Ganymede Shows Its Breadth in Fall Festival

In 2003, Jeffrey Johnson was named artistic director of the Actors' Theatre of Washington.

By then the 11-year-old company had become a GLBT theater group, but the truth was, it wasn't doing much theater.

Thanks to a lack of organization, it wasn't doing much of anything.

For a glimpse of how much that's changed, swing by any one of the events populating the 10-day Fall Arts Festival produced by the company, now called Ganymede Arts.

The festival, now in its second year, starts tonight, featuring play readings, concerts, movie screenings and comedy acts by local gay, lesbian and transgender artists, as well as notable GLBT performers such as Holly Woodlawn and Justin Bond of the drag performance duo Kiki & Herb. (Last year, "Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway" was nominated for a Tony Award.)

"We thought [the festival] was a good opportunity to define who were," Johnson says.

And who they are, obviously, has changed a bit since he took the reins. Johnson spent his first couple of years regrouping and bringing on new staff and board members. The group decided that Actors' Theatre should broaden its mission beyond theater, to become a center for local GLBT artists of all kinds. To reflect that, Johnson and his team changed the organization's name to Ganymede. (The name references a mention of homosexuality in Greek mythology.)

"Our base will still be in theater," he says. But "we also will include any other types of arts: dance, stand-up comedy, visual arts, music, choral, play readings, poetry."

Look for that range in the (mostly pay-what-you-can) events at the festival, which is at the Church Street Theatre near Dupont Circle.

Woodlawn kicks off the celebration tonight. An intimate of Andy Warhol's from the 1970s, Woodlawn remains an icon today. Remember that Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side" : "Holly came from Miami FLA,/Hitch-hiked her way across the USA,/Plucked her eyebrows on the way,/Shaved her legs, and then he was a she . . ."

Mmmm-hmmm, that's this Holly.

Woodlawn will also take part in a discussion Saturday, taking questions about some of the Warhol films in which she starred.

Special Agent Galactica, Johnson in drag, will also make an appearance Saturday night. Others on bill throughout the festival include local comedian Matt Henry, members of the Washington Ballet and Channel 4 news anchor Wendy Rieger, who will take part in a play reading Thursday. Church Street Theater itself will be encased by works by visual artists from around the Beltway and beyond.

"It's a time where we as an organization that represents a specific community, can put together evenings for artists to come in who don't otherwise have those opportunities," Johnson says. "I think when they look around and see other members of the community, it can be a nice little bonding thing as well."

G anymede Arts GLBT Fall Arts Festival Church Street Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. 800-494-8497.http://www.ganymedearts.org. Through Oct. 5. Pay-what-you-can to $30.