington Post, but is framed by his youth carrying home the crustaceans from Mel’s crab truck. It’s a bowl of Carolina rice, layered with pickled okra, uni béarnaise, and crab. Jones also points to a dish on the opening menu, rockfish and brassica, paying respect to a landmark D.C. institution, Ben’s Chili Bowl. Jones reverse engineered a favorite bowl of chili that’s seafood instead of meat forward, leveraging octopus and rockfish along with different riffs of cauliflower: showing his intellectual, creative, and cultural sides.
While “Top Chef” is showing Jones’s spotlight side, he also lets his identity show at work. “In the kitchen, I make sure we’re inclusive. We don’t tolerate discrimination. Everyone that’s here should feel confident to express themselves. There are so many different flags in the kitchen.”
Jones says that he didn’t fully express his gay identity until fairly recently. He felt reluctant coming out to certain family members, “you’re scared to tell them about being different,” he says, and while that anxiety ate at him, “I’m lucky and fortunate to have unconditional love and that weight off my shoulders.”
Today, “I’m me all the time, Monday to Sunday. I’m honest with people, and my staff is honest with me.”
“Being a chef is hard,” he says, “and being a chef of color is even more difficult.”
Yet his LGBTQ identity is a juggling act, he says. “I need to keep that balance, because once someone finds out something about you, their opinion can change, whether you want it or not.”
Being on a whole season of TV cooking competition, however, might mean millions more might have an opinion of him (Jones has appeared on TV already, on an episode of “Chopped”). To prepare, he says, “I’ve just kept a level head. It’s just an honor to be on top chef with amazing people happy to be there.”
Plus, this season is set in the Carolinas, and Jones attended Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C. “It’s a full story of my life, now a monumental moment for me.”
Jones also recently was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. “JBF has been a north star, a dream for so long. I always had this goal on my wall.”
Being at the top spot at Marcus DC, making waves through his accolades, and cooking on Bravo means that Jones is highly visible. “I think that if someone has a similar background to me, and can see our story, trajectory, and success, they can have more ability to be themselves. This is my goal.”
Back at Marcus, Jones has plenty up his chef’s white’s sleeves. A new spring menu is in the works. He’ll be launching a new tasting menu “dining experience,” he says, and has plans to work on more events and collaborations with chefs and friends to bring in new talent and share the culinary wealth.
a&e features
Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Meet the Legends and Illuminators lighting new paths
The Torchbearers Awards are more than recognition—they are a continuation of legacy. They honor the quiet architects of progress in our community: those who organize, advocate, build, and protect, often without fanfare but always with purpose. Rooted in a belief in intentional recognition, this honor names those who carry our movements forward—those who make room for others, who remind us that change is both generational and generative. In a time marked by uncertainty and challenge, these leaders push forward with courage, clarity, and an unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity and equity.
This year’s honorees reflect the full breadth of our community, spanning generations, backgrounds, identities, and industries. From Legends, with decades of leadership and having created pathways for others, to Illuminators, who are lighting new paths with creativity and innovation, each Torchbearer represents the power of intergenerational leadership and the strength found in our diversity. They are organizers, advocates, artists, policy leaders, healers, and changemakers whose lived experiences shape a shared vision for equity and liberation.
This award is our love letter to queer and trans women and nonbinary people who carry the flame when it would be easier to let it dim. To those who consistently show up, who use their voice and visibility and stand firm, often without recognition, so that others may live more freely and fully. The Torchbearers Awards celebrates not just what has been done, but the enduring spirit, responsibility, and collective care that ensure the work continues, and that the flame is always passed forward.
Co-Creators of the Torchbearers Awards: Shannon Alston, June Crenshaw, Heidi Ellis
Torchbearers Awards Advisory Board: Aditi Hardikar, Lesley Bryant, Jasmine Wilson-Bryant, Stephen Rutgers
ILLUMINATOR AWARDEES
- Representative Sharice Davids (she/her), (D, KS-03)
— U.S. House of Representatives - Greisa Martinez Rosas (she/her/ella)
— Executive Director, United We Dream - Paola Ramos (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Meagan A. Fitzgerald (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Jessica L. Lewis (she/her)
— Founder / Producer, Play Play DC - Savannah Wade (she/her)
— Founder, OAR Agency - Suhad Babaa (she/her)
— Filmmaker/ Former Executive Director of Just Vision - Ashlee Davis (she/her)
— Global Head of Inclusive Outcomes, Ancestry - Jazmine Hughes (she/her)
— Journalist and Former Editor at New York Times Magazine - Queen Adesuyi (they/she)
— Policy Advisor & Organizer, ReFrame Health & Justice - Michele Rayner, Esq. (she/her)
— Civil Rights Attorney, State Representative (Florida House of Representatives) - Gaby Vincent (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Jenny Nguyen (she/her)
— Founder & Owner, The Sports Bra - Denice Frohman (she/her)
— Independent Artist, Poet / Performer - Vida Rangel (she/her)
— Founder, Our Trans Capital - Roxanne Anderson (they/them)
— Executive Director, Our Space - Ann Marie Gothard (she/her)
— Co-Founder & President, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Diana Rodriquez (she/her)
— Co-Founder & CEO, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Wendi Cooper (she/her)
— Founder / Executive Director, Transcending Women - Toya Matthews (she/her)
— City of San Antonio, Texas - Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Charity Blackwell (she/her)
— Poet, LGBTQ Advocate & Community Leader - Wilhelmina Indermaur (she/her)
— Director of Communications, Tyler Clementi Foundation - Em Chadwick (she/her)
— CMO, For Them & Autostraddle - Kylo Freeman (they/he)
— CEO, For Them & Autostraddle
LEGEND AWARDEES
- Sheila Alexander-Reid (she/her)
— Executive Director, PHL Diversity, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau - Cassandra Cantave Burton (she/her)
— Interim Director of Thought Leadership & Senior Research Advisor, AARP - leigh h. mosley (she/her)
— Photographer / Educator, PhotoFlo Photography - Jenn M. Jackson, PhD (they/them)
— Assistant Professor of Political Science; Author & Columnist, Syracuse University - Jordyn White (she/her)
— COO, Washington Prodigy / VP of Leadership Development & Research, HRC Foundation - AJ Hikes (they/them)
— Deputy Executive Director, ACLU - RaeShanda Lias (she/her)
— Digital Creator, RL Lockhart - Donna Payne-Hardy (she/her)
— Educator, EEO Specialist, Founder of NBJC, Former Leader at the Human Rights Campaign - Courtney R. Snowden (she/her)
— Principal, Blueprint Strategy Group - Gaye Adegbalola (she/her)
— Musician & Activist, Musician / Inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame - Cheryl A. Head (she/her)
— Independent Author, Novelist (Crime Fiction) - Letitia Gomez (she/her)
— The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Board Chair - Lynne Brown (she/her)
— Publisher, Washington Blade - Shay Franco-Clausen (She/Her/Ella/Queen)
— Political Strategist and Organizer - Melissa L. Bradley (she/her)
— Founder & Managing Partner, New Majority Ventures - Meghann Burke (she/her)
— Executive Director, NWSL Players Association - Victoria Kirby York, MPA (she/they)
— Director of Public Policy & Programs, National Black Justice Collective - Joli Angel Robinson (she/her)
— CEO, Center on Halsted - Jeannine Frisby LaRue (she/her)
— CEO, Moxie Strategies - Alice Wu (she/her)
— Film Director (Saving Face, The Half of It) / Screenwriter - Storme Webber (she/her)
— Interdisciplinary Artist / Educator, University of Washington - Kim Stone
— CEO of the Washington Spirit, Washington Spirit - Mickalene Thomas
— American Visual Artist, Mickalene Thomas Studio - Erika Lorshbough (any/they/she)
— Executive Director, interACT - J. Gia Loving (she/ella)
— Co-Executive Director, GSA Network
a&e features
D.C. springs back to life with new, returning events
Cherry blossoms, Rehoboth season kickoff, and more on tap
Longer and warmer days are back meaning: It’s time to get out of the house and enjoy Washington D.C.’s many events. Below are a few to check out this spring.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts will host “Making their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection” until Sunday, July 26. This exhibition illustrates women artists’ vital role in abstraction, considers historical contributions, formal and material breakthroughs and intergenerational relationships among women artists over the last eight decades. For more details, visit. NMWA’s website.
Art in the Attic will host a pop-up on Saturday, March 14 at 6 p.m. at 1012 Madison St., Alexandria, Va. There will be a variety of vendors selling products across different modes of art. For more details, visit Eventbrite.
Play Play will host “Indoor Recess – The art of play” on Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. This event will embody classic recess energy, including opportunities to build and experience community and connections through games, movement, art stations, and creative freedom. Tickets are $12.51 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
Spark Social will host “Gay Bar Crawl on U Street” on Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m. This will be a fun night out in gay D.C. with other gay people, whether you’re visiting D.C., new to the area, or just looking to expand your social circle. Many crawlers have formed lasting friendships and even romantic relationships after just one night out. Tickets are $35.88 and are available on Eventbrite.
Creative Suitland Arts Center will host “EFFERVESCENT: House of Swann” on Saturday, May 30 at 7 p.m. This will be a gay, good time where we will celebrate love, joy, wellness, and visibility for the LGBTQIA+ community. Tickets start at $17.85 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
SWAG Works DC will host “Unapologetically Her” on Saturday, March 14 at 2 p.m. at 701 E St., S.E. This event is a powerful celebration of womanhood, resilience, creativity, and self-expression in honor of Women’s History Month. This all-women exhibition highlights the diverse voices, stories, and artistic perspectives of women who create boldly, live authentically, and stand confidently in their truth. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
9:30 Club will host “Gimme Gimme Disco: A Dance Party Inspired by ABBA” on Saturday, March 14 at 6 p.m. There will also be a “Donna Summer Power Hour – The Queen of Disco” segment during this event. It’ll be one hour of music with no skips. Tickets are available on 9:30 Club’s website.
Harder Better Faster Stronger will host “Heated Rivalry Rave” on Friday, March 20 at 9 p.m. at Howard Theatre. This event is open to all ages. Tickets are available on the theater’s website.
CAMP Rehoboth hosts its 25th annual Women’s+ FEST, April 9-12 in Rehoboth Beach, Del. Entertainers include headliner Mina Hartong, a comedian, storyteller, and founder of Lez Out Loud; and singer Yoli Mayor. There are dances, dinners, pickleball, and much more. Details and tickets at camprehoboth.org.
Also in Rehoboth Beach, the Washington Blade’s 19th annual Summer Kickoff Party is set for Friday, May 15 featuring Ashley Biden, who will accept an award on behalf of her brother Beau. State Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall will also speak. More speakers and the venue to be announced soon.
The annual D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off March 21 at DAR Constitution Hall and culminates with Petalpalooza on April 4, the day-long, outdoor street party with music and art, stretching across Navy Yard, and ending with fireworks over the Anacostia River.
Vance speaks at Orbán rally in Hungary
White House ends protections for trans students in multiple school districts
Amendments to India’s transgender rights law criticized
Cuba under pressure and without answers
Police mental health struggles gain growing attention
Belarusian lawmakers approve bill to crackdown on LGBTQ rights
How new barriers to health care coverage are hitting D.C.
Kenyan advocacy groups launch LGBTQ voter mobilization campaign
Calendar: April 3-9
