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Lady Gaga, Cyndi Lauper sign letter to fight Texas ‘bathroom bill’

Other celebs on board include Laverne Cox, Tegan and Sara

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(Screenshot via YouTube.)

(Screenshot via YouTube.)

140 celebrities have joined together to sign a letter opposing a Texas “bathroom bill” that discriminates against transgender people and other anti-LGBT legislation.

Lady Gaga, Cyndi Lauper, Laverne Cox, Whoopi Goldberg, Britney Spears, George Takei, Ariana Grande, St. Vincent, Lance Bass, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tegan and Sara, Cakes Da Killa and Betty Who are the among the famous names signed to the letter addressed to “Texas Leaders.”

The letter was posted on a website titled, “The Creative Community Against Anti-LGBT Legislation in Texas.”

In addition to the “bathroom bill,” the letter mentions other Texas legislation being considered would force teachers to out LGBT students to their parents, remove nondiscrimination protections in cities, “undermine marriage equality” and “legalize discrimination on campus and in public life.”

“It is up to you whether these bills will become law and we are watching,” the letter reads. “It is up to us to commit to doing everything within our power to make sure all of our fans, crews and fellow artists feel safe and welcome wherever we go.”

Read the complete letter here.Ā 

 

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PHOTOS: Winchester Pride

LGBTQ celebration held at Museum of the Shenandoah Valley

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A scene from Winchester Pride on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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)

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PHOTOS: Dominique Jackson at Bunker

‘Pose’ star special guest at LGBTQ nightclub

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Dominique Jackson was the special guest at the 'Kunty' party at Bunker on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo 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)

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Theater

ā€˜Acting their asses offā€™ in ā€˜Exception to the Ruleā€™

Studio production takes place during after-school detention

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Cast of ā€˜Exception to the Ruleā€™ at Studio Theatre (Shana Lee Hill, Khalia Muhammad, Jacques Jean-Mary, Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Khouri St.Surin, and Steven Taylor Jr.) (Photo by Margot Schulman)

ā€˜Exception 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 itā€™s especially tiresome on the last day of classes before a holiday.  

In Dave Harrisā€™s provocative new play ā€œException to the Ruleā€ (now at Studio Theatre) thatā€™s just the case. 

Itā€™s Friday, and the usual suspects are reporting to room 111 for detention before enjoying the long MLK weekend. First on the scene are blaring ā€œbad 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 ā€œCollege Bound Erikaā€ (Sabrina Lynne Sawyer), a detention first timer whose bookworm presence elicits jokes from the others: What happened? You fail a test? 

Dasani (whoā€™s teased for being named for designer water) dubs Erika ā€œSweet 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.  

Itā€™s loud. Itā€™s confrontational. And itā€™s funny.

Erika is naively perplexed: ā€œI 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 schoolā€™s dismal ranking, the impending weekend lockdown, etc.) are spoken by the unseen but unmistakably stentorian-voiced Craig Wallace. 

Dave Harris first conceived ā€œException to the Ruleā€ in 2014 during his junior year at Yale University. In the program notes, the Black playwright describes ā€œException to the Ruleā€ as ā€œa single set / six actors on a stage, just acting their asses off.ā€ Itā€™s true, and they do it well. 

Miranda Haymon is reprising their role as director (they finely helmed the playā€™s 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 Tommyā€™s goofiness belies trauma, that Mikayla is admirably resourceful, and most startling, why Erika, the schoolā€™s 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, itā€™s 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, sheā€™s rather stiffly doling out unsolicited advice. 

Itā€™s as if an entirely new person has been thrown into the mix.  

Not all of her guidance goes unheeded. Take fighting for instance. At Erikaā€™s suggestion, St.Surinā€™s Abdul refrains from kicking Dayrinā€™s ass. (Just feet from the audience gathered for a recent matinee in Studioā€™s intimate Mead Theatre, Abdulā€™s frustration resulting from anger while yearning for a world of principled order is palpable as evidenced when a single tear rolled down the actorā€™s 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. 

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