Arts & Entertainment
A Black, queer woman’s story of healing told through dance
‘Rock Paper Scissors’ coming to Atlas Performing Arts Center later this year
We have all at some point questioned our identity. For some, particularly those at the intersection of multiple marganalized identities, the exploration of who you are or want to be can send you into a tailspin of exploration.
Local playwright, choreographer, and producer, Sisi Reid is choosing to use dance to tell a story of innate joy, love, healing and remembering while questioning and exploring her identity as a Black queer woman.
“Dance is my freedom, my freeing,” Reid said.
Reid will debut her solo dance-theater performance titled “Rock Paper Scissors” at the Atlas Performing Arts Center as part of her local theatre residency at The REACH at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
The performance will be presented by Reid’s theater company, Soul Shine Theater Garden, and produced by The Welders, a D.C. theater organization and playwrights collective co-led by Reid, Cat Frost, Teshonne Nicole Powell and Jared Shamberger.
According to The Kennedy Center’s website, the local theater residency is a curated developmental residency program for local DMV theater companies and playwrights, that seeks those who leverage their artistry to amplify stories that are often overlooked.
Reid, who has spent most of her life in dance and the creative arts, was first intrigued by the idea of identity exploration through games after watching a spoken word performance that used the popular nursery rhyme “Miss Mary Mack” to talk about bisexuality.
“I was like oh, a game to think about identity, that’s cool. I just kind of thought about it,” Reid said.
At the time, Reid was on the path to figuring out how to co-exist with all the ways in which she identified. Then Reid’s alma mater, the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD), invited her to write and perform a 10-minute play for the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Alumni Commissioning Project.
While brainstorming topics for her play, Reid thought of “Miss Mary Mack” and began to ponder what game she would choose to play as a way to discover and understand herself.
“I was still deeply conflicted about can I be Black? Woman? Bisexual?” Reid says. “I don’t even know if queer was in my world yet. I felt very conflicted.”
Reid ultimately chose “Rock Paper Scissors” as the game that best reflects her story.
“I asked myself which identity would be which element and how I would play this game if I were playing my identities against each other,” Reid said.
Reid first workshopped her “Rock Paper Scissors” play in Brazil in 2018 during a three-week exchange program with the University of Michigan’s Prison Creative Arts Program, Santa Catarina State University in Florianópolis, Brazil and The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
After returning to the U.S. from Brazil, Reid didn’t spend any time working on the play, which she says basically was writing itself.
“I was doing more healing and living and existing. The story was writing itself because the play is about my healing journey. So, I was healing and I was growing and I was expanding so I got ideas directly from what I was going through,” Reid said.
“Rock Paper Scissors” will debut from June 22-25. Tickets can be purchased at the Atlas website starting Feb.13.
Glitterati Productions held the “Studio 69” party at Bunker on Friday, May 8.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
Washington Blade’s Pride on the Pier returns June 13 to kick off D.C. Pride week
Pride on the Pier officially launches Pride Week in D.C.
The Washington Blade’s annual Pride on the Pier celebration returns to The Wharf on Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 4-9 p.m., bringing thousands of LGBTQ community members and allies together for an unforgettable waterfront celebration to kick off Pride week in Washington, D.C.
Now in its eighth year, Washington Blade Pride on the Pier extends the city’s annual celebration of LGBTQ visibility to the bustling Wharf waterfront with an exciting array of activities and entertainment for all ages. The District Pier will offer DJs, dancing, drag, and other entertainment. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase for those 21 and older.
“Pride on the Pier has become one of the signature moments of Pride in D.C.,” said Lynne Brown, publisher of the Washington Blade. “There’s nothing like watching our community come together on the waterfront with live music and incredible energy as we kick off Pride week.”
Pride on the Pier is free and open to the public, with VIP tickets available for exclusive pier access to the Dockmaster Building. To purchase VIP tickets visit www.prideonthepierdc.com/vip.
Additional entertainment announcements, sponsor activations, and event details will be released in the coming weeks.
Event Details:
📍 Location: District Pier at The Wharf (101 District Sq SW, Washington, DC)
📅 Dates: Friday, 13, 2026
⏱️ 4-9PM
🎟️ VIP Tickets: www.PrideOnThePierDC.com/VIP
Theater
National tour of ‘Gatsby’ comes to National Theatre
Out actor Edward Staudenmayer talks playing the show’s gangster
‘The Great Gatsby’
May 12-24
The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
$59-$196
Thenationaldc.com
Often dubbed “The Great American Novel” for its depiction of ambition and self-invention alongside the reversals of success, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” says it all in a fast read.
Set against the excesses and energy of the Roaring Twenties, “The Great Gatsby,” novel and now the same-titled hit Broadway musical with a jazz/pop original score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen, tells the story of Nick Carraway and his friendship with Jay Gatsby, an enigmatic millionaire intent on reuniting with ex-lover, Daisy Buchanan.
It was during a four-month 2025 run in Seoul, South Korea, that out actor Edward Staudenmayer first played the show’s heavy, Meyer Wolfsheim, a gangster who helped Gatsby make his murkily acquired fortune. As Meyer, Staudenmayer opens the second act with, appropriately enough, “Shady.”
Now three months into a year-long North American tour, the show is poised to enjoy a brief run at Washington’s National Theatre (5/12-5/24).
While putting on his eyeliner prior to a recent Wednesday matinee at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre, the upstate New York-based actor shared about Gatsby and a life in theater.
WASHINGTON BLADE: Despite your good looks and terrific voice, you’re rarely the leading the man. How is that?
EDWARD STAUDENMAYER: I’m definitely a character man. I’ve been painting lines on my face to play old men since I was in high school. I was the youngest freshman in college playing old Uncle Sorin [in Chekhov’s “The Seagull”].
There have been many villains. Some darker than others. Meyer Wolfsheim is a very bad guy, but he doesn’t haunt me once I’m offstage. I play a lot of pickleball.
BLADE: Is it true that like so many of Fitzgerald’s characters, Wolfsheim is famously based on someone the writer encountered in life.
STAUDENMEYER: That’s true, Wolfsheim is pretty much a direct portrayal of real-life mobster and 1919 World Series fixer [Arnold Rothstein].
BLADE: When did the 1925 novel first surface on your radar?
STAUDENMAYER: Like many of us, I was assigned “The Great Gatsby” in high school. It was short, and filled with sex and illicit activities. I thought it was great. Definitely wasn’t a Judy Blume novel.
Interestingly, the book wasn’t originally a huge a success for Fitzgerald, but because it was about war and having the girl at home, they gave it to GIs leaving for WWII. After returning, a lot of those guys went on the GI Bill and became English teachers. They assigned the book to their students.
BLADE The idea that the book’s first-person narrator, Nick Carraway, is gay and enamored with Jay Gatsby is long discussed among readers and scholars. Does the musical touch on that?
STAUDENMAYER: Yes, there’s conjecture about Jay and Nick, and it’s implied in our show. It’s also implied about Jordan Baker, Jay’s fleeting romantic interest. Ultimately, she’s a confirmed bachelor, and a professional golfer who only wears pants.
Our performers are really good. Josh Grasso who plays Nick is fantastic. I’ve had to stop watching him in his last scene; it’s not good for Meyer Wolfsheim to take his curtain call crying. Our Gatsby, Jake David Smith, is good too. He’s gorgeous like Superman and sings like an angel.
BLADE: Do you ever imagine backstory for your characters whose sexuality is undefined?
STAUDENMAYER: I do, but not with Wolfsheim. I don’t see it. I’m trying to be as butch as possible with this ruthless killer.
BLADE: Have you had to do that in your career?
STAUDENMAYER: For a long time, I wore a mask to hide my gayness. I worked hard on being believable, that I was into the girl or that I was a tough guy.
It’s a different world now, and it’s so refreshing to be around the younger actors today; they’re remarkably open and comfortable.
BLADE: What was your coming of age like?
STAUDENMAYER: I played high school football in Palm Springs [he chuckles, alluding to the arid gay mecca], and I was pretty good too. But much to the chagrin of my parents and coaches, I quit the team to act in our senior year play. My super butch dad played semi-pro football and he was an ex-cop. I’m named after him. While I didn’t become my dad, I’ve played him often on stage. He was a true Gaston [the bumptious rival in “Beauty and the Beast”]. And like Gaston, he used antlers in all his interior decorating.
BLADE: Did he live to see your success in theater?
STAUDENMAYER: He did. Life was challenging growing up but the last 10 years of his life we couldn’t get off the phone with each other [his voice catches with emotion]. He accepted me entirely, and we became very close.
BLADE: Looking ahead, is there a part you’d especially like to play?
STAUDENMAYER: Like all baritones I’d love to play Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd.” I’ve come close but it hasn’t happened yet. There’s still time.
America’s broken pipeline of mental healthcare for trans youth
GLAA releases ratings for 18 candidates running for D.C. mayor, Council, AG
Blade finalist for D.C. Society of Professional Journalists awards
He is 16 and sitting in a Cuban prison
From the Capitol to the coast: Rep. Sarah McBride shares Rehoboth favorites
Maren Morris to headline Capital Pride Concert
Va. Supreme Court invalidates Democrat-backed redistricting plan
Celebrate Pride in Lost River, a slice of rural heaven
Learn more about queer love
