Olney Outdoors’ First Show Is On Us: Rayshun Lamarr
Founded in 1938 as a summer playhouse and relaxing weekend getaway in what was then rural Montgomery County, the Olney Theatre Center recently unveiled a summer-long performing arts slate that nods to its roots while also reflecting the current zeitgeist.
The multi-genre “Olney Outdoors” presents a range of programming that, according to the theater’s Kevin McAllister, celebrates “bringing together both our likenesses and differences in a positive light,” performed as Washingtonians of all different backgrounds and experiences “sit under the stars and find joy in our commonalities together.”
To help encourage new guests to make the trek, Olney Theatre has implemented a new First Show Is On Us initiative in which those who have never been to the campus can get four free tickets to a paid event of their choice.
Grouped across eight categories, the lineup includes Friday night revues, part of the Andrew A. Isen Cabaret Series, each week featuring two stars of Washington’s theater scene sharing the open-air Root Family Stage. Upcoming pairings include Donna Migliaccio and Nova Y. Payton (8/6), Rayanne Gonzales and Rayshun Lamarr (8/13), Greg Maheu and Vishal Vaidya (8/20), and Malinda Kathleen Reese and Alan Wiggins (8/27). Saturday nights bring Jazz@Olney with performances by some of the area’s best jazz artists including Christie DaShiell (7/31), Elijah Jamal Balbed (8/7), Akua Allrich & The Tribe (8/14), Warren Wolf & WOLFPACK (8/21), and Mark G. Meadows & The Movement (8/28). Additional paid weekend shows that first-time attendees could attend for free include Theatre for Young Audiences performances as well as faith-centered “Sing Praise!” concerts.
On Wednesday nights in August, Olney will present free showcases, two apiece, of slam poets and drag performers. Sip ‘N’ Slam is set for the first two hump days of the month, with spoken-word artists Megan Rickman Blackwood, Black Root, Regie Cabico, and Carlynn Newhouse scheduled for Part One (8/4), and Vijai Nathan, Amin Drew Law, Charity Blackwell, and Analysis for Part Two (8/11). It’s followed by two hump nights with a glittery gaggle of drag queens storming the stage including Brooklyn Heights, Betty O’Hellno, Ariel Von Quinn, and Evon Michelle on August 18, and Kristina Kelly, Vagenesis, Tiara Missou, and Echinacea Monroe pulling on August 25.
The programming takes place in and around the outdoor Root Family Stage, with guests seated distanced on blankets or in chairs, or on raised bleachers offered at full capacity for fully vaccinated or more risk-tolerant guests. (In case of inclement weather, some performances will be moved indoors to the Mainstage with up to 200 patrons spread out at less than half-capacity.)
Olney Theatre Center is located at 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, in Olney, Md. Call 301-924-3400 or visit www.olneytheatre.org.
The founders of the legendary Miss Adams Morgan Pageant talk about how D.C.'s largest drag event has evolved over 37 years.
By John Riley Photographs from the 1998 to 2024 pageants courtesy of the Dupont Social Club
October 1, 2025
"The whole Miss Adams Morgan Pageant really started by accident," says Steven Brandt, a board member of the Dupont Social Club, which organizes the annual drag pageant, now a fixture on many D.C. residents' calendars.
Brandt recalls that he and his now-husband, Rick Boylan, were celebrating Halloween in drag with friends when, on their way to a piano bar, walking through Dupont Circle, they were accosted by a group of teenagers.
"It was raining," recalls Brandt. "They ripped my wig off and threw it in a puddle, spewing all kinds of hatefulness. After that, we decided we needed a place to be able to go in drag if we wanted. It was maybe only the first or second time we'd been in drag, but I was so enraged by the experience that I kept saying over and over, 'We've got to...This isn't right.'"
Back in May, just after our 31st anniversary, I asked readers which of four classic cover interviews from our early years they'd like to see in print again: Greg Louganis (March 9, 1995), Sir Ian McKellen (Jan. 25, 1996), Camille Paglia (Feb. 1, 1996), or Eartha Kitt (Nov. 14, 1996). None of these conversations exist online, and they haven't been seen since their original print dates.
Out of more than 200 responses, 8% chose Paglia, 27% picked Louganis, 29% went for McKellen, and an impressive 36% cast their vote for Kitt.
Kitt, who passed away in December 2008, seemed a fitting choice to revisit. A pop culture icon for her turn as the second Catwoman (following Julie Newmar) on the late-1960s, camp-classic TV series Batman, she was slated to appear at Washington's legendary jazz nightclub Blues Alley when we spoke.
Harvard University has drawn criticism from conservatives after announcing that Tufts professor Kareem Khubchandani -- who performs and occasionally lectures in drag as "LaWhore Vagistan" -- will serve as a visiting associate professor in its Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality department.
The visiting professorship was established through an endowment from members of the Harvard Gender & Sexuality Caucus, the university's LGBTQ alumni group. It was created to bring in scholars focused on issues related to sexual minorities and sexuality.
Khubchandani is scheduled to teach two courses during the 2025-2026 academic year: "Queer Ethnography," in the fall semester, and "RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire" in the spring semester, focusing on the cultural influence of the show RuPaul's Drag Race.
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