Arts & Entertainment
Shifting ‘Shape’
World premier depdicts married Vaudevillians on tour
‘Shape’
force/collision
Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H Street, NE
$10-$25
202-399-7993, ext. 2
Dane Figueroa Edidi in ‘Shape,’ a force/collision production. If you want to see it, act fast — it closes Saturday. (Photo by C. Stanley Photography)
Young local company force/collision isn’t afraid to take on tough material.
Their last production was a site-specific project inspired by the Washington Navy Yard performed over a nippy spring weekend in outdoor fountains at a park on the Southwest Waterfront. Now, the ensemble is tackling very different-but-equally challenging work by experimental dramatist Erik Ehn titled “Shape” (currently nearing the end of a world premiere run at Atlas Performing Arts Center). In both cases, the productions have proved intriguing and visually compelling.
Roughly based on the lives African-American vaudevillians Billy and Cordelia McClain, “Shape” follows the married couple’s experiences over time as they move from place to place.
As the lights come up, the scene is set by Survivor (the excellent Dexter Hamlett), a narrator who’s big on lyricism but short on concrete detail (thank goodness for program notes). It’s turn-of-the-century Ambrose Park, Brooklyn where Billy (Frank Britton) and Cordelia (Dane Figuero Edidi) are headlining in “Black America,” a true life spectacle in which about 500 black entertainers glorified plantation life in the Old South.
After the Brooklyn show closes, the couple sojourns to Europe where they eschew their usual daily dose of minstrelsy for racier entertainments — Cordelia introduces a new sexy Jazz Age act while Billy finds adventure in the arms of myriad other women. The marriage crumbles and they return to the states where Billy is on hand for the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921, a hideous episode in American history that left thousands of black families homeless and scores dead.
Director John Moletress, who is gay, leads a talented design team in admirably presenting Ehn’s sometimes puzzling play.
Collin Ranney (also gay) transforms Atlas’ black box theater into an enchanted place. Above a lawn of excelsior hang tiny glowing fairy houses that rise and fall like the vaudevillians fortunes. In the center sits a stump; nearby there’s an old steamer trunk. At either end of the space are billowy sails, bookending a small world both redolent of the past, of suggestive voyage and escape.
Ariel J. Benjamin’s dramatic lighting and Derek V. Knoderer’s equally evocative soundscape add to the overall effect.
And while the production is visually appealing, and boasts inventive staging (random chairs and a few actors magically morph into a railroad passenger car) and a strong cast, its lack of linear narrative can be frustrating at times, especially since Ehn is tying historical facts to larger themes. (“Shape” is part of Ehn’s “Soulographie,” a series of 17 plays about genocide and reconciliation.)
Mostly, it’s best to sit back and let Ehn’s dreamlike prose wash over you; enjoy the production’s haunting songs, stirring, avian-inspired movement and the dedicated cast. Figueroa Edidi’s Cordelia is sublime: a diva with a sense of humor. She’s resilient but not wholly inured to life’s hardships. In one of his stronger performances, Britton captures Billy as the charming philanderer. Other standouts include Karin Rosnizek’s clueless French reporter and Luci Murphy as a soulful, singing vaudevillian.
The parts of Cordelia and her maid (S. Lewis Feemster) have been cast with male actors, heightening theatricality and a focus on identity. The choice also pays homage to black vaudevillians of the early 20th century who often played cross-gendered roles.
With “Shape,” force/collision strikingly fulfills its mission to create new performance works. And while “Shape” is sometimes hard to follow, it’s always beautiful to watch.
Sports
Jason Collins dies at 47
First openly gay man to actively play for major sports team battled brain cancer
Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to actively play for a major professional sports team, died on Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 47.
The California native had briefly played for the Washington Wizards in 2013 before coming out in a Sports Illustrated op-ed.
Collins in 2014 became the first openly gay man to play in a game for a major American professional sports league when he played 11 minutes during a Brooklyn Nets game. He wore jersey number 98 in honor of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student murdered outside of Laramie, Wyo., in 1998.
Collins told the Washington Blade in 2014 that his life was “exponentially better” since he came out. Collins the same year retired from the National Basketball Association after 13 seasons.
Collins married his husband, Brunson Green, in May 2025.
The NBA last September announced Collins had begun treatment for a brain tumor. Collins on Dec. 11, 2025, announced he had Stage 4 glioblastoma.
“We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma,” said Collins’s family in a statement the NBA released. “Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Collins’s “impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA, and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations.”
“He exemplified outstanding leadership and professionalism throughout his 13-year NBA career and in his dedicated work as an NBA Cares Ambassador,” said Silver. “Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others.”
“To call Jason Collins a groundbreaking figure for our community is simply inadequate. We truly lost a giant today,” added Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson in a statement. “He came out as gay — while still playing — at a time when men’s athletes simply did not do that. But as he powerfully demonstrated in his final years in the league and his post-NBA career, stepping forward as he did boldly changed the conversation.”
“He was and will always be a legend for the LGBTQ+ community, and we are heartbroken to hear of his passing at the young age of 47,” she said. “Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones. We will keep fighting on in his honor until the day everyone can be who they are on their terms.”
The Washington Blade will update this article with additional reaction when it becomes available.
Glitterati Productions held the “Studio 69” party at Bunker on Friday, May 8.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
Washington Blade’s Pride on the Pier returns June 13 to kick off D.C. Pride week
Pride on the Pier officially launches Pride Week in D.C.
The Washington Blade’s annual Pride on the Pier celebration returns to The Wharf on Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 4-9 p.m., bringing thousands of LGBTQ community members and allies together for an unforgettable waterfront celebration to kick off Pride week in Washington, D.C.
Now in its eighth year, Washington Blade Pride on the Pier extends the city’s annual celebration of LGBTQ visibility to the bustling Wharf waterfront with an exciting array of activities and entertainment for all ages. The District Pier will offer DJs, dancing, drag, and other entertainment. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase for those 21 and older.
“Pride on the Pier has become one of the signature moments of Pride in D.C.,” said Lynne Brown, publisher of the Washington Blade. “There’s nothing like watching our community come together on the waterfront with live music and incredible energy as we kick off Pride week.”
Pride on the Pier is free and open to the public, with VIP tickets available for exclusive pier access to the Dockmaster Building. To purchase VIP tickets visit www.prideonthepierdc.com/vip.
Additional entertainment announcements, sponsor activations, and event details will be released in the coming weeks.
Event Details:
📍 Location: District Pier at The Wharf (101 District Sq SW, Washington, DC)
📅 Dates: Friday, 13, 2026
⏱️ 4-9PM
🎟️ VIP Tickets: www.PrideOnThePierDC.com/VIP
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