Theater
SPRING ARTS 2019 THEATER: Signature’s ‘Masterpieces,’ 4615’s ‘Separate Rooms’ among highlights
As always, out actors galore slated to star in D.C.-area spring ’19 theater productions
Long considered a time of renewal, spring means getting out and about. How better to revitalize than with theater?
Out playwright Joe Calarco (“Shakespeare’s R&J”) debut his “Separate Rooms” (through March 17) at up-and-coming 4615 Theatre Company (The Highwood Theatre at 914 Silver Spring Avenue, Silver Spring, Md.). It’s a comedy about a group of friends who gather for an impromptu party following a friend’s funeral. It began as the playwright’s “Big Chill” but expanded in subsequent drafts.
Three of the play’s nine characters are gay men. Josh is the dead man’s lover and just hours after his partner’s burial he’s trying to stay afloat, Calarco says. At the party Josh meets gay character Simon, who provides solace in the way only a stranger can.
“Separate Rooms” features talented out actor Alex Mills. Jordan Friend directs. Full details at 4615theatre.com
At Shakespeare Theatre Company (610 F St., N.W.), out artistic director Michael Kahn’s finale season continues with director David Muse’s morgue-set production of “Richard the Third,” through March 10, starring Matthew Rauch as the ruthless, bloodthirsty monarch. In addition to Rauch’s nuanced turn, the large diverse cast includes standout performances by Christopher Michael McFarland as Buckingham and Sandra Shipley as the Duchess of York, Richard’s mother.
Following is Kate Hamill’s “Vanity Fair” (through March 31) based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackery. Hamill’s adaptation “harnesses the frivolity of Thackeray’s novel while recasting its (anti) heroines as complex, vibrant women.” Jessica Stone directs.
Kahn ends his esteemed STC tenure with his staging of playwright Ellen McLaughlin’s adaptation of Aeschylus’ “The Oresteia” (April 30-June 2) at Sidney Harman Hall. This only surviving trilogy in Greek tragedy “chronicles a deluge of violence that can only be stopped when society peers into its own soul and sees the depths of its complicity.” Details at shakespearetheatre.org.
Signature Theatre (4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington) presents the world premiere of “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” through April 7. Written by Heather McDonald and directed by Nadia Tass, it features out actor Holly Twyford and Felicia Curry in the story of three women trapped in a ravaged museum during a catastrophic hundred years war. It’s on them to decide what’s worth saving amid the chaos.
Next, it’s Signature’s out artistic director Eric Schaeffer’s production of “Grand Hotel” (April 2- May 19). With book by Luther Davis and music & lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, the 1989 musical is based on Vicki Baum’s 1929 novel and play about love and intrigue set in luxe rooms between the wars. Baum’s story was also made into a 1932 MGM film starring Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford, among other screen luminaries.
Here, the talent-packed cast includes Helen Hayes Award-winning out actor Bobby Smith, Natascia Diaz as Grushinskaya, the Russian prima ballerina who wants to be left alone, and Kevin McAllister.
Later the world premiere of John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe’s musical comedy “Blackbeard” (June 18-July 14) opens. Immersively set entirely on a pirate ship, the new work is staged by Eric Schaeffer and choreographed by out director/choreographer Matthew Gardiner. Details at sigtheatre.org.
Ford’s Theatre (511 10 St., N.W.) marks springtime with a production of genius out composer Stephen Sondheim’s dark comedy “Into the Woods” (March 5-May 22) based on classic fairytales. Singing Sondheim’s gorgeous Tony Award-winning score is a terrific cast that includes out actor Jade Jones as Little Red Ridinghood, and Evan Casey as the Baker and Awa Sal Secka as the Baker’s Wife. Peter Flynn directs. Details at fords.org.
At Studio Theatre (1501 14th St., N.W.), out director José Zayasis stages playwright Hilary Bettis’ “Queen of Basel” (March 6-April 7), an exploration of class, power and race set against Miami’s annual weeklong arts happening for the rich and/or fabulous. Details at studiotheatre.org.
Theater J (temporarily at Georgetown University’s Davis Performing Arts Center at 37th & O Streets, N.W.) presents “The Jewish Queen Lear” (March 13-April 17) staged by the company’s out artistic director Adam Immerwahr. A classic of Yiddish theater written in 1898, playwright Jacob Godin’s story focuses on Mirele Efros, a wealthy widow obsessed with finding the right wife for her son. Details at theaterj.org
The Kennedy Center presents “The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963” (March 15-24) with Justin Weaks. This musical adaptation of Christopher Paul Curtis’ celebrated book recounts an African-American family’s bonding experiences during a tense time in American history.
Also, at the Kennedy Center, for one night only on April 6, it’s “Triptych (Eyes of One on Another),” the first theatrical performance granted permission to explore and integrate the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, the acclaimed and sometimes controversial gay photographer who died from AIDS in 1989. The piece brings together choral ensemble Roomful of Teeth, vocalist-violinist-composer Caroline Shaw, and the poetry of Patti Smith and Essex Hemphill, with projections of Mapplethorpe’s breathtaking images.
More Kennedy Center offerings include legendary out composer Jerry Herman’s chestnut “Hello, Dolly!” (June 4- July 7). This time it’s the national tour of the revival that famously featured Bette Midler about a beloved matchmaker. Broadway legend Betty Buckley stars.
“Falsettos” (June 11-23), William Finn and James Lapine’s musical about a complicated New York City family, and in part how AIDS affects them, will be staged in an all new production from Lincoln Center. Details at kennedy-center.org
At Keegan Theatre (1742 Church St., N.W.), “Hands on a Hardbody” (March 9-April 6) is up next. It’s a deceptively titled, Texas-set musical adapted by out playwright Doug Wright (“I Am My Own Wife”) from the same-named 1997 documentary film about an unconventional endurance contest. The large cast includes out actors Oscar Ceville and Patrck M. Doneghy. Details at keegantheatre.com.
D.C.’s company dedicated to the LGBT experience, Rainbow Theatre Project (D.C. Arts Center, 2438 18th St., N.W.), presents “Clothes for a Summer Hotel” (April 4-28), Tennessee Williams haunting work about the last days of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald. Out director Greg Stevens directs. Details at rainbowtheatreproject.org.
Olney Theatre Center (2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd., Olney, MD) presents Tony Award-winning playwright Sam Ludwig’s Ken Ludwig’s farce “Comedy of Tenors” (April 10-May 12). The cast features talented local favorite Emily Townley opposite out Broadway actor John Treacy Egan.
And in May at Olney comes “Mary Stuart” (May 8-June 9) based on Friedrich Schiller’s widely read 1800 take on the ill-fated royal. Adapted by Olney’s out artistic director Jason Loewith and company, and staged by Loewith, it explores the chilling rivalry between England’s Elizabeth I and her Scottish cousin. Details at olneytheatre.org.
For out actor Jaysen Wright, spring is Arena Stage (1101 6th St., S.W.) where he’ll be performing in the new musical “Jubilee” (April 26-June 2) written and directed by Tazewell Thompson. Based on the real-life Fisk Jubilee Singers who shattered racial barriers in the U.S. and abroad, Thompson’s new a cappella musical boasts an impressive three dozen songs. Details at arenastage.org.
1st Stage (1524 Spring Hill Rd., Mclean, Va.) presents Carson McCullers’ “The Member of the Wedding” (May 9-June 2) directed by Cara Gabriel. A beautiful coming-of-age story set in small-town Georgia, the play — adapted from the bisexual writer’s same-titled novella — is an expression of McCullers’ enduring longing to connect. Details at 1ststagetysons.org
GALA Hispanic Theatre (3333 14th St., N.W.) presents the U.S. premiere of “FAME, The Musical en español” (May 9- June 9). Luis Salgado, who helmed GALA’s Helen Hayes Award-winning “In the Heights en español,” directs and choreographs this tale of tears and triumph at a performing arts high school. Details at galatheatre.org.
Helen Hayes Award-winning out actor Philip Fletcher is tackling the role of King Edward in Shakespeare’s gory “Richard III” (May 15-June 16) at the much-admired movement-based company Synetic Theater (1800 South Bell Street, Chrystal City, Va.) where he’s a longtime performer. Details at synetictheater.org.
Later this Spring, Justin Weaks also appears alongside Tim Getman and Kate Eastwood Norris in Rajiv Joseph’s “Describe The Night” (May 27-June 23) at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (641 D St., N.W.). The Obie Award-winning play is comprised of stories spanning 90 years of Russian history. Excellent out director John Vreeke directs. Details at woollymammoth.net.
Round House Theatre (housed temporarily at The Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7 St., N.W.) presents Lucas Hnath’s “A Doll’s House, Part 2” (June 5-30), a clever sequel to Ibsen’s 1879 proto-feminist classic. The cast includes out actor Holly Twyford, Nancy Robinette and Kathryn Tkel. Nicole A. Watson directs. Details at roundhousetheatre.org.
Theater
A trip ‘through media, memory to examine cultural imperialism’
Ashil Lee on Woolly’s ‘Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt’
‘Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live & active cultures!)’
Through June 1
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
641 D St., N.W.
Tickets start at $55
Woollymammoth.net
New York City-based artist Ashil Lee, 31, acts and directs. When you enter their name in a search engine, you’re first likely to find “Korean American trans nonbinary child of immigrants.”
Currently they’re playing in Woolly Mammoth Theatre’s world premiere production of Julia Izumi’s “Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live & active cultures!),” a trip “through media and memory to examine cultural imperialism, ‘healthy’ consumption, and why we make art.”
The play isn’t exactly a biopic of innovative Japanese filmmaker Kurosawa (1910-1998), says Lee.
“It’s more of a jumping off point for our own emotional journeys, which is parallel to how he’s inspired other filmmakers,” they continue. “While you may not have seen his ground-breaking samurai films, you’ve undoubtedly seen lots of movies and TV directly inspired by his work.”
Recently, I called Lee at their temporary Woolly-provided Penn Quarter digs just a block from the theater. Smart and warmly engaging, they were enthusiastic to share what brings them to D.C.
WASHINGTON BLADE: How did you find your way into this interestingly titled play?
ASHIL LEE: My part, Actor Two, was originally written for a female actor. When playwright and cast member Julia [Izumi] asked me if I was open to auditioning for the role, I agreed and subsequently booked the part.
Julia and I know each other from working in New York [“The Nosebleed” at The Lincoln Center Theatre] where she was associate director and an understudy, and I was an actor. She learned the part, but never went on stage, so our experience was limited to the rehearsal room
Now I get to act with Julia with people watching.
BLADE: Actor Two sounds pretty wide open.
LEE: And that’s what so great about it. A name like Actor Two that means you’re going to play a lot of different roles which is true in this case. More specifically, I play Stage Hand, myself, and an older version of Kurosawa.
BLADE: You play the iconic filmmaker’s filmmaker?
LEE: All of the cast play Kurosawa at different stages in his life. Similar to varied cultural strains of yogurt, we call them the different strains of Kurosawa.
The play includes other characters too: Heigo, Kurosawa’s older brother and childhood influence: and a famous fetishizer who proves a problematic guest, someone we love to hate.
BLADE: Are you a Kurosawa fan?
LEE: Actually, I’ve never seen a Kurosawa film. And since one of my characters hasn’t seen any of his work either, I thought I’d hold off seeing any. This is a play that’s equally appealing to both those who know a lot about Kurasawa and those who’ve never heard of him.
BLADE: Changing gears. Were your parents disappointed that you didn’t take a conventional career path?
LEE: I’m fortunate that my mother is an artist. She has seen the value of artistry and has encouraged me to go into the arts. To some extent, I think she lives vicariously through the way I do art as a job. Still, my parents haven’t entirely shaken that immigrant success driven mentality. They believe “you can be an artist but you have to be the best.” Whatever the best means.
BLADE: And how are they with your gender?
LEE: My parents know that I’m nonbinary and they’ve been understanding, however I haven’t talked much about the transmasc part of it; I’m letting them take their time on that.
BLADE: As a kid in Lafayette, Kentucky, you played bugs (Glow-Worm, Cricket, and Charlotte). What do you like playing now?
LEE: I especially like parts where you play yourself and get to put on different characters. If I could only be in that kind of play for the rest of my life, I’d be more than satisfied. That’s my jam.
As a trans performer it’s such a gift. I’m able to show up completely as myself and then step into different characters without quieting myself. It feels like a gift. I think about it in relation to my gender but also my race.
BLADE: You’re current gig in a sentence?
LEE: It’s awonderful mishmash, a theatrical playground that takes you to a lot of different places in a short amount of time and leaves you thinking about your own life.
Theater
Theatre Prometheus spreads queer joy with ‘Galatea’
Two girls dressed as boys who find love despite the odds
‘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.”
Theater
Timely comedy ‘Fake It’ focuses on Native American themes
Arena Stage production features two out actors
‘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 Luc 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.
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