Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
12 GUERRILLA GARDENER
Paul Harfleet brings attention to homophobic acts
through the gentle grace of a sole flower.
By Randy Shulman
SUPER GEEK
John Barrowman arrives at Awesome Con with a
secret new cosplay and undying love for the sci-fi
and fantasy genre. Turns out, he’s as big a geek
as his most avid fans.
By Kate Wingfield
SPOTLIGHT: SEX, QUEERS, AND VIDEOTAPE p.7 OUT ON THE TOWN p.11
GUERRILLA GARDENER: THE PANSY PROJECT p.12 THE FEED: RALLYING CRY p.16
SCENE: MARCH FOR OUR LIVES p.18 COMMUNITY: BEER WITH YOUR BONNETS p.21
COVER STORY: SUPER GEEK p.26 GAMERS UNITE: DC GAYMERS p.30
SIX CAN’T MISS THINGS AT AWESOME CON p.31 STAGE: THE WINTER’S TALE p.32
STAGE: THE WIZ/TRANSLATIONS p.35 NIGHTLIFE p.37
SCENE: DINNER & DRAG AT SHAW’S TAVERN p.37 LISTINGS p.38
SCENE: RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE PREMIERE AT TRADE p.45 LAST WORD p.46
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Hot Bits is Saturday, March 31, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, April 1, at 7 p.m. at the Creative Alliance at The Patterson,
3134 Eastern Ave. in Baltimore. Tickets are $10 in advance, or $13 at the door, or $18 for a festival pass to both nights.
A dance party — Wet Bits — held at Trip’s Place, 1813 North Charles St., follows the Saturday night screening.
Call 410-276-1651 or visit creativealliance.org.
DONNIE DARKO
The American Film Institute offers the chance to see
Richard Kelly’s daring apocalyptic cult classic on the big
screen. Set in a Virginia suburb in the 1980s, the 2001
coming-of-age sci-fi tale stars Jake Gyllenhaal before he
became a Hollywood leading man. Jake’s sister Maggie also
co-stars, along with Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, and
the late Patrick Swayze. Horror host “Doctor Sarcofiguy”
presents the screening on Saturday, March 31, at 10:30 p.m.
Also Sunday, April 1, at 9 p.m., and Tuesday, April 3, and
Thursday, April 5, at 9:15 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633
Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $10 to $13 gen-
eral admission. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver.
CLAPTONE
One of the bigger names in contemporary dance
music has only been at it for about five years now.
German DJ and producer Claptone has earned rec-
ognition by showing a real commitment to producing
and playing serious, unfiltered house, helping keep
the deep house torch burning, rather than pander to
more mainstream EDM or the watered-down pop or
tropical house variants. Claptone comes to town for
a DJ set sure to include previews of sounds from his
second artist album Fantast, due in June and featur-
ing collaborations with notable indie-dance artists
such as Kele Okereke, Zola Blood, and Clap Your
Hands Say Yeah. Will Eastman opens. Saturday, April
7, starting at 10:30 p.m. U Street Music Hall, 1115A U
St. NW. Tickets are $30. Call 202-588-1880 or visit
ustreetmusichall.com.
Compiled by Doug Rule control of the world’s fate. Although MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER the big screen in Landmark’s West
created in 1964, when the Cuban Labeled an “anti-western” by film- End Cinema Capital Classics weekly
Missile Crisis was fresh on view- maker Robert Altman for ignoring screening series. Wednesday, April
FILM er’s minds, Dr. Strangelove, starring and subverting a number of the 4, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m., 2301 M
Peter Sellers in multiple roles, plus genre’s traditional conventions, St. NW. Happy hour from 4 to 6:30
DR. STRANGELOVE show-stopping performances from Warren Beatty stars as underworld p.m. Tickets are $10 to $12.50. Call
“Heeere’s Kubrick” is a celebration George C. Scott and Slim Pickens, entrepreneur John McCabe. Julie 202-534-1907 or visit landmarkthe-
of the late, legendary filmmaker has even more resonance in today’s Christie is his business and eventual atres.com.
Stanley Kubrick, with select films Trump era. Wednesday, April 4, romantic partner Constance Miller
screening on Wednesdays at both at 7:30 p.m. Angelika Pop-Up at in the 1971 caper, based on Edmund RA XTRA: Q-MASON
area locations of the Angelika Union Market, 550 Penn St. NE. Naughton’s novel McCabe but also A selection of short films from the
movie theater chain. The Shining, Call 800-680-9095 or visit ange- influenced — and including music by Film and Video Studies program at
A Clockwork Orange, and Full Metal likapopup.com. Also at the Angelika — the late Leonard Cohen. (“When I George Mason University featur-
Jacket will follow later in April, but Film Center Mosaic, 2911 District shot the scenes I fitted them to the ing students telling their LGBTQ
the series kicks off with a jet-black Ave., Fairfax, Va. Call 571-512-3301 songs, as if they were written for stories. Rayceen Pendarvis of The
satire that speculates what would or visit angelikafilmcenter.com. them,” Altman wrote in his memoir.) Ask Rayceen Show hosts the eve-
happen if the wrong person was in McCabe and Mrs. Miller returns to ning, ending with a director talk-
GUERRILLA GARDENER
Paul Harfleet brings attention to homophobic acts
STAGE
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET
Co-directed by Signature Theatre’s
Eric Schaeffer, Floyd Mutrux and
through the gentle grace of a single flower. Colin Escott’s hit Broadway musi-
cal Million Dollar Quartet was
T
inspired by the true story of the
HIRTEEN YEARS AGO, PAUL HARFLEET EXPERIENCED THREE DISTINCT ACTS OF time Sam Phillips assembled Elvis
homophobia. “A car drove by and someone called me a ‘fucking faggot,’” he recalls. “Then, Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee
Lewis, and Carl Perkins for a famed
some workmen said, ‘It’s about time we went gay-bashing again, isn’t it?’ when I passed by. recording session. You can expect
Later, I was walking with my then-boyfriend, and we had stones thrown at us.” Harfleet was partic- to hear many of these artists’ hits,
ularly distressed that the incidents occurred in his hometown of Manchester, regarded as one of the which have become standards,
most gay friendly cities in the U.K. from “Hound Dog” to “I Walk The
Line,” from “Great Balls of Fire”
An artist and designer by trade, Harfleet decided to fight back by creating artwork that would to “Blue Suede Shoes.” Saturday,
“raise awareness.” He used roadside memorials as his inspiration. “When you see flowers at the side March 31, at 8 p.m. Music Center at
of the street tied to a lamp post, you know that an accident has happened there,” he says. “It made me Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane,
think if I put a flower in a place, it would do something similar. But I wanted it to be one flower. And it North Bethesda. Tickets are $38
to $88. Call 301-581-5100 or visit
was important to me that the flower was living, because I continued to live through my experiences.” strathmore.org.
Harfleet opted for the pansy — “because of the derogatory term [and] because the flower also
appears to bow its face as if in deep thought” — which he would then photograph and post on his PAPER DOLLS
website, assigning a simple caption that called out whatever act of homophobia was being represented. Five gay Filipino guest workers
care for elderly Orthodox men in
For his Pansy Project, as it’s internationally known, Harfleet has created more than 300 separate Israel by day and headline a drag
installations, including one in which he planted 3,000 of the delicate, colorful flowers to honor a gay show by night. Philip Himberg’s
man beaten to death on the south bank in London. “I planted pansies all the way along the bottom “karaoke musical,” based on
of the trees that were encompassing his last walk from one location to another — an installation that Tomer Heymann’s uplifting and
thought-provoking 2006 doc-
marked his last steps. It was a really sad planting.” umentary, makes its American
During his first Washington visit, as guest of local horticulturalist Justin Kondrat, Harfleet has so premiere kicking off Mosaic
far planted pansies in Logan and Dupont Circles, and at the White House, “to mark Donald Trump’s Theater Company’s 2018 Voices
comment about Mike Pence where he said, ‘Don’t talk to him. He wants to hang them all.’” The From A Changing Middle East
Festival. Mark Brokaw (Rodgers &
44-year-old is also releasing an illustrated children’s book, written in verse, about a youngster who Hammerstein’s Cinderella) directs
responds to being bullied by planting pansies. Pansy Boy ($24.90, Barbican Press) will be available a production with choreogra-
for purchase on April 1 at Amazon. phy by Jeff Michael Rebudal and
Harfleet hasn’t encountered much resistance when planting. “Occasionally I am stopped,” he a cast including Ariel Felix, Kevin
L. Shen, Evan D’Angeles, Rafael
says, “but I’m very careful to do it in places that are publicly owned. I don’t do it in private gardens, or Sebastian, Jon Norman Schneider,
anything. And it’s just one unmarked pansy. They usually are picked, actually, quite soon, so they’re John Bambery, Chris Bloch,
not very visible for very long. It’s guerrilla gardening, but in a very gentle way.” —Randy Shulman Lise Bruneau, Elan Zafir, Brice
Guerriere, Chris Daileader, and
Dallas Milholland. Opens in a Pay-
Paul Harfleet will read from and sign copies of Pansy Boy at Busboys & Poets, 235 Carroll St. NW, What-You-Can Preview Thursday,
March 29. Already extended to
on Tuesday, April 3, from 6-8 p.m. If you’re interested in having Paul plant a pansy to mark April 29. Atlas Performing Arts
an act of homophobia before he leaves, please contact him at thepansyproject.com. Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are
THE PAVILION
Fairfax’s Helen Hayes Award-
winning Hub Theatre celebrates
10 years by reprising its inaugural
production, Craig Wright’s modern
twist on Our Town. Kelsey Mesa
directs Nora Achrati, Matt Bassett,
and Helen R. Murray in a work,
by turns metaphysical and comic, HALSEY
romantic and philosophical, that Listening to Halsey puts you in mind of a distorted fairy tale, a quality that’s reflected
follows a man returning home
for his 20th high school reunion
in her debut album’s title, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. But there’s a lot more to this
in hopes of rekindling things with proudly bisexual ingenue, who ensured that one of the set’s best songs is “Strangers,” a
his childhood sweetheart. Opens duet with fellow bisexual artist Lauren Jauregui of Fifth Harmony on which both sing
in a preview Thursday, March 29. of female lovers. Halsey, of course, first came to fame two years ago as the singer for the
Runs to April 15. The John Swayze
Theatre in the New School of Chainsmokers’ best single, “Don’t Let Me Down.” It’s surprising when you stop and think
Northern Virginia, 9431 Silver King about how quickly she’s risen to the upper echelon of the music industry, first and fore-
Court, Fairfax. Tickets are $22 to most the fact that she’s already headlined a stadium tour, which stopped at Capital One
$32. Visit thehubtheatre.org.
Arena last fall. The New Jersey native returns to the area for what is sure to be a starry
TWO TRAINS RUNNING concert under the stars. Tickets on sale Thursday, March 29, for show Sunday, July 15, at
Eugene Lee plays the owner of a 8 p.m. The Filene Center at Wolf Trap, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. Tickets are $40 to $80.
soon-to-be-demolished diner in a Call 877-WOLFTRAP or visit wolftrap.org.
changing black Pittsburgh neighbor-
hood circa 1969 in this quintessential
epic drama from the late Pulitzer
Prize-winning playwright August
Wilson. Also reprising their roles NSO POPS: BLACK VIOLIN ing the sounds of the circus, the Charlene Kaye and Allen Tate,
from a celebrated Seattle Repertory Steven Reineke leads the National can-can, and elements of early plus trumpet player John Brandon,
Theatre production to Arena Stage’s Symphony Orchestra in a perfor- French and American cinema, The saxophonist Stephen Chen, vio-
theater-in-the-round are Carlton mance featuring the high-energy New Babylon was Shostakovich’s linist Rebekah Durham, drummer
Byrd, William Hall Jr., Reginald compositions combining classical debut film score and launched a Michael Hanf, and guitarists Tyler
Andre Jackson, Nicole Lewis, music with hip-hop beats that has creative partnership that culminat- McDiarmid and Aki Ishiguro. San
Frank Riley III, and David Emerson become known as “classical boom,” ed in 1971’s King Lear. And yet, in Fermin tours in support of its third
Toney. Juliette Carrillo directs this the signature of Florida-based duo part because the film was originally album Belong, which has only got-
Wilsonian masterpiece, showing of violinist Kevin “Kev Marcus” banned for its excess and aesthetic ten better with additional listens
the impact of social change in the Sylvester and viola player Wilner frivolity, the score was only recov- since its release last year. Friday,
lives of everyday people. Opens “Wil B” Baptiste. Wednesday, April ered shortly after Shostakovich’s March 30, at 8 p.m. The Barns at
Friday, March 30. Runs to April 29. 4, and Thursday, April 5, at 8 p.m. death in 1975. Friday, March 30, Wolf Trap, 1635 Trap Road, Vienna.
Fichandler Stage, 1101 6th St. SW. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. at 8:30 p.m., and Saturday, March Tickets are $25 in advance, or $30
Tickets are $50 to $99. Call 202-488- Tickets are $39 to $79. Call 202-467- 31, at 2 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, day-of. Call 877-WOLFTRAP or
3300 or visit arenastage.org. 4600 or visit kennedy-center.org. 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. visit wolftrap.org.
Tickets are $20. Call 301-495-6720
POSTCLASSICAL ENSEMBLE:
MUSIC SHOSTAKOVICH’S THE
or visit postclassical.com.
DANCE
NEW BABYLON SAN FERMIN
ANA MOURA This notably experimental music Named after the famous annual FURIA FLAMENCA
Known as the contemporary voice organization led by conduc- “Running of the Bulls” festival in DANCE COMPANY
of Portugal’s mournful music style tor Angel Gil-Ordoñez presents Pamplona, Spain, the nine-piece Estela Velez de Paredez founded
fado, this passionate, luxuriantly the D.C. area premiere of a score New York band creates eclectic, Furia Flamenca 15 years ago, with
voiced artist blends traditional fado set a 1929 silent film by Grigori eccentric — and sometimes just a focus on combining flamenco’s
with pop and rock, in a style that has Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg. plain weird — chamber pop (or gypsy heritage with modern flamen-
inspired collaborations with Mick Both whimsical and tragic, The New “Baroque pop”) similar to that of co choreography to create an ele-
Jagger and Prince. Wednesday, April Babylon focuses on a forbidden love hipster-darlings Vampire Weekend, gant balance of motion and energy.
4, at 8 p.m. The Barns at Wolf Trap, between a shopgirl and a young as well as Antony and the Johnsons. This weekend, the popular company
1635 Trap Road, Vienna. Tickets are soldier and set during a short-lived Founded and led by composer is featured as part of the free daily
$50 to $60. Call 877-WOLFTRAP or socialist era in 19th century Paris. Ellis Ludwig-Leone, the diverse lineup organized by the National
visit wolftrap.org. An energetic extravaganza merg- group features two lead vocalists, Cherry Blossom Festival and pre-
IN JERUSALEM
principles and motifs. Now to May Sometimes you’re dragging and
28. Japan Information & Culture you just can’t make it to brunch.
Center, Embassy of Japan, 1150 18th And sometimes you want a regular,
St. NW. Ste. 100. Call 202-238-6900 more traditional kind of meal — you
By Nathan Alan Davis or visit us.emb-japan.go.jp/jicc. know, at night, over wine. Well,
these days, you can have just that
Directed by José Carrasquillo IN BLOOM: A PHOTOGRAPHIC with one of D.C.’s leading ladies of
CELEBRATION OF THE CHERRY
Starring Jon Hudson Odom and Joseph Carlson BLOSSOM FESTIVAL
drag. Every Sunday night at Shaw’s
Tavern, Kristina Kelly hosts a show
ABOVE
AND BEYOND
KIROV ACADEMY OF BALLET:
OPEN HOUSE
Founded in 1990, this D.C.-based
dance school, principally focused
on grooming the next generation
of classically trained ballet dancers,
will open its doors the first Saturday
of April to showcase the full range
STAN BAROUH
of classes it offers, for all ages and
skill levels, going beyond classical
ballet to include jazz, contempo-
rary, and historical dance, among
other styles. Staff and teachers will
be on hand to answer questions and
provide information, while visitors
can also watch a group of Kirov EVERY BRILLIANT THING
students rehearsing to compete in Developed with actor Jonny Donohoe, Duncan MacMillan’s unusual one-person play
next month’s Youth America Grand
Prix in New York, the largest inter- pivots on interactions with the audience, collectively examining a child’s reaction to his
national student dance competition. depressed mother’s attempted suicide, and helping build a list of things worth living for.
The Open House ends with guests From the No. 1 item “Ice Cream” to No. #999, “the Alphabet,” Every Brilliant Thing is
choice of taking a free ballet class
or a Zumba class. Saturday, April
said to elicit as much laughter as it does tears in creating its catalog of gratitude. Jason
7, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Academy Loewith directs Alexander Strain in the Olney Theatre Center production. Extended to
Theater, 4301 Harewood Road NE. April 1. Theatre Lab, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md. Call 301-924-3400 or
Call 202-832-1087 or visit kiro- visit olneytheatre.org.
vacademydc.org.
RANDY SHULMAN
RALLYING CRY
The LGBTQ community came out in full force to support last Saturday’s
March for Our Lives. By John Riley
T
HE AIR WAS THICK WITH SILENCE IN PERSHING in 2016 after Florida’s Pulse nightclub shooting claimed 49
Park, as onlookers watched veiled figures, dressed lives, was out in force to help champion the cause.
head-to-toe in white, silently hold up pictures of Chris DeSett, a 24-year-old D.C. resident who hails from
those killed by gun violence. One by one, they formed a line Overland Park, Kansas, says he first began paying attention
and stared down into the semi-subterranean cement pit on to the issue of gun control in 2014 following at shooting at a
the park’s western edge, where a crowd of onlookers had local Jewish community center. “It wasn’t an AR-15 that was
gathered. used, but it still hit close to home,” he says. “And two years
Below, poster boards bearing the photographs and names ago, the Pulse shooting really hit home for me, as a gay man,
of other victims were interspersed between pink and neon that something similar could have happened at Town, at
orange signs declaring “Congress wants guns everywhere: Nellie’s, or at Cobalt, had the circumstance been different.”
Not in My School,” and iterations such as “Not on My Bus,” DeSett believes Congress should pass legislation calling
“Not in My Nightclub,” “Not in My Playground,” and “Not for universal background checks for gun buyers, and restor-
in My State.” ing the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that existed from 1994
The veiled figures were part of “Human Beings,” a to 2004, which was effective in curbing the incidence and
demonstration carried out by gun violence prevention group frequency of mass shootings, even if it failed to stop gun
Gays Against Guns (GAG), which had come to put its own violence outright.
spin on last Saturday’s March for Our Lives, which took “I don’t want anyone to feel they are living in an unsafe
place in Washington and dozens of other cities around the environment, where they have to look over their shoulder
country. all the time, worrying that someone — a former classmate,
“We formed Gays Against Guns after the Pulse nightclub an ex, a stranger — will come into their school, their home
shooting,” says John Murphy, a 58-year-old GAG volunteer with an AR-15 or some other weapon of war, and just kill
visiting from New York. “We are an organization fighting scores of people.”
for stronger gun legislation, and to defund the NRA and the Many at the march dismissed a recent proposal —
cycle of death that they perpetuate.” advanced by President Trump, the NRA, and Republican
March for Our Lives was designed to protest political politicians — to arm teachers as a way of preventing mass
inaction on gun reform measures, following several recent shootings in schools.
mass shootings, including one that claimed 17 lives at “I’m not against the idea of having a school security
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. officer who’s armed, but teachers did not become teachers
The rally, notable for being better organized and less cha- because they wanted to become armed disciplinarians,”
otic 2017 Women’s March, drew an estimated half a million says Adam Holzsager, a 49-year-old District resident. “They
people to Pennsylvania Avenue. Spanning twelve city blocks, became teachers because they wanted to do good things, and
the crowd was filled with people from all walks of life eager wanted to help educate our youth, and they should be able to
to push for change — whether lowering the influence of the do that without having to bring guns into their classrooms.”
NRA, or fighting to get politicians to take steps towards sen- Even if some advocated for an assault weapons bans,
sible gun reform. The LGBTQ community, which was rocked few called for an outright repeal of the Second Amendment.
Weekly Events
WARD MORRISON / FILE PHOTO
ANDROMEDA
TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH
offers free HIV testing and HIV
services (by appointment). 9
a.m.-5 p.m. Decatur Center,
1400 Decatur St. NW. To
arrange an appointment, call
202-291-4707, or visit androm-
Freddie (R) edatransculturalhealth.org.
W
welcomes runners of all ability
HEN IT COMES TO BEING FASHIONABLE ON EASTER SUNDAY, IT’S levels for exercise in a fun and
supportive environment, with
all about the hair, hats, and accessories. And don’t just take our word for it: socializing afterward. Route
Three LGBTQ bars will be handing out cash and drinks prizes to those with distance is 3-6 miles. Meet at
the biggest and brightest Easter bonnets. 7 p.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW.
The bonnet bonanza kicks off at Freddie’s Beach Bar, which will hold its Easter For more information, visit
dcfrontrunners.org.
Bonnet Contest during Sunday brunch, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A panel of judges will
survey the bonnets throughout brunch and the winner will receive $100 in cash, with DC LAMBDA SQUARES, D.C.’s
second place earning $50 and third a Sunday Champagne Brunch for two. gay and lesbian square-dancing
group, features mainstream
“We’ve had some creative bonnets over the years,” says owner Freddie Lutz, who through advanced square
will be wearing his signature “over-the-top...big purple hat.” dancing at the National City
At 5 p.m. on Sunday, the Baltimore Eagle will hold its second annual contest, and Christian Church. Please dress
co-owner Chuck King is excited, considering how successful last year’s was. The casually. 7-9:30 p.m. 5 Thomas
Circle NW. 202-930-1058,
Eagle’s winner will receive $150 in cash and prizes, and the contest will be followed dclambdasquares.org.
by an Adult Easter Egg scavenger hunt, with prizes ranging from candies to gift certif-
icates to bar tabs, to specially-sized packets of condoms and lube. “Everyone gathers DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds
practice. The team is always
on first floor and we line them up and say ‘Go!’ and it’s pretty much like a herd of ele- looking for new members. All
phants running up the stairs,” says King. welcome. 7:30-9:30 p.m. King
Back in D.C., JR.’s annual bonnet contest starts promptly at 7 p.m., with the winner Greenleaf Recreation Center,
netting a $200 cash prize, and manager Dave Perruzza expects the winning bonnet 201 N St. SW. For more infor-
mation, visit scandalsrfc.org or
will, as usual, be highly elaborate, though he asks people avoid overtly political themes dcscandals@gmail.com.
in this year’s contest.
“Last year, there was a lot of anti-Trump stuff,” he says. “But we ask people to try THE DULLES TRIANGLES
Northern Virginia social
to keep politics out of it, and have more fun this year.” —John Riley group meets for happy hour at
Sheraton in Reston. All wel-
Freddie’s Easter Bonnet Contest is on Sunday, April 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. come. 7-9 p.m. 11810 Sunrise
Valley Drive, second-floor bar.
at Freddie’s Beach Bar, 555 23rd St. S, Arlington, Va. For more information, For more information, visit
visit freddiesbeachbar.com. dullestriangles.com.
THE GAY MEN’S HEALTH The Capital Area Gay & Lesbian
COLLABORATIVE offers free Chamber of Commerce hosts
HIV testing and STI screening the 10th anniversary celebra-
and treatment every Tuesday. tion of the annual LGBT MEGA
5-6:30 p.m. Rainbow Tuesday NETWORKING AND SOCIAL
LGBT Clinic, Alexandria Health EVENT. The event connects thou-
Department, 4480 King St. 703- sands of LGBTQ and allied pro-
746-4986 or text 571-214-9617. fessionals who come to socialize,
james.leslie@inova.org. make employment connections,
and strengthen their networks.
OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS The event is open to the public,
holds an LGBT-focused meet- but pre-registration is recom-
ing every Tuesday, 7 p.m. at St. mended. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Town
George’s Episcopal Church, 915 Danceboutique, 2009 8th St.
Oakland Ave., Arlington, just steps NW. For more information, visit
from Virginia Square Metro. For caglcc.org.
more info. call Dick, 703-521-
1999. Handicapped accessible. The TOM DAVOREN SOCIAL
Newcomers welcome. liveandletli- BRIDGE CLUB meets for Social
veoa@gmail.com. Bridge at the Dignity Center, across
from the Marine Barracks. No
US HELPING US hosts a support partner needed. 7:30 p.m. 721 8th
group for black gay men 40 and St. SE. Call 301-345-1571 for more
older. 7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. information. l
NW. 202-446-1100.
EEK
“There’s an element of me wanting people to know what’s
going on, because I’m doing the things I’m doing because
of them, if that makes sense,” Barrowman says. “Scott and I
ordered a Tesla, and when we were there I posted online, let-
ting the fans know, ‘What color should I choose?’ And we chose
Tardis Blue. I just feel it’s the thing to do. I do it for fun. I do it
because I love being silly, I love having a laugh, and I feel that
everybody should laugh more in their lives.”
A self-proclaimed fanboy, Barrowman readily expresses his
love for the genre-driven pop culture that’s propelled his fame.
And he’s extending his reach as the co-author, with his sister
Carole, of the Hollow Earth series of young adult fantasy novels,
in addition to a spinoff book series starting with 2016’s Conjuror.
Both Barrowman siblings will be on hand this week at the
Washington Convention Center for Awesome Con, the District’s
annual celebration of all things comic book, sci-fi, superhero,
fantasy, and pop culture. Appearing alongside stars including
Star Wars and Pacific Rim’s John Boyega and Green Arrow him-
self Stephen Amell, Barrowman is well-known for bringing his
no-holds-barred personality to the convention stage, and to his
convention cosplay.
In every facet, Barrowman exudes a passion for entertaining,
the mark of a man who also seems to take living life seriously.
“I’d advise you to get your nerd on. I’d advise you to bring out every superhero/genre/thing you loved
as a kid. I’d advise you to be prepared to not be judged or looked at in a strange way, because
EVERYBODY IN THAT BUILDING IS THERE TO HAVE FUN.”
seems to have brought us closer together. We’re hosting our BARROWMAN: No, not really. I don’t really say there’s any restric-
second writers’ workshop in Palm Springs. We’re starting to do tions. My sister knows everything about me. We used to joke
them every year, and we have about 16, 17 people that come. We when we were doing the autobiography, because I would talk
have really developed that. At the website BarrowmanBooks, everything into my iPhone and send her the voice notes, and also
you can go and see everything that we’re doing and you can be when she came to live with my husband, Scott, and I for three
involved on that website. months in the U.K., and went to work with me, did everything
MW: Do you two maintain any rules for keeping family and work with me. She’d get to know bits and bobs that maybe she didn’t
separate? really wanna hear, but we called those the “Ewww” moments.
John Barrowman Panels Klementieff, and Sean Gunn from to LGBTQ creators. Awesome Con
The Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, will also host more than a dozen
Arrow star will be signing autographs Stephen Amell from Arrow, Cress LGBTQ panels, including “Star Trek
and appearing for photo ops through- Williams from Black Lightning, Tom Discovery & A New Era of Diversity”
out the weekend at Booth 34 in the Welling from Smallville, Ben Savage on Friday, from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m.,
Exhibit Hall. He will also appear on the from Boy Meets World, and Charisma “Creating Inclusive Gaming Spaces”
Legendary Comics panel on Saturday, Carpenter from Buffy the Vampire on Saturday, from 11:30 to 12:15 p.m.,
March 31, at noon, and for a solo Q&A Slayer. Visit Awesome-con.com for and “Let’s Be Wonder Women,” on
on the Main Stage at 4:15 p.m. schedules and pricing. Saturday, from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m.
Autograph Signings Pride Alley The Awesome Con exhibit hall, at the Walter
This year’s “featured guests” (who Co-presented by Geeks Out, cura- E. Washington Convention Center (801 Mt.
Vernon Pl. NW) is open Friday from noon
you typically have to pay extra to tors of New York’s LGBTQ-themed to 8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
meet) include Boyega, Barrowman, convention Flame Con, Pride Alley is and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit
Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Pom a full section dedicated exclusively Awesome-con.com.
Gamers United!
The DC Gaymers will hold two LGBTQ
socials during Awesome Con weekend.
IDEO GAMES AND COMIC BOOKS HAVE long a couple of rounds of Gaymer Jeopardy, to keep it light-
DC Gaymers’ “Queer Gaymer Meetup” at Awesome Con is Friday, March 30 from 5:20 to 7:15 p.m.
at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mt. Vernon Pl. NW.
Regular admission fees to Awesome Con apply.
Snikt: A Queer Geek Dance Party is Friday, March 30 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
at the Dew Drop Inn, 2801 8th St. NE. Admission is free of charge. For more information on either event,
visit awesome-con.com or facebook.com/DCGaymers.
Cold Brew
Winter’s Tale is hardly an easy play to
make sense of. The mood veers from trag-
ic to comic and back again, with moments
of drama that go from zero-to-sixty with-
Folger’s The Winter’s Tale is a clever, fun, emotionally out much rhyme or reason. A prime exam-
intimate production. By Kate Wingfield ple is King Leontes who, in the first few
scenes, accelerates from benign cocktail
T
host to jealous husband and then utterly
HE FOLGER WORKS ITS ALCHEMY AGAIN WITH THE WINTER’S TALE ruthless king — all in record time, and
(HHHHH), Shakespeare’s weird and wonderful yarn of a jealous king who gets without any real backstory. If there is no
his comeuppance, but also his redemption. It’s a clever, fun, and emotionally way of avoiding this, much is answered
intimate production, and, as is so often the case with the best of Folger, the vibe feels with some thoughtful choices for the
as if a tight-knit troupe of travelling players pitched up on a winter’s eve to offer a delusional king. By internalizing the man,
well-loved entertainment. There is humor, pathos, and a charming musical score — all Michael Tisdale evokes a psyche more
delivered with a metaphorical twinkle in the eye. neurotic than despotic, his fears and anger
At the heart of this beautifully curated warmth and familiarity is the ever-charis- coming from a deeper place of agitation
matic Eric Hissom, setting the tone as the Storyteller and buoying the mood in key and self-doubt. It goes a long way toward
supporting roles as Camillo and Antigonus (and a few others). Delivering it with a wry, convincing and it helps explain his accel-
low-key irony, Hissom is a crackling kind of presence — at once inviting and reassuring, erating ability to trap his own thinking.
but always also suggesting a tiny bit of challenge. You may laugh, his wide eyes seem to Delivering the lion’s share of the emo-
say, but are you sure who you should be laughing at? tional goods here — and making up for
Inviting Hissom’s innate skills as ringmaster, director Aaron Posner spins his own the dearth in Leontes’ rationale — is a
magic in balancing a pleasingly energetic pace with interludes that seem to stop time fabulously convincing Katie deBuys as his
with their loving attention to human emotion. Just as with his Folger production of A wife Hermione, whom Leontes believes is
Midsummer’s Night Dream, Posner is so confident in his vision, he makes room for all deceiving him with his friend, Polixenes.
kinds of invention: the characters feel fresh, the humor irreverent, and the forays into Hers is the tragedy that runs like a dark
anger, angst, betrayal, and, especially, fun, ring true because they are played with a current beneath the fun and frippery of the
21st century immediacy. It’s an approach Posner acknowledges in his director’s notes, play and deBuys doesn’t have much air-
lauding his actors for digging deep into the process, praising their innovations, hinting time to deliver the goods. But as she faces
at how much of themselves they bring to the roles. The tears are real. the dungeon and the loss of her newborn
To April 22 at the Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol St. SE. Tickets are $35-$79.
Call 202-544-7077 or visit folger.edu.
S
ON
TI
L
RN Y
EY
TO D B
A
DI BY
TR
Sweet Surrender
homestead of Dorothy’s Uncle Henry
(Jaysen Wright) and Aunt Em (Monique
Midgett).
Steadily unfurling unruly reams of
Ford’s The Wiz sends Dorothy on a funky, fabulous trip to Oz, while black cloth around the ascending, tee-
Studio’s Translations comes off a wee bit stiff. By André Hereford tering façade of the Kansas farmhouse,
Tornado and her windy minions blow
F
Dorothy, sans Toto in this iteration, all
RIENDS OF DOROTHY, BOTH YOUNG AND YOUNG AT HEART, SHOULD the way to Oz. There, she encounters
find plenty to love in the Ford’s Theatre’s The Wiz ( ). And “plenty” is tap-dancing munchkins, good and wick-
the operative word for director Kent Gash’s smile-inducing production, which ed witches, flying monkeys, and she
amps up the camp fabulousness of the classic ’70s “super soul musical” journey to L. comes by the friendly companionship of
Frank Baum’s wonderful world of Oz. Scarecrow (Hasani Allen), the Tinman
Featuring beloved music and lyrics by Charles Small, a book by William F. Brown, (Kevin McAllister), and the Cowardly
and one glorious number composed by then-rising talent Luther Vandross, this African- Lion (Christopher Michael Richardson).
American spin on Dorothy’s adventures in Oz was plentiful long before Gash’s twister Following the advice of Addaperle,
blew through Ford’s. Yet, his staging expands the show’s varied palette of gospel, jazz, Good Witch of the North (Midgett, again),
funk, and soul-infused Americana by adding a glossy layer of queer-friendly attitude. Dorothy and friends shuffle along the
Oz seems so full of fun, fantasy, and friendship, it’s a wonder Dorothy, well-played Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City to
here by Ines Nassara, would ever want to leave. Once the innocent farmgirl from seek help and guidance from the great and
Kansas has vanquished her foes and learned to stay away from the poppies, what’s to powerful Wiz (Jobari Parker-Namdar).
keep her from just dropping the folks back home a line, and telling them to come visit Gathered along the velvet rope out-
for Christmas or Mother’s Day sometime. Isn’t that what a lot of Dorothy’s friends do side the Wiz’s chambers, the crowd looks
after they’ve discovered life in their own version of Oz? dressed for a night out at Studio 54, appro-
A gay cornucopia of music and fashion, this Wiz might allow Baum’s original story priate for a show that feels like a party
and themes to slip somewhat through the cracks of the dancefloor. The tale’s rougher from beginning to end. The host doing the
edges of abandonment and anxiety have been smoothed over by a pithy comic sensibil- most, the almighty Wiz appears as a pur-
ity ready to drop hip references to Siri and Wakanda. But what this rendering loses of ple trench coat-wearing, self-hyping amal-
the standard “no place like home” moral is compensated for by an affecting sincerity in gam of Prince, Rick James, and MJ that’ll
the heroes’ pursuits of brains, heart, courage, and family. fly, literally, over some kids’ heads, but is
That genuine warmth is matched by a lustrous showmanship that keeps the sure to coax chuckles from their parents.
comedy buoyant and the songs humming. The spectacle takes off with the story’s Less inclined to coaxing, Christopher
famous twister, depicted as the whirling Tornado (DeMoya Watson Brown) lead- Michael Richardson outright snatches
Translations runs to April 22, at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St., NW. Tickets are $20 to $69. Call 202-332-3300, or visit studiotheatre.org.
The Wiz runs to May 12 at Ford’s Theatre, 511 Tenth St. NW. Tickets are $20 to $73. Call 888-616-0270, or visit fords.org.
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