a&e features
Webre’s farewell
Long-time Washington Ballet artistic director reflects
Septime Webre, artistic director of the Washington Ballet since 1999, says he worked to fuse classical ballet elements with contemporary and popular art during his tenure. (Washington Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
Imagination Stage Presents ‘The Little Mermaid’
In collaboration with the Washington Ballet
Continues through Aug. 14
Lerner Family Theatre
4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda
Tickets start at $10
imaginationstage.org
Septime Webre didn’t plan on ‘The Little Mermaid,’ an Imagination Stage production produced in collaboration with the Washington Ballet, to be his swan song. It just kind of worked out that way.
But the 54-year-old co-choreographer says everything the Ballet has done this season — he mentions the April “Carmina Burana” performances and the “Bowie & Queen” rock show in May — as being fitting farewells. He wrapped his tenure at the Ballet this week and will join the S&R Foundation, a non-profit started in 2000 by Sachiko Kuno and Ryuji Ueno to support artists and scientists, as its artistic director.
During a Washington Blade interview, Webre — who lives in Adams Morgan with his partner of five years, Marc Cipullo — shared his philosophies, struggles and plans. His comments have been edited for length.
WASHINGTON BLADE: Why are you leaving?
SEPTIME WEBRE: I feel great about my accomplishments here. It’s grown amazingly. But particularly in the last few years, I’ve had a yearning to be in the studio a bit more. Being the director of a company, there are administration duties, PR duties, marketing duties, all that’s involved in overseeing an organization that has grown from a $2 million to a $12 million budget, so I had already been thinking that maybe another chapter would be interesting to really focus on creativity and less institution building for a while. That coincided with a blossoming of my work as a freelance artist in the last few years.
BLADE: Was the managerial aspect stultifying?
WEBRE: No. I’ve enjoyed all that institution building and felt like I wanted to do that while I was still somewhat young and energetic, or at least while my Grindr age was still young. I’m 54 but I skew young. I’m an energetic kind-of guy. So those duties weren’t stultifying, but they certainly got in the way of creating new work. In the last several years, I’ve done full-length ballets based on “The Great Gatsby,” on Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” last year I did a Washington Irving project and also “Alice in Wonderland.” These works have been much in demand over the last five or six years and I’ve also had some commissions by other companies.
BLADE: I assume the name recognition of these works helps?
WEBRE: That’s part of it but it’s also the return of narrative works in ballet after the era of modernism, which was my generation, and an aesthetic dominated by George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham. These were abstract artists and from the mid-century through the time I was dancing, serious choreographers really didn’t tackle narratives. It was not considered serious. But during my choreographic career, I began to tackle them because in many ways, it’s who I am. There’s something inside of me, this boisterous Cuban family and the brothers on the weekend, all we do is get together and drink cold Mexican beer and tell stories. So I was naturally drawn to these great books and they also happen to sell tickets.
BLADE: You were part of a larger trend with this?
WEBRE: I would say I was an early adopter of the return to narrative. … You could feel it in the air, particularly in the ‘90s. … It was a convergence of factors — the death of George Balanchine in the early ‘80s, we had been through modernism and that era and something new was needed. … Also just with the financial realities in the world, ballet companies were increasingly having to rely on box office in a financially challenging market and those story ballets sold better. … I was just on the front of a trend.
BLADE: How much of your work roughly has been choreographing vs. other duties at the Washington Ballet and did that change over time?
WEBRE: I’ve been creating a new work about every two years. That’s probably been the average. In the early years we did one a year, but they were smaller works. I would put my work into three different buckets. One is the creation of new ballet, the second is programmatic creativity, which I found really exciting. Curating repertoire, teaching, developing dancers, developing ancillary programs that are not creating ballets, but they’re really creative like the beerballet&bubbly series that brought thousands and thousands of Millennials in to watch rehearsals. … A third would be institution building.
BLADE: Did you ruffle many feathers along the way?
WEBRE: I never felt I ruffled feathers precisely, but I tried to push the envelope. I took over the Washington Ballet from Mary Day, who was 89 years old when I became the director. She was a fabulous visionary, but the company was a bit sleepy. She had a great aesthetic and she loved classical ballet and she loved new work, so there was a connection I had with her. But right away, the company began to grow. The audiences began to grow, we had standing ovations at every show the first run. In my first year, I took the Washington Ballet to Cuba, we produced a “Carmina Burana” that was, at that time, very unprecedented for us. Those first programs were so popular that a buzz developed very early on.
BLADE: You make it all sound so easy, though. What obstacles did you encounter?
WEBRE: Well, without a doubt our huge labor dispute in 2005. That was immense. We had grown so rapidly over the course of my first five years — the number of performances had probably doubled — we had grown, but the admin support hadn’t grown with it. …. We were working on a huge, new version of “The Nutcracker,” a huge project, and in the midst of that, the dancers very appropriately decided to join a union. That was the right time in our organization’s history to do that, but over the course of negotiating that first contract, which took a year, our “Nutcracker” was canceled and we lost a million dollars. The dancers were out of work for months and there was so much acrimony. We were in the Washington Post every day for 19 days, I think. …. But we were eventually able to settle it when we got the lawyers out of it. We settled in March 2006 and went back to work in April. That was a big one. …. Another challenge was in 2009 when the City Council eliminated earmarks. They rescinded that appropriation two months into our fiscal year and so suddenly we had a million dollar hole and we had to scramble. We had to cancel our “Nutcracker” orchestra to save $350,000 and we performed to taped music, just because otherwise we were not going to survive.
Septime Webre in rehearsal for ‘The Little Mermaid’ at the Washington Ballet studios on Wisconsin Avenue on June 10. (Washington Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
BLADE: What kind of learning curve did you have here?
WEBRE: I had some strong mentors and I was able to steal some of their ideas. But before this, although I had a little bit of training when I was a director for six years in Princeton, N.J., so my work there really impressed on me that you have to take your work with the audience a step further. You’re not in an ivory tower. You can’t just sort of hang the shingle and hope they’ll come and understand what you’re doing. You have to connect with them more deeply. I’d had some trial and error with that in New Jersey. So I came here with a conviction that the Washington Ballet had to connect with the social fabric of the city and we’ve done that in multiple ways with our outreach programs in Anacostia, Dance DC in public schools, beerballet&bubbly for young professionals, our Latino programs, etc.
BLADE: How have the dancers changed over the time you’ve been here?
WEBRE: About five years into my tenure here, just before the labor dispute actually, we’d never done any full-length classical ballets. No “Giselle,” “Coppelia” or “Don Quixote.” Mary Day never chose to do that because American Ballet was already doing that kind of repertoire at the Kennedy Center. I sensed a kind of unspoken inferiority complex around the organization. No one said it, but I could sense that the dancers thought we couldn’t handle it, our staff thought we couldn’t handle it, our audiences thought we couldn’t do it. A dancer’s career is so short, a dancer wants to dance the full repertory they were trained for, so I made a decision about four years in to slowly, methodically begin to introduce some full-length 19th Century classical works into the repertoire. … I think that helped us be seen as a grown-up company and that’s led to really, really high-powered dancers and a higher quality of dancer. Younger dancers today are coming in with a lot more technique and what a dancer can do now compared with 15 years ago or when I retired 20 years ago, oh my God — they’re doing all this crazy crap that hadn’t even been invented yet. Just like in athletics, the technique has risen, risen, risen.
BLADE: How has being gay affected your career or has it?
WEBRE: The dancers themselves are much less gay than the public imagines. … As I was getting into admin work and started working with board members … I actually found it to be an asset. This is going to sound very retro, but it gave me a kind of exoticism. … They were a lot of businessmen who didn’t necessarily have gay friends, so now they did and it made them feel good about themselves.
BLADE: Are classical works and pop/contemporary works strange bedfellows in the ballet world?
WEBRE: Well, “Giselle” sold significantly less well than “The Great Gatsby” or than “Bowie & Queen.” “Don Quixote” sold less than “The Sun Also Rises” or “The British Invasion.” What I found was that when classical, lofty art remained itself and didn’t get a bit dirty, it was less popular from a ticket sale standpoint. So we remained ballet, but we got down and dirty with Freddie Mercury wailing sometimes. That collision creates a buzz and a connection. … But things are always colliding and mixing in a postmodern world. I mean, I wish everyone loved “Giselle” as much as I do, but it’s also exciting because ballet is a language just like you use the same English language for Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson or Mad Magazine.
The cast of ‘The Little Mermaid.’ (Photo courtesy Imagination Stage)
Jesse Arnholz contributed to this interview.
a&e features
Alexander Skarsgård describes ‘Pillion’ in 3 words: lube, sweat, leather
Highly anticipated film a refreshingly loving look at Dom-sub life
Whether you’ve seen him in popular HBO series like “True Blood,” “Succession,” and “Big Little Lies,” the dynamic Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård has that smoldering gaze that immediately draws viewers in.
Following in the footsteps of his father Stellan, (who just won the Golden Globe for “Sentimental Value”) the Golden Globe, Emmy, and SAG winner Skarsgård continues to be an actor who is fearless in the roles he takes on.
That courageousness is evident in Skarsgård’s latest film, the BDSM black comedy “Pillion,”which he also executive produces. He plays Ray, the handsome, hyper-dominant leader of a gay bike gang. The film was written and directed by Harry Lighton, and is based on the 2020 novel “Box Hill,” by Adam Mars-Jones.
“This was a small film by a first time filmmaker and it wasn’t financed when I read it,” Skarsgård told journalists at a recent awards news conference. “And I felt that, if I could help in any small way of getting it financed, I wanted to, because I thought it was such an incredible screenplay and I believe in Harry Lighton so much as a filmmaker. And it felt tonally unlike anything I’d ever read. It was such an exciting, surprising read.”
Skarsgård was blown away by the quality of the unconventional script. “When I heard BDSM relationship, biker culture, I expected something very different. I didn’t expect it to have so much sweetness and tenderness and awkwardness.”
For the sex scenes and nudity with co-star, Harry Melling — who excels in his portrayal as Ray’s submissive Colin — Skarsgård talked very early on with Lighton about how he wanted to shoot those scenes, and why they were in the film.
“I often find sex scenes quite boring in movies because a lot of the tension is in the drama leading up to two people hooking up, or several people hooking up, as in our movie. But what I really enjoyed about these scenes — they are all pivotal moments in Colin’s journey and his development. It’s the first time he gets a blowjob. It’s the first time he has sex. It’s the first time he has an orgasm. And these are pivotal moments for him, so they mean a lot. And that made those scenes impactful and important.”
Skarsgård was happy that Lighton’s script didn’t have gratuitous scenes that shock for the sake of just shocking. “I really appreciated that because I find that when this subculture is portrayed, it’s often dangerous and crazy and wild and something like transgressive.”
He continued: “I really love that Harry wanted it to feel real. It can be sexy and intense, but also quite loving and sweet. And you can have an orgy in the woods, rub up against a Sunday roast with the family. And that kind of feels real.”
One of the obstacles Skarsgård had to work with was Ray’s emotionally distant personality.
“Ray is so enigmatic throughout the film and you obviously never find out anything about him, his past. He doesn’t reveal much. He doesn’t expose himself. And that was a challenge to try to make the character interesting, because that could easily feel quite flat…That was something that I thought quite a lot about in pre production…there are no big dramatic shifts in his arc.”
For the film, Lighton consulted the GMBCC, the UK’s largest LGBT+ biker club, attending their annual meetup at which 80 riders were present.
“Working with these guys was extraordinary and it brought so much texture and richness to the film to have them present,” said Skarsgård. “They were incredibly sweet and guiding with us — I can’t imagine making this movie without them. I’d go on a road trip with them anytime.”
Added Skarsgård: “To sum up ‘Pillion’ in three words: lube, sweat, and leather. I hope people will connect with Colin and his journey, and come to understand the nuance and complexity of his bond with Ray.”
This year is shaping up to be a busy one for Skarsgård. “Pillion” premieres in select cities on Feb. 6 and then moves into wide release on Feb. 20. After that for Skarsgård is a role in queer ally Charli XCX’s mockumentary, “The Moment,” which premieres at the Sundance Film Festival. HIs sci-fi comedy series, Apple TV’s “Murderbot,” which he also executive produces, will begin filming its second season. And this weekend, he hosts “Saturday Night Live.”
a&e features
MISTR’s Tristan Schukraft on evolution of HIV prevention
From ACT UP to apps, embracing stigma-free care
It was not too long ago that an HIV diagnosis was read as a death sentence. In its earlier decades, the HIV/AIDS crisis was synonymous with fear and loss, steeped in stigma. Over recent years, open conversation and science have come together to combat this stigma while proactively paving the way for life-saving treatments and preventive measures like PrEP. Now, in 2026, with discreet and modern platforms that meet people where they’re at in their lives, HIV prevention has evolved from hushed words of warning into something far more sex-positive and accessible. Game-changing services like MISTR are a testament to this shift, showing our community that healthcare doesn’t have to feel clinical or shaming to work. It can be empowering and, dare I say, celebratory.
Few people embody this evolution quite like Tristan Schukraft, founder of MISTR. With one hand in healthcare and the other high-fiving through queer nightlife, Schukraft gets that, from the bar to the bedroom and beyond, prevention happens in person and in real life. His approach has helped turn PrEP, DoxyPEP, and testing into normalized parts of our daily queer life, reaching hundreds of thousands of people across the US.
In our conversation, Schukraft shares candidly about stigma, policy, and why the future of sexual health depends on keeping it real.
BLADE: You have one hand in healthcare and the other in nightlife and queer spaces. Can you share with us how these two spheres impact and inform each other? How do they impact and inform you?
SCHUKRAFT: Honestly, for me, they’ve never been separate. Nightlife and queer spaces are where people meet, date, hook up, fall in love, and make friends. That’s real life. Being in queer spaces all the time keeps me grounded and reminds me who we’re building MISTR for.
BLADE: MISTR markets sexual health in a sex-positive, stigma-free fashion. Can you share with us how you measure the impact of this approach?
SCHUKRAFT: This year, we held the first-ever National PrEP Day. Dua Lipa performed, and Cardi B was there. After the event, Cardi B went on her Instagram live to encourage people to sign up for PrEP.
When you make sexual health stigma-free and sex positive, people talk about it. We see it in how people use the platform. When 700,000 people are willing to sign up, get tested, start PrEP, and add things like DoxyPEP, that tells us we’ve made it feel safe and normal instead of scary or awkward. And then we see it in the results. Since we expanded DoxyPEP, STI positivity among our patients dropped by half.
BLADE: How have you seen the conversation of sexual health in our LGBTQ+ community change in mainstream culture in recent years?
SCHUKRAFT: Ten years ago, nobody was casually talking about PrEP, and if they did, it likely referenced one being a Truvada whore. Now it’s part of the culture. Popstars like Troye Sivan post pictures of their daily PrEP pill on social media. Cardi B goes on Instagram Live telling people to get on PrEP.
For many sexually active gay men, taking PrEP is simply part of the gay experience. For people in more remote areas, it might not be as talked about. Particularly in rural or more conservative places, MISTR can be a life-changing option. No awkward visits to the family doctor or the local pharmacy where everybody knows your business. It’s all done discreetly online and shipped straight to your door.
BLADE: You have publicly argued that cuts to government HIV prevention funding are of high risk. Would you please elaborate for us on what those budget decisions mean on an individual level?
SCHUKRAFT: It means real people fall through the cracks. Someone doesn’t get tested. Someone waits too long to start PrEP. Someone finds out they’re HIV-positive later than they should have. Community clinics will be the hardest hit, especially those in underserved communities. The good news is that MISTR is ready to help people who might lose their access to care. All you need to do is sign up at mistr.com, and it’s totally free with or without insurance.
BLADE: From your (and MISTR’s) perspective, how do these funding cuts threaten ongoing efforts to end the HIV epidemic?
SCHUKRAFT: For the first time, we have all the tools to end HIV. If everybody who is HIV negative is taking PrEP and everyone HIV+ is virally suppressed, we can end all new HIV transmissions in the United States. We have everything we need today. All we need is to get more people on PrEP. Cutting funding risks losing that momentum. Ending HIV requires scale and consistency. Every time funding gets cut, you lose momentum, trust, and infrastructure, and rebuilding that takes years.
HIV transmissions don’t pause because budgets change.
BLADE: In our current climate of decreased federal investment, what role do you feel private healthcare and business should play in sexual health?
SCHUKRAFT: With reports that the current administration is considering cuts to HIV and prevention funding, we face a moment of reckoning. At the same time, some employers are seeking to exclude PrEP and HIV prevention from their coverage on religious freedom grounds. If these challenges succeed, and if federal funding is slashed, the consequences for public health will be devastating. But this is where the private sector must step up to fill the gap, bridge divides, and deliver results.
Businesses have the power and platform to normalize HIV prevention and drive measurable outcomes. At MISTR, we see firsthand what’s possible: since introducing DoxyPEP, STI positivity rates among our patients have been cut in half. But it’s not just about medication. It’s about messaging.
Our sex-positive, stigma-free marketing speaks directly to our community, making sexual health part of everyday life. No awkward doctor visits, no needles, no paperwork — just free online PrEP and STI testing, prescribed by real physicians and delivered to your door. That kind of impact could grow exponentially if more employers embraced this approach and made HIV prevention part of their employee wellness programs.
Employers, this is your call to action. Start by making sure your health plans cover PrEP and DoxyPEP. Partner with platforms like MISTR to give employees private, stigma-free access to care. Offer on-site testing. Talk openly about sexual health, not just during Pride, but every day of the year. This is not political — this is about protecting lives, strengthening communities, and building a healthier, more productive workforce. Because healthy employees aren’t just good for public health — they’re good for business.
When the private sector steps up, outcomes improve. And when businesses align with platforms like MISTR, scaling impact isn’t just possible — it’s happening.
BLADE: Has MISTR experienced any direct effects from these recent shifts in public health funding?
SCHUKRAFT: MISTR’s unique model is totally free for patients with or without insurance, and we don’t cost the government or taxpayers a penny. We are scaling up our efforts to reach people who might be losing their access or care.
BLADE: What would be your message to policymakers who are considering further cuts to HIV/AIDS programs?
SCHUKRAFT: During his first term, President Donald Trump committed unprecedented resources to the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative here at home. Bipartisan support has shown what’s possible when bold leadership meets smart strategy. To policymakers: I urge you to reconsider any cuts to HIV prevention funding. This is not the time to pull back. It’s the time to push forward. Ending HIV is within reach — but only if government, private industry, and community organizations stand together.
BLADE: What is one perhaps overlooked win from last year that impacted you on a personal level?
SCHUKRAFT: Seeing our STI positivity rate drop by half after expanding DoxyPEP.
BLADE: Looking at the year ahead, what are MISTR’s most significant priorities for sexual health in 2026?
SCHUKRAFT: Expanding access, especially in the South and in communities that still get left out. Rolling out injectable PrEP. And just continuing to make sexual healthcare easier and more normal.
a&e features
Visible and unapologetic: MAL brings the kink this weekend
Busy lineup includes dances, pups, super heroes, and more
MLK Weekend in D.C. brings the annual Mid-Atlantic Leather (MAL) Weekend. Just a short walk from where Congress has been attacking queer Americans this year, MAL takes place at the Hyatt Regency Washington for several days of intrigue, excitement, leather, and kink.
The Centaur Motorcycle Club — one of several similar groups dedicated to leather in the country — has been hosting MAL in its current form for more than 40 years. Originally a small gathering of like-minded people interested in the leather lifestyle, MAL has grown to include a full four days of events, taking place onsite at the Hyatt Regency Washington (400 New Jersey Ave., N.W.). Select partner happenings take place each night, and many more non-affiliated events are scattered across the DMV in honor of and inspired by MAL.
MAL Weekend has become an internationally renowned event that celebrates fetish culture, yet it also raises funds for LGBTQ organizations, “reinforcing its legacy as both a cultural and philanthropic cornerstone of the global leather community,” according to MAL organizers.
During the day, MAL events at the Hyatt include workshops, social gatherings, shopping, and other in-person engagements for the community.
“The Hyatt underwent an extensive top to bottom renovation after last year’s event,” says Jeffrey LeGrand-Douglass, the event chair. The lobby, meeting spaces, guest rooms, and other areas have been updated, he notes, “so I am very excited for our guests to experience the new design and layout for the first time. And of course as with every year, we look forward to the contest on Sunday afternoon and seeing who will become our new Mr. MAL.”
In the evening, MAL hands the reins to partner KINETIC Presents, the D.C.-based nightlife production company. KINETIC will host four consecutive nights of high-production events that fuse cutting-edge music, immersive environments, and performance. This year, KINETIC is popping open doors to new-to-MAL venues, international collabs, play zones, and a diverse lineup.
According to KINETIC managing partner Zach Renovátes, 2026 is the most extensive MAL production to date. “The talent lineup is unreal: an all-star roster of international DJs, plus drag superstar performances at the Saturday main event,” he says.
Renovátes added that he’s “most excited about the collaborations happening all weekend — from bringing in MACHO from WE Party Madrid, to teaming up with local leather groups, to nonprofit partners, and Masc Diva [a queer nightlife collective].”
Official MAL events begin on Thursday with the Full Package/Three Day Pass Pick-Up from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the Hyatt.
Thursday night is also the KINETIC kickoff party, called LUST. Running 10 p.m. – 3 a.m., it’s being held at District Eagle. DJ Jay Garcia holds it down on the first floor, while DJ Mitch Ferrino spins in the expansive upstairs. LUST features special performances from the performers including Serg Shepard, Arrow, Chase, and Masterpiece.
Renovátes notes that the LUST opening party at District Eagle coincides with the bar’s grand re-opening weekend. The bar will unveil its new permanent home on the renovated second floor. “it felt like the perfect place to start Mid-Atlantic Leather weekend — right in D.C.’s only dedicated home for kink communities,” he says.
After Thursday night, Friday is when daytime events begin at the Hyatt. The Exhibit Hall, on the ballroom level below the lobby, hosts upwards of 30 vendors, exhibitors, and booths with leather goods, fetish wear, clothes, toys, other accessories, providing hours of time to shop and connect with attendees and business owners. The Exhibit Hall will be open on Friday from 4-10 p.m., as well as on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
DC Health is once again back at MAL, to provide preventative health services. In the past, DC Health has provided MPox vaccines, Doxy PEP, HIV testing, Narcan kits, and fentanyl test strips. This booth will be open on Friday 4-10 p.m.
Later, at 6 p.m., the Centaur MC is holding its welcome reception on the ballroom floor. After the Centaur’s Welcome Reception, the MIR Rubber Social is 8-11 p.m. A Recovery Meeting is scheduled at 10 p.m.
Many attendees enjoy visiting the guest room levels of the hotel. Note that to get in an elevator up to a hotel room, a staff member will check for a hotel room wristband. Non-registered guests can only access host hotel rooms if they are escorted by a registered guest with a valid wristband. Registered guests are permitted to escort only one non-registered guest at a time. Non-registered guests with a wristband who are already in the hotel before 10 p.m. may remain until midnight. However, non-registered guests without a wristband will not be admitted after registration closes.
Friday night, for the first time, KINETIC Presents is joining forces with WE Party to bring MACHO to Washington, D.C. This official MAL Friday event delivers two stages and two genres. On the UNCUT XXL stage, international Brazilian circuit superstars Erik Vilar and Anne Louise bring their signature high-energy sound. On the MACHO stage, Madrid’s Charly is joined by Chicago’s tech-house force, Karsten Sollors, for a blend of techno and tech house. UNCUT also features the XL Play Zone, a massive, immersive space exclusive to this event. The party takes place at the Berhta space from 10 p.m.-4 a.m..
“This year we’re bringing back the two-room format we debuted at WorldPride for both Friday and Saturday, so attendees can really tailor their experience — whether they’re in the mood for circuit or tech house.” says Renovátes.
Directly after Friday’s UNCUT XXL, UNDERWORLD Afters takes over District Eagle, from 3:30-8 a.m. International DJ Eliad Cohen commands the music.
Saturday, the Exhibit Hall opens earlier, at 11 a.m.. DC Health will also be back from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday is also time for one of the most anticipated events, the Puppy Mosh, running from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. During the event, pup culture comes to life, when pups, handlers, and friends can enjoy an inclusive, safe pup zone. There is also a Recovery Meeting at 11 a.m., and the IML Judges Announcement takes place at noon.
The popular Super Hero Meet Up will be held 1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m., sponsored by One Magical Weekend, for cosplayers, comic enthusiasts, and their friends.
From 2-6 p.m., the Onyx Fashion Show will take place to showcase and highlight people of color in leather.
Finally, the Leather Cocktail Party – the original event of MAL – will be held 7-9 p.m. in the Ballroom. While this requires special tickets to attend, at 9 p.m. is the MAL cocktail party, which is open to wider attendees.
The last event of Saturday leaves the hotel, again a partnership with KINETIC. Kicking off at 10 p.m. and running until 4 a.m., it’s just the second time that KINETIC’s Saturday night party is an official MAL event and serves as the main weekend engagement.
Saturday night’s centerpiece is called KINK: Double Trouble. The night will feature a first-ever back-to-back set from international electronic music icons Nina Flowers and Alex Acosta on the Circuit/Tribal Stage. The other room – the Tech House Stage – curated by The Carry Nation and Rose, provides a darker, underground counterpoint, reinforcing the event’s musical depth and edge.
Beyond the DJs, KINETIC has called in the big shots for this party: “RuPaul’s Drag Race” legends Nymphia Wind and Plastique Tiara are set to headline. The party also takes place at Berhta.
Sunday, back at the hotel, there will be another Recovery Meeting at 10 a.m., and the Exhibit Hall opens again from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
At 1 p.m., the anticipated and prestigious Mr. MAL Contest that celebrates the achievements of the leather community will be held in the Ballroom. This highly sought after title gives one man the power to become the Mid-Atlantic Leather man of the year. Sash and title winners must be (1) male, (2), a resident of North America, (3) At least 21 years of age; and (4) self-identify as gay. The first Mr. MAL was crowned in 1985. The Winner of Mr. MAL has the privilege of later competing in International Mr. Leather (IML) in Chicago on Memorial Day Weekend 2025.
From 4 p.m. to 12 a.m., MAL will hold its Game Night for the gaymers in attendance. There will also be a special screening of A24’s new film, “Pillion,” about a man who is swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker takes him on as his submissive.
Sunday closes with a community partner event produced by Masc Diva, featuring Horse Meat Disco with support from Coach Chris, at A.I. Warehouse in the Union Market district. It’s the same team that produced HMD during WorldPride at A.I. Warehouse.
Note that there are several types of passes for attendance to the hotel and parties. KINK VIP Weekend Passes include express entry, VIP areas, and enhanced amenities throughout the weekend, while MAL Full Weekend Package holders receive access to the official Sunday closing event.
At last year’s MAL events, KINETIC Presents raised more $150,000 for LGBTQ charities, and expects to match or exceed that impact in 2026.
Renovátes stated that “now more than ever, it’s important to create safe, affirming spaces for our community — but it’s just as important to be visible and unapologetic. We want to make it clear that the LGBTQ+ and leather communities aren’t going anywhere. We’ve fought too long and too hard to ever feel like we have to shrink ourselves again, no matter what the political climate looks like.”
In addition to the KINETIC events, various LGBTQ bars will hold parties celebrating the theme of the weekend. For example, Kiki, located on U Street NW, is hosting a party called KINKI, hosted by DJ Dez, on Saturday night. Sister bar Shakiki, on 9th Street NW, is hosting a party called Railed Out, a fetish-inspired party that features a play zone, on Thursday night. Flash, on U Street NW, will hold its infamous Flashy Sunday party to close out the weekend.
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