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Ring out Pride Month with a virtual bang, from ‘Pose,’ Revry, and more

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Tel Aviv Pride, 2019 (Image courtesy of Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, Guy Yechiel)

Let’s face it: Pride Month without the ability to celebrate in our traditional ways doesn’t feel very much like Pride.

For many of us, the festivals, concerts, parades and parties, where we gather with our friends to proudly proclaim our queerness to the world, are an annual rite of passage; being cheated of it by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is an undeniable disappointment.

Even so, Pride is more than just a party (even if it’s a really fabulous one), and while the usual festivities may be cancelled, the spirit behind them is not. The LGBTQ+ community has risen to the challenge of 2020 with inventive ways to re-channel the Pride Experience for the physically-distanced needs of our time, and although a virtual event can never deliver quite the same visceral thrills as an in-person celebration, it’s worth noting that this year’s proliferation of internet and broadcast events has made Pride accessible to millions of people who might otherwise never have had the opportunity to participate, or to hear the messages of hope and acceptance that queer people in oppressive social environments around the world need to be able to hear.

Chances are good you’ve already experienced one or more of these livestreamed or broadcasted extravaganzas, but if you are still looking to get your Pride on before the month slips away next week, there are still some big ones coming your way.

One of the biggest is sure to be “Live, Work, Pose-A-Thon!” As a part of Pride month, Disney Television Studios and FX are presenting a commercial-free one-hour virtual event, showcasing the cast and producers of “Pose” to raise awareness for GLSEN, Hetrick-Martin Institute, and Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, three notable organizations that work to support LGBTQ+ education, social change for sexual and gender minority people of color, and transgender equality through legal services and policy efforts.

The special will be emceed by Emmy, Grammy, and Tony-award winning actor and activist Billy Porter along with co-star Mj Rodriguez, and unites the voices behind the critically-acclaimed drama series “Pose.” Featured will be music and anecdotes from Porter, Rodriguez, Angel Bismark Curiel, Sandra Bernhard, Dyllón Burnside, Steven Canals, Dominique Jackson, Jeremy McClain, Janet Mock, Indya Moore, Our Lady J, Jason Rodriguez, Angelica Ross, Hailie Sahar, Ryan Jamaal Swain, Charlayne Woodard, and Patti LuPone.  “Pose” supervising producer Tanase Popa serves as producer of the special.

“I’m so proud of our cast and producers for coming together to present an uplifting hour of song and stories,” said co-creator, executive producer, writer, and director Steven Canals.  “In the spirit of ‘Pose,’ our goal is to celebrate joy, love and, of course, pride, from our family to yours.”

Executive producer, writer, and director Janet Mock added, “Since we’ve been unable to shoot the show we love, we jumped at the chance to reunite our ‘Pose’ family and partner with the studio and network to raise spirits and awareness about the plight of LGBTQ+ people of color during such a turbulent time.  This Pride month special is a commemoration of our forebears’ efforts, a memorial for trans lives lost, and a celebration of the life-saving work of LGBTQ+ organizations.”

“Pose-a-Thon!” will air Friday, June 26 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on FX and Freeform.  Viewers can also tune-in same day starting at 7:00 p.m. PT at www.poseathon.com.

If you’re someone who likes to make Pride an excuse for world travel, it goes without saying that this is not a good year for that – but you can at least grab a taste. Tel Aviv Pride takes place every year in June, with a surge of gay-friendly events taking place across the city and a Pride Parade that has become the largest one among all in the Middle East. In light of the Corona pandemic, that parade has been cancelled (or at least postponed), along with the rest of the four largest pride parades in Israel – Haifa, Jerusalem, Be’er Sheva and Tel Aviv-Yafo – but that doesn’t mean the whole celebration is shut down.

According to Ron Huldai, Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo, “Even if we cannot hold the traditional pride parade this year, we will mark pride month with alternative events. Tel Aviv, which has already been acknowledged as the world’s most gay-friendly city, will continue to be a lighthouse city – spreading the values of freedom, tolerance and democracy to the world.”

Those “alternative events” taking place live in the city will involve over 100 drag queens and queer artists taking over the city’s streets in honor of pride month. Throughout the day on June 25, live shows will surprise passersby in central locations around the city, including open spaces, restaurants, local businesses and rooftops.

While it may not be possible for you to experience these pop-up Pride events in person, you can still experience Tel Aviv Pride vicariously through its Pride Month Virtual Tour, which will visit some of the city’s queerest landmarks and explore its queer history and culture, engaging with some of the local divas and discussing some of the open questions around LGBTQA life in Tel Aviv.

The tour takes place on Thursday June 25th at 8pm, and you can join it through this Zoom Link.

Finally, for an even more expansive experience of Pride around the world, you can join the festivities for Global Pride 2020, produced by Interpride and available through several streaming partners – including Revry, the first LGBTQ+ virtual cable network, which has teamed up with Littlstar (the livestreaming platform for PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR, and Android TV) to launch the first VR streaming channel for the queer community just in time for this season of Pride. You can join this spectacular worldwide event on June 27th and 28th, when Revry will livestream it for 24 hours on the Revry Now channel (available on the Revry apps) as well as on the Littlstar platform – creating a first-of-its-kind VR Pride Festival experience!

“Littlstar is excited to partner with Revry to redefine how LGBTQ+ audiences view content. Viewers can now interact with each other remotely in virtual reality, or if there is no VR headset available they can live stream it directly to their TV via PlayStation 4 which currently reaches over 100M homes,” said Tony Mugavero, CEO & Co-Founder of Littlstar.

“We’re thrilled to have Revry as one of our official streaming partners,” says Julian Sanjivan, Co-President of Interpride. “Partnering with Revry gives Global Pride 2020 an opportunity to access audiences and community members who may not otherwise be able to participate in the programming, especially where our other platforms are not accessible or allowed. Revry’s new live VR Channel on the Littlstar app brings our event live on PlayStations across the globe and universally available to anyone with an internet connection.”

More than 500 Pride organizations around the world have submitted more than 1,000 pieces of content for Global Pride which will include messages from former US Vice-President Joe Biden, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and artists Laverne Cox, Adam Lambert, Kesha and Todrick Hall amongst many more. You can see the full line-up here.

Viewers with a PlayStation VR will be able to watch the stream in a custom virtual world, and viewers without VR headsets can view the stream on billions of mobile device at live.littlstar.com. If you’d rather opt for a “normal” 2D livestream broadcast, you can do it on the Revry Now channel on the Revry network available online (watch.revry.tv) and in all major app stores.

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Arts & Entertainment

2024 Best of LGBTQ DC Readers’ Choice Award Finalist Voting

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It is time to celebrate the best of LGBTQ+ DC! You nominated and now we have our finalists. Vote for your favorites in our 2024 Best of LGBTQ DC categories through September 23rd. Our 2024 Best of LGBTQ DC will be announced at the Best of LGBTQ DC Awards Party on October 17th and our special issue will come out on Friday, October 18th.

Thank you to our sponsors: ABSOLUT, Crush, Infinite Legacy & Wild Side Media.

VOTE BELOW OR BY CLICKING HERE!

ARE YOU A BEST OF FINALIST? DOWNLOAD ASSETS HERE!

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Out & About

Nu Sass Productions to celebrate 15th anniversary

‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ performed at DC Arts Center

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Nu Sass Productions will mark its 15th anniversary with a resurrection of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” beginning Friday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. at the DC Arts Center. 

“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” debuted at the Capital Fringe Festival in 2009 and will return this year with a new cast and crew.

Tickets cost $30 and can be purchased via the Nu Sass website.

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Theater

Explore new venues, productions during D.C. Theatre Week

30 shows, including musicals, comedies, dramas, premieres, and more

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Michael Ramirez serves as a Helen Hayes Awards judge and board member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. (Photo by DJ Corey Photography)

2024 Theatre Week
Sept. 26-Oct. 13
Theatreweek.org

For Michael Ramirez, theater remains an ongoing source of inspiration and pleasure. As a little boy in El Paso, Texas, his mom took him to see lots of kids’ shows. And later in high school, he played one of the Sharks in “West Side Story.” All fond memories. 

At the University of Texas in Austin for social work (undergraduate) and social work/public administration (graduate school) and then as a successful human resources professional and policy wonk in Washington, Ramirez continued to enjoy theater from the audience or behind the scenes. Now retired, he serves as a Helen Hayes Awards judge and board member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. 

Theatre Washington is the umbrella organization that not only produces the Helen Hayes Awards but also Theatre Week, an annual celebratory launch of the season with shows at low prices, a free kickoff fest, and other fun events. 

The 2024 Theatre Week, explains Ramirez, features about 30 varied productions in the DMV, including musicals, comedies, dramas, new works, premieres, and works geared to young audiences. And tickets are affordably discounted at $60, $40, and $20.

“It’s a great opportunity to take a chance on a theater that you might not be familiar with,” he says. “When it comes to seeing shows, a lot of people think Kennedy Center or Ford’s. This can be an introduction to something entirely new. D.C. is a busy theater town with lots of companies and venues.”  

At the heart of Theatre Week are its plays and musicals. Ramirez has already made his list. 

His picks include GALA Hispanic Theatre’s “The 22+ Weddings of Hugo” featuring out actor Carlos Castillo as Hugo and staged by out director José Zayas; busy out playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “The Comeuppance” at Woolly Mammoth; and “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead” at Nu Sass Productions.

He also plans to see Mosaic Theatre’s “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” a play with music about jazz legend/queer icon Billie Holiday starring Roz White; ExPats Theatre’s “Marlene,” featuring Karin Rosnizeck as legendary diva Marlene Dietrich; and Rorschach Theatre’s “Sleeping Giant” written by gay playwright Steve Yockey well known as the developer of the HBO Max comedy-drama television series “The Flight Attendant.”

Ramirez adds, “And as a good gay, I can’t miss ‘Sondheim Tribute Revue’ at Creative Cauldron.” 

There are also parties and outdoor events. He advises a few of his favorites. 

On Monday, Sept. 9, Woolly Mammoth hosts a Theatre Week Launch Party replete with drinks and season sneak peaks (invitation only). 

The Historic Theatre Walking Tour (Sept. 21) asks the public to check out downtown D.C. theaters with guides Farar Elliot and Chris Geidner (free). And with City on the River Concert (Sept. 22), Theatre Washington returns to the D.C. Wharf Transit Pier to present “musical theater showstoppers” from a dozen of the season’s upcoming shows (free).  

Next up it’s “DC Theatre at the Nats” (Sept. 24), a night out at the ballgame that baseball lover Ramirez is sure to attend. And typically, he says, performers from a local show or company are booked to sing the anthem ($20). 

And big event Kickoff Fest 2024, an all-afternoon event for all ages, takes place on Sept. 28 at Arena Stage (also free).

Not surprisingly Ramirez fell for another theater aficionado. He and husband John Ralls got together in 1990 and married in 2014. Ralls is a board member at Rorschach.

As board members, they “function as ambassadors and marketers for the theater. We reach into our pockets and write the checks. We buy the season tickets, and encourage our friends to do the same.”

Ramirez enthusiastically reiterates: “Theatre Week is especially fun. Again, tickets are reasonable. There’s everything from puppet plays at Glen Echo Park to something more serious. It’s the perfect chance to try something new.” 

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