Arts & Entertainment
Off to summer camp
Many schools, theaters and more offer LGBT-affirming options
Campers at Synetic Theater this summer will learn and perform ‘The Wild and Wacky Wizarding World of Wiley Skylar!’ (Photo courtesy Synetic)
Although winter weather is hanging on tight at the close of the season, summer is rapidly approaching. Instead of fighting to find ways to entertain the kids at home, local camps have done the hard work for you. Kids can ride horses, learn beauty tricks, conduct science experiments or perform in a musical. With programs for all types of interest, the only battle is choosing which camp to try this summer.
Adventure Theatre offers Summer Musical Theater Camp for grades one-six in Glen Echo Park for a two-week session and for grades six-12 in Wintergreen Plaza for a three-week session. This summer campers will Campers will perform “Return of the Glass Slipper,” “Thwacked!” and “Tom Sawyer” among others. D.C area theater professionals and artists guide campers in daily rehearsals. Family and friends can watch the completed shows at the end of the camp session. Grades six-12 can choose from Contemporary Musical Theater Study and On-Camera Musical Theater Study. Contemporary Musical Theater Study includes a day trip to New York City. Sessions for grades one-six range from $800-850. Grades six-12 sessions range from $1,200-1,330. For details, visit adventuretheatre-mtc.org.
The Beauvoir School (3500 Woodley Rd., N.W.) splits its camp programs into age-appropriate activities. Fireflies (Rising Pre-K), Blue Jays (rising Kindergarten), Box Turtles (rising first graders), Koalas (rising second-third Graders), Broad Bears (rising fourth-fifth graders) and CITs (rising sixth-12 graders). Each level focuses on a type of program from art to outdoor activities. CITs prepare students to become counselors by giving them hands-on leadership experience with campers. Blue Jays, Box Turtles and Koalas can also choose a Make-Your-Own Camp option that lets campers pick their A.M. and P.M. activities. A swimming option is also available. For a list of prices, visit summer.beauvoirschool.org.
Camp RimRock for Girls (343 Camp Rim Rock Rd., Yellow Spring, W.Va.) is a sleep-away camp for girls in rising first grade through rising 10th grade. General camp is for rising second through 10th graders. Campers can participate in horseback riding, sports, aquatics, performing arts and arts and crafts. General Camp sessions is for two-week sessions for $2,750 or four-week sessions for $5,000. Riding Speciality Camp is for rising fourth through 10th graders. This program focuses only on horseback riding for one week for $1,500. Mini Camp is also available for first time sleep-away campers in rising first, second and third grade for $1,500. For a list of dates, visit camprimrock.com.
Circle Yoga (3838 Northampton St., N.W.) offers programs for children ages 6-12 for full-day camp and children ages 4-7 for half-day camp. Children can participate in yoga and movement, crafts and creative arts, group games, camp songs, relaxation and journaling. Full-day camp is from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and is $365 per week. Half-day camp is from 9 a.m.-noon and is $250 per week. For information, visit circleyoga.com.
Green Acres School (11701 Danville Dr., North Bethesda, Md.) offers Kreative Kangaroos for pre-K students which lets them engage in outdoor play, swimming, dancing and carpentry. Junior camp is for kindergarten through second grade and activities include drama, music, dance, swimming and cooking Senior camp is for grades three through six and includes robotics, rock band, workshop, filmmaking, photography and cooking. For a list of pricing and session times, visit greenacres.org.
The Lowell School (1640 Kalmia Rd., N.W.) offers programs for campers starting at age 2-15. Best Buddies is for rising first and second graders and programs include African Drum Fun, Beginning Robotics, among others. Summer Stage is for rising third-eigtht graders and includes Gotta Have Glee, a program that focus on popular music like Taylor Swift and “The Lion King.” Tweens N Teens is for ages 12-14 and has programs such as Gaming and Apps Basics and Amazing Race, which challenges campers to find little-known locations in and around D.C. For a complete list of sessions, programs and prices, visit lowellschool.com.
Synetic Theatre (1800 S Bell St., Arlington, Va.) lets campers stage and perform an original play, “The Wild and Wacky Wizarding World of Wiley Skylar!” The play was written for the campers with original musical numbers and an original score. There is one summer intensive session for students 12-18 from June 12-23 for $350. Multiple sessions are available for students 6-14 for $900. Camp Creation and Imagination is for children ages 4-6 from June 12-23 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuition is $400 and includes snack. A.M. care and lunch add-ons are available for all programs except summer intensive. For more details, visit synetictheater.com/camps.
Washington Performing Arts has Capital Jazz Camp from June 26-July 8 for children in rising grades three through eight with minimum one-year instrumental experience. Capital Strings Camp is from June 26-July and is for children in rising grades three through six. No experience is required. Capital Voices Camp runs from July 10-21 and is for children in grades four-12 with basic vocal training experience. Summer Steps with Step Afrika is for rising campers in grades four-12 with basic dance experience. Each camp is $350 and locations vary. For more information, visit washingtonperformingarts.org.
The YMCA in D.C. has camp programs for a traditional experience such as sports, theater, art, swimming, dance and technology. Campers wanting a more specialized course can register for beauty school, creative writing, gardening, among numerous other programs. Camp Letts (4003 Camp Letts Rd., Edgewater, Md.) is the YMCA’s sleep-away camp which offers activities such as horseback riding and kayaking. For more details on camp programs and for a list of prices, visit ymcadc.org and campletts.org.
Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny shares Super Bowl stage with Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga
Puerto Rican activist celebrates half time show
Bad Bunny on Sunday shared the stage with Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara, Calif.
Martin came out as gay in 2010. Gaga, who headlined the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, is bisexual. Bad Bunny has championed LGBTQ rights in his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
“Not only was a sophisticated political statement, but it was a celebration of who we are as Puerto Ricans,” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Monday. “That includes us as LGBTQ+ people by including a ground-breaking superstar and legend, Ricky Martin singing an anti-colonial anthem and showcasing Young Miko, an up-and-coming star at La Casita. And, of course, having queer icon Lady Gaga sing salsa was the cherry on the top.”
La Casita is a house that Bad Bunny included in his residency in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, last year. He recreated it during the halftime show.
“His performance brought us together as Puerto Ricans, as Latin Americans, as Americans (from the Americas) and as human beings,” said Serrano. “He embraced his own words by showcasing, through his performance, that the ‘only thing more powerful than hate is love.’”
Drag artists perform for crowds in towns across Virginia. The photographer follows Gerryatrick, Shenandoah, Climaxx, Emerald Envy among others over eight months as they perform at venues in the Virginia towns of Staunton, Harrisonburg and Fredericksburg.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Books
New book explores homosexuality in ancient cultures
‘Queer Thing About Sin’ explains impact of religious credo in Greece, Rome
‘The Queer Thing About Sin’
By Harry Tanner
c.2025, Bloomsbury
$28/259 pages
Nobody likes you very much.
That’s how it seems sometimes, doesn’t it? Nobody wants to see you around, they don’t want to hear your voice, they can’t stand the thought of your existence and they’d really rather you just go away. It’s infuriating, and in the new book “The Queer Thing About Sin” by Harry Tanner, you’ll see how we got to this point.
When he was a teenager, Harry Tanner says that he thought he “was going to hell.”
For years, he’d been attracted to men and he prayed that it would stop. He asked for help from a lay minister who offered Tanner websites meant to repress his urges, but they weren’t the panacea Tanner hoped for. It wasn’t until he went to college that he found the answers he needed and “stopped fearing God’s retribution.”
Being gay wasn’t a sin. Not ever, but he “still wanted to know why Western culture believed it was for so long.”
Historically, many believe that older men were sexual “mentors” for teenage boys, but Tanner says that in ancient Greece and Rome, same-sex relationships were common between male partners of equal age and between differently-aged pairs, alike. Clarity comes by understanding relationships between husbands and wives then, and careful translation of the word “boy,” to show that age wasn’t a factor, but superiority and inferiority were.
In ancient Athens, queer love was considered to be “noble” but after the Persians sacked Athens, sex between men instead became an acceptable act of aggression aimed at conquered enemies. Raping a male prisoner was encouraged but, “Gay men became symbols of a depraved lack of self-control and abstinence.”
Later Greeks believed that men could turn into women “if they weren’t sufficiently virile.” Biblical interpretations point to more conflict; Leviticus specifically bans queer sex but “the Sumerians actively encouraged it.” The Egyptians hated it, but “there are sporadic clues that same-sex partners lived together in ancient Egypt.”
Says Tanner, “all is not what it seems.”
So you say you’re not really into ancient history. If it’s not your thing, then “The Queer Thing About Sin” won’t be, either.
Just know that if you skip this book, you’re missing out on the kind of excitement you get from reading mythology, but what’s here is true, and a much wider view than mere folklore. Author Harry Tanner invites readers to go deep inside philosophy, religion, and ancient culture, but the information he brings is not dry. No, there are major battles brought to life here, vanquished enemies and death – but also love, acceptance, even encouragement that the citizens of yore in many societies embraced and enjoyed. Tanner explains carefully how religious credo tied in with homosexuality (or didn’t) and he brings readers up to speed through recent times.
While this is not a breezy vacation read or a curl-up-with-a-blanket kind of book, “The Queer Thing About Sin” is absolutely worth spending time with. If you’re a thinking person and can give yourself a chance to ponder, you’ll like it very much.
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