News:

Many in Virginia's LGBT community are steeling themselves ahead of what they expect to be brutal fall campaigns, the outcomes of which could deeply impact how LGBT residents are treated by state government.

In recent years, the Virginia General Assembly has passed legislation making it harder for gay people to adopt, placed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage on the ballot – easily approved by voters – and has scuttled bills that would prohibit employment discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican nominee for governor, has arguably made a career out of opposing LGBT equality.

Jay Fisette

Against this backdrop, Virginia's LGBT community and its allies are hoping to rally, raise money and fight back against even further erosion of rights in the commonwealth. One such fundraiser, for the LGBT political action group Equality Virginia Advocates, was held Aug. 17 at the home of Arlington County Boardmember Jay Fisette, one of the state's few out gay officeholders and a candidate for re-election this year. The event, a barbecue, was touted as a way to support the three Democratic candidates for statewide office – Terry McAuliffe for governor, Ralph Northam for lieutenant governor and Mark Herring for attorney general – whom Equality Virginia Advocates has previously endorsed, deeming all three ''pro-equality.''

In an interview in late August with Metro Weekly, Fisette said he felt a ''very close connection'' to Equality Virginia, the state's primary LGBT-rights organization, due to his prior service as a board member of Virginians for Justice, a now-defunct organization that preceded Equality Virginia.

''The organization has established itself extremely well in the commonwealth,'' he said of Equality Virginia's position as the primary voice communicating the concerns of the state's LGBT community.

Fisette, first elected to the Arlington County Board in 1998, hopes the members of the Democratic statewide slate will be successful, though not merely for where they stand on LGBT issues.

''The person in the governor's seat makes a big difference to a person like me because it affects what we do at the local level,'' he said. ''Budgets, where funds go, often come down to a difference in philosophy. Some people in office have no concept of the role of local government and are quick to layer unfunded mandates or place requirements on local jurisdictions without providing funding, or realizing the strain it places on local priorities. We're at the bottom of the food chain, and it's very easy to be taken advantage of.''

Turning to LGBT-related issues, however, Fisette noted there, too, Richmond can pull the rug out from under local jurisdictions. He pointed to the Arlington County Board, prior to his election, adding domestic-partner benefits, after which the county was successfully sued, with the Supreme Court of Virginia ruling the county had not been granted authority by the General Assembly to grant such benefits. He also noted that although some jurisdictions have nondiscrimination laws that cover sexual orientation, bills that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity have regularly passed the state Senate only to be killed in the House of Delegates.

The passage of a nondiscrimination bill remains one of Equality Virginia's main priorities, but Fisette told Metro Weekly that it will require ''significant turnover'' in the House of Delegates in November to find enough votes to pass such a bill.

''This election is more stark than most, because you have a rabidly anti-gay candidate versus a strong ally for governor,'' Fisette said of LGBT issues in this year's elections. ''And, frankly, it goes all the way down the ticket. In Virginia, we have to be as committed to voting this year as we were last year for Obama.''

James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia Advocates, hailed Fisette for his longstanding support of the organization and its priorities.

While Parrish said he is excited to see recent lawsuits challenging Virginia's ban on marriage equality, he said that supporting candidates who will support Equality Virginia's push for an employment nondiscrimination bill is a greater priority.

Equality Virginia Advocates has not yet endorsed any House of Delegates candidates – although such endorsements are expected later this month – two Democratic challengers spoke at the August fundraiser. Those candidates were John Bell, challenging Del. David Ramadan (R-Loudoun, Prince William counties), and Kathleen Murphy, challenging Del. Barbara Comstock (R-Fairfax, Loudoun counties).

''We will not be endorsing their opponents,'' Parrish said of the decision to allow Bell and Murphy to speak at the event, though mum on whether the organization will officially back these two challengers. ''Both Del. Ramadan and Del. Comstock have a longstanding history of not being friendly to the LGBT community.''

Regarding this fall's statewide races, Parrish said that Virginia's business community has already weighed in on LGBT equality by instituting employment-nondiscrimination policies and domestic-partner benefits, in contrast with Virginia government.

Parrish characterized Cuccinelli's actions as attorney general as ''quite aggressive'' in opposing LGBT equality, and suggested that voters also look closely at the attorney general's race in addition to the governor's race, as the next attorney general will interpret various laws that directly impact LGBT Virginias.

''Local and state governments need to catch up with the business community,'' Parrish said. ''We cannot continue to be hurt by an attorney general and a governor who think LGBT people should not be treated equally.''

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Opinion:

It's an old saw of journalism that if you can string together three related instances you have a trend or, at least, a think piece. So let's start mashing up three seemingly unrelated gay pieces of news from the past week that actually point toward the future of gay and lesbian equality.

First, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) called a special session of the Legislature to consider a marriage-equality bill, noting that in the two decades since ''gay marriage'' became a national issue starting in the island state, ''virtually everything that can be said has been said. … Virtually every angle, virtually every view, every variation on a view with regard to the issue of marriage and equitable treatment for those engaged in marriage has been aired, has been analyzed, has been discussed."

(Photo by Illustration by Scott Brooks)

In other words, it's been talked to death, the Supreme Court killed DOMA, everyone knows which direction history is going on the issue, so let's get this done already. And it's true: Full marriage equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people is on the cusp of being the biggest political victory our community has ever seen.

Second, two big celebrities were making news out of not being homosexual. James Franco, long a practitioner of the wink-and-nudge approach to sexuality, told The Daily Beast, ''I wish I was gay.'' Tom Daley, the British Olympic diver whose Speedos and smile have launched a thousand animated GIFs, came out as straight: ''But even if I was [gay], I wouldn't be ashamed. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest what people thought.'' These are really just the latest examples that being perceived as gay simply isn't the big deal it once was for Hollywood stars and professional athletes. It's a changed world.

Third, we had a reminder that the world isn't completely changed as a 13-year-old boy was arrested for his part in two weeks of attacks on patrons of a Cleveland gay bar. As one employee, who was beaten and threatened with rape with a broomstick, said, ''That means he was taught that hatred. He was taught to be violent.''

What do these three things say when taken together? That the end of our political road is within sight. In the past four years, we've ended the ban on open military service of LGB people. Marriage equality isn't complete simply because the Supreme Court decided to slow walk the issue, even as the rulings pointed which direction the court is heading. (Hint: It's the correct direction.) The Employment Non-Discrimination Act isn't stalled because it's a gay issue, it's stalled because it's a primarily Democratic issue in a Republican obstructionist House. It's another case of ''when'' not ''if.''

(You'll rightly note the glaring lack of the transgender ''T'' from this point of view. That's because the political struggle for transgender equality still has a long way to go. And we need to be there for them.)

It means the battle for gay and lesbian equality becomes less political and more cultural. It's always been both, but in the past politics has been our refuge from a culture that scorned and hated us. That's no longer the case, as we've become a part of everyday American life.

That's not a declaration of victory. If 60 percent of Americans support equality, that means 40 percent don't. And those 40 percent — likely concentrated in some areas, like rural counties that want to secede because they can't stand losing elections — will have kids, some of whom will be gay, some of whom will be taught to hate. That battle won't be won in an election, it'll be won through providing the support and education for younger generations, gay and straight. It'll be won through more people coming out in their communities and families. It'll be won by looking beyond Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol Hill to our schools, churches and towns.

It'll be won by all of us.

Sean Bugg is editor emeritus of Metro Weekly and the executive director of the Next Generation Leadership Foundation. Follow him on Twitter @seanbugg or email him at seanbugg@gmail.com.

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Feature Story:

It never ceases to amaze how remarkably rich, involving and varied the theater scene in Washington is. But it's always been that way -- only now there's more of it than ever. No matter what you're looking for -- a bit of the bard, a dash of song and dance, a searing family drama -- it's all out there for the taking. Plus, after years of darkness, the National Theatre has a full season ahead, starting with the pre-Broadway engagement of If/Then, starring Idina Menzel. And if it's more star power you crave, the Shakespeare has Stacy Keach and Baryshnikov; Arena, Estelle Parsons and Kathleen Turner; and Signature, the always-stunning Christine Lahti. As for the Kennedy Center? They're mounting a new, self-produced version of Side Show that's sure to dazzle. But it's September you'll want to keep your eyes on, as Studio dusts off Harvey Fierstein's masterwork, Torch Song Trilogy, and Ford's puts its everything into The Laramie Project, the first time Moises Kaufman's play has received a full production in our area. To which we say, it's about damn time.

ADVENTURE THEATRE MTC

7300 MacArthur Blvd.Glen Echo, Md.301-634-2270adventuretheatre-mtc.org

Goodnight Moon -- A nocturnal bunny, dancing bears, a red balloon and a magical bedroom are the anchors of this play based on the iconic children's book by Margaret Wise Brown (9/20-10/27) The Twelve Days of Christmas -- A world premiere comedy based on the traditional holiday song. Directed by Michael Dove (11/15-12/30) Miss Nelson is Missing -- Where has the beloved teacher Miss Nelson gone? Based on the books by Harry Allard, with music and lyrics by Joan Cushing (1/17/14-3/9/14) The Jungle Book (4/4/14-5/25/14) Pinkalicious (6/20/14-8/31/14)

AMERICAN CENTURY THEATER

Gunston Theater II2700 South Lang St.Arlington703-998-4555americancentury.org

Come Blow Your Horn -- Neil Simon's first Broadway hit. Directed by Rip Claussen (9/12-10/12) Bang the Drum Slowly -- A baseball player contends with a terminal illness (1/10/14-2/1/14) Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad -- A black, absurdist comedy by Arthur Kopit (3/21/14-4/12/14) Judgment at Nuremberg (5/30/14-6/28/14) The Great American Century Songbook (7/18/14-8/16/14)

ARENA STAGE

Mead Center for American Theater1101 6th St. SW202-488-3300arenastage.org

The Velocity of Autumn -- Estelle Parsons stars in this pre-Broadway engagement of Eric Coble's new play about a 79-year-old Brooklyn woman whose long-absent son arrives to mediate a family conflict. Directed by Molly Smith (Now to 10/20, Kreeger) Love in Afghanistan -- A world premiere drama from Charles Randolph-Wright about an Afghan interpreter and a hip-hop artist who find love in the most unlikely of places (10/11-11/17, Kogod) Tappin' Thru Life -- Maurice Hines and the Manzari Brothers team up for this staged memoir that also pays tribute to Hines's late brother, Gregory. They're joined by the all-female Diva Orchestra. Directed by Jeff Calhoun (11/15-12/29, Kreeger) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? -- Malcolm Jamal-Warner stars in a new adaptation of the classic film about a progressive white couple whose liberal sensibilities are put to the test when their daughter brings her African-American fiancé home to meet them. Directed by Kenny Leon (11/29-1/5/14, Fichandler) The Tallest Tree in the Forest -- Moises Kaufman directs this world premiere that details the life story of Paul Robeson, whose acting and singing career was brought down when he was accused of disloyalty to America (1/10/14-2/16/14, Kreeger) Mother Courage and Her Children -- Kathleen Turner, who's getting to be quite a regular at Arena, stars in the classic Bertolt Brecht epic about a matriarch who profits off war in the face of tragedy. Also starring Nicholas Rodriguez. Directed by Molly Smith (1/31/14-3/09/14, Fichandler) Camp David -- Pulitzer Prize-winner Lawrence Wright pens this dramatization about the historical meeting between President Jimmy Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. A world premiere directed by Molly Smith (3/21/14-5/4/14, Kreeger) Smokey Joe's Cafe -- Randy Johnson stages this rock classic celebrating the songs of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, including "Jailhouse Rock," "Hound Dog," "Stand by Me" and "On Broadway" (4/25/14-6/8/14, Fichandler)

CONSTELLATION THEATRE

1835 14th St. NW202-204-7741constellationtheatre.org

36 Views -- Allison Stockman directs this "carefully textured exploration of the meaning of truth" by Naomi Iizuka (10/24-11/24) Scapin -- A wild physical comedy from the twisted minds of Bill Irwin and Mark O'Donnell. Directed by Kathryn Chase Bryer (1/16/14-2/16/14) The Love of the Nightingale -- Playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker adapts Ovid's myth about Philomele, Procne and Tereus, in which family loyalties, desire and violence merge and erupt (4/24/14-5/25/14)

DOMINION STAGE

Gunston Theatre One2700 S. Lang St.Arlington703-683-0502dominionstage.org

Sordid Lives -- The Del Shores comedy about a small-town Texas family who must deal with the accidental death of a matriarch (10/11-10/26) Urinetown, the Musical (Jan., 2014) The Little Dog Laughed (April/May, 2014)

FOLGER THEATRE

201 East Capitol St. SE202-544-7077folger.edu

Romeo and Juliet -- Aaron Posner directs one of the most time-honored classics from the bard, featuring Michael Goldsmith and Erin Weaver as the forbidden teen lovers set on a path of tragedy (10/15-12/1) Richard III -- Drew Cortese takes on one of the most iconic of Shakespeare's roles, the king misshapen of both body and soul. Fun fact: this will be the first time in the history of the theater that the space will be reconfigured to present a play in the round. Directed by Robert Richmond (1/28/14-3/9/14) Fiasco Theater's The Two Gentlemen of Verona -- New York's inventive theater company brings its whimsical version of Shakespeare's light comedy (4/17/14-5/25/14)

FORD'S THEATRE

511 10th St. NW202-347-4833fordstheatre.org

The Laramie Project -- Remarkably, this is the first time Moises Kaufman's play, a deeply poignant portrait of a community impacted by the murder Matthew Shepard, has gotten a full run D.C. (9/27-10/27) A Christmas Carol -- Edward Gero returns to play Scrooge in Michael Baron's adaptation of the Dickens classic (11/21-1/1/14) Violet -- In this musical, directed by Jeff Calhoun, a young woman disfigured by a childhood accident travels in search of a miracle cure promised by a televangelist (1/24/14-2/23/14) The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee -- William Finn's delightful crowd-pleasing musical is a natural, obvious fit for Ford's (3/14/14-5/17/14)

FORUM THEATRE

Round House Silver Spring8641 Coleville RoadSilver Spring240-644-1390forumtd.org

Agnes Under the Big Top -- A comedy about immigrant life in America (Now to 9/28) Meena's Dream (1/8-19/14) Pluto (2/20/14-3/15/14) The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (5/22/14-6/14/14)

GALA HISPANIC THEATRE

3333 14th St. NW202-234-7174galatheatre.org

Cabaret Barroco: Interludes of Spain's Golden Age -- A bawdy and playful cabaret (Now to 10/6) The Young Lady from Tacna -- Jose Carrasquillo directs this tale that delves into the imagination of a writer trying to depict a great romance (2/6/14-3/9/14) Living Out -- A lawyer and her Salvadoran nanny, both mothers, struggle to make better lives for their children in this play by Lisa Loomer. Directed by Abel Lopez (4/24/14-5/18/14)

KEEGAN THEATRE

1742 Church St. NW703-892-0202

keegantheatre.com The Sunshine Boys -- Neil Simon's warm, funny play about a former vaudevillian comedy team reunited for a final show (9/28-10/19) The Woman in Black -- Stephen Mallatratt's startling drama makes its Washington debut (10/31-11/30) An Irish Carol -- Mark Reha directs this annual holiday tradition, an homage to the Dickens classic, told as only the Irish can. An annual tradition (12/13-29) The Best Man -- Gore Vidal's drama about presidential politics (1/25/14-2/22/14) Hair -- The classic rock musical lets the sun shine in at Church Street (3/15/14-4/12/14) Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight -- A loud, boisterous screwball comedy by Peter Ackerman. Directed by Colin Smith (5/3-24/14) A Midsummer Night's Riot -- A one-man tour-de-force from Irish playwright Rosemary Jenkinson (5/6-25/14)

Million Dollar Quartet

(Photo by Paul Natkin)

KENNEDY CENTER

202-467-4600kennedy-center.org

Million Dollar Quartet -- Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins together again (9/24-10/6, Eisenhower) Sister Act -- A singer witnesses a crime and hides out in a convent. Based on the hit film (10/29-11/10, Opera House) Elf the Musical -- Based on the film, the musical recounts the story of Buddy, an elf who leaves the North Pole to find his purpose in life (12/17-1/5/14, Opera House) Flashdance, the Musical-- Another movie adaptation of a hit film (12/25-1/19/14, Eisenhower) Peter and the Starcatcher -- A "grown-up" musical prequel to Peter Pan won five Tonys. Based on the Disney novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (1/28/14-2/16/14, Eisenhower) Side Show -- Directed by Bill Condon, this is a Kennedy Center-produced revival of the hit musical about conjoined twins (6/14/14-7/13/14, Eisenhower) Disney's The Lion King -- Julie Taymor's lavish, inventive adaptation of the popular animated film returns with a roar (6/17/14-8/17/14, Opera House)

METRO STAGE

1201 North Royal St.Alexandria703-548-9044metrostage.org

Gee's Bend -- Thomas W. Jones II directs this play interwoven with gospel music that tells the story of the women of Gee's Bend, Ala., who, during the Civil Rights movement, turn to quilting to provide comfort and context to their lives (Now to 11/3) A Broadway Christmas Carol -- Michael Sharp returns to direct Kathy Feininger's cross between the Dickens classic and parodies of 33 classic show tunes (11/21-12/22) Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song -- Maurice Hines directs and choreographs this celebration of the legendary jazz singer (1/23-3/16/14) The Thousandth Night -- An actor is arrested and avoids his fate by playing 38 characters from the Arabian Nights. Directed by John Vreeke (4/3/14-5/18/14) Underneath the Lintel -- Glen Berger's play concerns a Dutch librarian, a returned library book 113 years overdue and the obsession to locate its owner (4/17/14-5/25/14)

NATIONAL THEATRE

1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW202-628-6161nationaltheatre.org

If/Then -- Idina Menzel stars in this pre-Broadway musical from the creators of Next to Normal (Opens 11/6) Porgy and Bess -- The Gerwin classic that won the 2012 Tony for Best Revival (12/25-29) American Idiot -- The Green Day musical (2/18-23/14) Mamma Mia! -- The ABBA musical returns to spread more dancing-queen joy (3/4-9/14) Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight -- Yes, he's still doing it, and nope, there's no finer personification of Twain (4/4-5/14) West Side Story -- One of the greatest musicals of all time in a new revival (6/3-8/14)

OLNEY THEATRE CENTER

2001 Olney-Sandy Spring RoadOlney, Md.301-924-3400olneytheatre.org

Saint Joan and Hamlet -- A rotating rep from the BEDLAM theater company of classics by George Bernard Shaw and Shakespeare (9/5-10/27, Theatre Lab) Rancho Mirage -- A black comedy about three couples who decide to tell the truth at a dinner party (9/26-10/20, Mainstage) The King and I -- Mark Waldrop directs this classic musical about a despotic king who learns the meaning of love through his children's tutor (11/14-12/29, Mainstage) How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying -- The buoyant Frank Loesser musical kicks off Olney's new season, which officially starts in January (1/29/14-2/23/14) I and You -- Two students unravel a Walt Whitman poem and find romance (2/26/14-3/23/14, Theatre Lab) Once On This Island -- A jubilant musical set in the Caribbean (4/9/14-5/4/14, Mainstage) The Piano Lesson -- The August Wilson classic (5/7/14-6/1/14, Theatre Lab) Avenue Q -- Puppets say the most adult things (6/11/14-7/6/14, Mainstage)

REP STAGE

10901 Little Patuxent ParkwayColumbia, Md.443-518-1500repstage.org

A Young Lady of Property -- Michael Stebbins directs this Horton Foote drama about a young, lonely woman who inherits a house after her mother dies (Now to 9/29) I Am My Own Wife -- Doug Wright's 2004 Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning one-person show is based on the true story of German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (10/30-11/17) The Piano Teacher -- An elderly widow learns more than she wanted to know in this mystery from Julia Cho (2/5-23/14) The Fantasticks -- The Tom Jones-Harvey Schmidt musical still enchants after all these years. Features the classic song, "Try to Remember" (4/30/14-5/18/14)

ROUND HOUSE THEATRE

4545 East-West HighwayBethesda240-644-1100roundhousetheatre.org

This -- An unromantic comedy with music (10/9-11/3) The Lyons -- Gay playwright Nicky Silver's scathingly funny Broadway hit, directed here by John Vreeke (11/27-12/22) Seminar -- Theresa Rebeck's comedy looks at writing as a contact sport. Directed by Jerry Whiddon (2/5/14-3/2/14) Two Trains Running -- August Wilson's portrait of African-American life in the '60s (4/2-27/14) Ordinary Days -- Adam Gwon's musical is about "growing up and enjoying the view (5/28/14-6/22/14)

SCENA THEATRE

H Street Playhouse1365 H St. NE703-683-2824scenatheatre.org

The Marriage of Maria Braun -- A stage version of the Fassbinder film (9/14-10/11) Handbag -- The U.S. premiere of Mark Ravenhill's comedy about the absurdities of parenting (Dec.) The Veil -- The latest work from the pen of legendary Irish playwright Conor McPherson (March 2014)

SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY

Harman Center for the Arts610 F St. NWLansburgh Theatre450 7th St. NW202-547-1122shakespearetheatre.org

Measure for Measure -- One of Shakespeare's darker comedies, director Jonathan Munby has reportedly put enough of an edge on the show to add a warning that it's intended for ages 18 and up. One look at the poster tells you why (Now to 10/27, Lansburgh) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum -- Stephen Sondheim's uproarious musical is a riff on life in Roman times (11/21-1/5/14, Harman Hall) Man in A Case -- Mikhail Baryshnikov stars in this production, adapted by two stories by Anton Chekhov, mounted by the Big Dance Theater (12/5-22, Lansburgh) The Importance of Being Earnest -- Oscar Wilde's extraordinarily witty comedy, directed by Keith Baxter (1/16/14-3/2/14, Lansburgh) Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 -- Michael Kahn directs the epic history plays, running in rep and starring Stacy Keach as Falstaff (3/25/14-6/8/14, Harman Hall) Private Lives -- Maria Aitken directs Noel Coward's sublime comedy of manners (5/29/14-7/13/14, Lansburgh)

SIGNATURE THEATRE

4200 Campbell Ave.Arlington703-820-9771signature-theatre.org

Miss Saigon -- From the team that brought us Les Miz, a big, ballady spectacle set amid the fall of Saigon (Now to 10/6, Max) Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill -- Michael Kahn directs Christine Lahti in this drama about the toxic qualities of suburbia (10/15-12/8, Ark) Crossing -- The world premiere of Matt Conner's new musical, exploring the stories of eight people from different decades who come together at a train station (10/29-11/24, Max) Gypsy -- One of the greatest of all American musicals makes its Signature debut. Starring Sherri L. Edelen as Momma Rose. Directed by Joe Calarco (12/17-1/19/14, Max) Beaches -- Eric Schaeffer directs this musical adaptation of the beloved book by Iris Rainer Dart (2/18/14-3/23/14, Max) Tender Napalm -- Matthew Gardiner directs this edgy, new battle-of-the-sexes drama by Philip Ridley (3/18/14-5/11/14, Ark) The Threepenny Opera -- Matthew Gardiner directs the audacious Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical (4/22/14-6/1/14, Max)

Torch Song Trilogy: Brandon Uranowitz as Arnold

(Photo by Igor Dmitry)

STUDIO THEATRE

1501 14th St. NW202-332-3300studiotheatre.org

Torch Song Trilogy -- Harvey Fierstein's 1981 gay epic that put him on the map as a major theatrical force. Michael Kahn directs (Now to 10/13) The Night Watcher -- Charlayne Woodard performs her rich and powerful one-woman show on motherhood (10/23-11/17) The Apple Family Plays -- Serge Seiden directs the first two plays in Richard Nelson's quartet about the Apples, set at successive meals over a course of four years. That Hopey Changey Thing and Sweet and Sad run in rep (Opens 11/13-12/29) Edgar and Annabel -- Holly Twyford directs this bracing drama in which a woman comes home to find that the government has replaced her husband with a new man (12/11-1/5/14, 2ndstage) Tribes -- Presented in cooperation with Gallaudet University, Nina Raine's groundbreaking drama tells the story of a deaf man who lives life on his own terms. Directed by David Muse (1/8/14-2/16/14) Water by the Spoonful -- In this 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winner, the lives of four addicts collide with an ex-Marine in North Philly (3/5/14-4/13/14) Moth -- The friendship between an anime-obsessed teenage boy and an emo-Wiccan girl is forever changed by a huge event on the athletic field (4/9/14-5/4/14, 2ndstage) Cock -- A gay man on break from his boyfriend meets the woman of his dreams in Mike Barlett's provocative work (5/14/14-6/22/14) Beats -- Kieran Hurley performs his one-man show about a teen sneaking off to a rave. A hit at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (6/11-29/14) classic about a playwright and his complicated relationship with his wife. Directed by David Muse (Opens 5/22/13) Carrie: The Musical -- Keith Allen Baker directs this over-the-top musical (that failed spectacularly on Broadway when it first debuted) with a (hopeful) eye toward extreme camp (7/9/14-8/3/14, 2ndstage)

SYNETIC THEATER

1800 South Bell St.Crystal CityArlington800-494-8497synetictheater.org

The Picture of Dorian Gray -- Synetic puts its unique stamp on Oscar Wilde's dark chiller. Paata Tsikurishvili directs (9/26-11/3) Twelfth Night -- The 10th installment in Synetic's "Silent Shakespeare" series (1/9/14-2/16/14) Hamlet -- A revival of the production that started it all for Synetic (3/14/14-4/6/14) Three Men in a Boat -- Three men take a holiday from work and encounter all manner of misadventures. Directed by Derek Goldman (5/8/14-6/8/14)

THEATRE J

1529 16th St. NW800-494-8497theaterj.org

After the Revolution -- The brilliant, promising Emma Joseph discovers a troubling secret about her blacklisted grandfather, Emma must confront her family's legacy in Amy Herzog's drama (Now to 10/6) The Argument -- A 40-something couple's new relationship is rocked by pregnancy (10/23-11/24) Woody Sez -- A boisterous retelling of the life of troubadour Woody Guthrie blends musical numbers, scenes from Guthrie's life and excerpts from his progressive newspaper column (11/29-12/14) Our Suburb -- Darrah Cloud's drama, an homage to Our Town, is set in suburban Illinois when the Nazis marched on Skokie (12/19-1/12/14) Yellow Face -- David Henry Hwang's play revolves around experiences from his own life as he mistakenly casts an actor based on perception and creates a hypocritical moment for himself (1/29/14-2/23/14) The Admission -- An Israeli homage to All My Sons set in Haifa during the first Intifada. Directed by Sinai Peter (3/20/14-4/27/14) Freud's Last Session -- Serge Seiden directs Mark St. Germain's play in which Freud engages with C.S. Lewis in an exchange about God, love, sex and life (5/14/14-6/29/14) The Prostate Dialogues -- John Spellman performs his own work, commissioned by Theater J, in which he explores masculinity and mortality in the face of cancer. Directed by Jerry Whiddon (5/30/14-6/29/14)

WASHINGTON IMPROV THEATER

Source1835 14th St. NW202-204-7770washingtonimprovtheater.com

District Improv Festival -- The first such national festival in D.C., dedicated to promoting longform improv. More than 30 troupes, both from D.C. and as far away as Toronto, will participate (9/24-29) POTUS Among Us-- A hilarious take on the American political system in a fully improvised production, created instantly every show (10/11-11/5) Harold Night -- Each Tuesday is a demonstration and experimentation in the world-famous longform technique, Harold (every Tuesday night) Seasonal Disorder -- WIT's annual holiday madness (12/5-28)

WASHINGTON STAGE GUILD

Undercroft Theatre900 Massachusetts Ave. NWstageguild.org

Inventing van Gogh -- A contemporary painter is hired to forge a lost van Gogh (10/31-11/24) The Old Masters -- An art critic and an art dealer squabble over a Renaissance painting Paul Mellon might purchase (1/2-26/14) Back to Methuselah -- An epic cycle of George Bernard Shaw plays rarely performed, including one of the first works of science fiction ever put onstage (2/20/14-3/16/14) Elling -- Oddly matched roommates must cope with the real world and each other (4/24/14-5/18/14)

WOOLLY MAMMOTH

641 D St. NW202-393-3939woollymammoth.net

Detroit -- Lisa D'Amour's explosive dark comedy finds an unemployed man starting an e-business only to watch things unravel once new neighbors move in. Directed by John Vreeke (Now to 10/6) Appropriate -- An audacious comic drama in which the estranged members of a family return to Arkansas, and their crumbling old plantation home, to settle the accounts of their recently deceased patriarch. Of course, there's a family secret in need of finding (11/4-12/1) Just the Two of Each of Us -- The Pajama Men perform their latest fast-paced comedy (12/10-1/5/14) We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero Of Namibia, Formerly Known As South West Africa, From The German Sudwestafrika, Between The Years 1884-1915 -- A group of idealistic actors attempt to tell the little-known story of a centuries-old conflict in South West Africa (2/10/14-3/9/14) Arguendo -- The innovative company Elevator Repair Service applies its unique theatrical style to the Supreme Court, tackling the 1991 First Amendment case where a group of go-go dancers petitioned for their right to perform completely naked (3/31/14-4/20/14) The Totalitarians -- The ambitious speechwriter for a rich housewife's vanity campaign for public office stumbles upon a perfectly patriotic slogan and it produces campaign gold. Directed by Robert O'Hara (6/2-29/14) ...more

Feature Story:

From Beyoncé to Pharrell Williams to the Zac Brown Band, if it’s big you want, big you can get this season at area concert venues. But there’s also Cyndi Lauper and Pet Shop Boys -- and a whole slew of other gay-popular acts stopping through town, including Ani DiFranco, Marques Toliver and Tommy Tune. There’s also, as ever, a large number of visiting acts who were popular at least a generation ago and are hoping to capitalize on your creeping sense of nostalgia. Why, Simple Minds at 9:30 Club and -- from even further out of left field -- Molly Ringwald at Blues Alley? Well, as they say, don’t forget about them as you plan your concert calendar.

2012 SONIC CIRCUITS

dc-soniccircuits.org

This year’s annual Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music doubles in duration to become a six-day affair, and expands to three venues, adding AFI Silver Theatre Cultural Center and Union Arts & Manufacturing to the home base of the Atlas Performing Arts Center. Among the 47 artists scheduled to perform this year: BLK TAG, Sharon Mansur & Tara Rodgers, bAgg*fisH, Craig Hilton, Fast Forty, John 3:16, The Jazzfakers, Sonar and The Subtle Body Transmission Orchestra. (10/1-6)

9:30 CLUB

815 V St. NW 202-265-0930 930.com

Pinback w/Deathfix -- Rich Morel’s great band with Brendan Canty opens for this San Diego indie-rock group (9/15) Youth Lagoon (9/16) City and Colour (9/17) Lettuce and John Scofield Uberjam Band (9/20) Deerhunter -- Atlanta-based experimental rock band fronted by the queer Bradford Cox (9/21) Stereophonics (9/22) Okkervil River (9/23) Oh Land (9/25) ZZ Ward (9/28) Superchunk (9/29) Stars -- Straightforward, catchy pop (9/30) Daughter (10/1) Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg w/Andrew W.K. (10/2) Boy (10/3) Boyce Avenue (10/4) James Murphy -- The former LCD Soundsystem head man and still head honcho at DFA Records is also a sharp, top-notch DJ (10/4) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (10/5) The Naked and Famous (10/7) Soul Asylum and Fountains of Wayne w/Evan Dando (10/9) Ra Ra Riot w/Caveman (10/11) They Might Be Giants (10/12) Bonobo -- A bit twee soul-tipped electronica (10/13) Noah and the Whale (10/16) Lee Fields and the Expressions (10/17) Simple Minds -- Doh-doh-doh-doh, don’t you, forget about them (10/18) The Dismemberment Plan (10/19-20) Toro Y Moi w/Classix -- Disco-dipped opening act recently toured with The Presets and Dragonette (10/21) The Waterboys (10/22) Father John Misty -- The pseudonym of singer-songwriter J. Tillman, who channels Nick Drake and Ryan Adams in his sadly beautiful folk-rock tunes (10/23) Cold War Kids (10/24) Sparks (10/27) Man Man (10/27) Frightened Rabbit (10/29) Built To Spill (11/1) Holy Ghost! w/Midnight Magic -- If you haven’t gotten hip to this very New Order-esque electro band, who in fact opened for New Order this summer, it’s high time; opening act is a newfangled old-school disco band (11/1) James Blake (11/2) Ani DiFranco w/Melissa Ferrick -- The folk-rock goddess and lesbian folk-rock veteran (11/5) Polica (11/6) Toad The Wet Sprocket w/Lee DeWyze -- Remember this ’90s hit-making band? Remember the 9th winner of American Idol? (11/7) J. Roddy Walston and the Business (11/7) Leftover Salmon (11/8) Lotus (11/9-10) Kate Nash -- Another edgy female Brit pop star trying to cross the pond (11/11) Gary Clark Jr. -- A guitar-shredding blues man who has diehard guitar-heads swooning (11/12-13) Sister Hazel (11/14) The Devil Makes Three (11/15) Conspirator (11/15) GRIZ (11/16) GWAR (11/17) Sleigh Bells -- No matter the buzz, this cold, noisy band is exceptionally hard to warm to (11/19) Figure & Crizzly (11/20) Stephen Kellogg (11/21) M. Doughty (used to be in) Soul Coughing -- Mike Doughty plays the best of Soul Coughing, if that means anything to you (11/22) Super Diamond -- The next best thing to a real Neil Diamond show, so they say (11/23) twenty one pilots -- Bratty white-boy electro-punk meets hip-hop, as strange as it sounds (11/25) Brett Eldredge (11/3) Animal Collective -- An intimate show from this wild, weird, big-sound arena band from Baltimore (12/1)

ARTISPHERE

1101 Wilson Blvd. Arlington 703-875-1100 artisphere.com

Janka Nabay & The Bubu Gang and Tal National -- A purveyor of the frantically paced dance style known as bubu, which originated in Sierra Leone, performs with his gang on a billing that also includes the 13-piece African fusion folk band from Niger (9/14) Sidi Toure -- A world-renowned pianist, back around still in support of last year’s (9/28) Roberto Fonseca -- A world-renowned pianist, who toured with the Buena Vista Social Club, is known for fusing Latin jazz, urban music and African rhythms with the sounds of his Cuban heritage (10/4) La Santa Cecilia -- L.A.-based sextet blends up-tempo South American rhythms with Afro-Cuban percussion, as well as rock and jazz (11/1)

ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

1333 H St. NE 202-399-7993 atlasarts.org

TranSoul -- Composer Michael Bowie leads his fearless music ensemble Sine Qua Non in a dance-theater journey through jazz, classical and world music, in collaboration with the Alliance for New Music Theatre, Shawn Short and his dancers from the Dissonance Dance Theatre (9/19-21) Bassekou Kouyate -- This Malian is one of the true masters of the ngoni, an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa (9/20) Billy Hart Quartet -- A D.C. native and master percussionist (9/25) Christine Salem (10/3) Corey Harris (10/5) Snakeoil -- Tim Berne leads this jazz quartet featuring pianist Matt Mitchell, percussionist Ches Smith and bass clarinetist Oscar Noriega (10/9) Vieux Farka Toure (10/11) Brian Settles & Central Union (10/23) Liner Notes -- Music from the O’Jays, Dizzy Gillepsie, Outkast, the Bee Gees, Salt-n-Pepa and more factor into “It’s a Family Affair,” the second of three Liner Notes performances at the Atlas this season (10/25-26) Steve Lehman Octet (11/13) Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O (12/19)

BARNS AT WOLF TRAP

1635 Trap Road Vienna 877-WOLFTRAP wolftrap.org

Dave Mason -- Former member of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band Traffic (10/2-3) Battlefield Band -- An original mix of traditional Scottish ballads and pub songs with modern touches (10/4) Kris Delmhorst, Jeffrey Foucault -- Moody, stark folk music (10/5) Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott -- A night of folk and bluegrass and country (10/10) The Wallflowers -- The Grammy-winning band led by Jakob “Son of Bob” Dylan (10/11) The Bobs -- Humorous a cappella quartet transforming rock jams such as “Helter Skelter” into synchronized silliness (10/12) Celtic Fiddle Festival -- Group of three fine violinists juxtapose European influences and Celtic traditions (10/16) Sam Bush -- A bluegrass rocker and mandolin player billed as the “King of Newgrass” (10/24) Jesse Winchester (10/25) Magpie 40th Anniversary -- Folk duo celebrating four decades of populist songs (10/26) Maura O’Connell -- A farewell tour for singer of Irish folk songs and American country tunes (10/31) Michael Nesmith (11/4) Edgar Meyer, Mike Marshall -- Classical crossover, double-bass player teams up with mandolin and guitar player with passion for global folk songs (11/8) Melissa Errico - “A Passion for Broadway” (11/9) Lisa Marie Presley -- Yes, a concert by the daughter of Elvis and one-time Mrs. Michael Jackson (11/15) Austin Lounge Lizards -- Satirists return with new album Home and Deranged, featuring a lively blend of Americana, folk and rock underneath four-part harmony and witty wordplay (11/16) Kekuhi & Kaumakaiwa Kanaka’ole -- A mother-son legacy act presenting native Hawaiian songs (11/22) Jonathan Edwards -- Feel-good honky tonk and heartfelt bluegrass (11/23) John Eaton -- Jazz pianist offers an educational and entertaining program of standards from “The Roaring Twenties: A Salute to the Jazz Age” (11/30) John Medeski in Concert -- Jazz pianist makes his solo debut, leaving Martin & Wood behind this round (12/5) Bill Frisell’s Big Sur Quintet -- Featuring Eyvind Kang, Hank Roberts, Rudy Royston and Jenny Scheinman (12/6) International Guitar Night -- Billed as North America’s premier touring guitar festival, featuring Brian Gore, Italy’s Pino Forastiere, England’s Mike Dawes and Argentina’s Quique Sinesi (1/16-1/17/14) Ari Hest w/special guest Sarah Siskind -- Poignant and heartfelt folk-rock (1/18/14) Ladysmith Black Mambazo -- South Africa’s celebrated all-male a cappella group returns (1/27/14, 2/5/14)

THE BIRCHMERE

3701 Mount Vernon Ave. Alexandria 703-549-7500 birchmere.com

Bill Kirchen & Too Much Fun (9/14) The Infamous Stringdusters -- 2013 American Rivers Tour (9/19) Joe Sample’s Creole Joe Band -- featuring Chenier and Ray Parker Jr. -- yes, yes, who you gonna call? Mr. “Ghostbusters” (9/20) Richard Thompson (9/22) Alejandro Escovedo & Shelby Lynne (9/24) Sarah Jarosz w/Aoife O’Donnovan (9/25) Tower of Power (9/26) The Wailin’ Jennys (9/30) Mediaeval Baebes (10/1) BoDeans (10/2) Colin Hay -- Who can it be now? The former Men at Work frontman, that’s who (10/4-6) BWB -- The jazz band featuring Norman Brown, Kirk Whalum and Rick Braun (10/7) Buddy Guy (10/8) Jorge Drexler (10/10) The Gourds (10/11) The Whispers (10/12) Over The Rhine with Tift Merritt (10/13) Phil Vassar (Band) (10/14) Kenny G -- He’s still smooth-sax’ing it up -- and, remarkably, some people still like it (10/15-16) Vanessa Carlton -- “A Thousand Miles” and back to the Birchmere (10/17) Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone (10/18) Keiko Matsui (10/19) Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mt. Boys -- Man of Constant Sorrow Tour: The Dr.’s Farewell (10/20) Rickie Lee Jones -- The Devil You Know Tour (10/21) Lizz Wright & Raul Midon -- A night of fiery good soul (10/22) Madeleine Peyroux (10/24) An Evening of Bluegrass -- featuring Noam Pikelny, Bryan Sutton, Jesse Cobb, Luke Bulla, Barry Bales (10/25) Russell Moore & 111RD TYME OUT and Sleepy Man Banjo Boys (10/27) Peter Wolf (10/28) American with John Flynn (10/30) Marc Broussard -- Well hello, cute Cajun! (10/31) Dailey & Vincent -- Nashville-based bluegrass duo (11/1) Tom Paxton (11/2) Griffin House & Charlie Mars (11/3) Turnpike Troubadours w/The Mallet Brothers Band (11/6) Delbert McClinton w/Teresa James (11/7) David Bromberg Big Band (11/8) Al Stewart w/Kiki Ebsen (11/10) The Time Jumpers -- featuring Brian Albin, Larry Franklin, Paul Franklin, Vince Gill, “Ranger Doug” Green, Andy Reiss, Dawn Sears, Kenny Sears, Jeff Taylor and Billy Thomas (11/13) Oleta Adams -- ’90s-era R&B hit-maker don’t care how you get there, just get there if you can (11/15) Joe Ely & Paul Thorn (11/21) Kindred The Family Soul -- married soul duo first discovered and still on Jill Scott’s label Hidden Beach Recordings (11/22-23) Acoustic Alchemy (11/24) Preservation Hall Jazz Band -- “Creole Christmas” (12/2) A Peter White Christmas (12/5) Blood Sweat & Tears (12/6) Natalie MacMaster -- “Christmas in Cape Breton” (12/8) Rick Springfield -- “Stripped Down” An Intimate Solo Performance of Music & Storytelling (12/12) Mint Condition -- Holiday Show (12/14) Christine Lavin & Uncle Bonsa (12/15) Carbon Leaf (12/19-20) Pieces of a Dream (12/21) Debi Smith -- “Hits & Holiday” show w/special guest appearance by the Smith Sisters (12/22) Syleena Johnson (12/26) 17th Annual Hank Williams Tribute Show -- Featuring Claire Lynch, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Robin & Linda Williams & Their Fine Group, Rickie Simpkins, Mark Schatz (12/27) Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes (12/28)

BLACK CAT

1811 14th St. NW 202-667-4490 blackcatdc.com

Black Cat 20th Anniversary Party -- Various bands stop by to sing a song or two as a toast to the venue (9/13-14) Screaming Females (9/17) D.O.A. (9/18) Austra (9/19) Kingsley Flood (9/20) The Get It! (9/21) MS MR -- Great new mixed-gender synthpop duo from Brooklyn, just waiting for you to become a fan (9/22) Naturally 7 (9/23) The End of America (9/24) Ugly Purple Sweater (9/25) Langhorne Slim & The Law (9/28) Blitzen Trapper (9/27) Electric Six (9/28) Saves The Day (9/29) The Dodos (10/1) Communion DC -- Featuring Rubblebucket, Roadkill Ghost Tour, Willy Mason with Yacht Club DJs (10/2) Antibalas -- The great Afro-pop band, which provided the muscle behind the musical Fela! (10/3) Cryfest: The Crybaby Championship of the World! -- The Cure vs. The Smiths Dance Party w/DJs Steve EP, DJ Missguided, Killa K and Krasty McNasty (10/4) Wavves (10/5) The Growlers (10/6) Mount Kimbie (10/9) Quasi (10/10) The 1975 (10/11) Gold Panda (10/12) The Helio Sequence, Menomena (10/13) Gemini Club (10/14) Jacco Gardner (10/15) Starlight Girls, Easter Island (10/16) Those Darlins (10/17) The Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds (10/19) Yip Deceiver (10/21) Ultra Bide (10/22) Delorean (10/24) Senses Fail (10/25) Windian Records Showcase (10/26) Gary Numan (10/27) Cults (10/29) The Dickies (10/30) Crystal Stilts (10/30) King Khan & The Shrines (11/1) Black Lips (11/2) Sebadoh (11/3) Melt Banana (11/4) Young Galaxy (11/7) The Blow (11/8) Active Child (11/11) The Limousines (11/12) He’s My Brother She’s My Sister (11/16) Minor Alps -- Matthew Caws of Nada Surf and Juliana Hatfield (11/19) Gringo Star (11/21) Escort (11/22) Os Mutantes (11/23)

BLUES ALLEY

1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW 703-549-7500 bluesalley.com

Frederic Yonnet (9/14-15) Casey Abrams (9/16) Toluminde (9/17) Elan Trotman (9/18) Stanley Jordan (9/19-22) Deon Yates’ Soul Project (9/23) Andrew White (9/24) Roberto Pomili (9/25) Roy Ayers (9/26) Nicole Henry (10/1) Jacqui Naylor (10/2) Rachelle Ferrell (10/3-6) Roy Hargrove (10/8-13) Wolf & Clark Expedition -- A piano and drums duo who could also be known as The Michaels: Michael Wolff and Michael Clark (10/15) Michael “Big Mike” Lynche (10/16) Stanley Clarke (10/17-20) Tessa Souter Band (10/21) Lenny Marcus (10/23) Angela Stribling (10/24) Najee (10/25-27_ Regina Belle (11/1-3) Roberta Gambarini (11/7-10) Jonathan Butler (11/14-17) Molly Ringwald -- Yes, indeed, the actor known from seminal John Hughes films of the ’80s is now, improbably enough, making the rounds as a jazz vocalist, including even covering The Breakfast Club theme song (11/19-20) Fred Hersch & Julian Lage (11/22-24) Alex Bugnon (11/29-12/1) Arturo Sandoval (12/5-8)

BOHEMIAN CAVERNS

2001 11TH ST. NW 202-299-0800 bohemiancaverns.com

Jacky Terrasson (9/13-14) Roy Campbell Quartet (9/15) Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra – Esteemed big band performs every Monday night Brad Linde -- Artist in residence (9/17, 9/24) Houston Person (9/20-21) Jeremy Pelt (9/27-28) Alan Palmer (10/1, 10/8, 10/22, 10/29) Mickey Bass and His Manhattan Burn Unit (10/11-12) Ralph Peterson (10/19-20) Russell Gunn & Dionne Farris -- The Grammy-winning R&B vocalist (best remembered as the female singer in great ’90s hip-hop group Arrested Development; “Tennessee” anyone) teams up with the Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter (11/1-2) Ron Carter (11/15-17) Gregoire Maret (12/6-7) Benny Golson (12/13-15) Ben Williams & Sound Effect (12/27-28)

CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

University of Maryland College Park 301-405-ARTS claricesmithcenter.umd.edu

Maria Schneider Orchestra -- One of the most prominent woman bandleaders today defying standard definitions of jazz with her 17-member collective (9/22) Pedrito Martinez Group -- With roots in Afro-Cuban rhythms and music this vocalist and percussionist and his quartet should definitely provoke audiences to dance (10/18) UMD Jazz Ensemble, UMD Jazz Lab Band, University Jazz Band (10/21) UMD Chamber Jazz (11/5-6) Mavis Staples -- The R&B and gospel legend, who got her start in the 1950s with her family group The Staple Singers (“I’ll Take You There”) makes her debut at the Clarice Smith Center (11/8) Winter Big Band Showcase (12/2)

COOLIDGE AUDITORIUM AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Thomas Jefferson Building 10 First St. SE 202-707-8000loc.gov/concerts

Randy Newman -- The multiple Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winner, responsible for soundtracks to Toy Story and Awakenings and songs “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” and “Sail Away” (10/5) Audra McDonald -- An intimate evening of favorite showtunes drawn from the new album Go Back Home from this five-time Tony-winning powerhouse vocalist and TV star, accompanied by pianist Andy Einhorn (10/10) Henry Threadgill’s Zooid -- An evening of avant-garde jazz (10/25) Roseanne Cash -- The oldest daughter of Johnny and stepdaughter of June Carter kicks off a three-day residency at the Library of Congress with a concert premiering her newest album The River and the Thread (12/5)

DAR CONSTITUTION HALL

1776 D St. NW 202-628-1776 dar.org/conthall

Jack Johnson (9/25) Two Door Cinema Club w/St. Lucia (10/4) The Weeknd -- Stark, stylish, strong soul-fired hip-hop (10/5) John Legend w/Tamar Braxton (10/23) John Fogerty (11/8) DAVIS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Georgetown University 3700 O St. NW 202-687-ARTS performingarts.georgetown.edu GU Jazz Ensemble (11/19) Bonnie “Prince” Billy -- Actor Will Oldham’s nom de indie-rock (11/22) GU Jazz Ensemble: Annual Holiday Concert (12/6)

DC9

1940 9th St. NW 202-483-5000 dcnine.com

Jonah Matranga (9/16) Lightning Dust (9/17) Clinic (9/18) No Joy (9/19) Peach Pit: A Gay Dance Party -- DJ Matt Bailer’s monthly all-’90s-music party (9/21) Terry Malts (9/22) Said The Whale (9/23) Savoir Adore (9/24) Koffin Kats (9/26) Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas (9/29) Scott H. Biram (10/1) The Static Jacks (10/2) Angel Olsen (10/6) Ewert and the Two Dragons (10/7) Keep Shelly in Athens (10/9) Typefighter (10/10) Calvin Love (10/14) John Murry (10/15) Blue Sky Black Death (10/19) Crocodiles (10/20) Junior Prom (10/21) Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin -- Actually, a lot of people do now that Vladimir Putin has – oh wait, that’s just a band name, this ain’t really about politics (10/23) San Fermin (10/24) William Tyler (10/28) Pelican -- You know how some bands appeal to you because the guys look cute, but then once you actually hear them… (11/2) Braids (11/4) Jenny Hval (11/5) John Vanderslice (11/7) JD Wilkes and the Dirt Daubers (11/13) Cymbals Eat Guitars w/Mood Rings (11/21) River City Extension (11/24) Temples (11/27) Holograms (12/4)

ECHOSTAGE

2135 Queens Chapel Road NE 202-503-2330 echostage.com

Sebastian Ingrosso w/Pete Tong -- One-third of the former Swedish House Mafia with one of the U.K.’s most influential DJs (9/27) Armin Van Buuren (9/28) Glow Land (10/4) Zeds Dead (10/5) Flux Pavilion (10/11) Dash Berlin (10/12) The Barstool Blackout Tour -- Billed as the World’s Largest Blacklight Party, should that appeal to you (10/13) Wolfgang Gartner & Tommy Trash (10/19) Krewella -- Will this Chicago trio just perform their songs, or spin them as DJs? (11/2) Tiesto w/Danny Avila -- Certainly before David Guetta or Swedish House Mafia, it didn’t get bigger than this (11/22-23)

FILLMORE SILVER SPRING

8656 Colesville Road Silver Spring 301-960-999 fillmoresilverspring.com

Café Tacuba -- Special guest Ocho De Bastos (9/17) Yellowcard-Ocean Avenue Acoustic (9/18) Savant (9/19) Michael Franti & Spearhead (9/20) Jamey Johnson w/special guest Chris Hennessee (9/22) Billy Currington (9/27) Get The Led Out (9/28) Portugal, The Man (10/1) Drop Electric w/Technophobia (10/3) Chase Rice (10/4) All Time Low w/special guests The Wonder Years & Rivers Monroe (10/7) Julieta Venegas (10/10) Lee Brice (10/11) Atlas Genius (10/13) Rusko -- The Lift Off Tour w/special guests Roni Size and Dynamite MC (10/18) Aaron Carter -- Little brother to Backstreet Boys’ Nick, a teen-pop star in his own right (10/20) Jonas Brothers (10/21) Mario (10/22) Austin Mahone (10/23) Journey (10/24) Ben Rector (10/26) Silverstein (10/29) Cristian Castro (10/30) Jessie Ware w/Mikky Ekko -- This Sade-esque British singer deserves wider fame, and it’ll be nice to see how this Rihanna “Stay” dueter sounds live (10/31) The Pretty Reckless (11/3) New Found Glory/Alkaline Trio (11/7) Jake Miller (11/8) Timeflies (11/10) David Nall (10/17) Slayer (11/19) Hoodie Allen (11/22) Lamb of God & Killswitch Engage (11/26) Steve Winwood -- Bring him a “Higher Love,” he’s back! (12/12)

THE HAMILTON

600 14th St. NW 202-787-1000 thehamiltondc.com

Eddie from Ohio -- A benefit concert for OneVoice, a D.C.-based nonprofit founded by this D.C.-based band’s guitarist and songwriter Robbie Schaefer with a focus on uniting children around the globe through music (9/14) Joe Robinson (9/18) Free Loft Late Night Music: Justin Trawick Trio -- At least once a week the Hamilton offers free music in its loft bar of the restaurant, with a rotating roster of local acts worth supporting, including this sharp, prominent local folk trio (9/20, 10/4) The Loft: Stevie and Annie Sidley (9/21) The Main Squeeze (9/22) Emily King (9/23) Greensky Bluegrass (9/24) Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe Garland Jeffreys (9/26) Fishtank Ensemble (9/27) Matt Schofield (9/28) The Loft: Ken Wenzel Duo (9/28) Cash’d Out -- A San Diego-based band that pays tribute to Johnny Cash (9/29) Funky Meters (9/30) James Cotton (10/1) Grouplove -- L.A. indie-pop band whose debut album was titled Never Trust A Happy Song; don’t you just love them already? (10/2) Spottiswoode and His Enemies w/Jelly Roll Mortals and Victoria Vox -- A New York-based rock septet featuring members of the cult ’90s D.C. band the Zimmermans (10/3) The Loft: 19th Street Band (10/3) Blues Travelever (10/4) The Loft: T & Co (10/5) John Mayall (10/7) Digital Tape Machine (10/8) Vienna Teng (10/10) Mason Jennings (10/11) Howie Day (10/13) George Porter w/Tim Reynolds & TR3 (10/14) Patrizio Buanne (10/15) Steve Kimock feat. Bernie Worrell (10/17) Julia & Company -- 30th Anniversary Show (10/18) Linda Ortega (10/20) The James Hunter Six (10/22) Carolina Story (10/23) The Blind Boys of Alabama (10/24) The Loft: Moonshine Society (10/25) The Loft: Brian Simms -- of the Junkyard Saints (10/26) Bonnie Koloc (10/27) Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors (10/30) Blue Oyster Cult (10/31) Paula Cole (11/1) Matt Wertz (11/6) Andy McKee (11/7) Rebirth Brass Band -- As seen on HBO’s Treme, a true New Orleans institution, which performs for a weekend in D.C. (11/8-9) Aaron Neville (11/10) The Mother Hips (11/14) Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds (11/15) Laura Mvula -- The latest British soul singer to generate critical buzz, this time a smooth-styled affair (11/19) The Revivalists (11/21) The Loft: Harris Face (11/23) Allen Toussaint -- One of the most influential figures in New Orleans R&B and a regular performer at the New Orleans-loving Hamilton (11/25) Del McCoury Band (11/30) Spyro Gyra (12/6) Yellow Dubmarine (12/28)

THE HOWARD THEATRE

620 T St. NW 202-588-5595 thehowardtheatre.com

Eve -- Let her blow ya mind (9/13) Fat Trel -- D.C.-bred rap emcee (9/18) Lee Scratch Perry w/Subatomic Sound System, Woman in Dub, Nappy Riddem -- A Dub Champions Festival Event (9/19) Young Roddy, Corner Boy P, Fiend (9/23) Blood on the Dance Floor -- Electro-rock duo (9/24) Henry Santos -- Formerly of The Kings of Bachata (9/26) Jimmy Cliff -- The reggae legend (9/27) Dazz Band w/Ronnie Laws (9/28) Michael Rose w/Sly & Robbie (10/1) Big Boi -- The OutKast star (10/2) Take 6 -- The most-awarded vocal group in history (10/4) Alice Russell w/Marques Toliver -- The underrated great British soul singer with an equally underrated great -- and gay -- American soul singer (10/5) Rufus feat. Sly Stone -- The funk band that launched Chaka Khan, with the Family Stone head (10/6) Raheem DeVaughn (10/7) Avery Sunshine, Algebra Blesset, Michelyn Cierra & Q Parker of 112 -- The 1st Annual Pink Alive Concert (10/8) Pete Rock & CL Smooth (10/16) Gat Barbieri (10/18) Martha Reeves -- The Motown legend (10/19) Robben Ford (10/22) Eric Roberson (10/24-25) George Clinton & The P Funk Allstars (10/27) The Orb -- The British acid house purveyors celebrate 25 years (10/30) Big Freedia (11/4) Gungor (11/5) Yo Gotti feat. YG, Cash Out, Shy Glizzy & Zed Zilla (11/11) The Skatalites (11/12) Daft Punk Tribute -- An eight-piece band from Toronto playing through the French electro duo’s repertoire (11/13) Loose Ends (11/14-15) Alex Ubago (11/15) Jorge Ben Jor -- The Brazilian tropicalia legend (11/16) All-4-One (11/17) Sizzla (11/21) Paul Mooney (11/23) Ginuwine (12/13) Keith Sweat (12/27) Mykki Blanco (12/27)

THE IN SERIES

202-204-7763 inseries.org

Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio -- A new English adaptation by Bari Biern intertwining Mozart’s original story with a real tale from the wild West of 19th century America (Through 9/22, Source) Pocket Opera Double Bill: Puccini & Zarzuela -- Puccini’s Le Villi (The Spirits) is an opera/ballet in which a jilted young woman returns to lure her unfaithful lover to death, paired here with hits from the romantic, fun Spanish light opera tradition of Zarzuela (11/23-12/6, GALA) A Family Reunion -- Just in time for the holidays, the premiere of a beautiful American opera/musical by Chris Patton and Bill Moses (11/30-12/8, GALA) La Vie En Rose -- An exuberant assembly of French art-song and cabaret chanson, in collaboration with dancers from the Washington Ballet’s Studio Company (1/17-19/14, GALA) The Cole Porter Project -- A revue featuring the work of the great gay American music master (2/22/14-3/9/14, Source)

IOTA CAFE

2832 Wilson Blvd. Arlington 703-522-8340 iotaclubandcafe.com

Bachelor Boys (9/16, 10/21) Dan Baird and Homemade Sin w/The Del-Lords (9/17) The Last Year (9/19) Robbie Fulks (9/20) Justin Trawick Group (9/21) The Technicolors w/Lindsey Buckingham Palace (9/22) The 9 Songwriters Series – Justin Trawick’s local collaborative touring ensemble (9/24) Arcology (9/26) Alex Vans and the Hide Away (9/27) Elikeh (9/28) Kenny Kohlhaas (9/29) Sean Hayes -- No, not that Sean Hayes but the bushy New York rocker (9/30) Sweet Interference (10/1) SIRSY (10/3) The Walkaways (10/5) Ken Vandermark/Nate Woodley Duo (10/6) Alex Cuba (10/12) Red Elvises (10/14) Bombadil (10/25) Brendan Canning -- A founding member of the popular Canadian indie-rock collective Broken Social Scene (10/26) St. Paul and the Broken Bones (10/29) The Littlest Birds (11/3)

JAMMIN JAVA

227 Maple Ave. E. Vienna 703-255-3747 jamminjava.com

Street Corner Symphony (9/14)

Emile Sande at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Mantua Finials (9/15) Jammin Java Songwriters Circle: A Tribute to Women of Rock -- Luke Brindley, Mike Clem, Anthony Fiacco and Todd Wright (yes, all men) perform (9/15) Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys -- 25th Anniversary Tour (9/16) PledgeMusic Presents: Bleu, Will Dailey and Jason Masi (9/17) Erik Griffin (9/18) Dream Discs -- Van Morrison’s Moondance and Bruce Springsteen’s The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle performed in their entirety (9/20) Laura Veirs (9/21) Al Petteway & Amy White (9/22) Nathan Angelo (9/23) Cabinet, Holy Ghost Tent Revival (9/24) The Band of Heathens (9/25) The Fabulous Dialtones (9/26) Liz Longley (9/29) Cancer Can Rock Benefit Concert -- Bruce Parker, Dave Farah, Justin Trawick, Andrea Pais, Michael Pearsall, Mary Ann Redmond and Dusty Rose perform (10/1) The Parkington Sisters (10/2) Start Making Sense: Talking Heads Tribute (10/3) Mindy Smith (10/4) Pigs from a Gun & Friends (10/4) Toby Lightman (10/5) John Eddie (10/5) The Grascals (10/6) Marie Miller and L’Angelus (10/7) District 97 feat. John Wetton and the Music of King Crimson (10/8) Plumb w/Josh Wilson & Mikeschair (10/9) Jon McLaughlin (10/10-11) Tiptoe Disco & Friends (10/11) Mary Fahl (10/12) Kodaline (10/13) Chris Collat (10/14) Tim Easton (10/15) Carsie Blanton, Milton (10/16) Andrea Gibson (10/17) Wil Hoge -- Never Give In album-release show (10/18-19) Pat McGee and Friends (10/20) Ryan Montbleau (10/22) Fossil Collective (10/24) The Greencards (10/25) The Thiefs (10/26) Robbie Schaefer -- The leader of the D.C.-based Eddie from Ohio offers a solo show (10/26) BLUEfiveone (10/26) Tylan -- The lesbian singer from Girlyman has gone solo (10/27) Bitch -- The great lesbian electric violinist now records as Beach, and tours in support of her great new set In Us We Trust (10/29) Jammin Java’s 12th Anniversary Party w/Luke Brindley & Friends (11/1) Dom Flemons -- A member of the great black bluegrass band Carolina Chocolate Drops offers a solo show (11/2) Nappy Riddem (11/2) FM Williams Band (11/3) Richard Shindell (11/3) The Duhks (11/6) Foy Vance (11/9) Mark Olson -- A founding member of the band The Jayhawks (11/10) Bluegrass Matinee: Dead Man’s Hollow, Gold Top County Ramblers (11/17) Eric Lindell Band (11/17) A Silent Film (11/21) Radney Foster + Darden Smith (11/23) Feed God Cabbage (11/23) Dan Bern (12/5) Dynamic Duos: The Kennedys + The Nields (12/6) Ellis Paul (12/13) Holiday A Cappella w/Toni and Gin (12/15) The Jewbadours w/Ariel Hammerstein & Yakob Veivelman (12/21) Good For the Jews feat. Rob Tannenbaum + Dave Fagin (12/24) Shenandoah Run (12/28)

JIFFY LUBE LIVE

7800 Cellar Door Drive Bristow, Va. 703-754-6400 livenation.com

Jason Aldean (9/14) Steely Dan -- Mood Swings 2013: 8 Miles to Pancake Day (9/20) WMZQ Fall Fest: Rascal Flatts -- Other performances from the Band Perry, Cassadee Pope, The Dance Y’all Experience with Laura Bell (9/28) Zac Brown Band -- A seven-piece country/folk band from Atlanta (10/13)

JOSEPH MEYERHOFF SYMPHONY HALL

1212 Cathedral St. Baltimore 410-783-8000 ticketmaster.com

Emeli Sandé -- The Capital Pride headliner returns to fire up D.C. crowds once again with her vocal power and charisma (10/19) Straight No Chaser (12/12)

KENNEDY CENTER

2700 F St. NW 202-467-4600 kennedy-center.org

Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition Finals & All-Star Gala Concert (9/16) KC Jazz Club: Grace Kelly (10/4) Cecil Taylor w/Jason Moran -- A pioneer of free jazz, this NEA jazz master offers a solo piano and poetry performance with an opening piano set by the Kennedy Center’s artistic adviser for jazz (10/5) Washington Performing Arts Society: Jazz at Lincoln Center -- The Chorale le Chateau joins for a performance of Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration, written by Wynton Marsalis for the 2008 bicentennial of Harlem’s historic Abyssinian Baptist Church (10/6) Ledisi -- The R&B vocalist takes part in a 40th anniversary tribute to the Duke Ellington School of the Arts (10/10) ACS: Allen, Carrington, Spalding -- Pianist Geri Allen, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and bassist Esperanza Spalding perform together just as they did on Carrington’s Grammy-winning set The Mosaic Project (10/11) KC Jazz Club: Winard Harper and Jell Posse (10/18) KC Jazz Club: Javon Jackson, Jimmy Cobb, George Cables and Nat Reeves -- We Four: Celebrating John Coltrane (10/19) Barbara Cook’s Spotlight: Tommy Tune -- “The quintessential Broadway song and dance man,” with nine Tonys to his credit, helps kick off his fellow Broadway legend’s annual cabaret series at the Kennedy Center (11/1) KC Jazz Club: The Curtis Fuller Brasstet w/Bobby Shew and Don Sickler -- NEA Jazz Master brings his newest endeavor to the Kennedy Center (11/1) Django Reinhardt Festival All-Stars w/Stefon Harris (11/2-3) Barbara Cook’s Spotlight: Lucie Arnaz -- Emmy winner (Lost in Yonkers) and past NSO Pops performer is the latest to get the Spotlight treatment (11/8) Discovery Artist in the KC Jazz Club: Jazzmela Horn -- The “Rising Star” awardee at the inaugural Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2012 (11/8) KC Jazz Club: Jason Moran & The Bandwagon (11/9) Kathleen Battle w/Cyrus Chestnut -- The classical soprano teams with the jazz pianist to perform music by Gershwin, Ellington, Joplin and more (11/15) American Voices -- A festival hosted by world-renowned opera singer Renee Fleming celebrating the rich diversity of American vocal performance with stars of classical, country, gospel, jazz, musical theater and pop (11/22-24) Barbara Cook’s Spotlight: Patina Miller -- A concert scheduled before she won this year’s Tony for her work in Pippin, and after her appearance at the Kennedy Center in 2012’s First You Dream (12/6) NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas (12/7) A Jazz New Year’s Eve: The Nat King Cole Tribute w/Ramsey Lewis & John Pizzarelli -- Straighten Up and Fly Right (12/31) Patti LuPone & Mandy Patinkin -- Two of Broadway’s most venerated performers reprise their cabaret act that had all the queens swooning last year (2/18-23/14)

LINCOLN THEATRE

1215 U St. NW 202-328-6000 thelincolndc.com

Travis -- The Scottish Britpop band (9/20) KT Tunstall -- It’s too bad you might only know this British folk-rock artist from her early hit “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” because she’s the real deal (9/28) Stephen “Ragga” Marley -- Bob’s second-born son and former member of Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers (10/23) Fiona Apple and Blake Mills (10/25) Matt Nathanson, Joshua Radin (10/29) Neko Case -- Quirky singer-songwriter, a native of Alexandria (10/31) Colin Meloy w/Eleanor Friedberger -- The frontman of the Decemeberists offers a 10-city solo tour, with opening act by former frontwoman of indie-rock act the Fiery Furnaces (11/5)

LISNER AUDITORIUM AT GWU

730 21st St. NW 202-994-6800 lisner.org

Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club (10/8) The Idan Raichel Project -- Ambitious cross-cultural collaborations merging Jewish and Arabic sounds, as well as Latin American and Eastern European (10/22) Edith with Jil Aigrot: 50th Anniversary of Piaf Death (11/3) WPAS: Anoushka Shankar (11/15) 2013 Arab Idols: Mohammad Assaf, Farah Youssef & Ziad Khoury -- Palestinian vocalist, Syrian songstress and Lebanese vocalist perform as part of the third annual cultural event “Turaath: Celebrating Arab Culture in America” (11/17) Elvis Costello (11/22) Jake Shimabukuro -- Ukulele master (11/24)

LYRIC OPERA HOUSE

140 West Mount Royal Ave. Baltimore 410-547-SEAT lyricoperahouse.com

Kenny Loggins (9/15) Sarah Brightman (9/20) The Rascals (10/3-5) The Doobie Brothers (10/12) Diana Krall Glad Rag Doll World Tour (10/19) John Fogerty (11/6) Widespread Panic (11/12) Amos Lee (11/20) Dave Koz and Friends Christmas Tour (12/5) Mannheim Steamroller (12/12)

MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION

10475 Little Patuxent Parkway Columbia, Md. 800-551-SEAT merriweathermusic.com

Imagine Dragons -- What’s to explain the sudden rise to popularity of this radioactive Vegas five-piece? (9/20) Virgin Mobile FreeFest -- MGMT, Chvrches, Robin Thicke, Vampire Weekend, Avett Brothers, Pretty Lights, Kaskade, Icona Pop, Sky Ferreira -- the list goes on, but surely you’re sold (or “free’d”?) on this fest already (9/21) The Flaming Lips, Tame Impala -- Psychedelic rock (10/4) Steve Aoki w/Pharrell Williams -- Those who had wished Pharrell was on the bill for Virgin FreeFest -- alongside Robin Thicke -- can now get their fill (10/25)

PATRIOT CENTER

George Mason University 4500 Patriot Circle Fairfax 703-993-3000 patriotcenter.com

Lionel Richie -- “All The Hits All Night Long,” woohoo (9/25) Atoms for Peace -- The electronic supergroup featuring Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Nigel Goodrich and Red Hot Chili Peppers’s Flea (9/30) Selena Gomez (10/10) Passion Pit -- Too poppy by half for some (10/31) Paramore w/Metric & Hellogoodbye (11/9) Keith Urban w/Little Big Town (11/23) The Fresh Beat Band (11/27)

RAM'S HEAD LIVE

20 Market Place Baltimore 410-244-1131 ramsheadlive.com

Robert Randolph & The Family Band (9/18) Greensky Bluegrass (9/19) J. Roddy Walston & The Business (9/20) Scotty Mcreery (9/21) Local Natives (9/23) Carbon Leaf (9/26) Kix (9/28) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club w/Deap Vally (10/2) Gramatik -- The Age of Reason Tour (10/4) Motion City Soundtrack & Bayside (10/9) Casey James (10/10) Periphery (10/11) Craig Morgan (10/12) New Riders of the Purple Sage (10/17) ABBA The Concert (10/18) Coheed & Cambria (10/21) David Cook -- Yet another American Idol winner, in case you forgot (10/23) Morgan Page -- “A MPP3D Visual Experience” (10/24) The Maine & Anberlin (10/25) Big Gigantic (10/26) Matt Nathanson w/Joshua Radin -- Last of the Great Pretenders Tour (11/1) KMFDM (11/2) Taking Back Sunday (11/6) Less Than Jake w/Anti-Flag, Masked Intruder, Get Dead (11/7) Steep Canyon Rangers (11/8) Manchester Orchestra (11/12) Eli Young Band (11/13) Dr. Dog (11/16) Johnny Marr -- The Smiths guitarist offers a solo show (11/17) India.Arie (11/22) The Bridge (11/27)

RAM’S HEAD ON STAGE

33 West St. Annapolis 410-268-4545 ramsheadonstage.com

Euge Groove (9/14) Donna The Buffalo (9/15) PledgeMusic Presents: Bleu, Tom McBride & Will Dailey (9/16) Casey Abrams (9/17) Gaelic Storm (9/18) Joe Sample’s Creole Joe Band feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier (9/19) Jay and the Americans (9/20) Voyage: A Tribute to Journey feat. Hugo (9/21) Joe Robinson (9/22) Tower of Power (9/23) The Band of Heathens (9/24) The Return: A Tribute to the Beatles (9/25) Mediaeval Baebes (9/26) Scythian (9/27) Kathy Mattea (9/29) Buckwheat Zydeco (10/1) Take 6 (10/2) BoDeans (10/4) Phil Vassar (10/5) Vienna Teng (10/6) Colin Hay (10/7) BWB -- Featuring Norman Brown, Kirk Whalum & Rick Braun (10/8) John Mayall (10/9) Yacht Rock Revue (10/12) Mason Jennings (10/13) Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (10/15-16) Gerald Albright (10/17) Martin Sexton (10/18-19) Rickie Lee Jones (10/20) Paul Thorn Band (10/22) Art Sherrod Jr. w/Ann Nesby (10/26) Homemade Jamz Blues Band (10/27) Shemekia Copeland & Danielia Cotton (10/27) Peter Wolf (10/29) Regina Belle (10/31) Brendan James & Tony Lucca (11/2) Denny Laine -- The man from Moody Blues and Wings (11/3) Judith Hill -- From NBC’s The Voice (11/4) Michael Nesmith (11/5) Andy McKee (11/6) Matt Wertz Band (11/7) Delbert McClinton (11/8) Griffin House (11/10) Living Colour (11/10) Oleta Adams (11/16) Bonnie “Prince” Billy -- Actor Will Oldham’s musical alter ego (11/21) Jonathan Edwards (11/22) Acoustic Alchemy (11/23) Radney Foster & Darden Smith (11/24) Dream Discs -- Van Morrison’s Moondance and Bruce Springsteen’s The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle played in their entirety (11/29) Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone (11/30) Christmas with the Celts feat. Laura McGhee & Michael Stribling -- As seen on PBS (12/3) Peter White’s Christmas feat. Mindi Abair and Rick Braun (12/4) Blood, Sweat & Tears (12/5) Rick Springfield (12/11) Dublin 5 (12/13) Steve Forbert & Cheryl Wheeler (12/14) Pieces of a Dream (12/20) Hard Travelers (12/22) Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes (12/29) Seldom Scene (12/30)

ROCK AND ROLL HOTEL

1353 H St. NE 202-388-ROCK rockandrollhoteldc.com

Destruction Unit (9/14) O’Brother (9/17) Big Country Express (9/20) DJ Nu-Mark (9/21) Dessa (9/23) Julia Holter (9/26) Pickwick (9/27) Pet Parade (9/28) Accidents (9/29) Ben Sollee (10/1) Typhoon (10/2) Surfer Blood (10/3) Black Masala (10/4) Lucky Dub (10/5) Voodoo Glow Skulls (10/7) Unknown Mortal Orchestra (10/8) Meat Puppets (10/9) Obits (10/10) Modern Life is War (10/11) Hawkwind (10/12) Hanni El Khatib (10/13) Islands (10/16) Lucius -- The sound matches the name for this Brooklyn-based quirky pop-rock band with two female vocalists that The New York Times has appropriately pegged “the next Feist” (10/17) White Denim (10/18) The Moondoggie (10/19) Jay Brannan -- The gay folkie returns in support of his new covers album Around The World in 40 Jays The Fighting Jamesons -- Take a swig or three and you just might think you’re actually in Ireland (10/24) Autre Ne Veut (10/25) Fiolar (10/26) Sir Sly (10/28) The Dirty Guv’nahs -- A six-piece rock collective from Tennessee (10/30) Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside w/Mount Moriah -- Portland, Ore.-native band tours w/North Carolina band whose lesbian lead singer documents in song her struggle coming out to her parents (11/1) Tera Melos (11/2) Born Ruffians -- Canadian indie-rock quartet, a bit like a more straightforward New Pornographers (11/3) Tim Kasher (11/5) And So I Watch You from Afar (11/6) The Green (11/7) Rac (11/15) Ha Ha Tonka (11/16) Mono (11/20) Caspian (11/25) Matthew E. White (12/7)

SIGNATURE THEATRE

4200 Campbell Ave. Arlington 703-820-9771 signature-theatre.org

Autumn Cabaret Festival: Signature’s Funny Ladies -- Remaining dates in the newest seasonal cabaret from the cabaret-loving Signature Theatre include: Heidi Blickenstaff (9/13-14) Out of This World: The Lyrics and Music of Johnny Mercer (9/18-19) Gia Mora -- “Einstein’s Girl” (9/20) Nadine Zahr & Sharon Kenny (9/21) A Matt Conner Christmas -- Composer and Signature favorite (Snow, Winter) salutes the holidays from the piano with other performer friends (12/11-15) Holiday Follies 2013 – Holiday favorites sung by special guest performers (12/17-23)

SIXTH & I HISTORIC SYNAGOGUE

600 I St. NW 202-408-3100 sixthandi.org

Twin Forks w/Matrimony -- Folk-leaning songs with pop sensibilities and foot-stomping hooks (9/22) Sam Amidon -- Vermont-born, London-based artist tours in support of Bright Sunny South featuring reworks of traditional melodies, including Mariah Carey’s “Shake It Off” (9/24) Bill Callahan w/New Bums -- Parsed and gritty rock (10/2) holychild w/Finish Ticket and Swaal Boys -- Experimental pop from L.A.-based band (10/3) Bell X1 w/Tristen -- Billed as second only to U2 as Ireland’s most popular rock band, but isn’t that forgetting Snow Patrol? (10/8) Radical Face w/Jonny Rodgers (10/9) Dan Croll -- A style that draws from both acoustic and digital influences, from in a manner similar to Dirty Projectors (10/13) Mark Lanegan w/Sean Wheeler & Zander Schloss (10/14) Hey Marseilles w/The Apache Relay -- Folk-pop incorporating the trumpet, viola, cello, accordion and other classical instruments (10/15) Diego Garcia -- Latin-flavored rock (10/17) WPAS: Cecile McLorin Salvant -- 2010 Thelonius Monk International Jazz competition winner, said by The New York Times to be extending the lineage of the Big Three: Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald (10/26) CocoRosie -- A cross-disciplinary sister act, merging hip-hop and reggae and even opera (11/7) Destroyer -- Dan Bejar’s Canadian indie-rock band (11/11) The Lone Bellow (11/16) Kevin Devine -- Touted as a cross between Bright Eyes, Dashboard Confessional and Elliott Smith (11/17) WPAS: Bela Fleck & Brooklyn Rider (11/23)

THE STATE THEATRE

220 North Washington St. Falls Church 703-237-0300 thestatetheatre.com

The Selecter (9/22) White Ford Bronco -- “DC’s All 90s Party Band” (10/4) Emmet Swimming (10/5) Yacht Rock Revue (10/10) Reckless Kelly (10/11) The Right On Band -- “The World’s Greatest ’70s Experience” (10/18) English Beat (10/23) Los Pericos (10/31) Ballyhoo! And Pasafire (11/2) Cherie Currie -- Who? Why, a key member of those “Cherry Bomb” chicks, The Runaways -- as portrayed by Dakota Fanning in 2010’s The Runaways (11/16) The Nighthawks and Skip Castro Band (11/29)

STRATHMORE

5301 Tuckerman Lane North Bethesda 301-581-5100 strathmore.org

Pet Shop Boys -- The pioneering electro-pop act comes back to town in support of this year’s strong and totally driving dance set Electric (9/19) Sachal Vasandani Quartet -- A rising star of jazz (9/20, Mansion) Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show (9/27, Music Center) Warren Wolf and the WOLFPACK (9/27, Mansion) Laura Burhenn -- The Mynabirds frontwoman offers a rare solo performance (10/2, Mansion) Jaime Salazar aka Gato -- South American singer-guitarist (10/9, Mansion) Sutton Foster -- A cabaret from the great Broadway showstopper, who deservedly snagged another Tony as Reno Sweeney a couple years back (10/12, Music Center) Loren Westbrook-Fritts with Primitivity -- Cello rock! (10/16, Mansion) Dianne Reeves (10/18, Music Center) The Mancuso-Suzda Project -- Avant-garde jazz duo (10/23, Mansion) Chris Thile -- The mandolinist Punch Brother branches out artistically (10/30, Music Center) Julia Nixon: Tribute to Carole King (11/1, Mansion) Travis Tritt (11/1, Music Center) Spanish Harlem Orchestra -- “Salsa Navidad,” or salsa with a seasonal twist (12/13, Music Center) Nellie McKay -- The quirky, sly, sharp singer-songwriter (1/9/14, Mansion) Natascia Diaz -- One of D.C.’s best musical stage performers, a multiple Helen Hayes Award winner, offers a night of cabaret (1/25/14, Mansion)

U STREET MUSIC HALL

1115A U St. NW 202-588-1880 ustreetmusichall.com

Treasure Fingers w/Tommy Cornelis -- Rising Atlanta DJ with opening set by gay local DJ (9/14) Black Prairie (9/15) MitiS (9/17) Phaeleh (9/18) Goldroom (9/19) Andy C (9/19) Tom Odell (9/20) El Ten Eleven (9/21) Mudhoney (9/23) Moombahton Massive XXIX w/Nadastrom, Sabo, Thee Mike B (9/24) LE1F (9/25) Sound Remedy (9/25) Tittsworth + Craze (9/26) The White Mandingos -- 9:30 Club presents a concert featuring MURS, Darryl Jenifer of Bad Brains and Sacha Jenkins (9/27) Mosca (9/27) The Legendary Pink Dots (9/28) Biffy Clyro (9/29) Her Mar Superstar (9/30) Grouplove -- Appealing L.A.-based indie-pop band (10/1) Middle Distance Runner (10/4) Wolf + Lamb (10/4) Tricky -- Trip-hop pioneer is as dark and appealing as ever (10/5) London Grammar (10/6) Michal Menert (10/8) Magda (10/11) Gigamesh (10/12) Au Revoir Simone (10/15) Blockhead (10/16) Fuck Buttons (10/17) Half Moon Run (10/18) Example -- Upstart British rapper, a guest on Pet Shop Boys’ new set Electric (10/19) Wild Belle (10/22) of Montreal -- The great folk act from, no not Canada, but Athens, Ga. (10/23-24) Tourist (10/24) Tribal Seeds (10/25) How to Dress Well -- Sharply dressed pop (10/28) Southern Culture on the Skids, Los Straitjackets & The Fleshtones (10/29) The Fratellis (11/2) Claude VonStroke & J. Phlip (11/13) Nightmares on Wax (11/14) Charli XCX -- The woman behind (and in the background) of Icona Pop’s monster hit “I Love It” (11/16) Baauer -- Yes, the “Harlem Shake” maker (11/22) Red Baraat -- An eight-piece band from Brooklyn whose base is hard-driving North Indian bhangra rhythms, with jazz, go-go, brass, funk and hip-hop on top (11/24)

VERIZON CENTER

601 F St. NW 202-628-3200 verizoncenter.com

Michael Bublé (9/22) Nine Inch Nails -- Trent Reznor is back and as good as ever on new set Hesitation Marks (10/18) Drake w/Miguel & Future -- Nothing spooky about this Halloween show featuring three of today’s best R&B and hip-hop stars (10/31) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis w/Talib Kweli -- The great pro-gay rappers plus an opening performance from a sharp rapper, formerly Mos Def’s partner in Black Star (11/18) Pink -- Returning for more aerial stunts and singing (11/24) Andrea Bocelli (12/12) Beyoncé -- Returning for more dancing stunts and singing (12/18)

WARNER THEATRE

513 13th St. NW 202-397-SEAT warnertheatre.com

Joe Satriani -- Birchmere presents the Unstoppable Momentum Tour 2013 w/Marco Minnemann, Bryan Beller and Mike Keneally -- all that, plus special guest The Steve Morse Band (9/25) Earth Wind & Fire (9/29) Daryl Hall & John Oates (10/2) Brian Wilson & Jeff Beck (10/5) The Wiggles (10/6) India.Arie -- Soulbird presents “A SongVersation,” a tour in support of this great folk/R&B artist’s latest album (10/30) Cyndi Lauper -- Celebrating 30 years of the LGBT icon’s breakthrough album She’s So Unusual (11/13) Amos Lee (11/26) Brian Setzer Orchestra -- Christmas Rocks 10th Anniversary Tour (11/29) ...more

Feature Story:

Next weekend ushers in the National Book Festival on the National Mall, and later comes a locally focused day-long literary event at the Folger Library followed by the big annual Jewish Literary Festival. But there's plenty of silly to go with the studious and serious when looking for things to see and do beyond the traditional arts this season. From stand-up comedians to funny storytellers, drag kings and queens to Halloween costume parties, you'll no doubt stay entertained. Why, even your dog can get in on the act at Hillwood. How howlarious is that?

9:30 CLUB

815 V St. NW202-265-0930930.com

The Bentzen Ball Comedy Festival Opening Night -- BrightestYoungThings presents a four-day comedy festival in October curated by comedian Tig Notaro and landing at venues The Sphinx Club, U Street Music Hall and the Lincoln Theatre, but the launch is at the 9:30 Club, with stand-up from, among others, Notaro, Doug Benson and Wyatt Cenac (10/10) Comedy Bang! Bang! LIVE! -- Scott Aukerman and IFC present this tour with special guest Paul F. Tompkins and opening act the Birthday Boys (10/15)

THE ALDEN

McLean Community Center1234 Ingleside Ave.McLean, Va.703-790-0123aldentheatre.org

Pat Hazell: The Wonder Bread Years -- A salute to Baby Boomers written and starring this Seinfeld writer in a mix of stand-up and theater (10/26) The Capitol Steps -- Political satire from the best in the business (1/4/14) The Gizmo Guys -- Allan Jacobs and Barrett Felker are your comedy jugglers for the evening (1/12/14) MLK Celebration: Andrew Young -- A key strategist and negotiator during the Civil Rights era -- and later mayor of Atlanta and U.S. congressman from Georgia -- will reflect on his life's work and the future in ''A Continuing Legacy'' (1/17/14)

ARLINGTON CINEMA N' DRAFTHOUSE

2903 Columbia PikeArlington703-486-2345arlingtondrafthouse.com

Cool Cow Comedy Showcase – A 60-minute comedy show every Thursday night ThreeGuysOn presents The Final Draft -- Hosts of popular podcast present this comedy show every Friday night Brad Wollack -- The funny schlub (and butt of so many jokes) on Chelsea Lately (9/20-21) Reel Rock Film Tour 8 -- This film festival presents the best climbing and adventure films of the year (9/25-26) Joe Matarese -- Another familiar straight comedian from guest spots on Chelsea Lately (9/27-28) Josh Wolf -- Another familiar, straight comedian from guest spots on Chelsea Lately (10/4-5)

ARTISPHERE

1101 Wilson Blvd.Arlington703-875-1100artisphere.com or cultureDC

Night of 1,000 Andys Dance Party -- In conjunction with its installation of Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds, Artisphere presents a party that will culminate in a Warhol look-alike contest, but also feature performances by genre-busting costumed musical spectacle March Fourth Marching Band and electro/disco/funk duo Javelin, plus creative pop-art play stations (10/12) Not So Silent Cinema Presents Nosferatu -- As part of a Halloween Special Program, Artisphere presents Not So Silent Cinema's live Klezmer quintet accompanying a screening of Max Shreck's legendary 1922 silent film, Nosferatu, with haunting music, including Gypsy grooves and classic horror effects, that is both suspenseful and campy (10/26)

THE ATHENAEUM

201 Prince St.Alexandria, Md.703-548-0035nvfaa.org

SLAM: Alexandria Poetry Slam (9/20) Banned Book Week Read-Out -- Various Alexandria poets, politicians and students will read excerpts from classic books that have been nonetheless been targeted and banned by overzealous leaders around the country (9/23) Lost Books of Antiquity -- Many of the great books of classical antiquity no longer exist, having been burned, traded, cut up, badly stored, written over or carbonized by the heat of volcanic eruptions (9/27)

ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

1333 H St. NE202-399-7993atlasarts.org

Library Late: L'Etranger/Remix -- An interdisciplinary visual and aural experience, including contemporary electronic music and original images mixed by video artists Orchid Bite, and centered on The Stranger by Albert Camus, in honor of his centennial year (11/8)

BLACK CAT

1811 14th St. NW202-667-4490blackcatdc.com

Dr. Who Happy Hour – One episode of Dr. Who and drink specials every Friday, for free Hellmouth Happy Hour – One episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and drink specials every Saturday, for free Gilded Lily Burlesque (9/20) The 2013 Halloween Circus (10/31)

John Waters

(Photo by Todd Franson)

THE BIRCHMERE

3701 Mount Vernon Ave.Alexandria, Md.703-549-7500birchmere.com

Gad Elmaleh -- Three nights of stand-up from a French-Moroccan actor and comic -- and all in French, bien sur (9/16-18) The Official Blues Brothers Revue (9/27) Wil Wheaton vs. Paul & Storm (10/3) Belladonna & Ken Vegas Present Raven's Night 2013: Villains -- Another year, another Halloween-pegged very LGBT-friendly ''Dark & Decadent Belly Dance Show,'' with women in various attire, including male drag (10/26) The Four Bitchin' Babes -- ''Mid Life Vices!'' (11/9) Paula Poundstone -- If you wait too long to buy tickets, which are going fast, you'll be crying ''Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me It's Sold Out!'' (11/16) A John Waters Christmas (12/18)

BUSBOYS AND POETS

2021 14th St. NW202-387-POETbusboysandpoets.com

Sunday Kind of Love Open Mic Poetry – Every week featuring emerging and established poets in an open-mike segment Tuesday Night Open Mic Poetry – Wide-ranging topics and speakers for two hours every Tuesday Story League Story Contest – Every third Wednesday of the month brings ''story shows,'' or collaborative story-performing exercises in which storytellers get guidance on honing their craft; the best wins $100 (9/18) SPARKLE Queer Open Mic – Queer-friendly, queer-focused reading series, hosted by Regie Cabico and Danielle Evennou (10/6) Nine on the Ninth Open Mic Poetry – The 9th of every month, at 9 p.m. The 11th Hour Poetry Slam – Opportunity for poetry lovers to enjoy the competitive art of late-night performance poetry (10/11)

CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

University of MarylandCollege Park, Md.301-405-ARTSclaricesmithcenter.umd.edu

Orpheus' Son: The Life and Legacy of Sidney Lanier and His Music of Language -- UMD Professor Gran Wilson interweaves music performance with poetry readings to introduce the poignant life story of a Baltimore poet and flutist, who taught at Johns Hopkins University and performed with the Peabody Symphony (9/26) Sidney Lanier's ''Science of English Verse'' -- UMD professor Gran Wilson offers a lecture about this American poet's poetry theory and techniques (10/3) Crafting Inspiration: Why The Speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. Still Motivate Us Today -- WAMU's show host extraordinaire Kojo Nnamdi moderates a panel of communications experts to discuss the similarities and resonance of two speeches separated by almost 100 years (10/7) Same Sex Marriage and the Faith Community: A Conversation about Equal Rights -- Kojo Nnamdi moderates this panel discussing ways to reconcile biblical teachings and modern sexuality (11/12)

DAVIS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Georgetown University3700 O St. NW202-687-ARTSperformingarts.georgetown.edu

The Georgetown Improv Association – A monthly night of improv inspired by audience suggestions and showcasing the performers' (hopefully) quick wit (10/12) Future of Music Summit 2012 -- The only national conference that focuses on the connections between musicians and fans, policymakers and academics, legal experts and technologists, media professionals and entrepreneurs (10/28-29)

DC IMPROV

1140 Connecticut Ave. NW202-296-7008dcimprov.com

LaVell Crawford -- Probably the biggest (literally) funny man in the business (9/13-15) DC Improv Comedy School Comics – A night of improv comedy starring the house-grown troupe (9/20) Dave Attell (9/20-22) Funniest Celebrity in Washington, D.C. Contest -- A benefit for the Final Salute Foundation (9/25) Gary Valentine (9/26-28) Earthquake (10/5-6) John Caparulo (10/10-13) Deon Cole (10/17-20) Bert Kreischer (10/24-27) Tony Rock -- Chris's brother (10/31-11/3) Steve Byrne (11/7-10) Flip Orley -- America's premier comic hypnotist (11/13-17) Bob Marley -- Not that Bob Marley, but the still-living comedian (11/20-24) Donnell Rawlings (11/29-12/1) Gary Owen (12/5-8) Alonzo Bodden (12/12-15) Rory Scovel (12/19-21) Christina Pazsitzky & Tom Segura (12/27-29)

FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY

201 East Capitol St. SE202-544-7077folger.edu

District of Literature: Our Literary District -- Elizabeth Alexander, Edward P. Jones, E. Ethelbert Miller and George Pelecanos participate in a discussion about D.C.-based authors as part of a free, day-long festival (9/30, Lutheran Church of the Reformation) Tom Perrotta & Maria Semple -- The Human Comedy: Serious Humor in the American Novel authors read as part of the PEN/Faulkner Reading Series (10/22) Mortally Beautiful: C.K. Williams and Stanley Plumly -- Poetry reading and discussion (10/28) Philip Caputo & Kevin Powers -- Blood Lines: The Literature of War authors read as party of the PEN/Faulkner Reading Series (11/4) The Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize: Shelley Puhak (11/18) PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story: George Saunders (12/6) Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Peter Gizzi (12/9)

FORD'S THEATRE

511 10th St. NW202-397-7328ticketmaster.com

History on Foot Walking Tour – ''Investigation: Detective McDevitt'' follows an actor dressed up as a detective in the Civil War era investigating the Lincoln assassination (Saturdays through October) In conjunction with its new production of The Laramie Project, Ford's Theatre offers a series of events about homophobia and hate crimes against minorities, among them, With Malice Toward None: Judy Shepard, a Mother's Response to Hate (9/30) Panel Discussion: With Charity for All: Lives Changed by Hate (10/7) Panel Discussion: To Bind up the Nation's Wounds: Communities Respond to Hate (10/21) Panel Discussion: To Achieve and Cherish a Just and Lasting Peace: Envisioning a World Beyond Hate (10/28)

THE HAMILTON

600 14th St. NW202-787-1000thehamiltondc.com

Howard Gospel Brunch -- Howard University's Howard Gospel Choir performs two hour-long shows every Sunday while diners enjoy a buffet at this Clyde's Restaurant Group establishment (every Sunday) Newmyer Flyer Presents: Halloween Howl -- Various local music acts, including Steve and Annie Sidleys, Laura Tsaggaris and Mark Noone, perform along with monsters from the last 40 years, from Werewolves of London to Thriller to Bad Moon Rising (10/25) Janeane Garofalo -- The liberal firebrand actress and comedian is celebrating 21 years in the business (10/26)

THE HOWARD THEATRE

620 T St. NW202-588-5595thehowardtheatre.com

Live Viewing Party: Mayweather vs. Canelo -- A live broadcast from Las Vegas of one of the biggest fights in the history of the brutal sport of boxing; after the bloodbath, what better way to celebrate than with an after-party with DJ, live band, prizes and special guests? (9/14) Howard Gospel Brunch -- Another gospel-show-over-brunch option, this one featuring a house choir welcoming a different guest gospel star each week (every Sunday) The Huggy Lowdown Comedy Throwdown (9/25) Rev. Al Sharpton -- The political provocateur-cum-TV-talk-show host talks about his new book, The Rejected Stone (10/12)

HILLWOOD MUSEUM & GARDENS

4155 Linnean Ave. NW202-686-8500hillwoodmuseum.org

Gay Day – Activities at the 12th annual Gay Day at Hillwood include an LGBT family garden party with Rainbow Families DC, "Punch on the Portico," exclusive peeks into rooms not usually open to the public, vintage cars from Straight Eights, and performances by singers from the a cappella group Not What You Think and DC Lambda Squares (9/28) Hands-on Workshop: How to Get Your Orchid to Rebloom (10/5, 10/12) Spooky Pooch Howl-o-ween Celebration – This one's gone to the dogs (10/26) Fabulous Wreath Workshop (12/6-7) Russian Winter Festival (12/15)

JEWISH LITERARY FESTIVAL

DCJCC1529 16th St. NW202-777-3250washingtondcjcc.org

Selected Highlights: Opening Night: E.L. Doctorow -- Celebrated novelist offers an exclusive preview of his newest book, Andrew's Brain: A Novel (10/6, Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center) Mark Cohen: Overweight Sensation: The Life and Comedy of Allan Sherman -- Hear long-lost parodies of Broadway favorites from this comedian, who 50 years ago released the hit ''Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh'' (10/8) Jeremy Dauber, The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem: The Remarkable Life and Afterlife of the Man Who Created Tevye -- What would Jewish-American life be without Fiddler on the Roof? (10/9) Ben Urwand, The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact with Hitler (10/10) Dan Savage, American Savage: Insights, Slights and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love and Politics (10/12, Foundry United Methodist Church) Allen Salkin. From Scratch: Inside the Food Network (10/14) Debbie Wasserman Schultz, For The Next Generation: A Wake-Up Call to Solving Our Nation's Problems (10/16)

JOE'S MOVEMENT EMPORIUM

3309 Bunker Hill RoadMount Rainier, Md.301-699-1819joesmovement.org

Comedy Supreme's Anniversary Show: Abbi Crutchfield -- A stand-up comedy show featuring an all-female lineup and a DJ between sets (10/12) Late Night Expressions 2013 -- Deviated Theatre co-produces this evening supporting local alternative performance artists (10/19) Art Auction (11/2)

JOSEPH MEYERHOFF SYMPHONY HALL

1212 Cathedral St.Baltimore, Md.410-783-8000ticketmaster.com

Amy Schumer -- The American stand-up comedian and Comedy Central star (10/4) Charlie Wilson (10/6) David Sedaris -- The gay hilarious author and essayist offers more jokes on tour (10/17)

KENNEDY CENTER

202-467-4600

kennedy-center.org

Saul Lilienstein: Wagner at 200 -- Musicologist examines the arc of artistic achievement that begins with Wagner's music and spreads across Europe to profoundly influence composers, writers and artists (10/12) Saul Lilienstein: Verdi at 200 -- Musicologist examines the musically rich middle period of Verdi, the most important of all Italian composers (10/26) Ballet 360: The Magic of Swan Lake -- Dance critic Alexandra Tomalonis uses video of well-known ballets to take us beyond the steps and into the fine craft of making a ballet (1/25/14)

LISNER AUDITORIUM AT GWU

730 21st St. NW202-994-6800lisner.org

Im Hussein Jubilee Show -- Celebrating 25 years of comedy staged by the Ajyal Theatrical Group, the first Arab-American theatrical group in North America (9/21) Richard Dawkins (9/29) Mirman, Hodgman, Schaal -- Sandwich to Go Tour (10/16) David Sedaris -- Reading and speaking from his new book Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls (10/18)

LINCOLN THEATRE

1215 U St. NW202-328-6000thelincolndc.com

Chazz Palminteri's A Bronx Tale -- A one-man show from this Oscar-nominated New York actor, writer and director (10/3) Bentzen Ball Comedy Festival feat. Ira Glass and Friends (10/13) Cheech & Chong (10/24)

LYRIC OPERA HOUSE

140 West Mount Royal Ave.Baltimore, Md.410-547-SEATlyricoperahouse.com

Spank! The Fifty Shades parody (10/18) So You Think You Can Dance (10/21)

NATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL

National Mall9th and 14th Streets NWloc.gov/bookfest

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are honorary chairs once again for the National Book Festival, now in its 13th year. The Library of Congress organizes the event featuring the nation's best and best-selling authors discussing their work and interacting with fans. Linda Ronstadt, Andrew Solomon, Hoda Kotb, Jonathan Hennessey, Evan Thomas, Terry McMillan, Christopher Buckley, Mark Helprin and Joyce Carol Oates are just a few of the many others on tap this year (9/21-22)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE!

Grosvenor AuditoriumNGS Headquarters1600 M St. NW202-857-7700nglive.org

Jonathan Alderfer: Bird Walk Adventure to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens & National Arboretum -- National Geographic author, artist and editor leads a day-long excursion to two Alexandria parks home to hundreds of species of birds (9/21) Jonathan Alderfer: Bird Walk Adventure to Huntley Meadows & Dyke Marsh -- National Geographic author, artist and editor leads a day-long excursion to observe waterfowl and migratory birds (10/5) Michael ''Nick'' Nichols, Earth to Sky: Among Africa's Elephants, A Species in Crisis -- One of the world's leading wildlife photojournalists shares stories and reads from his forthcoming book advocating for the protection of elephants, whose survival is threatened by humankind (10/15) David Pogue and The Science of Everything -- The New York Times technology columnist leads an evening of discovery based on a new National Geographic book (11/4) Tim Cope: On The Trail of Genghis Khan -- Explorer discusses his recent 6,000-mile expedition by horse from Mongolia to Hungary (11/7) Steve Winter and Sharon Guynup: Tigers Forever -- Award-winning wildlife photographer and author talks about his forthcoming National Geographic book about two of the planet's iconic felines, the tiger and the cougar, and efforts to save them (11/19) Richard Crawford: The Whiskeys of Scotland -- Sample whiskies from Scotland led by this James Beard Award winner (11/22) Rhett Allain, Peter Vesterbacka: What Makes Angry Birds Soar? -- Author of the book Angry Birds Furious Forces!: The Physics at Play in the World's Most Popular Game discusses the No. 1 paid iPhone app of all time alongside the head of the company, Rovio, which created the franchise (12/4)

RAM'S HEAD ON STAGE

33 West St.Annapolis410-268-4545ramsheadonstage.com

Capitol Steps (9/28) Jim Belushi & The Chicago Board of Comedy (11/1) Paula Poundstone (11/15)

SIXTH & I HISTORIC SYNAGOGUE

600 I St. NW202-408-3100sixthandi.org

Lee Camp w/Brian Parlse -- ''Comedy, Revolution and Beer'' is the name of the new one-man show from this man who stole the spotlight at Sixth & I's Downstairs Comedy show; opener won first place in Pardon the Pundit's Political Comedy Competition (10/19) Jeff Ross -- Host of Comedy Central's The Burn with Jeff Ross performs his no-holds-barred style of comedy that has earned him the nickname of ''Roastmaster General'' (10/27) Maria Bamford -- Hilariously dead-panned and delightfully off-kilter comedian (11/9)

SPEAKEASYDC

240-888-9751speakeasydc.com

Solo Double Feature: Anne Thomas, John Donvan -- Attorney and advocate Thomas reads ''No More Helen Keller Jokes: Stories of Living Large Through the Seat of My Pants'' while ABC News' Donvan reads from ''Lose The Kid'' (Remaining dates 9/14, 9/21, 9/28, Mead Theater Lab at Flashpoint) What Was I Thinking? -- A night of (hopefully) hilarious true stories about mistakes, missteps and things that went horribly wrong (9/29, Birchmere) Going Viral -- Stories about things that spread, invade and multiply (10/8, Town Danceboutique) Keeping up with The Joneses -- Stories about climbing, covering and competing (11/12, Town Danceboutique) Destiny's Child -- Stories about fate, serendipity and coincidence (12/10, Town Danceboutique)

STRATHMORE

5301 Tuckerman LaneNorth Bethesda301-581-5100strathmore.org

Bill Engvall -- The Blue Collar Comedy Tour staple is way out of his element in North Bethesda (10/6, Music Center) Amy Tan -- The Joy Luck Club author stops by for an evening discussion (11/15, Music Center)

WARNER THEATRE

513 13th St. NW202-397-SEATwarnertheatre.com

The truTV Impractical Jokers Tour feat. The Tenderloins (10/4) John Oliver -- A night of standup from the sub-par sub host for Jon Stewart this summer on Comedy Central's The Daily Show (11/8) Margaret Cho – Queer comedian's new standup show, Mother, offers an untraditional look at motherhood and strong women but, sadly, little riffing on her own mother (11/9) ...more

Feature Story:

The region's fall classical music season doesn't start in earnest until after the leaves begin to turn. And then in no time it's holiday season, when classical music companies and presenting venues are so consumed with good tidings of Handel and Hanukkah, many of them even offer their own spin on karaoke, with candlelit sing-alongs to familiar Christmas carols. But not all: The Folger Consort and Zemer Chai at Strathmore are just two organizations this season presenting out-of-the-ordinary holiday music in traditional fashion. Of course, you can never go wrong with the spirited Gay Men's Chorus of Washington at Lisner Auditorium. And this December the great singer-songwriter Matt Alber joins GMCW to add just the right amount of ''Sparkle, Jingle, Joy.''

THE ALDEN

McLean Community Center1234 Ingleside Ave.Mclean, Va.703-790-0123aldentheatre.org

Ustad Shafaat Khan -- A true master of three of India's most ancient instruments -- the sitar, surbahar or bass sitar, and tabla (10/19) Christopher O'Riley -- The host of NPR's From The Top classical music show performs his concert ''Out of My Hands,'' featuring his renditions of songs by R.E.M. Portishead, Cocteau Twins, Nirvana and Radiohead (11/16) Grand Derangement -- Nova Scotia's answer to Riverdance, this young Acadian group offers an explosion of music, dancing, lights and sound (2/22/14)

ARTISPHERE

1101 Wilson Blvd.Arlington, Va.703-875-1100artisphere.com

National Chamber Ensemble: Jewish Musical Treasures -- Artisphere's resident ensemble offers a night of Jewish music, including a premiere by Alexander Goldstein, Trio on the Roof, based on the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and featuring clarinetist Julian Milkis and Cantor Mikhail Manevich of the Washington Hebrew Congregation (11/9) National Chamber Ensemble: Happy Holidays – A holiday program featuring outstanding young musicians plus a sing-along of carols (12/8)

ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

1333 H St. NE202-399-7993atlasarts.org

Nicholas Photinos -- Renowned cello player and founding member of eighth blackbird premieres his music as a solo artist (9/22) Great Noise Ensemble – One of the most important and adventurous ensembles in D.C.'s new music scene and an artist-in-residence at the Atlas, where the group performs four times this season (9/28, 12/6) Claire Chase -- A founder of the International Contemporary Ensemble offers a solo concert demonstrating her skill as a flute player (10/12) eighth blackbird -- The three-time Grammy-winning new music quartet performs Colombine's Paradise Theatre (11/15-16)

BACH SINFONIA

Cultural Arts Center at Silver SpringMontgomery CollegeSilver Spring, Md.301-362-6525bachsinfonia.org

100 Feet of Brass -- Some of the country's top trumpeteers join for a program exploring the full array of ensemble music for trumpets, timpani and continuo (10/5) A Baroque Holiday Festival -- Rising early music soprano Nola Richardson joins for a good-tidings program of soaring instrumental music and stunning arias (12/4) Annual Chamber Program: Chatham Baroque -- Internationally acclaimed early music trio performs works by Bach and two of his predecessors (1/25/14)

BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

410-783-8000bsomusic.org

Scheherazade and 1812 Overture -- BSO Music Director Marin Alsop kicks off the new season with spectacular Russian showpieces by Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky (9/20, Meyerhoff; 9/21-22, Strathmore) Jean-Yves Thibaudet Plays Bernstein -- Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 2 ''Age of Anxiety'' is the centerpiece of a concert also including Gershwin and Ravel (9/26, Strathmore; 9/27-28, Meyerhoff) BSO SuperPops: The Streisand Songbook -- Singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway celebrates the music of Barbra Streisand (10/10, Strathmore; 10/11-13, Meyerhoff) Romantic Tchaikovsky -- Pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii performs the popular Piano Concerto No. 1 (10/18, 10/20, Meyerhoff; 10/19, Strathmore) Brahms' Third Symphony -- Jun Markl conducts the BSO in what may be Brahms's very finest, the haunting Symphony No. 3 (10/24, Strathmore; 10/25-26, Meyerhoff) The Planets -- Marin Alsop conducts Holst's sonic celestial showpiece with high-definition imagery (11/7, Meyerhoff) BSO SuperPops: Chris Botti (11/14, Strathmore) War Requiem -- Marin Alsop leads Britten's deeply affecting composition joined by gifted soloists and two choruses (11/14-15, Meyerhoff; 11/16, Strathmore) BSO SuperPops: Preservation Hall Jazz Band -- Original music channeling turn-of-the-20th-century New Orleans big band jazz (11/29-12/1, Meyerhoff) Handel's Messiah -- Edward Polochick leads the BSO, the Concert Artists of Baltimore Symphonic Chorale and other soloists in Handel's beloved oratorio (12/6-7, Meyerhoff) The Four Seasons (12/7, Strathmore)

BARNS AT WOLF TRAP

1635 Trap RoadVienna877-WOLFTRAPwolftrap.org

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Ann-Marie McDermott -- Founder's Day Celebration (10/18) Beatrice Rana -- Van Cliburn Competition Silver Medalist makes her Wolf Trap debut as part of the venue's Discovery Series (11/1) Atlantic Brass Quintet -- Offering a world premiere commissioned by Wolf Trap as part of its Discovery Series (1/10/14)

CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

University of MarylandCollege Park, Md.301-405-ARTSclaricesmithcenter.umd.edu

Anda Union: The Wind Horse -- The ''horse-head fiddle'' plus various percussive and wind instruments feature in this performance by Mongolian musicians dressed in stunning traditional garb (9/20) China National Orchestra and North Carolina International Orchestra -- East Meets West in this ''Trans-Pacific Melodies Concert'' (9/27) Miami String Quartet -- Celebrating 25 years of music-making with a performance of Joan Tower, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn (10/4) International Piano Archives at Maryland: Reflections from the Keyboard -- Archives curator Donald Manildi performs and comments on an array of unusual encore pieces by composers Moszkowski, Scriabin, Medins, Godowsky, Poulenc and Saint-Saens (10/6) UMD Symphony Orchestra -- James Ross leads the orchestra in an opening concert featuring faculty artist Evelyn Elsing performing Schumann's Cello Concerto (10/11) UMD Wind Orchestra (10/13) UMD Wind Ensemble -- This ensemble's new leader Michael Votta kicks off his tenure performing one of Paul Hindemith's most popular works, Symphonic Metamorphosis (10/18) Exotic Voices -- UMD faculty artist and mezzo-soprano Delores Ziegler leads school alumni and faculty in a performance of rarely heard works for voice and chamber ensemble (10/20) Kronos Quartet -- In honor of its 40th anniversary, this contemporary chamber group performs a new work, String Quartet No. 6, written by Philip Glass in a co-commission by the Clarice Smith Center (10/24) UMD Repertoire Orchestra -- An all-campus and community orchestra opens its season with a performance of Haydn's Cello Concerto featuring Andrew Hesse (10/29) 2013 UMSO Concerto Competition Finals (11/1) UMD Symphony Orchestra -- Ginastera's Harp (11/10) Pieter Wispelwey -- cellist (11/13) UMD Men's Chorus & UMD Women's Chorus -- ''When the Night is Sweet with Starlight'' (11/17) Chamber Music Showcase (11/18, 11/20) Maryland Opera Studio: Albert Herring (11/22, 11/24-26) UMD Wind Ensemble (11/22) UMD Japanese Koto Ensemble and UMD Gamelan Saraswati (12/4) UMD Symphony Orchestra -- Tchaikovksy'sSymphony No. 6 is tense and brooding in sound, addresses the power of fate in life and death, and premiered only nine days before the composer's death; talk about ''Pathetique'' (12/6) UMD Wind Orchestra (12/8) UMD Gamelan Saraswati and UMD Koto Ensemble (12/11) UMD Chamber Singers -- ''Images of the Christmas Feast'' (12/15)

CHORAL ARTS SOCIETY

Kennedy Center Concert Hall202-244-3669choralarts.org

Legacy and Life -- Artistic director Scott Tucker kicks off this group's season with a concert commemorating the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi's birth by performing his Requiem and the 50th year since John F. Kennedy's assassination by performing Steven Stucky's Take Him, Earth written in memoriam (11/10) An Enchanted Christmas – Beloved carols, popular holiday standards and favorite sing-alongs are the stars in this annual holiday favorite, this year an Italian-flavored affair in partnership with the Italian Embassy (12/16, 12/21, 12/24)

THE CITY CHOIR OF WASHINGTON

202-495-1613thecitychoirofwashington.org

Haydn: The Creation -- Artistic Director Robert Shafer leads a performance of Haydn's great oratorio celebrating the creation of the world as described in the Old Testament (11/1, Alexandria's Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center) The Holly and The Ivy: Music for Christmas -- A candlelight processional will set the stage for this glorious concert, which includes audience sing-alongs, including ''Hallelujah'' from Handel's Messiah(12/15, National Presbyterian Church)

COOLIDGE AUDITORIUM AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Thomas Jefferson Building10 First St. SE202-707-8000loc.gov/concerts

Cameristi Della Scala: Verdi Re-Imagined -- Principal players from the Orchestra della Scala and the Filarmonica della Scala offer adaptations for chamber orchestra with string soloist of Verdi's music during the composer's bicentennial year (10/9) Valentina Lisitsa -- A recital of Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Chopin and Liszt from this pianist, whose had a meteoric rise to prominence courtesy of her masterful use of digital media (10/17) Cuarteto Casals with Manuel Barrueco -- Frequent guests at the world's most prestigious concert venues, this Spanish quartet plays Haydn, Turina and Shostakovich, plus Luigi Boccherini's ''Fandango'' Quintet with elegant guitarist Barrueco (10/24) Blue Heron, Piffaro, The Renaissance Band and Brass Choirs of the United States Navy Band -- A Founder's Day celebration (10/30) The Danish String Quartet -- The self-styled Vikings of the string quartet world (11/2) Wagner & Verdi at the Piano -- Alan Walker of McMaster University offers a lecture about and then Valerie Tryon plays Liszt's transcriptions for piano of Wagner and Verdi (11/9) Wagner in America -- Celebrated author Alex Ross discusses concerns about Wagner and race, followed by performance by mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore of Wagner's song cycle Wesendonck Lieder (11/23) Antonio Stradivari Anniversary Concert: Parker Quartet with Kikuei Ikeda (12/18)

D.C.'S DIFFERENT DRUMMERS

202-269-4868dcdd.org

Fall Concert -- The Capital Pride Symphonic Band and Capital Pride Wind Ensemble kick off the full season (11/2) DCDD Prism Concert (12/15)

DAVIS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Georgetown University3700 O St. NW202-687-ARTSperformingarts.georgetown.edu

The DC A Cappella Festival 2013 – Annual concert co-hosted by two of GU's most charismatic groups: the co-ed Phantoms and the all-female GraceNotes (11/3, 11/9) Georgetown University Concert Choir -- Presenting the choir's newly commissioned cantata Vidimus Stellam by Kevin Siegried, plus Daniel Pinkham's Christmas Cantata(11/20) Messiah Sing-Along -- A rebirth of a Georgetown tradition presented by the Georgetown University Concert Choir and special guests (12/4)

FAIRFAX SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

703-563-1990fairfaxsymphony.org

Beethoven, Copland -- Christopher Zimmerman kicks off the new season with two pieces by Copland, including the Clarinet Concerto featuring Ricardo Morales, and Beethoven's beautiful Symphony No. 7 (9/21) Theofanidis: Virtue -- Zimmerman leads a performance of Virtue, a world premiere and co-commission from Theofanidis, on a bill that includes Haydn and Stravinsky (10/26) Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances -- Zimmerman launches the holiday season with a concert capped by the very romantic Rachmaninoff (11/16)

FOLGER CONSORT

Folger Elizabethan Theatre201 East Capitol St. SE202-544-7077folger.edu

Map of the World: Music from 13th- and 15th-Century Spain -- The consort kicks off its season with a concert of evocative and early Spanish music, including history's first song cycle, The Seven Songs of Love by Martim Codax, as well as spirited Spanish dance music of the period (9/27-29) Christmas in New Spain: Early Music of Mexico and Peru -- Exuberant music by Latin American and Spanish composers plus lively rhythms of early baroque dances, all to get you in the holiday spirit -- and the Folger Elizabethan Theatre will be all decked out for the season too (12/13-22)

GAY MEN'S CHORUS OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

202-293-1548gmcw.org

Sparkle, Jingle, Joy with Matt Alber -- The great gay singer-songwriter helps to kick-off GMCW's new season the weekend before Christmas (12/20-21, Lisner Auditorium) Passion -- Intended as ''the perfect antidote to the February blues'' (2/15, Church of the Epiphany)

KENNEDY CENTER

202-467-4600kennedy-center.org

Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra (9/27) Fortas Chamber Music Concert: Emerson String Quartet (10/2) The Kennedy Center Chamber Players -- Violinist Marissa Regni, cellist David Hardy and pianist Lambert Orkis join to perform sonatas by Bach and Mendelssohn and a piano trio by Brahms (10/6) 35th Young Concert Series: Hermes Quartet (10/8) Washington Performing Arts Society: Jeremy Denk -- Celebrity pianist (10/12) WPAS: Marlinksy Orchestra (10/14) Cameron Carpenter -- The National Symphony Orchestra presents an organ recital by the first organist ever nominated for a Grammy for a solo album, in 2009 (10/16) Young People's Concerts -- Ankush Kumar Bahl conducts and Nick Kendall hosts (10/16-19) Opera Lafayette -- In a program called ''The French Cosi,'' the company performs a clear precedent to Mozart's Cosi fan tutte: The Avenging Wives, a 1775 comic opera by Philidor and Sedaine (10/18-19) Korean Concert Society: cellist Han Bin Yoon (10/20) WPAS: violinist Stefan Jackiw, pianist Anna Polonsky (11/3) WPAS: Sphinx Virtuosi -- Comprised of alumni of the Sphinx Competition for young black and Latino string players, described as ''first rate in every way'' by The New York Times (11/7) Fortas Chamber Music Concert: Enso String Quartet (11/12) Vocal Arts DC: Michael Fabiano -- A recital from this tenor, who's emerging as one of today's brightest young stars, having performed with the Met, La Scala and the English National Opera (11/14) WPAS: pianist Kit Armstrong (11/16) WPAS: pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin (11/25) Pro Musica Hebraica: Alexander Fiterstein and Friends -- A Hanukkah concert highlighting the rich legacy of the clarinet in Jewish art music with a performance by young Israeli star and some of his friends (12/1) 35th Young Concert Artists Series: Ji-Yong(12/3) Vocal Arts DC: Brandon Cedel -- Winner of the 2012 George London Award and the 2013 Met National Council Auditions, this bass-baritone makes his area recital debut with a program of Brahms and Copland (12/4) Fortas Chamber Music Concert: Cantus -- The male choral ensemble returns with ''All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914'' (12/5)

LISNER AUDITORIUM AT GWU

730 21st St. NW202-994-6800lisner.org

Washington Concert Opera -- Giuseppe Verdi's I masnadieri, or The Bandits (9/22) Army Band Fall Concert(9/30) 2 Cellos -- A classical crossover concert by Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser -- along with a drummer (10/19)

LYRIC OPERA HOUSE

140 West Mount Royal Ave.Baltimore, Md.410-547-SEATlyricoperahouse.com

2013-2014 Opera Musical Preview -- Singers and instrumentalists accompany Lyric Opera Baltimore Artistic Director James Harp in a free preview of the 2013-2014 opera season (9/22) Tosca -- Harp leads a production starring rising American star Jill Gardner in the title role, plus Dinyar Vania and Eric Owens, supported by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (11/1, 11/3) The Dialogues of the Carmelites -- The brightest vocal stars from the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University join the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in a fully staged and costumed production of Francis Poulenc's opera about the triumph of faith over doubt, set in the French Revolution (11/15, 11/17)

NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC

Music Center at Strathmore5301 Tuckerman LaneBethesda, Md.301-493-9283nationalphilharmonic.org

Beethoven's Eternal Masterworks -- National Philharmonic's Piotr Gajewski conducts violinist Soovin Kim and the Philharmonic in a performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Symphony No. 5 (9/28-29) Mostly Schumann -- Cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Navah Perlman perform an afternoon program that includes a little Brahms, but otherwise… (10/26) Romantic Sentiments -- Cellist Zuill Bailey sticks around for more Brahms and Schumann (10/26-27) Lost Childhood Concert Opera -- Gajewski leads tenor Michael Hendrick and baritone Christopher Trakas in a performance of Janice Harmer and librettist Mary Azrael's concert on the exact 75th anniversary of the infamous Kristallnacht (11/9) Verdi's Powerful and Timeless Requiem -- Stan Engebretson conducts the Philharmonic and two recent winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, mezzo-soprano Margaret Mezzacappa and tenor William Davenport (11/23) Handel's Messiah(12/14-15) Washington Symphonic Brass -- Gajewski leads this annual tradition, a Sunday afternoon performance of holiday music (12/22)

National Symphony Orchestra

(Photo by Margot Ingolds by Schulman)

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Kennedy Center Concert Hall202-467-4600kennedy-center.org

NSO Pops: Wayne Shorter & Quartet w/Esperanza Spalding -- Vince Mendoza conducts the Pops in a program of Shorter pieces, performed with Shorter's jazz quartet and the great Grammy-winning jazz/R&B vocalist/bassist (9/19-22) Season Opening Night Concert w/Yo-Yo Ma and Cameron Carpenter -- Conductor Christoph Eschenbach kicks off the new season with the renowned cellist and flamboyant organist (9/29) Parsifal: Wagner's 200th Birthday Anniversary -- Eschenbach conducts the NSO in a performance of Act III of Wagner'sParsifal featuring Nikolai Schukoff, Thomas Hampson, Yuri Vorbiev plus the Washington Chorus (10/10-12) NSO Pops: Michael Cavanaugh -- The star of Broadway's Movin' Out joins Pops conductor Reineke for a tribute to Elton John and more, surely including Billy Joel (10/25-26) Jennifer Koh -- Kristjan Jarvi conducts the NSO and violinist Koh in a performance of pieces by Enescu, Barber and Rachmaninoff (10/31-11/2) Sol Gabetta -- John Storgards conducts the NSO and cellist Gabetta in a performance of Britten, Shostakovich and Schumann (11/7-9) Alice Sara Ott -- Neema Jarvi conducts the NSO and pianist Ott in a program of Kodaly, Liszt and Prokofiev (11/14-16) Renee Fleming: American Voices -- Reineke conducts the NSO and this renowned soprano, joined by an all-star roster of vocal greats from the classical, Broadway and jazz worlds, including Eric Owens, Kim Burrell, Kurt Elling, Sutton Foster, Norm Lewis and Dianne Reeves (11/23) NSO Pops: Matthew Morrison -- The Glee star and aspiring pop star performs with the Pops as conducted by Reineke (11/29-30) Nurit Bar-Josef -- The NSO conductor Christoph Eschenbach leads this Israeli violinist in a program of Mozart and Brahms (12/5-7) NSO Pops: Brian Stokes Mitchell -- Reineke leads a Happy Holidays program featuring the Tony-winning Broadway belter (12/12-14) Handel's Messiah – The epic masterpiece is performed each year with a fresh perspective by the NSO and acclaimed guest artists, plus the Choral Arts Society of Washington (12/19-22)

STRATHMORE

5301 Tuckerman LaneBethesda, Md.301-581-5100strathmore.org

Aeolus Quartet with Michael Tree -- Prize-winning ensemble and sharp viola player (10/3, Mansion) Orion Weiss -- Lauded pianist performs pieces by Scarlatti and Spanish composer Enrique Granados (10/11, Mansion) Les Violons Du Roy with Stephanie Blythe (10/15, Music Center) Washington Performing Arts Society: Yuja Wang -- Pianist will make you ''re-examine whatever assumptions you may have had about how well the piano can actually be played,'' says the San Francisco Chronicle (10/25, Music Center) Maurice Steger Trio -- The haunting beauty of the recorder is the focus in a program of Italian Baroque composers (10/25, Mansion) Voice -- London-based female a cappella trio (10/30, Mansion) Lawler & Fadoul Duo -- The unique combination of flute and marimba, performed with theatrical flair (11/21, Mansion) Teatro alla Scala Academy Orchestra -- The Year of Italian culture draws to a close with a performance of Verdi (12/4, Music Center) Zemer Chai: The Jewish Community Choir of Washington -- Celebrating the Festival of Lights (12/11, Mansion) Coral Cantigas -- Latin American-flavored holiday concert (12/18, Mansion) The Irish Tenors -- ''The Premiere Irish Holiday Celebration'' (12/21, Music Center)

WASHINGTON BACH CONSORT

National Presbyterian Church4101 Nebraska Ave. NW202-429-2121bachconsort.org Bach, Vivaldi & The Italian Influence -- 400 years ago Bach became significantly influenced by the works of Vivaldi and his Italian contemporaries, as demonstrated in this program that also includes works by Conti, Pergolesi and Albinoni (9/22) The Concord of Heaven -- Music Director J. Reilly Lewis performs on the organ in this heavenly feast of Bach's instrumental music (11/3) Ceremony & Celebration: Christmas with the Consort-- Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Benjamin Britten's birth with his A Ceremony of Carols, plus the debut of a colorful Christmas cantata, The Nine Lessons of Christmas, by American composer John La Montaine (12/22)

THE WASHINGTON CHORUS

202-342-6221thewashingtonchorus.org

In addition to performances with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the famed Washington Chorus offers: Britten: War Requiem -- A reprise of a concert that garnered TWC a Grammy for Best Choral Performance in 2000 (11/3, Kennedy Center)

A Candlelight Christmas – The Robinson Singers from the James R. Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, perform with the chorus in this Washington-area favorite holiday concert, complete with sing-alongs and taking full advantage of the theatrical lighting and acoustic possibilities of performing in the area's two principal concert halls (12/15, 12/21-22, Kennedy Center; 12/19, 12/23, Strathmore)

WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA

Kennedy Center Opera House202-295-2400dc-opera.org

Tristan and Isolde -- Deborah Voigt, one of the finest Wagnerian sopranos of our time, portrays Isolde in a stunning production featuring an impressive international cast (9/15-27) The Force of Destiny -- Artistic director Francesca Zambello brings her inventive staging to this new production of Verdi's demanding masterpiece (10/12-26) American Opera Initiative: Three 20-Minute Operas (11/13) The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me -- Zambello brings the award-winning children's book to vibrant life in this heartwarming, world-premiere holiday family opera (12/14-22) ...more

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Washington may not be a capital when it comes to the art of dance, but a growing number of nationally known dance companies do call the nation's capital home. This fall, many of these companies get a special spotlight courtesy of several area festivals, including the fifth annual Velocity DC Dance Festival at Sidney Harman Hall and the Modern Moves Festival organized by Dance Place at the Atlas. And while Dance Place, the area's leading dance venue, is closed until 2014 as it expands and renovates its Brookland neighborhood complex, there's certainly no need for dance despair -- from the august Kennedy Center to the hip, suburban outpost Joe's Movement Emporium, there are plenty of venues around the region offering dance from the traditional to the avant-garde. So go on, get your move on.

Matthew Bourne's 'Sleeping Beauty'

(Photo by Simon Annand)

AMERICAN DANCE INSTITUTE

1501 East Jefferson St. Rockville, Md. 301-984-3003 americandance.org

Ballet ADI -- Intermix features new works by Runqiao Du and Linda Denise Fisher Harrell, formerly of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (9/20-21) Jane Comfort and Company -- A collaboration with sound designer Brandon Wolcott and lighting designer Joe Levasseur, in which sound and light are expected to be as central -- not merely support or decor -- as the dance (10/4-5) Sally Silvers & Dancers -- Bonobo Milkshake was hailed by The New York Times as one of its Top 3 dance pieces in 2012 (10/19-20) Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group -- Grounded in a novel by Zora Neale Hurston, Moses(es) explores our relationships to leadership and the effects of migration on beliefs and customs (11/15-16) Doug Elkins Choreography -- This irreverent choreographer returns to ADI with Hapless Bizarre, featuring a merry band of dancers, actors and clowns exploring the intersections between physical comedy, choreography, flirtation and romance (1/31-2/1/14)

ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

1333 H St. NE 202-399-7993 atlasarts.org

Gregory Maqoma -- This South African-born dancer and choreographer presents Exit/Exist, a piece based on the life of a 19th century tribal leader exploring themes of colonial displacement and featuring a four-person singing group and a world-fusion guitarist (10/18-20) Jonah Bokaer -- A Merce Cunningham Dance Company alum offers a preview of Occupant, inspired by the Occupy Movement and a collaboration with visual artist Daniel Arsham (11/9-10) SOLE Defined -- Ryan K. Johnson from Broadway's STOMP and Quynn Johnson fuse diverse global percussive dance forms in a show said to offer a free-flowing conversation through movement and music (11/15-16) Step Afrika! Magical Musical Holiday Step Show -- An interactive celebration of the holidays with furry friends from the animal kingdom, including DJ Frosty the Snowman (12/11-22)

CITYDANCE

CityDance Studio Theater at Strathmore 5301 Tuckerman Lane Bethesda, Md. 301-581-5204 citydance.net

The Snow Queen -- A contemporary re-imagining of The Nutcracker's Snow Queen myth performed by CityDance Conservatory's pre-professional ballet students under the direction of Lorraine Spiegler (12/21) Sink(ing) -- An evening of original works by CityDance Resident Artist and choreographer-in-residence Robert J. Priore (1/18-1/19/14)

CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

University of Maryland College Park, Md. 301-405-ARTS claricesmithcenter.umd.edu

Margaret Jenkins Dance Company: Times Bones -- A world premiere, co-commissioned by the center and featuring live music by the Paul Dresher Ensemble, inspired by the myth of Osiris in which Jenkins and her dancers gather the scattered ''bones'' of her 40-year-old repertory to create a new dance (9/13-14) UMD MFA Dance Thesis Concert: Visible Seams -- Inspired by the films of Busby Berkeley and presented in the center's expansive Grand Pavilion, Erin Crawley-Woods offers a roving tapestry of movement and sound, including a sound and video installation presented before and after the performances (10/9-16) David Dorfman Dance: Come, and Back Again -- An exploration of vulnerability, mortality and the virtuosity required to live daily life, accompanied by a live band performing onstage; choreographer Dorfman will both dance and play saxophone (11/1-2) UMD Graduate Movement Concert -- Three graduate students present solo works (11/2-3) UMD Faculty Dance Concert: Falling Forward (11/15-17) UMD MFA Dance Thesis Concert: Way In (12/6-7) 31st Annual Choreographers' Showcase (1/25/14) David Rousseve/Reality: Stardust -- A world premiere co-commissioned by the Clarice Smith Center that follows an African-American gay urban teenager's dreams, misgivings and challenges -- as shared via tweets and text messages (1/31-2/1/14)

DAKSHINA/DANIEL PHOENIX SINGH DANCE COMPANY

202-656-5679 dakshina.org

10th Annual Fall Festival of Indian Arts -- This gay-led local company offers its signature event, presenting performances at the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Harman Hall of internationally acclaimed artists from South Asia, including: Madhavi Mudgal Dance Company (9/20) Sadanam Balakrishnan & Leela Samson (9/21) Astad Deboo (9/22) Sheejth Krishna Dance Company (9/27) Shantha and VP Dhananjayan (9/28)

DANCE PLACE

3225 8th St. NE 202-269-1600 danceplace.org

Art on 8th NE -- Dance Place offers free outdoor art events every weekend through October, culminating with the Oct. 26 ''Dancing the Dream'' interactive event in the National Portrait Gallery's gorgeous Kogod Courtyard Latin Sizzle Festival -- The exuberant sights and sounds of Latin culture are presented in a program featuring dance companies DC Casineros, Furia Flamenca, Maru Montero Dance Company, Nego Gato Afro Brazilian Music and Dance Ensemble, and the Duende Quartet (9/28-29, Atlas) City Rhythms Festival -- A hip-hop and stepping-centered festival celebrating the area's best rhythmic dance troupes, including Coyaba Dance Theater, Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble and Step Afrika! (11/23-24, Atlas) Coyaba Dance Theater: Kwanzaa Celebration -- The annual tradition from Dance Place's resident company (12/14, GWU Dorothy Betts Marvin Theater) Modern Moves Festival -- A showcase of 12 world-class D.C.-based companies, including alight dance theater, Bowen McCauley Dance, Christopher K. Morgan & Artists, Company E and VTDance/Vincent E. Thomas (1/4-5/14, Atlas)

GALA HISPANIC THEATRE

3333 14th St. NW 202-234-7174 galatheatre.org

Flamenco Fest: Fuego Flamenco IX – The 9th annual festival includes: Aparicio Dance Company -- Performances by gay fest curator Edwin Aparicio and his company (11/8-10) and Templanza -- Performances by the sensuous and electrifying duo Jose Antonio Jurado and Isabel Rodriguez (11/14-17)

Dissonance Dance Theatre

(Photo by courtesy of WPAS)

JANE FRANKLIN DANCE

703-933-1111 janefranklin.com

The Big Meow – Adapted from the book by Elizabeth Spires (9/21, 10/19, 11/16, Alexandria's Old Town Theater) Sweet Zinnia -- A performance of new choreography, video and live music inspired by the zinnia flower, presented in partnership with the Manassas, Va.-based bee-and-flower-focused nonprofit Sweet Virginia (10/5, 10/12, Theatre on the Run) Coyote Blue -- An afternoon concert featuring recent works as well as segments from the work-in-progress Blue Moon, a new collaboration by Jane Franklin and percussionist Tom Teasley inspired by the American Southwest (11/17, The Athenaeum)

JOE'S MOVEMENT EMPORIUM

3309 Bunker Hill Road Mount Rainier, Md. 301-699-1819 joesmovement.org

Dance Box Theater: Museum of False Memories -- A piece by Laura Schandelmeier and Stephen Clapp, with original music by Jamie Kowalski, inspired by the work of visual artist Joseph Cornell, who was one of America's most poetic and mysterious artists (10/3-6) Lesole's Dance Project in Concert -- Company presents a fusion of modern and traditional Southern African dance styles, including its signature work Ndlamu, a traditional Zulu dance (10/26-27) Silk Road Dance Company: Festival of the Silk Road Concert -- A premiere of several new pieces featuring choreography from throughout Central Asia with performances by international guest artists (11/9) Arachne Aerial Arts: We Fly -- An evening of work using the ground, the ceiling and all the space in between by aerial dance and theater artists (11/16-17) Vision Contemporary Dance Ensemble: Holiday Extravaganza -- Katherine Smith's newly created dance company presents an action-packed show offering expressions of holiday cheer (12/14) Elevate Studios and Arachne Aerial Arts: A Winter Aerial Showing -- Students and teachers of both local aerial-art companies don't just believe they can fly, they demonstrate it (12/8)

KENNEDY CENTER

2700 F St. NW 202-467-4600 kennedy-center.org

Saburo Teshigawara/KARAS -- Japanese choreographer and company make their Kennedy Center debut with Mirror & Music, a piece exploring the tangible and intangible nature of music and the reflection we see looking into a mirror (9/12-13) Sivam, Inc: Utsav: A Celebration of India's Maestros of Music & Dance (9/20-22) Hubbard Street Dance Chicago -- A mixed repertory including the D.C. premiere of Mats Ek's Casi-Casa (10/17-19) Susan Marshall & Company -- New York-based company makes its Kennedy Center debut with Play/Pause, a new work blending athleticism, ordinary movement and gesture (9/29-31) The Suzanne Farrell Ballet -- The world-renowned, Kennedy Center-based company of George Balanchine's most-celebrated muse returns with two mixed repertory programs, including company premieres Romeo and Juliet, with choreography by Mejia set to Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and Balanchine's Pas de Dix (11/6-10) Matthew Bourne and New Adventures: Sleeping Beauty -- Renowned British choreographer returns with his company New Adventures to present his latest re-imagining of a ballet classic, Sleeping Beauty, which in Bourne's hands becomes a gothic romance and supernatural love story (11/12-17) The Joffrey Ballet's The Nutcracker (11/27-12/1) Hispanico -- A mixed repertory program including the D.C. premiere of Cayetano Soto's Sortijas, kone of the most dynamic and groundbreaking Spanish choreographers of his generation (12/5-6)

MARYLAND COUNCIL FOR DANCE'S STATE DANCE FESTIVAL

Centennial High School Dance Program Ellicott City, Md. 443-480-8975 marylanddance.org/festival/

Various dance practitioners lead workshops and perform at this 41st annual festival, featuring all styles of dance, from ballet to tap to hip-hop to Pilates (10/25-27)

STRATHMORE

5301 Tuckerman Lane Bethesda, Md. 301-581-5100 strathmore.org

Luis Bravo's Forever Tango -- This repeat Broadway sensation offers a fiery spectacle exploring the history of tango with an all-Argentine cast of 14 and an 11-piece orchestra (11/7, Music Center) Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker – Now in its third decade of touring North America, this company's cast of 40 astounding dancers relate the classic Christmas story with unique Russian zest (12/16-17, Music Center) Krasnoyarsk National Dance Company of Siberia (2/19/14, Music Center) Pilobolus -- The legendary dance troupe continues its legacy of innovative artistry (2/26/14)

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY

Department of Dance 1000 Hilltop Circle Baltimore, Md. 410-455-ARTS

artscalendar.umbc.edu

Christopher K. Morgan & Artists -- Local imaginative, abstract contemporary dance company offers a mixed repertory including its gay artistic director's poetic and poignant solo For Becky (10/11, Old Theatre) Senior Dance Concert -- Works by UMBC dance students in their final year (10/8-9, Fine Arts Building) First Works -- UMBC students present choreographic work for their first time (11/22, Fine Arts Building) Fall Dance Showcase (12/5-7, Performing Arts and Humanities Building Theatre)

VELOCITY DC DANCE FESTIVAL

Harman Hall 610 F St. NW 202-547-1122 ShakespeareTheatre.org

A special partnership with Dance/MetroDC, the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, the Washington Performing Arts Society and host organization the Shakespeare Theatre Company, this festival returns for its fifth year of presenting world-class dance of various styles -- all of it stemming from artists in the Washington region. A ''RAMP!'' program precedes each evening's program and offers a taste of works from dance newcomers, including students of Asanga Domask, David Yi and Deviated Theatre. In addition, there are site-specific pieces in the Harman Center for the Arts by Dance Performance Group, MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet and Next Reflex Dance Collective. Main Stage performances, grouped into two programs, include, among others, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, the CityDance Conservatory, Flamenco Aparicio, Rebollar Dance, Clancyworks Dance Company, Step Afrika!, and the Washington Ballet (10/10-12)

Dance Theatre of Harlem

(Photo by Christopher Duggan)

THE WASHINGTON BALLET

202-362-3606 washingtonballet.org

Giselle -- The company's gay artistic director Septime Webre presents one of his all-time favorite classical ballets, which has inspired generations of dancers in its tale of a young peasant girl who has a passion for dancing but dies of a broken heart (10/30-11/3, Kennedy Center) The Nutcracker -- Every year Webre offers his own twist on the family favorite, setting it in D.C. with George Washington as the titular figure and King George III as the Rat King (11/30-12/1, THEARC; 12/6-29, Warner Theatre)

WASHINGTON PERFORMING ARTS SOCIETY

202-833-9800 wpas.org

Dance Theatre of Harlem: Gloria -- WPAS and CityDance co-present this company's triumphant return after a nine-year hiatus with a piece by choreographer Robert Garland as well as others by George Balanchine and Donald Byrd (10/17-19, Harman Hall)

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Museums and galleries often see their role as one of spotlighting and analyzing pivotal events and developments. So it should come as no surprise that in our digital age, more and more museums are exploring the spread of digital technology and the changes it's having on us as people and as a culture. From Baltimore's American Visionary Museum to Alexandria's Torpedo Factory to a Washington Project for the Arts show at downtown D.C.'s Pepco Edison Place Gallery, digital life and culture is one of the hottest topics around this fall. But among a myriad of other noteworthy shows, Ford's Theatre also deserves attention for its exhibition, pegged to a stage production of The Laramie Project, about how American society collectively responded to the murder of Matthew Shepard 15 years ago.

1708 GALLERY

319 West Broad St. Richmond 804-643-1708 1708gallery.org

FEED2013: A Juried Biennial -- The third biennial FEED features five artists, selected out of 377 who applied, offering works that are topical and compelling: Eleanor Aldrich of Knoxville, Tenn.; Joshua Haycraft of D.C.; Raewyn Martyn of Richmond; Michael Mergen of Farmville, Va.; and Lior Modan of Richmond. (Now to 10/19) InLight Richmond 2013 – A one-night, public exhibition of light-based art installations taking place along downtown Richmond's revitalizing Broad Street corridor, a mix of visual, performance and interactive art, this year, the event's sixth, curated by Ken Farmer of Nuit Blanche New York (11/8)

AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM

800 Key Highway Baltimore 410-244-1900 avam.org

Human, Soul & Machine: The Coming Singularity! -- The museum's 19th original thematic year-long exhibition is a playful examination of the serious impact of technology on our lives, as seen through the eyes of more than 40 artists, futurists and inventors in a hot-wired blend of art, science, humor and imagination (Opening 10/5) A Very Visionary Star-Spangled Sidewalk -- An installation, intended to be fun and informative, going up right on the public pavement running alongside the museum's historic Federal Hill location in conjunction with Maryland's ''Star Spangled 200'' National Bicentennial (Now to 9/30/14)

ARTHUR M. SACKLER GALLERY

1050 Independence Ave. SW 202-633-4800 asia.si.edu

Yoga: The Art of Transformation – The world's first exhibition about yoga's visual history, featuring sculptures, paintings, photographs, books and films from 25 museums and private collections around the world, all exploring how the discipline's meanings have changed over time (10/19-1/26/14) Strange and Wondrous: Prints of India from the Robert J. Del Bonta Collection -- A mixed-media survey of art and images from or about India collected by Europeans and Americans over the last half of the 20th millennium (10/19-1/5/14) Eyes of the World: Ara Guler's Anatolia -- An exhibition of never-before-seen images highlighting Turkey's cultural history and provoking debate about photography's role: Is it documentation or art? (12/14-5/14/14)

ARTISPHERE

1101 Wilson Blvd. Arlington 703-875-1100 artisphere.com

Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds -- One of the largest installations ever done on the East Coast, Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds, originating to 1966, features 150 inflatables that float around the room as people interact with them in an exploration of the intersection between art and technology (9/12-10/20) Sergio Albiac: Three Generative Video Portraits -- This Spanish visual artist has become known for incorporating subtle technological advances into his art, here including a statue of First Lady Michelle Obama (9/12-10/20) Jakub Alexander (Heathered Pearls): Vapor Forms -- In conjunction with its Andy Warhol exhibition, Artisphere presents the debut of this original collection of soundscapes, from artists Almunia, Dirty Beaches and Praveen Sharma, that will play through the speakers in the gallery once a week during the run of the Andy Warhol exhibition and are, in fact, designed to be listened to (9/13-10/18, Terrace Gallery) Alexa Meade + Sheila Vand: Milk: What Will You Make of Me? -- A short film collaboration between a painter and a performance artist exploring changes provoked by interactions between fluid and solid materials (9/12-10/20, Bijou Theatre) DC Conspiracy: Comics Making Studio -- Members of this comics collaborative draw their actual comic art intended for a future issue of the local comics newspaper Magic Bullet (Now to 11/3, Works in Progress) Emily Francisco: May I Have The Piano Delivered to You? -- Sound artist Francisco works with the deconstructed components of an antique baby grand to reconfigure it (Now to 1/12/14, Artist In Residence Studio) Westen Muntain: Lovesong -- Color-reduction prints based on a series of photographs taken by the artist (10/23-1/4/14, Mezz Gallery)

THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART

10 Art Museum Drive Baltimore 443-573-1700 artbma.org

Matisse's Marguerite: Model Daughter (9/18-1/19/14) German Expressionism -- Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, among others, are represented in this overview of the revolutionary art movement that flourished a century ago (1/29/14-10/1/14)

CONNERSMITH

1358 Florida Ave. NE 202-588-8750 connersmith.us.com

Zoe Charlton -- Festoon (9/21-11/2) Wilmer Wilson IV -- Faust in the City (9/21-11/2) Maria Friberg -- Between Solitude and Belonging (11/9-12/21)

CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART

500 17th St. NW 202-639-1700 corcoran.org

American Journeys - Visions of Place -- A new, large installation of historic American art, featuring the Corcoran's renowned pre-1945 American paintings and sculpture collection conveying the changing notion of place in the history of American art (9/21-9/21/14) NOW at the Corcoran: Mia Feuer: An Unkindness -- Inspired by the D.C.-based artist's experiences in landscapes of oil production and exploring the relationships between failed infrastructure, the natural world and environmental catastrophe (11/2-2/23/14) Alex Prayer: Face in the Crowd -- Los Angeles artist's latest series of elaborately staged crowd scenes, both poignant and revelatory, plus earlier photographs and video works, including a new film starring Elizabeth Banks (11/23-3/9/14)

DEL RAY ARTISANS

Nicholas A. Colasanto Center 2704 Mount Vernon Ave. Alexandria 703-731-8802 thedelrayartisans.org

One Percent -- An all-area artist show exploring the symbolism and meanings behind this term that was all the talk during last year's presidential race (9/6-29) Del-Ray-geous -- Member showcase of artwork forcused on the outrageous, fun and unique parts of Alexandria's Del Ray neighborhood and community (10/4-27)

FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY

201 East Capitol St. SE 202-544-7077 folger.edu

A Book Behind Bars: The Robben Island Shakespeare -- A copy of Shakespeare's Complete Works signed by prisoners on South Africa's Robben Island, including Nelson Mandela, on exhibit for the first time in the U.S., along with a series of sketches Mandela made in the early 2000s reflecting on his prison life. (Now to 9/29) The Folgers Our Founders -- Find out just who the Folger is named after in this special exhibition taking place in the Founders' Room while the Folger Great Hall is under renovation. (Now to 9/29) Here is a Play Fitted -- Focusing on play texts as performance scripts highlights broad shifts in the theatrical production of Shakespeare's plays over the centuries and the sometimes surprising changes made to the texts; Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night's Dream are examined (10/1-1/12/14)

FORD'S THEATRE

511 10th St. NW 202-397-7328 fordstheatre.org

Not Alone: The Power of Response -- Featuring a selection of the nearly 10,000 cards and letters sent to Judy and Dennis Shepard after their gay son Matthew's murder, this exhibition considers the larger themes of empathy, community response and personal responsibility (Through-11/3) Abraham Lincoln and the Technology of War -- Cutting-edge Civil War technological innovations captured the fascination of President Lincoln and impacted the conduct of the war (1/14-7/6/14)

GALLERY PLAN B

1530 14th St. NW 202-234-2711 galleryplanb.com

Tory Cowles, Greg Minah, Beverly Ryan -- A multi-artist painting show (Now to 10/13) Chad Andrews, Joey P. Manlapaz -- Mixed-media works by Andrews and paintings by Manlapaz (10/16-11/24) Year End Group Show (11/29-12/24)

HEMPHILL FINE ARTS

1515 14th St. NW 202-234-5601 hemphillfinearts.com

Represent -- A group show featuring a rotating presentation of three works from throughout the careers of 30 artists who've been represented at Hemphill in its first 20 years, as an anniversary toast (9/21-11/27)

HILLYER ART SPACE

9 Hillyer Court NW 202-338-0680 artsandartists.org

Luis Flores: Nueve 9/13 Trece -- A mini-retrospective of works produced by this Baltimore-based artist, for whom the numbers nine and 13 are associated with chance or luck (September) Melissa McCutcheon: We Are Living Here -- Oil paintings examining the sense of identity associated with displacement and its relationship to one's cultural and socio-political context (September) Laura Litten, Lauren Frances Moore (October) Chandi Kelley, D.B. Stovall (November) Annie Farrar, Sherry Zvares Sanabria (December)

HIRSHHORN MUSEUM & SCULPTURE GARDEN

700 Independence Ave. SW 202-633-1000 hirshhorn.si.edu 

Directions: Jennie C. Jones: Higher Resonance -- An immersive installation, featuring audio collages, paintings, sculptures and works on paper, that explores ''the physical residue of music,'' such as headphones and tapes, and reflects on the passage from analog to digital (Now to 10/27) Black Box: Gerco de Ruijter (Now to 11/12) Peter Coffin: Here & There (Now to 10/6) Barbara Kruger: Belief+Doubt -- Installation fills the lower-level lobby and extends into the relocated museum bookstore, wrapping the entire space in text-printed vinyl questioning ideology, social norms and consumption. (Now to 12/14) Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950 -- A range of international artists working in various media and all focused on the theme of destruction in contemporary visual culture -- viewed as spectacle, catharsis, a reaction to world-weariness, a form of rebellion against institutions or an essential part of re-creation (10/24-1/9/14)

JOE'S MOVEMENT EMPORIUM

3309 Bunker Hill Road Mount Rainier, Md. 301-699-1819 joesmovement.org

Public Art Concepts: An Exhibit of Proposals -- An exhibition offering a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to create artwork for a public space, such as street murals and 3D works, with scale models and proposals for public art works by regional and national artists (9/27-11/22)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Thomas Jefferson Building 10 First St. SE 202-707-8000 loc.gov/exhibits

A Night at the Opera -- Opera-related items from the Library of Congress Music Division, including printed scores, photographs and set designs from the late-18th century and a nod to the bicentennials of both Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner (Now to 1/25/14, James Madison Building) A Day Like No Other: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington -- 42 black-and-white images, plus a video demonstration of 50 additional images, commemorate the 250,000 people who participated in one of the largest nonviolent demonstrations for civil rights that America has ever witnessed (Now to 3/1/14) Herblock Gallery – Every six months the Library presents a selection of 10 cartoons demonstrating the value of the late Washington Post editorial cartoonist's pointed commentaries on the state of affairs (Ongoing)

LONG VIEW GALLERY

1234 9th St. NW 202-232-4788 longviewgallery.com

Ryan McCoy (9/19-10/19) Tony Savoie (10/24-11/24) Amy Genser (11/28-12/31)

MANSION AT STRATHMORE

5301 Tuckerman Lane North Bethesda 301-581-5100 strathmore.org

A Fine Line: Calligraphy, Language and Symbol -- A closer look at the artistry of handwriting, including new iterations and techniques being tried by modern artists as efforts to keep this most self-expressive of human disciplines from becoming a lost art due to computerized communication (9/21-11/10) 80th Annual Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature -- Intricately detailed works of art, painstakingly produced in miniature, on popular display (11/23-1/5/14) Color, Earth, Andes: The Art of Mamani Mamani -- Displaying 23 bold, vibrant and emotional works produced in oils, pastels and silk screens by Bolivian artist Roberto Mamani Mamani (11/23-1/5/14)

NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

600 Independence Ave. SW 202-633-2214 airandspace.si.edu

Leonardo da Vinci's Codex on the Flight of Birds -- A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to appreciate the genius of da Vinci in the same space as the Wright Flyer, which made the airplane a reality four centuries later (Opens 9/13) The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age – The 1903 Wright Flyer, the world's first successful airplane, serves as the centerpiece of this exhibition (Ongoing)

NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM

401 F St. NW 202-272-2448 nbm.org

Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990 -- Organized by L.A.'s J. Paul Getty Museum, this exhibition traces the city's transformation into an internationally recognized destination with its own design vocabulary, canonized landmarks and coveted way of life (Opens 10/20) Palaces for the People: Guastavino and America's Great Public Spaces -- Rafael Guastavino Sr. was arguably one of the most influential architectural craftsmen working in America a century ago, designing tiles in New York's Grand Central Terminal, the Baird Auditorium of the National Museum of Natural History and the Washington National Cathedral, among other venues (Now to 1/20/14) PLAY WORK BUILD – An immersive, hands-on installation featuring molded-foam blocks of all shapes and sizes and an original virtual-block play experience (Now to November 2014) House & Home -- A long-term exhibition surveys houses both familiar and surprising, through past and present – including a same-sex couple – challenging ideas about what it means to live at home in America (Now to May 2017) 

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

3rd Street and Constitution Avenue NW 202-737-4215 nga.gov

Yes, No, Maybe: Artists Working at Crown Point Press -- Exploring the accidents, false starts or failures that inform the creative process, as viewed through working proofs and final prints of art produced over a recent 38-year-span (Now to 1/5/14) Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909-1929: When Art Danced with Music -- Showcasing costumes, set designs, paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings, photographs and posters from the most innovative dance company of the 20th century (Now to 10/6) In The Tower: Kerry James Marshall -- One of the most celebrated contemporary American painters, one whose art reflects on African-American history and culture (Now to 12/8) The Transformation of Ovid's Metamorphoses -- Through selections from the library's rare-book collection, along with prints, drawings, medals and decorative arts objects, this exhibition illustrates the history and enduring popularity of this mythological tale (Now to 2/9/14)

National Geographic

(Photo by Michael Nichols)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MUSEUM

1145 17th St. NW 202-857-7700 ngmuseum.com

Lions & Tigers & Bears: Through the Lens with National Geographic -- Majestic creatures deserve our respect, care and protection -- and not fear -- as stunning photographs by Michael Nichols, Steve Winter and Paul Nicklen attest (Now to 2/2/14) One Cubic Foot: Portraits of Biodiversity -- The photographs that resulted after David Liittschwager coaxed insect inhabitants of different small-spaced environments to move in front of his lens (Now to 3/31/14) A New Age of Exploration -- Celebrating the National Geographic Society's 125 years of vivid storytelling through stunning photography, film and interactive experiences (Now to June 2014)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY

1400 Constitution Ave. NW 202-633-1000 americanhistory.si.edu

Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and the March on Washington, 1963 -- Celebrating milestone moments in American civil rights history, in collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture (Now to Sept. 2014) American Stories – The American History museum's newest signature exhibition features an engaging mix of artifacts telling the various stories of the country's history, from the Pilgrims' arrival to the historic 2008 election (Ongoing)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW 202-633-1000 mnh.si.edu

Portraits of Planet Ocean: The Photography of Brian Skerry -- Amazing underwater photographs from some of the most beautiful, diverse and threatened environments on the planet (Opens 9/17) Mud Masons of Mali -- Djenne, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mali, is famous for its spectacular architecture thanks to its centuries-old tradition of masons, whose work is highlighted through archival and contemporary photographs and early engravings (Indefinite) 2012 Nature's Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards -- Juried annual competition that reviewed more than 20,000 images of nature and wildlife from photographers around the globe (Now to March 2014) NATION Genome: Unlocking Life's Code -- A review of the $3 billion effort to sequence the human genome (Now to 9/1/14)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

4th Street and Independence Avenue SW 202-633-1000 nmai.si.edu

Ceramica de los Ancestros: Central America's Past Revealed – Ceramics made over the past 3,000 years, plus works made from gold, jade, shell and stone, illustrate the region's richness, complexity and dynamic qualities (Now to 2/1/15) Grand Procession: Dolls from the Charles and Valerie Diker Collection – Five female artists from plains and plateau tribes are represented in this exhibition, featuring 23 colorful and meticulously detailed dolls originally created as both toys and teaching tools in their communities (Now to 1/5/14)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS

1250 New York Ave. NW 202-783-5000 nmwa.org

Making Her Mark: Publishers' Bindings by Women -- Honoring the pioneering work of women artists who created designs for the nascent art of book binding in the 19th century (Now to 11/1) American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold's Paintings of the 1960s -- Before she made her name by reviving the tradition of African-American story quilts, Ringgold painted bold images responding to the civil rights and feminist movements in 45 rarely exhibited paintings (Now to 11/10) Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger -- The artist and bestselling author of The Time Traveler's Wife gets the mid-career retrospective treatment (Now to 11/10) Wanderer: Travel Prints by Ellen Day Hale -- Exquisitely detailed etchings of the cities, landscapes and people this artist, better known for her bold portrait paintings, encountered in her travels around the world (10/4-1/5/14) Equal Exposure: Anita Steckel's Fight Against Censorship -- Personal papers, photographs and original art are displayed by Anita Steckel, who stirred controversy for her exuberant and shameless female and male erotic figures, and for refusing to back down by creating a Fight Censorship Group (11/4-5/9/14) Workt by Hand: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts -- An innovative display showcasing 35 18th-20th century quilts from the Brooklyn Museum's renowned decorative arts collection, reevaluating an art form sometimes dismissed as ''women's work'' (12/20-4/27/14) New York Avenue Sculpture Project: Chakala Booker -- The only public art space featuring changing installations of contemporary works by women artists, Booker's sculptures in the median of the 1200 block New York Avenue NW are almost exclusively made with recycled tires (Now to March 2014)

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

8th and F Streets NW 202-633-1000 npg.si.edu

Dancing The Dream -- Exploring the relationship between the art of dance and the evolution of a modern American identity through images of dancing artists and performers, from Fred Astaire to Michael Jackson, Isadora Duncan to Lady Gaga (10/4-7/13/14) Mr. Lincoln's Washington: A Civil War Portfolio -- Examining how the Civil War affected patterns of life in D.C. (12/13-1/25/15) Mr. Time: Potraits by Boris Chaliapin -- Time's most prolific artist created 413 covers for the magazine (Now to 1/5/14) Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 -- Juried exhibition of 48 portraits, including a few made from rice, glitter and thread (Now to 2/23/14) Bound for Freedom's Light: African Americans and the Civil War -- Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation with a focus on the roles individual African-Americans played during the course of this hard-fought conflict (Now to 3/2/14) One Life: Martin Luther King Jr. -- Historic photographs, prints, paintings and memorabilia, mostly drawn from the gallery's extensive collection, trace the trajectory of King's career (Now to 6/1/14)

NEWSEUM

555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW 888-NEWSEUM newseum.org 

JFK Timeline -- Two new exhibits, ''Creating Camelot'' and ''Three Shots Were Fired,'' plus a new documentary mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the 35th president (Now to 1/5/14) Make Some Noise: Students and the Civil Rights Movement -- Exploring the new generation of student leaders that emerged in the 1960s to fight segregation and fight for civil rights, from John Lewis, now a U.S. representative from Georgia, to Julian Bond, a former chair of the NAACP (Now to 2015)

PROJECT 4 GALLERY

1353 U St. NW Ste. No. 302 202-232-4340 project4gallery.com

Christine Gray: Believer -- Still-life artists whose subjects range from geological and archeological specimens to tropical fruit and interior decor (9/14-10/26) Ellington Robinson: Recent Works -- D.C. native employs acrylic and oil alongside collected materials such as cassette tape, record sleeves and found objects from city sidewalks (11/9-12/14)

THE OLD PRINT GALLERY

1220 31st St. NW 202-965-1818 oldprintgallery.com

Alessandro Mastro-Valerio: A Retrospective -- In 22 years of printmaking, from 1931 to 1952, this Italian-born American artist focused mostly on the female nude (9/20-11/9)

THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION

1600 21st St. NW 202-387-2151 phillipscollection.org

Van Gogh: Repetitions -- A fresh look at the artistic prowess of Vincent Van Gogh through an examination of roughly 30 paintings alongside related drawings and technical photographs (10/12-1/26/14) Intersections: John F. Simon Jr.: Points, Lines and Colors in Succession -- A four-part installation in the Phillips house stairwell that incorporates drawing, software and computer-generated fabrication, all inspired by the progression of movement in the natural world (10/17-2/9/14) Intersections: Sandra Cinto – One Day, After the Rain is composed of intricate ink and acrylic drawings on canvas that cover the café walls (Now to 12/30) History in the Making: 100 Years after the Armory Show -- New York's 1913 Armory Show, the first major modern-art exhibition in the U.S., was controversial, but among other things it had a transformative effect on this museum's namesake founder, reflected by the acquisitions Duncan Phillips made in the decades afterward (Now to 12/1)

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

8th and F Streets NW 202-633-7970 americanart.si.edu

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art -- Drawn entirely from the museum's pioneering collection of Latino art, a majority purchased in only the past few years, this exhibition features works in all media by 72 leading modern and contemporary artists (10/25-3/2/14) A Democracy of Images -- Photographs from the collection, amassed during the past 30 years, offering a survey of photography in America, tracing its evolution from a purely documentary medium to a full-fledged artistic genre (Now to 1/5/14)

TORPEDO FACTORY

105 N. Union St. Alexandria 703-838-4565 torpedofactory.org

Structural Elements: Kreshnik 'Nick' Xhiku -- Exploring the bonds between figurative and abstracted sculpture (Through-10/7) In the Flesh 4 -- A popular all-media exhibition examining contemporary figurative art (9/7-29) Collaborations of Two or More Artists (9/10-10/20) Black & White: Dark & Light (9/30-10/27) Disconnect -- An all-media, juried exhibition examining how the development of new technologies and social media has caused a shift in how people relate to and interact with one another (10/5-11/3) Body Language -- Artwork from a variety of media referencing the human body and the way we use it to communicate (10/9-11/4) Cindi Lewis: Onstage -- Oil paintings of musicians and performers inviting viewers ''to consider musical performances from a visual perspective'' (10/10-11/4) Colors of Autumn (10/22-11/17) Fresh Out of the Oven -- Ceramic Guild artists present their best bakeware creations (10/28-12/1) Reflections -- part of Fotoweek DC (11/9-12/1) Small Worlds: A Diorama Show -- An all-media, juried exhibition of artists working in miniature to create worlds (12/7-1/12/14)

TOUCHSTONE GALLERY

901 New York Ave. NW 202-347-2787 touchstonegallery.com

Linda Bankerd: Garden Variety -- Paintings of gardens and other landscapes in a representational abstract style (Now to 9/29) Janathel Shaw: ReBirth -- Ceramic sculptures and drawings that explore creative and personal journeys (Now to 9/29) Anthony Dortch (10/2-27) Mary Trent Scott (10/2-27) Tre (10/30-11/24) Betsy Forster (10/30-11/24)

TRANSFORMER

1404 P St. NW 202-483-1102 transformerdc.org

A modest occupation -- Exhibition addresses the intersection of art and economics through the lens of subscription-based art services (9/14-10/26)

UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDEN

100 Maryland Ave. SW 202-225-8333 usbg.gov

Food for Thought -- Highlighting plants offering culinary, ornamental, medicinal and cultural value, intended to provide inspiration to cook something new, plant food for pollinators or even grow your own food (Now to 10/14) Season's Greetings -- A fantasy train chugs along a track through imaginative structures created with plant materials, as well as replicas of many of Washington's many landmark buildings (11/28-1/15/14)

VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

428 North Boulevard Richmond 804-358-4901 vahistorical.org

What Remains of Edward Beyer's Blue Ridge -- Using paintings made in the 1850s by this German artist to compare the communities of Blue Ridge towns Salem and Liberty today (10/15-12/30) Revolutions: Songs of Social Change, 1860-56 and 1960-65 -- Offering a comparative look at two dramatic periods of civil strife and the music they inspired, from ''The Battle Hymn of the Republic'' to ''Blowing In The Wind'' (Now to December) The Great Western Virginia Cover Up: Historic Quilts & Bedcovers (Now to 1/5/14)

VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

200 North Boulevard Richmond 804-340-1400 vmfa.state.va.us

Hollywood Costume -- Exploring the central role costume design plays in cinematic storytelling through examination of the most iconic costumes from a century of cinema, everything from The Wizard of Oz to Superman to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (11/9-2/17/14) Made in Hollywood: Photographs from the John Kobal Foundation (11/23-3/10/14) The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: 50 Works for 50 States (Now to 10/20) Catching Sight: The British Sporting Print (Now to 12/29)

VITRUVIAN FINE ARTS GALLERY

734 7th St. SE 2nd Floor vitruviangallery.com

J. Eric Goines: Smut -- Local gay African-American artist presents the results of a year-long project of erotic drawings and paintings made during nude-male sketch nights at this gay-owned gallery (9/21-10/12)

THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM

600 North Charles St. Baltimore 410-547-9000 thewalters.org

Jacob Lawrence's Genesis Series -- Each of the eight works on view from this celebrated painter of historical African-American figures describes a passage from the Bible (9/14-4/13/14) Egypt's Mysterious Book of the Faiyum -- An exquisitely illustrated papyrus from Greco-Roman Egypt, one of the most intriguing ancient representations of a place ever found (10/6-1/5/14) Book Bindings from the Gilded Age (10/26-5/18/14) Living by the Book: Monks, Nuns and their Manuscripts (7/13-9/29)

WASHINGTON PRINTMAKERS GALLERY

Pyramid Atlantic Art Center 8230 Georgia Ave. Silver Spring 301-273-3660 washingtonprintmakers.com

Jenny Freestone (Now to 9/29) Michael Hagan (10/2-27) Lila Asher (10/30-12/1) Clare Winslow (12/4-29)

WASHINGTON PROJECT FOR THE ARTS

202-234-7103 wpadc.org

Experimental Media 2013: Cyber In Securities -- An interactive exhibition exploring contemporary data collection and imaging surveillance practices, highlighting artists whose work makes visible experiences of tracking and being tracked in a digital age (Now to 9/27, Pepco Edison Place Gallery, 702 8th St. NW)

...more

Feature Story:

Our long summer nightmare of terrible movies is over. For the rest of the year, we'll no longer slog through the bloated dregs of Hollywood. So long, After Earth. See you never, Elysium. This nonsense was a waste, and now -- at last! -- the world can move on to real, capable, promising films, from Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity and Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street to Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave and Asghar Farhadi's The Past. There's only one problem: With so many great movies headed your way, when will you have enough time to see them all?

Don Jon

SEPTEMBER

POPULAIRE -- A period comedy set in 1958, this French delight follows a nimble-fingered secretary who trains to become the fastest typist in the world. (9/13)

SALINGER -- A documentary almost as secretive as its famously camera-shy subject. After eight years of exhaustive research and production, director Shane Salerno is ready to reveal J.D. Salinger's secrets to the world -- or so he claims -- in this comprehensive biopic of the iconic writer. Until it's released, though, anyone who ever cracked open a copy of The Catcher in the Rye shares one question: Is this guy a phony? (9/13)

INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2 -- Horror mastermind James Wan returns to throw another round of paranormal turmoil at a nice married couple, who should probably just take a vacation at this point. Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson star. (9/13)

THE FAMILY -- Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones star in this action comedy about a mafia boss, his family and the FBI agent assigned to watch over them after they move to France under the Witness Protection Program. Luc Besson directs, so here's a reminder: Do not see any movies made by Luc Besson after 1997. (9/13)

WADJDA -- The first feature-length film directed by a Saudi woman, Wadjda is a triumph simply because it exists. Haifaa al-Mansour, who also wrote the screenplay, turns a story about a little girl and the bicycle she covets into a parable about sexism and women's rights in Saudi society. (9/20)

THE WIZARD OF OZ IN 3D -- Like anybody needs to be told why it's great to see Margaret Hamilton's wickedness in three dimensions. Please. (9/20)

RUSH -- Ron Howard returns to the director's chair for this auto-racing film based on the rivalry between Formula One drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Expect shots of exhilarating races, lots of slow-motion, and at least three scenes that give Chris Hemsworth an excuse to take off his shirt. (9/20)

DON JON -- Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a man obsessed with porn. Scarlett Johansson plays a woman obsessed with romantic comedies. What could go wrong? Aside from everything in this movie, I mean. (9/27)

MUSCLE SHOALS -- Aretha Franklin. Otis Redding. Etta James. Wilson Pickett. All these musicians and many more laid down tracks in Muscle Shoals, a small Alabama town that left a massive footprint on rock n' roll, R&B and pop-music history. Director Greg Camalier's documentary pays tribute to the legacy of that "Muscle Shoals sound," rightfully mythologizing one of the country's most important cultural landmarks through a series of interviews with the likes of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bono and Alicia Keys. (9/27)

AS I LAY DYING -- James Franco writes, directs and stars in this adaptation of William Faulkner's famous novel. In related news, James Franco is still acting exactly like that one guy you knew in Comp Lit 101. (9/27)

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 -- Again? I figured the world would have learned its lesson about climate change after the devastation of that first meat storm. (9/27)

Gravity

OCTOBER

GRAVITY -- Seven years after Children of Men, director Alfonso Cuarón returns with this throat-clenching sci-fi thriller about two astronauts left adrift in space. Mark it down: Gravity will be one of the best films of the year. George Clooney and Sandra Bullock star. (10/4)

RUNNER RUNNER -- A Princeton student falls into the dirty world of illicit offshore gambling. Those poor Ivy League kids! When will they ever catch a break? Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck and Anthony Mackie star. (10/4)

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS -- Oh, hey, Tom Hanks. It's been a few years since you've won an Oscar, huh? Does that bother you? It probably does, right? I bet that's why you're in this overwrought movie about a ship hijacked by Somali pirates. Wait, what's that? It's based on a real-life account? And Capt. Richard Phillips is a real person? Wow, okay. Forget everything I just said. (10/11)

THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER AND PETE -- After their caretaker gets locked up, 14-year-old Mister and 9-year-old Pete are left to fend for themselves in New York City. This drama was a Sundance favorite, so keep an eye on it. Directed by George Tillman Jr. (10/11)

KILL YOUR DARLINGS -- Daniel Radcliffe, Elizabeth Olsen, Dane DeHaan and Michael C. Hall star in this retelling of the bloody origins of the Beat poets. Kill Your Darlings is another Sundance hit, which got rave reviews for its complex performances. (10/16)

12 YEARS A SLAVE -- The true story of Solomon Northup, a free man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1840s America. If Gravity isn't the best movie of the season, this will be it. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch and Brad Pitt star. (10/18)

THE FIFTH ESTATE -- Director Bill Condon follows up his double-duty on Twilight: Breaking Dawn with another film about a sparkly, pale-faced antihero -- Julian Assange. (Just kidding, Julian. Please don't hack me.) (10/18)

ESCAPE PLAN -- Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger try to break out of an unbreakable prison. The twist? They don't realize they're still trapped in 1982. (10/18)

ALL IS LOST -- Robert Redford stars as a man trapped on a sinking ship. All Is Lost will stand out for its utter lack of dialogue -- Redford says next to nothing in the entire film. This is a bold sophomore effort for director J.C. Chandor, but it will almost certainly be as good as his first feature, Margin Call. (10/18)

CARRIE -- The bad news? This remake will not be as good as Brian de Palma's adaptation. The good news? You can still skip the former, watch the latter, and save yourself 10 bucks. Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore and Judy Greer star. (10/18)

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR -- If Blue is the Warmest Color doesn't get slapped with an NC-17 rating, it will be an essential film to see this fall. Of course, Abdellatif Kechiche's drama about young lesbians is all but guaranteed to suffer the MPAA's scorn, so intimate French romance probably won't be available in theaters. Find a way to watch it anyhow. (10/25)

THE COUNSELOR -- Cormac McCarthy wrote the screenplay for this film. I'll repeat: Cormac McCarthy, one of the greatest living American novelists, wrote this screenplay. Do you need any other reason to see it? Well, here are four: Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt star. (10/25)

JACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA -- Johnny Knoxville dresses up like an old man, pranks innocent strangers in public places. Watch, laugh, repeat. (10/25)

NOVEMBER

ENDER'S GAME -- Two things you need to know: Ender's Game is an excellent sci-fi novel; and the author of that novel, Orson Scott Card, is a dreadful, homophobic bigot. Do with that what you wish. (11/1)

LAST VEGAS -- "You know what would make The Hangover even funnier? If it was about old people! You know, like, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas and Kevin Kline!" No person has said or thought these words. Ever. (11/1)

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB -- Loosely based on a true story from the late 1980s, Matthew McConaughey plays an HIV-positive man who smuggled alternative medicines into America after FDA-approved treatments nearly killed him. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. (11/1)

THOR: THE DARK WORLD -- Games of Thrones director Alan Taylor steers this superhero sequel back to Thor's fantasy roots. Be prepared for a lot of dialogue about "Asgard" and "bifröst" and "Svartalfheim" in The Dark World, and much less of the humor Chris Hemsworth displayed in The Avengers. (11/8)

HOW I LIVE NOW -- A teenage girl from New York City spends a summer in the English countryside, falls for a cute boy, and… has to fend for herself after the sudden outbreak of World War III? Tough break, kid. Saoirse Ronan stars. (11/8)

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET -- Martin Scorsese directs this black comedy about a cocaine-addicted Wall Street securities fraudster, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Scorsese's comedic chops are cruelly underrated, and at long last DiCaprio seems ready to let his natural charm dominate a performance. The Wolf of Wall Street will be right up alongside Gravity and 12 Years A Slave as one of the fall's best. (11/15)

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE -- Jennifer Lawrence slaps on the mockingjay pin again for the second adaptation of Suzanne Collins's megahit dystopian trilogy. As co-champion of a televised fight to the death between children called The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen has become a powerful symbol for the oppressed masses -- and a threat to the dictator who oppresses them. Director Francis Lawrence has a tough job with Catching Fire. If he fails to rein in the novel's most incredulous moments, it'll be tough to watch. If he does, it'll be as impressive as the first. (11/22)

NEBRASKA -- Director Alexander Payne makes some of the finest, smartest comedies out there. Let's hope Nebraska continues the trend with this road-trip film about a father and son driving across the Midwest. Bruce Dern and Will Forte star. (11/22)

BLACK NATIVITY -- A contemporary retelling of Langston Hughes's celebrated play comes to the big screen. Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett and Jennifer Hudson star. (11/27)

GRACE OF MONACO -- Sometimes, it's worth knowing more than one detail about a movie before seeing it. Nicole Kidman is playing Grace Kelly. This is not one of those times. (11/27)

OLDBOY -- For reasons unknown, Spike Lee decided to remake Park Chan-wook's masterpiece a decade after it first debuted. Why? Good question. (11/27)

MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM -- A biography of Nelson Mandela, based on the South African president's memoirs about his early life, education and the 27 years he spent in prison during apartheid. Idris Elba stars. (11/29)

DECEMBER

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS -- The Coen brothers made a new movie. Enough said. (12/6)

AMERICAN HUSTLE -- A year after wowing audiences in Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell returns with this '70s period drama about the FBI's Abscam sting. He's pulling together all his favorite actors for this one, too: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams star. (12/13)

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG -- Why did Peter Jackson stretch a short fantasy novel into three movies? Was it: a) the money, b) his ego, c) because nobody could stop him, or d) all of the above? (12/13)

HER -- Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with a computer voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Yes, it will be as bizarre as you think. Spike Jonze directs. (12/18)

THE MONUMENTS MEN -- George Clooney directs, writes and stars in this World War II drama about the soldiers charged with saving Europe's precious art from the Nazis. Clooney's rise as a director isn't as impressive as many think -- the last movie he helmed, The Ides of March, was a dull mess -- but this grand sort of story will be difficult to tarnish. Especially when the likes of Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Cate Blanchett co-star. (12/18)

FOXCATCHER -- Steve Carell tries his hand at ripped-from-the-headlines drama in director Bennett Miller's follow-up to Moneyball. Based on the true story of an Olympic wrestler murdered by his longtime friend, Foxcatcher is Carell's earnest try at serious acting -- and it looks like he might actually pull it off, too. Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum also star.(12/20)

ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES -- Prediction No. 1: Ron Burgundy will finally learn how to say "a whale's vagina" in Spanish. Prediction No. 2: Anchorman 2 will be much, much funnier than most critics expect. (12/20)

THE PAST -- Director Asghar Farhadi follows up his excellent film The Separation with this French drama about the complicated romantic triangle between an Iranian man, his ex-wife, and the man she now dates in Paris. Farhadi's skills behind the camera, coupled with a performance that won Bérénice Bejo acclaim at Cannes, make The Past one of the year's most anticipated releases. (12/20)

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY -- More than 70 years ago, James Thurber published a short story he called The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Thurber's story is a masterpiece of American fiction, weaving humor, fantasy and adventure together inside the mind of a mundane suburban man. This December, Ben Stiller will take the boldest step of his career as the director and star of an adaptation of Walter Mitty. Can Stiller succeed with such an ambitious project? We'll find out in December. (12/25)

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY -- Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts team up in this adaptation of Tracy Letts's Pulitzer-winning play about the conflicts sparked within an Oklahoma family after its alcoholic patriarch disappears. Letts wrote the screenplay, so expect the story to be as deliciously dark as it was onstage. Ewan McGregor, Margo Martindale and Juliette Lewis co-star. (12/25)

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Feature Story:

I'll say this now -- Fall 2013 will go down as one of the worst in recent memory for television. The caliber of entries is so utterly mediocre, so devoid of any fresh or truly outstanding ideas that one has to wonder just what exactly is happening at the various networks. Comedy is the main culprit here, but drama fares little better. Even with outstanding actors such as Robin Williams, Allison Janney, Anna Faris, James Spader, Toni Colette, Bradley Whitford, Sean Hayes and Margo Martindale, this year's crop of shows can't seem to rise above middling. Thankfully, there are a few diamonds in the rough, so let's sift through and find the series you should be watching this fall.

Crazy Ones

Almost Human -- J.J. Abrams brings us a buddy cop drama with a difference. Set in 2048, we follow Karl Urban as a police detective in an LAPD where every detective is paired with a lifelike android -- and, naturally, Urban's character hates them. Forced to work with an experimental android, one with human emotions, it's here that Almost Human gets interesting. The future-yet-familiar setting, the action-packed gunfights, the buddy-cop dynamic we've so often seen, but with a fresh coat of paint -- it all points to a very watchable show. Whether anyone will, and whether Fox will continue to foot what must be a substantial bill, remains to be seen. (Fox, 11/4)

American Horror Story: Coven -- Technically new, given the regenerative nature of the American Horror Story franchise, this season follows the descendants of the Salem Witch Trials in modern day New Orleans. Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson, Patti LuPone and Emma Roberts should be sufficient reason for your viewership -- who doesn't want to see Lange and Bates going head-to-head? (FX, 10/9)

Atlantis -- The British are coming. BBC America is co-producing this supernatural drama with the BBC across the pond, and if rumors are true, a massive budget and even bigger scope are being liberally applied to it. Using a broad range of mythological creatures and characters, and likely copious amounts of CGI, Atlantis is aiming to draw inspiration from Doctor Who and Merlin in providing accessible drama for all ages. If the Beeb can pull it off, we could be looking at another smash for the Brits. (BBC America, 11/23)

Back In The Game -- I have to ask: Did anyone proofread the scripts at ABC? Set in the dizzyingly glamorous world of Little League Baseball, Maggie Lawson stars as a mom whose son is rejected from the local team, so starts her own comprised of rejects and outcasts. Cue comedy. No? Okay, what about James Caan starring as her aggressive, asshole dad, who berates anyone and everyone. Cue comedy now? Really? Emmm…. Oh! Ben Koldyke is the chauvinist pig who laughs at every woman who tries to oppose him, and whose character is named Dick, allowing our heroine to call him Dick, with an emphasis, for comedic effect. When does this sitcom actually become funny? That would be never. (ABC, 9/25)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine -- As funny a show as one from a Parks and Rec co-creator can potentially be, please, no more Andy Samberg. (Fox, 9/17)

Dads -- Racist, homophobic, ageist…. It's the perfect recipe for an episode of Family Guy. Set it in the real world, however, and Seth MacFarlane's sitcom is offensively unfunny. (Fox, 9/16)

Dracula -- This could have been something had it aired on cable. There, the penchant for using as much sex and violence as that medium allows would have created a show at least half decent, but here the signs are that Jonathan Rhys Meyers would have been better not accepting the titular role. Awkward American accent aside, the 19th century setting attempts to explore global warming, the problems of the 99 percent, and of course old Drac's love for blood and sex, without much of either. NBC can't really afford to make a show of this scope, so expect cancellation. (NBC, 10/25)

Enlisted -- The product of a former Scrubs writer, Enlisted aims to bring comedy and pathos in similar amounts. Set in a Florida military base, it follows three brothers as they take care of the base, strengthen childhood bonds and otherwise get involved in zany antics. It'll appeal to Scrubs fans, and looks to be a pretty decent romp. Whether it can sustain itself remains to be seen. (Fox, 11/8)

Hello Ladies -- The less-famous half of the Ricky Gervais-Stephen Merchant comedy partnership tries his hand at starring in his own series. Pass. (HBO, 9/29)

Hostages -- Yes. Fifteen episodes, tense drama, excellent cast. Toni Colette ensures this political thriller with a twist will become required viewing and Dylan McDermott will hopefully take his shirt off to assist her. (CBS, 9/23)

Ironside -- A remake of Ironside. Why? (NBC, 10/2)

Lucky 7 -- Ah, the classic American-remake-of-a-British-series-that-didn't-need-a-remake. A time-tested tradition, the bigger budget and attractive cast will help cover any blatant plot-borrowing on offer. Seven minimum-wage employees win the lottery, transforming their lives. Drama ensues. If you've seen it all before, you've watched The Syndicate on the BBC. (ABC, 9/24)

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. -- This is the big one, the show most people are moist with anticipation for this fall. Joss Whedon's adaptation of the Marvel Comics organization follows the timeline established in The Avengers and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- Thor, Iron Man, Captain America -- will all have an impact on what's explored here. With a big budget from ABC, a pilot co-written and directed by Whedon, who is also an executive producer, and a cast that seems up to the challenge of the series' broad aims, we could be looking at the next big thing in television. Or it'll all come crumbling down after one expensive season. (ABC, 9/24)

Masters of Sex -- A big-budget period drama, Masters of Sex takes the ''only on cable'' badge of honor for the fall schedule. Airing on Showtime, it follows doctors William Masters and Virginia Johnson, two pioneers in researching human sexuality in the 1950s. Expect drama, humor, beautifully designed period sets and costumes, and sex. Lots of it. This is cable, after all. Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan star, and if Showtime can get it right, it could be the next Mad Men. (Showtime, 9/29)

Mob City -- TNT is throwing its hat into the ring with a drama set in 1940s L.A. Following the struggles between a corrupt police force and an ever-increasing network of criminals, it doesn't look half bad. A decent cast is on board, attempting to act through various Instagram filters (L.A. was very grey in the '40s, apparently) and Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont is keeping things in line. It's only six episodes long, so it could be worth the relatively short time investment. (TNT, 12/4)

Mom -- Allison Janney is back on network television! Yay! In a multi-camera CBS sitcom! No! Even Janney can't Jackal her way out of this mediocrity, which stars, and similarly wastes, the ever-watchable Anna Faris as a recently sober single mom trying to restart her life. (CBS, 9/23)

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland -- A spin-off of Once Upon a Time and based on Lewis Carroll's Alice, the story takes place in present-day and pre-Curse Wonderland, with crossover episodes and similar storylines to its parent series. If you're a fan of OUAT, this should help round out your weekly viewing schedule. (ABC, 10/10)

Reign -- Sometimes you really need to question the CW. This is a drama that follows a heavily fictionalized account of Mary, Queen of Scots, during her early life in France in the 16th century. Downton Abbey this isn't. With supernatural elements, drama, murder, sex and so many beautiful people, it's classic CW fare. Spoilers: Queen Elizabeth has Mary beheaded in 1587. (CW, 10/17)

Sean Saves The World -- Our token gay show! Thanks, NBC, for continuing to try, but I'd much rather be watching The New Normal. Sean Hayes in a multi-camera NBC sitcom used to be a good thing. Here, with tired jokes, it's not. It'll likely be watchable, but you're not advancing any causes by doing so. (NBC, 10/3)

Sleepy Hollow -- Utterly insane, but in a pretty compelling way. Ichabod Crane dies after beheading a man in 1790, and wakes in 2014 Sleepy Hollow, along with the now Headless Horseman. Paired with an African-American female sheriff -- cue slavery references and colonial gender-role mishaps -- the pair must fight to stop a homicidal Horseman adapting to 21st century weapons. See? Insane. Watch it. (Fox, 9/16)

Super Fun Night -- Oh, Rebel Wilson. Was the paycheck too good? Did they promise Emmys? Did they let you read the script? After finding fame and fans through some excellent comedic roles, Wilson takes her big-girl shtick to an ABC sitcom -- which, rather than capitalizing on her notoriety, turns her into a bland, offensive American everywoman, and then proceeds to make us despise her. Seriously, she's the asshole in her own show. Cancel it and let her get back to movies. (ABC, 10/2)

The Blacklist -- FBI shows are very du jour. Good FBI shows, less so. James Spader returns to television in the latter category, with a rather banal pilot episode and a by-the-books formula of criminal assisting the FBI to catch other criminals, with a secret, ulterior motive. It's a procedural that will live or die on Spader's ability to out-act the setting's limitations each week. (NBC, 9/23)

The Crazy Ones -- Okay, people, I'm about to get serious. If you only watch one new show this fall, make sure it's The Crazy Ones. It won't last more than one season, but I guarantee it'll be simultaneously the best and worst season of television this year. Robin Williams returns to the small screen after 30 years, bringing with him Buffy darling Sarah Michelle Gellar and a rather stellar cast. Set in an ad agency and penned by TV god David E. Kelley, father and daughter must work together to keep the business alive after their biggest client threatens to drop them. Williams was given room to improvise the script, with Gellar the emotionally grounding yin to his zany yang. There's a lot of promise, but something tells me this is going to implode. I'll be watching every episode, waiting for that moment. (CBS, 9/26)

The Goldbergs -- Don't get invested in this single-camera, '80s-set homage to The Wonder Years -- it has early cancellation written all over it. However, it does have two talented leads, an emotional undercurrent, and sparse moments of comedy. You could do worse, but you probably shouldn't bother. (ABC, 9/24)

The Michael J. Fox Show -- Michael J. Fox's return to television deserves at least a passing glance. Following his success on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fox is dealing with his Parkinson's disease in an honest, upfront an surprisingly humorous way. Some will find it uncomfortable laughing at his struggles on screen, but those who appreciate that Fox himself is trying to laugh at the situation will get a lot out of this. Intermittently sweet, funny and serious, it should make for pretty decent viewing. For those who'll bother to tune in, of course. It is NBC, after all. (NBC, 9/26)

The Millers -- CBS takes an excellent cast, gives them a mediocre premise, tepid jokes, and expects us not to hate them for it. Will Arnett, Margo Martindale and Beau Bridges star in this sitcom, and I hope it gets better because at the moment it's headed for early cancellation -- and a horse's head in a CBS executive's bed. (CBS, 10/3)

The Originals -- Another spin-off, this time of The Vampire Diaries. The setting is New Orleans, and centers around the world's original vampires. Expect more mythology, youth-oriented drama and more impossibly beautiful people than you can shake a stake at. (CW, 10/3)

The Tomorrow People -- Yep, more beautiful young people on the CW. Where would we be without their wafer-thin dramas? Admittedly, this has a stronger premise than most. Human evolution results in individuals developing superpowers -- called Tomorrow People -- and the series follows their struggles to adapt to society and their growing powers. Yes, it's basically X-Men, but it could be worth a regular watch, much like CW's Arrow. (CW, 10/9)

Trophy Wife -- Another West Wing alum returns to TV! Bradley Whitford stars in a show abo– oh, sod it. This is another show that won't make it past the first series. A reasonably fresh premise aside -- a different modern family, with two ex-wives, a young new wife and various children -- Trophy Wife won't last. Kudos to ABC for pushing the single-camera sitcom, but this series is headed toward a quick network divorce. (ABC, 9/24)

We Are Men - We Are Average. Middle-of-the-road bromance sitcom about spurned men trying to get back into the dating pool. A reasonable cast, inoffensive setting, uninspired jokes and an overall ''meh'' feeling. Hey, it's on CBS so at least it's not a multi-camera sitcom, right? (CBS, 9/30)

Welcome to the Family - No thanks. I've got my own, and they're much funnier. (NBC, 10/3)

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News:

The Arlington Gay & Lesbian Alliance (AGLA) will host a community forum Sunday, featuring guest speaker Brian Reach, president of Fairfax Pride. The event will explore Reach's vision for a Northern Virginia Pride and building coalitions to push for progress on issues of concern to the LGBT community.

Reach is also expected to address a number of other topics, including the need for more HIV-testing outreach in Northern Virginia, anti-bullying efforts in schools, and voter registration as a tool to mobilize LGBT people and their allies.

Admission to the forum is free, but attendees are encouraged to bring travel-sized toiletries or nonperishable food items to donate as part of the organization's ongoing service projects benefiting the Arlington Street People's Assistance Network (A-SPAN), an organization providing services for Arlington's homeless population, and the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) food bank.

AGLA's community forum will be held Sunday, Sept. 15, from 3 to 5 p.m., at the Arlington County Central Library Auditorium, 1015 N. Quincy Street, in Arlington. For more information, visit alga.org or the event's Facebook page.

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News:

Montgomery County Police are asking the public to be on alert for a missing transgender teen, asking for any information related to the teen's disappearance.

According to the Montgomery County Department of Police website, Nathaniel Martin-Malone, 15, of Silver Spring, was last seen Saturday, Sept. 7, at 5:50 p.m. in the 2700 block of Norbeck Road in Silver Spring. The MCDP describes Nathaniel as an African-American male, approximately 5'3'' and 160 pounds, wearing black pants and a black sweater over a leopard-print shirt.

Martin Malone

Family members told police that the teen is transgender and may be presenting as female. According to MCPD, the Family Crimes Division and the teen's family are particularly concerned due to a medical condition that requires medication. MCPD offered no other names or identifying characteristics that might help identify Martin-Malone as female.

As of Sept. 13, MCPD Public Information Office reported that there have been no developments in locating Martin-Malone.

Anyone with information regarding the missing teen is asked to call the Montgomery County Police non-emergency number at 301-279-8000. Callers may remain anonymous.

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News:

The Latino GLBT History Project (LHP) will honor three local activists for their efforts on behalf of the Latino LGBT community at the organization's 8th Annual Hispanic LGBTQ Heritage Awards, Friday, Sept. 27.

The annual event brings together hundreds of LGBT Latinos and Latinas and their allies from the nonprofit, business and government sectors as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place from mid-September to mid-October, to celebrate the progress made on behalf of the community. Proceeds from the event advance LHP's work.

Latino GLBT History Project (LHP) logo

The honorees for 2013 are: Candy Cintron, a producer for Pedro Biaggi en le Mañana at El Zol Radio 107.9 FM, who will receive the Latina Leadership Award for her commitment to increasing positive discourse about the LGBT community and HIV issues; Gladys Gonzalez, the transgender youth program leader at Empoderate! of La Clinica del Pueblo, who will receive the Sofia Carrero Community Award for bringing increased visibility to the transgender community, her work at Empoderate! and her service as co-chair of DC Latino Pride; and Roxanna Olivas, director of the Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs, for her work on D.C.'s LGBT Latino Task Force and her dedication to ensuring LGBT Latinos receive the services, rights and benefits due to them as D.C. residents.

The Heritage Awards ceremony will be followed by a reception featuring new inductees into the History Project's ''Heroes Latinos'' LGBTQ photo exhibit, an annual portrait-photography exhibit of Latino leaders. That exhibit will be on display at the Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library, at 3160 16th St. NW, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, as part of the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist, principal with the Dewey Square Group and CNN political contributor, will emcee the awards reception. The event is also being sponsored by the D.C. Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs, the Mayor's Office of Human Rights, local nonprofit Brother, Help Thyself (BHT), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, Empoderate!, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and Friends of the Mt. Pleasant Library, with several other individual and corporate hosts.

The 8th Annual Hispanic LGBTQ Heritage Awards Reception will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Human Rights Campaign Equality Forum, 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Tickets start at $30, available online at latinoglbthistory.org.

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Film:

Micah Fink might be straight, but sometimes the ''ally'' badge alone is enough to cause anxiety.

''I think anybody who works with this community in Jamaica is automatically suspect,'' says Fink, a New York-based documentary filmmaker, who will be in D.C. Sept. 19 for the local premiere of The Abominable Crime, his film focused on two gay Jamaicans, Simone Edwards and Maurice Tomlinson. The film screens as part of the first weeklong film festival produced by the D.C.-based Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, ''Global Crises, Human Stories.''

The Abominable Crime: Simone Edwards

''I went back with Maurice several times into Jamaica and it was certainly tense -- let's put it that way,'' Fink continues, agreeing to a characterization of documenting the LGBT community in Jamaica as akin to war reporting. ''I think it had that dimension, because the violence is so extreme in Jamaica and so unpredictable. There are flash mobs that pop up and people end up getting stoned or attacked or murdered. That was certainly one of Maurice's concerns, because he had been so publicly outed. I think we were all very aware that there were potential dangers.''

With four festival screenings beyond the Sept. 19 premiere, most who see the film during the festival won't be privy to Fink's insights. For them, there are two points he'd like to emphasize. First, he'd simply like people to know the crucial role the Pulitzer Center had in making this film, having initially sent Fink to Jamaica to document issues of HIV/AIDS, which then morphed into this story of the LGBT community, also supported by the Pulitzer Center. Second, he emphasizes that the story he's documented is not one far removed from the U.S. audiences who see it.

''This is a situation that may seem distant because it's in the Caribbean, but Jamaica is very, very close to the United States, and it's where a lot of people spend their tourist dollars,'' says Fink. ''You don't have to go to Uganda or to Russia to find a culture that is fully oriented against the rights of gays and lesbians.''

Micah Fink and Maurice Tomlinson will participate in a post-screening discussion of The Abominable Crime Thursday, Sept. 19. The film begins at 7 p.m. The event is free, but reservations are required by emailing RSVP@pulitzercenter.org, subject line ''Sept. 19: DC Premiere.'' For the full festival schedule, running to Sept. 26 at the West End Cinema, 2301 M St. NW, visit pulitzercenter.org.

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Opinion:

One of my instinctual reactions to bad news or worse people is humor, which is why I've always enjoyed writing about Ken Cuccinelli, Rick Santorum and other intellectual luminaries of the far right. Jokes make me feel better about their odious ideas and (I hope) deflates their hateful pomposity.

Other situations, though, are far beyond my ability or desire to crack wise. Say, perhaps, a Navy Yard building where 12 people were shot to death for no reason other than they showed up for work on time on a Monday morning. I've got nothing for that.

(Photo by imaginewithme/iStock Photo)

That would seem to leave me with my second instinctual reaction, anger. Appropriate enough, given that a man with apparently documented anger and mental-health issues, along with a history of using guns to express that anger, walked into a military building and killed a dozen people before dying himself in a shoot-out with police.

I should feel angry. I should want that anger to be a part of a much needed movement to change our country's lack of effective laws and controls.

But at this point I feel less angry than numb. We live in a country where a mentally disturbed teenager can march into an elementary school with his mother's survivalist arsenal and blow 20 first-graders into literal pieces. That made me angry. It made everyone angry, angry enough to finally draw a line, angry enough to demand our politicians enact the background checks and other laws that the vast majority of the public supports.

We were furious. Nothing changed.

Having a classroom filled with the shattered bodies of children wasn't enough. The constant drip of stories of children shooting themselves and each other with their family guns wasn't enough. The shooting death of an ''open carry'' advocate by her husband in a domestic disturbance that became a murder/suicide wasn't enough. A gun-safety trainer shooting a participant in his gun-safety class wasn't enough. An armed man shooting himself in the leg and lying to the police that a gang of black kids did it wasn't enough.

We're numb.

We're numb to the political power of the National Rifle Association, an organization that's grown so radical and virulent that it's begun skating up to the line of calling for armed rebellion. We're numb to the money of the few that ensures our laws make buying and using a gun easier than buying and driving a car. We're numb to politicians so craven and lickspittle that even when one of their own is shot they would never dare disturb the NRA purse strings that have replaced their spinal columns.

There is no price to pay for kowtowing to the NRA's merchants of death. The radicalism of a few will continue to promote open carry, easy access, no background checks, all the policies that keep leading to carnage.

The only price being paid is the ever growing stack of bodies from shootings both small and large. I suppose we've decided that we can afford it. It's just the cost these days of living in America.

That leaves me with the only reaction I have left. Despair.

Sean Bugg is editor emeritus of Metro Weekly and the executive director of the Next Generation Leadership Foundation. Follow him on Twitter @seanbugg or email him at seanbugg@gmail.com.

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Feature Story:

''Have you always been a dancer?''

Actor Alex Mills gets that question a lot, since his principal work in the D.C. theater scene has been with Synetic Theater, the physical theater company known for its ''Silent Shakespeare'' repertoire and other mostly wordless, movement-centered productions.

''It's been a challenge to just get more speaking roles, to be seen as an actor who can handle text,'' says Mills, while noting that he has been meeting that challenge lately. Beyond his core work as a senior company member of Synetic, over the past year he's appeared in stage productions at Signature Theatre and Studio Theatre, including the current Torch Song Trilogy.

And, for the record, Mills has never been a dancer.

''I did gymnastics as a kid, but that's it,'' says the 24-year-old native of Fredericksburg, Va. ''I was a complete theater nerd in high school. I even did forensics, the speech competition.'' Mills was saving money to attend Boston University to study acting when he discovered Synetic, joining the company at age 19. The work has provided its own education. ''Having the knowledge of what physical expression can convey, whether or not people are even aware that you're doing it, is such a good tool to have,'' Mills says. ''Because when you don't have lines, or if you're just trying to react, 'physical vocabulary' -- I'll put that as a term -- says so much. As much as the text does.''

Physical vocabulary certainly factors into his portrayal as Arnold's lover Alan in Torch Song Trilogy. Mills is always onstage during Act 2, but is ''frozen'' during scenes in which he's not talking, when Arnold is often talking about Alan right in front of him.

Mills says his parents have always been supportive of his decision to become an actor, and they were also supportive from the moment he came out as gay. ''I've been very lucky,'' Mills says. ''I had no drama whatsoever in terms of coming out. It couldn't have been easier. My mom was kind of like, 'Son, I hope you don't get offended by this, but, hmm, it's not really going to come as a surprise to the family.'''

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Feature Story:

''Torch Song Trilogy had a very big emotional impact upon me when I saw it the first time around,'' Michael Kahn says. Of course, that was over 30 years ago, when Harvey Fierstein's play broke new ground as a Tony Award-winning hit play built on gay themes, with a lead character who is both gay and a drag queen. Kahn, whose main gig is as the Shakespeare Theatre Company's artistic director, hadn't thought much about the play in the intervening decades until Studio Theatre's David Muse asked him to make a directorial debut at the 14th Street venue. ''I knew that I wanted to do a play by a gay writer, so I re-read a bunch of plays and fell in love all over again with Torch Song.''

The play, which focuses on a gay man's struggles to find love and respect in relationships with men, as well as his hidebound, homophobic mother, is one that affects everyone, especially every LGBT person -- even today.

Torch Song Trilogy: Brandon Uranowitz and Alex Mills

(Photo by Todd Franson)

''In rehearsal, quite often we would be reading a scene or something and we'd all end up in tears,'' Kahn says about the seven actors he cast for the production that opens Studio Theatre's new season. ''We all decided we couldn't do the play like that, but there's just something about the [characters] being so human and so vulnerable and so often wrong…. It affected all of us.''

''It's still relevant today,'' says Alex Mills, who plays Alan, lead character Arnold Beckoff's lover. ''It's not just this time capsule that we're bringing back for nostalgia's sake.''

Studio Theatre's production of Torch Song Trilogy is the first in D.C. in decades. Mills thinks part of the reason it's so rarely performed is the show's length: Studio's version is a daunting three-and-a-half hours, with two intermissions. Of course, Shakespeare's plays are often near the same length. ''If the play is compelling, you don't really think about the time,'' Kahn avers. ''And the extraordinary thing about this play is it's emotional, but it's also very funny. And I think it's brilliantly constructed. Just when it gets emotional, there's a joke. And when it gets jokey, there's a scene that'll break your heart.''

An even bigger challenge in staging Torch Song Trilogy is finding the right cast. ''A couple roles were hard to cast, but the big one was Arnold,'' Kahn says, about the lead character, a role Fierstein wrote for himself -- and a character who's always on stage the entire length of the show. ''It didn't have to be anybody that looked like Harvey Fierstein or talked like Harvey Fierstein,'' Kahn adds. ''It just had to be somebody who could be this character.''

''I saw lots of people, and a lot of great actors,'' Kahn continues, ''but [none] able to find their way into being Arnold.'' That is, until -- really, truly -- the last day of auditions, when Brandon Uranowitz walked in. ''I didn't know Brandon, and I had no idea who he was,'' Kahn says. ''It was like some light came on in the room.''

Once Uranowitz proved he wasn't just a one-note actor, but was able to take on a variety of scenes and just really be Arnold, ''I knew then that I could do the play,'' says Kahn.

''It's kind of crazy how 'on' [Uranowitz] was from Day 1,'' Mills agrees. ''There's another 50 percent of jokes that he gets because of just the details he's put in with his physical behavior and mannerisms. He's completely fleshed out the character -- which is why it's so brilliant to watch.''

Critics agree. The Washington Post's Peter Marks even went so far as to suggest Uranowitz should star in every future production of Torch Song Trilogy, calling his portrayal ''an Arnold Beckoff for all (theater) seasons.''

The 27-year-old Uranowitz isn't a total newcomer to the stage. Among other things, in recent years he was in the national tour of Rent and he made his Broadway debut in the 2011 jukebox musical Baby, It's You. But Studio's Torch Song Trilogy is shaping up as a breakout role for Uranowitz. At the least, there's a good chance we'll see the New York-based actor again onstage in D.C. After all, in an interview with Metro Weekly Uranowitz says he'd like to do more Shakespeare. While noting that nothing has been discussed, Kahn, of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, adds: ''I'm very eager to see what else Brandon can do -- and to do it with him.''

METRO WEEKLY: How daunting was it to even consider playing Arnold Beckoff, a role still so closely tied to the man who created it?

BRANDON URANOWITZ: Well, I've never seen the movie, and I wasn't born yet when it was on Broadway. So the only thing that I could sort of gather was the tone, and what I know of Harvey's other work in other things. It was never my intention to do an impression or anything of Harvey. What happens to be on the page is very Harvey Fierstein, and so I assume that what I do hints at things that Harvey has done.

It was obviously daunting and terrifying because those are big shoes to fill. But I sort of had to make it my own in order to really give the emotional depth and the comedy and all of that any sort of truth. Because otherwise if I was just doing an impression, or if I just had Harvey in the back of my mind the whole time, something about that would seem false to me. So if I wanted Arnold to really become a human being, I needed to let that go, and put myself in there, and take the stuff off the page and put it in me and try to find my version of him.

MW: You've definitely made the character your own. Obviously, you don't have the voice, but I did wonder about your very comic, exaggerated mannerisms and moves: How much of that is naturally you and how much is what you were inspired to do because of the character?

URANOWITZ: [Laughs.] I guess I discovered all of that working on this show. I think all of that lives inside me to some extent. But I feel like this part allows me to explore the extreme parts of my character and parts of my personality that I can give on a daily basis. But for this character and for this show, I feel like I'm allowed to let them out of their cage a little bit and play. I guess they're part of me, but it's not really how I behave in my personal life. I think they exist inside of me, but getting to know Arnold more and more through the rehearsal process, it sort of came to the surface a little bit more.

MW: Well, it's pretty amazing to watch. So much of the script and what your character says is funny to begin with, but you've added another level with your body language alone.

URANOWITZ: Oh, well good, that's the goal I think. You know, we could all just read Harvey's script and laugh, because it's a beautiful, hilarious piece. But Arnold's also a person. And this person says these things, these zingers and these one-liners, so it seems to me that this person would probably act a certain way as well.

MW: How much do you identify with the role and the struggles Arnold went through, such as coming out?

URANOWITZ: My coming-out process was fairly smooth, because I just have wonderful, supportive, amazing parents. But for those big emotional scenes, I guess you just have to kind of dive into that well of fear that any gay man has I think when they're thinking of coming out. Any gay man growing up thinking about that process has the fear of a negative outcome, no matter how supportive or amazing your parents might be. Or not even just your parents, the people around you. So I think especially for those big scenes it was just trying to get in touch with what that felt like -- the unknown and the fear of having to deal with the possibility of a negative/adverse reaction to coming out.

MW: Have you done much camp or comedy before? Or even drag?

URANOWITZ: Never done drag before. Never played a gay character before, actually. So this is the first on those fronts for me. It's like playing dress-up, living out all the fantasies you have as a little gay boy wanting to put on lipstick.

I've done comedy -- Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound out at the Old Globe in San Diego. There's a very specific Jewish dryness and a Jewish tone that I grew up with, so doing Neil Simon or even playing this part, the comedy just sort of feels natural, and the intonations and the rhythms are stuff that I grew up with.

MW: How familiar were you with this play?

URANOWITZ: I had read it – I want to say in high school. I remember being completely moved and amazed by it, but also being a little scared of it, because I wasn't out yet. I was dealing with my sexuality, secretly, on my own, in my own head -- so I think I just sort of brushed it off.

But it's like one of those things that makes an impact and then sort of recesses into your subconscious and inspires a lot of the things that you do, but you don't really consciously think about it. I think it just sort of lives there forever. I never really thought about it until my agent called me with the audition appointment for the play. And then I re-read it, in my bed, alone, in my apartment in New York, laughing and sobbing. I had totally forgotten about it.

MW: Well, it's had quite a legacy. It was groundbreaking for its time, but even though it's set in its time period, the turn of the 1980s, it still has relevance today.

URANOWITZ: I know! That's what was so amazing to me about it, when I read it again. What else was so amazing to me was that it hasn't been done [much] at all since it premiered back in the '80s. And it's still so relevant, which is kind of wonderful to me. It's pre-AIDS, before the AIDS epidemic and before that tragedy. So it's nice to have a play where you can really just sort of focus on the relationships and the love -- the love story -- and not cloud it by this massive, massive tragedy, and you don't have to look at it through that lens. You can really just focus on the people, and what they want, and what they deserve and what they're entitled to. It's still so relevant.

MW: Back then marriage equality wasn't even –

URANOWITZ: And not just marriage equality. Gay relationships, gay love, period. There's this great interview that Harvey did with Barbara Walters, when [the show] premiered on Broadway. She's talking about gay love, and homosexual love, versus heterosexual love, and talking about it like it's this completely foreign, novel, alien idea.

MW: And I'm guessing back then the audience might have even sympathized a little more with the mother than they do today.

URANOWITZ: Yeah, probably. Exactly. Today she seems a little more malicious and villainous, but even back then I think they would have probably had a similar mindset [as she] about the whole thing. People's minds have changed, but the fight is still strong and I think that's why this play speaks to people still.

MW: It's also interesting to think about the audience. The night I saw it, the crowd was probably half straight. And in particular there's the gay-bar backroom scene, which is quite hysterical -- and the women behind me were laughing hard -- but it's also a bit startling to see the goings-on there so openly simulated onstage. In the midst of laughing I was also partly recoiling, thinking: These straight women aren't supposed to know about this, let alone find it funny.

URANOWITZ: I know! I know, it's jarring. But it was a reality. Harvey presents it in a comedic sort of tone, and through a comedic lens I think to make it a little more palatable for people. But, you know, it's where a lot of men went to satisfy their urges and their desires that they were not allowed to have. And they had to do that in a dark backroom where it was a kept secret, and no one could see your face. It was completely anonymous. People think that that's dirty, and irresponsible. And at some point it did become irresponsible because of the disease, but these men are struggling in the outside world to live. Arnold says it in the play that he wants to live a normal life, out in the daylight where everybody can see him. But he goes into the backroom because that's where people would go.

MW: And there is a distinction made between love and sex, and the hunt for a relationship -- and whether that has to be built on monogamy. The play notably touches on that with the ''straight'' couple, Ed and Laurel.

URANOWITZ: Like Arnold says in the play, monogamy is a much easier system to keep track of. You can be there, and you can live in it, and you can be comfortable and safe and stable in it, but then once you start opening those doors, which Ed and Laurel seem so dead-set on opening, it allows for a lot of the unknown. And that can play into the relationship in negative, detrimental ways, whether you want to admit it or not.

MW: Speaking of relationships: The Wikipedia entry on you says you're married to actor Molly Hager.

URANOWITZ: Oh, my God, I know. [Laughs.] Okay, here's the story behind that. This is the first time it's actually sort of affected my professional life.

When Facebook first came out, it was for a handful of colleges. And one of my best friends at NYU was Molly Hager, and she still is one of my closest, closest friends. And Facebook was just this weird kind of fun website that people would play with when we were at college. It didn't have all the features that it has now. It was pretty basic. And then they randomly started rolling out these different features, and one of them was the relationship status, and there was a married option. We thought that that was hilarious, because it was just for young college kids. Like, who the hell is married and in a relationship on Facebook? Which seems so silly now because, I mean, most people have a Facebook now.

So we decided to get married on Facebook. This was like in 2005. Then Facebook blew up, and we vowed never to change it. I have no idea who created my Wikipedia page. Molly has no idea who created hers. But somehow it made it on there because of this thing on Facebook. And we just think it's hilarious, but I guess maybe it's probably more responsible to change it at this point.

But, no, I was never married to Molly Hager. Nope. Never.

MW: Are you in a relationship these days?

URANOWITZ: I am. To an actor, Zach, that I met doing my first Broadway show, Baby, It's You. He was my understudy. That was in 2011. So it's been almost two-and-a-half years. He's in Portland doing Fiddler on the Roof, but, hopefully, if we extend he'll be able to come and see this show.

MW: It must present special challenges, being in a relationship with a fellow actor.

URANOWITZ: Oh, my God. Especially 'cause it's not just dating a fellow actor – it's dating an actor and we go out for the same parts. Like he auditioned for this, you know what I mean? It's sort of something that comes up all the time. It's a really true test of character and keeps your selfishness and selflessness in check. Becoming an actor -- like any job should be, really -- it's kind of a dream you have growing up as a kid, and you have all these fantasies and aspirations of all this stuff growing up. You're not growing up, necessarily, with your significant other [in mind]. So once this person comes into your life, it becomes about prioritizing your dreams and this person that you love unconditionally, and trying to put all of those things that you'd fantasize about in your childhood aside for the sake of a healthy, positive relationship. It's a struggle. It's a struggle, but we're somehow making it work.

MW: When you two compete for a part and you win, such as this one, do you owe him something? I mean, do you find a way to make it up to him?

URANOWITZ: [Laughs.] No, no, because what we've realized over the past couple years is that it can't be a competition. I'll get a part, he'll get a part, I'll get a part, he'll get a part. It's always just going to be alternating. That's how it's been historically for us. The comeuppance, I guess, if you want to call it that, is getting another part somewhere down the road.

MW: Have you actually worked together since that first time in Baby, It's You? Would you like to?

URANOWITZ: No, we have not. Yeah! I think that would be fun. It would be very interesting. I'd be curious to see what exactly we would do together.

MW: Growing up, did you have your sights set on becoming a stage actor?

URANOWITZ: Yeah, well, I grew up in New Jersey, right outside of New York City. I was in extracurricular acting/theater classes since I was 6.

Then I started – because we were so close to New York – I started acting professionally. I did a lot of stuff as a kid between the ages of 9 and 13. And I was in the world premiere of Ragtime in Toronto. My mom and my sister moved with me to Toronto for eight months. Growing up, stage acting was what I always wanted to do. It was always sort of musical-theater focused. Then I sort of lost interest in that in high school. In college I fell in love with Shakespeare, and would love to do more of that. There's also some really, really wonderful, amazing writing happening in the TV world right now. I think it'd be fun to do that as well. I'd love to be able to break into that. There's some really incredible writing going on there, so I think that would be fun. But I don't know what the future holds. I'm just going to ride the wave and see where it takes me.

MW: Obviously, you had a supportive family not just in terms of being gay, but in terms of your acting and theater aspirations. Is your sister also an actor?

URANOWITZ: She's also an actor. She's four years younger. She just graduated. She also went to NYU. Yeah, my parents were always very supportive. That was an incredible thing that they did. My parents are still married and still together. My dad stayed in New Jersey to work and make money while my mom moved up to Canada with me and my sister so that I could do the show. They lived apart from each other for a long time. They're just amazing.

MW: Have they seen you in Torch Song Trilogy?

URANOWITZ: They came to opening night. It was very nerve-wracking for all of us. It was also very emotional. It was a great night.

MW: One thing we didn't really touch on is the whole drag aspect of the character and the play. Early on, Arnold says drag queens are a dying breed, essentially asserting that once gays have more equality, drag queens will wither away. And yet, drag queens are probably more popular now than ever.

URANOWITZ: Than ever, I know, I know! It's fascinating. I think it's kind of wonderful, though, that the gay community sort of held on to this campy, over-the-top self-expression, and didn't let it die. I think, at the time, to Harvey -- this is probably not a very PC thing to say -- but there was something a little minstrelsy about drag: painted face and this caricature of a gay person to make people laugh. I think he probably thought that once [gays] were accepted that drag would probably not be. It's like Arnold says, like the blacks did to Amos, Andy and Aunt Jemima. It's these characters that came out of a struggle, but were sort of performed and done to entertain the naysayers. It's fascinating to me that drag has become more of an art form and a performance art, and I think that's kind of wonderful. I don't think it's necessarily about fighting to be accepted, although that is obviously a very real and very present struggle for any gay person, and any transgendered person and any drag queen. But at this point it's more about the art of it and the craft of it.

You know, with RuPaul's Drag Race and everything, some of these queens are kind of brilliant. They're really good at what they do.

MW: Do you think you'll do drag again?

URANOWITZ: I don't know. It's not something I've ever really thought about. It's really fun. But, you know, it's also kind of scary. Doing drag seems to me like doing standup comedy. It's like one of the scariest things to me. Like putting yourself out there and hoping that people respond and laugh and enjoy it. But, also, the other thing is, most drag queens have a gimmick. They have a thing. I have no idea what mine would be. But it would be something fun to explore.

I'm also going to have all of this makeup once the show is over, so I might as well use it, right?

Torch Song Trilogy runs to Oct. 13 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Call 202-332-3300 or visit studiotheatre.org.

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Stage:

Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy feels very much of its time – the turn of the 1980s – as it starts. Lead character Arnold Beckoff is very much an old-school drag queen, carrying a lifetime of burdens upon his high heels and desperately seeking an unattainable “international stud.” Being stuck waiting by a rotary phone certainly doesn’t help his cause.

But that’s just the first act – and the first hour – out of three, plus two 15-minute intermissions. By the time you leave Studio Theatre’s new production of the 1983 Tony Award winner for Best Play, your thoughts will be very much in the here and now. The play that put Fierstein on the map is possibly his greatest work, drawing from the same well as La Cage Aux Folles and Kinky Boots. Even after significant advances in civil rights and technology in the past 30 years, gay men and drag queens – anyone who feels like an outsider, really – can still relate to the story’s struggles for love and acceptance and its emphasis on the need for self-affirmation.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Michael Kahn, making his Studio Theatre directorial debut, has assembled a fine cast and creative team – led by set designer James Noone – who succeed in proving that this play has not only stood the test of time, but also that it’s something of a travesty that it’s rarely been staged. Brandon Uranowitz leads the cast as Arnold, making the character, which Fierstein largely based on himself, his own. But in Act 3 Gordana Rashovich gives a fiery performance as Ma, aka Mrs. Beckoff – and if she doesn’t remind you of your own mother, no doubt she’ll remind you of another disapproving, dominant woman in your family.

TORCH SONG TRILOGY 1/2 To Oct. 13 Studio Theatre $39 to $85 202-332-3300 Studio Theatre

Torch Song Trilogy is as hysterically funny as it is tearfully sad, and Act 3 packs a wallop on both fronts, as Arnold repeatedly argues with Ma, as well as interacting with his former lover, Ed (Todd Lawson), and the gay foster kid, David (Michael Lee Brown), he’s in the process of adopting. But it is Act 2, “Fugue in a Nursery,” that really makes this production sing. The entire act takes place in a giant bed as Ed, his wife Laurel (a charming Sarah Grace Wilson), Arnold and his new lover, Alan (a game Alex Mills), interact in various combinations and in every corner of the mattress. The actors work together with a sense of perfect timing and harmony, like players in a sharp jazz band riffing on some of your favorite torch song standards. And somehow, even after hours of play, it still ends too soon.

SIGNATURE THEATRE’S PRODUCTION OF Miss Saigon is superlative in many ways – from being the Arlington company’s largest, most technically ambitious production ever, to setting new box-office records with regularly sold-out performances, causing Signature to extend its run twice. It is certainly noteworthy what Signature’s Eric Schaeffer has managed to achieve in this scaled-down version of one of Broadway’s first big-budget blockbuster musicals, set during the Vietnam War. Schaeffer’s production may not employ a helicopter in the “Fall of Saigon” evacuation scene, but he and his creative team do effectively simulate the experience, right down to Chris Lee’s choppy lights and especially Matt Rowe’s seat-reverberating bass sounds.

The 19 cast members also sing their hearts out, so much so you worry about long-term vocal health. The actors are singing both more – even much of the dialogue between actual songs is sung in Claude-Michel Schönberg and co-lyricist Alain Boublil’s sung-through drama – and at higher (wartime-appropriate) volume than the norm. In fact, Jason Michael Evans, the man who was supposed to play Chris, the American GI who falls for “Miss Saigon” Kim (Diana Huey), pulled a muscle in his throat during rehearsals and was forced to bow out in order to save his voice. Understudy Gannon O’Brien assumed the role, and while O’Brien doesn’t have the range or dexterity of Huey, the two nonetheless harmonize beautifully in their many duets in Act 1.

MISS SAIGON 1/2 To Oct. 6 Signature Theatre $40 to $97.80 703-820-9771 www.signature-theatre.org

Still, all of that can’t cover up the fact that Miss Saigon is not, at its core, the best musical ever. It’s not even particularly great. It’s just too melodramatic and predictable, especially in Act 1, to win those kinds of superlatives. Neither the story, based on Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, nor the music is very original, and the degree of gee-whiz spectacle, of style over substance, makes you think Schönberg and Boublil – who worked on the English lyrics with Richard Maltby Jr. – took it fairly easy in writing this, their follow up to the mega-hit Les Misérables. Late in Act 2, the Engineer (a convincingly showy Thom Sesma) sings of “The American Dream,” a wonderful ditty that’s a response to the American horror story that was the Vietnam War, and our leaders who sold us false hope there.

In many respects, though, that’s what Miss Saigon is selling too.

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Stage:

Sometimes it’s all about the synergy. With Woolly’s Detroit, the power of the ride is not just in playwright Lisa D’Amour’s potently drawn prisoners of America’s lower middle class and the insidious crisis that engulfs them. It is the startlingly real portraits by a pitch-perfect ensemble; the aging, gaggingly bland, American suburb evoked in Tom Kamm’s sets; and the scene segues in which Erik Pearson’s unsettling retro projections and Christopher Baines’s distorted montage of suburban sounds amplify D’Amour’s message of confusion and despair. Though each may stand alone for their craft and imagination, together they transform a small stage into a living, breathing world humming with context and life – even if it’s one in which the average theatergoer would prefer not to live.

And in some ways, that is the point. Who among the great swath of the American middle classes really does plan for a life in a faceless, nameless suburb that has seen better days? Yet it’s where we may find ourselves, and what we may or may not make of it is what interests D’Amour.

And thus, though it may be edged with a dark, ironic humor and an existentialist air, at the heart of this tale of neighboring couples, is a painfully real, painfully astute glimpse into the ailing American soul. Days not at work are filled with cheap furniture deals, mass-produced food and dreams delivered via lifestyle TV and themed chatrooms. And if life is one big nondescript cul-de-sac, it’s no wonder that drugs, alcohol and fantasy fill the potholes.

For established residents Mary and Ben, as for many of their demographic, economic pressures are gradually but relentlessly putting on the squeeze. Mary feels it most; the reality of her life – and her likely future – looming large as their resources shrink. But the pressure has triggered something else in Mary; a subterranean sense that something bigger, not just a second income, is now lost or missing. Whether she can fill the void with something real or manufactured hardly matters. Trolling for bargains at TJ Max is no longer enough.

With backyards literally within spitting distance thanks to the sardine-symmetry of their mid-century housing scheme, the restless Mary is eager to meet the new neighbors who have taken up residence in the house behind. Soon Mary and her affable, if awkward, husband Ben are playing hosts to the younger couple Sharon and Kenny, who quickly, if insidiously, begin to disrupt an equilibrium that is wobblier than a discount-store side table.

Anchoring the ensemble and haunting the memory is a superb Emily K. Townley as Mary. With seamless skill and color, Townley captures Mary’s beautifully written complexity: her urge to bring refinements to her life (even if the candle comes from a big-box store), her rigid bourgeoisie mores, the anger that lives beneath her conventional veneer and the nagging sense that something is amiss in her universe. Townley positively flows with this woman’s essence and her performance is bleakly electric.

Plenty for the brilliant Townley to play against, Tim Getman’s Ben captures with much nuance (and some good comic timing), the kind of American male who has dulled his surface to an unassailable but also an impenetrable gray. When this surface finally cracks D’Amour colors her theme further with the revelation of his tragic-comic inner landscape.

As seedily charismatic new neighbors Sharon and Kenny, Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey and Danny Gavigan make a very convincing pair, with Fernandez standing out for giving Sharon the potently doomed energy of an unguided missile. Gavigan injects Kenny with just the right amount of agitation, defeat and dubious edge, though there is a slight unevenness that begs a bit more experience. Though they offer a brand of modern ne’er-do-well that has featured much in recent media memory (one thinks if Jesse in Breaking Bad), their understated, un-stylized portrayals keep these two as uncomfortably real as they need to be. This is no small feat, as these two must drive some of D’Amour’s more intense and sometimes surreal moments, some of which threaten the suspended disbelief.

And here is where director John Vreeke comes in. Though his working of the humor, emotion and interactions of the first two-thirds of the play is superbly, tautly paced, the dramatics of the last third are the challenge. Even with some clever choreography, technical prowess, and his actors’ intense energy, he cannot quite get past a certain staginess and the emotional, if not the physical, momentum suffer.

Detroit To Oct. 6 Woolly Mammoth 641 D St. NW $35 to $72.50 202-467-4600 www.woollymammoth.net

This penultimate struggle makes D’Amour’s end-scene monologue of the old-timer Frank feel more than ever like an off-beat epilogue. Though Michael Willis does his best to inject Frank with a suitable realism, he adds nothing to the power of the play that has come before. And though Frank’s nostalgic memories of the subdivision give some kind of context to Kenny’s – and perhaps the cultures’ – dissolution, its suggestions are too easy, too shallow. Maybe there was a sense of community “back in the day,” but it clearly didn’t serve Kenny’s mother – or the mothers of all the other young adults haunting the nation’s strip malls, clubs and temp agencies like the walking dead.

And yet, even with this caveat, Detroit is a masterpiece of suburban gothic that leaves one wondering, among other things: Are self-limiting minds drawn to symmetrical subdivisions, or do symmetrical subdivisions breed self-limiting minds?

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Business:

Networking may seem easy, even natural. Especially for seasoned business professionals whose livelihoods rely on cultivating and maintaining vast networks of professional contacts.

But as many of us know all too well, it's just not that easy. Likewise, many of us have probably experienced pre-networking event jitters.

Scott Sullivan

(Photo by Photo by Drongo Photo)

Perhaps you suffer from sweaty palms or spend hours grappling with an elevator pitch that is coherent, professional and warm. Perhaps you're more comfortable sticking with your friends instead of working the room, shaking hands and handing out business cards.

Let's face it: Many of us have good reasons for not networking well.

''Nothing is more stress-inducing for many folks than to ask them to talk about what they do and how someone can help them find clients without sounding either entirely cocky or sadly insecure,'' says Scott Sullivan, facilitator for the Capital Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (aka The Chamber) Smart Networking 2.0 series. Sullivan works as a certified professional coach and director of coaching and curriculum at Velocity, a D.C.-based coaching and professional-development firm. Sullivan also serves as the D.C. director of Business Networking International (BNI), one of the largest networking organizations in the world.

So, Sullivan knows a thing or two about how to put yourself out there. He knows we can all overcome our pre-networking jitters to enter the ''success zone'' and reach out to others more effectively.

''Socializing is, to a certain degree, natural, but networking is both art and science. And it's very scary to most people I've worked with,'' Sullivan says. Each of Smart Networking 2.0's sessions (the third is coming up Sept. 24) has been an exploration into the sources of the attitudes we exhibit at work and at home. ''I ask the question, 'What can we do to maintain the ones working for us and change the ones that do not?'''

Smart Networking 2.0's third and final session will explore three scenarios that cause us the most stress in both our personal and professional lives. Sullivan emphasizes that dealing with stress is one of the primary factors leading to successful networking.

''People should think about what is at the root of the stress of relationship-building so they can show up in a way that maximizes their chances for success,'' he advises.

Cris Caruso, a financial adviser and Chamber member, has already attended The Chamber's two previous Smart Networking 2.0 events and looks forward to next week's finale.

''Smart Networking gives you a different way to approach networking at an event,'' Caruso says. ''So often, we go to networking events, and it's sort of a catch-22. People tend to congregate with their friends, but networking shouldn't be a group of people standing around talking with people they already know.''

Smart Networking also helped Caruso – already a seasoned networker – perfect her style.

''Scott helped me set the expectation that you don't have to walk into a networking event ready to conquer the world,'' she says. ''I've really applied that take-home message that it's better to make one or two great, deep connections rather than engage in a networking marathon.''

Caruso encourages anyone interested in honing their professional development skills – or simply those looking for meaningful business connections in the D.C. area – to give The Chamber a call.

''I've made great contacts, both professional and personal,'' says Caruso. ''Plus, their recent educational programs on time management, DOMA and networking have been wonderful.''

The Chamber's third and final Social Networking 2.0 event is Tuesday, Sept. 24, at the Renaissance Washington, DC Dupont Circle Hotel, 1143 New Hampshire Ave. NW, at 6:30 p.m. Registration is free for Chamber members, $25 for non-members. For more information or to register, visit caglcc.org.

Winner of the 2012 NGLCC Chamber of the Year Award, the Chamber means business. For more information, visit caglcc.org.

Brennan Gamwell is a D.C.-based communications and marketing manager, and freelance writer. Learn more about his work at brennangamwell.com.

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