a&e features
Haus of Stone savors joys and trials of breaking into D.C. drag scene
New venues, new faces, shade from established performers affects new generation of queens
April drag events:
Birds of Prey Drag Show
Friday, April 12
10 p.m.
The D.C. Eagle
3701 Benning Rd., N.W.
Brooklyn Heights, Sasha Adams Sanchez and Iyana Deschanel.
with special guest “Drag Race” alum Roxxxy Andrews
Hosted by Ba’Naka
Pitchers Drag Picnic
Saturday, April 13
1 p.m.
Pitchers D.C.
2317 18th St., N.W.
Hosted by Brooklyn Heights
Glass House
Sunday, April 14
7 p.m.
Variety show with movie night theme
Ten Tigers Parlour
3813 Georgia Ave., N.W.
Haus of Stone Drag Show
Wednesday, April 17
8 p.m.
Denizens Brewing Co.
1115 East West Highway, Silver Spring, Md.
City Tap Dupont
1250 Connecticut Ave., N.W.
Saturdays 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Sunday performances (same hours) start April 28
Ba’Naka hostesses
Avalon Saturdays
Saturday, April 13
Soundcheck
1420 K St., N.W.
Hosted by Carson Kressley and Ba’Naka
Special guest Todrick Hall
Performances by Iyana Deschanel, Judas Elliot, Crystal Edge
dougiemeyerpresents.com
As people attend drag brunches and shows at bars and restaurants throughout the D.C. area, they may be focused on ordering bottomless mimosas or snapping pictures of the soon-to-come drag performances. But the amount of blood, sweat and sequins it takes for new, local queens to make a name for themselves, especially in a post-Town/Cobalt D.C. drag scene, is something that isn’t readily apparent.
It’s a situation that DMV-based drag group Haus of Stone knows all too well. Comprised of five queens, the house was birthed from a group of college friends who simply loved the art of drag.
Citrine (AJ Williamson), 27; Logan Stone (William Burlew), 25; Drew Thatcher, 26; and Vagenesis (Anderson Wells), 28, began putting drag looks together while attending University of Maryland, Baltimore County. After performing a few times, Citrine, Logan and Vagenesis decided it would be easier to brand themselves as a drag house while performing together.
“Most drag houses take the matriarch’s last name but since we didn’t have a matriarch or a mother, we thought we should just come up with our own group name,” Citrine says. “Logan was the only one out of the three of us that had a last name. So we were like, Haus of Stone, that has a nice ring to it. Logan didn’t mind, we didn’t mind. We just ran with it.”
Haus of Stone was officially born in spring 2018. Citrine, Logan and Vagenesis dipped their toes in the water at attempting more professional drag by performing private talent shows in their living room. The evening included playing instruments, a spoken word performance and lip-syncing, backed by speakers hooked up in their apartment blaring music, all with the intention of asking their friends to pose as judges. Even though the event was fun, the trio asked their friends to sincerely give them critiques.
The girls were taking this seriously.
Shortly after, Venus Valhalla and Kittney Stone joined the group rounding out Haus of Stone.
Thatcher, who originally began performing drag with the group at University of Maryland Baltimore County, realized that he wanted to be a part of the house in a different capacity. Instead of taking on a drag persona he decided to become a self-proclaimed “drag sidekick” to the group. Among his Jack-of all-trades assistance to Haus of Stone, is to serve as a soundboard for the queens’ looks.
“One of the things that I really like about being part of the Haus of Stone is just how amazing all these queens are in the house and how much I appreciate their sisterhood and the family we’ve built,” Thatcher says. “And also just being there to help them execute the vision that they have for their drag is an awesome honor. I know there are a lot of times when they have some grand visions, as any artist often does, and I like to be there for them as a resource to help them execute their visions.”
The group started to become more active in taking their show from the living room with friends to a public audience. As new queens trying to establish themselves locally, they say they’ve encountered plenty of support.
“When we first started, the drag community was extremely welcoming,” Logan says. “We met one drag performer and they told us to go to this event and go talk to this queen named Desiree Dik because Desiree had a show at Uproar and she did nothing but support new girls coming up. We went to that show and we got the booking and through that we made so many friends that we still talk to today and have harbored relationships that are going to last forever. Now is that true of everybody in the community? No, but through that we got to meet other people like Kristina Kelly who has done nothing but support us. While personalities don’t always mesh up, there has been a support of new girls in this city ever since we started.”
For Citrine, the drag community is helpful to new girls but there’s an edge of competition in the mix.
“I’ve come to find once they notice that you’re working hard and getting close to their level is when that support and fellowship starts to stop,” Citrine says. “I think part of it is that now you’re starting to look like competition and these are the people that have worked just as hard as you and now are trying to build a legacy or maintain it. ‘Yeah, sure, we’ll give you a platform, you can perform at our show, you’re going to come and go.’ That’s the expectation they think when new queens come about. But once you start to build and get a little bit stronger, that to them is a sign. Some of them love it. And then there are some that are jealous or they don’t want to support that because they’re like, ‘I don’t want you to be just as successful because now you’re taking something away from me.’”
Citrine and Logan both note that they don’t often see local drag performers at their shows showing their support, which they agree could be due to a conflict in performance schedules.
“It’s this weird melting pot where we all love each other but we’re also out for ourselves but we do support each other,” Citrine says.
Haus of Stone’s breakout on the drag scene after the closing of gay nightlife venues Town and Cobalt, which drew significant patronage for drag shows, has placed the group in a transitional period in D.C. gay nightlife.
As more venues are now opening their spaces to drag performances, Logan has noticed a surge in non-LGBT specific bars and restaurants hosting drag shows.
Venus says that specifically Town’s closing has made “things easier” for local queens.
“Town was kind of a central point for the gay community in the city. You had the cast of girls who were there every Friday and Saturday. So now with Town gone, and that rigid cast gone, there’s more opportunities for all of us other girls and people are still looking for places to replace Town, which is something that’s been kind of difficult for the community over the last year. I think Town closing was actually kind of the perfect storm that’s allowed us to be so successful. If Town was still open, I don’t think any of us would have been able to perform there,” Venus says.
An influx in venues hosting drag shows and seeing the benefit of having one place to look up all things D.C. drag, inspired Logan to create D.C. Drag Digest (facebook.com/dcdragdigest).
The directory will allow people to search for drag shows near them, look up if their favorite bars or restaurants are hosting drag shows and to see where their favorite drag performers will be next.
“There had been a lot of conversation on social media about supporting and finding the shows. I had always gotten a lot of questions. When people like what they see in a show the first thing they come up and ask you is, ‘Hey, where can I see you next?’ And for a lot of performers we have 10 shows coming up and we want people at all of them. And it’s hard to just be like, ‘You can come here, here and here.’ Nobody is going to remember any of that. So one day I had decided to just make a list of everything going on,” Logan, who runs the directory with a couple friends, says.
The queens say that “RuPaul’s Drag Race” does influence the popularity of their shows especially during the times of the year that “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” and the regular season run. They say it sparks an interest in people to check out what their local drag community is doing. The support is welcomed but Haus of Stone members say the jump from “Drag Race” to a local show can lead to unfair expectations.
“Drag Race” can pack on the pressure for local talent, according to Citrine.
“They’re seeing it on TV and enjoying it and then when they go to a local show and they’re not seeing that same level matched from what they can just see on TV that’s when they start to lose that interest,” Citrine says. “‘Drag Race’ has certainly made it a little bit more difficult for local queens to keep up. When we see it on TV we’re like ‘Oh God.’ Some of us have that internal expectation of ‘How can I be better and impress this audience when I don’t have those kind of resources?”
Money is an important factor when watching an episode of “Drag Race” versus checking out a local show.
“A prime example of that is girls we get on ‘Drag Race’ end up making a lot more money than us local girls,” Venus says. “A lot of them have connections because of their following on social media and are able to work with designers and have these glorious costumes and they see those costumes on the runway. Then a drag queen comes out who is a local girl who spent $50 on a leotard that she made herself. And it’s not as exciting as the giant Victoria’s Secret wings that Plastique Tiara wore on the runway.”
Another added challenge is keeping their shows as fresh as possible.
Venus says that an advantage that queens performing at Town had is that oftentimes audiences included new people due to the larger audience numbers. As smaller venues are tackling drag shows, the audiences are smaller and a good way to drum up interest is to nab repeat patrons who have already seen certain routines and want new material.
“It has to do with a shift in the market,” Venus says.
Even with a smaller audience size, the queens still don’t always know who is attending their shows.
“Even for me I had two girls come up to me at brunch yesterday and I had never noticed them before but they both came up and were like, ‘We saw you at this show.’ You never know who is going to come back and see you and you don’t want them seeing the exact same thing over and over,” Logan says.
a&e features
Award-winning D.C. chef reaching new culinary heights
Anthony Jones of Marcus DC competing on ‘Top Chef’
In Anthony Jones’s kitchen, all sorts of flags fly, including his own. Executive chef at award-winning restaurant Marcus DC, Jones has reached culinary heights (James Beard Award semifinalist for Emerging Chef, anyone?), yet he’s just getting started.
Briefly stepping away from his award-winning station, Jones took a moment under a different set of lights. Recently, he temporarily gave up his post at the restaurant for a starring small-screen slot on the latest season of “Top Chef,” which debuted in March. (The show airs weekly on Bravo and Peacock).
Before his strategic slice-and-dice competition, however, Jones, who identifies as gay, draws from his deep DMV roots. In the years before “Top Chef” and the top chef spot at Marcus, he was born and raised in Sunderland, Md., in southern Maryland, near the Chesapeake.
Early memories were steeped in afternoons on boats with his dad bonding over fishing, and wandering the garden of his great-grandparents spread with fresh vegetables and a few hogs. “It was Southern, old-school ethics and upbringing,” he said. “Family and food went hand in hand.” Weekends meant grabbing bushels of crabs, dad and grandma would cook and crack them. Family members would host fish fries for extra cash. In this seafood-heavy youth, Jones managed time to sneak in episodes of the “OG” Japanese “Iron Chef” show, which helped inspire him to pursue a career in the kitchen.
Jones moved to D.C. after graduating from college, ending up at lauded Restaurant Eve, and met famed chef Marcus Samuelson, who brought him to Miami to be part of the opening team for Red Rooster Overtown. After three years, Jones moved back to D.C., where he ran Dirty Habit, reinventing and reimagining the menu, integrating West African flavors and ingredients.
Samuelson, however, wouldn’t let a talent like Jones stay away for too long. Pulling Jones back into his orbit, Samuelson elevated Jones to help him open his namesake restaurant Marcus DC, which has been named a top-five restaurant by the Washington Post. Since then, Jones has been nominated as a semifinalist for the RAMMYs Rising Culinary Star in 2026 and won the Eater DC’s Rising Chef award in 2025.
Samuelson’s Marcus is a tour de force interpreting the Black Diaspora on the plate, from the American South to West Africa, along with his signature “Swedopian” touches. Yet it’s Jones who has deeply informed the plate, elevating his own story to date. Marcus DC is primarily a seafood restaurant, which serves Jones well.
“Where I’m from is seafood heavy, and as I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve moved away from meat.” Veggies and fish are hero dishes. His own dish, Mel’s Crab Rice, was not only lauded by the Washington Post, but is framed by his youth carrying home the crustaceans from Mel’s crab truck. It’s a bowl of Carolina rice, layered with pickled okra, uni béarnaise, and crab. Jones also points to a dish on the opening menu, rockfish and brassica, paying respect to a landmark D.C. institution, Ben’s Chili Bowl. Jones reverse engineered a favorite bowl of chili that’s seafood instead of meat forward, leveraging octopus and rockfish along with different riffs of cauliflower: showing his intellectual, creative, and cultural sides.
While “Top Chef” is showing Jones’s spotlight side, he also lets his identity show at work. “In the kitchen, I make sure we’re inclusive. We don’t tolerate discrimination. Everyone that’s here should feel confident to express themselves. There are so many different flags in the kitchen.”
Jones says that he didn’t fully express his gay identity until fairly recently. He felt reluctant coming out to certain family members, “you’re scared to tell them about being different,” he says, and while that anxiety ate at him, “I’m lucky and fortunate to have unconditional love and that weight off my shoulders.”
Today, “I’m me all the time, Monday to Sunday. I’m honest with people, and my staff is honest with me.”
“Being a chef is hard,” he says, “and being a chef of color is even more difficult.”
Yet his LGBTQ identity is a juggling act, he says. “I need to keep that balance, because once someone finds out something about you, their opinion can change, whether you want it or not.”
Being on a whole season of TV cooking competition, however, might mean millions more might have an opinion of him (Jones has appeared on TV already, on an episode of “Chopped”). To prepare, he says, “I’ve just kept a level head. It’s just an honor to be on top chef with amazing people happy to be there.”
Plus, this season is set in the Carolinas, and Jones attended Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C. “It’s a full story of my life, now a monumental moment for me.”
Jones also recently was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. “JBF has been a north star, a dream for so long. I always had this goal on my wall.”
Being at the top spot at Marcus DC, making waves through his accolades, and cooking on Bravo means that Jones is highly visible. “I think that if someone has a similar background to me, and can see our story, trajectory, and success, they can have more ability to be themselves. This is my goal.”
Back at Marcus, Jones has plenty up his chef’s white’s sleeves. A new spring menu is in the works. He’ll be launching a new tasting menu “dining experience,” he says, and has plans to work on more events and collaborations with chefs and friends to bring in new talent and share the culinary wealth.
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Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Meet the Legends and Illuminators lighting new paths
The Torchbearers Awards are more than recognition—they are a continuation of legacy. They honor the quiet architects of progress in our community: those who organize, advocate, build, and protect, often without fanfare but always with purpose. Rooted in a belief in intentional recognition, this honor names those who carry our movements forward—those who make room for others, who remind us that change is both generational and generative. In a time marked by uncertainty and challenge, these leaders push forward with courage, clarity, and an unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity and equity.
This year’s honorees reflect the full breadth of our community, spanning generations, backgrounds, identities, and industries. From Legends, with decades of leadership and having created pathways for others, to Illuminators, who are lighting new paths with creativity and innovation, each Torchbearer represents the power of intergenerational leadership and the strength found in our diversity. They are organizers, advocates, artists, policy leaders, healers, and changemakers whose lived experiences shape a shared vision for equity and liberation.
This award is our love letter to queer and trans women and nonbinary people who carry the flame when it would be easier to let it dim. To those who consistently show up, who use their voice and visibility and stand firm, often without recognition, so that others may live more freely and fully. The Torchbearers Awards celebrates not just what has been done, but the enduring spirit, responsibility, and collective care that ensure the work continues, and that the flame is always passed forward.
Co-Creators of the Torchbearers Awards: Shannon Alston, June Crenshaw, Heidi Ellis
Torchbearers Awards Advisory Board: Aditi Hardikar, Lesley Bryant, Jasmine Wilson-Bryant, Stephen Rutgers
ILLUMINATOR AWARDEES
- Representative Sharice Davids (she/her), (D, KS-03)
— U.S. House of Representatives - Greisa Martinez Rosas (she/her/ella)
— Executive Director, United We Dream - Paola Ramos (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Meagan A. Fitzgerald (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Jessica L. Lewis (she/her)
— Founder / Producer, Play Play DC - Savannah Wade (she/her)
— Founder, OAR Agency - Suhad Babaa (she/her)
— Filmmaker/ Former Executive Director of Just Vision - Ashlee Davis (she/her)
— Global Head of Inclusive Outcomes, Ancestry - Jazmine Hughes (she/her)
— Journalist and Former Editor at New York Times Magazine - Queen Adesuyi (they/she)
— Policy Advisor & Organizer, ReFrame Health & Justice - Michele Rayner, Esq. (she/her)
— Civil Rights Attorney, State Representative (Florida House of Representatives) - Gaby Vincent (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Jenny Nguyen (she/her)
— Founder & Owner, The Sports Bra - Denice Frohman (she/her)
— Independent Artist, Poet / Performer - Vida Rangel (she/her)
— Founder, Our Trans Capital - Roxanne Anderson (they/them)
— Executive Director, Our Space - Ann Marie Gothard (she/her)
— Co-Founder & President, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Diana Rodriquez (she/her)
— Co-Founder & CEO, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Wendi Cooper (she/her)
— Founder / Executive Director, Transcending Women - Toya Matthews (she/her)
— City of San Antonio, Texas - Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Charity Blackwell (she/her)
— Poet, LGBTQ Advocate & Community Leader - Wilhelmina Indermaur (she/her)
— Director of Communications, Tyler Clementi Foundation - Em Chadwick (she/her)
— CMO, For Them & Autostraddle - Kylo Freeman (they/he)
— CEO, For Them & Autostraddle
LEGEND AWARDEES
- Sheila Alexander-Reid (she/her)
— Executive Director, PHL Diversity, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau - Cassandra Cantave Burton (she/her)
— Interim Director of Thought Leadership & Senior Research Advisor, AARP - leigh h. mosley (she/her)
— Photographer / Educator, PhotoFlo Photography - Jenn M. Jackson, PhD (they/them)
— Assistant Professor of Political Science; Author & Columnist, Syracuse University - Jordyn White (she/her)
— COO, Washington Prodigy / VP of Leadership Development & Research, HRC Foundation - AJ Hikes (they/them)
— Deputy Executive Director, ACLU - RaeShanda Lias (she/her)
— Digital Creator, RL Lockhart - Donna Payne-Hardy (she/her)
— Educator, EEO Specialist, Founder of NBJC, Former Leader at the Human Rights Campaign - Courtney R. Snowden (she/her)
— Principal, Blueprint Strategy Group - Gaye Adegbalola (she/her)
— Musician & Activist, Musician / Inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame - Cheryl A. Head (she/her)
— Independent Author, Novelist (Crime Fiction) - Letitia Gomez (she/her)
— The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Board Chair - Lynne Brown (she/her)
— Publisher, Washington Blade - Shay Franco-Clausen (She/Her/Ella/Queen)
— Political Strategist and Organizer - Melissa L. Bradley (she/her)
— Founder & Managing Partner, New Majority Ventures - Meghann Burke (she/her)
— Executive Director, NWSL Players Association - Victoria Kirby York, MPA (she/they)
— Director of Public Policy & Programs, National Black Justice Collective - Joli Angel Robinson (she/her)
— CEO, Center on Halsted - Jeannine Frisby LaRue (she/her)
— CEO, Moxie Strategies - Alice Wu (she/her)
— Film Director (Saving Face, The Half of It) / Screenwriter - Storme Webber (she/her)
— Interdisciplinary Artist / Educator, University of Washington - Kim Stone
— CEO of the Washington Spirit, Washington Spirit - Mickalene Thomas
— American Visual Artist, Mickalene Thomas Studio - Erika Lorshbough (any/they/she)
— Executive Director, interACT - J. Gia Loving (she/ella)
— Co-Executive Director, GSA Network
a&e features
D.C. springs back to life with new, returning events
Cherry blossoms, Rehoboth season kickoff, and more on tap
Longer and warmer days are back meaning: It’s time to get out of the house and enjoy Washington D.C.’s many events. Below are a few to check out this spring.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts will host “Making their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection” until Sunday, July 26. This exhibition illustrates women artists’ vital role in abstraction, considers historical contributions, formal and material breakthroughs and intergenerational relationships among women artists over the last eight decades. For more details, visit. NMWA’s website.
Art in the Attic will host a pop-up on Saturday, March 14 at 6 p.m. at 1012 Madison St., Alexandria, Va. There will be a variety of vendors selling products across different modes of art. For more details, visit Eventbrite.
Play Play will host “Indoor Recess – The art of play” on Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. This event will embody classic recess energy, including opportunities to build and experience community and connections through games, movement, art stations, and creative freedom. Tickets are $12.51 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
Spark Social will host “Gay Bar Crawl on U Street” on Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m. This will be a fun night out in gay D.C. with other gay people, whether you’re visiting D.C., new to the area, or just looking to expand your social circle. Many crawlers have formed lasting friendships and even romantic relationships after just one night out. Tickets are $35.88 and are available on Eventbrite.
Creative Suitland Arts Center will host “EFFERVESCENT: House of Swann” on Saturday, May 30 at 7 p.m. This will be a gay, good time where we will celebrate love, joy, wellness, and visibility for the LGBTQIA+ community. Tickets start at $17.85 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
SWAG Works DC will host “Unapologetically Her” on Saturday, March 14 at 2 p.m. at 701 E St., S.E. This event is a powerful celebration of womanhood, resilience, creativity, and self-expression in honor of Women’s History Month. This all-women exhibition highlights the diverse voices, stories, and artistic perspectives of women who create boldly, live authentically, and stand confidently in their truth. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
9:30 Club will host “Gimme Gimme Disco: A Dance Party Inspired by ABBA” on Saturday, March 14 at 6 p.m. There will also be a “Donna Summer Power Hour – The Queen of Disco” segment during this event. It’ll be one hour of music with no skips. Tickets are available on 9:30 Club’s website.
Harder Better Faster Stronger will host “Heated Rivalry Rave” on Friday, March 20 at 9 p.m. at Howard Theatre. This event is open to all ages. Tickets are available on the theater’s website.
CAMP Rehoboth hosts its 25th annual Women’s+ FEST, April 9-12 in Rehoboth Beach, Del. Entertainers include headliner Mina Hartong, a comedian, storyteller, and founder of Lez Out Loud; and singer Yoli Mayor. There are dances, dinners, pickleball, and much more. Details and tickets at camprehoboth.org.
Also in Rehoboth Beach, the Washington Blade’s 19th annual Summer Kickoff Party is set for Friday, May 15 featuring Ashley Biden, who will accept an award on behalf of her brother Beau. State Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall will also speak. More speakers and the venue to be announced soon.
The annual D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off March 21 at DAR Constitution Hall and culminates with Petalpalooza on April 4, the day-long, outdoor street party with music and art, stretching across Navy Yard, and ending with fireworks over the Anacostia River.
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