Exciting news: Washingtonian is heading to off-Broadway. Well, kind of. Kings, a play that debuted last week at New York’s Public Theater, depicts a newly elected congresswoman (played by Eisa Davis) who comes to DC and harshly learns from a lobbyist (Gillian Jacobs from NBC’s Community) that she has to spend most of her time fundraising. It’s a quintessentially Washington story written by Sarah Burgess–who grew up in Alexandria–after she read an article about the fundraising retreats lobbyists go on to buddy up with politicians.
So where does Washingtonian come in? In the play, Jacobs’ character, Kate, keeps running into her ex-girlfriend, Lauren (Aya Cash, also on FX’s You’re the Worst), who is now married to the head of the SEC. And in this alternate universe, she and her wife are on the cover of the most recent issue of Washingtonian—featured atop a list of the “Top DC Gay Power Couples Under 45.” Burgess says she envisioned Kate waiting in line at Safeway to buy “english muffins or something, and then she sees her ex right there” on the magazine cover—a brutal reminder of their status imbalance. “Writing this play did take me toward some of the classic Washington stories about ambition and stuff like that…who comes there and how much power they have,” she says.
As flattered as we are to be included, there is one problem: No such list exits. Until now! Inspired by the play, we decided to create one. Here is our best attempt at a real-life list of Washington’s (real-life) top gay power couples under 45.
Ari Shapiro and Mike Gottlieb
Shapiro, co-host of NPR’s All Things Considered, and Gottlieb, an executive director at National Journal, met as college students at Yale and were married in San Francisco in 2004.
Chrys Kefalas and Tommy McFly
Kefalas is a vice president for the National Association of Manufacturers. He and McFly, host of The Tommy Show weekday mornings on 94.7 Fresh FM (he’s often called DC’s Ryan Seacrest), married in Baltimore last July.
Emily Bruno and Julie Verratti
The two met as political organizers in Boston in 2004 and married four years later. In 2014, with Jeff Ramirez, they co-founded Denizens Brewing in Silver Spring. Earlier this month, Maryland gubernatorial candidate Alec Ross tapped Verratti—a former policy adviser at the Small Business Administration—as his running mate.
Chad Griffin and Charles Joughin
Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, and Joughin, communications director for the First Five Years Fund, an education nonprofit, are longtime friends who’ve been dating since 2015.
Christina Cauterucci and Debra Greenspan
Cauterucci is a staff writer for Slate and Greenspan is a vice president of the Glover Park Group, a communications firm. In 2013, they collaborated on a video installation that was put on display at the Artisphere in Arlington.
Sarah Gordon and Sheila Fain
The co-founders of Gordy’s Pickle Jar sell a colorful of variety of popular pickle products in more than 20 markets throughout DC.
Guy Cecil and Ed McNulty
Cecil is the chairman of Priorities USA, a Democratic super PAC. His husband, McNulty, is an editor at NPR. The couple married in 2013 and are now board members at the E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in DC.
