Photo (c) 2010, Liz Liguori Photography

BY DANA PICCOLI
AfterEllen

Sometimes it’s important to step away from our televisions and computer screens for a bit and immerse ourselves in art. Live theatre and performance can touch us in ways that other entertainment simply can’t, by letting us share the same space as our fellow audience members and performers. A night at the theatre can be magic. While big cities like New York, Philly, LA and DC get the majority of spoils, the great work there certainly leads to inspiration around the country. Not to mention a great excuse to take an artistic vacation. Here are some of this year’s notable productions

Read more about “Fun Home,” “Showgirls the Musical,” “The Lesbian Love Octagon” and more at AfterEllen.com

AfterEllen is the pop culture site that plays for your team

The post Round-up: A look at the lesbian theater of 2013 first appeared on Lesbian.com.

If you are anything like us, you are already putting together your pride social calendar. With so many events over the next week, how do you choose? If you’re looking for some quick recommendations, you came to the right place. Here are our top event picks for an overall prideful celebration.

June 4: Capital Pride Women’s Spoken Word
June 5: Cameltoe: A Respectfully Invasive Party
June 7: DC Front Runners Pride Run
June 8: FUSE: Capital Pride Main Women’s Event
June 9: DC King Pride Show

Get all the details on lesbian Washington D.C. Pride events at TaggMagazine.com

Tagg Magazine is a print and online resource for LBT women in the DC Metropolitan and Rehoboth, DE areas.

The post Round-up: D.C. Pride event picks first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Things are really cooking at Sweet. The lesbian luxury excursion company, known for their eco-friendly and community service-based travel, announced they are now accepting pre-orders for “The Sweet Cookbook” to benefit the Cozumel Humane Society (CHS).

The full-color, book bound volume features more than 125 recipes donated by Sweet’s patrons and their friends across the U.S. and Canada and includes a variety of appetizers, beverages, desserts, entrees, salads and side dishes, as well as a few pet-friendly surprises.

Several lesbian celebrities participated in the project, with Edie Carey, Catie Curtis, Traci Dinwiddie, Fortune Feimster, Melissa Ferrick, Chef Josie, Gabrielle Lindau, Bridget McManus, Jennie McNulty, Lori Michaels, Jackie Monahan and Suzanne Westenhoefer all donating recipes for the cause.

Pre-orders are now being accepted through Sweet’s online store and cookbooks will be shipped in fall 2012. All net proceeds from sales will be donated to CHS.

“This was a real labor of love by our Sweeties,” shared Sweet co-founder and CEO Shannon Wentworth. “I continue to be amazed by the generosity and creativity of our travelers in finding ways to serve the global community.”

Sweet first established a relationship with the Cozumel Humane Society during a September 2010 visit and plans to volunteer their services during a return trip in September 2012.

“We’ll also present a check to CHS based on pre-sales of ‘The Sweet Cookbook’ so that our furry friends may continue to be well fed and cared for long after we’ve departed,” explained Wenworth.

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‘The Wise Kids’

Lesbian.com, July 26, 2012

Wolfe Video announced that it has acquired the worldwide DVD/VOD rights (except France) to the critically-acclaimed drama “The Wise Kids,” a character-driven coming-of-age story that Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called “Honest, observant, and subtle.”

“The Wise Kids” was a critical and popular success on the festival circuit, garnering  numerous awards, including the Grand Jury Awards for “Outstanding US Narrative Feature” and “Outstanding U.S. Screenwriting” at 2011 Outfest, the Audience Award for “Best Narrative Feature” at NewFest, and the Jury Awards for “Best Narrative Feature” and “Best Ensemble” at Atlanta’s Out on Film. The film is scheduled to debut on VOD in November, and will be made available on DVD in January 2013.

“’The Wise Kids’ touches upon many universal topics affecting today’s youth,” said Wolfe President Maria Lynn. “What impressed me the most is the film’s authenticity in its portrayal of kids grappling with the pervasive religious beliefs of their parents as they struggle to choose their own paths.”

Said the film’s Director Stephen Cone, “”I’m so grateful that ‘The Wise Kids’ has found a wonderful, welcoming home at Wolfe. I truly could not be more pleased to be partnering with the remarkable Maria Lynn and the entire Wolfe team, whose enthusiasm for and commitment to this release are what every filmmaker desires for their film.”

‘The Wise Kids’ is a dynamic Southern coming-of-age drama which takes place in the transitional period between high school and college, when life seems to be all questions and no answers, and the future is scarily wide open. Set in and around a Charleston, S.C., Baptist church, weaving through this ensemble piece are three main characters — Brea, an introspective pastor’s daughter experiencing debilitating doubt; the hyperactive Laura, Brea’s best friend and a devout believer; and Tim, the open-hearted son of a single father, confronting his homosexuality for the first time. Tensions and buried feelings abound, as colleges are chosen and adults behave badly, as Brea, Laura and Tim attempt to hang onto what they have, all the while yearning to break free.

The post Wolfe acquires exclusive worldwide rights to ‘The Wise Kids’ first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Androgyny Founder and CEO
Melissa Millan

Lesbian.com, July 18, 2012

Melissa Millan has reinvented the button-down shirt. After years of struggling to find clothes that fit both her body and queer identity Millan founded Androgyny, a fit solution company aimed at serving the underserved lesbian demographic.

Based in San Francisco, Millan has worked tirelessly over the last year to develop shirts that provide a “classic style with a revolutionary fit” in hopes of offering women an alternative to their present somewhat limited choices betweeen often overly feminine garb or ill-fitted and over-sized menswear.

In deveoping her handcrafted line of all-cotton button-downs, Millan drew inspiration from her own experiences, recalling the frustrations she’d felt while searching for clothes that would allow her to feel both authentic and comfortable—and ultimately confident—while wearing them.

Millan now stands ready to introduce the Androgyny product line to the masses, having completed samples, developed a demand and established brand identity. In order to fund her initial production run Millan has turned to Kickstarter and hopes to attract $20,000 in funding by July 23.

“Your gift will help us on multiple levels,” explained Millan. “First, it will serve as a vote of confidence in our vision. Second, it will allow us to pre-sell part of our inventory build to our Kickstarter supporters. Third, it will allow us to produce a varied assortment of colors and styles providing our consumers the choice of expression that they are so desperately seeking. Finally, you will be empowering women.”

With incentives offered for the various donation levels from $5 – $1,000+, the Adrogyny Kickstarter project sounds like a win-win for lesbians looking to find a modern fit in a premium shirt.

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Cat Cora was charged with DUI in June following a minor accident in which she rear-ended another vehicle. Nearly a month later, her mug shot has now been released by the Santa Barbarba, Calif., police department.

The “Iron Chef” and “Around the World in 80 Plates” star was taken to the Sobering House in Santa Barbara and not to jail on the night of her arrest, so she did not have to take a mugshot that night, according to SBPD spokesman Sgt. Riley Harwood. The Sobering House is a place where cooperative, non-violent people who have been arrested for DUI are taken to sober up before being released.

By law, Cora had up until the date of her arraignment on July 26 to come in and get her mugshot taken, which explains an 11-day lag between the incident and the photo, according to Harwood.

When police arrived at the scene of the accident on June 17, the diminutive Cora admitted to having had three beers at the Cold Spring Tavern before attempting to drive home after an argument with her partner. She submitted to both breath and blood sample testing that night, registering a .19 on each. The legal limit in California is .08. 

“I deeply regret my decision to drive that evening after my designated driver became unavailable,” says Cora in a statement released by her lawyers. “I learned a very important lesson from this experience and take full accountability for my actions. This will never happen again.”

There were no injuries reported as a result of the accident.

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Olympian and Women’s National Team soccer superstar Abby Wambach is one of the 27 athletes featured in the fourth annual issue of ESPN’s “Body Issue.”

The 32-year-old didn’t think twice when asked to pose nude for the publication, summarizing her response to the invitation, “Immediately I was like: ‘I would love it!’ ”

“If you’re an athlete and you’ve worked your whole life on your body, your body becomes your machine. It’s not about being a sex symbol, it’s about being proud of your body in whatever shape or form it is,” Wambach said Tuesday evening from New York City, where she was on a layover with the American team.

Wambach is on her way to London with the rest of the U.S. women’s national team soccer squad, which hopes to repeat their gold medal performance of 2008. Action gets underway against France on July 25 in Glasgow, Scotland.

“I’m a confident human being, but my body does not bring my confidence—it’s my heart and my head. Confidence is the most important factor about your body, whether you’ve got five pounds to lose or 100. If you have the confidence inside, that will exude on the outside, regardless of what your body looks like.”

Wambach isn’t the only soccer player in the magazine. Carlos Bocanegra, captain of the U.S. men’s team, is featured. Other notable names include Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots, Brad Richards of the New York Rangers, Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays, Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks, Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks and women’s tennis player Daniela Hantuchova. Olympians, besides Wambach, featured in the magazine include Walter Dix (sprinter), Ashton Eaton (decathete) and seven players from the U.S. women’s volleyball team.

The post Abby Wambach featured in ESPN’s ‘Body Issue’ first appeared on Lesbian.com.

“The Salon Series: Conversations about Success” will continue on Wednesday, July 25, in San Francisco. The topic for this second in a series of six events is “Women’s Focus” and will feature speaker Jana Rich, Managing Director of Russell Reynolds Associates with an introduction by Ryan Christine Coulson, Wealth Planning Strategist, California Wealth Planning Group.

The hosted cocktails event, sponsored by dot429, Wells Fargo, Sweet and Lesbian.com, will be held at the beautiful Foreign Cinema at 2534 Mission Street from 6p.m to 9p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance or $35 at the door with proceeds benefiting Shanti’s Breast Cancer Program.

Learn more about the event at Facebook and RSVP at dot429.com.

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Angelina Jolie received an Honorary Citizen of Sarajevo award Saturday for her work on the film “In the Land of Blood and Honey.” Jolie directed the movie which tells the story of romance between a Serbian soldier and a Bosnian woman during the 1990s war in the troubled region.

“The time I spent and the people I met in Bosnia have changed me forever. I can’t tell you how much it means to me to be named an honorary citizen of Sarajevo, a city so dear to my heart,” Jolie said, addressing the crowd from the 18th Annual Sarajevo Film Festival stage.

On directing the movie, Jolie shared,”It was the hardest thing I have ever done because of my deep respect for the people that really experienced it. The experience here was so unique for me that I felt very connected to the people.”

While Jolie made no mention of the stone, the event also marked the first time she’s worn her $500,000 engagement ring from Brad Pitt in public.

The post Angelina Jolie honored in Sarajevo; debuts engagement ring first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Reality television star and personal trainer Jillian Michaels fell victim to a burglary on Tuesday when a thief broke into her home and stole the keys to her luxury car.

Michaels, her child and a nurse were at her home watching television when her Hermes purse containing the keys to her 2011 Bentley GT and a pricey Audemars watch were stolen from the kitchen table Tuesday evening.

The former “The Biggest Loser” star reported the crime after realizing a number of personal items, including her Bentley, were missing from her Los Angeles property.

Police spotted the stolen vehicle hours later and a chase ensued, resulting in the assailant crashing the car into a light pole.

The suspect, Gerjuan Deshon Harmon, was charged Friday with one count each of first-degree burglary with a person present, grand theft of personal property, grand theft auto, unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle, evading an officer and hit-and-run driving and two counts of resisting an executive officer, stated a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

“Hi guys—thanks so much for all your concern regarding the burglary,” Michaels tweeted Thursday. “We are all fine & that’s what counts. Stuff is just stuff after all.”

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