Theater
Kathleen Turner on her new cabaret, gay icon status, Hollywood career and more
Busy actress dabbles in storytelling, opera, directing plays, keeping physically active
2019 Arena Stage Annual Gala
Tuesday, May 21
Arena Stage
1101 6th St., S.W.
202-488-3300
Not long after her movie star-making turn as femme fatale Matty Walker in ’80s thriller “Body Heat,” Kathleen Turner appeared at Arena Stage. She played Tatiana and Hippolyta in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” kicking off a long and satisfying relationship between the husky-voiced actor and the waterfront theater.
Over the years, Turner has shone memorably in Arena productions like “Red Hot Patriot,” “Mother Courage and Her Children” and “The Year of Magical Thinking.” And now she’s headlining Arena’s annual gala with excerpts from her first cabaret, “Finding My Voice,” which debuted last year (gala proceeds go to Arena’s artistic and educational programs).
Turner fulfilled her movie promise with “Prizzi’s Honor” and “The War of the Roses.” She received an Oscar nod for “Peggy Sue Got Married,” and Tony Award nominations “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.” But there have been setbacks too, including chronic illness and addiction issues.
A big-name actor who has never lived in Hollywood, Turner isn’t exclusively one thing. She’s an activist whose ire has recently been reignited, a teacher and a self-described “citizen of the world.”
Via phone from her Manhattan apartment, she talks about these things and more.
WASHINGTON BLADE: Kathleen Turner in cabaret. Makes perfect sense. Was this long in the making?
KATHLEEN TURNER: I first did it in London’s West End, and then brought it to Café Carlisle where they asked me to cut it down. It’s not about my singing. It’s about my storytelling. I’m still tweaking it. Actually, it wasn’t long in the making. And my decision to do it had a lot to do with Molly Smith [Arena Stage’s Artistic Director]. You’ll understand more when you come to the Gala and see me do it.
BLADE: You’re an activist for, among other things, reproductive rights, and have volunteered with Planned Parenthood for decades. Any thoughts on the current assault on the organization?
TURNER: I was just shooting in Atlanta where the expletive governor (editor’s note: Turner’s exact words) signed the heartbeat bill. At six weeks a woman doesn’t even know if she’s pregnant or not. It’s obscene. So, I’m setting up a sit down with Planned Parenthood’s new president Leanna Wen to clarify what more I can do to help. I travel to affiliates and make myself available to speak, but I think all of us need to do more.
BLADE: “Red Hot Patriot,” your one-woman show about the late Molly Ivins (the brilliant liberal newspaper columnist) was such a good time, but beneath the humor was there some political rage?
TURNER: Absolutely, but that’s nothing new to me. Molly was and is very close to my heart. I adored her sense of humor and agreed with her political positions. We initially mounted “Red Hot Patriot” in Philly. Molly was a Texan, so for the very first performance we had a planeload of Molly’s fellow Texans from the ACLU, Texas Observer people, and her brother. Molly was a big-boned woman, but her brother was really big. He wrapped his arms around me and thanked me for keeping Molly alive. That was one of the most extraordinary things I ever heard pertaining to my work.
BLADE: You brought “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” to the Kennedy Center. You were spectacular as Martha.
TURNER: I was thrilled with the production and what we achieved.
BLADE: Is it hard to move from screen to stage?
TURNER: For me it’s always been theater. To my mind, film happened to me. And it was fun and I enjoyed the work tremendously. But with films, I never had the power or liberty and freedom that I have on stage.
BLADE: Is #metoo your Hollywood experience?
TURNER: I was fortunate. I became a star very quickly and didn’t have to deal with those kinds of predatory men. Today, I’m aligned with the Time’s Up movement. It’s about creating legal funds for women to fight back against harassment. That makes sense to me; my nature is to do something about the problem.
BLADE: Now that you’re in your 60s, are you exploring new things besides cabaret?
TURNER: Oh yeah. Not long ago I played a non-singing role in Donizetti’s comic opera “The Daughter of the Regiment.” I was the Duchess of Krakenthorp. The character is so selfish and absurd, a caricature of a comic villainess. It was great fun. To be surrounded by those voices is extraordinary. From my dressing room, I could hear the mezzo Stephanie warming up on one side, and the soprano, pretty Yolanda, on the other. And the house seats 3,800. It’s astounding. Another world altogether. And soon, I’ll be directing a new playwright whose protagonists are a woman in her 70s and another in her late 60s. You don’t see that a lot.
BLADE: And how is the R.A. (rheumatoid arthritis)?
TURNER: Oh, you know, it’s an ongoing thing. Part of treatment is to keep moving. I find Pilates helpful. So I do that three times a week. And when spring comes, I bring my bicycle out of storage and ride along Hudson River Park, but never in the street.
BLADE: I’ve heard you praise the work of your great friend Cherry Jones. What other working actors do you like?
TURNER: I don’t know a lot of the young ones because I don’t
BLADE: I’m pretty certain that my favorite of your films is “Peggy Sue Got Married.”
TURNER: It’s magical, isn’t it? That’s thanks to its director, Coppola. The dressing table scene is everything. The camera pulls back and I have a double echoing my movements. You can see the back and front of me at the same time and you accept it. Once you accept that you’re ready to go on the journey with her.
BLADE: A surefire cure for the blues is your obscene phone scene from John Waters’ movie “Serial Mom.”
TURNER: (Laughs.) I’m still asked to say those lines. I refuse.
BLADE: Is that what started your gay following?
TURNER: Sure, it has a lot to do with “Serial Mom.” But recently, my daughter sent me a clip from “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” A contestant being attacked by the others bellows “In the name of Kathleen Turner, what is going on here?” I liked that. The references keep coming.
BLADE: What keeps you coming back to Arena?
TURNER: That’s easy. It’s the quality of the people there. In 20 years, Molly [Smith] has made Arena into a full plant. When she directed me in “Mother Courage,” it was thrilling, and even when she’s not directing me, she remains deeply involved my work while I’m there. Also, the production people are top notch. And I like Washington. And Arena gets me an apartment over on 6th Street, I can walk everywhere. Lots of good restaurants and things to do. It’s always a nice time.
Theater
Mike Millan prepares to co-host Helen Hayes Awards
Accomplished actor has background in standup and improv
2025 Helen Hayes Awards
May 19
For tickets go to theatrewashington.org
It helps to have “an amalgamation of tricks, some more useful than others,” to host the Helen Hayes Awards. With a background in standup and improv and experience hosting children’s dance competitions and basement comedy clubs, out actor Mike Millan fits the ticket.
And if he has any misgivings, Millan isn’t showing them. He’s mostly looking forward to co-hosting with Felicia Curry, a Helen Hayes Award-winning local actor who’s successfully hosted the event more than once.
Based in both L.A. and New York, Millan is an accomplished actor whose connection to the DMV involves two productions at Arlington’s Signature Theatre, “Which Way to the Stage” (2022) and Sondheim’s zany romp “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (2024).
This year, “Forum” has nabbed seven Helen Hayes nominations including Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical, Hayes, and Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical, Hayes, for Erin Weaver who plays the central character Pseudolus, a cunning slave usually played by a man.
While Millan hasn’t been singled out for his memorable turn as Hysterium, a nervous gay slave in “Forum,” he enjoyed the part, and teasingly adds, “If they don’t nominate you, they will make you work for the event, so here we are.”
Both he and Curry will have their moments to shine: “It’s not my Netflix special; it’s not all about me. Granted that’s a twist for me, but I’ll do my best to share the spotlight” he promises.
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards celebration will be held on Monday, May 19, at The Anthem on the District Wharf in D.C. Named for Helen Hayes, the legendary first lady of Broadway, the lengthy program is comprised of an awards presentation, a leisurely intermission, all followed by an after-party with dancing.
Recognizing work from 165 eligible productions presented in the 2024 calendar year, nominations were made in 41 categories and grouped in “Helen” or “Hayes” cohorts, depending on the number of Equity members involved in the production with Hayes counting more.
The nods are the result of 51 carefully vetted judges considering 2,188 individual pieces of work, such as design, direction, choreography, performances, and more. Productions under consideration in 2024 included 57 musicals, 108 plays, and 37 world premieres.
Out sound designer Madeline ‘Mo’ Oslejsek is up for Outstanding Sound Design, Helen, for Flying V Theatre’s production of Natsu Onoda Power’s “Astro Boy and the God of Comics,” a retro-sci-fi piece. Oslejsek, 29, brings queerness to her work, both professionally and personally.
She describes “Astro Boy,” as a multimedia love letter: “We wanted it to be nostalgic, cartoonish when it was meant to be, and reality too.”
Based in Baltimore, Oslesjek who identifies alternately as queer and lesbian, says “my work is deeply tied to being queer. The reason I describe myself as a queer multidisciplinary artist is because I think it’s important for that word to be used and heartily embraced.
“I came out at 21 just before immersing myself in the study of sound design,” she says. “A big part of that allowed me to be serious about the work that I do. Also, part of coming out was to be unabashedly ambitious and unafraid to ask for what I want when it comes to art.
Director, playwright, and actor Nick Olcott is no stranger to the Helen Hayes Awards. Currently celebrating his 45th year in Washington theater, Olcott has received multiple Helen Hayes Awards nominations, and received the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play; he’s also directed the ceremony several times.
This year he’s nominated for Outstanding Director for a Play, Helen, for 1st Stage’s production of “The Nance,” Douglas Carter Beane’s story of burlesque performers during the 1930s.
“It’s funny the way things have changed, says Olcott, who’s gay. “It used to be The Washington Post would review something and you knew whether it was a hit or not. Well, the Post never came to ‘The Nance’ so I never knew if the show generated any interest. Naturally, I was staggered to learn that we received 11 nominations including nods for Outstanding Ensemble, Helen, Outstanding Production – Play, Helen, and Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play, Helen, for out actor Michael Russotto as Chauncey, the camp stock character.”
Olcott and Russotto go back to 1983 when both acted in a production of Agatha Christie’s “Mouse Trap” at Petrucci’s Dinner Theatre in Laurel, Md., and have worked together on and off ever since.
Four years in the making, “The Nance” was slated to open in May 2020, but the pandemic shut it down. Rather heroically, 1st Stage’s artistic doctor Alex Levy stuck with the production along with most of the cast and design team.
“In 2020, questions of gender and sexuality weren’t looming as heavily on the American political scene,” says Olcott, “but by the time we brought the play back those topics had become increasingly important. That’s something that rarely happens.
“The characters at the burlesque house were a family, bonded together to stand up to the outside world. It’s a fun milieu and slice of history that not many of us know about, and didn’t realize how relevant it would become.”
Other queer Helen Hayes nominees include Jon Hudson Odom for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play, Hayes, in Folger Theatre’s “Metamorphoses.” And for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical, Hayes, are Johnny Link in Signature’s “Private Jones” and Brandon Uranowitz in “tick, tick… BOOM!” at the Kennedy Center. Beanie Feldstein is up for Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Musical, Hayes, in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” also at the Kennedy Center.
A full list of award recipients will be available at theatrewashington.org on Tuesday, May 20.
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.”
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Calendar: May 16-22
