Reel Affirmations 26 - Metro Weekly - Oct. 17, 2019 by Metro Weekly

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October 17, 2019

CONTENTS

Volume 26 Issue 24

HAUNTED JAUNTS

Washington Walks offers two popular, annual tours spotlighting the capital’s haunted history in time for Halloween. By Doug Rule

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO REEL AFFIRMATIONS 26

From drama to comedy to everything in between, we have your definitive critic’s guide to Washington’s LGBTQ film festival.

Reviews by Rhuaridh Marr, John Riley, Randy Shulman, and Kate Wingfield

FAIRY FAIL

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil aims for world-building action, but fares much better as camp. By André Hereford

SPOTLIGHT: JAYSEN WRIGHT IN THE ROYALE p.7 OUT ON THE TOWN p.12 REBELS IN EXILE: BAGHDAD IN MY SHADOW p.14 THE FEED: TAXING SITUATION p.25 THE FEED: DEADLY HATRED p.26 THE FEED: SOUL FOOD p.26 COMMUNITY: FEELING THE IMPULSE p.28 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p.28 STAGE: DOG SEES GOD p.45 NIGHTLIFE: DRAGTOBERFEST AT RED BEAR BREWING CO. p.47 NIGHTLIFE: AVALON ANNIVERSARY p.49 NIGHTLIFE: PEACH PIT TURNS TEN p.51 SCENE: CHURCH AT TRADE p.57 SCENE: HOWARD HOMECOMING AT ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS p.60 LAST WORD p.62 Washington, D.C.’s Best LGBTQ Magazine for 25 Years

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 Illustrators David Amoroso, 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 One in Ten Cover Art David Amoroso Metro Weekly 1775 I St. NW, Suite 1150 Washington, DC 20006 202-638-6830 All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization.

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TERESA CASTRACANE

Spotlight

Jaysen Wright in The Royale

NSIDE A STARKLY LIT BOXING RING, TWO MUScle-bound pugilists trade blows before a cheering crowd. Champ and challenger dodge and weave across the mat in well-choreographed slow-motion, performing an impressionistic, theatrical take on the brutal violence of the real deal. At the center of the ring, actor Jaysen Wright dances forward to throw what could be the decisive jab in director Paige Hernandez’s powerfully kinetic production of The Royale, currently at Olney Theatre. Wright stars in the 1st Stage co-production as boxer Jay “The Sport” Jackson, a fictional version of fighter Jack Johnson, who in 1908 became the first black heavyweight champion of the world. A sports hero like none this nation had known, Johnson defeated so-called Great White Hope Jim Jeffries in the 1910 “Fight of the Century,” igniting race riots from Colorado to Columbus to Washington, D.C. In Marco Ramirez’s play, this Jackson approaches his own Fight of the Century aware that the pride he spars for inside the ring could cost his community and his family dearly outside of it. For Wright, stepping into the monumental role of an athlete who carries the weight of a nation’s hopes or fears on his shoulders required the actor to step up his physical training.

“I've done a lot of stage combat professionally, but this is the first time with boxing specifically,” he says. “So I joined a boxing gym in addition to my own gym. Then, in addition to our fight choreographer, we had a fight consultant come in — a guy who runs a boxing gym — to run us through drills and give us pointers.” In addition to studying archival footage of Jack Johnson in action, the cast also had to master the play’s distinctive synchronized dialogue and movement. “The script is super rhythmic, so it was a really hard script to memorize,” says Wright. “I don't have problems with memorization usually, but it's a lot of one line and then the ensemble will go, ‘Ha.’” Technically precise, yet fluid in its storytelling, The Royale builds to pivotal scenes not just between competitors, but also between Jackson and a woman in his corner, Nina, played in a riveting turn by Lolita Marie, whom Wright praises as “an amazing actor.” In a play about impressive athletic feats, Wright agrees that the emotional blows between Jackson and Nina truly resonate. “So much of the rest of the play is this really different, stylized work,” he says. “But what I love about that scene is that's like a book scene. That it’s just two people talking, and it manages to bring in all of the tensions that are bubbling up outside of the boxing ring itself.” —André Hereford

The Royale runs through Oct. 27 at the Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road in Olney, Md. Tickets are $42 to $74. Call 301-924-3400, or visit www.olneytheatre.org. OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Spotlight KATHY MATTEA

RETO STERCHI

The Grammy-winning Nashville hitmaker from the ’80s and ’90s has since gone in a more folk and roots-driven direction, with a more socially conscious bent, including covering classic songs about coal-mining and other land-related pursuits in Appalachia. The West Virginia native returns to the area where she has long been a popular draw. Saturday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. Weinberg Center for the Arts, 20 W. Patrick St. Frederick, Md. Tickets are $20.50 to $37.50. Call 301-600-2828 or visit www.weinbergcenter.org.

BIANCA DEL RIO: IT'S JESTER JOKE

REN KOALA

With his Joan Rivers-influenced drag comedy persona, Roy Haylock became the season six winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race five years ago. That influential TV show further propelled the self-proclaimed “clown in a gown” to the drag top tier, as signified by Del Rio’s placement at the very top of New York magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Drag Queens in America” list this past June. The onetime Capital Pride headliner returns to D.C. as part of a tour this fall touted as “the biggest-ever solo drag stand-up comedy tour in North America.” Expect a night of irreverent, side-splitting comedy from the quick-witted and perceptive cultural observer. Friday, Oct. 18. Doors at 6:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. Tickets are $39.50 to $199. Call 202-888-0050 or visit www.thelincolndc.com.

EVERYBODY

TONY POWELL

The Shakespeare Theatre Company offers a radical adaptation of the 15th-century morality play Everyman by Obie- and MacArthur “Genius” Award-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (An Octoroon). In his revamped and rechristened Everybody, Death (Nancy Robinette) pays a visit to the overly optimistic and sanguine titular character to help knock some realistic sense into them. Everybody will be played by anybody and somebody among the other nine members of the cast, chosen at random, by lottery live on stage before every performance. Will Davis directs the resulting “irreverent, rollicking” comedy also touted as remixing “the archetypal medieval morality play into an explosive experiment of wit and emotion.” In previews. To Nov. 17. Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th St. NW. Call 202-547-1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org. 8

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Spotlight THE HUNGER

Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon make out in this horror flick about a love triangle that develops among Sarandon, a scientist, and Deneuve and David Bowie, a vampire couple. The 1983 “post-modernist vampire film” is known for its stylish recasting of “vampirism in bisexual terms, drawing on the tradition of the lesbian vampire” (in the words of critic Elaine Showalter) and is also the feature-length directorial debut of Tony Scott, the late brother of Ridley and who went on to make Top Gun and create a blockbuster star out of Tom Cruise. Part of Landmark’s West End Cinema’s Capital Classics series. Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m. 2301 M St. NW. Happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.50 each. Call 202534-1907 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

ELIANE ELIAS

A multi-Grammy-winning singing pianist/composer from Brazil, Elias has the kind of elegant, unassuming singing voice, a little unpolished, that has come to characterize bossa nova ever since Astrud Gilberto’s days. Elias returns on a tour in support of her new Concord Jazz release Love Stories, a rich orchestral ode to romance and classic love songs that is primarily sung in English. Friday, Oct. 25. Doors at 6:30 p.m. The Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW. Tickets are $30 to $60. Call 202-787-1000 or visit www.thehamiltondc.com.

DAY OF ABSENCE

MANAF AZZAM

White citizens in a sleepy southern town are forced to recognize the value and vitality their African-American neighbors offer them one random day when they mysteriously disappear. Raymond O. Caldwell and Angelisa Gillyard direct a Theater Alliance retelling of a “reverse minstrel show” that Douglas Turner Ward originally created in 1965, one billed as a comedic and pointed commentary on systemic racism that is sadly still relevant today. Jared Shamberger leads a 10-member cast as the town’s mayor in the 90-minute, intermissionless play. To Nov. 3. Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Place SE. Tickets are $25 to $40, except for at least 10 Name-Your-Own-Price seats up for grabs one hour before each show. Call 202-241-2539 or visit www.theateralliance.com. 10

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Out On The Town

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: THE GREAT CHEESY MOVIE CIRCUS TOUR

Joel Hodgson, the original host of one of TV’s most enduring shows, straps in for one last ride with his wisecracking robots on what is billed as an “exhilarating rollercoaster ride through some of the cheesiest films ever made.” Specific targets for attack include Jean-Claude Van Damme’s 1986 martial arts “classic” No Retreat, No Surrender and the 1960 British horror bomb, Circus of Horrors. Friday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 19, at 3 and 8 p.m. National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets are $59 to $99. Call 202-628-6161 or visit www.thenationaldc.org. Compiled by Doug Rule

FILM MIDDLEBURG FILM FESTIVAL

Held in a picturesque town in Virginia’s horse and wine country, the Middleburg Film Festival, founded by BET co-founder Sheila C. Johnson, offers a mix of independent features, documentaries, and Oscar contenders, including several submissions for Best Foreign Language Film. The festival opens Thursday, Oct. 17, with Marriage, Noah Baumbach’s deeply personal film about the pain of divorce starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. The 7th annual festival will also honor Terence Blanchard, the six-time Grammy-winning trumpeter and Oscar-nominated film scorer with the Distinguished Composer Award, culminating in a concert featuring Blanchard’s quintet E-Collective, and a 35-piece orchestra. Oscar-nominated scribe Anthony McCarten will collect the Distinguished Screenwriter Award for his work on festival selection The Two Popes, starring Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins as Popes Francis and Benedict. Other highlights among the 34 films screening include Harriet, starring Cynthia Erivo as iconic American freedom fighter Harriet Tubman; The Capote Tapes, Ebs Burnough’s documentary with never-before-heard audio interviews capturing “the rise and fall of America’s most iconic gay writer”; A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers; and Honey Boy, the tale of a self-destructive child acting star directed by Alma Har’el and based on the experiences of Shia LaBeouf. The festival closes on Sunday, Oct. 20, with The Irishman, an epic saga about organized crime

in post-war America from Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. The festival is held at The Salamander Resort & Spa. Tickets are $10 to $25 per screening. Call 540-751-3160 or visit www.middleburgfilm.org.

THE LADY VANISHES

The area’s two Angelika theaters offer another “Hitchcocktober,” with screenings of classics by the Master of Suspense, including this early mystery thriller. Margaret Lockwood stars as a young English tourist in continental Europe who sets off an international incident when she tries to track down an elderly woman who has disappeared from the train. Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market, 550 Penn St. NE. Also Thursday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. Angelika Film Center - Mosaic, 2911 District Ave., Fairfax. Tickets are $10 athe Pop-Up, $14.50 at Mosaic. Call 800-680-9095 or visit www. AngelikaFilmCenter.com.

THE LIGHTHOUSE

Scary movie season kicks off with one of the most acclaimed horror films in recent memory. Robert Eggers’ black-and-white film about two lighthouse keepers who slowly lose their sanity and become threatened by their worst nightmares has been showered with praise by critics, including Eggers direction and story, as well as Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson’s performances. If you’re looking to get suitably spooked, book your tickets now. Opens Friday, Oct. 18. Area theaters. Visit www.fandango.com. (Rhuaridh Marr)

ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP

Ten years after horror-comedy Zombieland opened to crit-

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ical and commercial success, the gang reunites for a sequel. Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Bill Murray all return, as do director Ruben Fleischer and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. A rift in the makeshift family causes Little Rock (Breslin) to leave with a strange man, forcing the others to head out and find her — and face new zombies and survivors along the way. Opens Friday, Oct. 18. Area theaters. Visit www.fandango.com. (RM)

STAGE SEVEN

The true stories of seven women from around the globe who bravely fought to create real and lasting change in their communities are shared through this theatrical work, a documentary play developed by seven noteworthy playwrights for L.A. Theatre Works. The playwrights — Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith, and Susan Yankovitz — collaborated to fashion a tapestry of poignant stories relaying the struggles, threats, and violence along the road to triumph for the play’s lead female characters, who come from Pakistan, Nigeria, Ireland, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Russia, and Cambodia. Alexis Jacknow directs Seven on a season-long national tour to theaters primarily located on college campuses, including a one-night-only stop at the Center for the Arts at George Mason University. Friday, Oct. 18, at 8 p.m. The Concert Hall at 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax. Tickets are $26 to $44. Call 888-945-2468 or visit www.cfa.gmu.edu.

CANDIDA

The Washington Stage Guild launches its new season with an 1894 comedy by George Bernard Shaw. Candida questions Victorian notions of love and marriage, having the audacity to ask what a woman desires from her husband, and ultimately give a woman a choice between her husband, a preacher, and the poet who wants to woo her away. Laura Giannarelli directs Emelie Faith Thompson in the title role. Weekends through Oct. 20. Undercroft Theatre of Mount Vernon United Methodist Church, 900 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Tickets are $50 to $60. Call 202-900-8788 or visit www.stageguild.org.

DISENCHANTED!

The Native American heroine Pocahontas has “come back to life to set the record straight” in the subversive, feminist-minded musical written and composed by Dennis T. Giacino. Cinderella, Snow White, the Little Mermaid, and Tiana (Disney’s first black princess) also make an appearance in this satirical take on Disney princesses, all portrayed with human faults and foibles. Matt Conner directs the Creative Cauldron production. To Oct. 27. ArtSpace Falls Church, 410 South Maple Ave. in Falls Church. Tickets are $20 to $35, or $100 for the Gala. Call 703-436-9948 or visit www.creativecauldron.org.

DOUBT: A PARABLE

Sarah Marshall anchors Studio Theatre’s new production of John Patrick Shanley’s 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece that tackles concepts of faith, ambiguity, and the price of moral conviction — and more specifically, the sexual abuse scandals that has rocked Catholics and the Catholic

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Church in recent decades. Set in 1964 at a Bronx Catholic school, Matt Torney directs a cast starring Marshall as Sister Aloysius and also featuring Christian Conn as Father Flynn, Amelia Pedlow as Sister James, and Tiffany M. Thompson as Mrs. Muller. Extended to Oct. 20. Metheny Theatre, 14th & P Streets NW. Call 202-332-3300 or visit www.studiotheatre.org.

ESCAPED ALONE

In Caryl Churchill’s dark comedy, three old friends are joined by a neighbor to engage in amiable chitchat with a side of apocalyptic horror. Holly Twyford directs. To Nov. 3. Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org. GLOBAL SCREEN

FENCES

REBELS IN EXILE

The poetic drama Baghdad in My Shadow highlights queer characters among stories of Iraqi exiles in London.

KEENLY OBSERVED CULTURAL PORTRAIT LACED WITH HUMOR, ROMANCE, religion, suspense, and politics, the ensemble drama Baghdad in My Shadow chronicles a tight-knit group of Iraqi expats and exiles, women and men, who congregate or work at a London café. For stage-trained actor Waseem Abbas, the film, by Swiss-based Iraqi director Samir, not only offered “an amazing opportunity to kickstart my career,” but a chance to channel his own life into his art. Abbas plays gay IT specialist Muhannad, who shares his life with lover Sven, but remains closeted around his Arab and Muslim friends and neighbors in the café. Born and raised in small-town Wales to Iraqi parents, Abbas, who identifies as straight, found a clear affinity for the role of Muhannad. “I drew on that experience of really not quite fitting in,” he says, adding that the film also allowed him to “play a role that can remove these prejudices and veils that people have for each other, and see each other [beyond] just the surface level. We're all just human beings, and so much more than meets the eye.” Baghdad in My Shadow, which will have its American premiere on Saturday, Oct. 19, as part of the 24th Arabian Sights Film Festival, illustrates how profoundly diverse, or at odds, a particular community can be. Not all immigrant stories are the same, nor should all refugees and dissidents be judged as one monolithic mass. For Abbas, the process of relating his character Muhannad to the myriad points of view he encounters at the café — from acceptance and admiration to violent hostility — began when he auditioned for a few other parts in the movie, including a teenaged radicalized follower of Islam named Nasseem. Abbas’ friend Shervin Alenabi gained the role, while Abbas went on to what he calls “the role that I was really destined to play.” “It was quite a diverse process for me as an actor to really explore the other characters, almost before playing Muhannad — which was a gift to kind of understand even on a deeper level how all these characters are connected,” he says. “There are lots of very human layered stories in this film, and to the characters, [and] the director, Samir, he did an amazing job in giving us an opportunity to have freedom with that.” —André Hereford Baghdad in My Shadow screens on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 6:15 and on Friday, Oct. 25, at 8 p.m. as part of the Arabian Sights Film Festival. All screenings in the festival take place at the AMC Mazza Gallerie, 5300 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Tickets are $14. Call 202-274-5782 or visit www.filmfestdc.org/arabiansights.

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Craig Wallace and Erika Rose star in one of August Wilson’s most famous and profound works, in a Ford’s Theatre production directed by Timothy Douglas, one of the foremost interpreters of Wilson's work. To Oct. 27. 511 10th St. NW. Tickets are $20 to $52. Call 202347-4833 or visit www.fords.org.

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

The zany American sci-fi musical comedy, from Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, concerns a nerdy floral shop employee and hi wisecracking carnivorous plant who chews more than the scenery. Puppet designer Matthew Aldwin McGee is tasked, with puppeteer Rj Pavel, with bringing full, menacing life the bloodthirsty Audrey II, with Marty Austin Lamar providing the plant’s soulful voice. Christian Montgomery leads the human cast as Seymour, the unlikely hero infatuated with his coworker Audrey (Teresa Quigley Danskey). Nick Martin directs. In previews. To Nov. 17. Source Theatre, 1835 14th St. NW. Tickets are $19 to $55, plus fees. Call 202-204-7741 or visit www.constellationtheatre.org.

THE TEMPEST

Synetic Theater kicks off its 19th season by reprising its splashy, cinematic adaptation of William Shakespeare’s shipwrecked classic from 2013. In the physical theater troupe’s hands, The Tempest is a speech-free yet water-full production, since it comes as part of the company’s signature “wordless Shakespeare” series and features a 1,200-square-foot pool, filled with roughly 3,000 gallons of water, that takes center stage. In fact, the first three rows of seats are designated as a splash zone, with “ponchos provided.” The troupe’s co-founder Irina Tsikurishvili will splishsplash, dance, and jump around as the sea storm-stirring Prospera. To Oct. 20. 1800 South Bell St., Arlington. Call 800-494-8497 or visit www.synetictheater.org.

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TRYING

Virginia’s 1st Stage offers the regional premiere of a play by Joanna McClelland Glass, who drew on her real-life experience working for Francis Biddle at his home in D.C. in the 1960s. Biddle, the former U.S. Attorney General under President Franklin Roosevelt who also served as Chief Judge of the American Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, was notoriously hard on his staff as he worked to cement his legacy. Alex Levy directs stars Amanda Forstrom and Scott Sedar. To Oct. 20. 1st Stage is located at 1524 Spring Hill Rd. Tysons, Va. Tickets are $42. Call 703-854-1856 or visit www.1ststagetysons.org. WASHINGTON WALKS

WEST BY GOD

HAUNTED JAUNTS

Washington Walks offers two popular, annual tours spotlighting the capital’s haunted history in time for Halloween.

AFAYETTE PARK HAS BEEN WITNESS TO SCARY AND DISTRESSING HAPpenings long before today’s shady and nefarious comings-and-goings of the Trump White House next door. In fact, the federal park is known as “the most haunted site in the city.” Carolyn Crouch learned of this soon after she launched her walking tour company in D.C. twenty years ago. She initially balked when a friend recommended she develop a ghost tour for Washington Walks. “‘Oh come on, really? That sounds cheesy and embarrassing, and I don't think so,’” she recalls saying. “But then I started to look around to see if I could find information about the haunted legacy of Washington. And there’s quite a lot. I thought, ‘Wow, Lafayette Park is an epicenter of haunted lore. What a perfect place for a walking tour. And that quickly became, in our early days, our most popular walking tour.” These days, “The Most Haunted Houses” tour, touted as “The Original Washington, D.C. Ghost Tour,” is one of two October outings from Washington Walks exploring the rich, haunted history of the nation’s capital. Across the National Mall comes the other Halloween-timed excursion, “Capitol Hauntings: Ghosts of the U.S. Capitol.” “In Washington, a lot of our haunted stories arise from ghosts who in life were prominent — politicians, or community leaders, or some other high-profile individuals,” Crouch says. Yet here as everywhere, the “ghosts are always people who have died tragically, in an untimely way, before they’re ready — and then something kind of materializes from that.” Crouch was a newly minted Catholic University graduate who put aside her original plans to become an actor when she launched Washington Walks in 1999 with help from two assistants — not to mention a host of ghosts. Now she oversees a staff of 17 helping develop as well as lead several dozen guided tours each year. “We try to come up with one or two new walks each season,” she says. “We focus mostly on D.C. neighborhoods and historic districts — and D.C., as you know, has many really beautiful and richly historic neighborhoods, [whose residents] have contributed not only to the city's history but to national history — and there’s this unending material to talk about. I'm really proud that Washington Walks kind of serves as the storyteller and the voice of nonofficial Washington.” —Doug Rule The Most Haunted Houses and Capitol Hauntings tours are offered multiple times this weekend and next, with tickets per session from $15 to $20. Call 202-484-1565 or visit www.washingtonwalks.com.

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Two families grapple with issues of grief and love, memory and identity, in a new play set in a small Appalachian town and written by West Virginia native Brandon McCoy. Jeremy Skidmore directs a world-premiere production for Keegan Theatre of a show billed as “a funny, heartwarming, and gut-wrenchingly honest examination of the divide between urban and rural America, and the kinds of prejudice and intolerance too often left unchallenged in our society.” To Oct. 20. 1742 Church St. NW. Call 202-265-3767 or visit www. keegantheatre.com.

MUSIC ALESSIA CARA

The Canadian starlet and 2018 Best New Artist Grammy recipient returns to the area more than a year after taking the Capital Pride stage for a showcase of her confident, R&B-steeped pop music. The concert will no doubt focus on her accomplished sophomore album The Pains of Growing, as well as her strong, just-released EP, This Summer. A singer-songwriter who first drew attention with “Here,” an anthem for introverts and the non-partying, sober-minded kind everywhere, Cara has released single after single that share astute, self-aware, and self-affirming messages, from last year’s “Trust My Lonely” to 2016’s “Scars To Your Beautiful” and “Wild Things,” with the latter’s alternative-embracing lyrics making it a credible LGBTQ anthem. Saturday, Oct. 26. Doors at 6 p.m. The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. Tickets are $40 to $175. Call 202-888-0020 or visit www. theanthemdc.com.

GOAPELE

It’s been almost a decade since this socially active, straight neo-soul singer headlined the Capital Pride Women’s Pride Concert, followed by a slot at the 2011 Capital Jazz Fest. The striking Oakland, Calif.based artist, who Rolling Stone once said sounds like “the spiritual

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College Park, Md. Tickets are $12 to $30. Call 240-623-1423 or visit www.milkboyarthouse.com.

WASHINGTON CONSERVATORY: RECITAL WITH NSO PRINCIPALS

The celebrated Brahms Horn Trio is the focus of a Conservatory Concerts series recital featuring Abel Pereira, the principal horn player with the National Symphony Orchestra, Nurit Bar-Josef, the violinist who has served as the NSO’s longtime Concertmaster, and Audrey Andrist, acclaimed pianist and piano teacher. Rounding out the program are additional works for horn and piano by Eugene Bozza, Paul Dukas, and Olivier Messiaen, plus Brahms’ Intermezzo in A Major for solo piano. The concert will be followed by an informal Wine & Words Q&A featuring the performers and complimentary beverages. Saturday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m. Westmoreland Congregational Church, 1 Westmoreland Circle. Bethesda. Suggested donation of $20. Call 301-320-2770 or visit www.washingtonconservatory.org.

INGRID MICHAELSON

A charming indie-pop singer-songwriter, Michaelson has spent the better part of her career baring her heart and soul in song, with lyrics often tackling head-on issues of personal and familial sickness, death, and divorce. Yet that’s not at all the case with the New York native’s newest collection, Stranger Songs, an album featuring original tracks inspired by, yet independent from, the Netflix sci-fi/horror drama Stranger Things. Michaelson refers to the show as a form of escapism for her. By extension, that’s also true of her new album, since this one was written from the perspectives of characters and others, and not from her own. For added levity, she also included some “Easter eggs” inspired by the show, hidden from plain sight — or first listen — and intended to reward those fans paying closer attention. Maddie Poppe, last year’s winner of American Idol, opens. Wednesday, Oct. 23. Doors at 6:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. Tickets are $55. Call 202-328-6000 or visit thelincolndc.com.

love child of Sade and D’Angelo,” returns to the area on a tour supporting her most recent release, 2017’s Dreamseeker EP. Carolyn Malachi opens. Thursday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $45. Call 703-549-7500 or visit www.birchmere.com.

JONATHAN BUTLER

After signing his first record deal as a teenager with British record producer Clive Caulder’s Jive Records, Butler’s premier single became the first by a black artist to be played on white radio stations in South Africa. That early success was his ticket out of the apartheid country. The R&B/ jazz guitarist and vocalist now lives in Southern California. Thursday, Oct. 24, through Sunday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Tickets are $50, plus $12 minimum purchase. Call 202-337-4141 or visit www. bluesalley.com.

MACY GRAY

Two decades after her first hit “I Try,” Gray continues to record and perform a distinctive blend of R&B, pop, funk, and jazz. And currently she’s focused on a tour to celebrate a 20-year repertoire that includes current single “Buddha,” drawn from Ruby, her tenth fulllength album, released last fall. Wednesday, Oct. 23. Doors at 6:30 p.m. The Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. Tickets are $40 to $45, plus $10 minimum per person for all tables. Call 202-588-5595 or visit www.thehowardtheatre.com.

STEPHANIE MILLS

The soul-singing Broadway veteran, winner of the Tony for her role in The Wiz, returns to the Birchmere for another year and another twonight weekend run performing hits from her repertoire that goes well beyond The Wiz's "Home." Mills’ hits in the 1980s include "Never Knew Love Like This Before," “I Feel Good All Over,” and "If I Were Your Woman.” Friday, Oct. 25, and Saturday, Oct. 26, at 7:30

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WNO’S DOMINGO-CAFRITZ YOUNG ARTIST PROGRAM

The young artists from the Washington National Opera will take to the Millennium Stage for a free preview of musical highlights from the first two works of the company’s new season. The focus is on the final masterpieces from two of the genre’s greatest composers — Othello by Verdi and The Magic Flute by Mozart — which range from monumental Shakespearean tragedy to mythical, magical comedy. Monday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. Kennedy Center. Free. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $89.50. Call 703-549-7500 or visit www.birchmere.com.

DANCE

TOM GOSS

Through the Local Dance Commissioning Project, the Kennedy Center helps support the local dance scene and nurture the creation of new works from local choreographers, which are then performed for free as part of the Millennium Stage programming. The latest work in the series transports audiences to three different spaces of the REACH, the arts institution’s expansive new addition, using unique characteristics of each location to explore concepts in pattern and timing, light and dark, and limitation and transformation. In all, 20 dancers will perform Clemmensen’s In To And Out Of Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19, at 6 p.m. Free. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

The former D.C.-based troubadour, who now lives in L.A., returns for a concert focused on the tender folk/ pop balladeer’s seventh full-length album. According to the official bio, Territories “tells the complex story of a changing marriage and emerging relationship through songs named after the places that inspired them” — and which were visited on separate trips over the past year with Goss’ husband and a new lover. The self-identified “polyamorous gay musician” tours with two fellow queer indie singer-songwriters — Nakia, an Austin-based bluesy rock artist and seminfinalist from the first season of NBC’s The Voice, and Goss’ longtime collaborator Liz DeRoche, another former local artist now based in California. Saturday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m. MilkBoy ArtHouse, 7416 Baltimore Ave.,

ANN SOFIE CLEMMENSEN: IN TO AND OUT OF

MANASSAS BALLET THEATRE: JAZZ IN MOTION

The largest professional dance company in Northern Virginia with its roster of 25 full-time dancers, the

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Ball, with Brandon Wetherbee of BYT as moderator. The ball officially launches Thursday, Oct. 24, with two back-to-back programs at Bentzen HQ the Lincoln Theatre (1215 U St. NW): An Evening with Maria Bamford, and Los Espookys Live, featuring the creators and stars of that HBO show, Julio Torres and Ana Fabrega, along with Lorelei Ramirez and Greta Titelman, billed as “A Bentzen Ball Pre-Halloween Show” where costumes are encouraged. Tickets are $25 to $40 per show. Visit www. brightestyoungthings.com/bentzen-ball for a full schedule.

READINGS VA WINE FESTIVAL

MAULIK PANCHOLY: THE BEST AT IT

VIRGINIA WINE FESTIVAL

Alternately billed as “Virginia’s Oldest Wine Festival” and “the East Coast’s LongestRunning Wine Festival,” this 44th annual event organized by TasteUSA features more than 200 wines from many of the commonwealth’s most revered wineries. The festival also features Virginia craft beers poured in the Virginia Oyster Pavilion, with bivalves served on the half shell, grilled, or baked in special dishes. It will all be complemented by live entertainment, craft vendors, and of course food trucks and vendors. Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. One Loudoun, 44600 Freetown Blvd., Ashburn. Tickets, including tasting glass, unlimited wine (and cider) tastings, and access to the Oyster Pavilion, are $39 plus fees in advance, while a VIP pass, granting one-hour early admission, plus access to a private tent and bathrooms with additional reserve wine tastings, is $69 plus fees. Visit www.virginiawinefest.com.

Manassas Ballet opens a new season with works in movement set to contemporary and classic jazz tunes per a collaboration with the Kim Reynolds Band and vocalist Mark Luna. Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 20, at 3 p.m. Merchant Hall in the Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, Va. Tickets are $30 to $70. Call 703-993-7759 or visit www.hyltoncenter.org.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE LIVE! 2019

The hit Fox TV reality competition series offers its traditional postseason tour with the Top 10 finalists from Season 16, led by winner Bailey Muñoz and runner-up Mariah Russell. Directed by Raj Kapoor with Rita Maye Bland, the live show will feature the season’s most-popular routines plus original pieces created specifically for the tour, overseen by Mandy Moore, the show’s star choreographer. In addition to the Top 10, the lineup will also feature two of the show’s All-Stars: Lauren Froderman, winner of Season 7, and Cyrus “Glitch” Spencer, finalist from

Season 9. Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 8 p.m. Merchant Hall, Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, Va. Tickets are $45 to $100. Call 703-993-7759 or visit www.hyltoncenter.org. Also Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. The Theater, 7100 Harborview Ave., Oxon Hill, Md. Tickets are $48 to $158. Call 844-346-4664 or visit www.mgmnationalharbor.com.

ly and ethnically ambiguous,” and her comedy routine tackles issues related to race, gender, politics, pop culture, and music — including impersonations of Beyoncé and Mariah Carey, among others. Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7 and 9 p.m. Drafthouse Comedy, 1100 13th St. NW. Tickets are $20. Call 202-750-6411 or visit www.drafthousecomedy.com.

COMEDY

THE BENTZEN BALL COMEDY FESTIVAL

MARCELLA ARGUELLO

Vulture, MSN, and Time Out are just three media outlets to have heralded Arguello as one of the top, young female comics working today — one already known in Los Angeles as host and booker of the weekly Women Crush Wednesdays comedy show. Avid TV viewers anywhere, meanwhile, may be familiar with her from her recurring appearances on Comedy Central’s @midnight, or from her guest stand-up set during a recent episode of HBO’s 2 Dope Queens. Born in California to parents who emigrated from El Salvador, Arguello styles herself as “sexual-

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Lesbian comedian Tig Notaro returns to curate the 10th annual “comedy and friendship” event presented by Brightest Young Things with support from Events DC, with José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen as this year’s nonprofit partner. Things kick-off on Wednesday, Oct. 23, with a free, pre-festival event in the POV Lounge in the W Hotel DC: “Comedy In The District: A Conversation,” a discussion with panelists including Matthew Winer of the Kennedy Center, Sean Joyce of Underground Comedy, Allyson Jaffe of the DC Improv, pop culture writer Rudi Greenberg, and Svetlana Legetic of BYT/Bentzen

Pancholy is an actor known for his supporting work on hit TV shows 30 Rock and Weeds, not to mention occasional roles in stage productions at Shakespeare Theatre Company and Studio Theatre. At the moment, however, Pancholy’s focus is in promoting his publishing debut, a tender and humorous book intended for young readers aged 10 to 14. The Best At It tells a story, with shades of autobiography, of an anxious, awkward gay Indian-American teen who feels rather hemmed in by societal and cultural traditions, expectations, and limitations. Perhaps he would be best served, the boy reasons, by heeding his grandfather’s advice to channel his energies into becoming “the best” at something, anything. Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 10:30 a.m. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Call 202-364-1919 or visit www.politics-prose.com.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: LETTERS FROM AN ASTROPHYSICIST

Everyone’s favorite astrophysicist for his fascinating, accessible, and passionate explanations and insights into his particular field essentially sticks to his patented script with his latest book. A follow-up to 2017’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Letters From An Astrophysicist goes deeper and gets more candid and heartfelt with its focus on a handpicked assortment of correspondence with people soliciting Tyson’s answers to questions about science, faith, philosophy, the meaning of life — and, of course, Pluto. Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. Warner Theatre, 513 13th St. NW. Tickets, which include a copy of Letters From An Astrophysicist, are $67.50 to $148. Call 202-783-4000 or visit www. warnertheatredc.com.

POE IN THE VAULT

Every year actors from Guillotine Theatre, once known as the Georgetown Theatre Company, gather to “communicate with the

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of Gettysburg. Covering the curved walls of the Hirshhorn’s third level inner circle, the work presents 360-degrees of abstracted historical narrative using Bradford’s signature practice of collage, juxtaposed with reproductions of the 19th-century original in a way that intentionally disrupts, messes up, and confuses. The end result is a work that invites reconsideration of how narratives about American history have been shaped and contested. The installation, which opened two years ago, has also proven to be so popular and provocative, the museum has repeatedly extended the run, with the display now set to last through 2021. Independence Avenue and Seventh Street SW. Call 202-6331000 or visit www.hirshhorn.si.edu.

ELIZA SCIDMORE

PERFECTING TIMELESSNESS WITH JACK BOUL

WOMEN: A CENTURY OF CHANGE

Opening next week at the National Geographic Museum is a timely, temporary collection of powerful images from famed National Geographic photographers. Taken together, the photographic display offers a glimpse of both what it means to be a woman in the world today and how that’s changed in the 100 years since American women gained the right to vote. The exhibition will also include stories and commentary from female luminaries, among them Melinda Gates, Gloria Allred, Jane Goodall, and Christiane Amanpour. Opens Tuesday, Oct. 22. 1145 17th St. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-857-7700 or visit www.ngmuseum.org.

spirits and read a witches’ brew of poems and short stories,” and all by “America’s 19th Century Master of Horror.” For added oomph, these “Tales of Mystery and Imagination” from Edgar Allan Poe are presented in the Receiving Vault of Old Town’s Ivy Hill Cemetery — after a short guided ghost tour of the property. Saturday, Oct. 26, Sunday, Oct. 27, and Monday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. 2823 King St, Alexandria. Requested donation of $20. Call 703-549-7413 x1112 or visit www. georgetowntheatre.org.

ART & EXHIBITS ART INSPIRED BY THE TWILIGHT ZONE

For its latest group exhibition, Alexandria’s quirky Del Ray Artisans Gallery invited its member artists to explore humanity’s hopes, despairs, and prejudices in metaphoric ways that go beyond what could be seen on conventional TV. In other words, to create works of art or photography influenced or inspired by or referencing the clas-

sic sci-fi TV show that first started exploring another dimension 60 years ago this year. To Oct. 27. 2704 Mount Vernon Ave. Alexandria. Call 703-731-8802 or visit www. thedelrayartisans.org.

GISELLE SHEPATIN: DRESS FOR THE SEASON OF JOY

The Zenith Gallery presents an exhibition of recent creations by a wearable art designer whose work focuses on “the beauty we share, the love we desire to give and to receive, the nurturing of what we find important, and the desire to dress for and to delight ourselves with the whimsy.” Now to Oct. 26. Zenith Gallery, 1429 Iris St. NW. Call 202-783-2963 or visit www. zenithgallery.com.

ILLEGAL TO BE YOU: GAY HISTORY BEYOND STONEWALL

The National Museum of American History celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots with a yearlong display of artifacts from the Smithsonian’s LGBTQ collections, intended to examine the complexity of LGBTQ history both

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

before and after Stonewall. Among the 20 objects and 30 buttons and graphics in this special exhibition, which is set up in a display clase on the museum’s second floor: items of clothing belonging to Matthew Shepard, protest signs from gay rights activist Frank Kameny, the first transgender pride flag, and lesbian tennis pro Billy Jean King’s dress. Ongoing. 1300 Constitution Ave. NW. Call 202-633-1000 or visit www.americanhistory.si.edu.

MARK BRADFORD: PICKETT’S CHARGE

Referred to by the Hirshhorn as the most significant living American painter, gay African-American artist Mark Bradford certainly works on a scale commensurate with that kind of stature. Take, for example, his huge, 400-foot installation created for his debut at the Smithsonian’s modern art museum as well as in D.C. A timely, commissioned "cyclorama" of eight large, site-specific collages, Bradford was inspired by Paul Philippoteaux’s same-named masterpiece depicting the loss of the Confederate Army at the Battle

Referred to as the “dean of Washington printmakers,” Jack Boul will exhibit his latest series of oil paintings, monotypes, and works of sculpture at the historic Arts Club of Washington throughout most of October. The works on display, according to curator Erik Denker of the National Gallery of Art, highlight the “intimacy” and “timeless quality” to Boul’s work. A former teacher at American University and founding member of the Washington Studio School, the 92-year-old Boul works mostly out of his Bethesda gallery. On display to Oct. 27. MacFeely Gallery in the Cleveland Abbe House, 2017 I St. NW. Call 202-331-7282 or visit https://artsclubofwashington.org.

RIGHTFULLY HERS: AMERICAN WOMEN AND THE VOTE

The National Archives Museum highlights the hard-won victories that stemmed from the Women’s Suffrage movement, chief among these the passage 100 years ago of the 19th Amendment. The temporary exhibition also explores the story of the diversity of American women’s experiences and their impact on history. Now to Jan. 3. The Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery, Constitution Avenue and 9th Streets NW. Call 202-357-5000 or visit www.archivesfoundation.org.

VOTES FOR WOMEN: A PORTRAIT OF PERSISTENCE

The American suffragist movement’s most influential leaders — Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton among them — are, of course, prominently featured in this special exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Yet Votes for Women takes pains to shine a spotlight on the many lesser-known, or at least less-heralded, women and organizations — many of them African-American — who helped advance the voting cause in tandem with efforts to abolish slavery, fight racism, or promote

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civil rights. Such a list includes Ida B. Wells, Mary McLeod Bethune, Lucy Stone of the American Woman Suffrage Association, and Mary Church Terrell, founder of the National Association of Colored Women. Now to Jan. 5. 8th and F Streets. NW. Call 202-633-8300 or visit www.npg.si.edu.

ABOVE & BEYOND CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY: SOUL STROLLS

J. Edgar Hoover, buried alongside his “deputy” Clyde Tolson, surely rests as the most sinister of all 67,000 permanent residents at this 35-acre historic graveyard. It’s an eerie proposition any time of year, taking a nighttime stroll past the graves of Hoover and Tolson, former Presidents John Quincy Adams and Zachary Taylor, composer John Philip Sousa, and the many Civil War-era Congressional leaders interred here. But every year, the nonprofit-run, Christ Church-owned landmark offers guided, hour-long tours with docents and costumed interpreters in the weekends leading up to Halloween. Beer, wine, and cider are available for purchase in the Chapel. Meanwhile, the graveyard’s Public Vault will be transformed into a Victorian-era funeral parlor hosting a cocktail party every night reserved for those who purchase VIP tickets with vouchers for three drinks. Tours depart every 15 minutes from 7 to 10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18, and Friday, Oct. 25, and from 6 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19, and Saturday, Oct. 26. 1801 E St. SE. Tickets are $26.50 with fees online, or $62.20 for VIP. Call 202-543-0539 or visit www.congressionalcemetery.org.

FORD'S THEATRE'S HISTORY ON FOOT

CIRQUE MEI

An ensemble of 40 circus artists and acrobats from China’s northern Hebei Province come to town for a colorful and lively celebration of the world-famous Chinese circus arts. Blending ancient artistry with breathtaking energy for a show that thrills those of all ages and includes acrobatics, contortion tricks, juggling acts, and balancing feats. Saturday, Oct. 19, at 2 and 8 p.m. Concert Hall in the GMU Center for the Arts, 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax. Tickets are $35 to $55. Call 888-945-2468 or visit www.cfa.gmu.edu. Also Thursday, Oct. 24, at 8 p.m. Merchant Hall in the Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, Va. Tickets are $29 to $48. Call 703993-7759 or visit www.hyltoncenter.org.

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

A local actor offers the guided tour Investigation: Detective McDevitt, portraying Detective James McDevitt, a D.C. police officer patrolling a half-block from Ford’s Theatre the night President Lincoln was shot. Written by Richard Hellesen and directed by Mark Ramont, the 1.6-mile walking tour revisits and reexamines the sites and clues from the investigation into the assassination. Tours are offered approximately three evenings a week at 6:45 p.m. Ford's Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. Tickets are $17. Call 202-397-7328 or visit www.fords.org.

SUGARLOAF CRAFT FESTIVAL: AMERICA’S HANDMADE MARKET

The annual Sugarloaf Crafts Festival, featuring 11 different events taking place throughout the country throughout the year, is considered one of the top craft experi-

ences in the country. The festival returns to Virginia’s Dulles Expo Center for a fall show styled as a kickoff to holiday shopping with more than 300 artisans from around the country offering one-of-a-kind handcrafted gifts in various media — including functional and decorative pottery, sculpture, glass, jewelry, fashion, leather, wood, metal, furniture, home accessories, and photography. Gourmet food samples, live music and interactive children’s entertainment will also be on tap. Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 20, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 4320 Chantilly Shopping Center Drive, Virginia. Admission is $8 to $10 per day. Call 703-378-0910 or visit www.sugarloafcrafts.com.

THE GHOST STORY TOUR OF WASHINGTON

A costumed tour guide will discuss the spirits said to haunt Lafayette Square and surrounding buildings, including the Hay Adams Hotel and Decatur House, some for over 200 years. Touted as D.C.’s “oldest costumed ghost tour,” the all-outdoor affair lasts approximately 90 minutes, and advertises that “someone on the tour will win a prize.” All tours start at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through October. St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1525 H St. NW. Tickets are $10 to $20. Call 301-873-3986 or visit www.historicstrolls.com.

WASHINGTON WALKS: THE MOST HAUNTED HOUSES, CAPITOL HAUNTINGS

Washington Walks offers two popular annual outdoor tours shining a light on the many ghosts and buildings said to be haunted in the nation’s capital. “The Most Haunted Houses: The Original Washington, D.C. Ghost Tour” is another guided excursion by night through Lafayette Park, purportedly “the most haunted site in the city.” Bustling with White House staffers by day, the seven-acre park turns eerily quiet by night, aside from the ghosts and spirits serving as reminders of the many violent quarrels, vicious attacks, murders, and suicides that have taken place there. Meanwhile, “Capitol Hauntings: Ghosts of the U.S. Capitol” explores one of D.C.’s oldest neighborhoods — also historically one of its gayest — with, naturally, a focus on the apparitions said to haunt the U.S. Capitol as well as the Supreme Court. Each two-hour tour starts at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through October. Tickets are $15 to $20. Call 202-484-1565 or visit www. washingtonwalks.com. l

GAGE SKIDMORE

theFeed

A TAXING SITUATION

Buttigieg and Warren not interested in revoking anti-gay churches’ tax-exempt status. By John Riley

EMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mayor Pete Buttigieg have rejected penalizing churches and other religious institutions by stripping them of their tax-exempt status due to their opposition to marriage equality. The 2020 hopefuls’ comments came in response to conservative outcry over remarks made by former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) during a presidential forum last week on LGBTQ issues. O’Rourke was asked whether religious institutions, like colleges, churches, and charities should lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage. “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone, or any institution, any organization in America, that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us,” O’Rourke responded. “And so as president, we are going to make that a priority, and we are going to stop those who are infringing upon the human rights of our fellow Americans.” O’Rourke has since backtracked and sought to clarify his stance on the issue, but his response is already being used to attack Democrats by casting them as anti-religious and attempting to reignite cultural wars over same-sex marriage by offending social conservatives. Speaking over the weekend at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., President Trump attacked O’Rourke, calling him a “wacko” and playing on conservative fears that Democrats will use the IRS as a “political weapon,” reports NBC News. The day following the forum, an O’Rourke campaign spokeswoman suggested that his remarks had been deliberately misinterpreted. “Of course, Beto was referring to religious institutions who take discriminatory action,” spokeswoman Aleigha Cavalier said. “The extreme right is distorting this for their own agenda.” She added that O’Rourke defines discriminatory action as “denying public accommodation” on the basis of a person’s gender, sexual orientation, or marital status.

O’Rourke appeared on MSNBC on Sunday to clarify his beliefs, saying, “When you are providing services in the public sphere, say, higher education, or health care, or adoption services, and you discriminate or deny equal treatment under the law based on someone’s skin color or ethnicity or gender or sexual orientation, then we have a problem.” Mindful of the potential for the issue to become a political minefield, and the fact that Republicans will reframe the issue to a debate about the First Amendment, other Democrats are distancing themselves and coming out strongly against revoking the tax-exempt status of churches. Buttigieg, the only major openly gay candidate for the Democratic nomination, said that he opposes instances of anti-LGBTQ discrimination, including in schools, but sought to contrast himself with O’Rourke, noting that Beto’s initial proposal could violate separation of church and state. “The idea that you’re going to strip churches of their tax-exempt status if they haven’t found their way toward blessing same-sex marriage — I’m not sure he understood the implications of what he was saying,” Buttigieg said during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. “That means going to war with not only churches but also mosques and organizations that don’t have the same view of religious principles as I do. Going after the tax exemption of churches, Islamic centers or other religious facilities in this country is just going to deepen the divisions we’re already experiencing.” Warren’s campaign also issued a statement rejecting the idea of revoking tax-exempt status for churches that espouse traditional marriage and oppose homosexuality. “Elizabeth will stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBTQ+ community until every person is empowered and able to live their life without fear of discrimination and violence,” Saloni Sharma, the campaign’s deputy press secretary, told NBC News. “Religious institutions in America have long been free to determine their own beliefs and practices, and she does not think we should require them to conduct samesex marriages in order to maintain their tax exempt status.” l OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

theFeed

DEADLY HATRED

Uganda revives ‘Kill the Gays’ bill, adds punishments for ‘promotion’ of homosexuality. By Rhuaridh Marr

HE GOVERNMENT OF UGANDA HAS announced plans to once again implement the death penalty for gay people. The proposed legislation, known as the “Kill the Gays” bill, was previously passed in 2013, but drew international condemnation and was ultimately thwarted by the nation’s Constitutional Court in 2014. In an interview with Reuters, Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo said the government planned to resurrect the bill to curb the spread of ‘unnatural sex’ in Uganda. “Homosexuality is not natural to Ugandans, but there has been a massive recruitment by gay people in schools, and especially among the youth, where they are promoting the falsehood that people are born like that,” Lokodo said. “Our current penal law is limited. It only criminalizes the act,” he continued. “We want it made clear that anyone who is even involved in promotion and recruitment has to be criminalized. Those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence.” Lokodo said the bill, which has the support of President Yoweri Museveni and “many” of the country’s lawmakers, would be reintroduced this fall. He expects a vote on the bill before the end of 2019 and predicted that it would succeed with a necessary majority, preventing the legal technicality

that led to the downfall of the 2013 law. That version of the law was annulled in court after less than the required number of parliamentarians were present to authorize its passage. The specifics of the new bill weren’t mentioned, but the 2013 iteration increased the punishment for homosexuality — which was already illegal in the country. Acts of “aggravated homosexuality” were punishable by up to life in prison, with an earlier draft of the bill including the death penalty as punishment. Lesbians, who had previously escaped prosecution, were included in the law and subject to the same punishment as gay men. The east African nation was widely condemned for the 2013 law, with the Obama administration cutting foreign aid to the country, as well as restricting entry to the U.S. for Ugandan officials involved in anti-LGBTQ human rights abuses. Pepe Julian Onziema, of Sexual Minorities Uganda, told Reuters that when the 2013 law was introduced, “it whipped up homophobic sentiment and hate crimes.” “Hundreds of LGBT+ people have been forced to leave the country as refugees and more will follow if this law is enacted,” Onziema said. “It will criminalize us from even advocated for LGBT+ rights, let alone supporting and protecting sexual minorities.” l

SOUL FOOD

New Orleans principal refuses free Chick-fil-A to support LGBTQ staff and students. By Rhuaridh Marr

HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL IN NEW ORLEANS has refused free meals from Chick-fil-A in a show of support for his LGBTQ staff and students. Dr. Steven Corbett, principal of Lusher High School, turned down an offer to give free Chick-fil-A to staff as part of “teacher appreciation day.” He said that the fast food chain’s antiLGBTQ values don’t reflect those of the school, according to WWL-TV. “Out of respect to our LGBTQ staff, we have chosen to not serve Chick-fil-A at an employee lunch,” Corbett said. “The #1 rule at Lusher is to ‘Be Kind’ and we live this motto every day. Chick-Fil-A has been politically outspoken about its views, and we feel it is not part of Lusher’s culture of kindness and community.” Speaking to WDSU, Corbett said he turned down the meals — provided by the College Football Playoff Foundation — because he wants his school to be ‘sensitive to the LGBTQ community.’ “Anytime an organization is anti-LGBTQ, and has efforts to infringe upon their rights, we thought it was important

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

to support and stand up for their community at this time,” Corbett said. The foundation agreed to find an alternate meal to provide to staff, WDSU reports. Chick-fil-A has repeatedly butted heads with the LGBTQ community over its donations to anti-LGBTQ organizations. The company, which touts its Christian values, has donated millions to organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights, and earlier this year said it wouldn’t stop the practice because funding discriminatory groups was part of a “higher calling.” Asked about the donations, a Chick-fil-A executive argued that because the organizations the company donates to are helping young people, it doesn’t matter if they also discriminate against LGBTQ people. In March this year, it was revealed that Chick-fil-A had donated almost $2 million to anti-LGBTQ groups in 2017. The largest sum, $1.6 million, went to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a religious organization that requires its members to adhere to a “sexual purity” policy that outlaws “homosexual acts.” l

OCTOBER 17, 2019 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY.COM

Community FRIDAY, October 18

SATURDAY, October 19

GAY DISTRICT, a group for

ADVENTURING outdoors

The DC Center hosts an LGBTQ GAME NIGHT where participants can play board and card games and socialize with other people from across the LGBTQ spectrum. All welcome. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. Visit www.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 www.andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

BET MISHPACHAH, founded

by members of the LGBT community, holds Friday evening Shabbat services in the DC Jewish Community Center’s Community Room. 8 p.m. 1529 16th St. NW. For more information, visit www.betmish.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds

a practice session at Howard University. 6:30-8 p.m. Burr Gymnasium, 2400 6th St. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-

Walker Health. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW. For an appointment, call 202-7457000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.

KARING WITH 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 703823-4401. www.kiservices.org.

METROHEALTH CENTER

offers free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. To arrange an appointment, call 202-8498029. www.metrohealthdc.org.

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBTaffirming social group for ages 11-24. 4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road NW. Contact Tamara, 202319-0422, www.layc-dc.org.

IMPULSE GROUP DC

GBTQQI men between the ages of 18-35, meets on the first and third Fridays of each month. 8:30-9:30 p.m. The DC Center. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.gaydistrict.org.

Whitson

FEELING THE IMPULSE Impulse Group DC offers an entertaining twist on sexual health education through non-traditional means.

E RECENTLY HOSTED WHAT WE CALLED ‘BEDROOM Confessions,’” says DeVonte Whitson, president of the Washington, D.C. chapter of Impulse Group. “It was a recorded piece, broken up into three parts. We invited various people from different backgrounds to a sit-down conversational piece, and we covered topics like interracial dating, mental health and how society perceives it, substance abuse and the destruction caused by crystal meth. We also talked about penis sizes and enjoyable sex positions. “It was a forum where everybody could be themselves, and we could talk and discuss amongst each other and not have to worry about anyone judging what we’ve done or what we do or what our outlooks are. And we took that conversational piece, and then we placed it online where everyone else could listen to it.” Impulse DC, a nonprofit organization focused on awareness of HIV and AIDS, mental health, and substance use, takes an “entertainment-based” approach. “We share that information in more of an entertaining fashion,” says Whitson. “As opposed to your typical conference where you have a group of people sitting down and someone up on stage spewing out stats for two hour. We package all of that information into a form where it’s better received. You can tell me that condoms are 99 percent effective while I’m sitting in a classroom, but if that message is written over a nude model, something about that sticks with me more than somebody spewing out that particular fact.” Funded by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Impulse Group has 27 worldwide chapters focused on promoting healthier sexual choices and the concept of “safer sex” among the LGBTQ community — particularly groups at higher risk of HIV, such as gay and bisexual men aged 21 to 65. Whitson says the form that health education takes can manifest itself in different ways, whether through social media, open bar events, oneon-one peer conversations, and even live performances. The group tries to refrain from making judgments or dictating people’s choices, instead looking at ways to make sure people are engaging in safer behaviors. Impulse is volunteer-based, and there are no dues that prospective members have to pay. Those who want to get involved should contribute their own talents or focus on topics of interest to them. “My question when it comes to someone who is interested is ‘What do you enjoy doing?’” says Whitson. “I feel that a person can be more effective and will take more ownership of whatever role they are in if they enjoy it. As long as you have a passion for the work, we are open, and there’s always something for someone to do to help us grow.” —John Riley Impulse Group DC’s 4th anniversary party, “Sin City,” is on Sunday, Oct. 20, from 6 to 10 p.m. at The Showroom, 1099 14th St. NW, Suite 101L. The casino-themed event features an open bar, hors d’oeuvres, and special guest Tiffany “New York” Pollard. There is a $5 suggested donation at the door. For more information, visit www.impulsegrp.org/washington or follow @impulsegroupdc on Instagram.

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

group hikes 10 strenuous miles with 2200 feet of elevation gain in the southern section of Shenandoah National Park to enjoy dramatic scenery and fall colors. Experienced hikers only. Bring beverages, lunch, sturdy boots, bug spray, about $20 for fees, and money for dinner on the return trip home. Carpool at 8 a.m. from the East Falls Church Metro Station Kiss & Ride lot. Return after dark. For more info, contact Harris, 443-415-7856 or visit www.adventuring.org. Equality Virginia hosts its annual VIRGINIA

TRANSGENDER INFORMATION AND EMPOWERMENT SUMMIT (TIES) CONFERENCE, a day

full of workshops, seminars, and other activities geared toward the transgender community. The conference will feature legal advice at its Name and Gender Marker Change Clinic, mental health and medical consultations at the Wellness Center, rapid HIV testing, clothes closet and binder consultation, tables for community organizations, and activities for youth. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Robins School of Business, University of Richmond, 28 Westhampton Way. Richmond, Va. For more info, visit www. equalityvirginia.org.

KHUSH DC, a support group for

LGBTQ South Asians, hosts a meeting at The DC Center. 1:303 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/khushdc. The DC Center hosts a monthly

LGBT ASYLEES SUPPORT MEETING AND DINNER for

LGBT refugees and asylum seekers. 5-7 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org. The DC Center hosts a meeting of its LGBTQ PEOPLE OF COLOR SUPPORT GROUP, facilitated by Dakia Davis. 1-3 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Montgomery College Aquatics Club. 8:3010 a.m. 7600 Takoma Ave., Takoma, Md. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

OCTOBER 17, 2019 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY.COM

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterwards. Route distance will be 3-6 miles. Walkers meet at 9:30 a.m. and runners at 10 a.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW. For more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.org.

SUNDAY, October 20 ADVENTURING outdoors

group enjoys fall flora as they mosey leisurely through the National Arboretum in Northeast Washington. Bring comfortable walking shoes, water, snacks, bug spray, and a few dollars for transportation and trips fees. Must register in advance. Carpool at 10 a.m. from the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station. For more information, contact David, 240-938-0375 or visit www.adventuring.org. Volunteers are needed to help prepare CASA RUBY’S MONTHLY DINNER. Held on the third Sunday of each month, in conjunction with The DC Center and Food Rescue DC, the event provides a hot meal to those housed at Casa Ruby. Homemade or store bought meals welcome. 7-8 p.m. Casa Ruby Shelter, 1216 Kennedy St. NW. For more information, contact lamar@ thedccenter.org, jon@thedccenter. org, or visit www.casaruby.org.

Weekly Events BETHEL CHURCH-DC progressive and radically inclusive church holds services at 11:30 a.m. 2217 Minnesota Ave. SE. 202-248-1895, www.betheldc.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Wilson Aquatic Center. 9:30-11 a.m. 4551 Fort Dr. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterwards. Route distances vary. For meeting places and more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.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 information, visit www.dignitywashington.org.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

welcomes all to 10:30 a.m. service, 945 G St. NW. For more info, visit www.firstuccdc.org or call 202628-4317.

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST welcomes GLBT community for worship. 10:30 a.m., 6130 Old Telegraph Road, Alexandria. Visit www.hopeucc.org. Join LINCOLN

CONGREGATIONAL TEMPLE – UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST for

an inclusive, loving and progressive faith community every Sunday. 11 a.m. 1701 11th Street NW, near R in Shaw/Logan neighborhood. Visit www.lincolntemple.org.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA services at 11 a.m., led

by Rev. Emma Chattin. Children’s Sunday School, 11 a.m. 10383 Democracy Lane, Fairfax. For more info, call 703-691-0930 or visit www.mccnova.com.

NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, inclusive church with

GLBT fellowship, offers gospel worship, 8:30 a.m., and traditional worship, 11 a.m. 5 Thomas Circle NW. For more info, call 202-232-0323 or visit www.nationalcitycc.org.

ST. STEPHEN AND THE INCARNATION, an “interracial,

multi-ethnic Christian Community” offers services in English, 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., and in Spanish at 5:15 p.m. 1525 Newton St. NW. For more info, call 202-232-0900 or visit www.saintstephensdc.org.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF SILVER SPRING

invites LGBTQ families and individuals of all creeds and cultures to join the church. Services 9:15 and 11:15 a.m. 10309 New Hampshire Ave. For more info, visit www. uucss.org.

MONDAY, October 21 The Metro D.C. chapter of PFLAG, a support group for parents, family members and allies of the LGBTQ community, holds its monthly meeting at The DC Center. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.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 www. swimdcac.org.

DC’S DIFFERENT DRUMMERS

welcomes musicians of all abilities to join its Monday night rehearsals. The group hosts marching/color guard, concert, and jazz ensembles, with performances year round. Please contact Membership@DCDD.org to inquire about joining one of the ensembles or visit www.DCDD.org.

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 www. thedccenter.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. Visit www.ushelpingus.org.

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 information, contact Tom, 703-299-0504 or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit www.wetskins.org.

US HELPING US hosts a support

group for black gay men 40 and older. 7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. Call 202-446-1100. www.ushelpingus.org.

WEDNESDAY, October 23 LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB meets at

The Dignity Center for Duplicate Bridge. No reservations needed. Newcomers welcome. 7:30 p.m. 721 8th St. SE (across from the Marine Barracks). Call 202-841-0279 if you need a partner.

TUESDAY, October 22

The HEALTH WORKING GROUP of The DC Center holds a monthly meeting focusing on issues connected to meth use. The event will feature a presentation by Brian Watson from HIPS. 6:30-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

GENDERQUEER DC, a support and

Weekly Events

discussion group for people who identify outside the gender binary, meets at The DC Center on the fourth Tuesday of every month. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds prac-

tice. The team is always looking for new members. All welcome. 7-9 p.m. Harry Thomas Recreation Center, 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE. For more information, visit www.scandalsrfc.org.

THE GAY MEN'S HEALTH COLLABORATIVE offers free

HIV testing and STI screening and treatment every Tuesday. 5-6:30 p.m. Rainbow Tuesday LGBT Clinic, Alexandria Health Department, 4480 King St. 703746-4986 or text 571-214-9617. www.inova.org/gmhc

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS

holds an LGBT-focused meeting every Tuesday, 7 p.m. at St. George’s Episcopal Church, 915 Oakland Ave., Arlington, just steps from Virginia Square Metro. Handicapped accessible. Newcomers welcome. For more info, call Dick, 703-521-1999 or email liveandletliveoa@gmail.com. Support group for LGBTQ youth ages 13-24 meets at SMYAL. 4-7 p.m. 410 7th St. SE. For more information, contact Dana White, 202567-3156, or visit www.smyal.org.

AD LIB, a group for freestyle con-

versation, meets about 6-6:30 p.m., Steam, 17th and R NW. All welcome. For more information, call Fausto Fernandez, 703-732-5174.

JOB CLUB, a weekly support program for job entrants and seekers, meets at The DC Center. 6-7:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more info, email centercareers@thedccenter.org or visit www.thedccenter.org/careers.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9

THURSDAY, October 24 The DC ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT, a group dedicated to combating anti-LGBT hate crimes, holds its monthly meeting at The DC Center. The meeting is open to all and the public is encouraged to attend. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org. The DC Center holds a roundtable discussion as part of its COMING OUT DISCUSSION GROUP on the second Tuesday and fourth Thursday of each month. This group is 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 www.thedccenter.org. l

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

A Complete Guide to

Reel Affirmations 26 From drama to comedy to everything in between, we have your definitive critic’s guide to Washington’s LGBTQ film festival. Reviews by Rhuaridh Marr, John Riley, Randy Shulman, and Kate Wingfield Reel Affirmations runs Friday, Oct. 25 to Sunday, Oct. 27, with all screenings at GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. Single tickets are $14. Festival Passes range from $40 to $200 and are available at www.reelaffirmations.org. QUEEN OF THE CAPITAL

Friday, Oct. 25, 5 p.m.

ttttt From the very first minute of Queen of the Capital, it becomes clear that drag queen Muffy Blake Stephyns is dedicated to her craft. Viewers watch Muffy’s non-drag persona, Daniel Hays, pack his car full of suitcases, hat boxes, gown bags and wig mannequins, even pulling over to the side of the highway to re-fasten seat belts around the mannequin heads to secure them in place after they take a tumble, with Hays quipping that he’s encountered a “wig-tastrophe.” Josh Davidsburg’s documentary gives viewers an abbreviated, behind-the-scenes look at Muffy’s 2014 campaign to become the Empress of the Imperial Court of Washington, D.C., a drag group whose mission is to raise money for local organizations and nonprofits. The 80-minute film provides glimpses into Muffy’s life, in and out of drag, with the bulk of it focusing on Muffy — and her fellow Court nominees, Milan Jaymes-Nicole and DP DiegoDennis Carrington — performing at fundraisers, strutting on stage at Freddie’s Beach Bar, participating in the Walk to End HIV, and marching in the Capital Pride Parade while handing out flyers and handbills promoting Imperial Court events. Viewers also see Hays working at the Department of Labor as a legislative analyst. They learn about his Southern Baptist upbringing in small-town Missouri and how he shaped Muffy’s

personality, including her trademark high hair, to lampoon the stereotype of the Christian schoolmarm. The film examines the “chosen family” dynamic between Muffy and her drag mother, Shelby Jewel Stephyns. Viewers even learn about Shelby’s history, including her struggles with drug addiction and an abusive boyfriend who infected her with HIV. Yet despite the serious nature of some of the topics broached in the film, there is no big emotional climax or any raw, heart-wrenching moments guaranteed to leave viewers reaching for the tissue box. To educate viewers about the history of drag — and serve as a device to change the film’s pacing — Davidsburg intersperses interviews with longtime Academy of Washington member Frank Taylor, a.k.a. Danielle Devereaux, and LGBTQ historian Mark Meinke. The two experts examine the history of drag; the interplay between the Imperial Court and the now-disbanded Academy of Washington, which served as a school for drag novices; the historical (and current) overlap between the drag world and the military; and the legacy of Washington’s now-deceased grand dame of drag, Mame Dennis, whom Muffy viewed as a mother-type figure. Of course, no good story is complete without a conflict for a hero or heroine to overcome. In Muffy’s case, it’s her lifelong battle with epilepsy, which is brought to the forefront after she suffers six seizures and remains in a near-comatose state for nearly two days. Sidelined from the campaign trail and the stage, OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Muffy suffers severe depression and even begins to contemplate suicide, but it is her drag family, particularly Shelby, who lift her up and push her back into the spotlight just in time for the Empress election. Queen of the Capital mixes entertainment with information, providing a primer for viewers, including many in the LGBTQ community, who are unfamiliar with the world of drag pageantry. By focusing on Muffy’s journey, viewers find an underdog-type heroine they’ll want to cheer for as she attempts to conquer the obstacles standing in between her and the crown she desires. Queen of the Capital has a solid story arc that’s engaging and easy to follow, but you won’t leave changed or altered by the experience. If, however, you’re looking for a light-hearted narrative that will leave you in generally good spirits, this is the film for you. —John Riley THE SYMPATHY CARD

Rascals-style roguery to her character and a face that draws the eye like a magnet. But there is little chemistry between these two women and Gibson’s coughing truly fails to convince almost as much as the idea that pushing your wife into a one-night-stand will somehow secure her future after you’re gone. The program opens with Treacle (ttttt), a smoothly shot vignette of two footloose women whose drunken moment off-balances their close friendship. Director Rosie Westhoff shows a lot of mainstream chops, and there is a keen, almost Breaking Bad sense of their deserty drive to an Airbnb-style getaway, a freshness to the look and feel of their easy banter, and enough pull in the pacing to keep the film interesting. The only downsides here are not quite enough attention

Friday, Oct. 25, 7 p.m.

ttttt Way too long for the content, Brendan Boogie’s comedy Sympathy Card needed a ruthless editor and way more of a point. If you’re going to make a movie about lesbian lovers that assumes a high degree of normalcy — as in being gay isn’t the plot-driver — then you really have to get on with it and tell a story. The problem is that, as charmingly gauche as protagonist Josie is, with her funny nerdiness and her sweet urge to do right by her wife Emma, there just isn’t enough actual drama to keep one’s attention for a feature-length film. Sure, there’s a life-changing cancer, a bit of tame edge-play, and the tiniest hint of pathos in wanting the best for your lover, but there needs to be some powerful drivers and themes, even in a semi-dark comedy. The story is just too simplistic and the scenes arrive like vignettes, loosely strung together. This puts far too much of a burden on the The Sympathy Card actors to fill in the gaps by being adorable, comic or, in the case of Emma, “characterful.” In the end, it just feels like a whole lot of dithering and one too many set-ups for the film’s awkward-girl comedy. Despite solid direction, it is surprising how many hallmarks of the amateur enterprise remain. There are slack moments when characters wait one too many beats before speaking. There is dialogue that no human would ever utter. There are contrived party scenes that have the feel of adults playing dress-up. And some acting in smaller roles would make an Oak tree blush. At least the leads are committed and look ready for some variation of prime-time. As the awkward Josie, Nika Ezell Pappas breaks the mold of the usual rom-com heroine with her eclectic good-looks, and the more we see of her, the more compelling her gentle brand of sex appeal. She brings some of the better sketch-comedy humor and is convincing in the movie’s quieter moments. But her growth as a person is barely perceptible amid the constant “comic” questions Boogie has her ask. As ailing wife Emma, Petey Jay Gibson brings a certain Little 34

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

to the kind of details that get “okay” to “compelTreacle ling” and a girlie-indie soundtrack that needs drop-kicking into oblivion. These women beg for close-ups to deliver more of their personalities, and their conversation — as the drunken night unfolds — needs to have been a lot more authentic as the alcohol loosened their tongues (literally and figuratively). Their gritty morning-after moment is well-paced and written, save for the failure to explore the interesting idea that being gay might have made a difference. And keeping it real: people steeped in post-coital hungover awkwardness are going to have a lot of trouble with eye-contact. —Kate Wingfield SELL BY

Friday, Oct. 25, 9 p.m.

ttttt As debuts go, you could do a lot worse than Mike Doyle manages as the writer and director of Sell By. The actor, who does not appear in his film, but is familiar to anyone who has watched Law & Order: SVU or New Amsterdam with any regularity, has created a perfectly innocuous romantic comedy. It’s not painful to sit through, as so many of these films can be, yet nor is it very deep or interesting. Basically it goes nowhere and means nothing. It’s as though mediocre were an ideal to strive for when making a motion picture. Sell By more or less exists, in a pleasant, inoffensive fashion, as it moves through its various plot machinations — if you can actually call the thread that strings a group of various friends and their relationships a plot. The movie delves into the romantic entanglements of six friends, the core of whom are a gay couple — Adam (Scott Evans) and Marklin (Augustus Prew). After five years together, the men trying to patch the cracks that have formed in their relationship and not really succeeding. Adam toils (oh, how he toils) as an artist who creates paintings for a much more famous artist (Patricia Clarkson, in a brief cameo that adds little), who then signs the pieces and sells them for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The underpinnings of the scam alone might have made for

And yet, while it may not be a Beautiful Thing or Gods and Monsters, Sell By is not unwatchable and makes for a nice, affirming way to open a festival that strives to focus on positive LGBTQ content. You enjoy yourself well enough while you’re sitting through it, and then forget about it the minute you leave the theater. —Randy Shulman EK AASHA

Saturday, Oct. 26, 5:30 p.m. In Hindi with English subtitles

ttttt

an interesting central story, but Doyle simply uses it as a means to crush Adam’s spirit, so that he can eventually have an “ah ha!” moment and come into his own. Marklin, meanwhile, makes a tidy fortune as an internet fashion influencer. The economic disparity in their relationship is addressed but only in the most shallow of terms. Still, you believe their relationship — the actors sell it well — with Prew, in particular, being a bit of a revelation. His performance is guileless, natural, believable. Watching him, you realize you want to see him in better films to see what he can truly accomplish. Orbiting Adam and Marklin are Haley (Zoe Chao), who is fending off the sexual advances of the dimwitted 17-yearold boy she’s tutoring. When he threatens suicide by sticking his head in her oven, she declares, “Oh, no, that’s not gonna work! It’s electric.” Cammy (Michelle Buteau), meanwhile, is dating a homeless man and constantly questioning her self-worth, while Ek Aasha Elizabeth (Kate Walsh) is going through a breakup with her boyfriend of 15 years. Buteau lights up every scene she’s in, while the veteran Walsh tends to flatten every moment (it’s a far cry from her delectable turn in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy). Doyle’s intentions feel honorable, but he doesn’t have the screenwriting skills to take a complex set of situations and characters and weave them together in a clever, artful way. Instead, he jumps into the shallow end of the pool and flails about happily, grabbing at every cliche he can find and tossing it about. You could chart the various storylines on a predictive flowchart and be 100% right.

Somewhere between National Geographic documentary and earnest drama, Ek Aasha traces a portrait of a community perhaps entirely unknown to Western audiences. Kinnar, or Hijras as they are also known, are the Indian subcontinent’s third recognized gender, considered neither completely male or female, and Sell By comprising the transgender and intersex communities. Existing since antiquity, Kinnar have faced discrimination, criminalization, and being outcast to all-hijra communities, earning money by performing at ceremonies, conducting blessings, and resorting to sex work — though in recent years, the community successfully fought for legal recognition. Indian-Australian filmmaker Mayur Katariya explores the Kinnar in his debut feature, which follows a transgender Indian girl, Aasha, as she comes to terms with her gender identity, her

place in society, and her desire to grow up and become a teacher — a profession unthinkable to many in the hijra community, given the country’s negative perceptions of transgender people. In a bold step for inclusion, Katariya utilized a cast of non-actor transgender people to portray the film’s 11 main trans characters, including Disha Yadav as lead Aasha and Vijya Laxmi as best friend Sajni. Unfortunately, this is also where Kataryia’s film stumbles. For non-actors, the cast offers some truly powerful moments, such as Aasha’s discussions with Nani Guru (Annu Akade), the leader of the local hijra community, about her future and OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

her desires to break out of what society expects of her. And as Aasha, Yadav’s eyes are big, expressive windows into a woman struggling between her deepest desires and the confinements of a world still not quite ready to allow her to flourish. But these moments are undermined by the film’s rougher aspects, such as cast members looking directly into the camera, some ropey moments of acting, and dialogue that is occasionally simplistically written and delivered. The ending is a particularly egregious example of Katariya pontificating through his script and cast. And while Yadav carries the film on her shoulders she’s not immune to blank delivery, where proper training may have helped bring greater heft. Katariya himself shows the limitations of a filmmaker still exploring their craft, particularly in the film’s two-hour runtime. Ek Aasha suffers from a preponderance of long, slow, quiet scenes — moments that, with a tighter edit, would land with greater impact, or at least help the film move through its story with greater fluidity. Not helping matters is a score whose simplicity often lends the feeling of an after school special, particularly during moments intended to highlight emotion, such as Aasha meeting paramour Abir for dinner. However, these shortcomings can’t detract from what is still an incredibly interesting and challenging film. And where Katariya refuses to hold back is in showing the discrimination and pain that India’s trans community faces. Aasha is abandoned by her family and her potential lover as she pursues a seemingly distant dream, and every turn presents another door waiting to slam in her face — or the fist of a man eager to take advantage of her. Should you watch Ek Aasha with no prior knowledge of India’s hijra community, the film absolutely succeeds in translating the sights, the sounds, the religion, and the culture into a tangible experience. Take Aasha’s induction into Nani Guru’s house, captured in slow motion, showcasing the glittering outfits, the rich foods, the storied ceremonies, and the joyous dancing as the women are finally allowed to look in a mirror and see their true selves reflected. Katariya succeeds in pulling the audience into this often unseen world in a way that, when it’s firing on all cylinders, utterly compels. —Rhuaridh Marr

Fabulous

FABULOUS

Saturday, Oct. 26, 8 p.m. This film, a doc about the professional transgender dancer Lasseindra Ninja, was not screened in time for deadline. It plays with the short Batekoo, also not screened in time for deadline. 36

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

CRITIC’S PICK

DAUGHTERS OF THE FIRE

Saturday, Oct. 26, 9:15 p.m.

ttttt Like a long dream, Albertina Carri’s Daughters of Fire is a road trip through rural vistas and female eroticism. Like most arthouse fare worth your time, if you leave your preconceived notions at the door and open yourself to the “journey,” you will find an enduring, even memorable presence. The narrative follows three women as they take a multi-day trip to the childhood home of one of them, deep in the countryside. Along the way, they meet strangers and old friends who share sexual experiences that often deliver their own interesting commentary. Obliquely explored through a poetic voice-over while the women travel, is the question of what transcends “porn.” The answer, contemplated between interludes of long, beautifully framed shots of the bucolic surrounds and the intimate narrative of the trio’s sexual experiences with friends and strangers, seems to be something along the lines of self-determination and connection. If that sounds obtuse, that’s where some patience comes in. Carri is telling a story — the women acquire fellow travelers and stop briefly to rescue a woman from an abusive husband — but her voice is a mix of uneventful realism and the sensibility of dreams. If you can go with it, the overall effect is quietly absorbing. Whatever your takeaway on the ultimate message, at face value, with its many scenes celebrating the lesbian experience of sex, Daughters of the Fire is also largely about sheer, uncensored enjoyment — for the characters but also the viewer. This is sex seen recalibrated back to an almost retro realism. It may be graphic, at brief times “pornographic,” but it completely escapes the pounding-hairless-body-makeup-acrobatics of the internet circus and, as such, is liberating to watch. Quite powerfully, it shows and/or reminds, that there is/has

capture this alone is remarkable. The lead performances are largely professionally crafted, the smaller roles less so, but still compelling in their unassuming way. Mijal Katzowicz delivers her young swimmer with a polished swagger to her slightly prickly character, while the charismatically mesmerizing and understated Carolina Alamino Barthaburu, with a face and body of a Rubenesque grandeur, makes Hollywood starlets look like underfed, neurotic greyhounds by comparison. With expectations in check and minds open, this is imaginative and adventurous filmmaking. —Kate Wingfield CRITIC’S PICK

JONATHAN AGASSI SAVED MY LIFE

Friday, Oct. 25, 11 p.m.

ttttt

Daughters of the Fire

always been another way to see sex depicted on a screen. Much of the power comes from Carri’s quiet, almost incidental, elaboration on the personalities of the women and for the viewer it becomes sex with someone you know — or perhaps can appreciate — which utterly changes the experience. And for those unfamiliar with lesbian sexuality, it’s a potent depiction of a sexual energy that exists as if in a parallel universe, not least because of the absence of the male gaze and aggression. Carri’s ability to

“I love sex,” says Israeli-born adult film star Jonathan Agassi, a husky hunk of a man with a burly, furry chest, gleaming, mischevious eyes, and a consistently bright, win-you-over smile. “I love shooting porn. I hope to do it for many, many years so you have the best jerk-off ever.” If you’re a gay man who fast-forwards through the occasional adult title, Agassi — whose real name is Yonatan Langer and who is now retired from the industry — may be familiar to you. For years, he was one of the centerpieces of the Lucas Entertainment stable, appearing in hardcore fare like Men of Israel, Urine Fist Fest, Raw Double Penetration, and Urine Ibiza. Documentarian Tomer Heymann (the director behind the brilliant Paper Dolls) spent eight years trailing Agassi and his mother, Anna, capturing a rare portrait of a porn artist, watching him dive from the height of his career into a stunning crash and burn, due primarily, to an addictive affinity for the letters “T” and “G.” Heymann’s coverage is astonishing, and the emotional honesty portrayed on screen is often abundantly uncomfortable (a scene between Agassi and his estranged father is a tour de force of awkward encounters). There are times when you sense a bit of cinematic manipulation occurring (certain moments feel

Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

staged), but to be fair, all documentary filmmakers take a point of view and are faced with the daunting challenge of constructing a viable narrative out of miles upon miles of footage. Heymann has a more than an ample gift for it — he’s the heir apparent to Frederick Wiseman. It’s fortunate that Heymann has such a charismatic, absorbing central persona in Agassi. What’s truly remarkable is how much access Agassi allowed Heymann, to the point where we watch the actor huddled in a dirty hallway corner smoking meth or, in one deeply upsetting scene, undergoing a psychotic breakdown on GHB, prompting the filmmaker himself to rush into the frame and ensure that his subject, clearly now a friend, is okay. Although hard to watch, those two minutes serve as a testament to the dangers of drug abuse in a way that fictional depictions simply can’t convey. The film does not shy away from the explicit nature of Agassi’s work — there is a lot of sex, though it never gets fully X-rated. Still, Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life may have, inch for inch, the most erect penises ever seen in 26 years of Reel Affirmations movies. Heymann takes his time, peeling back layers, revealing more and more about Agassi’s life. Some of the details — including one allegedly perpetrated by his father when Agassi was 12 — are shockingly dark gut-punches. By the time we get to the moment where his younger sister finds out her porn star brother is also an escort, and is visibly distraught by the revelation, the film morphs into something different, delving into a side of the sex-work industry we rarely glimpse. “I’m not a prostitute, I’m an escort,” he says, haughtily, to his sister. “I don’t stand in the street.” The other central character in all this is Agassi’s mother, Anna. She’s the epitome of supportive, loving mother, but you can see the strain in her face when Jonathan flaunts his latest ass-cheek-revealing leatherwear and high heels or asks her to watch one of his movies. “I’m your man,” Agassi says to her at one point, to which she soberly responds, “I consider you my child first, not my man.” Their relationship is jarring at times, but the movie is as much about a parent’s unconditional love and acceptance as it is about the life of a porn star. While the trajectory may be one of classic downfall, Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life rarely feels exploitative. It fully celebrates and tries to make sense of this tender, sweet man-child who is simultaneously arrogant, narcissistic, and extremely vulnerable. “I really do not want to let people down,” he says, referring to his clients. “When someone goes to be with Jonathan Agassi, they want a god.” In believing his own self-manufactured myth — one that no mere mortal can live up to — he shatters himself and those around him. —Randy Shulman CRITIC’S PICK SEAHORSE

Sunday, Oct. 27, 12:30 p.m.

ttttt Jeanie Finlay’s documentary Seahorse, following transgender gay man Freddy McConnell’s decision to carry and deliver his own a child, is a thoughtfully paced, intimate journey that is as much about making sense of an unprecedented situation as it is about breaking new ground in identity. With subject-matter this likely to draw knee-jerk reactions, Finlay’s choice to weave in interludes of the natural beauty surrounding Freddie’s seaside home and closeups of the eponymous seahorse (males of whom give birth) is a good one: it keeps the tone contemplative, never sensational. Just as importantly, it allows the viewer time to reflect on Freddie, creating space to separate reactions to him as a person 38

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Seahorse

(a bit spoiled, a bit self-indulgent) from the wider, interesting and important exploration of what he has chosen to do. The bottom line is that Freddy is not always likable as he whines about a choice he made willingly, fails to appreciate the family who unfailingly stand by him, and removes himself from the one family member who takes off the kid gloves and asks a few honest (if perhaps misguided) questions. But if Finlay stays true to this man and his foibles, she also gets that something this important can never be reduced to a popularity contest and her well-crafted approach invites larger, fascinating, open-ended questions about gender, biology, creating babies and the human quest for happiness and fulfillment. Finlay’s camera is subtle, her asking of the occasional question is unobtrusive, her judicious use of footage Freddie has filmed of himself in private is effective. Her subtle choice to include an array of nonjudgmental female healthcare professionals, quite content to help Freddie from beginning to end, offers its own silent commentary, as do Finlay’s occasional shots of women going about their business without fanfare. And this touches on one of Finlay’s other unspoken themes: Seahorse is also a thoughtful and accurate essay on how pregnancy affects the self. Freddy is far from the only pregnant person to feel they have lost control of their sense of self, physical and emotional, and wonder if they have made a terrible mistake. And although almost a throwaway line, his comment that if men got pregnant, “we’d never hear the end of it” adds an enduringly poignant note. Though there isn’t the time to explore them all, Finlay’s choice to allow these interesting nuances means that

Freddy is never an oddity to be observed at arm’s length, but rather a fully relatable brother, son, friend, lover and, finally, father. All told, it’s a compelling close-up on an extraordinary experience and it skillfully and sensitively charts a new frontier in how we view identity. —Kate Wingfield Seahorse is preceded by Something About Alex (ttttt), about as perfect as short-form filmmaking can be. It’s a stunning 17-minute sucker punch that comes out of left field and will leave you breathless in your seat. It opens in a blend of Call Me By Your Name and God’s Own Country, as Alex (Maas Bronkhuyzen) navigates life on a rural Dutch farm and struggles with his feelings for his older sister’s boyfriend. And then... well... buy a ticket and find out for yourself. We won’t spoil anything, and neither should you. Just sit down and let Reinout Hellenthal’s short film wreck you in the best way possible. —Rhuaridh Marr

like an apology from the filmmaker for not coming up with a real storyline. Moreover, the treatment of the main, pink-sweatered character by a prospective date seems unusually harsh. The film’s best moment comes when said shlemiel orders a cup of coffee and the reply is “That’ll be $9.” The Brazilian entry The Last Romantics (ttttt) is the clear winner here. A monologue about a graphic sexual encounter in a movie theater, told from two different points of view, is a poetically simple, stunningly effective piece of work. It’s 12 minutes of sheer, utter brilliance and its three actors — Mauricio Barcellos, Lucas Canavarro, and Victor Gorgullo — give remarkable readings that are fully transfixing. It should be shown twice, as one viewing is not enough. The program concludes on a delightful note with Lukewarm (ttttt), about a first date that’s somewhat unusual. It’s a one-joke film, but it wears its premise well and with conviction, and is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. It features two dead-on perfect performances by Eric Feltes and John Potter, who also wrote the screenplay. To be honest, Lukewarm shouldn’t work as well as it does, but director Mitch Yapko’s sense of pacing and the playful conviction of the performances carry it to a conclusion that will make you wonder if you shouldn’t try a similar tactic on your next date. CROSSING THE LINE

Sunday, Oct. 27, 4 p.m.

ttttt

The Last Romantics

CRITIC’S PICK

IRL...IN REAL LIFE

Sunday, Oct. 27, 2:30 p.m.

ttttt Shorts programs are always hit or miss, but this one hits far more than it misses, and three of its hits are home runs, one that goes completely out-of-the-park. Things kick off with the weakest of the lot, All We Are (ttttt), in which a younger man answers the ad of an older man looking for an anonymous sexual encounter. The single encounter quickly blooms into a year of encounters, which blooms into genuine affection, even though the pair know nothing about the other. And then comes the “BIG STUPID TWIST.” To say that All We Are is idiotic is to pay it more of a compliment than it deserves. However, Will Stewart’s film at least feature a solid performance from Matthew Risch (the younger guy). John Lacy, on the other hand, is so stiff (in all the wrong ways), you wonder if he downed a bottle of Viagra before the shoot. It’s followed by RUOK (ttttt), which is everything a clever, appealing short film should be. The first half is expressed in wordless texting between two friends who have had a falling out over a man, but Jay Russell’s film has something in mind that flips it on its head and gives it a good, hard spin. It’s utterly brilliant and totally unexpected. Sweater (ttttt) is five minutes of nothing, with two minutes wasted on an elaborately choreographed dance sequence that feels

Polyamory and non-monogamy feature multiple times in this shorts program, starting with More Than He Knows (ttttt), in which a husband has sex with another man during a staycation with his wife and her father-in-law in Palm Springs. Why is the father-in-law there? No one knows. Why does this cliche-ridden short exist? Other than as some kind of fantasy project, that’s also unknown. Come for the incredibly handsome Julian Fletcher, stay for a cheap joke about nuts that gets a laugh, and try not to leave during the not-at-all surprising twist ending. In Tadpole (ttttt), a gem of a short, three young friends get together to play games, drink a parent’s discovered liquor, and, for one of them, wrestle with burgeoning sexuality — particularly after one of the boys opens an erotic film on his phone. Are his feelings reciprocated by one of the youths? Jovan James’ short plays out that question in unflinchingly real fashion, and it’s all the better for it. Bizarre, compelling, amusing, beautiful, erotic — all can accurately describe Manuel Marmier’s French-Japanese entry Kiko’s Saint (ttttt). Kiko (Lika Minamoto) is a Japanese artist sent

More Than He Knows

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

to France to create paintings as a favor for her husband. There, she stumbles across two handsome men enjoying the beach and each other, roaming the dunes and one another’s bodies while totally naked. Spying on them awakens something in Kiko, as she finds her inspiration and her independence in their heaving, sandy sex. It’s exactly as odd as it sounds, but it’s also phenomenally good. From the beautiful cinematography, to Minamoto’s engaging central performance, to the highly erotic sex scenes, to the beautifully illustrated art, this is 25 minutes of utterly confusing joy. Next up is a millennial love triangle told in reverse chronology. She Who Hears (ttttt) starts at the breakup of Simone and Andrea, and then dials back through a recap of their brief relationship — and the man who continues to occupy space in Simone’s head. Though it’s far from groundbreaking, writer-director Alexi Papalexopoulos offers a curious take on a familiar tale. Shifting gears, Playmates (ttttt) offers seven minutes of supremely well-crafted comedy, following a husband through a mini breakdown as he and his wife prepare to host another couple for their first swingers night. Becky Bradshaw’s film hits all the right notes, with two charismatic leads — Jackie Osori as Katherine and Mike Schiff as Peter — and an abundance of laugh-out-loud one-liners (“I’m a polite person,” Peter worries, “if he goes down on me I’m gonna have to reciprocate.”). The couple (mainly Peter) runs through everything that could go wrong, from the other man being “bigger” to whether they should leave lube on the coffee table — and Playmates does it all with wit and style. Continuing that stylish trend, single men should prepare to feel attacked because Tristian Scott-Behrends’ deliciously cynical Only Trumpets (ttttt) Before We Grow Old is coming for you. Mocking everything from gay dating apps to couples who strive for heteronormativity to our obsession with micro-categorizing ourselves (bear, twink, “straight-acting,” etc.), Xavier Jimenez-March stars as Tristan, who is navigating the world of dating, casual hookups, and possible romance in a film that’s part dissertation, part rumination, and oozing with flair. The program closes on another love triangle in Pancakes (ttttt). Emily Friedman’s film is thin, but offers a compelling performance from Natalie Llerena as Madison, the “other woman” forced to sit and have breakfast with Leyla, the woman she’s dating, and Tim — the unknowing boyfriend Leyla’s yet to dump. A million questions run across Madison’s face as she listens to Tim witter on about nothing — Why am I here? What am I doing? — until she finally snaps. Llerena carries this film through its seven-minute runtime, and hers is a dilemma sure to resonate. —Rhuaridh Marr CRITIC’S PICK

BEFORE WE GROW OLD

Sunday, Oct. 27, 4 p.m. German and English, with English subtitles

ttttt Before We Grow Old is that rare film that bursts onto the screen with an immediate, tangible energy. A man and a woman meet at an art show, the chemistry between them gently simmering. They talk, they laugh, she then reveals her boyfriend, who joins 40

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

them. All of a sudden, the boyfriend’s hand is on the man’s leg, they’re discussing his penis size, and then the whole situation is over, as the man denies any bisexuality and leaves. It’s a tone, a moment, a fizzing of sexuality that tees up the rest of Thomas Moritz Helm’s 90-minute film. Centered on bisexual couple Maria (Paula Knüpling) and Niels (Maximilian Hildebrandt), the pair romp through Berlin fueled by endorphins and arousal, with Helm’s script unashamedly displaying their sexual energy for all to see — literally so, as in one electric, three-minute scene where Niels masturbates Maria on a park bench while describing a threeway in a shower with another man. And then Maria meets British student Chloë (Tala Gouveia), and everything changes. Suddenly, there’s a secret, a wedge driven between the young couple as Maria and Chloë carry on an affair out of Niels’ sight — or so they think. But far from drive this young couple apart, they instead come up with a solution: open up their relationship to Chloë. While at first their sexual fantasies are realized in embracing polyamory, far from solving their problems, Chloë instead leads

to a total imbalance in the dynamic of the relationship — and the relationships within the new relationship, of Niels and Maria, Niels and Chloë, and Maria and Chloë. Every time Niels or Maria pairs off with Chloë individually, a new fracture seems to appear — though Helms doesn’t refrain from the humor in these foreshadowing moments, such as Niels calmly reading the paper while Maria and Chloë loudly moan in the bedroom. That foreshadowing comes to fruition in a true test for this new throuple, one — obviously — involving Chloë, in a way that brings entirely unexpected jealousies to the fore. Helms keeps tight control of his excellent cast during this transition, with the core trio each excelling in their own ways, with particular praise to Hildebrandt for the ease with which he can switch from showcasing confident, raw sexuality to shrinking with hurt fragility. Gouveia similarly shines in a moment where Chloë bristles at Niels after a moment of unexpected obnoxiousness, transforming from easy breezy to steely resolve. The script crackles with a natural ease, moving between comedy and drama, life and philosophy, laughter and tears, and English and German with a commendable deftness. It's a testament to Helms’ skill that an hour breezes by until things really start to break down, but it only feels like twenty minutes. And while Before We Grow Old could easily seem like a cliched warning against polyamory, its strong cast and Helms’ filmmaking instead make it clear that these are flawed people, living flawed lives, making flawed decisions based on very human emotions and desires. Polyamory

can work, but for Niels and Maria it should perhaps have remained on the park bench, oblivious to passersby. Non-monogamy, polyamory, jealousy, hurt, and the secrets one person can hold all come together in Lavender (ttttt), an impactful, almost wordless short from Matthew Puccini that kicks off the program. A young gay man (Michael Hsu Rosen) finds himself increasingly enmeshed in the lives of an older gay couple (Michael Urie and Ken Barnett), as he struggles to come to terms with his place in their reality — and his own. Beautifully shot and surprisingly impactful beyond its quiet, contemplative 10-minute runtime, Lavender also throws in a twist ending that will leave more questions than answers — and, presumably, challenge audience perceptions about what a “relationship” truly is, and what ways people can love. l

FESTIVAL AT A GLANCE All screenings at GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW.

QUEEN OF THE CAPITAL Friday, Oct. 25, 5 p.m. ttttt

CRITIC’S PICK SEAHORSE Sunday, Oct. 27, 12:30 p.m. ttttt

THE SYMPATHY CARD Friday, Oct. 25, 7 p.m. ttttt

SELL BY Friday, Oct. 25, 9 p.m. ttttt

EK AASHA Saturday, Oct. 26, 5:30 p.m. In Hindi with English subtitles ttttt

FABULOUS Saturday, Oct. 26, 8 p.m. CRITIC’S PICK DAUGHTERS OF THE FIRE Saturday, Oct. 26, 9:15 p.m. ttttt

CRITIC’S PICK JONATHAN AGASSI SAVED MY LIFE Friday, Oct. 25, 11 p.m.

CRITIC’S PICK IRL...IN REAL LIFE Sunday, Oct. 27, 2:30 p.m. ttttt

CROSSING THE LINE Sunday, Oct. 27, 4 p.m. ttttt

CRITIC’S PICK BEFORE WE GROW OLD Sunday, Oct. 27, 4 p.m. German and English, with English subtitles ttttt

Single tickets are $14. Festival Passes range from $40 to $200 and are available at www. reelaffirmations.org. l

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OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

OCTOBER 17, 2019 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY.COM

DISNEY

Movies

Fairy Fail

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil aims for world-building action, but fares much better as camp. By André Hereford

ISUALLY SPLENDID AND A BIT DIM, IN MANY SENSES OF THE WORD, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (HHHHH), takes after the none-too-swift romantic duo at its center, the formerly sleeping beauty Aurora (Elle Fanning) and her mildly charming beau Prince Philip (Harris Dickinson). Among Disney princesses, Aurora has long gotten a bad rap for expressing only the bare minimum of personality beyond her beauty, and maybe that’s unfair. Not every fairy tale heroine has to wear her bookishness on her sleeve like Belle. However, fairness doesn’t account for the fact that, after two movies, Fanning’s iteration of Aurora hasn’t struck any chord for the character that rings louder than just “nice.” Aurora does rule kindly now that she’s Queen of the Moors, the lush, fanciful forest that’s home to her godmother Maleficent and various other fairies and whatzits. But she and her dull Philip usurp too much screen time from the film’s main attraction: Angelina Jolie, returning in the title role. The 2014 blockbuster Maleficent invested in a sympathetic backstory for the great horned diva villain of the animated classic Sleeping Beauty. The sequel doubles down on defanging the mighty villain. This time out she’s perturbed that her now-revised story got twisted throughout the human kingdoms to cast her again as the baddie in a tale that actually ended with her as a hero. Despite the facts, humans regard her and other fairies with fear and suspicion, when, really, she’s not bad, she’s just drawn that way — and happens to be the victim of really bad press. (Any similarities to the film’s star should be read as purely coincidental.) Jolie proves, as before, to be the ideal performer to render this arch, angular cartoon villain in lustrous flesh and blood, but, after a busy opening third of the film, Maleficent finds herself unduly sidelined by a roster of new characters and conflicts. Michelle Pfeiffer emerges as the film’s focal point playing Philip’s unsparingly ruthless mother Queen Ingrith. Not even Ingrith’s own son is safe from her nefarious plan to control every kingdom and exterminate all fairies. We might be persuaded to support her anti-Philip policies — he’s a stiff, as por-

trayed by Dickinson, replacing Titans star Brenton Thwaite, who played the prince in the prior film. Dickinson made a memorable big-screen debut as a sexually confused Brooklyn teen in the award-winning 2017 indie drama Beach Rats, but does nothing too memorable as Philip, the most oblivious prince in a whole world of kingdoms. If Philip becomes collateral damage, so be it, but Ingrith’s scheme to rid the world of all those fabulous fairies is far more terrible to contemplate — although it does offer a juicy alternative reading of the plot. The story of a misunderstood and fashion-forward fairy who, once upon a time, had her wings clipped before she found herself, reclaimed her power and spread her wings, the continuing chronicle of Maleficent is equally viable as crypto-homo camp or big-budget action-adventure. And dialogue like one character’s declaration that “we are not defined by where we’re from, but by whom we love” only reinforces the interpretation that this woke Sleeping Beauty is advocating for every kind of fabulous creature. At one point, Maleficent wakes up inside the cavernous refuge of the Dark Fae — fairies who, like her, sprout powerful horns from their heads, giant vulture wings from their shoulder blades, and cheekbones that could slice a starfruit. They come in every race and every gender presentation, some even have rainbow-tinted wings, and they’re led by hunky, tattooed he-fairies Conall (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Borra (Ed

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

DISNEY

Skrein). The pair appear to be just friends, and Borra and Maleficent steal several meaningful glances, but who knows what’s really going down in that rainbow fairy cave. Onscreen, not much action happens inside that cave. One particular sequence, crosscutting a frantic battle between human and fairy armies back at the kingdom and Maleficent and comrades slowly wrapping up a subplot back in the Dark Fae realm, emphasizes just how drawn out director Joachim Rønning’s action setpieces can seem. Ultimately, the sequel offers about an hour of intriguing plot stretched across a two-hour parade of plotting queens, ditzy asides from CGI woodland folk, and elaborate costume and creature design. If you plan to drink every time some queen mentions saving the fairies from hateful humans trying to kill them all, the time should fly by quickly. l Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is rated PG, and opens in theaters everywhere on Friday, Oct. 18. Visit www.fandango.com.

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

DJ COREY

Stage

Peanut Gallery

A bittersweet comic riff on a familiar set of friends, Dog Sees God unfolds a colorful tapestry of teenage crises. By André Hereford

GING UP THE WITTY, WISE-BEYOND-THEIR-YEARS PEANUTS CHARacters from bubbly, holiday-celebrating elementary schoolers to brooding, badass adolescents proves to be a fruitful gimmick for Bert V. Royal’s tender teen drama Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead (HHHHH). The unauthorized parody adaptation, staged by Jason Tamborini in Prologue Theatre’s modestly satisfying new production, generally works best by downplaying its comic strip origins to tell the compelling story of teen CB (Noah Schaefer) confronting his own mortality following the death of his beloved beagle due to a grisly case of rabies. It’s a sad turn of events for CB and his Sister (Sophie Schulman), and all the Snoopy fans out there. The late pooch’s now-unoccupied red doghouse sits prominently downstage on Andrew R. Cohen’s lovely set, which effortlessly marks the landscape of CB’s sad high school life, from classroom to cafeteria to his family’s backyard. Wherever he goes, CB’s world is a lonelier place without his four-legged best friend. His earnest attempts to make sense of his loss are, in CB’s typically underdog fashion, not terribly effective. And his well-meaning friends, like newly Buddhist stoner bud Van (Jonathan E. Miot), are all too frazzled in their own ways to be of much help. CB finds an unexpected bright spot reconnecting with introverted, piano-playing classmate Beethoven (Tiziano D’Affuso). When their newly exhilarating friendship blossoms into flirtation and more, the teens’ path to romance crashes head-on into a wall of bullying hate and homophobia. The woes of this teenage blockhead indeed are no laughing matter. Still, the script has fun with the premise, with tongue-in-cheek mentions of Franklin and Frieda and the Little Red-Haired Girl. Not every joke depends on a passing knowledge of all the

Peanuts characters, but Charles Schulz’s classic cartoon strip crew are treated here as universal symbols of childhood, and the subversion of their innocence — every kid’s innocence — appears to be the point. If you’re going to turn famously philosophical Linus Van Pelt into a pothead in a poncho, then having him also smoke up his security blanket is a pretty deft touch. Likewise, Van’s Sister (Lida Maria Benson), the show’s Lucy substitute, turns up as a patient inside a psych ward. It makes for delicious irony. Benson produces a strong impression in her brief appearance as the straight-talking big sis who’s suffering her own losses, and Miot supplies laughs and infectious energy playing her too-toasted-to-think younger brother. As opposed to the light touch applied to the show’s humor, Tamborini’s production registers some serious turns with a melodramatic, Afterschool Special heaviness that doesn’t serve the story as well. Playing school bully Matt, Conor Patrick Donahue presses hard to put across the character’s raging insecurity and virulent homophobia. As both CB’s supposed best friend and main antagonist, Matt’s not really funny, yet he’s hard to take seriously. Tricia (Annie Ottati), queen of the school’s popular clique, offers a more successful balance of the play’s mix of

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

DJ COREY

comedy and topicality. Ottati’s delightful performance lends this mean girl who’s not that mean added warmth and dimension, especially in her bantering best friendship with sidekick Marcy (Vanessa Chapoy). Central to every dimension of the show’s success is Schaefer’s raw, anguished performance as CB. Not every joke lands in his sober delivery, but he credibly projects the humanity of this lost and searching soul. Gasping for air, CB finds oxygen in his friendship with moody Beethoven, and together Schaefer and D’Affuso stir up the electric air of kinship and attraction.

D’Affuso brings a captivating gravity to the part, which isn’t all teenage romance, as Beethoven not only tries (and fails) to avoid bullies like Matt, but still carries the shame of his dad having been arrested for what the script implies are serious crimes. On several occasions, Beethoven retreats to the school music room to pour his fear and passion into playing Chopin, and D’Affuso expresses that same moving gravity through the music that underscores the burgeoning love story of this emotionally damaged musician and the world’s most famous blockhead. l

Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead runs through Nov. 3 at Dance Loft on 14, 4618 14th St. NW. Tickets are $25 to $35. Call 703-382-8012, or visit www.prologuetheatre.org.

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

NightLife Photography by Ward Morrison

OCTOBER 17, 2019 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY.COM

Scene

DragToberfest at Red Bear Brewing Co. - Friday, Oct. 4 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

DrinksDragDJsEtc... Thursday, October 17 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets of Bud Products all night • Sports Leagues Night NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • ThurSlay, featuring DJ Jack Rayburn, 10pm PITCHERS Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Thirst Trap Thursdays, hosted by Venus Valhalla, 11pm-12:30am • Featuring a Rotating Cast of Drag Performers • Dancing until 1:30am

Destinations A LEAGUE OF HER OWN 2317 18th St. NW 202-733-2568 www.facebook.com/alohodc AVALON SATURDAYS Soundcheck 1420 K St. NW 202-789-5429 www.facebook.com/ AvalonSaturdaysDC 48

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 Bottles of Wine, 5pm-close TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers, 9pm-close • “New Meat” Open Dancers Audition • Music by DJ Don T. • Cover 21+

Friday, October 18 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 GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 Rail and Domestic • $5 Svedka, all flavors all night long • Rough House: Hands On, Lights Off, 10pm-close • Featuring DJ Lemz • All Body Types Welcome • $5 Cover (includes clothes check)

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR 555 23rd St. S. Arlington, Va. 703-685-0555 www.freddiesbeachbar.com GREEN LANTERN 1335 Green Ct. NW 202-347-4533 www.greenlanterndc.com

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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

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 • Capital Laughs Comedy Show, Second Floor, 7:30pm

NUMBER NINE Open 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • Friday Night Piano with Chris, 7:30pm • Friday Night Videos, with VJ Sean McClafferty, 9:30pm

TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 • Otter Happy Hour with guest DJs, 5-11pm

PITCHERS 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

ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm • Guest dancers • Rotating DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:45pm • Music by DJ Jeff Eletto • Cover 21+

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR 900 U St. NW 202-332-6355 www.nelliessportsbar.com NUMBER NINE 1435 P St. NW 202-986-0999 www.numberninedc.com PITCHERS 2317 18th St. NW 202-733-2568 www.pitchersbardc.com

WARD MORRISON

AVALON TURNS ONE

The weekly Saturday night party, produced by the congenial Dougie Meyer, celebrates its first year of success.

Saturday, October 19 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-3am • Video Games • Live televised sports AVALON SATURDAYS @Soundcheck AVALON: 1-Year Anniversary: KINETIC, featuring DJs TWiN and Isaac Escalante, 9pm-4am • $50 Cover for Combo Pass • Drink specials • Drag Show, 10:30-11:30pm, hosted by Ba’Naka and a rotating cast of drag queens • $4 Absolut Drinks, 10pm-midnight • 21+

AVALON SATURDAYS AFTERPARTY @Tropicalia 2001 14th St. NW AVALON: 1-Year Anniversary: Chorus DC — Evolution Afterhours, 3:30-9am • Music by DJ Nina Flowers 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 • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Freddie’s Follies Drag Show, hosted by Miss Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm • Karaoke, 10pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5 Bacardi, all flavors, all night long • The Bear Cave: From Retro to Electro, 9pm-close • Music by DJ Popperz • No Cover

SHAW’S TAVERN 520 Florida Ave. NW 202-518-4092 www.shawstavern.com TRADE 1410 14th St. NW 202-986-1094 www.tradebardc.com ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS 1824 Half St. SW 202-863-0670 www.ziegfelds.com

AYBE THIS IS A SIGN,” DOUGIE MEYER RECALLS THINKING IN late summer of 2018. “Maybe it’s just time to come back to New York City.” The NYC native had moved to Washington to serve as general manager at Town Danceboutique, where he worked for four years, until the LGBTQ nightclub’s closing in June 2018. Meyer (pictured above, right) returned to New York, but his “long extended summer” eventually brought him back to D.C. in the fall to launch his first party in the city at the hip downtown nightclub Soundcheck last October. Avalon Saturdays was no one’s definition of an overnight sensation, and Meyer doesn’t mince words in acknowledging that there were “duds” during the party’s first few months. “There were weekends that were very successful,” he says, candidly. “And then the very next week, it was damn near empty. That's when you have to get the creative juices flowing.” Meyer was determined to make the party a hit, to fulfill the post-Town void of a place offering both a high-quality drag show and late-night dancing to top-notch gay DJs, as well as “a safe space to come to every single Saturday night.” Suffice to say, he succeeded. “There are multiple things that have made Avalon what it is today,” Meyer says. “One of those is the great partnerships we've created with local nightlife organizations such as the Cherry Fund, Chorus-DC, Fruity Boy, and DC Takeover.” This weekend, Meyer worked with all of those organizations to help celebrate Avalon’s anniversary with a blowout party at Soundcheck featuring local veteran DJ TWiN along with Isaac Escalante, a leading light on today’s gay circuit. It’s all followed by an Afterhours at Tropicalia with DJ Nina Flowers. Meyer has big plans in the works for Avalon’s future, including the debut next month of two of the gay circuit’s preeminent veteran DJs, Tracy Young and Joe Gauthreaux. He’s also working to extend the brand by launching an Avalon Fridays party in New York, hopefully in the next few months. Yet Meyer has no intention of leaving D.C., a place that feels like home to the former history major who is an avid Washington Capitals fan. “I love D.C.,” he says. “I love everything about the culture and history and the community. I am absolutely sticking around D.C. I just love it here way too much to leave.” —Doug Rule The Avalon Saturdays One-Year Anniversary Party is this Saturday, Oct. 19, starting at 9 p.m. at Soundcheck, located 1420 K St. NW. Tickets are $25, or $50 including the Afterhours party at Tropicalia. Call 202-789-5429 or visit www.dougiemeyerpresents.com. OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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 playing pop music all night NUMBER NINE Doors open 2pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • THIRSTY, featuring DJ Chord Bezerra, 9:30pm PITCHERS Open Noon-3am • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am

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 • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 • Gay Bash: The Alt Dance Party and Home for Unconventional Drag in the Nation’s Capital, 10pm • Hosted by Donna Slash • Resident cast: JaxKnife Complex, Salvadora Dali, Jane Saw • Special guests • Music by The Barber Streisand

ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets upstairs, 9pm-close • Guest dancers • Ladies of Illusion Drag Show with host Ella Fitzgerald in Ziegfeld’s • Doors open at 9pm, Show at 11:45pm • Music by DJs Keith Hoffman and Don T. • Cover 21+

Sunday, October 20 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-12am • $4 Smirnoff and Domestic Cans • Video Games • Live televised sports

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Fabulous Sunday Champagne Brunch, 10am-3pm • $24.99 with four glasses of champagne or mimosas, 1 Bloody Mary, or coffee, soda or juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close • No Cover GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Karaoke with Kevin downstairs, 9:30pm-close 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-1am • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guest DJs

NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • Pop Goes the World with Wes Della Volla at 9:30pm • No Cover

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Dinner and Drag with Miss Kristina Kelly, 8pm • No Cover • For reservations, email shawsdinnerdragshow@gmail.com

PITCHERS Open Noon-2am • $4 Smirnoff, includes flavored, $4 Coors Light or $4 Miller Lites, 2-9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm

TRADE Doors open 2pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

WARD MORRISON

PEACH PIT TURNS TEN

Monday, October 21 FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Singles Night • Half-Priced Pasta Dishes • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long • Singing with the Sisters: Open Mic Karaoke Night with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, 9:30pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Half-Priced

Burgers • Paint Nite, 7pm • PokerFace Poker, 8pm • Dart Boards • Ping Pong Madness, featuring 2 PingPong Tables NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Shaw ‘Nuff Trivia, 7:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

Peach Pit celebrates its 10th anniversary and launches a new, ’80s-themed sister party.

SHOULD BE SICK OF ALL OF THESE SONGS BY NOW,” SAYS DJ MATT Bailer. He’s referring to the hits from the 1990s that are the staple of what he plays every month at Peach Pit. And this Saturday, Oct. 19, the ’90s-themed party will celebrate its first decade. “Did I ever think it would last longer than the actual decade it celebrates?” says Bailer. “No. I'm just amazed, literally every month, that upwards of 500 people still want to come and dance to basically the same songs month after month.” Named after the popular hangout spot on Beverly Hills 90210, Peach Pit started in the tiny former Eritrean restaurant Dahlek. By its second year, it had settled in at DC9, where it has reigned as one of the intimate club’s most popular nights. “It’s gone from being a small gay party to being really awesomely mixed,” Bailer says. “It has ebbed and flowed, and now again it’s a predominantly gay party, but with a really nice mix of straight guys and gals of all ages and races, losing their shit to Wilson Phillips meets Spice Girls all night.” Asked if there’s one song that’s proven to be the most popular, Bailer nods to the biggest hit by the R&B trio TLC. “There's always a scream when the first four plunked-out guitar notes of ‘No Scrubs’ play.” Ultimately, there’s never a dud in the batch, says Bailer, who even looks forward to hearing songs that he never liked personally — including “Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba and “All Star” by Smash Mouth. “Those are both songs that I would have been fine never hearing again — songs that were played to death in the ’90s,” he says. “But when I play them, people are singing along and jumping up and down, and I can't pretend that I'm still jaded about those songs when that happens.” This weekend’s 10th anniversary party will be followed the next day by the launch of a new standalone party in the Peach Pit mold, but with its own particular twist: Shady Pines is an ’80s-focused rooftop tea dance named after the retirement village where the gay-popular TV series The Golden Girls took place. “We're going to try DC9 on the roof from 2 to 7 in the afternoon, so people can do their kind of ‘Sunday Funday’ outdoors thing, and not go too late.” Of the era’s music, he notes: “There are some legit, solid hits, but then there's stuff like ‘Whip It’ by Devo. Even Duran Duran [had some] really odd songs, but they were huge hits. I'm definitely looking forward to figuring out what people will respond to.” Bailer already knows the most popular song that will get played at Shady Pines: Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” “Literally of any decade, that is the most popular dance-floor song that no one gets tired of.” —Doug Rule Peach Pit’s 10th Anniversary is Saturday, Oct. 19, starting at 10 p.m. Shady Pines is Sunday, Oct. 20, at 2 p.m., both at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. Peach Pit is $5 to $8. Shady Pines is free. Call 202-483-5000 or visit www.dcnine.com. OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Tuesday, October 22 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 • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long • Tito’s Tuesday: $5 Tito’s Vodka all night 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 Open at 5pm • 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 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, 5-10pm

TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

Wednesday, October 23 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 • $6 Burgers • Beach Blanket Drag Bingo Night, hosted by Ms. Regina Jozet Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes • Karaoke, 10pm-1am

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm • Bear Yoga with Greg Leo, 6:30-7:30pm • $10 per class • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long • Karaoke, 9pm NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR SmartAss Trivia Night, 8-10pm • Prizes include bar tabs and tickets to shows at the 9:30 Club • $15 Buckets of Beer for SmartAss Teams only • Absolutely Snatched Drag Show, hosted by Brooklyn Heights, 9pm • Tickets available at www.nelliessportsbar.com 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 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 • Piano Bar and Karaoke with Jill, 8pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

Thursday, October 24 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets of Bud Products all night • Sports Leagues Night

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NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • ThurSlay, featuring DJ Jack Rayburn, 10pm PITCHERS Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Thirst Trap Thursdays, hosted by Venus Valhalla, 11pm-12:30am • Featuring a Rotating Cast of Drag Performers • Dancing until 1:30am

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 Bottles of Wine, 5pm-close

ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers, 9pm-close • “New Meat” Open Dancers Audition • Music by DJ Don T. • Cover 21+

TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

Friday, October 25 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

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 Rail and Domestic • $5 Svedka, all flavors all night long • Kicks and Giggles present Go Hard: A Kickin’ Dance Party, featuring DJs Phil Reese and Ben Norman, 10pm-close • $5 Cover • Free Drink before 11:30pm • Kicks Contest is Back — Winner Gets a Free Bar Tab 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 • Friday Night Videos, with VJ Sean McClafferty, 9:30pm PITCHERS 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 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 • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 • Otter Happy Hour with guest DJs, 5-11pm ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm • Guest dancers • Rotating DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:45pm • Music by DJ Jeff Eletto • Cover 21+ l

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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Scene

Church at Trade - Sunday, Oct. 13 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

OCTOBER 17, 2019 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY.COM

Scene

Howard Homecoming at Ziegfelds/Secrets - Friday, Oct. 11 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

OCTOBER 17, 2019 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY.COM

LastWord. People say the queerest things

“There is no right or wrong way to be gay, to be queer, to be trans. ” — Mayor PETE BUTTIGIEG, speaking during HRC and CNN’s town hall on LGBTQ issues last week. “I hope that our own community, even as we struggle to define what our identity means, defines it in way that lets everybody know that they belong among us,” Buttigieg said. He also discussed his coming out process, saying it was like “a civil war, because I knew I was different long before I knew I was gay.”

when I realized that, unlike most initiatives that I spearhead, “I remember the moment I can’t lead by example on this one, because my blood’s not welcome in this country.” — Mayor PETE BUTTIGEIG, speaking during the LGBTQ town hall last week about South Bend’s annual blood drive and the nationwide ban on gay men donating blood. “And it’s not based on science, it’s based on prejudice,” he added.

“Lack of representation for transgender people isn’t simply inconvenient, it’s deadly.” — HRC President ALPHONSO DAVID, in a statement on Twitter after several Democratic candidates were interrupted by protests from black and Latinx trans women during the LGBTQ town hall. The protesters were upset at the lack of questions surrounding the epidemic of violence and discrimination facing the trans community — particularly trans women of color. “We are deeply committed to making sure all members of our community have a seat at the tables we set,” David said.

“Three hours. Not one question about the climate crisis. Not one question about LGBTQ+ rights. Not one question about immigration. These issues are too important to ignore. ” — Sen. KAMALA HARRIS, writing on Twitter after Tuesday night’s Democratic debate on CNN failed to include any questions on LGBTQ issues. A similar criticism was leveled by LGBTQ organizations at the first three Democratic debates, which also failed to substantively debate LGBTQ issues and the climate crisis.

“This alarming finding warns of a generational pivot ahead and a bumpy road for those of us committed to challenging anti-LGBT violence and abuse.

”

—NICK ANTJOULE, British LGBTQ anti-violence charity Galop’s Head of Hate Crime Services, responding to findings that young people are more likely than any other age group to say being LGBTQ is “immoral.” Antjoule said it was “a sobering reminder that progress achieved in recent decades can easily be reversed.”

OCTOBER 17, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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