CALENDAR

By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Friday, March 03

Center Aging: Friday Tea Time will be at 2 p.m. on Zoom. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ adults. Guests can bring a beverage of choice. For more information, contact Adam at adamheller@thedccenter.org.

Saturday, March 04

Virtual Yoga Class with Jesse Z. will be at 12 p.m. online. This is a weekly class focusing on yoga, breath work, and meditation. Guests are encouraged to RSVP on the DC Center’s website, providing your name, email address, and zip code, along with any questions you may have. A link to the event will be sent at 6 p.m. the day before.

LGBT People of Color Support Group will be at 1 p.m. on Zoom. This peer support group is an outlet for LGBTQ People of Color to come together and talk about anything affecting them in a space that strives to be safe and judgment free. For more information, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

Sunday,

March 05

GoGay DC will be hosting “LGBTQ+ Coffee & Conversation” at 12 p.m. at As You Are. This event is for those looking to meet new faces in the LGBTQ community. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

“Speaking Out with Editor Esther Sxhwartz-McKinzie” will be at 2 p.m. at One More Page Books. “Speaking Out: Families of LGBTQ+ Advance the Dialogue” is an interview project inspired by the author’s daughter in the spirit of pushing back against current hateful anti-LGBTQ politics and trends. Admission is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

Monday, March 06

Center Aging Monday Coffee and Conversation will be at 10 a.m. on Zoom. LGBT Older Adults — and friends — are invited to enjoy friendly conversations and to discuss any issues you might be dealing with. For more information, visit the Center Aging’s Facebook or Twitter.

Capital Pride Interfaith Service Planning Meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. The Capital Pride Interfaith Service is an “integrated service” respectfully demonstrating the breadth, depth, and sincerity of our faith, exposing the lie that anti-gay fundamentalists have a monopoly on faith and religion. For more details, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

Tuesday, March 07

“LGBTQ+ Social Mixer- Pride on the Patio” will be at 7:30 p.m. at Showroom. Guests are encouraged to bring their most authentic selves to chat, laugh, and get a little crazy. There will be happy hour pricing for cocktails, wine and beer. Admission is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

“Golden Night of Greatness” will be at 7:30 p.m. at Capital Turnaround. This black-tie event will honor notable figures and businesses for their talent, services, and gifts to the DMV community and abroad. There will be special tributes and performances by some of the creative industry’s best. Tickets start at $55.20 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Wednesday, March 08

Job Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. This is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confidence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking — allowing participants to move away from being merely “applicants” toward being “candidates.” For more information, email centercareers@thedccenter.org or visit www.thedccenter.org/careers.

“DC Karaoke Happy Hour” will be at 7 p.m. at Artemis DC. There will be more than 30,000 songs to choose from plus food, drinks, and hookah. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

Thursday, March 09

The DC Center’s Fresh Produce Program will be held all day at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. To be fair with who is receiving boxes, the program is moving to a lottery system. People will be informed on Wednesday at 5 p.m. if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org or call 202-682-2245.

“Wasted and Gay Thursdays” will be at 9 p.m. at Wasted Lounge. This LGBTQ-friendly event will by hosted by Nelly Nelz and there will be music by DJ Ro. There will also be food, drink specials, and hookah. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

OUT & ABOUT

DRAG IS BACK at Dupont Underground

“Drag Underground Spring 2023” will be on Friday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m. at DuPont Underground. This event, co-hosted by the Washington Blade and Drag Underground, will feature performances from some of D.C.’s best drag queens such as Cake Pop, Major Tom, Rico Pico and Shiqueeta-Lee.

Tickets for this event start at $16.55 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Lesbian artist to explore trauma, triumph in exhibition

“The Cost of Living” will premiere on Friday, March 3 at 7 p.m. at Dupont Underground.

This art exhibition will feature the work of Lavette Ballard, LaToya Hobbs and many other Black women and femme artists as they explore the cost of living for Black women. The show will present 2D, 3D, audio, and visual works to examine how Black women persevere despite the systems that are in place to limit their prosperity.

Tickets start at $15 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Gavin Creel relishing goofy fun of ‘Into the Woods’

Tony-winning gay actor plays two roles in touring production

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

For months, Gavin Creel has been making audiences laugh in director Lear deBessonet’s pared-down take on Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s deliciously dark musical fairytale “Into the Woods.”

Before moving to Broadway’s St. James Theatre in the summer of 2022, the production enjoyed a short run as part of New York City Center’s “Encores!” series. And now the hit show has embarked on a 10-city national tour currently kicking off at the Kennedy Center Opera House.

“It’s been a joy,” says Creel who plays both the lascivious Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince, two terrific scene-stealing roles that allow him to show off his gorgeous voice and considerable comedic muscle. The out actor adds, “This version puts Sondheim and Lapine’s work front and center without a lot of fuss and lets you bathe in the masterful storytelling.”

Among so many things he’s enjoying about the gig, Creel, 46, is particularly grateful that he’s been given the freedom to explore both parts, especially Cinderella’s Prince. A big challenge, he says, is to keep his comedy rooted in the real world without forgetting that the spoiled prince’s reality hovers above normalcy. After all, he is the canary yellow coat wearing, self-absorbed character known for saying ‘I was raised to be charming, not sincere.’”

By his own admission, the native of Findlay, Ohio turned New York-based Broadway star sometimes goes for laughs harder than planned: “Yeah, I’m having a little too much goofy fun in the first half of the play. I’m really enjoying the audience loving how funny it is.”

Twenty years ago, Creel made his Broadway debut as Jimmy in “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” a star turn that garnered him a Tony Award nomination. Subsequent musical successes include — among many — Clyde in the Broadway revival of “Hair,” comedic roles in “She Loves Me” and “The Book of Mormon,” and a Tony Award-winning performance as Cornelius Hackl in Broadway’s “Hello, Dolly!” starring Bette Midler in 2017.

“I do a lot of revivals and I always try to read them like they’re new scripts,” he says, explaining his knack for making familiar parts his own.

Typically busy, Creel recently finished an original theatrical piece entitled “Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice,” based on a commission from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“It started as an assignment from a friend,” he explains. “Artists from various genres were invited to explore the museum and come up with something. My thing is I’d never been to the Met before, and as embarrassing and odd as that might sound, it’s true.”

The pandemic was not a joyful time for Creel. Grief caused him to literally lose his singing voice for a while, so he spent a lot time observing art instead. The Met became a safe haven. His new piece features 40 pieces of art projected throughout the show including Creel’s personal favorite “Smashed Strokes Hope” (1971), a dynamic contemporary painting by lesbian feminist artist Joan Snyder.

He’s excited to share a chunk of his new work in a concert at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater on Monday, March 13, a night off from playing in Sondheim’s fairytale, and looks forward to a possible full production in New York in the fall. That would give him time to schedule a quick Hawaiian respite after the tour ends in Los Angeles in late July.

Offstage, the University of Michigan grad strives to make a difference when he can. Creel is passionate about teaching. He was also a co-founder of Broadway Impact, the first and only grassroots organization to mobilize the nationwide theater community in support of marriage equality. But describing him as an activist makes Creel “a little itchy.” Cleve Jones and David Mixner are activists, not him, he says,

“When I was in my 30s doing ‘Hair’ on Broadway, I realized that I was enjoying a world built and paid for by people who came before me,” he says. “I wanted to be a part of that, so in an attempt to feel useful and involved, some of us organized rallies and encouraged others to write letters and taught them what state legislature is about. I think it helped.”

But politics is not where Creel’s greatest powers lie, he says. Instead, he mostly uses his energy to effect change in other ways, mostly through his work: “If we can laugh together and all agree that the prince in the yellow coat is pretty much an idiot, let’s see what else we agree on.”