After the muted and makeshift celebrations of the past two years, Pride month is busting out all over in 2022. And one of D.C.’s newest LGBTQ-owned venues is working to establish itself as a hub of Pride-related activity.
Over the next couple of weeks, Crazy Aunt Helen’s will host a variety of shows offering a veritable smorgasbord of LGBTQ-identified drag performers, comedians, and nascent playwrights and local actors.
The latter comes courtesy of a new play reading series that launched last month from D.C.’s queer-focused Rainbow Theatre Project.
The series, featuring casts of assembled local actors giving rehearsed, dramatic readings of stage works in development, continues with a reading of Faux Flowers, Anthony Green’s tale, set in present-day D.C., of “trauma turned to murder during an Easter dinner,” presented with a brief post-reading discussion with the playwright and cast. (6/15, $15)
The next night comes a reading of Author’s Note by Nell Quinn-Gibney, a new play that, to quote the brief official description, focuses on “high school explorations of sex and sexuality through a classic educational source: badly written fanfiction.” (6/16, $15)
The following week offers a “Pride Comedy Show!” touted as “the first-ever All Queer Comedy Show,” hosted by “the premiere drag queen stand-up comedian” Frieda Poussay and her band of misfits, including “the Minnesota leader of the Dick train” Anja Dick, the award-winning female comedian Miss Chocolate, funny local LINOs (Ladies In Name Only) Ba’Naka and Dabatha Christie, and “the hardest-working D.C. king of comedy,” Gray West. (6/23, $15)
It’s followed by “Pride-A-Palooza,” a variety show with live music, comedy, and lip-synching featuring queens Anja Dick and Tula, resident queen Tara Hoot as host, plus the promise of “special guests, dinner, prizes, and more!” (6/25, $20)
Before becoming a household name to RuPaul's Drag Race fans during her season 6 run and impressive winning streak on All Stars 3, BenDeLaCrème was a fixture in the drag and burlesque scene in Chicago and Seattle.
Since reaching a national audience through Drag Race, DeLa has produced multiple critically-acclaimed touring shows and The Jinkx and Dela Holiday Special on Hulu.
BenDeLaCrème is… Ready to Be Committed marks DeLa’s largest tour to date, with shows across the U.S., Canada, and the UK. The evening finds the “terminally delightful” DeLa on a desperate hunt for the perfect wedding — all she needs is the perfect dress, the perfect venue, and, oh yeah, a man.
Years removed from her seven-year run as host of E!'s top-rated Chelsea Lately, during a time in which she was the only female host in TV's late-night talk show demimonde, Chelsea Handler is now a kinder, gentler comedian.
She's even added a new title to her resume, that of an advice columnist, through her work on the entertaining and informative iHeartRadio podcast Dear Chelsea.
Her latest stand-up show, the "Vaccinated and Horny Tour," builds on "Evolution" from three years prior, in which Handler covered her journey through therapy and deftly weaved in serious subject matter and concerns into her comedy base.
"Not enough queer stories have been told in mainstream media -- especially queer stories with happy endings, especially queer stories, in red states, with happy endings," says D.C.-based novelist Susie Dumond, explaining the core motivation behind her newly published debut novel.
Set in the "thriving" queer community of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Queerly Beloved focuses on a weddings-obsessed, semi-closeted baker/bartender and the challenges she faces as a result of falling in love with a charming female newcomer to town.
Tonight, June 14, at 7 p.m., Kramers presents "In Conversation with Susie Dumond," in which the author will read from and take questions about the book, which was hailed by Publishers Weekly as a "funny and moving debut rom-com seamless blend of serious issues, humor, and love."
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