Arts & Entertainment
George Takei slams Trump for Islamaphobic comments
The actor and activist speaks out against presidential candidate
George Takei spoke with MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts about Donald Trump’s comments proposing to ban muslims from the U.S.
Takei stated that he didn’t think Trump was learning from the U.S.’s history ofĀ incarcerating Japanese-Americans during World War II. Takei and his family were sent to aĀ World War II Japanese- American internment camp in Arkansas. His personal experience has given him cause for alarm to Trump’s comments.
“Donald Trump is a perfect example of that failure,” Takei says. “It was because political leadership could not educate the hysteria that was sweeping across this country. ‘Get rid of the Japs’ was the most popular political issue of the time.”
The actor and activist continued on to riff on Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” for his Islamaphobic views.
“What Donald Trump is talking about is something that’s going to make his logo ‘America Disgraced Again.’ It’s all over again,” Takei says.
Takei also took issue with RoanokeĀ Mayor David Bowers for choosing the word “sequester” to describeĀ President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration’s internment of Japanese-Americans.
“We were imprisoned, incarcerated in barbed wire prison camps, concentration camps,” Takei says. “And we were American citizens.”
Takei currently is starring in the Broadway musical “Allegiance.” The play is inspired by Takei’s experiences during theĀ Japanese-American internment of World War II.
The 2024 Winchester Pride festival was held on the grounds of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Va. on Saturday, Oct. 5. Performers included LaLa Ri of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Star of “Pose” Dominique Jackson was the special guest at the vogue party “Kunty” on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Bunker.Ā DJ Mascari provided the music.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Theater
āActing their asses offā in āException to the Ruleā
Studio production takes place during after-school detention
āException to the Ruleā
Through Sunday, October 27
Studio Theatre
1501 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.
$40-$95
Studiotheatre.org
After-school detention is a bore, but itās especially tiresome on the last day of classes before a holiday.
In Dave Harrisās provocative new play āException to the Ruleā (now at Studio Theatre) thatās just the case.
Itās Friday, and the usual suspects are reporting to room 111 for detention before enjoying the long MLK weekend. First on the scene are blaring ābad girlā Mikayla (Khalia Muhammad) and nerdy stoner Tommy (Stephen Taylor Jr.), followed by mercurial player Dayrin (Jacques Jean-Mary), kind Dasani (Shana Lee Hill), and unreadable Abdul (Khouri St.Surin).
The familiar is jaw-droppingly altered by the entrance of āCollege Bound Erikaā (Sabrina Lynne Sawyer), a detention first timer whose bookworm presence elicits jokes from the others: What happened? You fail a test?
Dasani (whoās teased for being named for designer water) dubs Erika āSweet Peaā and welcomes her to the rule-breaking fold. Together the regulars explain how detention works: The moderator, Mr. Bernie, shows up, signs their slips, and then they go. But today the teacher is tardy.
As they wait, the kids pass the time laughing, trash talking, flirting, and yelling. When not bouncing around the classroom, Dayrin is grooming his hair, while Dasani endlessly reapplies blush and lip gloss. At one point two boys almost come to blows, nearly repeating the cafeteria brawl that landed them in detention in the first place.
Itās loud. Itās confrontational. And itās funny.
Erika is naively perplexed: āI thought detention was quiet. A place where everyone remembers the mistakes that got them here and then learns how to not make the same mistakes again.ā
For room 111, the only connection to the outside world is an increasingly glitchy and creepy intercom system. Announcements (bus passes, the schoolās dismal ranking, the impending weekend lockdown, etc.) are spoken by the unseen but unmistakably stentorian-voiced Craig Wallace.
Dave Harris first conceived āException to the Ruleā in 2014 during his junior year at Yale University. In the program notes, the Black playwright describes āException to the Ruleā as āa single set / six actors on a stage, just acting their asses off.ā Itās true, and they do it well.
Miranda Haymon is reprising their role as director (they finely helmed the playās 2022 off-Broadway debut at Roundabout Theatre Company in New York). Haymon orchestrates a natural feel to movement in the classroom, and without entirely stilling the action on stage (makeup applying, scribbling, etc.), the out director gives each member of the terrific cast their revelatory moment. In a busy room, we learn that Tommyās goofiness belies trauma, that Mikayla is admirably resourceful, and most startling, why Erika, the schoolās top student, is in detention.
Mr. Bernie is clearly a no-show. And despite his absence, the regulars are bizarrely loath to leave the confines of 111 for fear of catching yet another detention. Of course, itās emblematic of something bigger. Still, things happen within the room.
While initially treated as a sort of mascot, awkwardly quiet Erika becomes rather direct in her questions and observations. Suddenly, sheās rather stiffly doling out unsolicited advice.
Itās as if an entirely new person has been thrown into the mix.
Not all of her guidance goes unheeded. Take fighting for instance. At Erikaās suggestion, St.Surinās Abdul refrains from kicking Dayrinās ass. (Just feet from the audience gathered for a recent matinee in Studioās intimate Mead Theatre, Abdulās frustration resulting from anger while yearning for a world of principled order is palpable as evidenced when a single tear rolled down the actorās right cheek)
Set designer Tony Cisek renders a no-frills classroom with cinder block walls, a high and horizontal row of frosted fixed windows that become eerily prison like when overhead fluorescent lighting is threateningly dimmed.
Still, no matter how dark, beyond the classroom door, a light remains aglow, encouraging the kids to ponder an exit plan.