Editor’s Picks for March 29 to April 4: Donnie Darko, New Chefs on the Block and more!

DONNIE DARKO

The American Film Institute offers the chance to see Richard Kelly’s daring apocalyptic cult classic on the big screen. Set in a Virginia suburb in the 1980s, the 2001 coming-of-age sci-fi tale stars Jake Gyllenhaal before he became a Hollywood leading man. Jake’s sister Maggie also co-stars, along with Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, and the late Patrick Swayze. Horror host “Doctor Sarcofiguy” presents the screening on Saturday, March 31, at 10:30 p.m. Also Sunday, April 1, at 9 p.m., and Tuesday, April 3, and Thursday, April 5, at 9:15 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $10 to $13 general admission. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver.

NEW CHEFS ON THE BLOCK

Filmmaker Dustin Harrison-Atlas spent several years developing this intimate portrait of two D.C.-area chefs as they struggled to open and maintain their first restaurants. The highest-profile of the two is Barracks Row’s Aaron Silverman, who earned recognition from the James Beard Foundation as Best Chef Mid-Atlantic for his no-reservations-accepted Rose’s Luxury. In Silverman’s shadow out in the Maryland suburb of Kensington is Frank Linn and the artisanal pie shop Frankly…Pizza! New Chefs on the Block includes insights and commentary from New York legend Danny Meyer of Union Cafe and Shake Shack fame, the late, great Michel Richard, Mike Isabella (before the recent sexual harassment lawsuit), and Washington Post food writer Tim Carman, who will participate in a Q&A following the screening. Wednesday, April 4, at 7 p.m. Landmark’s E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-452-7672 or visit landmarktheatres.com.

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The edgy, innovative, and immersive local company Rorschach Theatre presents Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s dark play exploring identity, love, tradition, and progress, and set in the afterlife. Gregory Keng Strasser directs Linda Bard, Yasmin Tuazon, Sebastian Amoruso, Andrew Quilpa, and Jacob Yeh in this tale about a Chinese-American boy and his video game-style struggle with the Chinese Goddess of Mercy and the Monkey King. Now to April 15. Lab Theatre II in the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $20 to $30. Call 202-399-7993 or visit rorschachtheatre.com.

CLAPTONE

One of the bigger names in contemporary dance music has only been at it for about five years now. German DJ and producer Claptone has earned recognition by showing a real commitment to producing and playing serious, unfiltered house, helping keep the deep house torch burning, rather than pander to more mainstream EDM or the watered-down pop or tropical house variants. Claptone comes to town for a DJ set sure to include previews of sounds from his second artist album Fantast, due in June and featuring collaborations with notable indie-dance artists such as Kele Okereke, Zola Blood, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Will Eastman opens. Saturday, April 7, starting at 10:30 p.m. U Street Music Hall, 1115A U St. NW. Tickets are $30. Call 202-588-1880 or visit ustreetmusichall.com.

CRY CRY CRY

Singer-songwriters Lucy Kaplansky, Richard Shindell, and Dar Williams reunite as this harmonizing folk-pop supergroup, nearly two decades after their short stint together ushering in the new millennium. The point is to contribute, as Kaplansky puts it, to “this unique moment in time, when people are coming together to give voice, partly through music, to what matters and to our collective values.” In addition to selections from Cry Cry Cry’s eponymous 1998 covers album, the trio will also perform from their individual repertoires as well as a few other favorites. Sunday, April 8, at 8 p.m. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. 600 I St. NW. Tickets are $40 in advance, or $45 day-of show. Call 202-408-3100 or visit sixthandi.org.

IMPROVISED SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

Yet another renowned improv troupe out of Chicago, this one focused on creating a fully improvised play in Elizabethan style based on one audience suggestion: a title for a play that has yet to be written. The play then develops as if it were springing forth from Shakespeare’s pen whole cloth, taking the form of a tragedy, history or a comedy, depending on where the improvisers’ minds wander. But no matter how serious it might get, there’s guaranteed to be plenty of laughs and hysterical hijinks from this company that the New York Times says will make you “laugh your iams off,” as in iambic pentameter. Thursday, April 5, at 7 p.m., Friday, April 6, and Saturday, April 7, at 7 and 9:30 p.m., and Sunday, April 8, at 7 p.m. Kennedy Center Family Theater. Tickets are $29 to $49. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

EVERY BRILLIANT THING

Developed with actor Jonny Donohoe, Duncan MacMillan’s unusual one-person play pivots on interactions with the audience, collectively examining a child’s reaction to his depressed mother’s attempted suicide, and helping build a list of things worth living for. From the No. 1 item “Ice Cream” to No. #999, “the Alphabet,” Every Brilliant Thing is said to elicit as much laughter as it does tears in creating its catalog of gratitude. Jason Loewith directs Alexander Strain in the Olney Theatre Center production. Extended to April 1. Theatre Lab, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md. Call 301-924-3400 or visit olneytheatre.org.

HALSEY

Listening to Halsey puts you in mind of a distorted fairy tale, a quality that’s reflected in her debut album’s title, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. But there’s a lot more to this proudly bisexual ingenue, who ensured that one of the set’s best songs is “Strangers,” a duet with fellow bisexual artist Lauren Jauregui of Fifth Harmony on which both sing of female lovers. Halsey, of course, first came to fame two years ago as the singer for the Chainsmokers’ best single, “Don’t Let Me Down.” It’s surprising when you stop and think about how quickly she’s risen to the upper echelon of the music industry, first and foremost the fact that she’s already headlined a stadium tour, which stopped at Capital One Arena last fall. The New Jersey native returns to the area for what is sure to be a starry concert under the stars. Tickets on sale Thursday, March 29, for show Sunday, July 15, at 8 p.m. The Filene Center at Wolf Trap, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. Tickets are $40 to $80. Call 877-WOLFTRAP or visit wolftrap.org.

NEDERLANDS DANS THEATER

Known for non-conformist, progressive productions as well as bold repertory, this acclaimed pioneering Dutch company has increasingly become an in-demand internationally touring organization. And that brings the company to D.C. for its debut at the Kennedy Center with a program featuring two characteristically provocative works created by the company’s artistic director Paul Lightfoot with artistic advisor Sol León. There’s Shoot The Moon, set to music by Philip Glass as performed by the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and featuring revolving black-and-white walls to create three separate rooms, each establishing its own love story. A second work, Singulière Odyssée, is set in an art deco train station and performed to music by Max Richter, with dancers coming and going — except for one who lingers, waits, and watches. The program also features The Statement by the company’s associate choreographer Crystal Pite, who puts four dancers in heated exchange around a conference table, symbolizing corporate chaos and negotiation. Wednesday, April 4, through Friday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets are $19 to $69. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.