Arts & Entertainment
Creative coupling
Toronto-based theater pair in D.C. for ‘Shoplifters’


Ken MacDonald and Morris Panych (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
‘The Shoplifters’
Through Oct. 19
Arena Stage
1101 Sixth Street, S.W.
$45-90
202-488-3300
In theater, longtime collaboration is not uncommon. For Canadian playwright/director Morris Panych and his husband, set designer Ken MacDonald, it’s a way of life.
Together, the pair has worked on about 90 productions. Both agree their joint projects can be trying, but they’re always the most fulfilling. “Nobody argues like we do in terms of design,” MacDonald says cheerily and without hesitation. “Other directors like my work from the start, but Morris can be critical. He loves design and as director ultimately has the last word.”
“It’s true,” agrees Panych. “When you collaborate with someone for years whether you live together or not, you get to know them really well — weaknesses and defaults and when they fake an easy route. You call them on it and it irritates them. But it also brings out their best.”
Currently, the couple is in Washington premiering Panych’s “The Shoplifters” at Arena Stage’s Kreeger Theatre. The biting comedy features Broadway’s Jayne Houdyshell as Alma, a career shoplifter whose thieving ways are about to be cut short by an overzealous security guard.
“Morris likes to write about petty things,” says MacDonald during a recent chat in one of Arena’s comfortable backstage rooms. The couple finishes each other sentences and talks over one another in a funny but singularly polite way. “That’s true,” Panych says. “I like starting off with something small — like a woman stealing a steak — and extrapolating it into a huge deal.”
Have either ever shoplifted? “No. Never,” says McDonald. But Panych says, “Sure. Long ago before I had a career, I took meat. My friends and I liked to do steak fondues.”
Panych, 62, began his career as an actor but later branched out into directing and playwriting which he had studied in college: “Acting can be humiliating and alienating. Not so much in theater, but as an actor you have to try to get all kinds of work to survive and the judgment is nonstop. I wanted other ways to express myself creatively.”
Throughout most of his 20s, MacDonald, 61, was a high school art teacher. “I was never trained in set designer. I’m foremost a drawer/painter. I draw my sets and then figure out how to build them.”
“He has no technical skills,” says Panych wryly. “But Ken does have great ideas.”
“The Shoplifters” is set in a grocery store break room. Rather than design a generically drab space, MacDonald has constructed a dizzyingly high tower of 800 brown packing boxes interrupted by brightly colored patches of laundry detergent and breakfast cereals. Some of the custom made boxes float like clouds and light shines through the spaces that separate them. “Other directors expect something more realistic. But Morris and I believe theater should be theater. It should make a statement.”
“The play is approached from an absurdist, mock naturalistic point of view. It has to be dreamlike,” Panych says. “We have people surrounded by stuff. We live in a hugely consumeristic world with a huge dichotomy between the haves and have nots. There’s a shockingly large amount of shit in the world. Boxes represent all that we live in.”
Together 34 years, the Toronto-based couple married in 2004. “It was shortly after same sex marriage had become legal in parts of Canada. And there was talk that the right might be taken away. So we thought we’d better do it. Now no one in Canada cares. That’s what I foresee for the U.S. in a couple years.”
In addition to opening “The Shoplifters,” they’re also designing upcoming productions of Panych’s next new play, and the musical “Sweet Charity” for Ontario’s Shaw Festival in May. Right now they’re fighting a lot, says the couple. But it’s not they’re fault. They blame the deadlines.
“We’re fine,” Panych says.
“We’re used to it,” MacDonald adds.
Music & Concerts
J. Lo, Troye Sivan, RuPaul added to WorldPride Music Festival
Two-day event to feature array of musical genres

WorldPride organizers on Tuesday announced two new headliners for the WorldPride Music Festival at RFK Festival Grounds (2400 East Capitol St., N.E.) June 6-7 in Washington, D.C.
Superstar Jennifer Lopez and gay pop artist Troye Sivan are set to headline, while drag trailblazer and TV star RuPaul will also take the stage for a DJ set.
Taking place over two days and nights and across three stages, WorldPride Music Festival will showcase a diverse range of music. Beyond pop stars and drag performances, house, EDM, techno, country, R&B, and a host of other genres will be heard across the weekend.
Featured LGBTQ audience fan favorites include Kim Petras, Rita Ora, Betty Who, and Marina. House and electronic fans will enjoy Zedd, Grimes, Purple Disco Machine, and Sofi Tukker. Other top-billing pop stars include Tinashe, Raye, and Grimes; Paris Hilton is also set to make an appearance.
Other artists that will bring their sounds to one of the stages include Aluna, Anabel Englund, Anne Louise, Coco & Breezy, Crush Club, Dombresky presents Disco Dom, Galantis, Hayla, Kaleena Zanders, Karsten Sollors, Leland + Friends, LP Giobbi, Matt Suave, Patrick Mason, Sasha Colby, Slayyyter, Spencer Brown, Trisha Paytas, and Ty Sunderland.
The music festival came together as a partnership between Capital Pride, Dreamland’s producer Jake Resnicow (who ran WorldPride in New York), and event promoter Club Glow, which has produced several music festivals in the region. Club Glow is set to host a separate festival, Project Glow, also to take place on RFK grounds the weekend prior to WorldPride.
Resnicow, as executive producer, noted that, “WorldPride Music Festival is a moment the world will remember. With legendary artists and our global community coming together, we’re creating an electrifying celebration that unites, uplifts, and amplifies LGBTQ+ voices like never before.”
Given the current political climate and anti-LGBTQ policies sweeping the country, “Hosting this festival in our nation’s capital makes it even more powerful — it’s not just a party, it’s a global movement.” Resnicow added.
Beyond the music, the festival will feature art installations and immersive experiences that celebrate the spectrum of LGBTQ culture, along with food and drink, specialty cocktail lounges, giveaways, and a VIP section. Proceeds from the event will benefit the nonprofit Capital Pride Alliance and other local LGBTQ community organizations, ensuring the festival’s impact extends beyond its two days of programming. WorldPride marks the 50th anniversary of Pride in the capital.
General admission, GA+, and VIP tickets start at $209.

Cupid’s Undie Run, an annual fundraiser for neurofibromatosis (NF) research, was held at Union Stage and at The Wharf DC on Saturday, Feb. 15.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
















“Fuenteovejuna”
Through March 2
GALA Hispanic Theatre
3333 14th St., N.W.
$27-$50
Galatheatre.org
Inventively staged and strongly acted, GALA Hispanic Theatre’s production of Lope de Vega’s classic “Fuenteovejuna,” vividly brings to life an old but timely tale of injustice and power. A lot of theatergoers will find this work (first published in Madrid in 1619) painfully relevant.
Possibly Lope de Vega’s most produced play, this version of “Fuenteovejuna,” penned by renowned contemporary Spanish playwright Juan Mayorga, is markedly shorter than others you might have seen. While purists may not concur, it’s generally agreed that Mayorga has effectively condensed the plot and modernized the verse.
The action kicks off with cast members jovially sharing jokes that are mostly lost on those of us relying on the production’s English surtitles, but no matter, it creates a happy mood of a contented townsfolk whose lives are soon to be horribly disrupted. (From there on, all translation is clear and presents no difficulties.)
Lope de Vega based the play on a true incident. In 1476 in Southern Spain, village residents, unwilling to accept ongoing abuse, banded together and overthrew a brutish commander.
Here, the Commander/Comendador (played menacingly by Iker Lasker) sets upon the town and specifically the mayor’s daughter Laurencia (Julia Adun in her GALA debut). In short, the all-powerful bully makes the brave young woman’s life miserable, and as he grows increasingly insistent the situation becomes perilous.
Initially she relies on the protection of her male friends. But it’s not enough.
As Laurentia is further harassed and ultimately assaulted, she somehow becomes stronger, and emboldened. Disappointed by the town’s men, she calls on the women to rebel: “Sisters, take your places, and let’s do something that will shake the whole world.”
Like all the classics, the work’s themes are enduring. Justice, decency, and collective identity are among the pressing topics explored.
Also, integral to the play’s story is the love between Laurencia and her fiancé who becomes a target of the Comendador’s savagery. Additionally, there are fine examples of familial love and genuine friendship.
There’s a lot to love about out director Juan Luis Arellano’s glowing production. It moves swiftly and excitingly. He’s assembled a large cast of talented, experienced actors (including Luz Nicolás, who plays Flores, the Commander’s right-hand man) and an outstanding design team.
Arellano has thoughtfully imbued the piece with exceptional modes of storytelling.
For instance, off to the side but still clearly seen, DJ (Aldo Ortega) provides both mediaeval and rock music. Occasionally characters step away from the other players to narrate from a standing mic beneath a dramatic spotlight.
Scenic designer Giorgos Tsappas’s set is both a thing of beauty and unexpected functionality. Comprised of different elements that include a huge silver pendulum, a sandy floor, a curved wooden bench backed by a concrete-esque curved backdrop. All of its parts are smartly and organically integrated into the staging.
At the top of the second act, a door rather surprisingly opens, allowing the Commander surrounded by actors costumed in dark sheep masks, passage to the stage. It’s a striking image.
The set is compellingly lit by stalwart designer Jesús Díaz Cortés. He’s also responsible for the captivating visuals shot from overhead and projected on the imposing back wall. All the visual design work looks subtly expensive.
“Fuenteovejuna” is Lope de Vega at his best, and GALA’s production is the perfect means of introduction or a revisit.