MetroWeekly’s Holiday Gift Guide

Visit the Holiday Gift Guide online at MetroWeekly.com/GiftGuide

 MetroWeekly’s Holiday Gift Guide

Visit the Holiday Gift Guide online at MetroWeekly.com/GiftGuide

 CONTENTS
DECEMBER 6, 2018 Volume 25 Issue 30

16 SINGING IN THE HOLIDAYS

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington’s annual
Holiday Show is one of D.C.’s most joyful traditions.

By Randy Shulman

ROSEN’S TURN
Arena Stage’s Indecent marks acclaimed director Eric Rosen’s
return as an influential champion of LGBTQ theater.

Interview by Doug Rule

Photography by Todd Franson
26
35 EAT THE RICH
Shakespeare Theatre’s An Inspector Calls is visually
stunning, but loses details in its to-the-rafters delivery.

SPOTLIGHT: RUPAUL’S HOLI-SLAY SPECTACULAR p.9 OUT ON THE TOWN p.12

By Kate Wingfield

TRAINS, TREES AND TRIMMINGS: U.S. BOTANIC GARDEN p.14

SINGING IN THE HOLIDAYS: GMCW’S HOLIDAY SHOW p.16
COMMUNITY: GLOE’S NEW TRADITIONS p.21
SCENE: WHITMAN WALKER’S WALK & 5K TO END HIV p.25
COVER STORY: ERIC ROSEN p.26 STAGE: INDECENT p.33
STAGE: HOW TO KEEP AN ALIEN p.34 STAGE: AN INSPECTOR CALLS p.35
MUSIC: DUMPLIN’ p.37 NIGHTLIFE p.38 SCENE: THE RED PARTY p.39 LISTINGS p.40
LAST WORD p.46
Real LGBTQ News and Entertainment since 1994
Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Online Editor at metroweekly.com Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley
Contributing Editors André Hereford, Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrator Scott G. Brooks
Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, Troy Petenbrink, Bailey Vogt, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim
Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla
Patron Saint Sholem Asch Cover Photography Todd Franson

Metro Weekly 1775 I St. NW, Suite 1150 Washington, DC 20006 202-638-6830
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© 2018 Jansi LLC.

6 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 Spotlight
RuPaul’s Drag Race Holi-Slay Spectacular
N
OW’S THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN ENTERPRISING
queens who aren’t Mariah Carey go to sleep dream-
ing of their own money-minting holiday tradition. Of
course, RuPaul and the elves at World of Wonder love to make
dreams come true, so this year they’re dropping their first — and
likely not the last — RuPaul’s Drag Race Holi-Slay Spectacular.
Eight of the most memorable Drag Race contestants return to the
workroom for a special one-off competition, vying for the crown
of America’s first Drag Race Christmas Queen.
The workroom and main stage are decked in holiday cheer
for a loopy musical-comedy variety special that’s heavy on the
festive cheese and light on cutthroat competition. Sure, a few of
the queens snap to the camera about snatching that crown, but
the spirit of joy and love is what prevails here.
The queens are there to kiki, perform, and have fun, while
ogling the dancing go-go boy reindeer. Even Mother Ru busts
some moves in a funky main stage dance number choreographed
Rupaul’s Drag Race Holi-Slay Spectacular airs Friday, December 7 at 8 p.m. on VH1, and in multiple repeat airings thereafter.
by competition judge Todrick Hall. Michelle Visage joins in the
shenanigans with a lip-sync to a track off RuPaul’s Christmas
album, and Ross Matthews throws in a handful of unfunny guest
appearances as a Christmas elf.
The guests that make this special truly worth spiking your
eggnog and sitting down to watch are the returning queens, and
dedicated Drag Race fans already know the all-stars who’ll show
up for the festivities. There are giant gift-wrapped boxes strewn
about the set, so Shangela’s definitely popping in, as are All-
Stars 3 winner Trixie Mattel and perennial Drag Race favorite
Latrice Royale.
They and the other contestants all bring it for the “non-de-
nominational Christmas Eleganza”-themed runway, and, despite
a few lame lip-syncs, the show’s joyous bubble never bursts. Best
of all, RuPaul stuffs a few surprises in her stockings that might
keep the fans buzzing about who’ll be next year’s Christmas
Queen. —André Hereford
DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 9
 Spotlight
BSO: CIRQUE NUTCRACKER
Acrobats, contortionists, jugglers, strongmen, and high-fly-
ing aerialists join the musicians of the Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra for a holiday-themed show merging the aerial
arts and contemporary theater with classical dance and
music. Nicholas Hersh conducts the BSO performing
from Tchaikovsky’s famous score while Aloysia Gavre
leads Troupe Vertigo, the movement-focused organization
the Cirque du Soleil veteran co-founded a decade ago.
Thursday, Dec. 13, at 8 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore,
5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Also Friday, Dec.
14, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 15, and Sunday, Dec. 16, at 3
p.m. Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St.,
Baltimore. Tickets are $12.50 to $90. Call 410-783-8000 or
visit bsomusic.org.

CHRISTMAS REVELS
Featuring a cast of over 100, The
Washington Revels performs
their annual holiday tribute, this
year a “Welcome Yule” journey to
Renaissance England and the winter
world of Queen Elizabeth I and Will
Kemp, Shakespeare’s favorite Fool. A
show blending music and dance and
featuring children’s songs and games,
seasonal sing-alongs, even a few lines
from the Bard. Performances begin
Saturday, Dec. 8. Runs To Dec. 16.
GW Lisner, The George Washington
University, 730 21st St. NW. Tickets are
$12 to $60. Call 301-587-3835 or visit
revelsdc.org.

CRY IT OUT
Studio Theatre presents Molly Smith
Metzler’s candid comedy about the tin-
derbox of parenthood and class in today’s
culture. Emjoy Gavino plays a corpo-
rate lawyer who befriends her working
class neighbor while both are marooned
at home on maternity leave. A wealthy
couple from the neighborhood intrudes
on a naptime coffee date between the
new mothers, pushing Cry It Out toward
a dramatic climax. Directed by Joanie
Schultz. To Dec. 16. Milton Theatre, 14th
& P Streets NW. Call 202-332-3300 or visit
studiotheatre.org.

10 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 Spotlight
BALLET WEST:
THE NUTCRACKER
After a debut last year in Salt Lake City, Utah’s
preeminent dance company brings to the Kennedy
Center a whimsical new take on the enchanting
holiday classic. Reimagined designs, from grand
sets and fantastical costumes to special effects,
add a glittering, opulent sparkle. The Kennedy
Center Opera House Orchestra and the Arlington
Children’s Choir will offer live accompaniment.
Remaining performances are Thursday, Dec. 6,
and Friday, Dec. 7, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Dec.
8, and Sunday, Dec. 9, at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Opera
House. Tickets are 59 to $215. Call 202-467-4600
or visit kennedy-center.org.

RILEY KNOXX:
AN ILLUSION OF QUEEN BEY
With a team of dancers and wind machines,
plus her own work in mastering the moves,
mannerisms, and even makeup of today’s
biggest pop diva, this local illusionist gives
one the feeling they’re watching Beyonce
in concert. The transgender Knoxx, who in
recent years has made moves to become a
recording artist in her own right, has report-
edly even garnered praise from Queen Bey
herself. Sunday, Dec. 9. Doors at 6 p.m. City
Winery DC, 1350 Okie St. NE. Tickets are
$22 to $30. Call 202-250-2531 or visit city-
winery.com.

GEM OF THE OCEAN

The “American Century” dawns in Aunt
Ester’s kitchen, where Citizen Barlow arrives
to have his soul cleansed by the venera-
ble, 285-year-old soothsayer. Round House
Theatre presents the first chapter in the late
August Wilson’s monumental decade-by-de-
cade play series set in Pittsburgh’s African-
American Hill District. Timothy Douglas
directs a cast featuring Stephanie Berry
as Ester, Justin Weaks as Barlow, Alfred
Wilson as Solly Two Kings, and KenYatta
Rogers as the constable Caesar. Now to Dec.
23. Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West
Highway, Bethesda. Call 240-644-1100 or
visit roundhousetheatre.org.

DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 11

GAYLORD NATIONAL RESORT’S ICE!

Out On The Town

ICE! A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

Snoopy, Lucy, and other classic cartoon characters created by Charles M. Schulz will be holding court at National Harbor
in colorful, larger-than-life sculptures carved from two million pounds of ice. The Peanuts gang’s storied holiday antics
are the focus of this year’s Ice! display, accented by four, two-story tall ice slides and a Nativity scene. And that’s just the
main draw at the annual series organized by the Gaylord National Resort. A Christmas Carousel, an ice skating rink, a
short Potomac Express holiday train ride, a Build-A-Bear Workshop, 30-minute Christmas storytelling events led by Mrs.
Claus, and a Gingerbread Decorating Center are among more than a dozen other kid-friendly activities on tap. There’s also
Seasons Dreamings, a free, 25-minute aerial Cirque Dreams Unwrapped show that takes place daily in the Gaylord’s Garden
Atrium. Through Jan. 1. 201 Waterfront St. Oxon Hill, Md. Tickets to Gaylord National Resort’s Ice! are $27 to $38. Call
301-965-4000 or visit christmasonthepotomac.com.

Compiled by Doug Rule

HOLIDAY
HIGHLIGHTS
DC DIFFERENT DRUMMERS:
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
The Capitol Pride Symphonic Band,
DC Swing! and smaller ensembles
of the LGBTQ music organiza-
tion perform concert versions of
holiday tunes at their free annual
holiday concert, which also dou-
bles as a food drive for Food and
Friends. Non-perishable food and
travel-sized toiletry donations
welcomed. Sunday, Dec. 9, at 3
p.m. The Lutheran Church of the
Reformation, 212 East Capitol St.
NE. Free, with request for food
drive donations. Call 202-269-4868
or visit dcdd.org.
I LOVE/HATE THE HOLIDAYS
CABARET
Regie Cabico and Don Mike
Mendoza’s La-Ti-Do variety show
features higher-quality singing
than most karaoke, often from local
musical theater actors performing
on their night off, and also includes
spoken-word poetry and comedy.
Mendoza and Anya Randall Nebel
host the next event, an annual
holiday cabaret featuring guest
performers — those who love as
well as those who loathe season-
al merriment and melodies — and
including spoken word in addition
to music. Monday, Dec. 10, at 8 p.m.
Mezzanine Level of Bistro Bistro,
1727 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets
are $15, or $10 if you eat dinner
at the restaurant beforehand. Call
202-328-1640 or visit latidodc.wix.
com/latido.
LIGHT YARDS
Two traveling light installations add
a little seasonal, illuminating whim-
sy as part of this year’s fourth annu-
al holiday celebration in the Navy
Yard area of Southeast D.C. — also
increasingly known as the Capitol
Riverfront. The Pool by New York’s
Jen Lewin Studio, developed six
years ago but making its D.C. debut
here, features 106 interactive circu-
lar pads of light that react as visitors
move on and around them, creat-
ing a giant canvas of shifting and
fading colors. Meanwhile, Angels
of Freedom by Israel’s OGE Group
is a social sculptural installation
where visitors pose with five giant,
neon-colored wings and white
halos, intended as a way to signify
that we’re all angels and that “every-
body counts and deserves love.” On
display from 6 to 10 p.m. every night
beginning Friday, Dec. 7 until Jan.
4. The Yards Park Boardwalk, 355
Water St. SE. Call 202-465-7093 or
visit theyardsdc.com.
MADELINE’S CHRISTMAS
The adventures of a brave and
resourceful precocious Parisian
who takes her bed-ridden friends
on an unforgettable Christmas jour-
ney via magic carpet ride. Virginia’s
Creative Cauldron has had a hit
with two previous iterations of this
musical adaptation by writer/lyri-
cist Jennifer Kirkeby and compos-
er Shirley Mier and based on the
book by author/illustrator Ludwig
Bemelmans. Matt Conner directs.
Opening night is Saturday, Dec.
8. Runs to Dec. 23. ArtSpace Falls
Church, 410 South Maple Ave. in
Falls Church. Tickets are $20 to
$26, or $30 for opening night. Call
703-436-9948 or visit creativecaul-
dron.org.
MIRACLE ON 8TH STREET:
SCREENINGS OF CHRISTMAS
CLASSICS
For a second year in a row the
recently renovated Miracle Theatre
in the Barracks Row section of
Capitol Hill screens several holi-
day-themed favorites on the week-
ends leading up to Christmas. This
year’s lineup includes: Macaulay
Culkin as an boy stranded in Home
Alone, screening Sunday, Dec. 9, at
3:30 p.m., and Friday, Dec. 21, at 6
p.m.; the James Stewart signature
It’s A Wonderful Life on Friday, Dec.

12 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 14, at 7 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 16, at
3:30 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 22,
at 8 p.m.; Robert Zemeckis’ ani-
mated The Polar Express starring
Tom Hanks on Saturday Dec. 15
at 11 a.m., and Friday, Dec. 21, at
3:30 p.m.; Miracle on 34th Street,
the classic Christmas drama from
1947 that put Santa Claus, or really
the poser Kris Kringle, on trial, on
Friday, Dec. 21, at 8:30 p.m., and
Sunday, Dec. 23, at 6 p.m.; and Will
Ferrell’s 15-year-old Elf on Sunday,
Dec. 23, at 3:30 p.m. Tickets are $6
to $8. 535 8th St. SE. Call 202-400-
3210 or visit themiracletheatre.com.

THE STOOP STORYTELLING

SERIES: HA-HA HOLIDAY SHOW
It’s seasonal schadenfreude time as
a group of Baltimoreans offer per-
U.S. BOTANIC GARDEN

sonal tales about yuletides of yore

in an annual holiday show dubbed
“A Smörgåsbord of Seasonal Tale.”
This year’s program includes a
story about an only-in-Baltimore
reindeer, a fateful Christmas Eve
Ravens game, and an explosive New
Years Eve abroad, plus a dispatch

TRAINS, TREES
from “the world’s most famous
Christmas block” — aka Baltimore’s
Miracle on 34th Street. The eve-
ning kicks off with cocktails and live

AND TRIMMINGS
music from the Tongue and Cheek
Jazz Band at 7 p.m. Tuesday Dec. 11,
at 8 p.m. The Senator Theatre, 5904
York Rd. Baltimore. Tickets are $15
to $23. Call 800-838-3006 or visit
The U.S. Botanic Garden’s expansive model train exhibit stoopstorytelling.com.
is one of the area’s seasonal joys.
FILM

T
RAINS HAVE AN INTERESTING PLACE IN OUR HISTORY AND CULTURE,” A CHRISTMAS STORY
Bob Clark, who gave the world
says Devin Dotson. “While today, some people, especially in urban areas, think of the teen raunchfest Porky’s, also
trains in terms of light-rail or subways or Amtrak, in most of the country people improbably gave the world this
don’t interact with them as much. They have this whimsical, nostalgic view of trains.” beloved 1983 gem about a boy
who longs for a “Red Ryder air
That whimsy is on full display in Season’s Greetings: All Aboard!, the U.S. Botanic
rifle” for Christmas. With Darren
Garden’s annual celebration of all things railroad. Started two decades ago, the series McGavin and Melinda Dillon.
features various model trains winding their way through the garden’s flora and foliage. Part of the Capital Classics series
And for its 20th year, the exhibit’s trains will have special new routes, winding their way at Landmark’s West End Cinema.
Wednesday, Dec. 12, at 1:30, 4:30,
through miniature replicas of 31 iconic train stations across the United States, from New and 7:30 p.m., 2301 M St. NW.
York’s Grand Central Terminal to Mississippi’s Vicksburg Train Barge to Washington’s Happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
own Union Station — all fashioned from parts of more than 100 different plants. Tickets are $10 to $12.50. Call 202-
534-1907 or visit landmarktheatres.
“Train stations, as they were built over time, were really tied in with agriculture,” says
com.
Dotson, an exhibits specialist at the Botanic Garden. “So the 31 stations we have in the
train show tell the story of how those stations interacted with the agriculture and plants AFI HOLIDAY CLASSICS
in that section of the country.” Over the next several weeks, the
American Film Institute offers 16
On select Tuesdays and Thursdays, the conservatory will stay open until 8 p.m. for Christmas films, from the clas-
seasonal music performances as part of the Botanic Garden’s holiday concert series. sics — It’s A Wonderful Life, The
Upcoming performances include the Russian folk music group Samovar on Dec. 11, Dial Muppet Christmas Carol, and White
Christmas — to curiosities like Die
251 for Jazz on Dec. 13, smooth jazz artists Tony Craddock, Jr. and Cold Front on Dec. 18,
Hard and Trading Places. First up,
and The Capital Hearings a cappella group on Dec. 20. MGM’s 1938 version of A Christmas
“The variety of musical groups we invite to play here give people just another reason Carol, starring Reginald Owen as
to visit,” Dotson says. “There’s a lot going on and a lot to see, and as we’re open every day Scrooge and featuring a score by
the legendary Franz Waxman. AFI
of the year and free. So I think many local families have made it part of their Christmas Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville
traditions.” —John Riley Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $13.
Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/
Silver for schedule and details.
Season’s Greetings: All Aboard! runs through Jan. 1, 2019 at the Botanic Garden
Conservatory, 100 Maryland Ave. SW. Admission is free of charge. The conservatory is WHITE CHRISTMAS
open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on select Tuesdays and Thursdays The perfect film to put you in the
for its holiday concert series. For more information, call 202-225-8333 or visit usbg.gov. holiday spirit, Fathom Events pres-

14 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

ent the original theatrical version
of the classic, starring Bing Crosby,
Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney,
on Sunday, Dec. 9, and Wednesday,
Dec. 12, at 2 and 7 p.m. Area theaters
including Regal Gallery Place (701
7th St. NW), AMC Mazza Gallerie,
(5300 Wisconsin Ave. NW), and
Regal Potomac Yards Stadium (3575
Jefferson Davis Highway, soon to
be Amazonland). Visit fathomev-
ents.com.

STAGE
CHRISTMAS AT THE OLD BULL
AND BUSH
Catherine Flye’s cheery holiday tale
centers on patrons at a pub tell-
ing corny jokes and singing British
music hall songs and Christmas car-
ols. Originally presented at the turn
of the millennium by Arena Stage,
some of the original cast members
return for another holiday run at
Alexandria’s MetroStage includ-
ing sing-alongs and an abbreviated
reenactment of Dickens’ Christmas
Carol, plus a few surprises along
the way. To Dec. 30. MetroStage,
1201 North Royal St., Alexandria.
Call 703-548-9044 or visit metro-
stage.org.

DC QUEER THEATRE FESTIVAL

The annual showcase, presented by
the DC Center, returns with seven
stage works written by area play-
wrights, each under 10 minutes
in length. The program includes
Alan Sharpe’s Most Important
Meal of the Day, Audrey Cefaly’s
Consider the Ficus, Asabi Oke’s Out
of Culture, Brittany Alyse Willis’s
Son of Apollo, John Bavaso’s Plus
One, Xemiyulu Manibusan’s Protect
& Serve, and Xian Mao’s Fantasy
Roadtrip. Performances are Friday,
Dec. 7, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday,
Dec. 8, at 3 and 7:30 p.m. District
of Columbia Arts Center, 2438 18th
St. NW. Tickets are $20. Call 202-
462-7833 or visit thedccenter.org/
queertheatrefest.

HOW TO CATCH A STAR

GREG GORMAN
The Kennedy Center commissioned
this stage adaptation of author and
illustrator Oliver Jeffers’ beloved
children’s book about chasing one’s
dreams. Created and directed by
Jared Mezzocchi, this work of the-
ater for young audiences is a whim- RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
sical tale of discovery, friendship,
and delightful surprises, enriched
There’s a sizable cadre of young, queer artists singing openly and honestly about their
with music by Zak Engel, projec- experiences in today’s landscape, but it was a different story 20 years ago, and Rufus
tions by Olivia Sebesky, and cho- Wainwright stood out in that regard as he launched his career with his 1998 self-titled
reography by the Orange Grove debut and established himself with 2001’s Poses. The two albums felt rather ground-
Dance Company. Jonathan Hsu,
Dallas Tolentino, Raven Wilkes, breaking then, and they still hold up two decades later, which is why a concert finding
and Elan Zafir star. Performances Wainwright performing songs from both registers as more than just a toast to his day-one
are Saturday, Dec. 8 and 15, at 11 or longtime fans. It’s all the more enticing given that he’ll revive the material locally in
a.m., 1:30, and 5 p.m., and Sunday,
Dec. 9 and 16, at 1:30 and 4 p.m.
Strathmore’s large, acoustically rich concert hall. Saturday, Dec. 8, at 8 p.m. Music Center,
Family Theater. Tickets are $20. 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Tickets are $39 to $89, or $299 to $399 for VIP
Call 202-467-4600 or visit kenne- levels including a premium seat, pre-show meet and greet and photo, tour print, a photo
dy-center.org. book, and more. Call 301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.

DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 15

 ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS
CAROL
Virginia’s Run Rabbit Run Theatre
reprises Meredith Bean McMath’s
adaptation of the Charles Dickens
classic, amped up with origi-
nal music and lyrics by Diane
El-Shafey, instrumental music by
Carma Oliverez, and a few tra-
ditional favorites. The show fea-
tures 32 actors portraying over
120 characters relating the story
of the redemption of the Grinch-
like Ebenezer Scrooge, played by
Phil Erickson. Weekends to Dec. 9.
Franklin Park Arts Center, 36441
Blueridge View Lane, Purcellville,
Va. Tickets are $20 online, or $25 at
the door. Call 540-668-6779 or visit
storyroot.com/RRRtickets.html.

WHO’S HOLIDAY
Subtitled “The story Dr. Seuss
didn’t want you to see,” Matthew
Lombardo’s raucous, raunchy com-
edy is an unofficial sequel to the
childhood favorite How The Grinch
Stole Christmas. The story revolves
around a very grown-up Cindy Lou
Who recounting, from her cramped
GMCW

quarters on Mount Crumpit, the infa-

mous night she met the mean, green
one as well as tales from the wild life

SINGING IN THE HOLIDAYS

she’s led since. Dexter Ramey directs
Kimberly Jones Clark in what is
billed as a “trailer park Christmas Eve
party.” Featuring a post-show caba-
ret led by pianist Joshua Wortham
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington’s annual Holiday Show accompanying either Georgia Rogers
is one of D.C.’s most joyful traditions. Farmer or Shannon Gibson Brown.
Weekends to Dec. 15. Richmond

L
Triangle Players, The Robert B.
Moss Theatre, 1300 Altamont Ave.
AST YEAR, THE GAY MEN’S CHORUS OF WASHINGTON RECHRISTENED ITS ANNUAL Richmond. Tickets are $30 to $35.
holiday show, which it has been doing for nearly 38 years, officially calling it “The Holiday Call 804-346-8113 or visit rtriangle.
Show.” “We always gave it a title like ‘Sparkle Jingle Joy’ or ‘Rewrapped’ or ‘Rockin’ the org.
Holidays,’” says Artistic Director Thea Kano. “But last year, I thought why don’t we just call it ‘The
Holiday Show’? This is our second year actually calling it that.” MUSIC
Kano hopes the rebranding will help further solidify the festive, frequently flamboyant and
BALTIMORE SYMPHONY:
outlandishly entertaining concert as a Washington Christmastime tradition. “People go see the HANDEL’S MESSIAH
Rockettes every year. Some folks always take time to go see The Nutcracker. We’re trying to get The area’s three biggest orches-
something going where people have a tradition of including GMCW’s ‘Holiday Show’ as an annual tras will each perform one of the
greatest choral masterpieces in the
outing.”
Western canon this season, with
Kano has little to worry about. The GMCW’s Holiday Show already sits atop Washington’s trin- the National Symphony and the
ity of seasonal traditions, alongside Ford’s Christmas Carol and The Washington Ballet’s uniquely National Philharmonic both offering
D.C. take on The Nutcracker. the monumental Messiah the week-
end immediately before Christmas.
Kano says people can expect the usual razzle and dazzle in this year’s production, along with But the Baltimore Symphony beats
callout performances by the chorus’ many ensembles, including the Rock Creek Singers, GenOUT them to the punch with two perfor-
Youth Chorus, and assist from its own 17th Street Dance Troupe. Naturally, there will be an mances this weekend led by con-
ductor and harpsichordist Edward
appearance by Santa, a snowfall, and a host of fabulous costumes. And, of course, there will be a
Polochick along with the Concert
customary blend of traditional holiday choral music with popular standards. Artists of Baltimore Symphonic
“The holiday show is a nice warm opportunity to remind our audience of our mission, which is Chorale and soprano Jennifer
equality and justice for all,” says Kano. “But we always like to throw in fun things. So we will have O’Loughlin, mezzo-soprano Diana
Moore, tenor Benjamin Butterfield,
a drag queen number. And ‘Silver Bells’ will actually be ‘Silver Bears.’ We never lose sight of who and bass Sidney Outlaw. The con-
we are.” —Randy Shulman cert in part promotes a recent
recording on Naxos of Handel’s
masterwork as performed by the
GMCW’s The Holiday Show is Saturday, Dec. 8, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 15, at 3 and 8 p.m., and BSO under Polochick with the same
Sunday, Dec. 16, at 3 p.m. At the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. Tickets are $25 to $65. chorale and all but one of the four
Call 877-435-9849 or visit gmcw.org. soloists. Polochick will sign copies
of the new CD after each perfor-
mance. Saturday, Dec. 8, at 8 p.m.,
Also: GMCW is collecting toys to benefit Community Family Life Services. If you’d like to help, please and Sunday, Dec. 9, at 3 p.m. Joseph
bring a new, unwrapped toy to the Lincoln Theatre on December 8, 15 or 16 to help a child in need. Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212

16 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 EDM gem “Fiesta” and especial-
ly the wild, bilingual EDM remake
of Technotronic’s “Pump Up The
Jam” — rechristened “Ponte Bomb”
— will most definitely get the crowd
jumping. Thursday, Dec. 13. Doors
at 7 p.m. Fillmore Silver Spring,
8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring.
Tickets are $29 to $45. Call 301-
960-9999 or visit fillmoresilver-
spring.com.

FREDDY COLE
Freddy Cole plays his own instru-
ments, just like his late brother Nat
King Cole, but his voice is rasp-
ier, smokier, even jazzier. The
New York Times has hailed him
as “the most maturely expressive
male jazz singer of his generation,
if not the best alive.” He drops by
BERVIN

Blues Alley for another weekend

run of his seasonal show, “Here
for the Holidays.” Thursday, Dec.
6, through Sunday, Dec. 9, at 8 and
THE FOLGER’S EMILY DICKINSON BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE 10 p.m. Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin
An evening in tribute to Emily Dickinson at the Folger Shakespeare Library kicks off with Ave. NW. Tickets are $36, plus $12
a free screening of Madeleine Olnek’s new biopic, Wild Nights with Emily, starring Molly minimum purchase. Call 202-337-
4141 or visit bluesalley.com.
Shannon as the posthumously revered poet and focused on her long-term but furtive les-
bian relationship with fellow aspiring writer Susan Ziegler. Afterwards comes the Folger’s HOMOSUPERIOR
annual reading from Dickinson’s work in a birthday tribute also part of the O.B. Hardison Joshua Vogelsong developed his
Poetry Series and co-sponsored with the Poetry Society of America. This year’s reading alter-ego Donna Slash a few years
back alongside the LGBTQ punk act
features author Martha Nell Smith of the Dickinson Electronic Archives at the University Homosuperior. A few months after
of Virginia and artist/poet Jen Bervin of The Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson’s an opening set at Comet Ping Pong,
Envelope Poems, which reproduces the legendary poet’s experimental late work that was where Vogelsong is a bar manager
and the newly appointed Events
composed on scraps of envelopes. A moderated conversation about Dickinson featuring Director, Homosuperior headlines
the two scholars along with filmmaker Olnek follows the reading, and the tribute ends in a one of the last shows on the Black
book signing and reception where Suga Chef’s rum- and fruit-flavored “black cake,” made Cat’s first floor stage, with opening
from Dickinson’s own recipe, will be served. Monday, Dec. 10. Screening at 5 p.m., reading sets from Jail Solidarity and Bust
Down. Wednesday, Dec. 12. Doors
at 7:30 p.m. 201 East Capitol St. SE. Reservations are required for the free screening, while at 7:30 p.m. Backstage, 1811 14th St.
the reading is $15. Call 202-544-7077 or visit folger.edu. NW. Tickets are $10. Call 202-667-
4490 or visit blackcatdc.com.

Cathedral St., Baltimore. Tickets
are $12.50 to $80. Call 410-783-
8000 or visit bsomusic.org.
BETTYE LAVETTE
Very little has been straight, tradi-
tional, or predictable in the life of
LaVette, who grew up in Motown-
era Detroit and became a recording
artist at 16. She even had what she
calls “dalliances” with other women
when she was young — something
that has given her “keen insight”
into the LGBTQ experience, as well
as several enduring LGBTQ friend-
ships. The good-humored soul
singer is in what she refers to as
her “fifth career,” capped by Things
Have Changed, her album of Bob
Dylan covers released in March by
Verve Records. Thursday, Dec. 13.
Doors at 6 p.m. City Winery DC,
1350 Okie St. NE. Tickets are $30
to $45. Call 202-250-2531 or visit
citywinery.com.
CARBON LEAF
A five-piece from Richmond,
Carbon Leaf has toured with the
Dave Matthews Band, O.A.R., and
Blues Traveler, while drawing its
own fans with its slightly unusual
blend of bluegrass and rock, offi-
cially pegged as “ether-electrified
porch music.” The band tours in
celebration of its 25th anniversary
year. Friday, Dec. 7, at 8:30 p.m.,
Saturday, Dec. 8, at 3 and 8:30
p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 9, at 1 p.m.
Ram’s Head On Stage, 33 West St.,
Annapolis. Tickets are $39.50. Call
410-268-4545 or visit ramsheadon-
stage.com. Also Thursday, Dec. 13,
at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701
Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.
Tickets are $39.50. Call 703-549-
7500 or visit birchmere.com.
CHERYL WHEELER
& JOHN GORKA
A Maryland native, Wheeler got her
start performing at clubs in D.C.
and Baltimore, though she has long
made her home in Massachusetts
with her wife. She returns for an
annual show sharing the stage with
John Gorka, whom Rolling Stone
once dubbed the preeminent male
singer-songwriter of the New Folk
Movement. Sunday, Dec. 9, at 7:30
p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount
Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets
are $39.50. Call 703-549-7500 or
visit birchmere.com.
CHOPTEETH
The Washington Post has referred
to this 12-piece band as “a storm-
ing powerhouse of big-band African
funk...smart, tight and relentless-
ly driving.” The Afrobeat-driven
group has won 13 Washington Area
Music Association Awards, includ-
ing Artist of the Year in 2008 and
as best World Music Group the
last nine years in a row. Chopteeth
performs regularly throughout the
region. Saturday, Dec. 8. Doors at 7
p.m. Pearl Street Warehous. Pearl
Street Warehouse, 33 Pearl St. SW.
Tickets are $20. Call 202-380-9620
or visit pearlstreetwarehouse.com.
BOMBA ESTÉREO
Literally translating as stereo bomb
in English, this band’s name is said
to refer to a “badass party” in its
native Colombia. Just try to stand
still as the fun, festive group, found-
ed by bassist Simon Mejia and led
by singer/rapper Liliana Saumet,
performs its brand of modern-day,
Latin electro-pop. The aptly named
LES NUBIANS
Born to a French father and a
Cameroonian mother, Paris-born
sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart
helped shake up hip-hop at the
turn of the millennium with their
debut album, Princesses Nubiennes.
They’re now one of the most suc-
cessful French-language musical
groups in the states. Saturday, Dec.
15. Doors at 6 p.m. The Howard
Theatre, 620 T St. NW. Tickets are
$22.50 to $65, plus $10 minimum
per person for all tables. Call 202-
588-5595 or visit thehowardtheatre.
com.
MOTOWN: HITSVILLE
U.S.A. CABARET
Jade Jones, Marc G. Meadows,
and Ines Nassara perform songs
popularized by the Supremes,
Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder,
the Jackson 5 and many more in
a cabaret show directed by Kelly
Crandall d’Amboise. This “Motown:
The Reprise” cabaret is a sequel
to the original sold-out Signature
Theatre production. Now to Dec.
23. The Ark, 4200 Campbell Ave.,
Arlington. Tickets are $38. Call 703-
820-9771 or visit sigtheatre.org.

18 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC:
HOLIDAY POPS
Soprano Iyona Blake, a Helen
Hayes Award-winning actress,
will sing “O Holy Night” among
other holiday favorites as the fea-
tured soloist at this year’s seasonal
offering from Strathmore’s resident
orchestra. Victoria Gau conducts
the Philharmonic and National
Philharmonic Chorale in seasonal
classics and a sing-along or two.
Friday, Dec. 7, at 7:30 p.m. The
Music Center, 5301 Tuckerman
Lane, North Bethesda. Tickets are
$18 to $74. Call 301-581-5100 or visit
strathmore.org.
NATIONAL SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA: MAHLER’S FIRST
SYMPHONY
NSO Music Director Gianandrea
Noseda leads a program of spirit-
ed and expressive works including
a world premiere from Kennedy
Center Composer-in-Residence
Mason Bates. A 30-minute,
three-movement work, Bates’ Art of
War incorporates electronic instru-
mentation into more traditional
orchestral scoring and explores the
drama of human conflict from the
perspective of soldiers, weaponry,
and human loss. Noseda has paired
Bates with Mahler, specifically
Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, Titan,
revered today as a sumptuous and
groundbreaking work in the way
it incorporates folk melodies and
dances. The work was so ground-
breaking, so shocking, that early
audiences hissed and booed when
they heard it — and their reaction
prompted the German Jewish com-
poser to spend a decade tweaking
the work before finally publishing
his score in 1898. Thursday, Dec.
6, at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 8, at
8 p.m., and, Sunday, Dec. 9, at 3
p.m. Kennedy Center Concert Hall.
Tickets are $15 to $89. Call 202-
467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.
org.
O.A.R.
Founded two decades ago in
Rockville, Of A Revolution con-
tinues to stir up audiences both
at home and around the country.
Singer/guitarist Marc Roberge,
drummer Chris Culos, guitarist
Richard On, bassist Benj Gershman,
and saxophonist/guitarist Jerry
DePizzo will perform from its great
alt-rock repertoire in its second
annual show right off the District
Pier. Saturday, Dec. 15. Doors at
6:30 p.m. The Anthem, 901 Wharf
St. SW. Tickets are $45 to $75. Call
202-888-0020 or visit theanthemdc.
com.
PAMALA STANLEY
Every so often, the star resident
at the Blue Moon in Rehoboth
Beach makes her way to the D.C.
area to perform at D.C.’s beachiest
venue around. It’s certainly worth
washing ashore for, especially if
20 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
you haven’t yet managed to see the
belter live. Stanley, who had several
dance hits in the mid-1980s, includ-
ing “Coming Out Of Hiding” and
“If Looks Could Kill,” ranks high
among those former pop stars and
disco divas who should have been
a bigger deal. She puts on a heck of
a show — including covers of pop-
ular jazz standards and Broadway
showtunes. Friday, Dec. 7, at 8 p.m.
Freddie’s Beach Bar, 555 South 23rd
St., Arlington. Tickets are $20 to
$30 plus a fee of approximately $3.
Call 703-685-0555 or visit freddies-
beachbar.com.
SPECIAL AGENT GALACTICA:
FAREWELL SHOW
It’s been a while since we last heard
from Jeffrey Johnson’s spacey and
pink-haired singing drag act. The
bad news is that Galactica’s return
also marks her last before a per-
manent move to Charleston, South
Carolina. The good news, as far as it
goes, is that the final show certainly
lives up to the concept of going out
with a bang. Galactica will essen-
tially perform three shows in one,
kicking off with a “greatest hits” set
channeling the Happy Hour Variety
Show she hosted at the now defunct
Black Fox Lounge and featuring the
Black Fox-minted trio of keyboard-
ist Aaron Meyers, bassist Ethan
Foote, and drummer Winston
Johnson, plus a lip sync gem or
two. Next up is a slightly truncat-
ed version of the original show A
Romp Around Uranus, developed
for Capital Fringe in 2016 and sub-
sequently performed at New York’s
iconic Stonewall Inn, and featuring
Galactica, guitarist Peter Fields (aka
Captain Satellite) and the Timeship
Aurora (voiced by the B-52’s Fred
Schneider). All the performers from
the first two sets will come togeth-
er for a finale featuring yet more
Galactica standards, as well as some
surprise curveballs and Johnson
favorites. Sunday, Dec. 9, starting
at 5:30 p.m. Pie Shop Bar & Patio,
1339 H St. NE. Pay-What-You-Can
donations accepted. Call 202-398-
7437 or visit dangerouspiesdc.com.
THE BARNES AND HAMPTON
CELTIC CONSORT: A CELTIC
CHRISTMAS
Georgetown’s Dumbarton United
Methodist Church presents a
candlelit holiday celebration that
has been a D.C. institution for 40
years, transporting listeners to
another time and place with its old
instrumentation and setting. The
concert features Linn Barnes on
guitar and lute, Allison Hampton
on Celtic harp, Joseph Cunliffe
on pipes, flutes, and recorders,
and Steven Bloom on percussion,
with Dylan Thomas poetry read by
Robert Aubry Davis. Saturday, Dec.
8, and Sunday, Dec. 9, at 4 p.m.
31311 Dumbarton St. NW. Tickets,
remaining only for the Saturday
concert, are $42. Call 202-333-7212
or visit dumbartonconcerts.org.
THE WASHINGTON CHORUS: A
CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS
Artistic Director Christopher Bell
directs the annual “A Candlelight
Christmas,” featuring the 200-voice
chorus singing familiar carols and
holiday songs accompanied by brass
ensemble plus organ, plus audi-
ence sing-alongs and a candlelight
processional. Joining the chorus
this year is Virginia Bronze, the
Alexandria community-based, audi-
tioned handbell ensemble. Friday,
Dec. 7, at 8 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 16,
at 4 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 22,
at 2 p.m. Kennedy Center Concert
Hall. Also Thursday, Dec. 20, at 8
p.m., and Friday, Dec. 21, at 8 p.m.
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301
Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda.
Tickets are $18 to $75. Call 202-
342-6221 or visit thewashington-
chorus.org.
THREEFER MADNESS: DAN
NAVARRO, BRUCE SUDANO,
CHAS SANFORD
Three music veterans better known
as songwriters get a rare spotlight
as singers in this triple bill con-
cert presented by the Institute of
Musical Traditions, which chiefly
works to preserve and promote folk
music traditions. Navarro, who reg-
ularly appears on the Hill advocat-
ing for artists’ rights, has written
for a wide variety of artists, from Pat
Benatar to Jackson Browne, Dionne
Warwick to Austin outlaw Rusty
Wier. Sudano is currently touring
in support of recent album 21st
Century World, yet he, too, is better
known for hits he wrote recorded
by Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton,
and last but certainly not least his
late wife Donna Summer. Finally,
there’s Sanford, the owner of famed
Nashville recording studio Secret
Sound, whose hit list includes
“Missing You” by John Waite
and “Talk to Me” by Stevie Nicks.
Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m. St.
Mark Presbyterian Church, 10701
Old Georgetown Road, Rockville.
Tickets are $20 in advance, or $25
at the door. Call 301-960-3655 or
visit imtfolk.org.
DANCE
BOWEN MCCAULEY DANCE
COMPANY
Lucy Bowen McCauley kicks off the
23rd season of her celebrated local
contemporary dance company with
a mixed program, including the pre-
miere of a piece exploring circles
and Pi at the intersection of dance
and engineering. Commissioned by
Drexel University, McCauley’s new
Lissajous includes a special music
composition written by Jordan Key.
The performance opens with the
late Eric Hampton’s UnRavel set to
Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and
restaged by the company’s Alison
Crosby. Ilana Goldman, the compa-
ny’s Choreographer in Residence,
will also share her new work Facile
Manipulations as part of a program
concluding with McCauley’s popu-
lar Lucy’s Local Playlist. Saturday,
Dec. 8, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec.
9, at 4 p.m. Dance Place, 3225 8th
St. NE. Tickets are $25 in advance,
or $30 at the door. A “Winter
Wonderland” After-Party with cast
and crew follows the Saturday per-
formance at 9:30 p.m. and is an
additional $30. Call 202-269-1600
or visit danceplace.org.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: CRYSTAL:
A BREAKTHROUGH ICE
EXPERIENCE
The misfit heroine Crystal leads a
tale of self-discovery and dives into
and flies around a world of her own
imagination in the latest Cirque
show, which cracks through the
ice this year in wintry Washington.
Directed by Shana Carroll and
Sebastien Soldevila, Crystal features
the kind of movement and acrobat-
ics you expect as well as astounding
visual projections and a soundtrack
incorporating popular music.
Remaining performances Thursday,
Dec. 6, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 7,
at 4 and 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec.
8, at 12:30, 4, and 7:30 p.m., and
Sunday, Dec. 9, at 12:30 and 4 p.m.
601 F St. NW. Tickets are $60 to
$140. Call 202-628-3200 or visit
capitalonearena.com.
STEP AFRIKA!: MAGICAL
MUSICAL HOLIDAY STEP SHOW
The local percussive dance com-
pany dedicated to the tradition of
stepping presents its annual holi-
day step show intended for audi-
ences aged four years and up. The
focus is on getting North Pole ani-
mals — polar bears, penguins — to
step. And all to music by “Frosty
the Snowman,” putting the nee-
dle on the record as special guest
DJ. In addition to the show fea-
turing friendly, furry characters,
this holiday tradition at the Atlas
Performing Arts Center includes
pre-show instrument-making
workshops, photo ops, and a dance
party. Opens Friday, Dec. 14. Runs
to Dec. 30. The Sprenger Theatre,
1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $25 to
$45. Call 202-399-7993 or visit atla-
sarts.org.
THE WASHINGTON BALLET:
THE NUTCRACKER
The Washington Ballet’s former
artistic director Septime Webre
first staged his twist on the family
favorite 13 years ago, setting it in
D.C.’s historic Georgetown neigh-
borhood with George Washington
as the titular figure and King George
III as the Rat King. As always, the
production sets up shop for near-
ly all of December at downtown’s
Warner Theatre. To Dec. 24. 513
13th St. NW. Call 202-889-5901 or
visit washingtonballet.org. l
 Community
THURSDAY, DEC. 6
The DC Center holds a meet-
ing of its ASIAN PACIFIC
ISLANDER QUEER SUPPORT
GROUP. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St.
NW, Suite 105. For more infor-
mation, visit thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events

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-
edatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB practice

session at Takoma Aquatic
Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 300 Van
Buren St. NW. For more infor-
GLOE

mation, visit swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS run-

NEW TRADITIONS
ning/walking/social club
welcomes runners of all ability
levels for exercise in a fun and
supportive environment, with
socializing afterward. Route
GLOE creates safe and affirming spaces where LGBTQ Jewish people distance is 3-6 miles. Meet at
can be themselves without giving up their faith. 7 p.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW.
For more information, visit

W
dcfrontrunners.org.
E WANT QUEER JEWS TO KNOW THEY HAVE A HOME IN THE DC LAMBDA SQUARES, D.C.’s
broader Jewish community,” says Josef Palermo, director of the Kurlander gay and lesbian square-dancing
Program for GLBTQ Outreach and Engagement at the Edlavitch D.C. Jewish group, features mainstream
Community Center. As one of the leading LGBTQ Jewish groups in the D.C. area, GLOE through advanced square
dancing at the National City
often looks at religious issues through a modern-day queer lens. For instance, to mark Christian Church. Please dress
Yom HaShoah, the day of remembrance for the Holocaust, the group took a private tour casually. 7-9:30 p.m. 5 Thomas
of the Holocaust Museum — led by an openly gay survivor of the Holocaust. Circle NW. 202-930-1058,
dclambdasquares.org.
GLOE also holds a monthly “Torah & Sexuality” study series on the second Tuesday
of every month, with the next meeting, on Dec. 11, examining the Jewish tradition of DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds
niddah, in which menstruating women are separated from the rest of the tribe, and how practice. The team is always
reclaiming the practice can help LGBTQ people rediscover intimacy in relationships. looking for new members.
All welcome. 7-9 p.m. Harry
“In addition to religious content, we do social events like happy hours and ‘Drag Thomas Recreation Center,
Yenta’ brunches,” says Palermo. “We’re really just trying to get the community togeth- 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE. For more
er, for as many events, in whatever way possible.” information, visit scandalsrfc.
org or dcscandals@gmail.com.
To celebrate Hanukkah, the eight day festival of light that concludes on Dec. 10,
GLOE is co-hosting its annual “Gaydel, Gaydel, Gaydel” happy hour at Pitchers on Dec. THE DULLES TRIANGLES
6. Palermo says it’s a welcome chance to socialize that goes beyond his own typical hol- Northern Virginia social
iday celebration, which involves a quiet night at home lighting the menorah, cooking group meets for happy hour at
Sheraton in Reston. All wel-
latkes, and watching the Adam Goldberg comedy, The Hebrew Hammer. come. 7-9 p.m. 11810 Sunrise
GLOE also stresses the importance of social justice through initiatives like D25, Valley Drive, second-floor bar.
when Jewish people in the D.C. area are asked to perform volunteer service projects on For more information, visit
dullestriangles.com.
Christmas Day. For its part, GLOE will be helping fix up Casa Ruby’s Georgia Avenue
center and serving meals to needy clients of the LGBTQ community center. HIV TESTING at Whitman-
“The basic idea is that, in addition to the traditions of Chinese food and movies on Walker Health. 9 a.m.-12:30
Christmas,” says Palermo. “We encourage people to get out in their community and p.m. and 2:30-5 p.m. at 1525
14th St. NW, and 9 a.m-12
serve in whatever way they can.” —John Riley p.m. and 2-5 p.m. at the Max
Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr.
GLOE’s “Gaydel, Gaydel, Gaydel” Happy Hour is on Thursday, Dec. 6 from 6-9 p.m. at Ave. SE. For an appointment,
call 202-745-7000 or visit whit-
Pitchers, 2317 18th St. NW. Its monthly Torah & Sexuality study, “Blood, Power, and man-walker.org.
Purity,” is on Tuesday, Dec. 11, from 7-8 p.m. at Sixth and I Synagogue, 600 I St. NW.
For more information, visit facebook.com/edcjcc.gloe. KARING WITH

DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 21

 INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICES,
20 S. Quaker Lane, Suite 210,
Alexandria, Va., offers $30 “rapid”
HIV testing and counseling by
appointment only. 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Must schedule special appointment
if seeking testing after 2 p.m. Call
703-823-4401.
METROHEALTH CENTER
offers free, rapid HIV testing.
Appointment needed. 1012 14th
St. NW, Suite 700. To arrange an
appointment, call 202-849-8029.
STI TESTING at Whitman-Walker
Health. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2-3
p.m. at both 1525 14th St. NW and
the Max Robinson Center, 2301
Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE.
Testing is intended for those with-
out symptoms. For an appointment
call 202-745-7000 or visit whit-
man-walker.org.
US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics
Anonymous Meeting. The group
is independent of UHU. 6:30-7:30
p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. For
more information, call 202-446-
1100.
FRIDAY, DEC. 7
GAY DISTRICT, a group for
GBTQQI men between the ages of
18-35, meets on the first and third
Fridays of each month. 8:30-9:30
p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.
For more information, visit gaydis-
trict.org.
The DC Center’s TRANS
SUPPORT GROUP provides a
space to talk for transgender people
and those who identify outside of
the gender binary. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000
14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more
information, visit thedccenter.org.
SATURDAY, DEC. 8
ADVENTURING outdoors group
and CHRYSALIS Arts & Culture
Group co-sponsor a walking tour
of historic sites in northern D.C.
between the Fort Totten and the
Petworth-Georgia Avenue Metro
Stations. Highlights include the
well-preserved earthworks of
Fort Totten, the famous sculpture
“Grief” in Rock Creek Cemetery,
the grave of America’s first gay
activists Henry Gerber, and
President Lincoln’s Cottage.
Optional lunch in a Georgia
Avenue restaurant follows. Tour
led by licensed D.C. tour guide and
Civil War expert Craig Howell.
Bring beverages, snacks, walking
shoes, layered clothing, the $2
Adventuring trip fee, and lunch
money. Meet at 10 a.m. inside the
Fort Totten Metro by the station
attendant’s iosk. Metro custom-
ers must use either Red or Green
lines, because the Yellow line is
closed. For more information, con-
22 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
tact Craig, 202-462-0535, or visit
adventuring.org.
ADVENTURING outdoors group
takes a moderately strenuous
hike on the Appalachian Trail in
the Blue Ridge Mountains, near
Leesburg, Va. Total length of cir-
cuit hike should be about 7 miles,
with 1100 feet of elevation gain.
Bring beverages, lunch, sturdy
boots, layered clothing, and about
$10 for fees. Carpool at 8:30 a.m.
from the East Falls Church Metro
Kiss & Ride lot. Contact Joe, 202-
276-5521 or visit adventuring.org.
Join The DC Center’s PEOPLE OF
COLOR SUPPORT GROUP for its
annual holiday party. Light refresh-
ments will be served. For more
information, visit thedccenter.org/
poc or facebook.com/centerpoc.
The DC Center hosts a monthly
meeting of UNIVERSAL PRIDE,
a group to support and empower
LGBTQIA people with disabili-
ties, offer perspectives on dating
and relationships, and create
greater access in public spaces for
LGBTQIA PWDs. 1-2:30 p.m. 2000
14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more
information, contact Andy Arias,
andyarias09@gmail.com.
SUNDAY, DEC. 9
ADVENTURING outdoors group
takes a moderate 7.1-mile-long
hike with 620 feet of elevation
gain in Prince William Forest Park,
near Quantico, Va. Bring bever-
ages, lunch, winter-worthy boots,
layered clothing, and about $10
for fees. Meet at 10:30 a.m. in the
Hayes Street Parking Lot near the
Pentagon City Metro Station. Call
Jerry, 703-920-6871 or visit adven-
turing.org.
Weekly Events
LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULS
MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH
celebrates Low Mass at 8:30
a.m., High Mass at 11 a.m. 2300
Cathedral Ave. NW. 202-232-4244,
allsoulsdc.org.
DIGNITYUSA offers Roman
Catholic Mass for the LGBT
community. All welcome. Sign
interpreted. 6 p.m. St. Margaret’s
Church, 1820 Connecticut Ave.
NW. For more info, visit dignity-
washington.org.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
welcomes all to 10:30 a.m. service,
945 G St. NW. firstuccdc.org or
202-628-4317.
HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF
CHRIST welcomes GLBT commu-
nity for worship. 10:30 a.m., 6130
Old Telegraph Road, Alexandria.
hopeucc.org.
INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL
DEVELOPMENT, God-centered new
age church & learning center. Sunday
Services and Workshops event. 5419
Sherier Place NW. isd-dc.org.
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF
REFORMATION invites all to
Sunday worship at 8:30 or 11 a.m.
Childcare is available at both ser-
vices. Welcoming LGBT people for
25 years. 212 East Capitol St. NE.
reformationdc.org.
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY
CHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpret-
ed) and 11 a.m. Children’s Sunday
School at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW.
202-638-7373, mccdc.com.
RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH,
a Christ-centered, interracial,
welcoming-and-affirming church,
offers service at 10 a.m. 680 I St.
SW. 202-554-4330, riversidedc.org.
UNITARIAN CHURCH OF
ARLINGTON, an LGBTQ welcom-
ing-and-affirming congregation,
offers services at 10 a.m. Virginia
Rainbow UU Ministry. 4444
Arlington Blvd. uucava.org.
UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL
MEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-
ing and inclusive church. GLBT
Interweave social/service group
meets monthly. Services at 11 a.m.,
Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th St.
NW. 202-387-3411, universalist.org.
MONDAY, DEC. 10
The DC Center holds a monthly
meeting of its YOUTH WORKING
GROUP for people who are inter-
ested in or committed to positively
impacting the lives of D.C. area
LGBTQ youth. All welcome. 6-7:30
p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.
For more information, visit thedc-
center.org.
Weekly Events
DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a
practice session at Dunbar Aquatic
Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 101 N St. NW.
For more information, visit swim-
dcac.org.
NOVASALUD offers free HIV test-
ing. 5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite
200, Arlington. Appointments: 703-
789-4467.
The DC Center hosts COFFEE
DROP-IN FOR THE SENIOR LGBT
COMMUNITY. 10 a.m.-noon. 2000
14th St. NW. For more information,
call 202-682-2245 or visit thedc-
center.org.
US HELPING US hosts a black gay
men’s evening affinity group for
GBT black men. Light refreshments
provided. 7-9 p.m. 3636 Georgia
Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.
WASHINGTON WETSKINS
WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9
p.m. Newcomers with at least basic
swimming ability always welcome.
Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van
Buren St. NW. For more informa-
tion, contact Tom, 703-299-0504
or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit
wetskins.org.
WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH
HIV/AIDS SUPPORT GROUP
for newly diagnosed individuals,
meets 7 p.m. Registration required.
202-939-7671, hivsupport@whit-
man-walker.org.
TUESDAY, DEC. 11
The DC Center holds a monthly
meeting of its COMING OUT
DISCUSSION GROUP for those
navigating issues associated with
coming out and personal identity.
7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite
105. For more information, visit
thedccenter.org.
The DC Center’s TRANS
SUPPORT GROUP provides a
space to talk for transgender people
and those who identify outside of
the gender binary. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000
14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more
information, visit thedccenter.org.
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12
Join people from all over D.C. and
Northern Virginia for an LGBTQ
HOLIDAY HAPPY HOUR AND
TOY DRIVE, hosted by Go Gay
DC. Bring an unwrapped toy for
needy children to the event, held
at Freddie’s Beach Bar. Everyone
welcome. 6-8 p.m. 555 23rd St. S.,
Arlington, Va. Visit meetup.com/
GoGayDC.
The LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB meets
at the Dignity Center, across from
the Marine Barracks, for Duplicate
Bridge. No reservations needed.
Newcomers welcome. 7:30 p.m. 721
8th St. SE. Call 202-841-0279 if you
need a partner.
The Veterans Mental Health
Advisory Committee of the
Veterans Health Administration
will hold a FOCUS GROUP FOR
LGBT VETERANS at the Veterans
Affairs Medical Center. Lunch will
be provided. Please sign up as early
as possible if you wish to attend.
10 a.m.-1 p.m. 50 Irving St. NW. To
register, please call 202-745-8000,
extension 58641 or 57208 before
Dec. 10. For more information, visit
thedccenter.org. l
DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 23
Scene Whitman Walker’s Walk & 5k to End HIV - Saturday, Dec. 1 - Photography by Ward Morrison
See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

24 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 25
Rosen’s
Arena Stage’s Indecent marks

Turn
acclaimed director Eric Rosen’s
return as an influential
champion of LGBTQ theater.
Interview by Doug Rule
Photography by Todd Franson

W
HEN THE KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE PUT OUT THE CALL
for a new artistic director, Eric Rosen didn’t think he stood a chance.
“They asked me if I’d think about applying for the job, and I thought, ‘No,
of course not,’” Rosen says. “I run an American gay theater. I would never
get hired to run this big regional theater that’s six times larger than my com-
pany.”
More to the point, he didn’t think KC Rep would want its next leader to be a self-described
“super queer theater artist,” one who had co-founded Chicago’s influential, LGBTQ-focused About
Face Theatre. But, twelve years ago, he threw his hat in the ring at the company’s behest. “And do as an artist for myself, not
then I saw that all the other people who were going for the job were fancy older people in their for a whole company.” Among
50s and 60s,” he says. other things, Rosen, with New
He ended up beating out every other candidate for the job — though he deliberated for a few York as his and Elder’s new
months before accepting. To say it was the right decision would be an understatement. Among home base, can now “reclaim
other things, he met Claybourne Elder toward the end of his first year on the job, when Moises my queer theater mantle.”
Kaufman cast the young actor in a KC Rep production of Into the Woods. By the end of the run, He succeeds in that goal
romance had blossomed between Elder and Rosen, who are now married and fathers to one-year- with Indecent, which shines
old Bo. “I love being a dad — it’s the best thing that ever happened,” says the 48-year-old. a light on a momentous —
Elder, currently a standby in the revival of Torch Song Trilogy, which ends its Broadway run on though largely forgotten —
Jan. 6, has been a regular visitor to D.C., most recently last summer when he starred in Passion at chapter in theater history. The
Signature Theatre. As it happens, Rosen was in D.C. with Elder for much of that summer sojourn, drama by Vogel, a lesbian and
as he was gearing up to helm a production of Paula Vogel’s Indecent that recently launched at native of D.C., relays a cen-
Arena Stage and will travel in 2019 with the same cast and crew to Kansas City Rep and Baltimore’s tury-old story of a time when
Center Stage. New York authorities shut
“Indecent really marks the beginning of the next part of my life,” says Rosen, who has complet- down a Broadway show and
ed a 10-year run at KC Rep. The tenure “wasn’t ever controversial, but I certainly pushed the enve- arrested 16 members of the
lope hard, not just in terms of LGBTQ issues, but in terms of diverse casting...and in the amount of cast and crew for indecency —
outreach we were doing in communities that traditionally weren’t involved in the company. And it chiefly due to a frank and rel-
changed the city, it changed the community. And that was all really exciting, to shake things up in atively flattering depiction of
a big way [to show] that, wow, theater matters. same-sex love and sexuality.
“Honestly though,” he adds, “I just felt like I was starting to lose sight of the work I want to “I majored in Jewish and

26 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 27
queer literature and theater both as an undergraduate and grad-
uate student,” Rosen says. “So in a way, I was born to direct this
play. I’ve been thinking and talking about these issues forever.”
METRO WEEKLY: Indecent surprises people because of its lesbian
content, which is notable given that it’s based on a play from over
a century ago.
ERIC ROSEN: Indecent is a play about a play called the God of
Vengeance. I first read God of Vengeance when I was a graduate
student at Northwestern, maybe 23 years old, studying Jewish
theater, with a particular interest in how LGBTQ issues were
represented in the early 20th century. God of Vengeance was
included in a book called “Three Great Jewish Plays.” I flipped
through and stumbled upon the scene of the two girls in the
rain. I had to close the cover to make sure I was reading the
right book. It was just so unimaginable that there was this really
potent, really gorgeous, really lyrical lesbian relationship at the
center of this Jewish play that at that time I thought no one
had ever heard of. I thought I’d made the great discovery of the
century.
God of Vengeance is a play about a girl who falls in love with
an older woman, and her punishment in this moral universe is
that she has to go live with her girlfriend. That’s supposed to be
the tragic ending I guess, but I don’t think [playwright] Sholem
Asch meant it to be tragic. I think he meant it to say this love was
the only pure thing in this very immoral world.
MW: In his letter defending the work, reprinted in the Arena Stage
program guide, Asch refers to the relationship as being as much
maternal as it is romantic.
ROSEN: He says it’s all kinds of love — maternal, sisterly. But he
does nod to it being a romantic love, and it’s clear that it is. When
you’re trying to defend your play against charges of indecency or
obscenity, you might try to paint a different picture than even if
you’re just talking about it [casually]. I think he was incredibly
progressive. All his work is incredibly forward-thinking, and it’s
comforting to me in a way that there was this guy 110 years ago
thinking and talking about the same issues that we’re thinking
and talking about now — about LGBTQ issues, about Jewish
stuff. It makes me feel less alone in the universe.
MW: Do you know what inspired Asch to write about a lesbian
relationship? Was it common in his era?
ROSEN: It was not unheard of. There are lesbian stories in the
book that Fiddler on the Roof is based on by Sholem Aleichem
called Tevye the Dairyman. There are same-sex relationships
that pop up, particularly among women, in Jewish literature
from the era. Not a ton — three or four examples. So it wasn’t
like he was pulling the idea out of the air. Also at the turn of the
century, as Asch says in this play, everyone was talking about
sexual identity. Everyone was talking about Freud and the last
great resurgence or opening up of sexual identity before the Gay
Liberation Movement. All across Europe and Eastern Europe
and in England — Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust — there were tons
of interesting things being said and written between 1880 and
1920. Then after the depression, the world became much scarier
and more conservative.
Asch’s play had been performed all over the world in front
of tens of thousands of people within the tent, so to speak —
among Jewish people in Yiddish, [or] when it was performed in
German. I think what Paula Vogel is really asking with this play
is why it was not controversial then and only [became so] at a
really critical moment in Jewish history in the early ’20s, when
many Jewish leaders were trying to lift quota laws so that all the
Jews fleeing Europe would have a place to go. They were essen-
28 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
tially uncomfortable about any representation of Jewish life that
was perceived as immoral or obscene. And I don’t think that’s
necessarily an invalid concern given what we know came next.
So I have a lot of compassion in a way, especially since
the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh. I used to think Rabbi
Silverman, who petitioned to have the play shut down, was sort
of the antagonist. Since history has changed in the course of this
rehearsal process, I think he might’ve had a point. I don’t think
that’s what Paula is arguing, but it is a complex issue when you
have a culture and a language and a history and a people trying to
emigrate to a new place. The parallels are terrifying every time
you turn on the news. What we’re doing on our southern border
is not dissimilar to what the United States was doing in the ’20s
in terms of who we turned away and what we ignored. Shiploads
of Jews were sent back to their own fates. So it’s a complex set
of issues.
MW: You’re saying you had a different take on this play a year —
even a few months ago — than you do now?
ROSEN: What’s fascinating is that when I first saw this play, I felt
it was important and exciting, but the Holocaust wasn’t much on
my mind. Anti-Semitism wasn’t on my mind. Hatred of gay peo-
ple, of governmental policies curtailing our rights, wasn’t much
on my mind. But now, especially in the six weeks that I’ve been
here, history has changed. And you can feel it in the audience
— that people are receiving this play in a much more personal
way, that it feels very close to how we’re living right now. And I
would’ve had no way of knowing that was going to be true. I’m
sorry that it’s true. But as an artist, I’m lucky to get to be working
on a play that gives me some feeling of power to be able to talk
about our biggest fears as communities of difference.
For people who identify as queer/LGBTQ, people who iden-
tify as Jewish, who identify as anything other than White Anglo
Saxon, it’s a complicated moment. The play really tackles that
head-on in a way that is also really funny and sexy and vibrant
— and it isn’t sad until it’s sad. But I think if it works, you leave
wanting to pull it apart and understand how and why those
issues happen and how they relate to now. As someone who
makes plays, that’s the most you can hope for.
MW: There’s also more to Indecent than just the historical lesbian
content that makes it a must-see for LGBTQ individuals.
ROSEN: At its heart, Indecent is a play about a scene, and that
scene is about two women in love kissing in the rain. That scene
literally changed the world — changed how LGBTQ people were
represented on stage in New York and in England for the next 40
years. Tennessee Williams wrote the way he wrote elliptically in
and around sexual identity because of what this play triggered in
the culture. All or much of 20th century literature was impacted
by this one scene in this one play that happened to be about a
lesbian kiss — that, to me, is thrilling. And it’s so exciting to me
to think when gay people come to the play, that we see a piece
of history that most of us couldn’t have imagined is true, but it is
true. That gives me a tremendous amount of hope that the work
we’re doing right now will be relevant a hundred years from now
and that we’re standing on the shoulders of people that we’ve
never heard of, never thought about. But they gave us an inheri-
tance really as powerful as anything we received from the great
LGBTQ writers of the mid-20th century.
We went from an experience of tremendous freedom as
LGBTQ people and Jewish people to a terrifyingly restrictive
and murderous and genocidal impulse to uproot both gay people
and Jewish people out of the world. But that there was this other
period that lasted 30 or 40 years, like ours has, in which there
was a tremendous amount of freedom, it gives me hope that we’ll
get through what we’re living through right now and come out
on the other side in a better moment.
MW: When you were studying queer theater and starting About
Face, did you think you would ever become a father or legally
marry?
ROSEN: No. We actually wrote a play that was performed at the
Democratic National Convention in Chicago in ‘96 that was very
critical of the Defense of Marriage Act. So we were talking about
marriage issues in the earliest days of our theater company. We
were really wrestling with how can we live in a world in which
DOMA is the law of the land and how Clinton could even sign it.
But it wasn’t a logical progression. We had just gotten through
the worst of the AIDS crisis.
People who were five years older than me were really kind
of the last generation in which many people lost many, many
friends. I’ve sadly lost three or four people that I loved to HIV
and AIDS — but not 40. So the culture was changing, life was
changing. And I didn’t really have a glimpse that my future was
going to include getting married. But I did always want kids and
I always talked about that being a life goal from when I was 24.
When I took the job directing the Kansas City Repertory
Theatre, I thought, “All right, I’m just going to be single and I’m
“At the heart of our history, there is an important play
that we don’t know about. MUCH OF 20TH CENTURY
LITERATURE WAS IMPACTED BY THIS ONE SCENE
IN THIS ONE PLAY THAT HAPPENED TO BE ABOUT A
LESBIAN KISS.”
gonna work hard and my life is just going to be about building my
career, and that’s perfectly fine.” And then 10 months later, I met
Clay. And two years after that we were engaged. And then had a
kid four years after we married. And here we are. So remember-
ing that gives me courage in this moment as I’m looking forward.
I don’t exactly know what’s going to happen, but I think it’s
when you take that kind of unlikely step, amazing things happen
and your whole life changes.
MW: You were in Chicago before Kansas City, but you didn’t grow
up there, right?
ROSEN: No, I’m actually from Asheville, North Carolina. I went
to UNC Chapel Hill for undergrad. And I lived in North Carolina
on and off until I was about 14. My parents divorced, and then
my dad’s family moved to a suburb in New York and I went to
junior high and high school there.
MW: Did you aspire to a life in the theater growing up?
ROSEN: Pretty much. I was the lead in high school plays. And I
went to college thinking I was going to be an actor, but then I
started directing plays my sophomore year of college and I’ve
never been in a play since. I have no idea if I was a good actor
or not but I didn’t love doing it. As soon as I directed a play I
thought, “Oh this is what I’m supposed to do.”
But I was also very curious about ideas and books and was
kind of nerdy and academic. So getting a doctorate seemed like
the right path for me at the time.
MW: When did you come out?
ROSEN: Right after I got to Northwestern. I was 21 or 22. The
Stonewall 25th anniversary I remember really clearly, that was
the summer of ’94. I came out about two years before that. It
was an exciting time to be gay and kind of claim it proudly and
openly. In North Carolina, I didn’t date and I was really serious.
I worked really hard. So for me coming out was an explosion into
being alive and it was thrilling and fun.
And I’m lucky that I didn’t live in a time or grow up in a
family in which it was shameful. It wasn’t. When I came out,
my parents said, “Of course we knew that. We’ve known that
since you were little.” I wish someone had told me. I’m one of
five children, but I’m the only gay in the entire extended family.
That I know of.
MW: You grew up Jewish?
ROSEN: Mostly. My biological mother was not born Jewish but
she converted and we were raised Jewish. But my parents were
hippies. And they didn’t care. So I wasn’t raised in any reli-
gious way. My freshman year of college I took a History of the
Holocaust class, and it just floored me. I knew about that stuff,
but at that time — it was 44 years after the Holocaust when I
took that class — and that’s not a lot of time. 44 years ago from
now is the ’70s.
MW: That’s an interesting perspective.
ROSEN: I was an 18-year-old kid in North Carolina finding
out that that’s where half of my family died. It becomes really
personal when you think “My grandfather’s family, my grand-
mother’s family, everyone who didn’t emigrate and come over
is dead.”
I remember feeling outraged that I didn’t know this history
more. When I came out I was outraged that I didn’t know how
much of this stuff there was in the world. And one of the reasons
I wanted to start About Face was to create a place where young
people, especially, could find themselves represented on stage.
One of the things we did at About Face was start a program for
high school students, the About Face Youth Theatre, in which
we created new plays with out kids long before anybody was
doing that kind of work. And they had those plays about their
own lives performed in our main stage season. So you’d have all
these adults who had just gotten through the AIDS crisis coming
and hearing these stories of these out kids, and it was really pow-
erful — for the adults and for the young people. That program
still exists. It’s been going on for 22 years and the first class of
that program in ’99 are now pushing 40. Which is so weird. But
that was always so important to me that I could make a differ-
ence in using theater to make visible what had been invisible and
to make safe what had felt so threatening, and to do that in a way
that you couldn’t undo.
I think that by working with young people in theater, you’re
DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 29
planting seeds that are going to flourish 20 years from now, MW: What other LGBTQ plays would you like to stage or revisit?
and who those people are in the world as lawyers or bankers or ROSEN: I’m actually thinking about that a lot. The first play that
spouses or artists. What they did at our theater is part of who About Face did was a play called Dream Boy based on a novel by
they are now, and that’s really moving to me. Especially now as a Jim Grimsley published in the mid ’90s. And I’ve been talking to
new dad. In a very personal way I’m like “Wow, everything I’m him about rewriting and reviving it.
doing right now is going to be a part of who Bo is his whole life.” I worked with him to turn it into a play, and it was hugely
It reminds me of how I successful. It ran in Chicago twice and it’s been all over the west
felt about working with coast and at small, gay theaters. It’s about a romance between
kids when I was in my a younger boy and an older boy in rural North Carolina. And
20s and early 30s. what starts as a romance turns really gothic, with child abuse,
MW: Building on what rape and murder, and incest. But it’s about the power of love,
you said about feelings too. It kind of transcends the damage we do to children. I hadn’t
of historical outrage, it thought about it in a long time and recently it’s come back into
wasn’t until I went to the my mind as something that I want to revisit. It was so much a
U.S. Holocaust Museum part of my life in my mid-20s. Now that I’m older and have a
soon after it opened that kid, maybe I have a deepened point of view about it. I can see it
I became fully aware maybe more universally now.
of the gay aspect of the If you’re lucky, there are six or seven stories that kind of take
genocide. you over as an artist that you spend years thinking about. I’ve
ROSEN: I was just at the had five stories that have just — how do I say it? — I’ve been
Holocaust Museum the compelled to spend my life working on, or thinking about how
other day. A very emo- to give them new life.
tional day. Especially in In addition to Dream Boy, another one I did was a musical
working on this play, it about Walt Whitman’s life. I quote Whitman’s work daily even
felt both necessary to go when I don’t know that I am. Reading Whitman when you
because we’re talking are open to it as a gay man is really profound and beautiful.
about some complicat- Particularly Whitman in Washington during the Civil War is
ed real lives in the play. emblematic of how we’re living right now. How he was trying to
It’s very well researched make poetry knit the country back together while also express-
and Paula Vogel knows ing his own hidden and not-so-hidden sexual desire.
what she’s talking about. MW: Are you actively writing these days?
There are survivors and ROSEN: I’m actually writing a television pilot about the
children of survivors Appalachian Trail murders of 1981 and 2008 — two sets of dou-
that are coming to see ble homicides by the same guy, set exactly 27 years apart to the
the show, especially week in exactly the same place. And that’s kind of framing a larg-
here and in Baltimore. er story about race and class and real estate and control of a town
That’s an important outside of Asheville, North Carolina. It’s based on something
thing that we have to that happened to me when I was a kid. The summer of the 1981
handle with respect and murders was spent trying to find the Appalachian Trail killer. So
integrity. I’ve been obsessed with it my whole life.
MW: It could be that MW: When I interviewed your husband back in August, he men-
some of your family, your tioned that you are writing something together.
ancestors, those who per- ROSEN: We have a fun game that we play. We’ll open up the
ished in the Holocaust, computer, and I’ll write five sentences of a scene and leave the
that some of them might computer open. I’ll go away and he’ll write something and I’ll pick
have been gay. that up and write back. We’re essentially trying to figure out a way
ROSEN: Maybe! I mean, to document our journey as parents in a way that’s not precious or
I don’t know. My grand- romantic, just kind of, “Here’s what it’s like. Here’s what it’s like
father’s family, they when we took the road trip to get Bo.” There are so many funny
came from a little tiny things that have happened to us as parents. And we’re trying to find
town in Poland. Not that a way to jointly tell that story that captures the goofy.
far from Krakow. This play shows that it was complicated. We’re both such stupidly, silly people. If you look at Clay’s
Asch, too, came from a shtetl in Poland, and his wife was much Instagram page, you can see all the funny videos of just stupid
smarter than him. Much more educated. She was the socialist, things we’ve done, or the hilarious moments we’ve had with Bo.
she sort of taught him. So if he came from a shtetl and he was I feel like there’s a story to tell there. We’re not through the story
writing about lesbian identity in his very early work, then yeah, yet, so I think right now we’re just trying to document that, so
there must have been, right? Cause he was writing about what that when we’re ready to kind of look back and maybe publish
he knew and the world he came from. He wanted to write things something about it, we’ll have more notes towards something.
that are about everyone, and I.L. Peretz, the Yiddish literature Clay is the funniest person I know. People see him as leading
giant of the era, said, “Write what you know.” And that’s one of man handsome and stuff, but in private, he’s just hilarious. I’m
the creative arguments in the play — do you write from your own always trying to find a way to frame all the things he does. To
experience or do you write from your own imagination? I think share that in a story is kind of a bigger goal, or a bigger idea.
it’s an interesting question. Right now I’m kind of ending this cycle of my life as an artis-

30 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

“[The Holocaust is] where the other half of my
family died. It becomes really personal when
you think ‘MY GRANDFATHER’S FAMILY, MY
GRANDMOTHER’S FAMILY, EVERYONE WHO
DIDN’T EMIGRATE AND COME OVER
IS DEAD.’”
tic director and starting this next chapter really focusing on the
stories I want to tell. I’m in the bridge time. Indecent is the thing
that connects those two lives.
MW: Are you optimistic about the state of gay theater?
ROSEN: In the way that the events at the Pittsburgh synagogue
has ignited a conversation within the Jewish community about
what it means to be Jewish in America, the Pulse nightclub
shootings triggered, for me, a real return to questions I was ask-
ing 20, 25 years ago, about what theater can do. We live in these
bubbles, and we think we’ve progressed so far.
People ask, “Do we need gay theater anymore? Do we need
Jewish theater anymore?” I think that’s like asking, “Why do we
need stories?” The unique identity of About Face is as a place in
32 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
which you can tell the truth about your life without pretending,
without apologizing.
What About Face meant was showing face and sharing it pub-
licly, so that we can tell stories like Doug Wright’s I Am My Own
Wife, which I’m not sure could have happened had there not
been an About Face championing it, when people were saying,
“Who cares about that transsexual German lady?” In moments
when our community is in crisis or peril, these institutions give
us shelter and meaning. l
Indecent runs to Dec. 30 at the Kreeger Theater in the Mead
Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Call 202-488-3300
or visit arenastage.org.
 Stage

Essaying the company’s Ingénue roles,

Emily Shackelford clips impressively

Staging a Scandal
through a variety of accents, and sings
Alexander Sovronsky’s original music
beautifully. She also pairs nicely with Max
Wolkowitz, as younger versions of Asch
Arena’s potent Indecent offers a canny reconstruction and his reassuring wife Madje, and with
of a century-old controversy. By André Hereford Susan Lynskey, portraying the girls in love
in Asch’s play.

W
As the rep company’s stage manager
hen it opened on Broadway in 1923, Sholem Asch’s drama The God of and leading player, Ben Cherry does much
Vengeance caused quite an uproar — and not just because of its lesbian to keep the pace of the decades-spanning
romance. The provocative three-act play, originally written and performed Indecent flowing. In his role as Lemml,
in Yiddish, also raised eyebrows with its dramatization of a Jewish brothel owner’s the company member who most believes
precarious spiritual journey. At the time, the play was branded obscene, and its cast and in Asch’s play, Cherry literally keeps the
producers were hauled off to jail. plot flowing with narration and expository
Asch’s intent as a storyteller might have been obscured by scandal, but history hasn’t dialogue. The character can seem cloying,
forgotten him. Over ninety years later, Asch and The God of Vengeance returned to with Cherry perhaps overplaying the actor’s
Broadway as the subjects of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel’s Indecent wide-eyed innocence, but Lemml’s faith in
(HHHHH). Asch is meant to be a propelling force.
Viewing these real-life events through a modern lens, Indecent synthesizes history, The story passes from the playwright’s
tragedy, music, and satire into a presentation that’s thematically rich and technically bedroom in 1906, to stages across Europe,
complex. In a solid new production at Arena Stage, director Eric Rosen and his compa- and up and down Manhattan in the ’20s,
ny handle those distinct challenges adroitly. with dark detours to jail, then the Lodz
A shrewd and compassionate play about a play, Indecent restates Sholem Asch’s ghetto and into a concentration camp.
case for warts-and-all authenticity by portraying elements of his life, and of the lives of Jack Magaw’s versatile scenery keeps pace
the players who performed his so-called obscene play. The production’s multitasking with the action, with heavy wood beams
actors, singers, and musicians embody the scrappy Jewish repertory company that first rising and falling to frame key moments.
performed Asch’s work, as well as several casts of actors who have played it since. The beams occasionally draw close to
Performing the Elder roles for the company, Victor Raider-Wexler and Susan show the walls crowding in around the
Rome anchor the team with dexterous timing and, at times, heartrending emotion. characters, or the world crashing down on

DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 33

the entire Jewish community.
The cast carries off their multiple role switches seamlessly as
the players’ stories merge in a multilayered chronology with the
stories of Asch’s fictional characters, with his manuscript, and
with the traditions of Yiddish theatre.
Even the diatribes of Asch’s fiercest critics are given voice.
A rabbi (well-played by Ethan Watermeier) sermonizes against
The God of Vengeance, and prospective investors denounce it.
Asch is forced to respond to criticism that he should write about
more valiant, upstanding Jews, but Indecent asserts his right to
write characters from every walk of life.
In its clear support of the artist and the play, Indecent speaks
for writers who put reporting their truth ahead of prettifying
their culture. The one unforgivable mistake would be for the
artist to sell out his truth for a quick buck. Dishonesty is what’s
truly obscene.
Vogel glorifies artists who risk it all for truth, and
finds beauty in the culture she’s deconstructing. Indecent
espouses a warm nostalgia for language and folk music,
for the theater and for traveling troupes of players. The
same-sex love story that’s central to Asch’s play ripples
throughout the play, as well.
Lemml says he can never remember where this story begins,
as a hint that this story never ends either. Its tale of hope and
love and fear and oppression just keeps getting retold by dif-
ferent players on different stages, drifting further and further
from the truth — except for those instances when someone cares
enough to hold tight onto the facts. l

Indecent runs through December 30 at Arena Stage, 1101 6th St. SW.
Tickets are $40 to $105. Call (202) 488-3300, or visit arenastage.org.

in jeopardy. She’ll be deported unless she

can prove some Irish heritage. It’s during
the course of a two-week reprieve from
potential deportation that Kate and Sonya
fall into a romantic bliss that will change
both their lives.
Their experience fighting to prove
their relationship to the government also
awakens Sonya to the daunting challeng-
es facing immigrants everywhere. While
that awakening might be the play’s intent,
Sonya and Kate’s love story, charming as it
is, doesn’t really produce the transcendent
effect of a hard-won lesson or epiphany.
Rendered, more or less, as a monologue
by Beckman as Sonya, with frequent dra-
matic assists from onstage partner Fruit
in various roles, the romance feels focused
but light. Sonya and Kate are a pair of lik-
able characters who seem to have never
considered that crossing borders isn’t easy
for anyone, anywhere, these days, even
happy-go-lucky Australians.
Tom Story’s direction leans toward the
comedy in the script, with the energet-

Foreign Relations
ic Beckman plying an amusingly broad
Aussie twang for Sonya’s loving impres-
sion of Kate, who might as well be from
another planet, given how entirely foreign
some of the Aussie’s ways seem to her
A two-person cast works tirelessly but the story feels slight in partner.
How to Keep an Alien. By André Hereford Many of the other comic details are
equally broad, though not always for the

I
better. Heralding an arrival Down Under
F SONYA KELLY’S HOW TO KEEP AN ALIEN (HHHHH), NOW AT SOLAS NUA, with the most obvious Men at Work music
a multimedia company devoted exclusively to contemporary Irish arts, isn’t quite cue gets a laugh but doesn’t say anything
diverting enough, it isn’t exactly the fault of Tonya Beckman and Nick Fruit, the specific about these two people. How to
two performers onstage. Beckman carries the bulk of the piece portraying a version of Keep an Alien seeks to magnify the small-
Kelly in this autobiographical comedy based on the Irish playwright’s romance with scale story of one couple’s ordeal into a
her foreign-born partner, Kate. tale containing multitudes, but its reach
When the two meet, Kate’s resident alien status as an Australian living in Ireland is doesn’t extend that wide. l

How to Keep an Alien runs through December 16 at Dance Loft on 14th, 4618 14th St. SW. Tickets are $35 to $45. Call 765-276-8201
or visit solasnua.org.

34 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 Stage

dunit as a whydunit.
That said — and this is partly the result

Eat the Rich

of using the larger Sidney Harman ver-
sus the more intimate Lansburgh theater
— there is something a bit shouty about
the production. Trying to be heard as
Shakespeare Theatre’s An Inspector Calls is visually stunning, but they move in and out of the (spectacular)
loses details in its to-the-rafters delivery. By Kate Wingfield house, visit phone booths, and roam the
large stage, requires a lot of projection.

W
The gain is a cavernously atmospheric
ith Ian MacNeil’s stunning, surreal set evoking a sinister doll’s house, direc- sense of place, the loss is that it’s all writ
tor Stephen Daldry’s revival of J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls (HHHHH) too large for much nuance — either in
is certainly visually arresting. Add Stephen Warbeck’s striking music — expression or voice — though the ensem-
reminiscent of Benjamin Britten’s sense of spiritual panic — and the play moves from ble does much with their body language to
drawing room drama into more existential territory. The plot may become increasingly make up for it.
predictable, but it’s a production that invites us to look for more, be it metaphor, ghost The inspector, aptly named Goole, is
story, or social and political commentary. a pivotal role and Liam Brennan largely
However one responds to the wider interpretations, there is nothing obtuse in the delivers the goods, playing him with a kind
story: a police inspector arrives at a dinner party to announce that a young woman has of impenetrable determination that does
committed suicide. As the evening unfolds, the inspector questions each family mem- much to drive the drama with the neces-
ber in turn, and in doing so much is revealed of their values and their relationship to sary momentum. He does a fair amount
the woman in question. It’s quickly established that she is working class and that the of mysterious this and that — connecting
family members view themselves as, if not aristocrats, then upper-middle class (in the silently with a small boy on the perimeter
English sense). Thus, it is truly an “inspection” of the way in which each has relied on of the action, taking off his jacket and
the stratification of society to justify their actions, attitudes and, ultimately, callous rolling up his sleeves — and it all suggests
disregard for another human being. a bit of portent and adds to the absurdist
And Priestley has no interest in hiding his message — to the point of having the lean here. In counterpoint to the calm
inspector deliver a speech beseeching us all to treat others with compassion. Written and collected Goole is Jeff Harmer’s Mr.
in 1945, he may have been exploring any number of realities in Britain at the time: the Birling, the family patriarch. Interestingly,
enduring injustices of a deeply-rooted class system; the vestiges of stifling and often Birling’s accent is Northern, suggesting
ruthless Victorian values; the soul-shaking horrors of a war that had only just ended. (intentionally or otherwise), that he is
Seeing the story in these terms makes its unfolding more meaningful, even if it can self-made versus born to it, and, if you are
never quite overcome its slightly methodical feel. Ultimately, it is not so much a who- inclined to see the play in such terms, it

DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 35

 adds an intriguing dimension to the questions of
class. Harmer plays it grumpy and highly-strung
and it works.
Far more to the manner born is Christine
Kavanagh’s Mrs. Birling, who offers a regal bear-
ing and all-around intolerance for anything she
perceives to be beneath her. Kavanagh is a strong
presence, but there isn’t the intimacy for a more
nuanced take. As her daughter, Sheila Birling,
Lianne Harvey certainly uses the space, but her
voice is a tad too delicate for the surrounds. The
choice to have her — the young female of the cast
— partly disrobe grated, even if she doesn’t reveal
much. Aren’t we past this yet?
As her fiancé, Gerald Croft, Andrew Macklin
delivers the right amount of buttoned-down enti-
tlement, but again — at the risk of sounding repet-
itive — anyone familiar with old British films will
hanker for more subtle affectation, both vocal
and expressive. Bringing a sense of volatility if
not wholly convincing is Hamish Riddle as Eric
Birling, the young family scion. Finally, miming as
the family factotum, Diana Payne-Myers deliver
some amusingly silent commentary.
All told, there is something compellingly skew-
whiff in the way Daldry delivers Priestley’s decep-
tively simple message. It gives one just enough
pause. l

An Inspector Calls runs through Dec. 23 at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street NW.
Tickets are $44 to $118. Call 202-547-1122 or visit shakespearetheatre.org.

36 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

ROD HOFFMAN
Music

each one holds up and are all enjoyable

Dolly World
enough to listen to. “Girl in the Movies”
is a plaintive “I want” ballad sung from
the perspective of someone on the outside
looking in, a recurring theme revisited on
the slightly more uplifting “Red Shoes.”
Dolly Parton takes a Netflix film as an opportunity to revisit old hits, By their nature, Parton’s well-known hits
craft new material, and work with longtime idols. By Sean Maunier are mostly catchy, upbeat, and celebratory,
and so it makes sense that the original

N
work created to fill out the soundtrack
ETFLIX HAS GIVEN US SO MANY STRANGE THINGS OVER THE YEARS would tend to be more maudlin out of
that it’s hard to be surprised anymore, but an album of twelve new songs from necessity to fit the film’s more somber
Dolly Parton is a new one. Still, her authenticity and relentless positivity made moments. The exception is “If We Don’t,”
her a natural choice to score their feel-good musical comedy, Dumplin’. which has more of the classic, plucky
In approaching her to craft their entire soundtrack, the producers of Dumplin’ country sound of 1970s Parton and stands
were gambling on an approach that has produced at least as many flops as success- out as the best of the original material.
es. Approaching an artist to write an original number or two is reasonably common The highlight of the soundtrack, how-
practice, but having them turn out an album’s worth of material is not only ambitious, ever, are the updated versions of Parton’s
it’s rare for a reason. They could have played it safe and sought permission to use older hits. As much as Parton shines here,
existing recordings of Parton’s hits, which probably would have resulted in a perfectly the success of the songs owes much to the
enjoyable, if unremarkable score. And that might well have happened had Parton not other artists accompanying her. Before
immediately clicked with songwriter Linda Perry and decided to expand their collab- the new version of “Here I Am” dropped
oration beyond the theme song she had originally agreed to create. Rather than put in September, it would have been hard
out a whole record of new material, Parton and Perry opted to split the difference, and to imagine Sia topping the country music
the soundtrack features six re-recorded songs and six created exclusively for the film. charts. Their duet rendition of the 1971
Luckily for Dumplin’, Dolly Parton pulled it off, probably in no small part because hit works remarkably well, with Sia and
of her own enthusiasm for the project. How well it holds up as a soundtrack will be Parton playing off one another perfectly,
seen when the movie arrives on Netflix on December 7, but on its own merits Parton’s each lending the track the emotive power
Dumplin’ (HHHHH) works just as well as a standalone album. While it does lean heav- it deserves.
ily on the film’s themes of longing for a better life and budding self-love, it does not Even more impressive is the rework of
immediately sound like it was created around a film. “Two Doors Down” featuring DOROTHY
The original songs written for Dumplin’ are not Parton’s best work, to be sure, but and the legendary Macy Gray. Not all of the

DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 37

songs improve on the er. Aside from Miranda
originals — the string Lambert, drowned out
version of “Jolene” that somewhat on “Dumb
closes out the film is one Blonde,” it’s easy to
of the more interesting get the impression that
takes on Parton’s iconic Parton could work well
and endlessly-covered with anyone, no matter
single, but it is also an how far outside her coun-
easily forgettable down- try music wheelhouse
er. “Holdin’ On To You” they are.
is barely distinguish- Between the songs she
able from the original, penned alongside Perry
although Elle King’s and the stunning duets
rockabilly-adjacent with other incredible art-
style makes her a natu- ists, Parton’s talent for
ral partner for Parton. collaboration is perhaps
At their worst, the greatest strength of
the low points of the Dumplin’. As a result,
soundtrack are mere- this is that rare kind of
ly unremarkable com- soundtrack that can stand
pared to the standouts. independently of its film.
Strictly speaking, there Even if a touchy-feely
isn’t a bad song on here. movie about mothers and
Although a strong artist daughters and beauty
in her own right, one pageants isn’t your thing,
of Parton’s more under- Parton’s soundtrack
rated gifts is that she deserves a spin. l
is a natural team play-

The Dumplin’ soundtrack is available now on CD for $9.98 at Amazon.com and on most streaming services, such as Spotify and Apple
Music. The movie, starring Jennifer Aniston, will be available on Netflix Friday, Dec. 7.

38 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

NightLife Photography by
Ward Morrison

DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 39

Scene Capital Pride’s Red Party ar Echostage - Saturday, Dec. 1 - Photography by Ward Morrison
See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

DrinksDragDJsEtc... TRADE GREEN LANTERN PITCHERS Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors

Thursday, of Beer all night • Sports
Leagues Night
December 6
NUMBER NINE
A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
Open 5pm-2am • Happy
Hour: $2 off everything
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
until 9pm • Video Games PITCHERS
• Live televised sports Open 5pm-2am • Happy
Hour: $2 off everything
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR until 9pm • Video Games
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • • Foosball • Live televised
Karaoke, 9pm sports • Full dining menu
till 9pm • Special Late
GREEN LANTERN Night menu till 11pm •
Happy Hour, 4-9pm Visit pitchersbardc.com
• Shirtless Thursday,
10-11pm • Men in SHAW’S TAVERN
Underwear Drink Free, Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
12-12:30am • DJs Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
BacK2bACk $5 House Wines, $5 Rail
Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR and Select Appetizers • All
Beat the Clock Happy Hour You Can Eat Ribs, 5-10pm,
— $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $24.95 • $4 Corona and
$4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets Heineken all night
Doors open 5pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
All male, nude dancers •
Open Dancers Audition •
Urban House Music by DJ
Tim-e • 9pm • Cover 21+
Friday,
December 7
A LEAGUE OF HER OWN
Open 5pm-3am • Happy
Hour: $2 off everything
until 9pm • Video Games
• Live televised sports
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm •
Karaoke, 9pm
Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3
Rail and Domestic • $5
Svedka, all flavors all night
long • Jock the Halls:
Mega Underwear Party,
featuring Beaux Banks,
10pm-close • DJ Tryfe
• GoGo Dancers • Free
Giveaways from Andrew
Christian and Fleshjack •
$5 and $8 Drink Specials
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Open 3pm • Beat the
Clock Happy Hour — $2
(5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4
(7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer,
$15 • Weekend Kickoff
Dance Party, with Nellie’s
DJs spinning bubbly pop
music all night
NUMBER NINE
Open 5pm • Happy Hour:
2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm
• No Cover • Friday Night
Piano with Chris, 7:30pm •
Rotating DJs, 9:30pm
Open 5pm-3am • Happy
Hour: $2 off everything
until 9pm • Video Games
• Foosball • Live televised
sports • Full dining menu
till 9pm • Special Late
Night menu till 2am • Visit
pitchersbardc.com
SHAW’S TAVERN
Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
$5 House Wines, $5 Rail
Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
and Select Appetizers
TRADE
Doors open 5pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm •
Guest dancers • Rotating
DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva
at 9pm, Shows at 11:30pm
and 1:45am • DJ Don T. in
Ziegfeld’s • Cover 21+
Saturday,
December 8
A LEAGUE OF HER OWN
Open 2pm-3am • Video
Games • Live televised
sports
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Saturday Breakfast Buffet,
10am-3pm • $14.99 with
one glass of champagne
or coffee, soda or juice •
Additional champagne $2
per glass • World Tavern
Poker Tournament, 1-3pm
• Crazy Hour, 4-8pm •
Freddie’s Follies Drag
Show, hosted by Miss
Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm
• Karaoke, 10pm-close

40 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5
Bacardi, all flavors, all
night long • Freeballers:
No Underwear Party,
10pm-close • Featuring
DJs BacK2bACk • Clothes
check available • 21+
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Drag Brunch, hosted
by Chanel Devereaux,
10:30am-12:30pm and
1-3pm • Tickets on sale
at nelliessportsbar.com
• House Rail Drinks, Zing
Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie
Beer and Mimosas, $4,
11am-3am • Buckets of
Beer, $15 • Guest DJs
NUMBER NINE
Doors open 2pm • Happy
Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink,
2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5
Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close
• Pop Tarts, featuring DJs
BacK2bACk, 9:30pm
PITCHERS
Open Noon-3am • Video
Games • Foosball • Live
televised sports • Full
dining menu till 9pm •
Special Late Night menu
till 2am • Visit pitchers-
bardc.com
SHAW’S TAVERN
Brunch with $15
Bottomless Mimosas,
10am-3pm • Happy Hour,
5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite,
$4 Blue Moon, $5 House
Wines, $5 Rail Drinks •
Half-Priced Pizzas and
Select Appetizers
TRADE
Doors open 2pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
2-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 41
 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm-4am
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Ella’s Sunday Drag Brunch,
NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
SHAW’S TAVERN
Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3
Monday, NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Beat the Clock Happy Hour
• Guest dancers • Ladies 10am-3pm • $24.99 with drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, December 10 — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
of Illusion Drag Show four glasses of champagne and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of
with host Ella Fitzgerald or mimosas, 1 Bloody 9pm-close • Multiple TVs Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Beer, $15 • Half-Priced
• Doors at 9pm, Shows Mary, or coffee, soda or showing movies, shows, and Select Appetizers • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Burgers • Paint Nite, 7pm
at 11:30pm and 1:45am juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm sports • Expanded craft DC Different Drummers Singles Night • Half-Priced • PokerFace Poker, 8pm •
• DJ Don T. in Ziegfeld’s • Karaoke, 9pm-close beer selection • Pop After-Concert Happy Hour, Pasta Dishes • Poker Night Dart Boards • Ping Pong
• DJ Steve Henderson in Goes the World with Wes 5pm • Dinner-n-Drag, with — 7pm and 9pm games • Madness, featuring 2 Ping-
Secrets • Cover 21+ GREEN LANTERN Della Volla at 9:30pm • Miss Kristina Kelly, 8pm Karaoke, 9pm Pong Tables
Happy Hour, 4-9pm • No Cover • For reservations, email
Karaoke with Kevin down- shawsdinnerdragshow@ GREEN LANTERN NUMBER NINE
stairs, 9:30pm-close PITCHERS gmail.com Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
Sunday, NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Open Noon-2am • $4
Smirnoff, includes flavored, TRADE
$3 rail cocktails and
domestic beers all night
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover

December 9 Drag Brunch, hosted $4 Coors Light or $4 Miller Doors open 2pm • Huge long • Singing with the SHAW’S TAVERN
by Chanel Devereaux, Lites, 2-9pm • Video Happy Hour: Any drink Sisters: Open Mic Karaoke Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
A LEAGUE OF HER OWN 10:30am-12:30pm and Games • Foosball • Live normally served in a cock- Night with the Sisters Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
Open 2pm-12am • $4 1-3pm • Tickets on sale televised sports • Full din- tail glass served in a huge of Perpetual Indulgence, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail
Smirnoff and Domestic at nelliessportsbar.com ing menu till 9pm • Visit glass for the same price, 9:30pm-close Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
Cans • Video Games • • House Rail Drinks, Zing pitchersbardc.com 2-10pm • Beer and wine and Select Appetizers •
Live televised sports Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie only $4 Shaw ’Nuff Trivia, with
Beer and Mimosas, $4, Jeremy, 7:30pm
11am-1am • Buckets of
Beer, $15 • Guest DJs

42 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 43
TRADE
Doors open 5pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
Tuesday,
December 11
A LEAGUE OF HER OWN
Open 5pm-12am • Happy
Hour: $2 off everything
until 9pm • Video Games
• Live televised sports
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Taco
Tuesday • Poker Night —
7pm and 9pm games •
Karaoke, 9pm
44 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm
• $3 rail cocktails and
domestic beers all night
long
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Beat the Clock Happy Hour
— $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
$4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of
Beer $15 • Drag Bingo
with Sasha Adams and
Brooklyn Heights, 7-9pm •
Karaoke, 9pm-close
NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
PITCHERS
Open 5pm-12am • Happy
Hour: $2 off everything
until 9pm • Video Games
• Foosball • Live televised
sports • Full dining menu
till 9pm • Special Late
Night menu till 11pm •
Visit pitchersbardc.com
SHAW’S TAVERN
Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
$5 House Wines, $5 Rail
Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
and Select Appetizers
• Half-Priced Burgers
and Pizzas all night with
$5 House Wines and $5
Sam Adams • DC Bocce
League: Indoor Bocce,
Second Floor, 6:30pm
TRADE
Doors open 5pm • Huge
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normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
Wednesday, NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
SmartAss Trivia Night,
SHAW’S TAVERN
Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
December 12 8-10pm • Prizes include Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
bar tabs and tickets to $5 House Wines, $5 Rail
A LEAGUE OF HER OWN shows at the 9:30 Club • Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
Open 5pm-12am • Happy $15 Buckets of Beer for and Select Appetizers •
Hour: $2 off everything SmartAss Teams only • Piano Bar with Jill, 8pm
until 9pm • Video Games Absolutely Snatched Drag
• Live televised sports Show, hosted by Brooklyn TRADE
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FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR available at nelliessports- Happy Hour: Any drink
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • $6
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bar.com normally served in a cock-
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Drag Bingo Night, hosted NUMBER NINE glass for the same price,
by Ms. Regina Jozet Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any 5-10pm • Beer and wine
Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes drink, 5-9pm • No Cover only $4 l
• Karaoke, 10pm-1am
PITCHERS
GREEN LANTERN Open 5pm-12am • Happy
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 LastWord.
People say the queerest things

“Senate and congressional candidates who think they can get votes hurting and discriminating against us —
well, we can get votes too.”
— RYAN MURPHY, in a speech accepting the Trevor Project’s Hero Award, announcing his plans to create an organization that
specifically targets anti-LGBTQ politicians running for office. “In 2020, I’m going to create and fund, with corporate sponsorship,
a multi-million dollar organization that targets anti-LGBTQ candidates running for office,” he said. “You can’t keep killing our
vulnerable young people by promoting and nationalizing your rural, close-minded anti-constitutional viewpoints.”

“They were saying

they wanted people to die.”
— ASHLEY HOSKINS, a Grade 11 student at Botwood High School in Newfoundland, Canada, speaking to CBC News. A member of the
school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, Hoskins and another student said the club has been subjected to escalating harassment since the
start of the 2018 school year. “They wanted to throw us in a box, light us on fire and throw us out in the river,” Hoskins said.

“Till now I have won medals in female category but

this is what I actually wanted in my life — to
compete with other men.”
— ARYAN PASHA, an Indian bodybuilder, speaking to Gaylaxy after becoming the first transgender man to compete in the men’s
category in bodybuilding contest Musclemania India. Pasha competed against 124 cisgender men,
and placed second in the competition.

“Black young MSM engage in fewer risk behaviors but have

a much higher rate of HIV diagnosis.”
— BRIAN MUSTANSKI, senior author on a Northwestern University study which found that 16- to 29-year-old black American gay and
bisexual men are 16 times more likely acquire HIV than equivalent white men. Mustanski highlighted “social and sexual networks
[that] are more dense and interconnected” as one reason why HIV can spread “more efficiently,
despite black men reporting fewer sexual partners and more frequent safe sex practices.”

“They weren’t watching me at night,

what time of day is good for a lesbian?”
— ELLEN DEGENERES, in her Netflix special Relatable, retelling her response to a station manager who told her “No one’s going to
watch a lesbian during the day” after she first pitched her daytime talk show. DeGeneres also reflected on the cancellation of her
sitcom after she and her character came out: “I lost my sitcom when I came out, and it took three years to get back on television.”

46 DECEMBER 6, 2018 • METROWEEKLY