CONTENTS

AUGUST 9, 2018 Volume 25 Issue 15

16 ALMOST HOME
Mary Chapin Carpenter returns to Wolf Trap
to celebrate 30 years of transcendent songwriting.

By Randy Shulman

GIRL UNINTERRUPTED
Chloë Grace Moretz stood her ground
to star in the award-winning lesbian drama
The Miseducation of Cameron Post.

Interview by André Hereford

24
35 CELIE’S BLUES
The Color Purple at the Kennedy Center offers a
beautifully sung but static staging of a beloved story.

By André Hereford

SPOTLIGHT: HOMOSUPERIOR p.9 OUT ON THE TOWN p.12

UNDERCOVER BROTHER: JOHN DAVID WASHINGTON p.15
ALMOST HOME: MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER p.16 COMMUNITY p.21
COVER: CHLOË GRACE MORETZ p.24 GALLERY: MIKE HIPPLE p.31
FILM: THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST p.33 FILM: THE MEG p.34
STAGE: THE COLOR PURPLE p.35 NIGHTLIFE p.37 SCENE: COBALT p.37
LISTINGS p.38 SCENE: TRADE p.44 LAST WORD p.46

Real LGBTQ News and Entertainment since 1994

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Online Editor at metroweekly.com Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley
Contributing Editors André Hereford, Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrator Scott G. Brooks
Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, Troy Petenbrink, Bailey Vogt, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim
Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla
Patron Saint Megan Bloomfield Cover Photography Steven Pan/ AUGUST

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4 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 Spotlight
FARRAH SKEIKY

Homosuperior
J
OSHUA VOGELSONG, THE PROMOTER OF THE
popular monthly punk/drag party Gay/Bash, developed
his alter-ego Donna Slash a few years ago alongside the
LGBTQ punk act Homosuperior. “It started with the band,
honestly,” he says. “I always knew that I wanted to do this
punk rock Divine kind of thing. I just was never sure how to get
there. Once Gay/Bash grew to what it is now at Trade, and once
the band got a lot of attention, it just kind of all came together.”
This weekend, Homosuperior is one of two opening acts
for L.A.-based Chicana punk icon Alice Bag at Comet Ping
Pong, where Vogelsong works as bar manager. “The band is
everywhere on the spectrum of queer,” says its gay lead singer,
who, depending on “how I feel and how much time we have,”
occasionally performs as Joshua. “It’s always been about blur-
ring the lines, and having fun with sexuality and gender....
Sometimes you feel more feminine. Sometimes you feel more
butch and just wanna get up there without any makeup on.”
—Doug Rule

Homosuperior performs Saturday, Aug. 11, after 10 p.m. at Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW.
Tickets are $15. Call 202-364-0404 or visit cometpingpong.com.

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 9

 Spotlight
LOONEY TUNES
Over the next several weekends, the AFI Silver
Theatre offers several programs, each rough-
ly 45 minutes long, with selections of Warner
Bros.’ classic cartoons featuring the Looney
Tunes gang — Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road
Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Porky Pig, Foghorn
Leghorn, Sylvester, Tweety, and more. Program
4 is Saturday, Aug. 11, and Sunday, Aug. 12, at 11
a.m., while Program 5 is Saturday, Aug. 18, and
Sunday, Aug. 19, at 11 a.m. 8633 Colesville Road,
Silver Spring. Tickets are $5. Call 301-495-6720
or visit afi.com/Silver.

RISK!
Risk! True Stories People Thought They’d Never Dare to Share is a diverse collection
of uncensored, confessional, and at times funny personal stories compiled by Kevin
Allison of MTV’s comedy troupe, The State. The stories are mostly drawn from the
podcast and live show Allison created and that Rolling Stone has touted as “The Moth’s
scrappier, freakier little sibling.” Allison will read from and sign copies of the book
next week, two days before a Risk! show featuring D.C.-area storytellers to be record-
ed for the hit podcast. The reading is Thursday, Aug. 16, at 6:30 p.m. Kramerbooks,
1517 Connecticut Ave. NW. Call 202-387-1400 or visit kramers.com. The live show
is Saturday, Aug.
18, at the Black
Cat, 1811 14th St.
NW. Doors at 8
p.m. Tickets are
$25. Call 202-
667-4490 or visit
blackcatdc.com.

MINDY TUCKER

ILLUMINATE
The Target Gallery in Alexandria’s Torpedo Factory Art
Center presents a special glow-in-the-dark exhibition, for
which it will turn off its lights to put the focus on exhibited
artwork, artificially illuminated in various ways — some by
video, some by light installation and sculpture, some by black
light. Emily Smith of Richmond’s 1708 Gallery served as juror
for the exhibition, selecting works by 11 artists, including
D.C.’s Joana Stillwell, Baltimore’s Sarah Clough and Karen
Lemmert (pictured), Alexandria’s Andreas Schenkel and
Art Vidrine, Mount Rainier’s Steve Wanna, and Potomac’s
Michael West. Now to Sept. 2, with an Artist Talk on Friday,
Aug. 10, starting at 8 p.m., as part of the Torpedo-wide
“Late Shift: Summer Fling” event and dance party with DJ
Starchild. 105 North Union St. Alexandria. Free. Call 703-
838-4565 or visit torpedofactory.org.

10 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 Spotlight
WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Katharine Hepburn stars as an ambitious and cel-
ebrated career journalist opposite Spencer Tracy,
who plays a fellow journalist as well as her spouse,
increasingly threatened by her success and indepen-
dence. The film spawned Tracy and Hepburn’s rela-
tionship both on screen, with eight subsequent films,
and off — a romance that lasted until Tracy’s death.
The film returns to the big screen for one day as part
of Landmark’s West End Cinema Capital Classics
series. Wednesday, Aug. 15, 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 $10 to $12.50. Call 202-534-1907 or visit
landmarktheatres.com.

UKEFEST
Grammy Award-winning folk musicians Cathy Fink and
Marcy Marxer, partners in music and life, present the
10th edition of a popular festival at Strathmore devot-
ed to the signature Hawaiian stringed instrument the
ukulele. This year’s lineup includes two weekend con-
certs in the Education Center, each featuring a Student
Showcase of 2018 UkeFest participants followed by
performances by UkeFest instructors. Fink & Marxer
and Frank Youngman are on tap Saturday, Aug. 11, at
6:30 p.m., while Gerald Ross, Ginger Johnson, and Craig
Chee & Sarah Maisel are featured in the show Sunday,
Aug. 12, at 6:30 p.m. Then on Wednesday, Aug. 15, at 7
p.m., everyone will hit the Gudelsky Gazebo for a free
Finale including a mass strum-along. 5301 Tuckerman
Lane, North Bethesda. The evening concerts are $15

JIM SAAH
apiece. Call 301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.

GLADYS KNIGHT,
THE O’JAYS
All aboard the Midnight
Train to Wolf Trap next
Wednesday, Aug. 15, when
the “Empress of Soul”
reunites for another con-
cert under the stars with
’70s-minted Philadelphia
soul group (and Rock and
Roll Hall of Famers) The
O’Jays. The pairing is tout-
ed as “the soul event of
the summer” at the Filene
Center. Wednesday, Aug. 15,
at 8 p.m. 1551 Trap Road,
COURTESY OF WOLF TRAP

Vienna. Tickets are $30 to

$70. Call 877-WOLFTRAP
or visit wolftrap.org.

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 11

 Out On The Town

JIRO SCHNEIDER
PENTATONIX
“The World’s Biggest A Cappella Act” (according to Forbes), and winners of NBC’s The Sing-Off in 2011, returns to the area
for a stop on its summer stadium tour. Two of its five members identify as LGBTQ — tenor Mitch Grassi and baritone Scott
Hoying, who also perform as the musical comedy duo Superfruit — yet the concert’s gay appeal hardly stops with them.
Indeed, it starts with a bang: opening with a set by young gay crooner Calum Scott from Britain’s Got Talent. Scott tours in
support of his strong soul-pop debut Only Human, released in March, with songs touching on his sexuality in a way that
Metro Weekly music critic Sean Maunier praised for being “casual and matter-of-fact, and all the more striking for it.” After
Scott, the young California sibling trio Echosmith takes the stage, performing its hazy indie-rock tunes, capped off with the
2013 hit “Cool Kids.” Sunday, Aug. 12, at 8 p.m. Jiffy Lube Live, 7800 Cellar Door Drive, Bristow, Va. Tickets are $18.75 to
$202. Call 703-754-6400 or visit livenation.com.

Compiled by Doug Rule
FILM
GAME NIGHT
Every Friday night through August
31, the AFI Silver Theatre co-pres-
ents a free outdoor film series at
nearby Sonny’s Green, where
patrons can bring blankets and
low-rise chairs as well as their own
food and beverage. Screening this
Friday, Aug. 10, is CatVideoFest
2017, filmmaker Will Braden’s
70-minute fancy feast of a program
for feline fanatics. Next Friday,
Aug. 17, is Game Night, the offbeat
comedy released earlier this year
starring Jason Bateman and Rachel
McAdams as a hyper-competitive,
games-mad married couple, whose
interactive murder mystery game
night gets hijacked by actual crim-
inals. Screenings begin at sundown,
around 8 p.m. Off the parking lot of
the Blairs Shopping Center, 1290
East-West Highway. Call 301-495-
6720 or visit afi.com/Silver.
SEASON OF THE WITCH
The AFI Silver Theatre toasts the
late George Romero with screen-
ings of several notable works from
the “the Father of the Zombie Film.”
This week offers what Romero ini-
tially described as a “feminist film”
marketed and released 45 years ago
as the softcore porn film Hungry
Wives, then re-cut and re-released
in 1978 as Season of the Witch,
which is regarded as a skillful
exploration of the occult. Saturday,
Aug. 11, at 10:45 p.m. 8633 Colesville
Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $13.
Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/
Silver for the full series.
SCREEN QUEEN: TOO
WONG FOO, THANKS FOR
EVERYTHING! JULIE NEWMAR
Last Monday, Josh Vogelsong,
aka drag performer/punk rocker
Donna Slash (see Spotlight, page
7), launched this weekly queer
film series at the cozy, 35-seat,
living-room cozy Suns Cinema in
Mount Pleasant with The Boys in
the Band. This Monday the series
is presenting Beeban Kidron’s 1995
comedy Too Wong Foo, Thanks for
Everything! Julie Newman, starring
Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze,
and John Leguizamo as New York
City drag queens on their way to
Hollywood when their car breaks
down in a homophobic hinterland.
Patrons can enjoy drinks and snacks,
including fresh offerings from Suns’
vintage popcorn machine. They’re
encouraged to stick around and
discuss the movie afterwards over
more drinks from the full-service
bar. First comes the most main-
stream of the lot Monday, Aug. 13,
at 8 p.m. 3107 Mount Pleasant St.
NW. Tickets are $10. Visit sunscin-
ema.com.
THE WIZARD OF OZ
Victor Fleming’s 1939 adaptation
of L. Frank Baum’s children’s
novel has been touted as the most-
watched motion picture in history.
The timeless story, with an equal-

12 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 STAGE
DAVE
Drew Gehling (Broadway’s
Waitress) is a high school teach-
er and presidential doppelgänger
thrust into the Oval Office to avoid
a national scandal in this musical
adaptation of the 1993 hit comedy
starring Kevin Kline. Tina Landau
directs the world premiere at Arena
Stage. Book by Thomas Meehan
(The Producers) and Nell Benjamin
(Mean Girls), lyrics by Benjamin,
and music by Tom Kitt (Next to
Normal). To Aug. 19. Kreeger
Theater in the Mead Center for
American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW.
Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenas-
tage.org.
HAMILTON
HHHHH
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Pulitzer
Prize-winning musical raps and
rhymes American history with an
uncanny flair for mining gold from
the tremendous life story of one
“bastard orphan.” Inspired by Ron
Chernow’s 2005 best-selling book
Alexander Hamilton, Miranda’s
musical infuses emotion and insight
throughout a score that’s as effi-
cient in delivering story as it is a
delight to hear sung and played
live. Director Thomas Kail has con-
structed a smartly executed succes-
sion of set-pieces that showcases
JEN ROSENSTEIN
each song for individual impact, and
it adds up to an impactful epic.
Alexander Hamilton bore a rest-
less, relentless energy that Miranda
has tapped into willfully and quite
successfully. The compositions
JASON MRAZ reflect a practically unerring ear
for synthesizing pop, hip-hop, R&B,
Nearly a decade ago this native of Mechanicsville, Va., Broadway, and dexterous narrative
professed his sweet, acoustic loyalty, via his buoyant into a stirring, cohesive blend. The
breakthrough hit “I’m Yours.” And just this year over music paves the way forward for an
entire production that feels classic
Pride, the pop star took it a step further, writing a “love and iconoclastic, historical and hip.
letter” to the LGBTQ community published by Billboard To Sept. 16. Kennedy Center Opera
and including the statement, “I am bi your side.” Mraz House. Tickets are $99 to $625,
or $49 for any same-day, stand-
has subsequently confirmed he meant exactly what he
ing-room-only tickets, released two
spelled, admitting to past attractions and affairs with hours before curtain. Call 202-467-
men as well as women. As a result, it’s probable there 4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
will be more queer fans among the crowd in this year’s (Andre Hereford)
return to Merriweather Post Pavilion, a year after Mraz
H.M.S. PINAFORE
made his Broadway debut alongside Sara Bareilles in a THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE
limited-run of her musical Waitress. He tours in support The Hypocrites and the House
Theatre of Chicago, two innova-
of his sixth studio set Know, being released on the day
tive theaters in the Windy City,
of the show. Brett Dennen opens. Friday, Aug. 10. Gates have teamed up to stage two of
at 6 p.m. 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Md. Gilbert & Sullivan’s best-loved
Tickets are $45 to $75. Call 800-551-SEAT or visit merri- comic operettas in rotating rep at
Olney Theatre. Celebrated for being
weathermusic.com. immersive and family friendly, the
productions are presented prome-
nade style, with some seats on stage
ly timeless score by Harold Arlen p.m., preceded by a free concert with the actors. These silly tales
and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, is the last with Sarah Marie Hughes & Coy of scurvy pirates, modern Major-
film screening in a month-long Fish. North Lawn of the Thomas Generals, and star-crossed lovers
series co-presented by Washington Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE. were both directed by Sean Graney,
Performing Arts on Library of Tickets, although not required, who co-adapted The Pirates of
Congress grounds. Thursday, Aug. are available on a first-come, first- Penzance with Kevin O’Donnell,
16, at sunset, approximately 8:30 served basis. Visit loc.gov/events. and H.M.S. Pinafore with Andra
Velis Simon and Matt Kahler. To
14 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
Aug. 21. Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre
Lab, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring
Road, Olney, Md. Tickets are $30 to
$64 each. Call 301-924-3400 or visit
olneytheatre.org.
MELANCHOLY PLAY:
A CONTEMPORARY FARCE
Don’t let the first half of this play’s
title fool you: Constellation Theatre
Company’s next production is not
only right up its farcical alley, it’s
a bubbly and whimsical come-
dy that “will make you fall in love
with love.” Written by Sarah Ruhl,
the acclaimed playwright of The
Clean House and Dead Man’s Cell
Phone, Melancholy Play focuses on
a morose woman (Billie Krishawn)
who is the apple of everyone’s eye —
until she discovers happiness. Nick
Martin directs. Opens in previews
Friday, Aug. 10. To Sept. 2. Source
Theatre, 1835 14th St. NW. Tickets
are $19 to $45. Call 202-204-7741 or
visit constellationtheatre.org.
THE WIZARD OF OZ
Synetic Theater presents a new
adaptation of the American classic
The Wizard of Oz featuring some
of L. Frank Baum’s original text
and dialogue — in contrast to the
“wordless Shakespeare” works
the company has become known
for. Offered as the first production
in the Synetic New Voices Series,
through which select company
members are mentored in lead-
ership roles by co-founder Paata
Tsikurishvili, Oz combines verbal
and nonverbal communication for
an “environmental and spectacular
adventure” down the Yellow Brick
Road with Dorothy and friends.
Longtime Synetic actor Ryan Sellers
steps up as director, assisted by Tori
Bertocci as choreographer, for a
production that has had to move
to Georgetown University’s main
campus. (Synetic’s usual venue in
Crystal City recently suffered water
damage.) To Aug. 12. Devine Studio
Theatre in the Davis Performing
Arts Center. Tickets are $20 to $45.
Call 866-811-4111 or visit syneticthe-
ater.org.
MUSIC
ABBA - THE CONCERT
“The best ABBA tribute band in
the world,” touts the Official ABBA
Fan Club. Featuring two origi-
nal members of the Swedish pop
group’s rhythm section, “ABBA -
The Concert” is about as close as we
may ever get to a performance by
the actual band, recent buzz about
reuniting for one hologram-en-
hanced simulcast notwithstand-
ing. Sunday, Aug. 12, at 8 p.m. The
Filene Center at Wolf Trap, 1551
Trap Rd., Vienna. Tickets are $30 to
$60. Call 877-WOLFTRAP or visit
wolftrap.org.
CHER
With “Classic Cher” at the Theater
at MGM National Harbor, you’ll
fall under the diva’s spell instantly,
from the moment the purple vel-
vet curtains pull back on a stage
fit for an Arabian fairytale. Soon
enough, the 70-year-old pop icon,
in Queen of Sheba garb, descends
from the heavens on a gold-framed
aerial platform, singing her truth a la
“Woman’s World.” That No. 1 hit on
the Billboard dance chart from 2013
is the newest in an 18-song setlist
spanning an impressive 50 years. It’s
a showcase of awe-inspiring staging
and state-of-the-art light and pro-
jection designs in general. It’s also a
showcase of Cher and her decades-
long, multi-genre, multi-award-win-
ning career as one of the very best
and most personable entertainers
in the business. The indomitable,

FOCUS FEATURES
forever-goodbying sensation returns
for a run billed as her “Final Shows”
in the venue. Remaining dates are
Thursday, Aug. 9, Saturday, Aug. 11,
and Sunday, Aug. 12, at 8 p.m. 7100

UNDERCOVER BROTHER
Oxon Hill Rd., Md. Call 301-971-
5000 or visit mgmnationalharbor.
com. (Doug Rule)

CREATIVE CAULDRON CABARET

The 9th annual summer cabaret Ballers star John David Washington scores a big-screen breakthrough
series at ArtSpace Falls Church
continues with: talented teens from in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman.

Music Therapy Center in “Coming
of Age,” performing songs about
their struggles with anxiety, bul-
lying, romantic intimacy, sexu-
al awakening, and depression, on
Friday, Aug. 10, and Saturday, Aug.
11, at 8 p.m., and Jim Van Slyke in
two different shows: a tribute to the
pop music of Neil Sedaka in “Sedaka
is Back!” offered Friday, Aug. 17, at 8
p.m., and “Just Me and the Boys,” a
toast to Mel Torme, Nat King Cole,
Bobby Darin, and Sammy Davis Jr.,
on Saturday, Aug. 18, at 8 p.m. 410
South Maple Ave. Tickets are $18
to $22 per show, or $55 for a table
for two with wine and $110 for four
with wine. Call 703-436-9948 or
visit creativecauldron.org.
HOT AUGUST MUSIC FESTIVAL
The Revivalists, Karl Denson’s Tiny
Universe, and Nikki Hill are the
headliners across the three stages
at this folk and bluegrass festival,
now in its 26th year and presented
by Stages Music Arts. Other acts
set to perform include Trampled by
Turtles, Psycho Killers, the Marcus
King Band, Cris Jacobs Band, Omari
Banks, Whiskey Shivers, the Dirty
Grass Players, Selwyn Birchwood,
and Hall Williams Band. Also, the
orchestral folk duo the Clavicles
will perform in between sets in
the VIP section.Saturday, Aug. 18.
Gates at 11 a.m. Tickets are $68
in advance or $85 on the day of,
or $199 for VIP including parking,
alcohol, two meal tickets, spe-
cial viewing area, and restrooms.
Oregon Ridge Park, 13401 Beaver
Dam Rd. in Cockeysville, Md. Call
877-321-FEST or visit hotaugust-
musicfestival.com.
J
OHN DAVID WASHINGTON STUCK TO A SOUND GAME PLAN FOR TACKLING THE
tricky lead role in BlacKkKlansman: “Trust Spike Lee.” Washington, who stars in Spike Lee’s
strange-but-true tale as Ron Stallworth, a black police detective who, in 1979, successfully
infiltrated the KKK, reveals that the director’s strategy included advising him not to meet the real-
life Stallworth until just before they shot the film.
“I got to meet him the first day of rehearsals at the table reading, and he passed out his mem-
bership card,” recalls Washington, best known for playing combative running back Ricky Jerret
on HBO’s gridiron dramedy, Ballers. “He was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, so he passed around
the card that day, and he was sharing his stories.”
In the film, Stallworth’s tale begins with him joining the Colorado Springs P.D. as the depart-
ment’s first black officer. Things take a bizarre turn when the detective responds to an ad for the
klan in the local newspaper, and makes a connection that leads to the masterful undercover oper-
ation executed by Stallworth and his white partner, Flip (Adam Driver).
The film deftly spins Stallworth’s saga into gripping summer cinema: BlacKkKlansman manages
to be both a tense police procedural, and a snarky racial satire — lighthearted at times, blistering
at others.
“It’s a thriller. It’s a piece of history. It’s a documentary in some points,” says Washington. “It’s
humorous, but I wouldn’t call it a comedy. How do you categorize Spike Lee? What would you call
Inside Man? What would you call Do the Right Thing?”
Among other things, those films could be called timely, which also applies to BlacKkKlansman.
The movie arrives in theaters the same weekend white supremacists will march through the
nation’s capital. Those klansmen and Nazis rallying in 2018 are only a generation or two removed
from the racists Ron Stallworth faced in 1979.
According to Washington, son of Lee’s frequent leading man Denzel, his most challenging
scenes to shoot were those in which Stallworth actually came face-to-face with the Klan.
“That was the toughest day for me,” he says. “I called Ron after that day and told him, ‘Man,
you are a brave man. You really are our hero. I can’t believe you did this.’ Because there’s moments
where I’m staring death right in the eye. I’m like, ‘This could happen.’ And I have a badge on. I
can’t give away too much, but that day felt the realest.”
With racially-charged protests and counter-protests still filling the streets, BlacKkKlansman,
and Washington’s keen performance, serve as reminders that the struggle is very real, and so is the
resistance. —André Hereford
BlacKkKlansman is rated R, and opens in theaters everywhere on Friday, August 10. Visit fandango.com.

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 15

 HOT CHIP
Little in the way of new music has
been heard from this quirky, clev-
er British electro-pop outfit since
the 2015 release of the amusing-
ly titled Why Make Sense? With
growing speculation that Hot Chip
is on the verge of putting out new
jams, it seems plausible to think
the Grammy-nominated collective,
led by singing multi-instrumental-
ists Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor,
may preview some of what’s to
come during a return to U Street
Music Hall for another open-to-
close DJ set. Certainly the gang —
which also includes musicians Felix
Martin, Owen Clarke, and LCD
Soundsystem’s Al Doyle — are as
accomplished in spinning records
as they are in making them. They’re
known to be energetic, engaging,
rather spontaneous and inventive in
both performative capacities — or
always “Ready for the Floor,” as a
decade-old hit puts it. Friday, Aug.
10, starting at 10 p.m. 1115A U St.
NW. Tickets are $12, or free for the
first 100 to arrive before 11 p.m. Call

ALMOST HOME
202-588-1880 or visit ustreetmusi-
chall.com.

JAZZ IN THE GARDEN:

INCENDIO, SON DEL CARIBE
Mary Chapin Carpenter returns to Wolf Trap to celebrate 30 years of The National Gallery of Art offers
transcendent songwriting. free outdoor concerts immediately

I
after work every Friday through
CREATED SOME CRITERIA FOR MYSELF,” SAYS MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER, late August. Bands offering a range
of jazz styles, from swing to Latin to
discussing her latest album, Sometimes Just the Sky. “The first thing was that I didn’t ska, perform amidst the museum’s
want to take a song I had already revisited in any other project. The other criteria was collection of large-scale sculptur-
that I didn’t [want] to revisit songs that had been radio [hits]. I wanted to dive deeper into al works while patrons enjoy food
the catalog.” and drink, including beer, wine, and
sangria, from Pavilion Cafe and out-
The musically transcendent record, masterfully produced by Ethan Johns (Paul door grill. The 2018 series continues
McCartney, Ryan Adams, Crowded House), commemorates Carpenter’s 30 years of record- with jazz flutist Andrea Brachfeld
ings. “I couldn’t believe that that many years had passed,” she says. “I wanted to celebrate on Aug. 10, and 3Divas, the swinging
Maryland trio of drummer Sherrie
it with joy, to do something to mark the time.” She and Johns selected one song from every Maricle, bassist Amy Shook, and
pre-existing album — 12 in all — and added one new song — “Sometimes Just the Sky,” a pianist Jackie Warren, on Aug. 17,
sumptuous, six-and-a-half-minute, slow-groove stunner that ranks among Carpenter’s fin- each performing from 5 to 8:30 p.m.
est compositions. “The idea was that you’re looking back, but you’re also looking forward, Sculpture Garden, between 7th and
9th Streets NW. Call 202-289-3360
too,” she says. or visit nga.gov.
Carpenter returns to Wolf Trap this Saturday for her 30th appearance at the venue. For
the former D.C. area resident, who got her start playing at legendary venues like the long-de- MOONRISE FESTIVAL
Steez Promo and Glow DC team
funct Food for Thought (“I’d be able to pay my group house rent by passing the hat”), Wolf up for this annual two-day EDM
Trap serves as an annual homecoming. “It’s just an amazing place,” she says. “It’s mind festival on the grounds of the for-
blowing, and humbling, and extraordinary, and magic. It doesn’t matter if it’s a beautiful mer Virgin Mobile Festival and
night or if it’s spitting rain, the people who come out there are the best.” the Infield Fest. Diplo, DJ Snake,
Kaskade, Galantis, Griz, Illenium,
Like many others these days, Carpenter is dismayed at the country’s current political Cashmere Cat, Phantogram, Vince
state. “I feel fearful for our democracy, I feel fearful for our country,” she says. “But I try Staples, Chris Lake, and Mark
very, very hard to navigate this world with an open heart and believe that mutual respect and Knight are among the headliners
across the festival’s four main stages
the ability to talk to one another is paramount. I’m not willing to turn away from that creed.” and dance areas. Saturday, Aug. 11,
When the topic turns to the #MeToo movement, Carpenter notes, “I think women have and Sunday, Aug. 12, from 11 a.m. to
always spoken up, whether they were heard or not. But with technology, with hashtags, with 11 p.m. each day. 5201 Park Heights
Twitter, with all of the delivery systems we now have to amplify these voices — that’s been Ave, Baltimore. Tickets are $153.67
for a single-day pass with tax and
the game changer. We’ve been able to find community, find our tribe, find people who hear fees or $221.69 for a two-day pass,
these voices. And it’s exponential — they become louder and louder and and become harder more for VIP options. Call 202-397-
and harder to ignore.... It’s long overdue, and I’m glad it’s here.” —Randy Shulman SEAT or visit moonrisefestival.com.

NEEDTOBREATHE
Mary Chapin Carpenter plays the Filene Center at Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Rd., Vienna, Va., This South Carolina-rooted, four-
on Saturday, August 11, at 7:30 p.m. Rhiannon Giddens opens. Tickets are $28 to $65. piece rock band, fronted by the
Call 877-965-3872 or visit wolftrap.org. Rinehart brothers, puts on an

16
impressive and stirring live show,
courtesy of strong group cohesion,
uplifting music, and especially Bear
Rinehart’s powerhouse pipes, show-
cased to greatest effect in a recent
pairing with R&B belter Andra
Day on the band’s rousing anthem
“Hard Love.” A more recent power-
house anthem from Needtobreathe
is “Forever On Your Side,” a col-
laboration with Abner Ramirez and
Amanda Sudano Ramirez, known
together as Johnnyswim. The mar-
ried, L.A.-based duo tours as an
opening act for Needtobreathe along
with Billy Raffoul, a promising Joe
Cocker-esque 22-year-old from
Canada. Friday, Aug. 17. Doors at
5:30 p.m. The Anthem, 901 Wharf St.
SW. Tickets are $46 to $76. Call 202-
888-0020 or visit theanthemdc.com.
SUMMER CONCERTS ON THE
LAWN: SARAH MARIE HUGHES &
COY FISH
A free outdoor concert on the
grounds of the Library of Congress
featuring the local jazz alto-sax-
ophonist/instrumentalist. Hughes
will be supported by her band of
fellow jazz improvisers, including
Samuel Burt on daxophone, Daniel
Ostrow on bass and voice, and
Nate Scheible on drums and voice.
Following the concert comes the
familiar music composed by Harold
Arlen and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg for
The Wizard of Oz, which will screen
at sundown (see separate entry).
The concert is Thursday, Aug. 16, at
7 p.m. North Lawn of the Thomas
COMEDY READINGS
Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE.
JASON WEEMS DAVID AUERBACH: BITWISE
Tickets, although not required,
& MELISSA DOUTY Subtitled A Life in Code, this is a
are available on a first-come, first-
A Baltimore-based kindergarten memoir of personal computing
served basis. Visit loc.gov/events.
teacher by day, Weems has gar- from a writer and software engi-
nered national attention for his neer who worked on instant-mes-
THE NEW ORLEANS SUSPECTS
standup comedy by night, via saging systems and data sorting for
FT. JENNIFER HARTSWICK
NBC’s Last Comic Standing. At a Microsoft and Google. It’s a cel-
Initially formed as an occasional
Comedy Zone-presented evening at ebration of technology’s prowess,
pick-up band with seasoned musi-
Strathmore’s intimate Amp venue, tempered by the realization that
cians from around the Big Easy, this
Weems will be joined by Salem, algorithms are standardizing and
supergroup became a touring act
Virginia-based comedian Douty, coarsening our lives and our under-
seven years ago and have churned
who finished second in the World standing of the world and who we
out four solid albums and attracted
Series of Comedy Women’s Satellite even are as humans. Auerbach will
large crowds from San Francisco
in Las Vegas. Thursday, Aug. 9, at read and sign from what is part-
to New York since. The Suspects
8 p.m. Amp by Strathmore, 11810 ly styled as a manifesto, all from
features longtime Neville Brothers
Grand Park Ave. North Bethesda. the newest location of the ever-ex-
drummer “Mean” Willie Green,
Tickets are $14. Call 301-581-5100 panding Politics and Prose chain.
North Mississippi Allstars bass-
or visit ampbystrathmore.com. Thursday, Aug. 16, at 7 p.m. Politics
ist Eric Vogel, Dirty Dozen Brass
& Prose at Union Market, 1270 5th
Band lead guitarist Jake Eckert,
THE SECOND CITY: St. NE. Call 202-544-4452 or visit
classically trained pianist and fea-
GENERATION GAP politics-prose.com.
ture accompanist CR Gruver, and
The full title of the latest show
saxophonist Jeff Watkins, former
from Chicago’s famed troupe cre-
leader of the James Brown Band
and producer and bandleader for
ated especially for the Kennedy MUSEUMS
Center to coincide with the District
Joss Stone. The band is joined at the
Hamilton by Vermont-based sing-
of Comedy Festival is Generation & GALLERIES
Gap...Or, How Many Millennials
er and trumpet player Hartswick,
Does It Take to Teach a Baby Boomer 20/20: DOUBLE VISION
a veteran performer with Phish’s
to Text Generation X? Expect a In partnership with the Corcoran
Trey Anastasio. Friday, Aug. 10, at
satirical crash course spanning mis- School of Design, Dupont
8 p.m. The Hamilton, 600 14th St.
communications, careers, dating, Underground presents an eye-open-
NW. Tickets are $20 to $30. Call
and more in a two-act, interactive ing collection of video artwork that
202-787-1000 or visit thehamil-
spin on what the troupe calls “the challenges what and how we see. A
tondc.com.
age-old battle of the ages.” To Aug. play on the both the literal and met-
12. Theater Lab. Tickets are $49 aphorical notion of visual acuity and
to $59. Call 202-467-4600 or visit clarity, 20/20 features work from
kennedy-center.org.
17
 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. To Nov. 12.
Independence Avenue and Seventh
Street SW. Call 202-633-1000 or
visit hirshhorn.si.edu.

MICHAEL AUGER: WHAT’S YOUR

POISON?, W/WORKTOP!
Paintings by this illustrator, graph-
ic designer, and offbeat fine art-
ist will be on display at a tucked-
away boutique space in Mount
Pleasant, and presented as part of
a Second Saturday DIY pop-up art
and performance event also featur-
ing live music by Ivan Ramiscal of
TBD IMMERSIVE

Barcelona and the Positions under

his Worktop! alias. Saturday, Aug.
11, at 8 p.m. The GallAerie, Near the
intersection of Brown and Newton
Streets NW. Tickets are free but
required due to limited space. Call
LEGENDARY: SWEET SLICE OF LIBERTY 202-667-1745 or search for “The
Partly inspired by New York’s Sleep No More and nurtured at Capital Fringe, TBD GallAerie” on Facebook.
Immersive is a devised, participatory theater company that intentionally blurs the line PUBLIC ARTWORKS OF ROCKNE
between audience and performer, while also straying far afield from the usual theater KREBS AND SAM GILLIAM
experience or event venue. After two politically inspired cabaret shows, TBD, led by Curator Mollie Berger says the
Strother Gaines, significantly alters course by offering three courses as part of a “culinary objective of this Washington Studio
School exhibition is “to represent
pop-up theater experience” at Slim’s Diner in Petworth, devised and directed by Jenny the planning and design of public
Splitter. Based on responses to a preliminary questionnaire, theatergoers are matched art projects, both built and unbuilt,
with a particular performer — out of a cast of nine, all portraying supernatural “Legends” by two artists who used vastly dif-
ferent materials but seem to be
charged with keeping order in the universe — who sit with and guide patrons through a concerned with similar elements
meal starting with salad and offering choices for entree (Shrimp and Grits, Meatloaf, or of space, color, and presence” —
Ratatouille) and dessert (Apple or Key Lime Pie). Each experience, lasting roughly 90 from “sculpture wunderkind”
minutes, will be slightly different, affected by individual engagement and interaction as Krebs’s penetrating light displays,
which surpass the physical space
well as external variables such as “chaos, gluten, and uninvited guests.” Clearly, this isn’t and reach for the sun and the stars
theater nor dinner as usual. “Think of the show as a world to explore rather than a play that inspired the artist, to Gilliam’s
that you watch,” reads an official note. Opens Friday, Aug. 10, with seatings at 6:30 and swooping, brightly colored canvas-
es of interlocking shapes, standing
8 p.m. To Aug. 25. 4201 Georgia Ave. NW. Tickets are $45, including three-course meal. in counterpoint to the grey steel and
Visit TBDImmersive.com. stone surrounding them. Organized
in partnership with community
arts-boosting entity Day Eight, the
exhibit includes proposals never
Corcoran alumni and area artists such a way as to transform what 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Suggested funded as well as documentation
with ties to the school, including might be considered ordinary donation is $18. Call 202-686-5807 of works that came to fruition by
Larry Cook, Maps Glover, Alexis images and objects into something or visit HillwoodMuseum.org. these two veteran D.C.-based art-
Gomez, Pamela Hadley, and Jason magical. Through Aug. 18. Hilltop ists, among them never-before dis-
Zimmerman. On display to Aug. 28. Road between Maple and Geneva MARK BRADFORD: played items provided by architect
Dupont Underground, 1500 19th St. Avenues, Takoma Park. Call 301- PICKETT’S CHARGE and longtime Gilliam collaborator
NW. Tickets are $15. Visit dupon- 608-9101 or visit pyramidatlanti- Referred to as the most signif- Steven Spurlock. To Aug. 10. 2129 S
tunderground.org. cartcenter.org. icant living American painter by St. NW. Call 202-234-3030 or visit
the Hirshhorn, this gay African- washingtonstudioschool.org.
CLARA CORNELIUS: FABERGE REDISCOVERED American artist certainly works on a
CAESURA OBSCURA The late heiress Marjorie scale commensurate with that kind ROOPKOTHA PHOTO EXHIBIT
An installation of screen-printed Merriweather Post has a renowned of stature. Take, for example, his Vibrant images captured by various
banners bursting with color, pat- collection of pieces from the firm of huge, 400-foot installation created photographers, along with histor-
tern, and energy fills the tiny out- Carl Fabergé, the legendary jeweler for his debut at the Smithsonian’s ical artifacts and personal mem-
door space that has become known to the last court of Russia. A spe- modern art museum as well as in orabilia, tell the story of Xulhaz
as Takoma Park’s Pump House cial exhibition at Post’s Hillwood D.C. A timely, commissioned “cyclo- Mannan and Mahbbub Rabbi
Pop-Up Gallery. Pyramid Atlantic Estate, nestled in a leafy section of rama” of eight large, site-specific Tonoy, two Bangladeshi LGBTQ
Arts Center created the gallery with Upper Northwest a few blocks from collages, Bradford was inspired by activists and artists who were sav-
funding from the city government. Van Ness, unveils new discoveries Paul Philippoteaux’s same-named agely murdered in their home two
The works in the exhibition are a relating to the collection of about masterpiece depicting the loss of years ago. The Center Arts Gallery
combination of photographic and 90 Fabergé works, including two the Confederate Army at the Battle in the DC Center for the LGBT
cut paper patterns, assembled in imperial Easter eggs. To Jan. 13. of Gettysburg. Covering the curved

18 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

Community has set up this power-
ful installation as part of an ongoing
campaign to protest the inaction
of the Bangladeshi government to
investigate the murders. 2000 14th
St. NW. Call 202-682-2245 or visit
thedccenter.org.

THE SWEAT OF THEIR FACE:

PORTRAYING AMERICAN
WORKERS
Nearly 100 portrayals of labor-
ers by some of the nation’s most
influential artists reveal how
American workers have shaped
and defined the nation in a mul-
tifaceted Smithsonian exhibition
further exploring the intersections
among work, art, and social histo-
ry. Paintings, sculptures, drawings,
prints, mixed-media, and photo-
graphs factor into this fully bilin-
gual show, with works by Winslow
Homer, Dorothea Lange, Elizabeth
Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Lewis
Hine, and Ben Shahn. To Sept. 3.
National Portrait Gallery, 8th and F
Streets. NW. Call 202-633-8300 or
visit npg.si.edu.

DRAG
BAR ROUBAIX:
SASSY DRAG BRUNCH
Over the past year, the local Hilton
brothers have expanded well
beyond Marvin and The Brixton
and their original U Street base.
None of the additions, however,
stand out as much as Bar Roubaix
in Columbia Heights with its racing
bike theme, complete with chains
dangling behind the bar and wheels
serving as light fixtures. Named
after the French city sponsor-
ing one of the world’s oldest and
most iconic professional bike races
and housed in the former Acre 121
space, Roubaix features a menu of
European-inspired bites from Chef
Rafael Nunez. And now, Roubaix
stands out even more thanks to a
drag brunch the third Sunday of
each month, organized by Josael
Abraham Gutierrez. Sassy Drag
Brunch features Desiree Dik as the
“master of sassiness” along with
her sassy sisters Laronica Vegas
and Paula, in addition to special
guests, next round Rose and Mariah
Black. Drink specials include $18
Bottomless Mimosas, Bloody
Mary’s, and Bloody Maria’s, $9
Margaritas, and $9 Irish Coffees.
Sunday, Aug. 19, from noon to 2
p.m. 1400 Irving St. NW. Ste. 109.
Tickets are $21 inclusive of show,
one entree, and 18-percent gratuity,
or $10 for show with no food. Call
202-560-5721 or search “Sassy Drag
Brunch” on eventbrite.com.
DIRTY MARTINI: DC DRAG
BRUNCH SATURDAYS
On Saturdays, legendary D.C. drag
diva Monet Dupree hosts brunch in
a large, contemporary space south of
Dupont Circle that many older D.C.
gays will remember as the second,
THE SOUND OF DC: GO-GO, THE DUKE AND THE DUCK
Next Thursday, Aug. 16, Dupont Underground hosts two simultaneous events paying
tribute to distinguished local creative types and offered as a packaged deal. The highlight
is a concert led by Mark G. Meadows with other local musicians, honoring the legacy of
the late Chuck Brown and the thoroughly D.C. genre of go-go. The subterranean cultural
venue will also feature a pop-up exhibition featuring what it heralds as “D.C.’s best ani-
mators,” members of the D.C.-based animation studio the Duke & the Duck. Doors at 5:30
p.m. Dupont Underground, 1500 19th St. NW. Tickets are $12.50 to $18. Visit dupontun-
derground.org.
biggest, and arguably best Lizard LATINX LGBTQ+ HISTORY TOUR LA-TI-DO: THE ’70S
Lounge venue. Dupree and her drag Jose Gutierrez of the Latino GLBT Regie Cabico and Don Mike
minions entertain every Saturday History Project leads a free, bilin- Mendoza’s La-Ti-Do variety show
as part of a three-hour affair, with gual, mile-long walking tour high- features higher-quality singing
music by DJ India. Doors open lighting places of significance for than most karaoke, often from
at 11 a.m., with brunch starting at local queer Latinos and centered local musical theater actors per-
11:30 a.m., show at 12 p.m. 1223 in Adams Morgan. Co-sponsored forming on their night off, and also
Connecticut Ave. NW. The cost is by Pride Outside, the tour: features includes spoken-word poetry and
$40 for All-You-Can-Eat buffet and Salud Inc., one of the first local comedy. Held at Bistro Bistro in
complimentary mimosas, inclusive Latino HIV/AIDS organizations; Dupont Circle, Mendoza and Anya
of tax and gratuity. Call 202-503- highlights other Latinx communi- Randall Nebel host The ’70s, an
2640 or visit dccragbrunch.com. ty organizations in the neighbor- evening of songs from that decade
hood, including Empoderate LCDP, as well as the present featuring
La Clinica del Pueblo, Casa de la Sylvern Groomes, Jr. Guest per-
ABOVE Cultura, and the Latin American formers include Vanna de la Cruz,
Youth Center; relates what hap- Erin Granfield, Christina McCann,
AND BEYOND pened in the 1991 DC Latino Riots; Michelle Moses-Eisenstein, Allison
points out the location that once Saba, Michael Sandoval, Aerika
BROADWAY SHOW housed El Faro, the city’s first Saxe, and Robin Weiner. Paige
WITH FRANQI FRENCH local Latinx bar; and showcas- Rammelkamp is music director.
In its black box space, D.C.’s es other Latinx-popular bars and Monday, Aug. 13, at 8 p.m. Bistro
Drafthouse Comedy presents this restaurants, including Bar Noa Bistro, 1727 Connecticut Ave. NW.
variety show offering stand-up Noa, Perry’s, El Rincon Espanol, Tickets are $15, or $10 if you eat
comedy, music, and sketches by El Migueleno, and Haydees. dinner at the restaurant before-
a diverse group of local female, Saturday, Aug. 11, at 3 p.m. Starts hand. Call 202-328-1640 or visit
minority, and LGBTQ performers outside SunTrust at the corner of latidodc.wix.com/latido. l
— all hosted by a comedian who has Columbia Road and 18th Street
shared the stage with DL Hughley, NW, and ends at the Columbia
Todd Glass, Fortune Feimster, Heights Metro. Visit facebook.com/
and Judy Gold, among others. LatinoGLBTHistory.
Thursday, Aug. 16, at 8:45 p.m. 1100
13th St. NW. Tickets are $5. Call
202-750-6411 or visit drafthousec-
omedy.com.

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 19


THURSDAY, August 9
Weekly Events
ANDROMEDA
TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH
offers free HIV testing and HIV
services (by appointment). 9
a.m.-5 p.m. Decatur Center,
1400 Decatur St. NW. To
arrange an appointment, call
202-291-4707, or visit androm-
edatransculturalhealth.org.
DC AQUATICS CLUB practice
session at Takoma Aquatic
Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 300 Van
Buren St. NW. For more infor-
mation, visit swimdcac.org.
DC FRONT RUNNERS run-
ning/walking/social club
welcomes runners of all ability
levels for exercise in a fun and
supportive environment, with
socializing afterward. Route
distance is 3-6 miles. Meet at
7 p.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW.
For more information, visit
dcfrontrunners.org.
DC LAMBDA SQUARES, D.C.’s
gay and lesbian square-dancing
group, features mainstream
through advanced square
dancing at the National City
Christian Church. Please dress
casually. 7-9:30 p.m. 5 Thomas
Circle NW. 202-930-1058,
dclambdasquares.org.
DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds
practice. 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 scandalsrfc.
org or dcscandals@gmail.com.
THE DULLES TRIANGLES
Northern Virginia social
group meets for happy hour at
Sheraton in Reston. All wel-
come. 7-9 p.m. 11810 Sunrise
Valley Drive, second-floor bar.
For more information, visit
dullestriangles.com.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-
Walker Health. 9 a.m.-12:30
p.m. and from 2-5 p.m. at 1525
14th St. NW, and 9 a.m-12
p.m. and 2-5 p.m. at the Max
Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr.
Ave. SE. For an appointment
call 202-745-7000 or visit whit-
man-walker.org.
IDENTITY offers free and
confidential HIV testing at
two separate locations. Walk-
ins accepted from 2-6 p.m.,
by appointment for all other
hours. 414 East Diamond Ave.,
Gaithersburg, Md. or 7676
Community
New Hampshire Ave., Suite
411, Takoma Park, Md. To set
up an appointment or for more
information, call Gaithersburg,
301-300-9978, or Takoma Park,
301-422-2398.
METROHEALTH CENTER
offers free, rapid HIV testing.
Appointment needed. 1012 14th
St. NW, Suite 700. To arrange
an appointment, call 202-638-
0750.
SMYAL offers free HIV Testing,
3-5 p.m., by appointment and
walk-in, for youth 21 and
younger. Youth Center, 410 7th
St. SE. 202-567-3155 or test-
ing@smyal.org.
STI TESTING at Whitman-
Walker Health. 10 a.m.-12:30
p.m. and 2-3 p.m. at both 1525
14th St. NW and the Max
Robinson Center, 2301 Martin
Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE.
Testing is intended for those
without symptoms. For an
appointment call 202-745-7000
or visit whitman-walker.org.
US HELPING US hosts a
Narcotics Anonymous Meeting.
The group is independent of
UHU. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 3636
Georgia Ave. NW. For more
information, call 202-446-1100.
WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP
INSTITUTE for young LBTQ
women, 13-21, interested in
leadership development. 5-6:30
p.m. SMYAL Youth Center, 410
7th St. SE. For more informa-
tion, call 202-567-3163, or email
catherine.chu@smyal.org.
FRIDAY, August 10
GAMMA is a confidential, vol-
untary, peer-support group
for men who are gay, bisexual,
questioning and who are now
or who have been in a relation-
ship with a woman. 7:30-9:30
p.m. Luther Place Memorial
Church, 1226 Vermont Ave
NW. GAMMA meetings are
also held in Vienna, Va., and in
Frederick, Md. For more infor-
mation, visit gammaindc.org.
Join Whitman-Walker Health
as it hosts its EAST OF THE
RIVER FALL FEST, a free-of-
charge event featuring go-go
music, live performances,
Caribbean food, a school sup-
plies drive, and tabling by local
community organizations. HIV
testing will be offered through
Whitman-Walker’s mobile
testing unit. 3-7 p.m. Max
Robinson Center, 2301 Martin
tion, contact Andy Arias, andy-
arias09@gmail.com.
Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE. For
more information, visit whit-
man-walker.org. Weekly Events
WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a
(AND THIRTIES), a social practice session at Montgomery
discussion and activity group College Aquatics Club. 8:30-
for queer women, meets at The 10 a.m. 7600 Takoma Ave.,
DC Center on the second and Takoma, Md. For more infor-
fourth Friday of each month. mation, visit swimdcac.org.
Group social activity to follow
the meeting. 8-9:30 p.m. 2000 DC FRONT RUNNERS run-
14th St. NW, Suite 105. For ning/walking/social club
more information, visit thedc- welcomes runners of all ability
center.org. levels for exercise in a fun and
supportive environment, with
socializing afterward. Route
Weekly Events distance will be 3-6 miles.
Walker meet at 9:30 a.m. and
BET MISHPACHAH, founded
runners at 10 a.m. at 23rd & P
by members of the LGBT com-
Streets NW. For more informa-
munity, holds Friday evening
tion, visit dcfrontrunners.org.
Shabbat services in the DC
Jewish Community Center’s
DIGNITYUSA sponsors Mass
Community Room. 8 p.m. 1529
for LGBT community, fam-
16th St. NW. For more informa-
ily and friends. 6:30 p.m.,
tion, visit betmish.org.
Immanuel Church-on-the-
Hill, 3606 Seminary Road,
DC AQUATICS CLUB holds
Alexandria. All welcome. For
a practice session at Howard
more info, visit dignitynova.org.
University. 6:30-8 p.m. Burr
Gymnasium, 2400 6th St. NW.
IDENTITY offers free and
For more information, visit
confidential HIV testing at its
swimdcac.org.
Takoma Park location. Walk-
ins accepted from 12-3 p.m.,
PROJECT STRIPES hosts
by appointment for all other
LGBT-affirming social group
hours. 7676 New Hampshire
for ages 11-24. 4-6 p.m. 1419
Ave., Suite 411, Takoma Park,
Columbia Road NW. Contact
Md. To set up an appointment
Tamara, 202-319-0422, layc-
or for more information, call
dc.org.
301-422-2398.
SMYAL’S REC NIGHT provides
a social atmosphere for LGBT SUNDAY, August 12
and questioning youth, featur-
ing dance parties, vogue nights, Weekly Events
movies and games. For more
info, email catherine.chu@ LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULS
smyal.org. MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL
CHURCH celebrates Low Mass
SATURDAY, August 11 at 8:30 a.m., High Mass at 11
a.m. 2300 Cathedral Ave. NW.
202-232-4244, allsoulsdc.org.
CHRYSALIS arts & culture
group sees Burning Man exhibit
BETHEL CHURCH-DC pro-
at the Renwick Gallery, includ-
gressive and radically inclusive
ing outdoor large-scale art
church holds services at 11:30
installations on nearby streets.
a.m. 2217 Minnesota Ave. SE.
Free. Lunch in neighborhood
follows. Meet at 11 a.m. in 202-248-1895, betheldc.org.
the lobby of the Renwick, at
DC AQUATICS CLUB holds
17th Street and Pennsylvania
a practice session at Wilson
Avenue NW. For more infor-
Aquatic Center. 9:30-11 a.m.
mation, contact Craig, 202-
4551 Fort Dr. NW. For more
462-0535, or craighowell1@
verizon.net. information, visit swimdcac.org.
DC FRONT RUNNERS run-
The DC Center hosts a monthly
ning/walking/social club
meeting of UNIVERSAL PRIDE,
a group to support and empow- welcomes runners of all ability
levels for exercise in a fun and
er LGBTQIA people with dis-
supportive environment, with
abilities, offer perspectives on
socializing afterward. Route
dating and relationships, and
will be a distance run of 8, 10
create greater access in public
or 12 miles. Meet at 9 a.m. at
spaces for LGBTQIA PWDs.
23rd & P Streets NW. For more
1-2:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW,
information, visit dcfrontrun-
Suite 105. For more informa-
ners.org.
AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 21
 DIGNITYUSA offers Roman
Catholic Mass for the LGBT
community. All welcome. Sign
interpreted. 6 p.m. St. Margaret’s
Church, 1820 Connecticut Ave.
NW. For more info, visit dignity-
washington.org.
FAIRLINGTON UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH is an open,
inclusive church. All welcome,
including the LGBTQ commu-
nity. Member of the Reconciling
Ministries Network. Services at
9:30 and 11:00 a.m. 3900 King
Street, Alexandria, Va. 703-671-
8557. For more info, visit fairling-
tonumc.org.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
welcomes all to 10:30 a.m. service,
945 G St. NW. firstuccdc.org or
202-628-4317.
FRIENDS MEETING OF
WASHINGTON meets for worship,
10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW,
Quaker House Living Room (next
to Meeting House on Decatur
Place), 2nd floor. Special welcome
to lesbians and gays. Handicapped
accessible from Phelps Place gate.
Hearing assistance. quakersdc.org.
HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF
CHRIST welcomes GLBT commu-
nity for worship. 10:30 a.m., 6130
Old Telegraph Road, Alexandria.
hopeucc.org.
HSV-2 SOCIAL AND SUPPORT
GROUP for gay men living in the
DC metro area. This group will be
meeting once a month. For infor-
mation on location and time, visit
H2gether.com.
INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL
DEVELOPMENT, God-centered
new age church & learning center.
Sunday Services and Workshops
event. 5419 Sherier Place NW. isd-
dc.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. lincol-
ntemple.org.
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF
REFORMATION invites all to
Sunday worship at 8:30 or 11 a.m.
Childcare is available at both ser-
vices. Welcoming LGBT people for
25 years. 212 East Capitol St. NE.
reformationdc.org.
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY
CHURCH OF NORTHERN
VIRGINIA services at 11 a.m., led
by Rev. Emma Chattin. Children’s
Sunday School, 11 a.m. 10383
Democracy Lane, Fairfax. 703-691-
0930, mccnova.com.
22 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY
CHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpret-
ed) and 11 a.m. Children’s Sunday
School at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW.
202-638-7373, mccdc.com.
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. 202-232-0323, nationalcitycc.
org.
RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH,
a Christ-centered, interracial,
welcoming-and-affirming church,
offers service at 10 a.m. 680 I St.
SW. 202-554-4330, riversidedc.org.
ST. STEPHEN AND THE
INCARNATION, an “interra-
cial, 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. 202-232-0900, saintste-
phensdc.org.
UNITARIAN CHURCH OF
ARLINGTON, an LGBTQ welcom-
ing-and-affirming congregation,
offers services at 10 a.m. Virginia
Rainbow UU Ministry. 4444
Arlington Blvd. uucava.org.
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST
CHURCH OF SILVER SPRING
invites LGBTQ families and indi-
viduals of all creeds and cultures to
join the church. Services 9:15 and
11:15 a.m. 10309 New Hampshire
Ave. uucss.org.
UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL
MEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-
ing and inclusive church. GLBT
Interweave social/service group
meets monthly. Services at 11 a.m.,
Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th St.
NW. 202-387-3411, universalist.org.
MONDAY, August 13
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 thedccen-
ter.org.
Weekly Events
DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a
practice session at Dunbar Aquatic
Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 101 N St. NW.
For more information, visit swim-
dcac.org.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker
Health. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. at 1525 14th
St. NW, and 9 a.m-12 p.m. and 1-5
p.m. at the Max Robinson Center,
2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. For an
appointment call 202-745-7000 or
visit whitman-walker.org.
KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY
(K.I.) SERVICES, 3333 Duke St.,
Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIV
testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4
p.m. 703-823-4401.
METROHEALTH CENTER offers
free, rapid HIV testing. No appoint-
ment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012
14th St. NW, Suite 700. For more
information, call 202-638-0750.
NOVASALUD offers free HIV test-
ing. 5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite
200, Arlington. Appointments: 703-
789-4467.
SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5
p.m., by appointment and walk-in,
for youth 21 and younger. Youth
Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-
3155 or testing@smyal.org.
STI TESTING at Whitman-Walker
Health. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at both 1525
14th St. NW and the Max Robinson
Center, 2301 Martin Luther King,
Jr. Ave. SE. Testing is intended for
those without symptoms. For an
appointment call 202-745-7000 or
visit whitman-walker.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 thedc-
center.org.
US HELPING US hosts a black gay
men’s evening affinity group for
GBT black men. Light refreshments
provided. 7-9 p.m. 3636 Georgia
Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.
WASHINGTON WETSKINS
WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9
p.m. Newcomers with at least basic
swimming ability always welcome.
Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van
Buren St. NW. For more informa-
tion, contact Tom, 703-299-0504
or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit
wetskins.org.
WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH
HIV/AIDS SUPPORT GROUP
for newly diagnosed individuals,
meets 7 p.m. Registration required.
202-939-7671, hivsupport@whit-
man-walker.org.
TUESDAY, August 14
CENTER BI, a group of The DC
Center, hosts a monthly roundtable
discussion around issues of bisex-
uality. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW,
Suite 105. Visit thedccenter.org.
THE HIV WORKING GROUP of
The DC Center hosts a “Packing
Party,” where volunteers assemble
safe-sex kits of condoms and lube.
7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite
105. For more information, visit
thedccenter.org.
Weekly Events
DC AQUATICS CLUB practice
session at Takoma Aquatic Center.
7:30-9 p.m. 300 Van Buren St. NW.
For more information, visit swim-
dcac.org.
DC FRONT RUNNERS running/
walking/social club welcomes run-
ners of all ability levels for exercise
in a fun and supportive environment,
with socializing afterward. Route
distance is 3-6 miles. Meet at 7 p.m.
at Union Station. For more informa-
tion, visit dcfrontrunners.org.
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 scandalsrfc.
org or dcscandals@gmail.com.
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. 703-
746-4986 or text 571-214-9617.
james.leslie@inova.org.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker
Health. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. at 1525 14th
St. NW, and 9 a.m-12 p.m. and 1-5
p.m. at the Max Robinson Center,
2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. For an
appointment call 202-745-7000 or
visit whitman-walker.org.
IDENTITY offers free and confi-
dential HIV testing at two separate
locations. Walk-ins accepted from
2-6 p.m., by appointment for all
other hours. 414 East Diamond
Ave., Gaithersburg, Md. or 7676
New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411,
Takoma Park, Md. To set up an
appointment or for more informa-
tion, call Gaithersburg, 301-300-
9978, or Takoma Park, 301-422-
2398.
OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS
holds an LGBT-focused meet-
ing every Tuesday, 7 p.m. at St.
George’s Episcopal Church, 915
Oakland Ave., Arlington, just steps
from Virginia Square Metro. For
more info. call Dick, 703-521-
1999. Handicapped accessible.
Newcomers welcome. liveandletli-
veoa@gmail.com.
SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5
p.m., by appointment and walk-in,
for youth 21 and younger. Youth
Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-
3155 or testing@smyal.org.
STI TESTING at Whitman-Walker
Health. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at both 1525
14th St. NW and the Max Robinson
Center, 2301 Martin Luther King,
Jr. Ave. SE. Testing is intended for
those without symptoms. For an
appointment call 202-745-7000 or
visit whitman-walker.org.
Support group for LGBTQ youth
ages 13-21 meets at SMYAL. 5-6:30
p.m. 410 7th St. SE. For more
information, contact Cathy Chu,
202-567-3163, or catherine.chu@
smyal.org.
US HELPING US hosts a support
group for black gay men 40 and
older. 7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave.
NW. 202-446-1100.
Whitman-Walker Health holds its
weekly GAY MEN’S HEALTH AND
WELLNESS/STD CLINIC. Patients
are seen on walk-in basis. No-cost
screening for HIV, syphilis, gon-
orrhea and chlamydia. Hepatitis
and herpes testing available for fee.
Testing starts at 6 p.m, but should
arrive early to ensure a spot. 1525
14th St. NW. For more information,
visit whitman-walker.org.
WEDNESDAY, August 15
The TOM DAVOREN SOCIAL
BRIDGE CLUB meets for Social
Bridge at the Dignity Center, across
from the Marine Barracks. No
partner needed. 7:30 p.m. 721 8th
St. SE. Call 301-345-1571 for more
information.
Weekly Events
AD LIB, a group for freestyle con-
versation, meets about 6-6:30 p.m.,
Steam, 17th and R NW. All wel-
come. For more information, call
Fausto Fernandez, 703-732-5174.
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)
holds a practice session at Dunbar
Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 101 N
St. NW. For more information, visit
swimdcac.org.
FREEDOM FROM SMOKING, a
group for LGBT people looking
to quit cigarettes and tobacco use,
holds a weekly support meeting at
The DC Center. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th
St. NW, Suite 105. For more infor-
mation, visit thedccenter.org.
HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH
offers Wednesday worship 7:15 a.m.
and 12:05 p.m. All welcome. 118 N.
Washington St., Alexandria. 703-
549-1450, historicchristchurch.org.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker
Health. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. at 1525 14th
St. NW, and 9 a.m-12 p.m. and 1-5
p.m. at the Max Robinson Center,
2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. For an
appointment call 202-745-7000 or
visit whitman-walker.org.
IDENTITY offers free and confiden-
tial HIV testing at its Gaithersburg
location. Walk-ins accepted from
2-7 p.m., by appointment for all
other hours. 414 East Diamond
Ave., Gaithersburg, Md. To set up
an appointment or for more infor-
mation, call 301-300-9978.
JOB CLUB, a weekly support pro-
gram for job entrants and seekers,
meets at The DC Center. 6-7:30
p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.
For more info, centercareers.org.
METROHEALTH CENTER offers
free, rapid HIV testing. No appoint-
ment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012
14th St. NW, Suite 700. For more
information, call 202-638-0750.
NOVASALUD offers free HIV
testing. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. 2049 N.
15th St., Suite 200, Arlington.
Appointments: 703-789-4467.
STI TESTING at Whitman-Walker
Health. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at both 1525
14th St. NW and the Max Robinson
Center, 2301 Martin Luther King,
Jr. Ave. SE. Testing is intended for
those without symptoms. For an
appointment call 202-745-7000 or
visit whitman-walker.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 informa-
tion, contact Tom, 703-299-0504
or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit
wetskins.org. l
AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 23
Girl Chloë Grace Moretz stood her ground
to star in the award-winning lesbian drama
The Miseducation of Cameron Post.
Uninterrup
Interview by André Hereford
HE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST CHRONI-
cles a young woman summoning the strength of mind to stay
true to herself, despite overwhelming pressure to change. It’s a
role that’s embodied naturally by actress Chloë Grace Moretz,
who was determined to see the indie film get made once she
signed on for the title role. Based on Emily Danforth’s acclaimed
2012 novel, the film, the second for director Desiree Akhavan,
finds itself smack in the middle of the zeitgeist, with its tale of a
lesbian teen shipped off to a remote, rural camp for gay conver-
sion therapy. According to Moretz, however, the film’s path to
production didn’t always seem so well-timed.
“There was a moment when we were in pre-production
going like, ‘Well, I wonder if this will be societally impactful?’”
she says. “I’m like, ‘People will want to hear it.’ And halfway
through [shooting] the film, Trump was elected. The harrowing
reality [is] that our vice president, and this administration which
was about to come into fruition, supports and advocates for
conversion therapy and is openly against LGBT rights. In that
moment, this movie became the most societally impactful thing
that we could be doing, and all of a sudden the activism and the
art melded into one, which was really scary and beautiful at the
same time.”
A veteran of nearly 50 films, including Hugo, Carrie, and the
two Kick-Ass movies, 21-year-old Moretz felt a unique connec-
tion to Cameron Post’s story of overcoming repression.
“I think that there’s a lot I related to with this character,” she
says. “One was just the natural depiction of what it meant to be
a young woman in a society that doesn’t understand you, much
less a gay young woman in a society that doesn’t know how to
place you and what to do with you. I think that was something
24 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
that was really interesting to depict. I connected to it as a young
woman growing up in a society where other people project their
ideas of who they think I am on me.”
Prior to The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Moretz had taken
a brief hiatus from back-to-back filming to refocus on the next
phase of her transition from child actor to leading lady. She’s
also planning to produce and direct.
“It’s been hard to navigate who I am versus who people think
I am,” she says, “and so that was something that I could univer-
sally connect to [with Cameron], which I think is a testament to
Desi and her handling this as a coming-of-age story, but through
a clear lens, which was invigorating.”
Akhavan, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cecilia
Frugiuele, took great care to keep the film’s ’90s coming-of-
age rhythms fresh. A bisexual woman whose first feature,
Appropriate Behavior, also explored queer female sexuality,
Akhavan points to authenticity more than identity as her main
concern behind the camera. “I think authenticity is important,
and that there’s so little of it in Hollywood,” says the filmmaker.
In order to craft the film’s confessional, confrontational
group therapy scenes, Akhavan drew on her own therapy expe-
riences of “being in a room full of people who are just blindly
chasing getting better. And putting their faith in the profession-
als that they’ve hired to make them better.”
She and Moretz also consulted with conversion therapy sur-
vivor Mathew Shurka, a leading global advocate for ending gay
conversion therapy. Shurka’s parents, intent on stamping out his
same-sex attractions, subjected him to various conversion ther-
apy practices “on and off for five years total, in multiple states.”
Shurka draws on his own journey in his advocacy mission to
pass legislation nationwide that would ban the sort of abuse he
experienced. He emphasizes that activists don’t want conversion
therapy to become a partisan issue, “but it is, or tends to be.”
Despite that, at least four states with Republican governors have
approved conversion therapy bans. “We know there’s support
from both sides,” Shurka says. “We want people to know this is
not a partisan issue. It’s a human rights issue. It’s a child issue.”
For her part, Moretz was inspired by her work on the film to
add her voice to the ongoing campaign to eliminate conversion
FILM RISE
therapy. Set to co-direct a docu-series about the subject with
ted

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 25

one of her four older brothers, the young artist radiates sincerity to not overthink it and to just be and exist.
asserting her mission. MW: You talked about meeting survivors. Did you meet anybody
“I think it’s important right now at least to have a platform who is not a survivor, but who claims that conversion therapy it
and be using it,” Moretz says. “I just want to be making stories worked for them?
that can help change the construct of people’s minds and make MORETZ: I didn’t find it important to meet people like that
them feel a certain way that they might not have felt before.” because it wasn’t helpful, but I’ll be exploring that in a docu-se-
ries that I’m going to be taking on, which I just sold to a major
network, which I can’t say the name of yet. The Conversion
METRO WEEKLY: Given the controversial subject matter of the States of America is what it’s called. I’ll be going in and talking to
film, did anyone ever try and convince you not to take the role of ex-gays — that’s what they call themselves — as well as survivors,
Cameron? and opening up that line of communication, and talking about
CHLOË GRACE MORETZ: Yeah, of course. My agents were like, the truths of conversion therapy in America.
“Don’t do it.” First of all, the whole movie was made for a lit- I was wondering whether or not they’d taken it seriously
tle under a million dollars. We shot it in 23 days, and it was from the get-go. I was like, “Did you just show up and go ‘This is
unknown in the sense that peo- bullshit’?” Across the board, it
ple didn’t know how to place it. I was a unanimous no, they tried
connected to it. And you’ve got to their hardest. They wanted to
remember, when we signed onto be welcomed back into their
this film, it was in the Obama era, home. They wanted their fam-
so it was a different tempera- ily to not ostracize them. They
ture in America for LGBT rights. wanted to feel normal again. So
It was important to me because of course they tried.
I’ve always been a very big activ- That was something I really
ist and advocate for LGBT rights, wanted to depict in the film.
and so it was inherently import- That moment — that shift —
ant to me to tell the story. There where [my character Cameron
were a lot of people that tried Post] gives in and self-doubt
to deter me, but I couldn’t be creeps in. And once that
deterred from this project. It was doubt’s in there, it starts to seep
something that I couldn’t not do. through. I really wanted to get
MW: It’s amazing that in just that in the movie, and I think
two years so much has changed we did. We captured that.
around the topic. You were MW: There’s definitely a moment
recently on The Late Show with where she clearly has the
Stephen Colbert, and he seemed thought of, ”Maybe these people
not to have heard of conversion have a point.”
therapy before. Have you encoun- MORETZ: Yeah. “Maybe they’re
tered a lot of people who were just correct.” And then she’s like,
unaware? “Nope, definitely not.”
MORETZ: A lot of people. Most MW: If someone claims that they
people, they’re like, “That’s were able to pray away the gay,
not real.” And I’m like, “Yeah. why shouldn’t we believe them?
It’s not just real, but it’s every- MORETZ: I think that that’s... I
where.” It’s in every major city. mean, that’s oppression.
It’s a couple miles from your MW: Or, that’s our opinion.
front door, and it’s being hidden MORETZ: Everything is an
under the guise of family therapy opinion, but it’s scientifically
or Christian schooling for trou- backed that conversion therapy
bled children. It’s a quiet epidemic. It’s a silent epidemic in this is not only not able to actually change someone, it’s statistically
country. proven that it ups the rates of suicide. It ups the rates of HIV
MW: That’s really scary. What posed the greatest challenge for you contraction, and it ups the rates of alcohol and drug abuse, so
in taking on the part? not only is it unhelpful, it’s actually detrimental. I would go, not
MORETZ: Adequately depicting conversion therapy in a natural- based on my opinion then, based on fact — it takes people and
istic way, and not focusing on what people would expect to see, turns them into self-abusing people, and I think that speaks for
which is shock therapy or reversion therapy. But focusing on the itself. The statistics prove it.
intricate, manipulative psychotherapy tools that they do. And so MW: In the film, the cast creates a confessional space that feels
for me it was really talking to survivors and making sure that I authentic to a therapy group. What did you do to work on that?
get those scenes correct, while also balancing that with the bud- MORETZ: If you’ve ever been into group therapy — I don’t know
ding interpersonal relationships of being a gay person meeting if you have, but I’ve done group therapy before, Desi’s done
other gay people for the very first time and realizing you’re not group therapy before — you know how strange group therapy
alone. So, kind of balancing that and just feeling into projecting is. There’s moments where you giggle, and you’re like, “This is
my interpretations of how the character should react in certain strange.” It’s a weird line to tow, and I think we just wanted it to
FILM RISE

situations. That was something that I had to actively make sure land where it is. And when Cameron laughs [in therapy], that’s a

26 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

moment where I would have been in real life, like, “Oh my god,
we’re talking about masturbation now, like, openly.” So, we just
wanted those moments to be natural. I think that speaks for the
entire comedy latent throughout the script, and the story is that
you laugh to relieve tension, and tension is born from your fear in
a lot of subjects, and you laugh in order not to cry, to lift the lid a
little bit on that combustible energy inside you. Especially when
you’re being oppressed by someone.
MW: That’s exactly how that scene feels, that she needs to laugh.
And it’s so sad that there isn’t anybody in there that can give her
the reinforcement of, “It’s okay that you laughed.”
MORETZ: Yes.
MW: What is the hardest part about making the transition from
being a child actor who, as you said, people project all these things
on, to making adult, mature movies and making decisions yourself
about what you’re putting on screen?
MORETZ: I think it’s just being taken seriously. I think a lot of
people want to place you. I think that’s a problem. A lot of peo-
ple want to place women in general. They want to tell us who
we are, and what we should be doing, and what we shouldn’t be
doing. For me, I like to kind of be a little bit of an anarchist and
flip the script and do roles that contradict each other. I think that
contradiction and that versatility is the key to showing them that
there is no one character that a woman should play.
I think that goes for every marginalized group. I think any
marginalized group of people that are finally being depicted on
screen correctly, what we’re doing is shaking the construct, and
going, “We’re not our stereotypes.” And by doing that, I think
you need to choose perspectives that will view us correctly,
which is directors that have been marginalized and haven’t had
their voices at the forefront. What we should be doing now is
choosing filmmakers that are at the forefront of discussion, so
that modern issues are being depicted.
MW: That gets us to a statement you made to the L.A. Times,
about the straight male director of another gay conversion ther-
apy movie, Boy Erased. You said, ”Queer movies should be told
through a queer lens and created by queer people.” As an actor, a
storyteller, don’t you feel free and qualified to tell whatever story
you want, whether or not it’s been your personal experience?
MORETZ: I felt it was important to me coming to this movie
that Desi has a story to tell, because I think it’s filmmakers who
really need to have their perspectives told. I as an actor can tell
my character’s story, but a perspective, and the entire pace of
a movie, and the lens of a movie is a different thing. I felt com-
pletely confident in Desi to be able to take this story on and han-
dle these characters perfectly, and I think that really shows in
the diversity of our cast. She showed that there was no one face
of conversion therapy and there was no one face of being gay,
which I think speaks to her diversity. She’s a bisexual Iranian
woman, so I trusted her explicitly.
MW: Have you thought about directing?
MORETZ: Yeah, definitely. I would love to. My brother and I are
actually going to be co-directing later this year, a short film.
MW: The iceberg analogy that the therapists in the film use to get
the kids to name underlying causes of their homosexuality is meant
to be cheesy, and it is cheesy, but it’s also actually thought-provok-
ing. Did you contemplate your own iceberg?
MORETZ: Yeah. It’s so interesting that especially in this form of
therapy — if you can even call it that — what they obviously try
and do is they find your chink in your armor, and they want to
exploit it, and everything comes down to gender construct. I
think it’s so interesting when people try to delineate who you
are through your gender construct, and your relationship to your
“It’s in every major
city. It’s a couple
miles from your front
door, and it’s being
hidden under
the guise of
family therapy or
Christian schooling
for troubled children.
It’s a silent
epidemic in this
country.”
parents is the be-all, end-all. Which, yes, of course that is a large
amount of your growth as a human, but it isn’t who you are. I
don’t know, I think the use of gender construct is very interest-
ing in that form. But yeah, I definitely contemplated my iceberg,
definitely. I think you couldn’t not contemplate your iceberg.
MW: The film was well-received at Sundance, where it was award-
ed the Grand Jury Prize for Drama. Where have you shown the
movie since then?
MORETZ: At Tribeca [Film Festival]. It just came out in New
York on the 3rd. It’s coming out in DC, in Chicago, and Texas,
and a bunch of other places, in LA, on August 10th. Our numbers
are big. In our small, little opening, our average was $26,500
[per theater], which is shocking. So, we’re overperforming
even beyond our greatest dreams. I think that speaks to the fact
that this movie hits in a space where it excites people, because
they’re being entertained by something that they can inherently
connect to. But what they’re watching and what they’re seeing is
different than anything they’ve seen before.
MW: Particularly for the people who hadn’t even thought that this
existed. Do you know of survivors who’ve seen the movie?
MORETZ: There’s a lot of people that have actually reached out
to us. The way Mathew Shurka puts it, who was a consultant on
the movie, when he first saw it at Sundance said, “Even someone
that doesn’t know anything about conversion therapy, after they
watch this movie, they’ll see what the insidious psycho manipu-
lation looks like and how simple the manipulation is.” And that’s
how they indoctrinate you, and that’s how they get you to doubt
yourself and who you are, which I think is Desi. That’s all Desi.
MW: It’s a recognizable tactic of religious fundamentalists, to get
into what you think is wrong with you, or what you might think is
wrong with you, and use that as a means to sort of keep you.
MORETZ: [They] weaponize it.
AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 27
 you want to find, you can find. Most of them are based through
religion. It doesn’t matter the religion. I haven’t seen any one of
them involved with, like Islam, but it’s definitely in Judaism, it’s
in Christianity, Catholicism, across the board with Christianity
from evangelicals to even in the Mormon community, so it’s
really across the board.
And the one thing that Mathew Shurka says is that conver-
sion therapy is the one thing that doesn’t discriminate, so you’ll
see people that are from non-religious families be put into it.
You’ll see people that are from incredibly serious religious fam-
ilies and from different socioeconomic backgrounds, different
nationalities, everything. You see it all in conversion therapy
because they prey on fear and the inherent fear of sexuality.
MW: The queer young people that you know, are their experiences
closer to something like this and Boy Erased, or to the open accep-
tance of Love, Simon?
MORETZ: I don’t think you can generalize, obviously. I don’t
think there’s the ability to make a generalization because every
person’s growth and every person’s coming out story is different.
The way their family reacts is different. Every single person’s
reaction is different. Also, I know some people that have come
out to their families, and their family’s been fine with it, but it’s
been they themselves who’ve hated themselves for it, which I
think is another interesting perspective. I think that comes down
to the fact that there is no general gay. There’s no stereotype
to gay that is real. There’s a stereotype afflicted by society, but
there’s no one gay, and there’s no right way to deal with it. It
depends on the person’s personality, and who they are, and how
their family obviously raised them, and what they connect to.
MW: What message do you hope people connect to with this movie?
MORETZ: What really struck me is the idea of chosen family,
[that] really came across to me, and the beauty in that, and that
it’s okay that the family that you were born into might not be the

MW: Have you ever experienced anything like that?

“Conversion therapy
MORETZ: Yeah. I was born into a Christian Baptist community is not only not able
to actually change
and family. My mother was always very progressive, and she still
is, but our community and my father were not. It was the typical

someone, it’s
rhetoric in the way that they misinterpret and weaponize the
Bible, and in turn completely are hypocritical to the ideals and

statistically proven
morals of what a Christian should be, completely hypocritical.
MW: We see that every day.

that it ups the

MORETZ: Every day. Definitely growing up in that oppression
is strange because your simple tendencies as a teenager — to

rates of suicide.
kiss who you want to kiss, or to fool around and figure out your
sexuality — is weaponized against yourself, to where you hate
your natural animalistic feelings. You know what I mean? And
I think that’s something that anyone that grew up in a situation,
no matter the religion, in an oppressive community like that,
It takes people
knows what it feels like to grow up recognizing your natural
tendencies as sin, and forever that little voice in the back of your and turns them
head, even as an adult, is there. Where when you do something,
you’re like, “Oh. Sin is there.” And, “You should hate yourself.
You should hate yourself. You should hate yourself. You should
into self-abusing
hate yourself. This is a bad thing,” and it’s not, and it takes years.
It’s a constant thing where you’re currently going like, “That’s people, and I
not true. That’s a lie. That’s a total lie. These are projections.”
MW: Did you encounter any conversion therapy programs that
were not based on religion?
think that speaks
MORETZ: There’s a lot that are based just on therapy and are
non-denominational. Really, any form of conversion therapy that for itself.”
28 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
 “People who are heading these organizations and those
doing the therapy aren’t inherently malicious sadists.
They’re people who think that they’re
doing the right thing, and they’re
misguided, and they’re miseducated.”
family that’s right for you. It’s
horrible, and it hurts, but you
can find people one day who
will support you, and they
will be your family, and you’ll
be seen as normal and an
equal, completely equal, and
that I think is very important
to show on screen. And the
beauty, and the intricacies,
and the weird comedy that
comes with meeting other gay
kids for the very first time
like yourself and realizing
that you’re not alone. And
also the depiction in the film
that people who are head-
ing these organizations and
those doing the therapy aren’t
inherently malicious sadists.
They’re people who think
that they’re doing the right
thing, and they’re misguided,
and they’re miseducated.
MW: On a lighter note, this
movie is very, very ‘90s. Had
you ever played a cassette
before?
MORETZ: Yes. My oldest brother is 15 years older than me, so I story that we’ve heard before, or is it a new perspective that we
was lucky to grow up with all the ‘90s things, which my friends need to hear? Stories that mean something. So even if they are
who are my age that don’t have older siblings did not, so I feel comedies, still let them be impactful and societally important, as
like I definitely am a little bit cooler than my friends in that was Neighbors.
sense. [Any] movie I pulled out of when I did my break in my career,
MW: You chose Miseducation after taking a break to reset your it was not Neighbors. Neighbors was already released and I had
career. What path would you like your career to follow from here? done the press tour on that. It was the movies that I was attached
MORETZ: Well, I really only want to be releasing content and to that I was potentially going to be doing that weren’t right for
making movies that I think are pertinent, that I feel are not only me, but it wasn’t because of just the content. It was the obstacles
impactful to myself, but in some ways societally impactful. and these hurdles that I was trying to overcome from the stu-
MW: Does following that purpose exclude doing big studio come- dios, and the conversations I was having with people that were
dies like, say, Neighbors 2? trying to tell me how young women should be depicted when I
MORETZ: I haven’t said that. I think Neighbors 2 was a very am a young woman. That was my issue. It was the issue of work-
progressive movie. It was a movie that for the first time showed ing with people that I don’t think had the best interest of the
women being able to be silly, and dumb, and make mistakes, future, when I think art is the most important form of activism
and we get wasted too, and we are teenagers as well, so I think that you can be releasing. l
that goes in line with who I am. I don’t think it’s exactly that I
can’t do studio films, or I won’t do. It’s not even that. It’s just The Miseducation of Cameron Post is not rated. It opens August
FILM RISE

listening to my heart and making decisions based on where I am, 10 at Landmark’s E Street Cinemas and Bethesda Row Cinemas.
and who the filmmakers are, and who’s telling the story. Is it a Visit landmarktheatres.com.

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 29

 Gallery
Mike Hipple
A
FTER A FEW YEARS OF SOLELY FOCUSING ON THE
baby he adopted with his husband, photographer Mike
Hipple was ready to pick up his camera again. He was
also feeling nostalgic about the music and musicians from his
formative years. Where are they now?
As it turned out, a fair number lived around him in the Pacific
Northwest, and they were happy to reveal what they’re up to
and how they look, as can be seen in 80s Redux: Your Favorite
Musicians Today. Recently published by Schiffer Books, 80s
For more information, visit hipphoto.com. Available at Amazon.com
Clockwise from top left: Robyn Hitchcock,
Cindy Wilson (B-52’s), Carol Decker (T’Pau),
Dave Wakeling (The English Beat)
and Martha Davis (The Motels)
Redux features more than 40 artists, mostly of the influential and
independent variety in the realms of alternative, punk, and early
electronica, including Lol Tolhurst of The Cure, Cindy Wilson of
The B-52’s, Alice Bag, Midge Ure, Nu Shooz, Book of Love, and
T’Pau. While some are still making music and touring, others
long ago left music and performing behind, as Hipple documents
in short profiles accompanying his often stunning, sharp, evoca-
tive portraits. A perfect nostalgic treat for any serious ’80s music
fan. —Doug Rule
AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 31
FILM RISE
Movies

compliant, and back again. It’s a believable

journey, one that feels like it has been

God Complex
trodden by countless conversion therapy
survivors before her.
While the realities of life at God’s
Promise become quickly apparent, don’t
Miseducation of Cameron Post is a timely film about conversion expect to see teens shoved into ice baths
or given electroshock therapy — there’s
therapy camps and the LGBTQ teens they impact By Rhuaridh Marr
no sensationalism here beyond a jarring

I
third act shift. Instead, the leaders of God’s
N THE GREAT CANON OF LGBTQ FILMS, IT’S SOMEWHAT SURPRISING Promise move in much more insidious
that more celluloid — both real and digital — hasn’t been committed to exploring ways. Leading this is Jennifer Ehle as Dr.
conversion therapy. Maurice put its titular character through hypnosis to cure Lydia March, who, we’re told, perfected
his homosexuality, Latter Days subjected its Mormon protagonist to torture in a bid her conversion techniques on her own
to expel his gay demons, and But I’m a Cheerleader sent its lesbian high schooler to a brother Rick (John Gallagher, Jr.), who
camp designed to stop kids having those pesky same-sex attractions. But in the grand she saved from his homosexuality.
scheme of things, few films have truly delved deep into an industry entirely constructed On their first meeting, Lydia is eager to
around the idea that being gay, transgender, or anything else on the LGBTQ spectrum tell Cameron that she should consider the
is not “normal.” leaders and disciples her family. It’s warm,
It’s particularly surprising given our current political dichotomy: our uber-religious friendly, and — not surprisingly — false, as
Vice President reportedly supports conversion therapy, yet more and more states Lydia quickly changes to deeply insidious.
are moving to protect LGBTQ youth by banning the practice. Enter, then, Desiree Cameron offers that Lydia call her “Cam,”
Akhavan’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post (HHHHH), which throws itself headfirst to which Lydia snaps back that her mascu-
into the world of religious-fuelled conversion camps, here set in the woodsy enclave of line name is bad enough, and shortening it
God’s Promise treatment center. will only further Cameron’s “gender con-
Based on Emily M. Danforth’s novel, Miseducation wastes no time in establishing fusion.” Ehle’s performance is what drives
its narrative — Cameron, our miseducated protagonist, is caught making out with her the believability of Lydia as someone so
friend Coley in the backseat of her boyfriend’s car at her 1993 high school homecom- certain of both her faith and her methods
ing dance, and is promptly sent to God’s Promise by her religious aunt. As Cameron, that, despite accurately being described
Chloë Grace Moretz is the quiet heart of Akhavan’s film, playing her with a mix of both by one of the other campers as a Disney
youthful brooding and wide-eyed amazement and horror at the realities of her new villain, she also feels ripped straight out of
surroundings. Moretz is wholly convincing as a teen coming to terms with her sexu- a real conversion camp. Whether leading
ality, and yet suddenly being told that what feels natural to her is against God’s plan. group sessions, admonishing Cameron, or
It’s a commanding lead performance, as Cameron transitions from defiant to almost standing on a boy’s back until he regains

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 33

 control of his emotions, Ehle is one of the film’s standouts in a
cast of relatively unknown names, and her scenes with Moretz
are among the film’s strongest.
That’s not to say that the rest of the group are lacking —
far from it. Shot on a tiny budget, Akhavan has gathered an
impeccable array of actors to portray the dozen or so people at
God’s Promise. Gallagher’s turn as Reverend Rick sizzles with
the undercurrent of suppression — unsurprisingly, his straight
identity is not all that it seems. Emily Skeggs delivers a strong
supporting role as Erin, Cameron’s do-gooder roommate desper-
ately trying get over her attraction to women. And Sasha Lane
and Forrest Goodluck shine as Jane Fonda and Adam Red Eagle,
Cameron’s friends at God’s Promise. Whether dispensing advice
on how to survive, allowing her to smoke their homegrown
“ditch weed,” or reflecting the listlessness and anger of the
youths locked up in such camps, their chemistry with Moretz
anchors the core of the film.
Akhavan, a triple threat who wrote, directed and starred
in her delightful first film Appropriate Behavior, maintains a
strong grasp of things behind the camera. Whether wider group
shots or tight close-ups of an emotional Moretz, she keeps
Miseducation moving through its 90-minute runtime. If there’s
any fault to be found, it’s in her script, co-written with Cecilia
Frugiuele. While witty and well-paced, Miseducation is also a
light film — almost surprisingly so, given its subject matter. It
skims along the surface of conversion therapy and the emotional
abuse the youths endure. Its tone can also be jarring, amusing
one minute, emotionally revealing the next — the aforemen-
tioned shift in the film’s third act comes out of nowhere, and
lacks the necessary room to breathe before everything is neatly
wrapped up for the conclusion.
Still, that doesn’t detract from the fact that Miseducation is
not only a timely film, and a necessary one, but also a good film.
From its subject matter to its goofy ’90s references to its strong
performances from every member of the cast, Akhavan has cre-
ated not only a conversation starter for those unaware of places
like God’s Promise, but also a notable entry in an LGBTQ canon
crying out for more films like it. l

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is playing at Landmark’s E Street and Bethesda Row cinemas.
For tickets visit landmarktheatres.com.

than a hint of the monster. The full visu-

al feast is fairly unspectacular, though,
except for one fantastic shot of the beast
breaching the water, up and onto a ship.
Leading the charge into the hereto-
COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES

fore unknown depths after the prehis-

toric predator is deep-sea rescue expert,
Jonas Taylor, played by the taut and
toothy Statham. Haunted by a rescue gone
wrong, Taylor is the only guy for the job
when a mini-sub of scientists is lost at the
bottom of the Mariana Trench. Of course,
being haunted, he doesn’t want to go. But,
Jonas, he’s told, one of those scientists

Shark Weak
down there is your ex-wife. Down he goes.
Why don’t these pictures — like The
Rock’s recent Skyscraper, which also
revolved around a rescue expert who’s
The Meg might not know it’s a bad summer movie, but audiences will haunted by a rescue gone wrong, and
get the picture. By André Hereford called in to save loved ones in distress

J
— just skip the “I don’t _____ anymore”
ASON STATHAM IN A GREAT WHITE TOWEL COUNTS AS ONE OF THE setup? It might be exciting to simply dive
few thrills in the end-of-summer CGI sharkfest The Meg (HHHHH). Most of the into the fray with one of these dynamic
rest of the movie, directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure), looks, sounds, problem-solvers and pick up the remain-
and moves like it was patched together over an extended length of time by several ing plot points as the action moves along.
committees full of translators. In The Meg, Taylor is a problem-solv-
Scripts for a film adaptation of Steve Alten’s 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror er surrounded by inept numbskulls, save
have been flopping between studios since before the smart-shark hit Deep Blue Sea for the extremely capable scientist-scu-
rose up in 1999 and stole Meg’s thunder. Since then, the project has passed through ba diver-submarine pilot-smirk machine
the hands of many filmmakers, including Eli Roth and Guillermo Del Toro. Either one Suyin. Bingbing is credible as this marine
of those eccentric horror-meisters might have delivered a more ferocious thriller with expert who would willingly take a dip in
Meg’s reported $150-million budget. Turteltaub instead turns in something neither a polycarbonate shark cage to get a good
scary or suspenseful, and often funnier than it intends to be. shot at the giant shark, but her wooden
Set in one of those generic “research labs” populated by a checklist of international acting can’t save the film’s overreaching
sharkbait — including Chinese star Li Bingbing, queer Aussie star Ruby Rose, New dramatic moments. Although, it’s no fault
Zealand star Cliff Curtis, and Rainn Wilson — The Meg is far too short on riveting of the actress that one of her big emotional
set-pieces, and way too long on hollow emotional speechifying. Just get to the Boeing- scenes looks like it was shot at a mall pho-
sized, supposedly extinct megalodon munching on whoever really has it coming, please. tography studio. Seriously, where did all
The story takes several dives into the miles-deep abyss before Turteltaub reveals more that money go? l
The Meg is rated Pg-13, and opens in theaters everywhere August 10. Visit fandango.com.

34 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

MATTHEW MURPHY
Stage

the indelible performances of Whoopi

Celie’s Blues
Goldberg as Celie and Oprah Winfrey as
Sofia, the stout, iron-willed wife of Celie’s
son-in-law, Harpo. So much of the movie
belongs to Sofia, whose parallel journey
The Color Purple at the Kennedy Center offers a beautifully sung but of sweet survival helps pave the road for
static staging of a beloved story. By André Hereford Celie’s liberation.

T
It’s testament to the character, and to
IME HASN’T DIMMED THE BRILLIANCE OR URGENCY OF ALICE Winfrey’s performance, that the memora-
Walker’s The Color Purple. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel’s tale of Miss Celie ble scene of Sofia thrashing through a field
— raised to believe she will never amount to anything because she’s poor, black, towards Celie to chew her out for advising
a woman, and ugly — now feels as of-the-moment as it might have felt when the novel Harpo to beat her has, in the musical,
originally was published in 1982, or when Steven Spielberg gave the story a glossy film been spun into the powerful rebuke “Hell
treatment a few years later. No!” The number provides one of several
In the era of #MeToo and “Nevertheless, she persisted,” Celie’s voice, and the voices opportunities for this production’s Sofia,
of those women beside her, should be heard among the chorus — after all, they helped Carrie Compere, to wrest the entire show
give birth to that chorus. That legacy resonates throughout the musical The Color in her grasp with her galvanizing perfor-
Purple (HHHHH), which streamlines Celie’s early 20th-century saga of triumph over mance. Her hip-shaking Sofia is a warm,
misogyny and abuse into a set of rousing songs with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, radiant light that nevertheless persists,
Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. despite suffering the brutal blows of rac-
Streamlined though the story may be, director John Doyle’s production at the ism and incarceration. Compere’s turn
Kennedy Center, a touring version of his Tony-winning 2015 revival, still feels slack in makes it easy to see how being in the midst
tempo. Occasionally it’s the musical arrangements, but more often it’s the staging that of this full-bodied force of nature might
ticks along mechanically, as actors hit poses and formations that don’t flow with a grace inspire Celie to figure out a way to stand
to match the singing. up for herself.
The libretto, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Marsha Norman (’night, Mother), loses much As Celie, Adrianna Hicks starts out
of the epistolary storytelling of both the novel and 1985 film, and consequently down- perhaps too far along in the character’s arc
plays the vital role that literacy played in Walker’s drama about poor black folks in the from cowed to courageous, yet she does
Jim Crow South. But Norman’s script still hits the highlights that have endured in the capture the woman’s awakening to a sense
hearts of millions, leaving Celie, Nettie, Sofia, Shug, Harpo, and even Mister plenty to of her own power. Celie’s second-act
sing about over the show’s eventful four-decade span. growth is conveyed best in song via Hicks’
Many of those highlights are inextricably linked to Spielberg’s movie, and to sass and the band’s swing during “Miss

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 35


MATTHEW MURPHY
Celie’s Pants.”
The cast gets to deliver one great song after the other, includ-
ing “Too Beautiful for Words,” a Stevie Wonder-style ode to
Celie’s charms, sung by Carla R. Stewart as Shug Avery. The
worldly chanteuse Shug shows Celie how to love herself, body
and soul. However, while Norman’s script plays out the women’s
companionship as more than mere sisterhood, Stewart’s and
Hicks’ rapport only faintly generates the electricity of romance.
The Color Purple runs to August 26, at Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets are $79 to $149.
Call 202-467-4600, or visit Kennedy-Center.org.
36 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
But that pair registers a more compel-
ling bond than the weak connection between
Hicks and N’Jamah Camara as Celie’s sister,
Nettie. The sisters’ separation and hoped-for
reunion drives a great deal of the action and
should trigger a depth of emotion that just
isn’t stirred by Camara’s nicely sung Nettie.
The men in the story, including Gavin Gregory
as Celie’s brow-beating husband Mister, like-
wise recede in this rendering, although C.E.
Smith makes a solid impression in his brief
turn as Celie’s crank of a father-in-law, Ol’
Mister.
Shug drives more of the action here, and,
attired in Ann Hould-Ward’s vibrant cos-
tumes, Stewart ensures that she stands out
as a woman unlike any other. The wardrobe
helps sell Shug’s sexy, Celie’s evolution, and
every step of the period, from 1909 to 1949,
with a smart, subtle touch. On the other hand,
John Doyle’s sets — tall sheets of plywood,
stacked with stiff-backed chairs — don’t add much vibrancy to
the sluggish staging. As Celie might say, “Thank god, I’m here.”
It’s the cherished characters and the heartrending story, as
potent now as 30 years ago, that make this theatrical trip back
in time worthwhile — along with a sheaf of gospel, blues, and
jazz-infused tunes that give moving expression to Walker’s
sweeping epic. l
NightLife
Photography by
Ward Morrison

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 37


DrinksDragDJsEtc...
Thursday,
August 9
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports • Expanded
craft beer selection •
Music videos featuring
DJ Wess
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
38 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
Scene
Cobalt - Saturday, August 28
Photography by Ward Morrison
See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene
SHAW’S TAVERN Friday, (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, TRADE
Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 $15 • Weekend Kickoff Doors open 5pm • Huge
Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, August 10 Dance Party, with Nellie’s Happy Hour: Any drink
$5 House Wines, $5 Rail DJs spinning bubbly pop normally served in a cock-
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Beat the Clock Happy Hour
Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas 9 1/2 music all night tail glass served in a huge
— $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
and Select Appetizers • All
You Can Eat Ribs, 5-10pm,
Open at 5pm • Happy
Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, NUMBER NINE
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
$4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets
$24.95 • $4 Corona and 5-9pm • Friday Night Open 5pm • Happy Hour: only $4 • Otter Happy
of Beer all night • Sports
Heineken all night Videos, 9:30pm • Rotating 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm Hour, 5-11pm
Leagues Night
DJs • Expanded craft beer • No Cover • Friday Night
TRADE selection • No Cover Piano with Chris, 7:30pm ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
NUMBER NINE
Doors open 5pm • Huge Men of Secrets, 9pm •
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
Happy Hour: Any drink FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR PITCHERS Guest dancers • Rotating
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
normally served in a cock- Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • 2317 18th St. NW DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva
tail glass served in a huge Karaoke, 9pm Open 5pm-3am • Happy Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors
PITCHERS
glass for the same price, Hour: $2 off everything at 9pm, Shows at 11:30pm
2317 18th St. NW
5-10pm • Beer and wine GREEN LANTERN until 9pm • Video Games and 1:45am • DJ Don T. in
Open 5pm-2am • Happy
only $4 Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 • Foosball • Live televised Ziegfeld’s • Cover 21+
Hour: $2 off everything
Rail and Domestic • Free sports • Full dining menu
until 9pm • Video Games
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Pizza, 7-9pm • $5 Svedka, till 9pm • Special Late
• Foosball • Live televised
All male, nude dancers • all flavors all night long Night menu till 2am • Visit
sports • Full dining menu
till 9pm • Special Late
Open Dancers Audition •
Urban House Music by DJ
• HybridgeNine presents
Stripped: A Harness and
pitchersbardc.com
Saturday,
Night menu till 11pm •
Visit pitchersbardc.com
Tim-e • 9pm • Cover 21+ Jock Party, 10pm-close • SHAW’S TAVERN August 11
No Cover Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, 9 1/2
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
Open 3pm • Beat the Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut
Clock Happy Hour — $2 and Select Appetizers and $5 Bulleit Bourbon,
(5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 9pm-close • Expanded
 ANGIE CHAMBERLAND
Lemz and Orr

NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS
U-SLEAZE
Over a year ago Steve “Lemz” Lemmerman launched what has become
a popular first-Thursday party on the cozy dance floor at Wonderland
Ballroom in Columbia Heights. Lemz now offers U-Sleaze, headlined by
Bouffant Bouffant and Mark Louque of the New Orleans DJ collective
known as Trax Only. Lemz and Keenan Orr will set the mood as opening
DJs with an eclectic musical mix focused on dark disco throwbacks and
craft beer selection • Beer and Mimosas, $4,
No Cover 11am-3am • Buckets of
disco-inspired dance tracks. Jane Saw will do her usual Sleaze duty as
Beer, $15 • Guest DJs show host. Saturday, Aug. 11, at 10 p.m. U Street Music Hall, 1115A U
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR St. NW. Tickets are $5, or $10 after midnight. Call 202-588-1880 or visit
Saturday Breakfast Buffet, NUMBER NINE
10am-3pm • $14.99 with Doors open 2pm • Happy ustreetmusichall.com.
one glass of champagne Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink,
or coffee, soda or juice • 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5
Additional champagne $2 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS: DC RAWHIDES
per glass • World Tavern • Pop Tarts, featuring DJs This Saturday, Aug. 11, Southwest’s large, two-story LGBTQ entertain-
Poker Tournament, 1-3pm BacK2bACk, 9:30pm ment complex swings open its doors two hours early for a different kind
• Crazy Hour, 4-8pm •
Freddie’s Follies Drag PITCHERS of dancer than its late-night stock in trade upstairs. Starting at 7 p.m. on
Show, hosted by Miss 2317 18th St. NW the Ziegfeld’s level, any and all are welcome for an hour-long session of
Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm Open Noon-3am • Video lessons in two-step, west coast swing, and line dancing, including the
• Karaoke, 10pm-close Games • Foosball • Live
televised sports • Full intermediate style known as “Soaking Wet.” The evening continues with
GREEN LANTERN dining menu till 9pm • open dancing to DC Rawhides DJ Chris Allen until 10:50 p.m., an hour
Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5 Special Late Night menu
Bacardi, all flavors, all till 2am • Visit pitchers-
before Ella and her Ladies take to their regular perch accompanied by DJ
night long bardc.com Don T. Upstairs, meanwhile, you’ll find the usual fine assortment of nude
go-go dancers, featuring music by DJ tim-e. At 1824 Half St. SW. Cover
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Drag Brunch, hosted SHAW’S TAVERN is $5 until 9 p.m.; $10 after. Visit ziegfelds.com.
by Chanel Devereaux, Brunch with $15
10:30am-12:30pm and Bottomless Mimosas,
1-3pm • Tickets on sale 10am-3pm • Happy Hour,
JR.’S: MADONNA - A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE
at nelliessportsbar.com 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, Perhaps you’ve heard that a certain gay-popular diva is turning the big
• House Rail Drinks, Zing $4 Blue Moon, $5 House 6-0 next week. JR.’s is jumping the gun two days ahead of the actual
Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie
birthday, presenting an all-Madonna video and music extravaganza led by
veteran DJ Jason Royce. The tribute, featuring $5 Skyy Cocktails and $4
Miller Lite bottles, comes as part of Royce’s Flashback retro-pop/disco
party, which was originally launched at Cobalt way back in the day, when
Madonna was just entering her midlife motherhood era. Tuesday, Aug.
14 at JR.’s, 1519 17th St. NW. Call 202-328-0090 or visit facebook.com/
JRsBarDC.

THE BIG BOARD

LGBTQ residents of the H Street Corridor — and their admirers all around
— flock to this neighborhood watering hole on a bi-monthly basis, when
they turn it gay, at least for the night, every other hump day. A first and
third Wednesdays affair, the next round features Natasha Sebastiani and
Taste, with music by Alex DB, and drinks including $2 specialty shots and
$5 draft and rail offerings until 11 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15, starting at 9
p.m. The Big Board, 421 H St. NE. No cover. Call 202-543-3630 or visit
thebigboarddc.com. l

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 39

Wines, $5 Rail Drinks •
Half-Priced Pizzas and
Select Appetizers
TRADE
Doors open 2pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
2-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm-4am
• Guest dancers • Ladies
of Illusion Drag Show
with host Ella Fitzgerald
• Doors at 9pm, Shows
at 11:30pm and 1:45am
• DJ Don T. in Ziegfeld’s
• DJ Steve Henderson in
Secrets • Cover 21+
40 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
Sunday, NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Drag Brunch, hosted
August 12 by Chanel Devereaux,
10:30am-12:30pm and
9 1/2 1-3pm • Tickets on sale
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any at nelliessportsbar.com
drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut • House Rail Drinks, Zing
and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie
9pm-close • Multiple TVs Beer and Mimosas, $4,
showing movies, shows, 11am-1am • Buckets of
sports • Expanded craft Beer, $15 • Guest DJs
beer selection • No Cover
NUMBER NINE
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on
Champagne Brunch Buffet, any drink, 2-9pm • $5
10am-3pm • $24.99 with Absolut and $5 Bulleit
four glasses of champagne Bourbon, 9pm-close • Pop
or mimosas, 1 Bloody Goes the World with Wes
Mary, or coffee, soda or Della Volla at 9:30pm •
juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm No Cover
• Karaoke, 9pm-close
PITCHERS
GREEN LANTERN 2317 18th St. NW
Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Open Noon-2am • $4
Karaoke with Kevin down- Smirnoff, includes flavored,
stairs, 9:30pm-close $4 Coors Light or $4 Miller
Lites, 2-9pm • Video
Games • Foosball • Live
televised sports • Full din-
ing menu till 9pm • Visit
pitchersbardc.com
SHAW’S TAVERN
Brunch with 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
• Dinner-n-Drag, with
Miss Kristina Kelly, 7pm
• For reservations, email
shawsdinnerdragshow@
gmail.com
TRADE
Doors open 2pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
2-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
Monday,
August 13
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports • Expanded
craft beer selection •
No Cover
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm •
Singles Night • Half-Priced
Pasta Dishes • Poker Night
— 7pm and 9pm games •
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 Ping-
Pong Tables
NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
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 •
Shaw ’Nuff Trivia, with
Jeremy, 7:30pm
AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 41
 TRADE
Doors open 5pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
Tuesday,
August 14
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports • Expanded
craft beer selection •
No Cover
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Taco
Tuesday • Poker Night —
7pm and 9pm games •
Karaoke, 9pm
42 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm
• $3 rail cocktails and
domestic beers all night
long
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Beat the Clock Happy Hour
— $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
$4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of
Beer $15 • Drag Bingo
with Sasha Adams and
Brooklyn Heights, 7-9pm •
Karaoke, 9pm-close
NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
PITCHERS
2317 18th St. NW
Open 5pm-12am • Happy
Hour: $2 off everything
until 9pm • Video Games
• Foosball • Live televised
sports • Full dining menu
till 9pm • Special Late
Night menu till 11pm •
Visit pitchersbardc.com
SHAW’S TAVERN
Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
$5 House Wines, $5 Rail
Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
and Select Appetizers •
Half-Priced Burgers and
Pizzas all night with $5
House Wines and $5 Sam
Adams
TRADE
Doors open 5pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
Wednesday, NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
SmartAss Trivia Night,
SHAW’S TAVERN
Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
August 15 8-10pm • Prizes include Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
bar tabs and tickets to $5 House Wines, $5 Rail
9 1/2 shows at the 9:30 Club • Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any $15 Buckets of Beer for and Select Appetizers •
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple SmartAss Teams only • Piano Bar and Karaoke
TVs showing movies, Absolutely Snatched Drag with Jill, 8pm
shows, sports • Expanded Show, hosted by Brooklyn
craft beer selection • Heights, 9pm • Tickets TRADE
No Cover available at nelliessports- Doors open 5pm • Huge
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
bar.com Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • $6 NUMBER NINE tail glass served in a huge
Burgers • Beach Blanket Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any glass for the same price,
Drag Bingo Night, hosted drink, 5-9pm • No Cover 5-10pm • Beer and wine
by Ms. Regina Jozet only $4 l
Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes PITCHERS
• Karaoke, 10pm-1am 2317 18th St. NW
Doors open, 5pm-12am
GREEN LANTERN • Happy Hour: $2 off
Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm • everything until 9pm •
Bear Yoga with Greg Leo, Video Games • Foosball
6:30-7:30pm • $10 per • Live televised sports •
class • $3 rail cocktails Full dining menu till 9pm
and domestic beers all • Special Late Night menu
night long till 11pm • Visit pitchers-
bardc.com
 Scene
Trade - Friday, August 27
Photography by Ward Morrison
See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

44 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 45
 LastWord.
People say the queerest things

“LGBTQ young people should never

have to face rejection
from those who love them.
”
— Former Vice President JOE BIDEN, announcing on Twitter the launch of the Biden Foundation’s “As You Are” initiative, which
aims to support young LGBTQ people and help them feel more accepted by their families and peers. “We’ll use our resources to
highlight the harms of family rejection,” Biden said in a statement, “and lift up research, best practices,
and personal stories to powerfully show the significant value of family acceptance.”

“The transgender community deserves

to be treated with fairness and respect
in all aspects of life, including travel.
”
— U.S. Rep. KATHLEEN RICE (D-NY), in a statement announcing the introduction of the Screening with Dignity Act, which aims to
improve the airport screening process for transgender people. The bill would push the TSA to develop “procedures to
appropriately and respectfully screen self-identified transgender passengers.” Current TSA technology, which identifies
passengers by “male” or “female,” can identify trans people as “anomalies.”

“My expected contribution is now $0.

With these new adjustments, I will be able to attend Georgetown University this fall.
”
— SETH OWEN, a gay Florida teen who went viral last week after his teacher raised over $140,000 for his Georgetown tuition, in a
statement. Owen was rejected by his religious parents, leaving him with a $20,000 shortfall. However, in the wake of the
incredibly successful fundraiser, the university reduced his tuition contribution to zero dollars. Owen now plans to use the funds
raised to start a scholarship to help with the fees of other ostracized LGBTQ teens.

“As a community,
trans people are fighting everyday
to be seen and accepted as human beings.
”
— An open letter by transgender rights groups, printed in Variety, arguing for better trans representation in TV and film.
The letter, which has the support of over 40 production companies, argues that storytelling in Hollywood is at a tipping point
and “it is time for transgender people to be included in that conversation.”

“We believe that

representation is power.”
— Victory Institute political director SEAN MELOY, speaking to Reuters after a study by the LGBTQ organization revealed
a record number of LGBTQ candidates standing for office in 2018. “When someone is in the room and helping to make decisions,
they will automatically bring an LGBTQ perspective,” Meloy added.

46 AUGUST 9, 2018 • METROWEEKLY