Arts & Entertainment
GLAAD to present Ryan Murphy with Vito Russo Award
LGBTQ entertainment mastermind Ryan Murphy has been announced by GLAAD as the winner of one of its most prestigious honors, the LGBTQ media advocacy group revealed on Thursday.
Murphy, the award-winning screenwriter, producer, and director behind “Glee,” “American Horror Story,” “Feud,” and “Pose,” among a host of other LGBTQ fan-favorite projects across various media, will be honored as part of the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards in the Spring. The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues, this year with over 175 previously-announced nominees competing in 30 categories.
In addition to the competitive awards, GLAAD also presents several special awards, honoring specific individuals who have used their platform in the media to advance the cause of LGBTQ acceptance worldwide.
The world’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization had previously revealed Taylor Swift and Janet Mock as the 2020 recipients of the Vanguard Award and the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, respectively, with the awards to be presented at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 16.
The new announcement names Murphy as the recipient of the Vito Russo Award. Russo, a founder of GLAAD and a celebrated ACT UP activist, pushed open doors for LGBTQ performers and stories to be included in the news and entertainment media. The award named in his honor is presented annually to an openly LGBTQ media professional who has made a significant difference in accelerating LGBTQ acceptance; previous honorees include Billy Porter, Anderson Cooper, Ricky Martin, Andy Cohen, Cynthia Nixon, RuPaul, Rosie O’Donnell, Tom Ford, Samira Wiley, Thomas Roberts, George Takei, Alan Cumming, Craig Zadan, Liz Smith, and Neil Meron, among others. Murphy will receive the honor at an earlier GLAAD Media Awards presentation at the Hilton Midtown in New York on Thursday, March 19.
In a statement, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said, “Ryan Murphy is a talented trailblazer behind some of the most innovative and popular LGBTQ projects in television, theater and film history, and he continues to bring underrepresented LGBTQ voices to the table in ways that raise the bar in Hollywood. Ryan’s unique and gifted brand of storytelling has not only entertained the masses, but provided LGBTQ youth with characters who inspire them to live boldly and proudly.”
It’s not the first time the Emmy, Golden Globe, Tony, and Peabody-winning LGBTQ media mogul has been honored by GLAAD. He has previously been nominated for GLAAD Media Awards for multiple projects, winning for shows like “Pose,” “Glee,” “American Horror Story: Asylum,” “The New Normal,” “Popular,” and “American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.” This year he is nominated again in two categories, Outstanding Comedy Series (for “The Politician,” his most recent Neflix series) and Outstanding Drama Series (for “Pose,” which made history by featuring the largest transgender series regular cast and the largest LGBTQ cast ever for a scripted series).
Murphy’s work has not been limited to episodic television. He has been lauded for his film version of “Running With Scissors,” as well as for his HBO adaptation of Larry Kramer’s seminal AIDS drama, “The Normal Heart,” which was a previous winner at the GLAAD Media Awards in addition to several Emmy and Golden Globe honors.
On stage, he produced
the Tony-winning 2018 Broadway revival of the iconic LGBTQ play “The Boys
in the Band,” which featured a cast of out actors that included Jim Parsons,
Zachary Quinto and Matt Bomer. He has produced a film version of the stage hit,
slated for release this year.
Also coming soon are the upcoming series “Ratched” and “Hollywood,” both
co-written, directed and produced by Murphy, who is also set to direct the
feature film adaptation of “The Prom,” the hit Broadway musical about a gay
high school teenager who stands up against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in her
small town. It will have a cast that includes Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and
James Corden, among others.
Murphy has not just promoted LGBTQ acceptance through his work in the entertainment industry. He’s also used his platform to elevate LGBTQ and minority voices in other ways: in 2018,he announced that all profits from “Pose” would be donated to charitable organizations working with LGBTQ people, such as the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, and Callen-Lorde Community Health Center; last year, he hosted a special benefit performance of “The Prom,” in with proceeds going to LGBTQ organizations including the Hetrick-Martin Institute, GLAAD, and The Trevor Project. He previously launched an initiative called Half, which aims to create equal opportunities for women and minorities behind the camera in Hollywood. Less than a year later, his own Ryan Murphy Television had a director’s slate that featured 60% women, with 90% being women and/or minorities.
Murphy has also been recognized for his trailblazing accomplishments and impact. In 2018, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 2019, he was selected as a ‘Titan’ for the Time Magazine’s annual 100 Most Influential People list.
This year, the GLAAD Media Awards, including the returning category for Outstanding Broadway Production. The Outstanding Kids & Family Programming category has been expanded to ten nominees, and GLAAD has also announced Special Recognition honors for Netflix’s “Special,” and for pioneering LGBTQ journalists Karen Ocamb (California Editor for the Blade), and Mark Segal.
For a full list of the nominees for the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards, click here.
The 2026 Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather competition was held at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill on Sunday. Seven contestants vied for the title and Gage Ryder was named the winner.
(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Theater
Voiceless ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ a spectacle of operatic proportions
Synetic production pulls audience into grips of doomed lovers’ passion
‘Antony & Cleopatra’
Through Jan. 25
Synetic Theater at
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre
450 7th St., N.W.
Synetictheater.org
A spectacle of operatic proportions, Synetic Theater’s “Antony & Cleopatra” is performed entirely voiceless. An adaptation of the Bard’s original (a play bursting with wordplay, metaphors, and poetic language), the celebrated company’s production doesn’t flinch before the challenge.
Staged by Paata Tsikurishvili and choreographed by Irina Tsikurishvili, this worthy remount is currently playing at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre, the same venue where it premiered 10 years ago. Much is changed, including players, but the usual inimitable Synectic energy and ingenuity remain intact.
As audiences file into the Klein, they’re met with a monumental pyramid bathed in mist on a dimly lit stage. As the lights rise, the struggle kicks off: Cleopatra (Irina Kavsadze) and brother Ptolemy (Natan-Maël Gray) are each vying for the crown of Egypt. Alas, he wins and she’s banished from Alexandria along with her ethereal black-clad sidekick Mardian (Stella Bunch); but as history tells us, Cleopatra soon makes a triumphant return rolled in a carpet.
Meanwhile, in the increasingly dangerous Rome, Caesar (memorably played by Tony Amante) is assassinated by a group of senators. Here, his legendary Ides of March murder is rather elegantly achieved by silver masked politicians, leaving the epic storytelling to focus on the titular lovers.
The fabled couple is intense. As the Roman general Antony, Vato Tsikurishvili comes across as equal parts warrior, careerist, and beguiled lover. And despite a dose of earthiness, it’s clear that Kavsadze’s Cleopatra was born to be queen.
Phil Charlwood’s scenic design along with Colin K. Bills’ lighting cleverly morph the huge pyramidic structure into the throne of Egypt, the Roman Senate, and most astonishingly as a battle galley crashing across the seas with Tsikurishvili’s Antony ferociously at the helm.
There are some less subtle suggestions of location and empire building in the form of outsized cardboard puzzle pieces depicting the Mediterranean and a royal throne broken into jagged halves, and the back-and-forth of missives.
Of course, going wordless has its challenges. Kindly, Synectic provides a compact synopsis of the story. I’d recommend coming early and studying that page. With changing locations, lots of who’s who, shifting alliances, numerous war skirmishes, and lack of dialogue, it helps to get a jump on plot and characters.
Erik Teague’s terrific costume design is not only inspired but also helpful. Crimson red, silver, and white say Rome; while all things Egyptian have a more exotic look with lots of gold and diaphanous veils, etc.
When Synetic’s voicelessness works, it’s masterful. Many hands create the magic: There’s the direction, choreography, design, and the outrageously committed, sinewy built players who bring it to life through movement, some acrobatics, and the remarkable sword dancing using (actual sparking sabers) while twirling to original music composed by Konstantine Lortkipanidze.
Amid the tumultuous relationships and frequent battling (fight choreography compliments of Ben Cunis), moments of whimsy and humor aren’t unwelcome. Ptolemy has a few clownish bits as Cleopatra’s lesser sibling. And Antony’s powerful rival Octavian (ageless out actor Philip Fletcher) engages in peppy propaganda featuring a faux Cleopatra (played by Maryam Najafzada) as a less than virtuous queen enthusiastically engaged in an all-out sex romp.
When Antony and Cleopatra reach their respective ends with sword and adder, it comes almost as a relief. They’ve been through so much. And from start to finish, without uttering a word, Kavsadze and Tsikurishvili share a chemistry that pulls the audience into the grips of the doomed lovers’ palpable passion.
Out & About
Love board games and looking for love?
Quirk Events will host “Board Game Speed Dating for Gay Men” on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. at KBird DC.
Searching for a partner can be challenging. But board games are always fun. So what if you combined board games and finding a partner?
Picture this: You sit down for a night of games. A gaming concierge walks you through several games over the course of the night. You play classics you love and discover brand new games you’ve never heard of, playing each with a different group of fun singles. All while in a great establishment.
At the end of the night, you give your gaming concierge a list of the folks you met that you’d like to date and a list of those you met that you’d like to just hang out with as friends. If any two people put down the same name as each other in either column, then your gaming concierge will make sure you get each other’s e-mail address and you can coordinate a time to hang out.
Tickets cost $31.80 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
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Comings & Goings
