Arts & Entertainment
Best of Gay D.C. 2016: MEDIA
Blade readers voted for their media favorites
Best Local Blog
Brightest Young Things
Runner-up: DCist
Best Local Podcast
JellyVision
Runner-up: C.L.I.T. by Lezlink
“The JellyVision Show” combines humor with creative entrepreneurship co-hosted by standup comedian Tim Trueheart and Jennifer Crawford, also known as Jelly.
Crawford says she came up for the idea of the podcast in 2010 while running her own creative co-working space. Visual artists, performing artists and writers were coming to work on projects and Crawford was amazed by the level of creativity.
“If you weren’t in the building, you weren’t in the building,” Crawford says. “So I thought if we had a podcast we could expose people who weren’t coming into our building to these people that we were meeting every day. We could interview them and if just a few people tuned in it was a few people who didn’t know these creative entrepreneurs beforehand. It was really just an experiment.”
The experiment turned into a real project once Crawford’s business closed. Saddened, she and Trueheart, with whom she had improvised in a theater troupe for years, decided to keep the podcast going.
Now the podcast is recorded from Crawford’s dining room every Monday with episodes released on most podcast platforms, including iTunes and Google Play, weekly. The podcast now rakes in 5,000-7,000 downloads per month.
Crawford notes the podcast isn’t about how to become a millionaire, but how to live a lifestyle that incorporates doing what you love.
“But we wanted to bring an entertainment value to the table,” Crawford says, “so we throw in some fart jokes along the way.” (Mariah Cooper)
Best Local Twitter Feed
@DCHOMOS
“News, noise, food, sports, art, charity, fashion, TV, film, happy thoughts, all things LGBT+DC.”
(Second consecutive win in this category)
Runner-up: @alexmorash
Best Local TV Personality
Chuck Bell, NBC 4
(2015 runner-up; 2014 winner in this category)
Runner-up: Kidd O’Shea, ABC 7
Best Radio Station
Hot 99.5
“D.C.’s No. 1 hit music station and home of ‘The Kane Show.’”
(Second consecutive win in this category)
Runner-up: WAMU 88.5
To see winners in other categories in the Washington Blade’s Best of Gay D.C. 2016 Awards, click here.
The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, SMYAL and Rainbow Families sponsored Gay Day at the Zoo on Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Smithsonian marked International Family Equality Day with special exhibits and an event space.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering Gay Day at the Zoo for @WashBlade . Here at @NationalZooDC pic.twitter.com/LqgGNOOAiM
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) May 5, 2024
Photos
PHOTOS: Taste of Point
Annual fundraiser held for LGBTQ youth scholarship, mentorship organization
The Point Foundation held its annual Taste of Point fundraiser at Room & Board on May 2.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Theater
Miss Kitty tackles classical mythology in ‘Metamorphoses’
Folger production seen through the lens of the African diaspora
‘Metamorphoses’
May 7-June 16
Folger Theatre
201 East Capitol St., S.E.
$20-$84
Folger.edu
Miss Kitty’s words are thoughtful and measured, occasionally punctuated by flamboyant flourishes and uplifting proclamations. Her tried and tested tagline is “live in fierce not fear.”
She describes herself as “AMAB (assigned male at birth), nonbinary, genderqueer, transfemme” as well as “chanteuse, noble blacktress, and dancer.”
Currently, Miss Kitty is testing her talents in Mary Zimmerman’s “Metamorphoses” at Folger Theatre on Capitol Hill.
At 90 minutes, “Metamorphoses,” is made up of interwoven vignettes from classical mythology including the tales of Midas and his daughter, Alcyone and Ceyx, and Eros and Psyche.
“It’s all stories that relate to the human condition: the follies, the happiness, the love, the loss,” Miss Kitty explains. “And a thorough knowledge of mythology isn’t a requirement for enjoyment.”
The language is contemporary and with its 11-person ensemble cast – comprised exclusively of Black or indigenous people of color – they’re adding their own spin to its present-day feel, she adds.
In Zimmerman’s famously staged premiere production, the actors performed in and around a pool of water. At Folger, director Psalmayene 24 has ditched actual aquatics; instead, he suggests the element by introducing Water Nymph, a new character constructed around Miss Kitty.
Water Nymph doesn’t speak, but she’s very visible from the opening number and throughout the play on stage and popping up in unexpected places around the venue.
“It’s a lot of dancing; I haven’t danced the way Tony Thomas is choreographing me in a very long time. At 40, can she still make theater with just my body as her instrument?
The name “Miss Kitty” was born over a decade ago.
Miss Kitty recalls, “She was still presenting as male and going by her dead name. Someone commented that with the wig she was wearing for a part, she looked like Eartha Kitt whom she deeply admires.”
Her penchant for illeism (referring to oneself in third person) isn’t without good reason. She explains, “It’s to reiterate that however she might look, she’s always there; and if you misgender, she will let you know.”
Initially, the moniker was a drag persona at Capital Pride or the occasional fabulous cabaret performance at a nightclub.
But as time passed, she realized that Miss Kitty was something she couldn’t take off. She had always been a part of her.
“She’s helped me to grow and flourish; she’s given me the strength that I never would have had before. I’m so proud of myself for realizing that before it was too late.”
Bringing Miss Kitty into her theatrical career presented some concerns. Would theater folks be open to the new her, especially those she’d worked with before?
Not always, but she’s found new companies who’ve welcomed Miss Kitty with open arms including Avant Bard, Spooky Action Theater, and now Folger.
Last fall, Miss Kitty appeared in Spooky Action’s Agreste (Drylands), a stunning queer story penned by gay Brazilian playwright Newton Moreno.
After being invited to audition and reading the script, Miss Kitty was determined to be a part of the production.
A work dealing with love and being trans, and transphobia, and how people can turn on a dime once they learn the truth about someone, resonated deeply with the actor.
“The play speaks to the idea that if people just let people be who they are and love who they want to love we’d all be a lot happier,” she says.
For her sublime efforts, Miss Kitty nabbed a Helen Hayes Award nomination in the Outstanding Lead Performer category (winner to be determined on Monday, May 20 during a ceremony at The Anthem).
It’s her first time nominated and first time attending. She’s thrilled.
Miss Kitty grew up in Oxen Hill, Md., and now lives near Washington Harbor. Her entry into performance was through music followed by high school plays. She graduated from Catholic University with a degree in music/concentration in musical theater, and from there dove directly into showbiz.
Looking back, Miss Kitty says, “being a person of color AND queer can be a double whammy of difficulty. You have to live in light and do the things you’re afraid to do. That’s the game changer.”
Presenting “Metamorphoses” through the lens of the African diaspora (the cast also includes Jon Hudson Odom and Billie Krishawn, among others) helps us to realize that every story can be universal, especially for marginalized people — South Asian, Native American, or fully queer perspectives, she says.
“Having an all-Black ensemble opens all new worlds for everyone.”