Editor’s Picks: Phantom Limb marionettes, Mariinsky Ballet, Into the Light, more

HILLWOOD’S FABERGÉ EGG FESTIVAL

The former estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post hosts an annual two-day festival in which guests can take part in a traditional Russian egg-rolling game, decorate their own Fabergé-inspired egg, take in performances from the Samovar Russian Folk Music Ensemble and Kalinka Dance Ensemble, and listen to stories of Russian Easter traditions in a fun family play produced by Happenstance Theater. All that in addition to admiring all of the finer things Post collected, including many exquisite Russian imperial eggs and other fanciful Fabergé creations. You can also take a tour of Hillwood’s working greenhouse most days. Saturday, April 6, and Sunday, April 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hillwood Estate, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Suggested donation is $18. Call 202-686-5807 or visit www.HillwoodMuseum.org.

PHANTOM LIMB COMPANY: FALLING OUT

The New York company, Phantom Limb, is known for its work with marionette puppetry and for its focus on collaborative, multimedia theatrical production and design. The company makes its Kennedy Center debut as part of the Direct Current series with a work, developed in collaboration with butoh dancer Dai Matsuoka, a member of Japan’s famed Sankai Juku troupe, that serves as a response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Falling Out represents the final installment in an environmental trilogy exploring our changing relationship to nature over time, and urging greater awareness and advocacy on the issue. Post-show discussions with a wide range of experts have also been planned. Thursday, April 4, and Friday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are $19. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

RAMEN SHOP

Called “a mouthwatering family drama,” Eric Khoo’s Ramen Shop relates a young man’s efforts to trace his family’s roots over bowls of soup and a shared love of good food. Takumi Saito plays an aspiring young ramen chef in Japan who embarks on a culinary journey to Singapore to meet his deceased Chinese mother’s family. Similar to Ang Lee’s 1994 Eat Drink Man Woman, Ramen Shop is filled with scenes of gorgeous food and dining as it becomes a sweet tale of reconciliation. Opens Friday, April 5. Landmark’s E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

DEAD DOG’S BONE: A BIRTHDAY PLAY

Nu Sass Productions, the female-focused local theater company, presents Veronica Tjioe’s family drama that’s equal parts irreverent and heartbreaking in its exploration of familial relationships, the melancholia of birthdays, and the goodness of dogs. Mara Sherman directs a cast including Dannielle Hutchinson, Schuyler Atkins, Karen Lange, Aubri O’Connor, Erik Harrison, and Andy De. To April 14. Caos on F, 923 F St. NW. Tickets are $20. Call 202-215-6993 or visit www.nusass.com.

ELI CONLEY

Folk and roots music has been a lifelong passion and pursuit for this native of central Virginia, who identifies as an openly gay, transgender man. An earnest yet amiable artist, Conley’s music stands out by virtue of his forthright way of tackling queer themes and issues — with his self-released sophomore set Strong and Tender touching on everything from gender confusion and dysphoria to struggles with aging and financial matters. And yet the music itself is pure homespun folk in the traditional singer-songwriter mold. The San Francisco-based artist straddles binaries beyond gender, such as notions associated with city vs. country and contemporary vs. traditional. He’s joined by Joel Price on mandolin, violin, and harmonies. Wednesday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m. Gypsy Sally’s Vinyl Lounge, 3401 K St. NW. Free. Call 202-333-7700 or visit www.gypsysallys.com.

LIZZ WRIGHT

A blues-fired R&B singer with a countrified bent and gospel and jazz background, this New Yorker by way of Georgia sometimes powers her smoky contralto to its full-throttle extremes, but the point is never to showboat. Wright will knock you out with lyrical power, stun you with beautiful, elegantly crafted melodies, and shock you with vocal subtlety. Thursday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $39.50. Call 703-549-7500 or visit www.birchmere.com.

MARIINSKY BALLET: LE CORSAIRE

The famed Russian company returns to the Kennedy Center with Marius Petipa’s swashbuckling adventure featuring bold pirates, passionate maidens, shocking betrayal, and a dramatic shipwreck rescue. Touted as “a crown jewel of the art form,” the Mariinsky Ballet dazzles with trademark attributes, including breathtaking choreography, virtuosic dancing, and spectacular scenery and costumes. Artistic director Valery Gergiev leads the ballet company with conductor Vladislav Karklin leading the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Performances begin Tuesday, April 9. To Sunday, April 14. Opera House. Tickets are $49 to $209. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

MATT AND TED LEE: HOTBOX

Hotbox: Inside Catering, the Food World’s Riskiest Business presents a vivid insider’s account of the vaguely understood world of high-end catering that covers a range of events and venues — from white-tented Hampton cookouts to industrial park galas — accompanied by lively profiles of the creative and resilient people who organize and staff them. Hotbox is the latest from the James Beard Award-winning authors of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook. The Lees will be in conversation with Edward Lee (no relation), author of Buttermilk Graffiti and chef behind the Succotash restaurants in Penn Quarter and National Harbor. Wednesday, April 10, at 7 p.m. Politics & Prose at Union Market, 1270 5th St. NE. Call 202-544-4452 or visit www.politics-prose.com.

EYES WIDE SHUT

“Heeere’s Kubrick” is an annual celebration of the late, legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, with select films screening on Wednesdays at both area locations of the Angelika movie theater chain. The series continues with the director’s last directorial effort, having died six days after completing his final cut. Eyes Wide Shut was three decades in the making from the time Kubrick first obtained the rights to adapt Arthur Schnitzler’s Austrian novella, Dream Story. Written with Frederic Raphael, the 1999 screen adaptation stars Tom Cruise as a man who pursues a night of sexual adventure, culminating in a massive, masked orgy, in reaction to his wife (Nicole Kidman) revealing her past interest in a premarital affair. The provocative, sumptuous drama and its explorations of extramarital sexual desire, jealousy, and the fragility of the masculine ego is generally considered among Kubrick’s greatest cinematic achievements. Barry Lyndon and Lolita will follow in subsequent weeks. Wednesday, April 10, at 7 p.m. Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market, 550 Penn St. NE. Also Angelika at Mosaic, 2911 District Ave., Fairfax, Va. Tickets are $10.50 to $14.50. Call 571-512-3311 or visit www.angelikafilmcenter.com.

INTO THE LIGHT

The Choral Art Society of Washington and its Choral Arts Youth Choir have teamed up with the New Orchestra of Washington and its ensemble in residence the Aeolus Quartet to expand the limits of classical music by offering a new, interactive, and immersive experience. Directed by Jay D. Brock, Into The Light will make use of the shimmering acoustics and the entire subterranean space of the Dupont Underground, the former belowground streetcar station that is particularly apt for the performance of Steve Reich’s Different Trains, a three-movement piece inspired by Reich’s train travel while living as a young American Jew during the time of the Holocaust. The performers will begin on one end of the space and gradually move toward the other, emphasizing the transition from darkness into light — simultaneously enhanced with lighting effects and projections by designer JD Madsen. There will also be movable barriers used to guide the audience through the space. Works by Hildegard von Bingen, Gregorio Allegri, Samuel Barber, Ben Parry, Sarah Hopkins, and Knut Nystedt will also be performed, along with The Moon and Her Maidens, a new piece by Choral Arts’ Scott Tucker inspired by the acoustics of the venue and paired with R. Murray Schafer’s Epitaph for Moonlight. Friday, April 5, and Saturday, April 6, at 8 p.m. 1500 19th St. NW. Tickets are $20. Call 202-244-3669 or visit www.dupontunderground.org.