Arts & Entertainment
On Oscar weekend, Spirit Awards reflect diversity with inclusive noms, female directors, and GMCLA


The Oscars may be the big movie news this weekend, but fans of Indie cinema might be more interested in the winners announced by another awards body on Saturday.
The 35th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, which took place in Santa Monica on February 8, honored the cream of the 2019 crop from the film industry’s independent creators, with a slate of nominees that was notably more diverse than the one heading into Sunday night’s Oscars, and a lineup of talent that included host Aubrey Plaza and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.
The night’s biggest prize, for Best Feature, went to Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell,” with Olivia Wilde’s “Booksmart” taking home the award for Best First Feature. However, “Uncut Gems” from the Safdie brothers won the most trophies for the evening, taking home Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Actor for star Adam Sandler. All three were notably snubbed by the Academy, especially Sandler, who had been a surprise omission from the list of Oscar nominees.
Noah Baumach’s “Marriage Story” was the recipient of this year’s Robert Altman Ensemble Award, which was awarded to the entire cast of the film, which stars Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern, and Alan Alda, among others. Because the film had been previously announced as the winner in this special category, its cast members were ineligible for the competitive acting categories.
While this year’s Academy nominations had been slammed for a disappointing lack of diversity, the Indie Spirit Awards featured a far more inclusive roster. While the Oscars failed to recognize any female directors in the Best Director category, two women, Alma Har’el (“Honey Boy”) and Lorene Scafaria (“Hustlers”) were nominated for the equivalent prize at Saturday’s Spirit ceremony – with additional irony arising from the wins for female-directed films in both of the Best Feature categories. Further, while the Academy’s acting nominees included only one person of color (Cynthia Erivo, “Harriet”), the Spirit Awards included nods for Hong Chau (“Driveways”) and Alfre Woodard (“Clemency”) as Best Actress, Kelvin Harrison Jr. (“Luce”) for Best Actor, and Taylor Russell (“Waves”), Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”), and Octavia Spencer (“Luce”) for Best Supporting Actress.
In addition, while the Academy’s choices featured little recognition for LGBTQ-themed films or their performers, the Spirit nominations included “Booksmart,” which features a lesbian lead character, and “Hustlers,” the sex-worker dramedy that includes trans actress Trace Lysette among its ensemble cast.
The ceremony also paid tribute to the year’s “gayest moments you didn’t know were gay,” with a hilarious video compilation accompanied by members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, which highlighted ally Laura Dern’s performance in “Marriage Story.” Dern, in the audience, was moved to laughter, and later posted on Twitter, “Did this…really happen? Thank you @GMCLA @filmindependent and @JTfirstman for making me realize how much I need a choir to go everywhere with me!”
The performance has since gone viral on social media, with a worldwide aggregate of 5 million views and counting across various platforms.
For a full list of Spirit Award winners, visit the Film Independent website.
Books
New book explores why we categorize sports according to gender
You can lead a homophobic horse to water but you can’t make it think

‘Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates’
By Katie Barnes
c.2023, St. Martin’s Press
$29/304 pages
The jump shot happened so quickly, so perfectly.
Your favorite player was in the air in a heartbeat, basketball in hand, wrist cocked. One flick and it was all swish, three points, just like that, and your team was ahead. So are you watching men’s basketball or women’s basketball? Or, as in the new book, “Fair Play” by Katie Barnes, should it really matter?

For sports fans, this may come as a surprise: we categorize sports according to gender.
Football, baseball, wresting: male sports. Gymnastics, volleyball: women’s sports. And yet, one weekend spent cruising around television shows you that those sports are enjoyed by both men and women – but we question the sexuality of athletes who dare (gasp!) to cross invisible lines for a sport they love.
How did sports “become a flash point for a broader conversation?”
Barnes takes readers back first to 1967, when Kathrine Switzer and Bobbi Gibb both ran in the Boston Marathon. It was the first time women had audaciously done so and while both finished the race, their efforts didn’t sit well with the men who made the rules.
“Thirty-seven words” changed the country in 1972 when Title IX was signed, which guaranteed there’d be no discrimination in extracurricular events, as long as “federal financial assistance” was taken. It guaranteed availability for sports participation for millions of girls in schools and colleges. It also “enshrine[d] protections for queer and transgender youth to access school sports.”
So why the debate about competition across gender lines?
First, says Barnes, we can’t change biology, or human bodies that contain both testosterone and estrogen, or that some athletes naturally have more of one or the other – all of which factor into the debate. We shouldn’t forget that women can and do compete with men in some sports, and they sometimes win. We shouldn’t ignore the presence of transgender men in sports.
What we should do, Barnes says, is to “write a new story. One that works better.”
Here are two facts: Nobody likes change. And everybody has an opinion.
Keep those two statements in mind when you read “Fair Play.” They’ll keep you calm in this debate, as will author Katie Barnes’ lack of flame fanning.
As a sports fan, an athlete, and someone who’s binary, Barnes makes things relatively even-keel in this book, which is a breath of fresh air in what’s generally ferociously contentious. There’s a good balance of science and social commentary here, and the many, many stories that Barnes shares are entertaining and informative, as well as illustrative. Readers will come away with a good understanding of where the debate lies.
But will this book make a difference?
Maybe. Much will depend on who reads and absorbs it. Barnes offers plenty to ponder but alas, you can lead a homophobic horse to water but you can’t make it think. Still, if you’ve got skin in this particular bunch of games, find “Fair Play” and jump on it.
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Theater
An exciting revival of ‘Evita’ at Shakespeare Theatre
Out actor Caesar Samayoa on portraying iconic role of President Perón

‘Evita’
Through Oct. 15
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Harman Hall
610 F St., N.W.
$35–$134
Shakespearetheatre.org
When Eva Perón died of cancer at 33 in 1952, the people’s reaction was so intense that Argentina literally ran out of cut flowers. Mourners were forced to fly in stems from neighboring countries, explains out actor Caesar Samayoa.
For Samayoa, playing President Perón to Shireen Pimental’s First Lady Eva in director Sammi Cannold’s exciting revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita” at Shakespeare Theatre Company is a dream fulfilled.
As a Guatemalan-American kid, he had a foot in two worlds. Samayoa lived and went to school in suburban Emerson, N.J. But he spent evenings working at his parents’ botanica in Spanish Harlem.
During the drives back and forth in the family station wagon, he remembers listening to “Evita” on his cassette player: “It’s the first cast album I remember really hearing and understanding. I longed to be in the show.”
As an undergrad, he transferred from Bucknell University where he studied Japanese international relations to a drama major at Ithica College. His first professional gig was in 1997 playing Juliet in Joe Calarco’s off-Broadway “Shakespeare’s R&J.” Lots of Broadway work followed including “Sister Act,” “The Pee-Wee Herman Show,” and most significantly, Samayoa says, “Come From Away,” a musical telling of the true story of airline passengers stranded in Gander, Newfoundland during 9/11. He played Kevin J. (one half of a gay couple) and Ali, a Muslim chef.
He adds “Evita” has proved a powerful experience too: “We’re portraying a populist power couple that changed the trajectory of a country in a way most Americans can’t fully understand. And doing it in Washington surrounded by government and politics is extra exciting.”
WASHINGTON BLADE: How do you tap into a real-life character like Perón?
CAESAR SAMAYOA: Fortunately, Sammi [Connald] and I work similarly. With real persons and situations, I immerse myself into history, almost to a ridiculous extent.
First day in the rehearsal room, we were inundated with artifacts. Sammi has been to Argentina several times and interviewed heavily with people involved in Eva and Peron’s lives. Throughout the process we’d sit and talk about the real history that happened. We went down the rabbit hole.
Sammi’s interviews included time with Eva’s nurse who was at her bedside when she died. We watched videos of those interviews. They’ve been an integral part of our production.
BLADE: Were you surprised by anything you learned?
SAMAYOA: Usually, Eva and Perón’s relationship is portrayed as purely transactional. They wrote love letters and I had access to those. At their country home, they’d be in pajamas and walk on the beach; that part of their life was playful and informal. They were a political couple but they were deeply in love too. I latched on to that.
BLADE: And anything about the man specifically?
SAMAYOA: Perón’s charisma was brought to the forefront. In shows I’ve done, some big names have attended. Obama. Clinton. Justin Trudeau came to “Come From Away.” Within seconds, the charisma makes you give into that person. I’ve tried to use that.
BLADE: And the part?
SAMAYOA: Perón is said to be underwritten. But I love his power and the songs he sings [“The Art of the Possible,” “She is a Diamond,” etc.]. I’m fully a baritone and to find that kind of role in a modern musical is nearly impossible. And in this rock opera, I can use it to the full extent and feel great about it.
BLADE: “Evita” is a co-production with A.R.T. Has it changed since premiering in Boston?
SAMAYOA: Yes, it has. In fact, 48 hours before opening night in Washington, we made some changes and they’ve really landed. Without giving too much away, we gave it more gravity in reality of time as well as Eva’s sickness and the rapid deterioration. It’s given our second act a huge kind of engine that it didn’t have.
BLADE: You’re married to talent agent Christopher Freer and you’re very open. Was it always that way for you?
SAMAYOA: When I started acting professionally, it was a very different industry. We were encouraged to stay in the closet or it will cast only in a certain part. There was truth in that. There still is some truth in that, but I refuse to go down that road. I can’t reach what I need to reach unless I’m my most honest self. I can’t do it any other way.
Out & About
HRC’s National Dinner is back
LGBTQ rights organization’s annual gala features Rhimes, Waithe, Bomer

The Human Rights Campaign will host its annual National Dinner on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
The dinner’s honorees include world-famous producers, actors and entertainers whose work spotlights the fight for civil rights and social justice, including Shonda Rhimes, Lena Waithe and Matt Bomer.
A new event, as part of the weekend, — the Equality Convention — will take place the night before the dinner on Friday, Oct. 13. The convention will showcase the power of the LGBTQ equality movement, feature influential political and cultural voices, and bring together volunteer and movement leaders from across the country to talk about the path ahead.
For more details about the weekend, visit HRC’s website.
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