WASHINGTON, D.C.: In this year’s iteration of Michael Urie and his co-founders’ annual Pride Plays, the nation’s capital will be the site of the festival’s kickoff, with free readings June 3-6. It’s the first time the 6-year-old festival will alight in D.C. (it will continue with readings in New York City later this month, to be announced), and it coincides with D.C.’s hosting the 50th anniversary WorldPride celebration. Participating theatres include Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in D.C. and Rattlestick Theater in NYC. In light of the presidential takeover of Kennedy Center and the clawbacks of diversity efforts nationally, the festival should resonate strongly, organizers say. 

“When Woolly Mammoth approached us about bringing Pride Plays to D.C. during WorldPride, it was before the election,” said Urie. “We were completely on board then, and are even more so now. Washington, D.C. has an incredible theatre scene and a vibrant LGBTQIA community; both are being bullied by our current government right now. As people flood in from all over the world to celebrate Pride this June, it is a thrilling responsibility to bring queer theatre to the stages of our nation’s capital.” 

The festival spotlights queer artists as playwrights, directors, and performers, performing material that ranges from queer theatre classics to new plays about queer people in the workforce, religious communities, varying pockets of America, and more. Plays that will receive readings at Woolly Mammoth include:

• The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, directed by Zhailon Livingston, and starring Robin De Jesús (June 4 and 6), a searing drama about public and private indifference to the AIDS plague and one man’s lonely fight to awaken the world to the crisis.
• Pony by Sylvan Oswald, directed by Will Davis, about a formerly incarcerated trans guy who moves to a small rural town to start a new life (June 3 and 5).
• Novios by Arturo Luíz Soria, directed by Danilo Gambini, about a motley crew of cooks in a gringo’s kitchen, a new dishwasher that ruptures the haze of machismo and sparks a love affair with Luiz, the youngest (June 3 and 5).
• The Hotel/Makeda: A Baltimore Cycle Play by Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi, directed by Ibi Owolabi, centering a business woman’s life as she navigates love, history, family, and systemic pressures and inviting us to reflect on what exactly we mean by the American Dream (June 4 and 6).
• Mother Mary by KJ Moran Velz, directed by Charlotte La Nasa, a new rom-com about choice, the women who choose, and the sinners and saints that make Boston home (June 4 and 6).
• Fear & Wonder by Jason Tseng, directed by Emily Hartford, about a forbidden love story between Jabez and Ryan, two boys of color, as they navigate a Christian summer camp together in the early 2000s (June 3 and 5).

“I first saw the revival of The Normal Heart on my very first trip to New York. It was the first show I saw unsupervised and the first queer audience I had ever been in,” director Zhailon Livingston said. “It changed my life to be in the presence of the reckoning that is The Normal Heart, and I have been chasing that sense of event and action ever since. I am beyond honored to present these historic words at Pride Plays 2025.”

Festival activities will also include a performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., on June 3, post-show sound-off discussions with Black in Space’s Baronhawk Poitier and DJ Slammer, a dedicated talkback post-The Normal Heart, and a festival finale dance party extravaganza with Empress of Pride Rayceen Pendarvis, DJ Suspence, and Maki Roll. Throughout, attendees can see visual art by Rashad Ali Muhammad and the Youth Pride Wishing Tree, an interactive exhibit by local artist Dwayne Lawson-Brown. Tickets for festival events are available on Woolly’s website.

“The energy surrounding the Pride Plays festival is electric!” Woolly Mammoth artistic director Maria Manuela Goyanes said in a statement. “The chance to bring it to D.C., and have our local artists involved as well was too exciting to pass up. While talking about the project, I was told how important this was to D.C. To me, it is always a great idea to uplift the broad range of voices creating theatre by and for the LGBT+ community. Surrounding us is a community that’s rich, deep, entertaining, part of the history of this country and part of our ongoing lives. It’s not just now. It’s always.” 

Launched in 2019 by the original founders Michael Urie, Doug Nevin, and Nick Mayo, in partnership with Rattlestick Theater, the initial Pride Plays hosted 19 separate works and involved more than 200 artists over five days. Pride Plays presented a virtual festival in 2020, along with several online workshops. Pride Plays has also supported LGBTQIA+ creative initiatives, including Donja R. Love’s Write It Out! program. In 2024, Sam Gravitte and Sammy Lopez joined as the Pride Plays 2024 Celebration producers. Director Ibi Owolabi joined the festival programming team for Pride Plays 2025, advancing the festival’s commitment to amplifying queer voices and stories as the organization continues to grow and expand in New York City and beyond. A New York Pride Plays festival, being presented in association with Rattlestick Theater, will be held starting June 23, with programming to be announced.

Pride Plays’ mission is to celebrate and platform queer works, introduce new voices to the theatrical ecosystem, and support the next generation of artists. They hope to foster a deeper understanding of and appreciation for queer stories.