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It’s a Wonderful Knife. Kennedy’s debut effort, 2020’s Freaky, a robustly entertaining riff on body swap films, co-written with Christopher Landon, was met with both critical and audience acclaim.

the signature dessert of the annual holiday season, and its appeal far surpasses the patented spice blend that sweetens the dish.And if you think the dessert is boring or bland, you obviously haven’t had the Whisked! By Jenna version. The Maryland-based bakery was founded by Jenna Huntsberger a dozen years ago to serve a need for high-quality gourmet pies far greater than the sum of their all-organic parts, featuring all “real and simple ingredients.”Several years ago, Whisked! became the exclusive purveyor of “Slice of Life,” the popular annual pie sale that serves as an annual fundraiser for Food & Friends, which dubs the event “the sweetest and easiest way to give back this holiday season.”Proceeds of each pie purchased through the event, now in its 18th year, provide a full day’s worth of freshly prepared, home-delivered, and medically tailored meals, provided free of charge, to a client of the organization.Food & Friends serves more than 1.9 million meals annually to approximately 5,000 area residents who find themselves struggling with long-term and life-challenging illnesses, from HIV/AIDS to cancer and diabetes.“Slice of Life is a joyful tradition and a great way for the entire community to get involved,” says Carrie Stoltzfus, the organization’s executive director, in a press release.

Fat Ham, James Ijames relocates Shakespeare’s Hamlet from the kingdom of Denmark to a modern-day backyard in “North Carolina, or Virginia, or Maryland, or Tennessee.”The playwright infuses the tale with the culturally specific atmosphere of Black Americana — pork on the grill, brown liquor flowing, and Frankie Beverly singing “Before I Let Go” as a grown and sexy couple grooves to the music. But instead of a pondering prince, we have melancholy only-son Juicy (Marquis D.

Romeo and Juliet.The co-production with the Glimmerglass Festival is filled with cavorting Capulet partiers as fun as Madonna’s Celebration Tour dancers and an energized cast with fabulous voices. It is impending doom delivered with entertainment and style.In his debut as an opera director, Simon Godwin — normally seen leading the Shakespeare Theatre Company — brings a naturalness to the performances, which feel almost as if the singers are playing themselves.It’s a warmth that infuses the story, keeping it present and alive.

remove from school library shelves any books with what they consider “inappropriate content,” including those that feature diverse characters or touch on issues of race, identity, gender, or sexuality.They have also sought to punish or terminate teachers who do not acquiesce to their political agenda. Some have even gone so far as to file police reports against school district librarians, alleging that by allowing students to check out certain books, they are peddling “pornography.”Campaigning on the issue of “parental rights,” the group had endorsed dozens of candidates in school board races in 11 different states, intending to oppose what its members see as an infringement on how they are choosing to raise their children and discourage school boards from adopting “woke” concepts or policies.Unfortunately for Moms for Liberty, Tuesday was not nearly as successful as they had hoped.In Virginia, MFL endorsed six candidates for office — four in the exurbs of Loudoun County, one in Prince William County, and one in Southwest Virginia’s Montgomery County.

dubia, or questions regarding Catholic Church doctrine, submitted by Brazilian Bishop Jose Negri of Santo Amaro, inquiring about LGBTQ people and their participation in holy sacraments.The church’s Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith said that transgender people may be baptized, under certain conditions, and as long as there is “no risk of causing a public scandal or disorientation among the faithful.”The doctrinal office also said that “transsexuals,” as it refers to transgender people, could serve as godparents at a baptism at the discretion of a local priest, or as witnesses at a Church wedding — noting that there is no prohibition in current canonical legislation — but warned that diocesan priests should exercise “pastoral prudence” in allowing this participation.The answers to the dubia were signed by the department’s head, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, and approved by Pope Francis on Oct. 31, according to Reuters.

Oklahoma!But soon after, the school’s principal called Hightower’s father to inform him of a new district policy.“He said we’re instituting a new policy where only males can play males, and only females can play females,” Phillip Hightower told Dallas-Fort Worth NBC affiliate KXAS-TV.The elder Hightower was “devastated” by the decision, noting that Max has never been treated differently because of his gender identity — until now.Aside from being absurd — cross-gender casting has been a reality in the theater world dating back centuries — the school district’s purported policy will likely prove logistically difficult if it tries to avoid cross-gender casting, in part because there’s frequently a dearth of males in high school production casting pools.Illustrating that point, the sudden policy change also reportedly cost several other cast members their roles, according to the New York Post.Max Hightower’s adult sister, Gracie, recounted the events involving her brother, writing that some female students cast as “cowboys” were told they could not participate in the play due to the school district’s decision to intervene in casting.“Many opportunities were ripped away from kids not for bad grades, not for bad behavior, not for attendance, but for something that has absolutely nothing to do with the production whatsoever,” she wrote.A group of parents, including Phillip Hightower, plan to appeal the decision to the school board. “I’m not an activist.

People are talking about Barbra Streisand again after the release of her memoir, My Name Is Barbra.The nearly 1,000-page book includes many stories of her time in the spotlight, including the movies, songs, TV shows and relationships that made her one of the most enduring stars of our time.Countless articles have been written about Streisand in the lead-up to the release of My Name Is Barbra, and many of them tout the fact that she ranks among the few EGOT winners — people who have earned one of each of the biggest honors in the four areas of the entertainment industry: an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. That’s certainly quite the accomplishment, but how did Streisand manage the feat? Everyone takes a different path to completing their EGOT, so let’s dive into how one of the first women to do so won all four prizes.EmmyWhile she was never known primarily for her work on TV, Streisand has nonetheless won plenty of Emmys to justify her star power in the medium.

Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who won the race for the state’s 30th Senate District in western Prince William County.With her victory, Roem became the first out transgender state senator in Virginia history, and only the second out transgender state senator in the nation, following Delaware’s Sarah McBride, who is now running for Congress. Roem won by 3 percentage points — the tightest margin of any winning Democratic Senate candidate — fighting back a barrage of last-minute money from Youngkin-aligned political action committees that flooded the district.She also faced attacks from her Republican opponent, Bill Woolf, who seized upon the issue of transgender student participation on female-designated sports teams — running transphobic ads that were temporarily pulled from airing on cable — in an attempt to cast Roem as out-of-step with Virginia voters.

video shared to Instagram by user @skymilezz on October 26 appears to show an officer in the passenger seat of a marked police car after a voice says “suck my d**k, f****t.”No one else is seen in the video, which is captioned, “What did he just say?!”A post shared by BikeLife (@skymilezz) The video went viral on social media, amassing more than 100,000 likes.It appears to show the police car stopped at a red light at East 106th Street near Lexington Avenue, in New York City’s East Harlem neighborhood. The NYPD now says it is conducting an “internal review” of the incident.“The Department does not tolerate discrimination in any form and is committed to respectful work environments for our diverse workforce,” an NYPD spokesperson said in a statement.

Reuters, no previous Gay Games had fewer than 8,000 participants.But the week prior to the event, only 2,381 athletes had registered to play in Hong Kong, and only 2,458 participants had registered for Guadalajara.The opening ceremonies of the Gay Games last Thursday drew criticism from local anti-LGBTQ conservative politicians, eight of whom backed a petition circulated by anti-LGBTQ groups demanding the Gay Games’ cancellation due to fears of spreading “Western ideology,” reports CNN.Junius Ho, a firebrand conservative lawmaker, suggested that the Gay Games violate provisions within the country’s new national security law that prohibit foreign powers from interfering in Hong Kong’s governance. This is based on the idea that support for homosexuality is a form of Western imperialism and is too closely connected with pro-freedom movements that have warred with China’s Communist-led government.Another lawmaker, Peter Shiu, accused the event of being overly politicized and a form of “advocacy” that was an attempt to impose Western values on Chinese society.Organizers of the Gay Games rebutted those claims, arguing that the event is a non-political celebration of inclusivity.“All our books have been checked by professional accountants, open and transparent,” Lisa Lam, the co-chair of Gay Games, said at a kickoff event last Thursday.

letter demanding that the NCAA ban transgender female athletes from competing in women’s sports.The letter’s signatories are Governors Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Mike Parson of Missouri, Greg Gianforte of Montana, Joe Lombardo of Nevada, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Greg Abbott of Texas, and Mark Gordon of Wyoming.All except Lombardo — who is saddled with a Democratic-led state legislature — represent states that have passed laws banning transgender participation on female-designated sports teams.The governors decry the NCAA’s current policy on transgender athletes, which allows the individual national governing body of each sport to determine criteria for eligibility.Some of those sporting bodies, including track and field and swimming, have barred transgender competitors from female events.Both bodies have also suggested holding a third “open” category in which transgender swimmers could compete at the elite or post-collegiate levels.“The NCAA has the chance to guarantee an environment where female college athletes can thrive without the concern of inequities,” the letter reads. “We trust that you also want to guarantee just such an environment.

Agence France-Presse.The video footage shared on local and social media shows people gathered around a large fire, filming the scene on their phones. Homosexuality and consensual same-sex relations, deemed “against nature” in the Muslim-majority country, are criminalized and carry a penalty of up to five years in prison.While homosexuality is largely not accepted in Senegalese society, the incident offended many because it was viewed as disrespecting the dead.

Fall Preview issue, opportunities abound this season to catch some of the world’s foremost flamenco dancers and musicians in and around D.C., including this month at GALA Hispanic Theatre’s 19th Fuego Flamenco Festival.Among the international artists on the festival bill — in addition to local favorites, the Flamenco Aparicio Dance Company — dancer-choreographer Rafael Ramírez, of Málaga, Spain, will make his GALA debut performing the solo work Lo Preciso.Accompanied in the show by singers Rosa Linero and Fabiola Santiago, guitarist Isaac Muñoz, and percussionist Alex Otero, Ramírez sparks a dialogue through movement exploring the quest for perfection — in art, work, or interpersonal relationships.“That is why in the show there are dance numbers that are more geared towards finding that artistic perfection,” Ramírez says over a Zoom call from Madrid. “But there are also numbers focusing on listening to each other, interacting with each other, and trying to find that connection.”Dramatically intense and imposing onstage, Ramírez comes off strikingly sweet and friendly discussing the show and sharing his expert opinion (via translation by GALA’s Dubraska Vale) on flamenco’s remarkable popularity with U.S.

kidnapped Israeli children gruesomely displayed by their captors as props, to read of nearly 500 Gaza children — as of this moment — killed by Israeli bombings, how can anyone look away?I have learned that the worst pain may be helplessness in the face of loved ones’ suffering. For the families of those abducted by Hamas terrorists, or who can’t escape Gaza, I cannot imagine the depths of your pain.Not an expert in Middle East geopolitics, nor a Jew, nor an Arab, nor Muslim, nor Israeli, my own thoughts on the conflict may be irrelevant in the extreme. Still, I’ve got to share them before I can move on to anything else.When I think of Israel, of course, I think of the Holocaust, which I learned about when I was about 5.Aunt Betsy was in from San Diego, visiting us in Springfield, Virginia.

Confederates renders a frank, witty, and delightfully twisted exploration of racial biases, be they unconscious or firmly resolved.The play, directed by Stori Ayers in a riveting new production at Mosaic, derives some suspense from the anticipation that its parallel plotlines might connect. But whether or not the individual stories of embattled college professor Sandra (Nikkole Salter) and enslaved rebel Sara (Deidre Staples) actually meet, their experiences as Black women, though separated by centuries, are still intertwined.Even Nadir Bey’s evocative set design suggests as much, combining Sandra’s office and Sara’s plantation cabin within the same space.

Top Gun set to a musical theater score. After that subsides, you might then wonder if this is too round a peg trying to fit into too square a hole.And yet to see Jeanine Tersori’s Grounded, a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, is to be dazzled by concept and execution alike.

runs Thursday through Saturday evenings through Nov. 18, at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, 545 7th St. SE. Tickets are $25 for general admission. Visit www.wehappyfewdc.org.

1989 is a watershed. It gave us some of her most enduringly popular tracks and marked a major stylistic pivot that began with Red, away from the world of country towards a noticeably more adventurous synth-pop sound.

Rustin, the long-awaited biopic directed by George C. Wolfe, and written by Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black, drives home the point that the arc of U.S.

CNN, Johnson, an attorney by trade, gave legal advice to Exodus International. The pro-conversion therapy organization was the leader in the “ex-gay” movement, which sought to change people’s orientations through a mix of aversion therapy, talk therapy, and religious-based counseling.Exodus eventually shut down in 2013, with its president, Alan Chambers posting a public apology for the “pain and hurt” the organization’s advocacy caused.Chambers would later go on an apology tour, appearing at LGBTQ and Pride events, including Capital Pride, and speaking with LGBTQ news outlets, including Metro Weekly, about what led him to change his stance on conversion therapy, which he had previously hailed as effective, citing his own marriage to a woman.He later came out in favor of bans on conversion therapy for minors.

privileged resolution had cited Santos’s indictment on 23 criminal charges.It also cited the recent guilty plea by Nancy Marks to charges of falsifying campaign finance reports. Marks was the former treasurer for Santos’s congressional campaign.It also cited Santos’s history of fabrications — many to which he has admitted publicly — regarding his professional and personal background, including his heritage, his educational and work history, and his “history of misrepresenting his and his family’s connections to major events, including the Holocaust, Sept.

resolution, introduced by U.S. Rep.

Zig that’s delivering perhaps the best dark pop out there. A Journey from Bullying to HomeschoolingPoppy’s path to stardom was not without its challenges. She faced bullying during her school years due to being perceived as skinny and quiet.

POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive.Politics ain’t for babies, especially at the highest level, so blowing off steam by cursing like a sailor just seems to be what gets an overtaxed, under-appreciated staffer through a tough day.And this day, as it careens ahead into one disaster after another, will be especially tough for staffers, the First Lady, and POTUS himself, who never actually appears onstage. But he gets the whole shitstorm started by referring to his wife as “cunty” — and not in a good way — during a meeting with foreign dignitaries.Managing potential fallout from the flub falls to the President’s harried Chief of Staff, Harriet (Naomi Jacobson); officious press secretary, Jean (Natalya Lynette Rathnam); and, begrudgingly, the First Lady, Margaret (Felicia Curry).A million other complications, from petty to Presidential, threaten to further derail the day: determined journalist and new mom, Chris (Yesenia Iglesias), hiding out in the West Wing; an unexpected visit from POTUS’ much-younger mistress, Dusty (Sarah-Anne Martinez); and a really unexpected visit from his ne’er-do-well lesbian sister, Bernadette (Kelly McAndrew).Meanwhile, the President’s secretary, Stephanie (Megan Hill), tries to control the increasing flow of traffic in and out of the Oval Office.

The Chameleon least expects it, the roof of their house caves in, and not just figuratively.Though, without question, the sudden ceiling collapse serves as a metaphor for the fragile, imperiled state of several family members and relationships inside the Golden-Kruger household in suburban Long Island.Gathered for a “Jewish Christmas” dinner of takeout Chinese, and celebrating a milestone job offer for prodigal daughter Riz (Dina Thomas), the family had already seen the mood marred by turbulent outside interruptions.But a hole in the roof is also an actual catastrophe for everyone in the house, another WTF, post-dinner disaster in a night filled with them, meant to be played for angst and laughs — the measure of which can be hard to read in director Ellie Heyman’s world-premiere production at Theater J.Despite the awkward live execution of the roof caving in on Andrew R.

Merrily We Roll Along. Sondheim acolytes are well versed in the show’s difficult past that dates back to the original 1981 Broadway production.Hal Prince, a longtime collaborator with Sondheim, mounted the show with a teenage cast who played the characters as both their younger and adult selves. It didn’t work.

Fellow Travelers unfolds volumes of engaging plot and story in its eight hour-long episodes. At the center of it all are Hawk and Tim, two well-matched yet wildly different men, who meet and become lovers in McCarthy-era Washington, D.C.Impeccably played by Matt Bomer and Bridgerton fave Jonathan Bailey, Hawk and Tim live an intense, forbidden love.

force a vote on expelling U.S. Rep.

“I think that the reason there is so much fervor against trans people, and specifically transgender youth right now is because the opposition is deliberately taking advantage of the public’s lack of familiarity with them,” says Rodrigo Heng-Lethinen, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, which is celebrating 20 years with a gala on Oct. 27. “Most Americans do not think they know someone who is transgender.

“It is understandable to look at the state of transgender rights today and feel dismayed — I get that,” says Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “But there are really incredible leaders who are fighting back.

For musical theater lovers intrigued by the idea of a lively 90-minute pastiche of rock, soul, and ballad paired with an interesting premise involving Shakespeare and social justice, Macbeth in Stride is the show for you. With an onstage band and performance at the heart of the production, this is all about clapping along, a goodly portion of expository — some of it sung — and participation as required.For those with a shorter attention span, fear not: there are whiffs of live-concert crowd-rousing, keening gospel gatherings, and even intimate evenings in a piano bar.The question is, other than being very entertaining, does Macbeth in Stride actually have something to say?Maybe, perhaps, sort of.The concept of writer-performer Whitney White is certainly compelling: it starts with a personable and inclusive invitation to consider with new eyes the way Shakespeare writes his female characters, Lady Macbeth in particular (called Woman here).White begins by asking, who was she really? Her answer arrives through the lens of a Black woman laying claim to their world and their power.This is an intriguing premise, but anyone who knows the play will be stumped by a threshold question: why choose a character who is murderously power-mad to the point of driving herself insane? Despite a fair amount of spoken and sung angst, the answer to the question never quite surfaces, and White’s attempts to fill in the gaps never convinces.More to the point, White’s Lady Macbeth presents as too smart, capable, and 21st-century-centered to see murder as her way to power.When even the three witches query her ruthlessness, it’s time to make the message clear, but it still never quite adds up.

murder of a transgender woman earlier this month.A’nee Roberson, 30, of Northwest D.C., was struck and killed by a vehicle around 4:20 a.m. on Saturday, October 14, near the intersection of U and 9th Streets NW — just steps from several prominent D.C.

The New York Times, Johnson, whom the newspaper called “the most important architect of the Electoral College objections,” crafted arguments alleging that certain states’ changes to voting procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic were unconstitutional. Therefore, he argued, the election results from those states should have been invalidated.On Tuesday night, after being nominated, a reporter tried to ask Johnson about his role in pushing to decertify the results of the 2020 election, only to be shouted down by members of the GOP caucus, who told the reporter to “shut up.”Johnson grinned slyly, shaking his head and refusing to answer.Politically, Johnson is a tried-and-true conservative, earning a lifetime rating of 92% from the American Conservative Union and 90% from Heritage Action.He has voted against a host of bipartisan bills, including a measure to establish a January 6 independent commission, and some of the Biden administration’s chief legislative accomplishments, including a national infrastructure funding bill, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act.Earlier this year, Johnson voted in favor of raising the debt limit, but voted against a bill to avoid a government shutdown in early October.He has previously indicated, in a letter to colleagues shared to social media by U.S.

an interview with GQas the league’s first nonbinary and transgender referee.A Los Angeles native who uses the pronoun “they,” Flores worked 35 games last season, and 12 games as a non-staff official during the 2021-2022 season.When Flores first became an NBA official, the league touted an announcement that two new women referees had been added to the mostly male referee corps — something Flores found alienating, knowing that, in private, they had begun to identify as transgender.“One piece I was missing for myself was that no one knew how I identified,” they said. “Being misgendered as she/her always just felt like a little jab in the gut.”But since coming out to some of their colleagues during a preseason meeting last month, Flores now feels more at ease and less constrained, even when it comes to little everyday choices like dressing in a manner that matches their gender identity.“When I started refereeing, you had to look a certain way,” Flores told GQ.

drug-induced robbery scheme that is alleged to have led to the deaths of two gay men in New York City last year has pleaded guilty to robbery, grand larceny, and identity theft charges, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.Eddie Ashley, 30, is alleged to have been part of a scheme that targeted at least 16 nightclub patrons from September 2021 to August 2022, resulting in the overdose-related deaths of 25-year-old social worker Julio Ramirez and 34-year-old John Umberger, a political consultant from Washington, D.C. Both Ramirez and Umberger were seen leaving gay bars with a group of other men, only to be found dead hours later.Part of the scheme involved the suspects drugging their victims with a substance that made them compliant and then using their incapacitated bodies and facial recognition technology to unlock their cell phones and access bank accounts to rob them.Ashley, who faced charges related to four separate incidents, including the drugging scheme, had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.On Monday, he changed his plea to guilty.Terrence Grifferty, Ashley’s attorney, confirmed his client’s guilty plea, telling NBC News that Ashley is expected to be sentenced to nine years in state prison on November 20.He is currently being held at Rikers Island jail, but declined to comment further on the case or answer whether his client had accepted a plea deal.Umberger’s mother, Linda Clary — who has been critical of how the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has handled the case — said she was grateful that Ashley was willing to admit his guilt in the robbery scheme, adding that he should face consequences for his actions.