Arts & Entertainment
Behind the scenes at the Emmys
Alan Cumming ‘very happy’ this year’s ceremony was so LGBTQ-inclusive
At the Creative Arts Emmy awards last weekend, actor/LGBTQ activist Alan Cumming won the award for Outstanding Host of a Reality Series for the much-loved Peacock series, “The Traitors.” While at the Primetime Emmys on Sunday night, the series also won for Outstanding Competition Series.
Thanking the audience, Cumming said: “We are so grateful because we are a new show, and you guys, when you like something, you tend to stick to it, which is a good quality, so we appreciate it all the more.”
During Emmys night, Cumming wore a Trans Pride pin on the lapel of his jacket, which featured the colors of the transgender Pride flag–blue, pink and white. Attached to the ribbon was a medal, which read, “For Military Merit.”
Speaking to him Saturday at the GBK Brand Bar event, Cumming said he was “very happy” the Emmys were so very LGBTQ-friendly this year.
“There are lots and lots of queer people being celebrated, and that is a very positive thing,” Cumming told the Los Angeles Blade. “Especially because we are at a time in America’s history where queer people are under threat and there is a lot of violence around. So I think it’s very beautiful that the entertainment industry is showing their love and support for us.”
There were many stylish LGBTQ couples on the Emmys red carpet. Caroline Joyner, who is the director and co-head of inclusion at William Morris, was with Brittani Nichols, a writer and producer for “Abbott Elementary,” which was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series this year. Looking lovely as well was Sarah Paulson, who was right by Emmy nominee Holland Taylor’s side. Singer Jessica Betts accompanied her wife, Niecy Nash-Betts, who was part of a fun segment about television cops.
Other well dressed celebrities were queer actor Devery Jacobs, who stars in “Reservation Dogs,” which was up for Best Comedy; Ayo Edebiri, nominated for “The Bear,” Kirsten Kish was nominated for “Top Chef” and Kali Reis, who was nominated for acting in “True Detective: Night Country.”
LGBTQ “Baby Reindeer” stars Jessica Gunning — nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series — and Richard Gadd, who also wrote/created the series, both received accolades for their fascinating Netflix series, which won four Emmys.
“This is the stuff of dreams,” Gadd said after winning his first Emmy in writing, as well as outstanding limited or anthology series and lead actor.
In the pressroom, Gunning complimented Gadd’s writing, saying that her character was “so unique and unusual” in the dialogue she read. “It was all really there in the script for me and I just connected with her. I never saw her as a villain. I saw her as a kind of a complicated, lonely character, as was Richard’s character Donny. It was all there in the work. I was just very lucky to be able to play the part.”
Gunning said that she was unable to put the script down once she received it.
“I read all the seven episodes in one go and I just kind of fell in love with the story and the writing and the character of Martha,” she noted. “When we were filming, I just was so proud of Richard and this story. And so when we made it, I think we just all thought it was gonna be this kind of indie slow-burning hit that people might watch.”
Trans Latina “Baby Reindeer” actress Nava Mau was also nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie category, making her the fourth trans person nominated at the award show and the first in the category.
“I think that what we’ve been fighting for as a community is to be able to tell stories that come from the heart and that are based from a human foundation,” Mau told “Live from E!” host Laverne Cox, who was the first trans actress to be nominated for an Emmy. “Because that’s who we are as trans people, we are humans first and foremost.”
Among the numerous other LGBTQ talent present during television’s biggest night were queer and Indigenous nominees Lily Gladstone and Reis, both of whom were nominated for “Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie.” This was the first time Native women have ever been nominated.
Around town
Publicist Tad Hamilton handles both the GBK Brand Bar and Affinity Nightlife’s “Dream in Gold” Post Awards Gala.
“As a publicist working in the entertainment industry with some of the industry’s top talent and events, we are always excited to include, and work with, the LGBTQIA+ community. Diversity and Inclusion is a core principle of Mosaic PR and this year’s GBK & MEND Television Awards Luxury Lounge and Affinity Nightlife’s ‘Dream in Gold’ Post Awards Gala is no exception. Both events had some of the most recognizable LGBTQIA+ stars in attendance.”
Hollywood hairstylist Erick Orellana loved seeing classic Hollywood glam all over the red carpet this year, with hairstyles ranging from “soft Veronica Lake waves to the side” to “vixen starlet looks” with blowouts that complement almost anyone with long hair.
“It was nice to see a beautiful homage to old Hollywood glamor and beauty as we are transitioning out of beach waves or to done up hairstyles,” he noted.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
It’s been a year filled with drama and music, re-imaginings and new works. There was a lot on offer in 2025, and much to enjoy. Here are 10 now-closed productions that come to mind.
On Valentine’s Day at Folger Theatre on Capitol Hill, out actor Holly Twyford served as narrator for “The Love Birds” a Folger Consort work that melds medieval music with a world-premiere composition by acclaimed composer Juri Seo and readings from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “A Parlement of Foules”
Standing behind a podium, Twyford beautifully read Chaucer’s words (translated from Middle English and backed by projected slides in the original language), alternating with music played on old and new instruments.
While Mosaic Theater’s “A Case for the Existence of God,” closed in mid-December, it’s proving a production not soon forgotten. Precisely staged by Danilo Gambini, and impressively acted by Lee Orsorio and Jaysen Wright, the soul-searching two hander by out playwright Samuel D. Hunter, tells the story of two men who form an unlikely friendship based on single-fatherhood, a specific sadness, and hope.
The action unfolds in a small office in southern Idaho, where the pair discuss the perplexing terms of a mortgage loan while delving deep into their lives and backgrounds. Nothing is left off the table.
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s spring production of “Uncle Vanya” gave audiences something both fresh yet enduring. Staged by STC’s artistic director Simon Godwin, the production put an impeccably pleasing twist on Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s classic. It ranks among the very best area productions of the year.
Featuring a topnotch cast led by Hugh Bonneville (TV’s “Downton Abbey”) in the title role, the play was set on an unfinished stage cluttered with costume racks and assorted props, all assembled by crew uniformed in black and actors in street clothes. Throughout the drama tinged with comedy, the actors continued to assist with ever increasingly period set changes accompanied by an underscore of melancholic cello strings. It was innovative and wonderful.
GALA Hispanic Theatre’s production of Manuel Puig’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” was an intimate and affecting piece of theater. Staged by José Luis Arellano, it starred out actors Rodrigo Pedreira and Martín Ruiz as two very different men whose paths cross as convicts in an Argentine prison.
Arena Stage scored with a re-imagined and updated take on the widely liked musical “Damn Yankees.” Directed by Sergio Trujillo, the Broadway bound production has been “gently re-tooled for its first major revival in the 21st century,” moving the action from the struggling Washington Senators baseball team to the turn-of-the-century Yankees lineup. Ana Villafañe’s charmingly seductive Lola and a chorus of fit ball players made for a good time.
Also at Arena, out playwright Reggie D. White’s new work “Fremont Ave.” was very well received. A semi-autobiographical glimpse into home and the many definitions of that idea specifically relating to three generations of Black men, the work boasts a third act with a deeply queer storyline to boot.
Before his smash hit “Hamilton” transformed Broadway, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote “In the Heights,” a seminal musical set against the vicissitudes of an upper Manhattan bodega. Infused with hip-hop, rap, and pop ballads, the romance/dramedy takes place over a lively few days in the vibrant, close-knit Latin neighborhood, Washington Heights.
Signature Theatre’s exciting take on “In the Heights” featured a talented cast including out actor Ángel Lozado as the bodega owner who figures prominently in the barrio and the action.
Studio Theatre’s recent production of lesbian playwright Paula Vogel’s newest work “The Mother Play,” a drama with humor, is about a well put together alcoholic mother and her two gay children living under difficult circumstances in the less glitzy parts of suburban Maryland. With nuanced performances and smart direction, the production was terrific.
Keegan Theatre surpassed expectations with its production of “Lizzie” a punk rock opera about Miss Borden, the fabled axe wielding title character. Performed by a super all-female cast, they belted a score that hits hard on subjects like money, queerness, and strained (to say the least) family relationships.
Round House Theatre impressed autumn audiences with “The Inheritance,” a two-part drama sensitively staged by out director Tom Story and acted by a mostly queer cast that included young actor Jordi Bertrán Ramírez in a breakout performance.
Penned by out playwright Matthew López, the epic work inspired by E.M. Forster’s novel “Howards End,” explores themes of love, legacy, and the AIDS crisis through the lives of three generations of gay men in New York City.
Prior to opening, Story commented that with the production’s predominately queer cast you get actors who “really understand the situation, the humor, and the struggle. It works well.” And he was right.
This past year, you’ve often had to make do.
Saving money here, resources there, being inventive and innovative. It’s a talent you’ve honed, but isn’t it time to have the best? Yep, so grab these Ten Best of 2025 books for your new year pleasures.
Nonfiction
Health care is on everyone’s mind now, and “A Living: Working-Class Americans Talk to Their Doctor” by Michael D. Stein, M.D. (Melville House, $26.99) lets you peek into health care from the point of view of a doctor who treats “front-line workers” and those who experience poverty and homelessness. It’s shocking, an eye-opening book, a skinny, quick-to-read one that needs to be read now.
If you’ve been doing eldercare or caring for any loved one, then “How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir” by Molly Jong-Fast (Viking, $28) needs to be in your plans for the coming year. It’s a memoir, but also a biography of Jong-Fast’s mother, Erica Jong, and the story of love, illness, and living through the chaos of serious disease with humor and grace. You’ll like this book especially if you were a fan of the author’s late mother.
Another memoir you can’t miss this year is “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: A Veteran’s Memoir” by Khadijah Queen (Legacy Lit, $30.00). It’s the story of one woman’s determination to get out of poverty and get an education, and to keep her head above water while she goes below water by joining the U.S. Navy. This is a story that will keep you glued to your seat, all the way through.
Self-improvement is something you might think about tackling in the new year, and “Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy” by Mary Roach (W.W. Norton & Company, $28.99) is a lighthearted – yet real and informative – look at the things inside and outside your body that can be replaced or changed. New nose job? Transplant, new dental work? Learn how you can become the Bionic Person in real life, and laugh while you’re doing it.
The science lover inside you will want to read “The Grave Robber: The Biggest Stolen Artifacts Case in FBI History and the Bureau’s Quest to Set Things Right” by Tim Carpenter (Harper Horizon, $29.99). A history lover will also want it, as will anyone with a craving for true crime, memoir, FBI procedural books, and travel books. It’s the story of a man who spent his life stealing objects from graves around the world, and an FBI agent’s obsession with securing the objects and returning them. It’s a fascinating read, with just a little bit of gruesome thrown in for fun.
Fiction
Speaking of a little bit of scariness, “Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie” by James Lee Burke (Atlantic Monthly Press, $28) is the story of a girl named Bessie and her involvement with a cloven-hooved being who dogs her all her life. Set in still-wild south Texas, it’s a little bit western, part paranormal, and completely full of enjoyment.
“Evensong” by Stewart O’Nan (Atlantic Monthly Press, $28) is a layered novel of women’s friendships as they age together and support one another. The characters are warm and funny, there are a few times when your heart will sit in your throat, and you won’t be sorry you read it. It’s just plain irresistible.
If you need a dark tale for what’s left of a dark winter season, then “One of Us” by Dan Chaon (Henry Holt, $28), it it. It’s the story of twins who become orphaned when their Mama dies, ending up with a man who owns a traveling freak show, and who promises to care for them. But they can’t ever forget that a nefarious con man is looking for them; those kids can talk to one another without saying a word, and he’s going to make lots of money off them. This is a sharp, clever novel that fans of the “circus” genre shouldn’t miss.
“When the Harvest Comes” by Denne Michele Norris (Random House, $28) is a wonderful romance, a boy-meets-boy with a little spice and a lot of strife. Davis loves Everett but as their wedding day draws near, doubts begin to creep in. There’s homophobia on both sides of their families, and no small amount of racism. Beware that there’s some light explicitness in this book, but if you love a good love story, you’ll love this.
Another layered tale you’ll enjoy is “The Elements” by John Boyne (Henry Holt, $29.99), a twisty bunch of short stories that connect in a series of arcs that begin on an island near Dublin. It’s about love, death, revenge, and horror, a little like The Twilight Zone, but without the paranormal. You won’t want to put down, so be warned.
If you need more ideas, head to your local library or bookstore and ask the staff there for their favorite reads of 2025. They’ll fill your book bag and your new year with goodness.
Season’s readings!
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