Connect with us

Theater

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW THEATER: ‘Blithe’ theatrical season

Hookers, grand dames and a gay president coming soon

Published

on

theater, gay news, Washington Blade
theater, gay news, Washington Blade

Angela Lansbury in ‘Blithe Spirit.’ (Photo by Joan Marcus; courtesy Center Stage Marketing)

Spring is the season of growth and renewal and the Rainbow Theatre Project (rainbowtheatreproject.com) is sprouting out all over. Helmed by out artistic director H. Lee Gable and managing director Michael Kelley, who is bisexual, Rainbow is committed to being D.C.’s premier theater for the LGBT community. Last season (Rainbow’s first), the company focused on staged readings of new works, but now the fledgling company is expanding with a one-night cabaret extravaganza titled “Torch: Songs from the Gay Life!” (Sunday at Bier Baron Tavern near Dupont Circle), featuring professional LGBT talent.

And in June, Rainbow is presenting a fully staged production of out playwright Paula Vogel’s “The Oldest Profession” (June 4-21) at Flashpoint. An early Vogel work, this play with music charts the professional decline of a senior madam and her stall of aging hookers during the Reagan era.

Baltimore’s Iron Crow Theatre presents “The Revelation of Bobby Pritchard,” by Rich Espey March 13-28. It’s billed as a “contemporary exploration of the clash between religious conviction and modern LGBT issues contained within the tumultuous dynamics of a typical American family.” It will be performed at the Baltimore Theatre Project (45 W. Preston St., Baltimore). Details at ironcrowtheatre.org.

At Ford’s Theatre (fords.org), out director Jeff Calhoun is staging “Freedom’s Song: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War,” (March 13-May 20) an epic musical featuring the words of Lincoln and music inspired by the letters of those who lived through the war. Ford’s is developing this work as part of the Ford’s 150, a series of events commemorating the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination. The cast features talented local actor Stephen Gregory Smith as a Confederate private.

Smith’s husband Matt Conner is directing “Once on This Island” (May 8-31), Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s Caribbean-set, one-act musical at Creative Cauldron (creativecauldron.org) in Falls Church.

At Arena Stage (arenastage.org), out actor Jefferson Farber is playing Spike in Christopher Durang’s Tony-winning Chekhov-inspired comedy “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” (April 3-May 3). The script describes Spike as “an aspiring actor, 29, sexy, self-absorbed.” Spike spends much of the comedy shirtless and even treats audiences to a reverse strip tease.

Factory 449 (factory449.org) will present Radha Bharadwaj’’s “Closet Land” (April 16-May 20) at Anacostia Arts Center. Staged by out director Rick Hammerly, it centers on the interrogation of a children’s book author who is accused by the government of inciting anarchy in her work. The timely two-hander features talented company members Sara Barker and out actor David Lamont Wilson.

At MetroStage (metrostage.org) in Alexandria, out actor Michael Russotto stars opposite Susan Lynskey in John W. Lowell’s “The Letters” (May 7-June 7). Set in early 1930s Russia, Lowell’s suspenseful drama is inspired by the Soviets removal of all hints of homosexuality from composer Tchaikovsky’s letters and papers. Out director John Vreeke helms the production.

Studio Theatre (studiotheatre.org) presents “Jumpers for Goalposts” (May 13-June 21), a comedy about an amateur gay soccer team called Barely Athletic competing for a trophy in a LGBT league in the British working-class city of Hull. It’s a U.S. premiere of both the play and its out playwright Tom Wells, who is getting a lot of attention in England. There is a special Blade night planned for May 27.

This spring, National Theatre (thenationaldc.com) plays host to two great ladies of the stage. First it’s the remarkable Angela Lansbury in the tour of gay genius Noel Coward’s classic comedy “Blithe Spirit” (March 17-29). Lansbury plays the outlandish Madame Arcati, a medium who unwittingly summons up novelist Charles Condomine’s dead wife Elvira, much to his current wife Ruth’s dismay.

And then Barry Humphries brings his cat-eyed, lavender-haired lady from down under to the National in “Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye – the Farewell Tour” (April 21-26). So possums, get tickets. This may be your last chance to see the rapier witted dame on a local stage.

At Woolly Mammoth (woollymammoth.net) is the world premiere of “Lights Rise on Grace” (Marcy 30-April 26) by Chad Beckim. Billed as an examination of race, sexuality and family, it’s the story of a shy Chinese American who falls in love with Large, an outgoing African-American classmate. But their romance ends abruptly when Large is sent to prison for six years where he becomes lovers with Riece, a white fellow prisoner. Following his release, Large reunites with Grace but continues to have sex with men.

Then it’s “Zombie: The American” (May 25-June 21), a world premier from the marvelously talented out playwright Robert O’ Hara. The year is 2063 and the first openly gay president of the United States is dealing with imminent civil war, the threat of an African invasion, an adulterous First Gentleman, and zombies in the basement of the White House. What to do? “Zombie’s” four-person cast includes the seriously funny, out actor Sarah Marshall.

Theater J celebrates 30 years of gay actor/writer Charles Busch with a revival of “Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” June 3-July 5. Details at washingtondcjcc.org.

At Signature Theatre (signature-theatre.org), it’s another busy spring for out director Matthew Gardiner. He’s staging Nick Blaemire’s new musical “Soon” (March 10-April 26), the quirky story of Charlie, a 20-something woman who seems to have given up on life. Following “Soon,” Gardiner tackles “Cabaret” (May 12-June 28), the Weimar-set John Kander and Fred Ebb musical based on gay writer Christopher Isherwood’s biographical novel “Goodbye to Berlin.”  Wesley Taylor (NBC’s “Smash,” Broadway’s “The Addams Family” and “Rock of Ages”) stars as the Emcee and award-winning local out actor Bobby Smith plays Ernst, a likable guy who’s revealed to be a Nazi.

Nu Sass Productions (nusass.com), a D.C.-based female driven theater company is presenting Tony Kushner’s “A Bright Room Called Day” (March 12-April 5) at Caos on F Street, N.W. One of the gay playwright’s early works, “Bright Room” depicts the lives of a group of friends during the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazi Party in Berlin. Angela Pirko directs.

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Theater

Theatre Prometheus spreads queer joy with ‘Galatea’

Two girls dressed as boys who find love despite the odds

Published

on

Cate Ginsberg as Phillida and Amber Patrice Coleman as Galatea (Photo by Charlotte Hayes)

‘Galatea’
Through May 10
Theatre Prometheus
Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center
7995 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, Md.
$27
Theatreprometheus.org

In a timely move, Theatre Prometheus thought it would be a beneficial thing to spread a little queer joy. And since the company’s mission includes engaging audiences and artists in queer and feminist art, there was nothing to stop them. 

Co-artistic directors Tracey Erbacher and Lauren Patton Villegas, both queer, agree they’ve found that joy in John Lyly’s “Galatea,” an Elizabethan-era comedy about Galatea and Phillida, two girls dressed as boys who find love despite some rather slim odds.  

Now playing at Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center on the Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus, the upbeat offering is a mix of contemporary and period, and strives to make audiences happy. Galatea’s cast includes Amber Coleman and Cate Ginsberg as the besotted pair. 

Erbacher, also the production’s director, adds “queer joy is something that I prioritized in casting actors and interviewing production people. I asked them what it means to them, and resoundingly the reply — from both them and the play — is that queer joy is the freedom to be yourself without having to think about it.

“Galatea” was first brought to Prometheus’s attention by Caitlin Partridge, the company’s literary director. Erbacher recalls, “she strongly suggested I read this very queer play. I read it and fell absolutely in love. And because it’s a comedy — I really like directing comedy — I knew that I could lean into that while not neglecting its universal themes of young love.” 

Villegas, who’s not ordinarily drawn to the classics, was also instantly smitten with Galatea.

“Usually with classics, the language doesn’t jump out at me the way modern works do,” she says. “But not so with ‘Galatea.’ The first time I heard it read aloud, I found it easy to follow and entirely accessible in the best way.”

Whether Lyly deliberately wrote a queer play isn’t known. What’s definitely known is the play was written with an all-boy performing troupe in mind; that’s partly why there are so many young female roles, the parts 10-year-old boys were playing at the time. 

There’s not a lot known about Lyly’s personal life, mostly because he wasn’t wildly famous. What’s known about the times is that there wasn’t a concept of “gay,” but there were sodomy laws regarding homosexual activity in England geared toward men having sex with men; it was all very phallocentric, Erbacher says.

She categorically adds, “Women’s sexuality wasn’t considered in the equation. In fact, it was often asked whether women were even capable of having sex with other women. It just was not part of the conversation. If there wasn’t a dick involved it didn’t count.

“Perhaps that’s how the playwright got around it. If there were two male characters in the play he could not have done it.”

Prometheus has done adaptations of ancient myths and some classics, but in this case it’s very faithful to the original text. Other than some cuts winnowing the work down to 90 minutes, “Galatea” is pretty much exactly as Lyly wrote it. 

And that includes, “girls dressed as boys who fall in love thinking girls are boys,” says Erbacher. “And then they start to clock things: ‘I think he is as I am.’ And then they don’t care if the object of their affection is a boy or a girl, the quintessential bisexual iconic line.” 

And without spoiling a thing, the director teases, “the ending is even queerer than the rest of the play.”

Erbacher and Villegas have worked together since Prometheus’s inception 11 years ago. More recently, they became co-artistic directors, splitting the work in myriad ways. It’s a good fit: They share values but not identical artistic sensibilities allow them to exchange objective feedback.

In past seasons, the collaborative pair have produced an all-women production of “Macbeth” and a queered take on [gay] “Cymbeline,” recreating it as a lesbian love story. And when roles aren’t specifically defined male or female, they take the best actor for the part.  

With Galatea, Prometheus lightens the current mood. Erbacher says, “the hard stuff is important but exhausting. We deserve a queer rom-com, a romantic sweeping story that’s not focused on how hard it is to be queer, but rather the joy of it.”

Continue Reading

Theater

Timely comedy ‘Fake It’ focuses on Native American themes

Arena Stage production features two out actors

Published

on

Eric Stanton Betts (standing) and Brandon Delsid in ‘Fake It Until You Make It.’ (Photo by Daniel Rader)

‘Fake It Until You Make It’
Through May 4
Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., S.W.
Tickets start at $59
Arenastage.org

A farce requires teamwork. And Larissa FastHorse’s “Fake It Until You Make It” now at Arena Stage is no exception. 

The timely comedy focuses on Native American nonprofits fractiously housed in a shared space. Friction rises when rivals River (Amy Brenneman), a white woman operating in the Indigenous world, goes up against the more authentic Wynona (Shyla Lefner) to win a lucrative Native-funded grant.   

While Brenneman (best known for TV’s Judging Amy) is undeniably a big draw, it takes a group collaboration to hit marks, land jokes, and pull off the well-executed physical comedy including all those carefully timed door slams.

As members of the six-person “Fake It” cast, Brandon Delsid and Eric Stanton Betts, both out actors of partly indigenous ancestry, contribute to the mayhem. Respectively, Delsid and Betts play Krys and Mark, a pair of two-spirited Native Americans who meet farcically cute and enjoy one of the play’s more satisfying arcs. 

For Krys, every attractive man is a potential next fling, but when Mark, handsome and relatively reserved, arrives on the scene, it’s something entirely different. 

Both onstage and sometimes off, Betts plays the straight man to Delsid’s waggishness. But when it comes down to real life business, the friends are on the same page: not only are the L.A.-based, up-and-coming actors intensely serious about their film and stage careers, but they’re also particularly engaged in the themes of Indigenous People found in “Fake It.” 

On a recent Wednesday following a matinee and an audience talkback, they were ready for a phone interview. 

In establishing whose voice was whose, Delsid clarified with “I’m the one who sounds a little like a Valley girl.” 

WASHINGTON BLADE: Brandon, you’ve been with the show since its early work-shopping days in 2022 and through its debut in Los Angeles and now Washington. Have things evolved? 

BRANDON DELSID: Definitely. I’ve grown up in the last couple of years and so has my character; it’s hard to know where I end and Kry begins. There’s been a real melding.

Eric and I are both queer, and to get to play these roles that are so human, imperfect, sexy, and interesting is really joyful.

As queer artists you don’t always get the chance to do work like this. So many stories are queer trauma, which is incredibly important, but it’s liberating to feel joy and ride it off into the sunset, which, without revealing too much, is kind of what we get to do.

BLADE: There’s some race shifting in “Fake It” particularly with regard to “pretendian” (a pejorative term describing a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous status). 

ERIC STANTON BETTS:  The last few years I’ve been on a journey with my cultural identity and place in the world. I’m a mixed BIPOC artist, my dad is Black and Native American by way of the Cherokee tribe and my mom is white. 

Since 2020, I’ve tried to figure out where I belong in this cultural history that I haven’t had a tie to throughout my life; it’s gratifying to find my way back to my indigeneity and be welcomed. 

In the play, race shifting is introduced through farce. But it’s never in a disrespectful way; it’s never mocked or done in a way to take away from others. The playwright parallels race shifting with gender fluidity. 

DELSID: But in life, there are people posing as Indigenous, actively taking grants, and the play goes there, we don’t hold back. Larissa, our playwright, has made it clear that she’s not trying to figure it out for us. With that in mind, we hope people leave the theater interested and curious to learn more. 

BLADE: Mark arrives kind of the middle of some crazy drama, bringing along a jolt of romance. 

BETTS:  Yeah, when I show up, we’re all sort of shot out of a cannon, struggling to keep up with the initial lie. 

DESLID: A very gay cannon. 

BLADE: What’s up next for you two?

BETTS: Both Brandon and I are up for the same part in a TV pilot, so one of us may be getting some very good news. I also have a Tyler Perry film coming out soon [he plays a model, not an unfamiliar gig for Betts]. 

DELSID: Coming up, I have a recurring part on HBO’s “The Rehearsal,” and a supporting part in “June and John,” a John Besson film. But doing “Fake It Until You Make It” in L.A. and now D.C. has been a special time in our lives. It’s 23/7 togetherness. There’s that hour for sleep. 

Continue Reading

Theater

‘Bad Books’ a timely look at censorship in local library

Influencer vs. conservative parent in Round House production

Published

on

Holly Twyford (The Mother) and Kate Eastwood Norris (The Librarian) in ‘Bad Books’ at Round House Theatre. (Photo by Margot Schulman)

‘Bad Books’
Through May 4
Round House Theatre
4545 East-West Highway
Bethesda, Md.
Tickets start at $43
Roundhousetheatre.org

While a library might seem an unlikely place for a heated contretemps, it’s exactly the spot where adults go when they’re itching to battle out what books minors might be allowed to read. 

In Sharyn Rothstein’s “Bad Books,” two women, The Mother (out actor Holly Twyford) and The Librarian (Kate Eastwood Norris), swiftly become mired in a quarrel that comes with some weighty repercussions. 

The Mother is a popular conservative influencer on a mission. She’s furious that the local library has overstepped its bounds and she blames The Librarian, a woman who adheres to the “it takes a village” method of child rearing and is dedicated to the young people who approach her reference desk. 

There’s some background. It seems The Librarian who dresses young (tight jackets and Doc Martens) and curses a blue streak, forged a friendship with Jeremy, a teenage library regular. 

While the details are a bit hazy, it seems the troubled Jeremy confided in The Librarian regarding some personal issues. In return, she suggested a helpful book – Boob Juice.

Unsurprisingly, based solely on its title, the book has thrown The Mother into a pique of outrage. After finding Boob Juice in her son’s bedroom, she made a beeline to the library; and not incidentally, The Mother hasn’t read the recommended work and has no plans to do so. 

Set in a suburb with lax gun laws, the story explores facets of division and conciliation. The Mother insists she isn’t so much about banning books as she is keeping some books away from young people until they’ve obtained parental approval. 

“Bad Books” is performed in the round. Built on a rotating stage, Meghan Raham’s set is simple, pleasingly serviceable, and easily transforms from the library into a small corporate office, and later the assembly room of a church. Overhead floats a circular glass shelf filled with a cache of banned books. Things like a rolling book cart and a goldfish bowl add some flavor to the different locations. 

The Mother wasn’t always a popular conservative warrior with an enthusiastic horde of followers. 

Her past includes penning a book that later filled her with guilt and regret. She refers to that early questionable literary accomplishment as her bad book. And while over the years, she has persevered to find and destroy each and every printed copy, she hasn’t entirely succeeded.  

Norris plays three women who figure meaningfully into the arc of Twyford’s mother character. In addition to The Librarian, Norris is The Manager, a broadly played piece of comic relief, and The Editor, a warm woman who reveals things about Jeremy that his own mother never knew. 

Smartly staged by Ryan Rilette, the production is part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. While Rothstein’s script offers two strong roles (skillfully performed by celebrated actors Twyford and Norris), its ending feels too neatly resolved.  

In the past, Twyford and Norris have successfully joined forces for numerous DMV productions including Studio Theatre’s production of David Auburn’s two-hander “Summer, 1976,” the story of a longtime and unlikely friendship between two women who meet as young mothers during the Bicentennial summer. 

Though different, both The Librarian and The Mother share a strong and ultimately hopeful relationship with words.   

There’s a quote from E.B. White’s classic “Charlotte’s Web” that pops up a couple of times in the briskly paced 80-minute play. Charlotte, the wise spider, says, “with just the right words you can change the world.”

Continue Reading

Popular