This year Google did not mark the start of Pride month with some whimsical rainbow-colored send-up of its home page, per their usual. If you’ve checked out the National Park Service’s Stonewall page lately, you’ll see an ominously abbreviated nod to a far more ambiguous description of the seminal “LGB” moment in America. Alas, drive by the Kennedy Center after sunset during Pride and the iconic rainbow lights normally marking the month now remain red, white, and blue. What does all of this mean? It means this year in DC especially (as we are hosting WorldPride), celebrating our differences, embracing our diversity, and recognizing the urgent need to coexist as caring, compassionate, and loving human beings is more important than it’s ever been. The first two shows I have thus far been able to attend as part of the WorldPride festivities did just that: they shined a spotlight on the good in humanity even when it seems the (rainbow) lights have all but dimmed.
“Gender Play, or what you Will”
Presented by Theater Alliance and Shakespeare Theatre Company, “Gender Play, or what you Will” centers on one individual’s journey through their, at times, difficult but incredibly freeing gender transformation, as well as through the rather weighty if not all-too-relevant oeuvre of one William Shakespeare. Part dance party, part tarot reading, with a healthy dose of deeply insightful literary analysis, Will Wilhelm and Erin Murray’s production peels back the layers of what a canonical reading of Shakespeare might have you believe about the Bard’s work (and life) and compels you to look again. We are not at the mercy of an English professors-only purview (apologies to my fellow English profs), nor are we constrained by how literary history has told us Shakespeare should be interpreted. Rather, “Will”—actor and creator—wants us to read the immortal characters as outlines—outlines to be filled by our own lived experiences, our own emotions as turbulent as they may be at times, and our own conception of who a person genuinely is beyond the binary status quo. After all, do we really know who William Shakespeare was—beyond the status quo?
Emily Tarquin’s whimsical direction is a perfect counterpoint to Will Wilhelm’s seemingly boundless stage energy…
Emily Tarquin’s whimsical direction is a perfect counterpoint to Will Wilhelm’s seemingly boundless stage energy—though they do their best to deconstruct the notion of “stage” as we know it. Audience members are a vital part of “Gender Play’s” stage in a metaphorical move that makes fourth walls irrelevant and the idea of the actor all-consuming. Will inhabits characters like Lady Macbeth, Juliet, Helena, and Hamlet with a triumphant largeness and, at the same time, a reined-in vulnerability that speaks directly to their own gender journey. Shakespeare as an ambassador of Pride works—at least in the exceedingly capable and intuitive hands of Will Wilhelm. Throw in a tarot reading or two, a little audience cosplay, and an intermission-come-dance party, and this show is quintessentially Shakespeare as manifest in a delicious deconstruction perfect for our time right now. I was beyond blown away by the incredibly sophisticated puckishness of it all.
“Gender Play, or what you Will” ran May 29-Jun1, 2025 presented by Theater Alliance and Shakespeare Theatre Company at Theater Alliance’s World Pride Arts Hub. For more information on Theater Alliance and their WorldPride events, check out their WorldPride Hub.
Rock Creek Singers (Ensemble from GMCW) and The National LGBTQ+ Flute Choir
Part two of my weekend saw a gathering of musical groups at a DC institution, itself a barometer of the country’s art and literature, now also being tested on several fronts. The Cunningham Auditorium in the Library of Congress played host to the Rock Creek Singers (a smaller ensemble from the Gay Men’s Chorus of DC) along with the National LGBTQ+ Flute Choir—and one surprise performance.
Standing ovations were the norm, and a jubilant outpouring of support…
Emotions admittedly ran high. Tears flowed from choir members, conductors, composers, and audience members alike. The Rock Creek Singers offered favorites such as “True Colors” and the song that has become the GMCW’s anthem, “Make Them Hear You.” Standing ovations were the norm, and a jubilant outpouring of support was the mood of the afternoon. The National LGBTQ+ Flute Choir performed mostly original pieces composed and/or arranged by their members. Among the more memorable was “Somewhere Bluebirds Fly” by choir member Erin Spencer—beautifully haunting echoes of “Over the Rainbow” traceable in a piece that paid tribute to victims of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs in 2022. And once again, a tear-filled standing ovation was a given.
To round out the rainbow-fueled, love-anchored choral experience, GMCW Artistic Director and conductor Thea Kano introduced her NYC counterpart, John Atorino who, keeping the speeches to a minimum, made way for more song. The members of the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus suddenly stood from within the audience and began their own mini-set. I got chills as did, I’m sure, everyone in attendance. This, DC, is what WorldPride is all about.
For more information about The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW) and their WorldPride International Choral Festival events, please go online.
