FILM

ALIEN

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Fathom Events returns the original Alien to the big screen. A classic with a tough-minded heroine, Ridley Scott’s classic featured an insidiously slow pacing that ripped through the seams at the finish, producing a third act of unprecedented intensity as Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley frantically struggled to escape both a ferocious, unstoppable xenomorph and a massive ship set to self-destruct —- all while trying to save a cat. Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, Veronica Cartwright, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto co-star. The screenings are bookended with special commentary from TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz. Sunday, Oct. 13, at 1 and 4 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 15, and Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. Area theaters including Regal venues in Gallery Place (701 7th St. NW), Potomac Yards (3575 Richmond Highway, Alexandria), and Majestic Stadium (900 Ellsworth Dr., Silver Spring). Visit www.fathomevents.com.

THE BIRDS

The area’s two Angelika theaters offer another “Hitchcocktober,” with screenings of this 1963 masterpiece starring Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren. Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, and Veronica Cartwright, who much later, wound up aboard Alien‘s doomed Nostromo. You haven’t experienced The Birds until you’ve seen it on the big screen. (Note the unnerving lack of musical score, and get there in time for Saul Bass’s chilling opening credits.) Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market, 550 Penn St. NE. Also Thursday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. Angelika Film Center – Mosaic, 2911 District Ave., Fairfax. Tickets are $10 athe Pop-Up, $14.50 at Mosaic. Call 800-680-9095 or visit www.AngelikaFilmCenter.com.

DOLEMITE IS MY NAME

Eddie Murphy starts as Rudy Ray Moore, the comedian who starred as a kung-fu fighting pimp in 1975 blaxploitation flick Dolemite. Murphy charts Moore’s rise from floundering stand-up to film producer. With Keegan-Michael Key, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Wesley Snipes, Craig Robinson, Tituss Burgess, and Snoop Dogg. Opens Friday, Oct. 11. Area theaters. Visit www.fandango.com. (Rhuaridh Marr)

GASLIGHT

George Cukor’s 1944 psychological thriller helped coin the name of a type of psychological abuse that’s become all-too common in our current era, one in which a person is gradually manipulated into doubting the truth. Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar for her portrayal of a young opera singer whose husband convinces her that the strange things she keeps noticing — missing pictures, footsteps in the night, gaslights dimming without being touched — are all figments of her imagination. Gaslight also features Angela Lansbury in her Oscar-nominated cinematic debut as a young maid. The black-and-white drama returns to the big screen as part of a 75th anniversary screening via the Capital Classics series at Landmark’s West End Cinema, where it will be shown with the original 23-minute finale. Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m. 2301 M St. NW. Happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.50 each. Call 202-534-1907 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

GEMINI MAN

Will Smith plays a government assassin marked for death, only to discover that his would-be killer is a younger clone of himself. Gemini Man has sat in development hell for 20 years, with various actors and directors attached, so let’s hope director Ang Lee’s end product has been worth the wait. Opens Friday, Oct. 11. Area theaters. Visit www.fandango.com. (RM)

GIVE ME LIBERTY

JxJ, an arts project based in the newly renovated Edlavitch DCJCC, offers a weekend run of a recent hit film at both the Sundance and Cannes film festivals, one that a Variety critic described as a “warm, fiercely independent comedy-drama [that] eschews anything resembling formula in favor of a boisterous and freewheeling joyride.” It’s based on the real-life experiences of filmmaker Kirill Mikhanovsky, who in his early days as a young Russian immigrant to America worked as a medical transport driver, helping residents with mobility challenges. In English and Russian with English subtitles. Presented in the DCJCC’s new state-of-the-art, 140-seat Cafritz Hall. Friday, Oct. 11, at 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 12, at 6 and 8:25 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 13, at 12:30 p.m. 1529 16th St. NW. Tickets are $9 to $13. Call 202-777-3210 or visit www.jxjdc.org.

LUCY IN THE SKY

Natalie Portman stars as astronaut Lucy Cola, who returns to Earth after a lengthy mission only to find her life much smaller on the ground than in space, and her connection to reality slowly unraveling. An affair with another astronaut (Jon Hamm) doesn’t help matters — especially when he ditches her for a younger cadet. Opens Friday, Oct. 11. Area theaters. Visit www.fandango.com. (RM)

MIDDLEBURG FILM FESTIVAL

Held in a picturesque town in Virginia’s horse and wine country, the Middleburg Film Festival, founded by BET co-founder Sheila C. Johnson, offers a mix of independent features, documentaries, and Oscar contenders, including several submissions for Best Foreign Language Film. The festival opens Thursday, Oct. 17, with Marriage, Noah Baumbach’s deeply personal film about the pain of divorce starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. The 7th annual festival will also honor Terence Blanchard, the six-time Grammy-winning trumpeter and Oscar-nominated film scorer with the Distinguished Composer Award, culminating in a concert featuring Blanchard’s quintet E-Collective, and a 35-piece orchestra. Oscar-nominated scribe Anthony McCarten will collect the Distinguished Screenwriter Award for his work on festival selection The Two Popes, starring Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins as Popes Francis and Benedict. Other highlights among the 34 films screening include Harriet, starring Cynthia Erivo as iconic American freedom fighter Harriet Tubman; The Capote Tapes, Ebs Burnough’s documentary with never-before-heard audio interviews capturing “the rise and fall of America’s most iconic gay writer”; A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers; and Honey Boy, the tale of a self-destructive child acting star directed by Alma Har’el and based on the experiences of Shia LaBeouf. The festival closes on Sunday, Oct. 20, with The Irishman, an epic saga about organized crime in post-war America from Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. The festival is held at The Salamander Resort & Spa. Tickets are $10 to $25 per screening. Call 540-751-3160 or visit www.middleburgfilm.org.

STAGE

CABARET

Credit to a company that can pick up a show as familiar as Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret and produce a take as purposeful as director Alan Paul’s fresh staging at Olney Theatre. Well in tune with Joe Masteroff’s book for the show and Chris Youstra’s astute musical direction of an all-time great score, Paul locates potent, present-day context within the ’20s-set musical’s depiction of the looming, bitter reign of fascism. Practically combusting with chemistry, with fellow cast and the audience, Mason Alexander Park is an endless delight as the Kit Kat Klub’s provocative, gender-fluid Emcee. Leading the gender-fluid Kit Kat Girls and Boys, a winning ensemble, Park’s Emcee attacks Katie Spelman’s wonderful choreography with the gamine athleticism of a Johnny Weir, and a very similar fashion sense. Extended to Oct. 13. 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md. Tickets are $42 to $99. Call 301-924-3400 or visit www.olneytheatre.org. (André Hereford)

CANDIDA

The Washington Stage Guild launches its new season with an 1894 comedy by George Bernard Shaw. Candida questions Victorian notions of love and marriage, having the audacity to ask what a woman desires from her husband, and ultimately give a woman a choice between her husband, a preacher, and the poet who wants to woo her away. Laura Giannarelli directs Emelie Faith Thompson in the title role. Weekends through Oct. 20. Undercroft Theatre of Mount Vernon United Methodist Church, 900 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Tickets are $50 to $60. Call 202-900-8788 or visit www.stageguild.org.

DAY OF ABSENCE

White citizens in a sleepy southern town are forced to recognize the value and vitality their African-American neighbors offer them one random day when they mysteriously disappear. Raymond O. Caldwell and Angelisa Gillyard direct a Theater Alliance retelling of a “reverse minstrel show” that Douglas Turner Ward originally created in 1965, one billed as a comedic and pointed commentary on systemic racism that is sadly still relevant today. Jared Shamberger leads a 10-member cast as the town’s mayor in the 90-minute, intermission-less play. Opens Saturday, Oct. 12. Runs to Nov. 3. Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Place SE. Tickets are $25 to $40, except for at least 10 Name-Your-Own-Price seats up for grabs one hour before each show. Call 202-241-2539 or visit www.theateralliance.com.

DISENCHANTED!

The Native American heroine Pocahontas has “come back to life to set the record straight” in the subversive, feminist-minded musical written and composed by Dennis T. Giacino. Cinderella, Snow White, the Little Mermaid, and Tiana (Disney’s first black princess) also make an appearance in this satirical take on Disney princesses, all portrayed with human faults and foibles. Matt Conner directs the Creative Cauldron production. Runs to Oct. 27. ArtSpace Falls Church, 410 South Maple Ave. in Falls Church. Tickets are $20 to $35, or $100 for the Gala. Call 703-436-9948 or visit www.creativecauldron.org.

DOUBT: A PARABLE

Sarah Marshall anchors Studio Theatre’s new production of John Patrick Shanley’s 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece that tackles concepts of faith, ambiguity, and the price of moral conviction — and more specifically, the sexual abuse scandals that has rocked Catholics and the Catholic Church in recent decades. Set in 1964 at a Bronx Catholic school, Matt Torney directs a cast starring Marshall as Sister Aloysius and also featuring Christian Conn as Father Flynn, Amelia Pedlow as Sister James, and Tiffany M. Thompson as Mrs. Muller. Extended to Oct. 20. Metheny Theatre, 14th & P Streets NW. Call 202-332-3300 or visit www.studiotheatre.org.

ESCAPED ALONE

In Caryl Churchill’s dark comedy, three old friends are joined by a neighbor to engage in amiable chitchat with a side of apocalyptic horror. Holly Twyford directs. To Nov. 3. Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.

FENCES

Craig Wallace and Erika Rose star in one of August Wilson’s most famous and profound works, in a Ford’s Theatre production directed by Timothy Douglas, one of the foremost interpreters of Wilson’s work. To Oct. 27. 511 10th St. NW. Tickets are $20 to $52. Call 202-347-4833 or visit www.fords.org.

FOOTLOOSE

The Kennedy Center presents a new version of what is billed as “everyone’s favorite rock ‘n’ roll musical.” Dean Pitchford adapted Footloose from his original screenplay in tandem with director Walter Bobbie, and the show incorporates the 1984 film’s pop hits set off by new numbers composed by Tom Snow with lyrics by Pitchford. J. Quinton Johnson, Isabelle McCalla, Michael Park, Rebecca Luker, and Judy Kuhn star in the musical, which kicks off a new season in the Center’s remarkable Broadway Center Stage series of limited-run, semi-staged concert productions. To Oct. 13. Eisenhower Theater. Tickets are $59 to $175. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

LIFE IS A DREAM

Hugo Medrano directs one of the essential works of Spanish Golden Age theater, Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s timeless play that explores free will, fate, and tyranny. Nando López adapted the work for a world-premiere production to kick off the 44th season of GALA Theatre. Daniel Alonso de Santos, Mel Rocher, and Soraya Padrao lead a cast of actors who will perform in Spanish with English surtitles. To Oct. 13. Tivoli Square, 3333 14th St. NW. Call 202-234-7174 or visit www.galatheatre.org.

MISS YOU LIKE HELL

Everyone has baggage in this timely women-centered musical that launches the tenure of new artistic director Stephanie Ybarra at Baltimore Center Stage. Rebecca Martinez directs the show, a collaboration between Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Tony-winning book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes (Water By The Spoonful, In The Heights) and the superb lesbian indie-pop singer-songwriter Erin McKeown. Lorraine Vele and Stephanie Gomérez star as a mother-daughter duo who set out on a cross-country road trip while a looming immigration hearing for mother Beatriz, an undocumented woman, weighs on their minds. To Oct. 13. 700 North Calvert St., Baltimore. Call 410-332-0033 or visit www.centerstage.org.

THE ROYALE

In 1905, Jay “The Sport” Jackson dreams of becoming the first African American boxer to fight for the heavyweight championship — yet even with his string of knockout victories, the odds are stacked against him outside the ring, with the even bigger fight against entrenched racial segregation and pronounced white preudice. Paige Hernandez directs a co-production from Olney Theatre Company and 1st Stage of Tyson’s Corner of Marco Ramirez’s play, a 90-minute, intermission-less work starring Jaysen Wright the character inspired by the real-life boxer Jack Johnson. To Oct. 27. Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md. Call 301-924-3400 or visit www.olneytheatre.org.

THE TEMPEST

Synetic Theater kicks off its 19th season by reprising its splashy, cinematic adaptation of William Shakespeare’s shipwrecked classic from 2013. In the physical theater troupe’s hands, The Tempest is a speech-free yet water-full production, since it comes as part of the company’s signature “wordless Shakespeare” series and features a 1,200-square-foot pool, filled with roughly 3,000 gallons of water, that takes center stage. In fact, the first three rows of seats are designated as a splash zone, with “ponchos provided.” The troupe’s co-founder Irina Tsikurishvili will splish-splash, dance, and jump around as the sea storm-stirring Prospera. To Oct. 20. 1800 South Bell St., Arlington. Call 800-494-8497 or visit www.synetictheater.org.

TRYING

Virginia’s 1st Stage offers the regional premiere of a play by Joanna McClelland Glass, who drew on her real-life experience working for Francis Biddle at his home in D.C. in the 1960s. Biddle, the former U.S. Attorney General under President Franklin Roosevelt who also served as Chief Judge of the American Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, was notoriously hard on his staff as he worked to cement his legacy. Alex Levy directs stars Amanda Forstrom and Scott Sedar. To Oct. 20. 1st Stage is located at 1524 Spring Hill Rd. Tysons, Va. Tickets are $42. Call 703-854-1856 or visit www.1ststagetysons.org.

WEST BY GOD

Two families grapple with issues of grief and love, memory and identity, in a new play set in a small Appalachian town and written by West Virginia native Brandon McCoy. Jeremy Skidmore directs a world-premiere production for Keegan Theatre of a show billed as “a funny, heartwarming, and gut-wrenchingly honest examination of the divide between urban and rural America, and the kinds of prejudice and intolerance too often left unchallenged in our society.” To Oct. 20. 1742 Church St. NW. Call 202-265-3767 or visit www.keegantheatre.com.

MUSIC

ALL THINGS GO FALL CLASSIC

Now in its sixth year, D.C.’s boutique two-day festival totally bucks the male-dominated music festival standard by featuring as many female musicians as male over its first day and closing out with a second annual all-female day — all that, plus at least a quarter of the 16 acts in the lineup feature members identifying along the LGBTQ spectrum. Chvrches, the female-fronted Scottish synth-pop trio, headlines the first day, Saturday, Oct. 12, performing at Union Market’s outdoor Dock 5 space after a slew of promising up-and-coming acts, including Lany, Muna, Mxmtoon, and D.C.’s post-punk/spoken word artist Sneaks. Melanie Martinez headlines day two, taking the stage after Betty Who, the incredibly gay- and D.C.-popular dance-pop artist marking her third year at the festival. Léon, Olivia O’Brien, Allie X, and Teamarrr are among the acts who will perform in the afternoon outdoors as festival-goers juggle between taking in live music with perusing and partaking in the food and drink to come from vendors including &Pizza, Arepa Zone, Bun’d Up, DC Empanadas, Insomnia Cookies, Jrink, Nando’s, Rocklands, Shake Shack, Swizzler Foods, and Taqueria del Barrio. On Friday, Oct. 11, at Eaton DC, the festival reprises last year’s women-centric Classic Conversations panel series exploring issues of women and gender in the music industry. Dock 5 at Union Market, 1309 5th St. NE. Ticket availability may be scarce. Call 888-512-7469 or visit www.allthingsgofallclassic.com.

THE BALTIMORE CONSORT

Described as a “rambunctious sextet” by the Washington Post for its lively renditions of Renaissance tunes and music of the Elizabethan era, the consort performs a brand-new program, “The Food of Love: Songs, Dances, and Fancies for Shakespeare,” also the title of the ensemble’s first new recording in 10 years. In addition to consort instrumentalists performing arrangements of dances and music related to Bard classics for lute, cittern, viols, and flute, ethereal soprano Danielle Svonavec will perform from Shakespeare’s songbook. Sunday, Oct. 13, at 3 p.m. Weinberg Center for the Arts, 20 W. Patrick St. Frederick, Md. Tickets are $15 to $35. Call 301-600-2828 or visit www.weinbergcenter.org.

CATHY FINK & MARCY MARXER

Partners in life and music-making, the pair’s new album WAHOO! features both original tunes as well as reimagined standards, traversing multiple styles, from jazz to calypso to bluegrass, and featuring sweet vocal harmonies, sharp arrangements, and virtuosic playing on the uke as well as other instruments in the string family, including the guitar, five-string banjo, mandolin, and cello-banjo. On the eve of the album’s release, Fink & Marxer will perform alongside poet Joanne Rocky Delaplaine. Friday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. Carroll Café at Seekers Church, 276 Carroll St. NW. Tickets are $18 to $20. Call 202-829-9882 or visit http://carrollcafe.org.

CHELY WRIGHT

It’s been a decade now since Chely Wright, a one-time contemporary queen of modern country — responsible for the turn-of-the-21st-century hits “Shut Up and Drive” and “Single White Female — came out as gay. She celebrated the decision by headlining the 2010 Capital Pride festival, which she considers “a highlight of my career and one of the highlights of my life.” A native of Kansas who now lives in New York with her wife and their twin boys, Wright returns to the region on a tour in support of her new Americana EP Revival, which Rolling Stone Country called a “joyous” collection of “empowering affirmations,” singling out “Say the Word” as “a luminescent slice of ’70s AM pop.” Opening for Wright is Philadelphia’s Christine Havrilla, touring in support of her new album Sunless Escapade, recorded with her rock/blues/country band Gypsy Fuzz. Sunday, Oct. 13. Doors at 5:30 p.m. Jammin Java, 227 Maple Ave. E. Vienna. Tickets are $15 to $25. Call 703-255-3747 or visit www.jamminjava.com.

CHOPTEETH

The Washington Post calls the 12-piece band sometimes known by its full name of Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band as “a storming powerhouse of big-band African funk…smart, tight and relentlessly driving.” The Afrobeat-driven group has won 13 Washington Area Music Association Awards, including Artist of the Year in 2008 and as best World Music Group the last nine years in a row. Chopteeth performs regularly throughout the region. Friday, Oct. 11. Doors at 7 p.m. Pearl Street Warehouse, 33 Pearl St. SW. Tickets are $20. Call 202-380-9620 or visit www.pearlstreetwarehouse.com.

GOAPELE

It’s been almost a decade since this socially active, straight neo-soul singer headlined the Capital Pride Women’s Pride Concert, followed by a slot at the 2011 Capital Jazz Fest. The striking Oakland, Calif.-based artist, who Rolling Stone once said sounds like “the spiritual love child of Sade and D’Angelo,” returns to the area on a tour supporting her most recent release, 2017’s Dreamseeker EP. Carolyn Malachi opens. Thursday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $45. Call 703-549-7500 or visit www.birchmere.com.

RADKEY

Radkey is a punk band of three teenage black brothers from what no one considers a hotbed of punk, St. Joseph, Mo. Where the Pony Express started and Jesse James died, St. Joe, just a little more than an hour north of Kansas City, is not even known for much in the way of African-American history or culture. In fact, it was the movie School of Rock that most inspired these boys, whose real last name is Radke, to stir things up, offering what USA Today has called “a refreshing reboot of punk rock.” Friday, Oct. 11. Doors at 8 p.m. Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-667-4490 or visit www.blackcatdc.com.

TAKÁCS QUARTET

The Grammy-winning ensemble celebrates its 45th season by performing The Complete Bartók String Quartets, the repertoire that helped establish it as one of the top string quartets. Heralded as among the crowning achievements of 20th-century chamber music, Bela Bartók composed his six intense and emotive masterworks for string quartets over a 30-year period, infusing them with heavy-hearted tones and complex musical phrasing, drawing from the Hungarian peasantry and their folk songs. Formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by four students including András Fejér, Takács is now based in Boulder at the University of Colorado and features Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes on violin and Geraldine Walther on viola, along with Fejér on cello. The quartet will open a new season of the Fortas Chamber Music series with two evenings of performances, the first of which featuring Bartók’s first, third, and fifth string quartets, and then the second, fourth, and sixth to come the next night. Tuesday, Oct. 15, and Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m. Terrace Theater. Tickets are $45. Call 202-467-4700 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

DANCE

ANN SOFIE CLEMMENSEN: IN TO AND OUT OF

Through the Local Dance Commissioning Project, the Kennedy Center helps support the local dance scene and nurture the creation of new works from local choreographers, which are then performed for free as part of the Millennium Stage programming. The latest work in the series transports audiences to three different spaces of the REACH, the arts institution’s expansive new addition, using unique characteristics of each location to explore concepts in pattern and timing, light and dark, and limitation and transformation. In all, 20 dancers will perform Clemmensen’s In To And Out Of Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19, at 6 p.m. Free. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

COMEDY

A SPEAK EASY EVENING FEATURING SAMPSON MCCORMICK

The National Museum of African American History and Culture presents an evening of “Queer History, Film, and Entertainment” featuring McCormick, the former D.C.-based comedian and budding filmmaker who last year became the first queer comic to headline an event at the newest Smithsonian on the Mall. At this year’s return engagement, McCormick will offer more funny and astute social commentary as well as share some details about recent creative pursuits, from his new film a different direction to his forthcoming memoir. Captivating young local queer pop singer-songwriter Be Steadwell will also perform, while works by photographer L. Zhee Chatom will be on display, at an event highlighting the contributions of black queer artists and political or historical figures. Among the latter are Stonewall icons and transgender rights pioneers Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, featured in the short film Happy Birthday, Marsha! Tuesday, Oct. 15, from 7 to 10 p.m. Lower-Level Concourse and the Oprah Winfrey Theater, 14th St. & Constitution Ave. NW. Tickets are free but required. Call 844-750-3012 or visit www.nmaahc.si.edu.

JYNX COMEDY NIGHT

The Brookland location of Busboys and Poets plays host to a monthly showcase of “high-energy, empowering comedy” from women-identifying, non-binary, and LGBTQ comedians produced by Project Thalia founder Angela Hamilton. The October edition celebrates Jynx’s one-year anniversary in addition to nodding to Halloween with a costume contest for the best dressed amongst guests. Sofia Javed hosts a lineup including Adaylah Banks, Eva Mozena Brandon, Jenny Calvallero, Shelley Kim, Gigi Modrich, and Blaire Postman. Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 8 p.m. 625 Monroe St. NE. Call 202-636-7230 or visit www.busboysandpoets.com.

READINGS

BART FORBES: GAY FAIRFAX

Gay Fairfax, a pioneering newsmagazine program that ran on Fairfax County’s public access cable station in the 1990s, will be the basis of an upcoming discussion about the history and future of LGBTQ civil rights in Northern Virginia. Forbes, one of the show’s producers and hosts, will be interviewed by local historian John Peter Olinger at the Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center as part of the institution’s Second Sunday series. Sunday, Oct. 13, at 2 p.m. 10209 Main St. aka Little River Turnpike, Virginia. Call 703-385-8414 or visit www.fairfaxva.gov/visitors.

THE ECSTATIC MESSAGE: TALKING MUSIC AND MOVING IMAGE ART

The Smithsonian American Art Museum welcomes two contemporary video artists for a conversation exploring the interplay of music and images across their careers. Both artists frequently collaborate with and occasionally feature musicians in their work, such as Gary’s documentary on queer rapper Cakes Da Killa and Jafa’s music video for Cassandra Wilson. Saturday, October 12, 3 p.m. McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level, 8th and F Streets NW. Free. Call 202-633-1000 or visit www.americanart.si.edu.

FOOD & DINING

SNALLYGASTER DC: BEASTLY BEER JAMBOREE

Named after the mythical beast said to have once terrorized the area, this craft beer festival and fundraiser has ramped up its offerings in its eighth year, with 150 or so of the world’s finest breweries pouring no fewer than 400 small-batch brews. The lineup is a who’s who of revered breweries from around the country, plus several dozen new entries, including Bierstadt Lagerhaus from Colorado, Bissell Brothers from Maine, Dancing Gnome from Pennsylvania, Vitamin Sea from Massachusetts, Wolves & People from Oregon, Yeast of Eden from California, and the local LGBTQ-owned Red Bear and Denizens. A flat-fee admission offers unlimited beer and wine tastings. Saturday, October 12, from 2 to 6 p.m. Pennsylvania Avenue between 3rd and 7th Streets NW. General Admission tickets, offering unlimited tastings and a commemorative glass, cost $50; VIP Early Entry passes are sold out. Visit www.snallygasterdc.com.

VIRGINIA WINE FESTIVAL

Alternately billed as “Virginia’s Oldest Wine Festival” and “the East Coast’s Longest-Running Wine Festival,” this 44th annual event organized by TasteUSA features more than 200 wines from many of the commonwealth’s most revered wineries. The festival also features Virginia craft beers poured in the Virginia Oyster Pavilion, with bivalves served on the half shell, grilled, or baked in special dishes. It will all be complemented by live entertainment, craft vendors, and of course food trucks and vendors. Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. One Loudoun, 44600 Freetown Blvd., Ashburn. Tickets, including tasting glass, unlimited wine (and cider) tastings, and access to the Oyster Pavilion, are $39 plus fees in advance, while a VIP pass, granting one-hour early admission, plus access to a private tent and bathrooms with additional reserve wine tastings, is $69 plus fees. Visit www.virginiawinefest.com.

 

ART & EXHIBITS

ARTY QUEERS: D.C.’S LGBTQ+ ART MARKET

The DC Center for the LGBT Community offers the chance for local LGBTQ and queer-identified artists to showcase and sell their works on the second Saturday of every month, including Oct. 12, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Prospective art buyers can expect to see original artworks in a range of media, including painting, pottery, photography, jewelry, glasswork, textiles, and clothing. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. Call 202-682-2245 or visit www.thedccenter.org.

GISELLE SHEPATIN: DRESS FOR THE SEASON OF JOY

The Zenith Gallery presents an exhibition of recent creations by a wearable art designer whose work focuses on “the beauty we share, the love we desire to give and to receive, the nurturing of what we find important, and the desire to dress for and to delight ourselves with the whimsy.” Now to Oct. 26. Opening Reception is Saturday, Oct. 12, from 12 to 6 p.m. Zenith Gallery, 1429 Iris St. NW. Call 202-783-2963 or visit www.zenithgallery.com.

LOS CARPINTEROS: CUBA VA!

An Intersections installation from Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodríguez, current members of the internationally acclaimed Cuban artist collective Los Carpinteros. Cuba Va! features two videos and a group of LED sculptural portraits rendered as heroic revolutionaries, all of which continue the artists’ focus on creating rather subversive artworks offering a social landscape of Cuba’s modern history, at once utopian and dystopian. Opens with a free Artist Talk featuring Los Carpinteros along with Vesela Sretenovic, the museum’s senior curator of modern and contemporary art, on Thursday, Oct. 10, at 6:30 p.m. On display to Jan. 12. The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St. NW. Tickets are $10 to $12, or free for Phillips members. Visit www.phillipscollection.org.

MEMENTO MORI

Named after a Latin phrase meaning “remember that you will die,” a current group exhibition in Old Town’s Torpedo Factory Art Center confronts the single most inevitable fact of all human existence. Memento Mori also explores how death shapes life, in transformative as well as self-restraining and self-descructive ways. The 28 works on display in the contemporary-focused Target Gallery range from figurative to abstract to conceptual, but many are “deeply personal, referring to the artist’s own brush with death or loss of a loved one,” according to the show’s juror Laura Roulet. The show’s centerpiece is Diamond Wave II by Madaline Gardner of Greencastle, Penn., a large, monochromatic work with hypnotic, silver-lined formations that create a void and conjure life’s impermanence. Although a majority of the works come from artists based elsewhere, including one from Italy, the show features a dozen artists from the Washington region, including Tom Greaves and Jon-Joseph Russo of D.C., Ceci Cole McInturff and Henrik Sundqvist of Alexandria, Kerry Hentges and Angela Kleis of Fairfax, and Aziz Raad and David Terrar of Gaithersburg. Now to Nov. 3. Public Reception is Friday, Oct. 11, from 7 to 10 p.m. 105 North Union St. Alexandria. Free. Call 703-838-4565 or visit www.torpedofactory.org.

ONE VOICE

The Kimpton Carlyle Hotel Dupont Circle is celebrating Capital Pride with a summer-long art exhibition in its lobby featuring local LGBTQ artists and allies. Curated by Julie Ratner and Golie Miamee of Artworx Consultants, One Voice includes works by Tom Hill, Maggie O’Neill, Wayson Jones, and Rose Jaffe, in addition to several permanent works by world-renowned mixed-media artist Michele Oka Doner and Michael Crossett’s piece “Community,” which was commissioned for Kimpton in partnership with Shop Made in DC. Through Fall 2019. 1731 New Hampshire Ave. NW. Suggested donation of $5 per person that will benefit Kimpton brand partner the Trevor Project. Call 202-234-3200 or visit www.carlylehoteldc.com.

STEPHEN BENEDICTO

Works by the D.C.-based abstract fine artist are next up to be featured at Art14, the seasonal art series at the Coldwell Banker Dupont/Logan office on 14th Street NW. Benedicto creates works that are unique, dynamic, multidisciplinary, and polymathic, combining traditional hand-made practices with automated systems and machine-rendered designs, all intended “to express the complex ideas of fetishism, transhumanism, and the design of self.” On display all season. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, 1617 14th St. NW. Call 202-387-6180 or visit www.facebook.com/CBRBDupont.

VEYRON PAX

A D.C.-based Iranian-American artist and human rights activist is next to get the LGBTQ Artisans spotlight by virtue of an exhibition of his works at the Center Arts Gallery in the DC Center for the LGBT Community. Through digital manipulation of photography and video, Pax creates digital collages examining topics such as immigration and identity central to his experiences as a queer teenage refugee from Iran with views of America often at odds with reality. Pax’s works combine original, realistic photos with twists of fantasy, distorted reflections, and imagined or otherworldly projections. Opening Reception, with light fare and beverages, is Saturday, Oct. 5, from 7 to 9 p.m. The DC Center for the LGBT Community, 2000 14th St. NW. Call 202-682-2245 or visit www.thedccenter.org.

ABOVE AND BEYOND

CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY: SOUL STROLLS

Edgar Hoover, buried alongside his “deputy” Clyde Tolson, surely rests as the most sinister of all 67,000 permanent residents at this 35-acre historic graveyard. It’s an eerie proposition any time of year, taking a nighttime stroll past the graves of Hoover and Tolson, former Presidents John Quincy Adams and Zachary Taylor, composer John Philip Sousa, and the many Civil War-era Congressional leaders interred here. But every year, the nonprofit-run, Christ Church-owned landmark offers guided, hour-long tours with docents and costumed interpreters in the weekends leading up to Halloween. Beer, wine, and cider are available for purchase in the Chapel. Meanwhile, the graveyard’s Public Vault will be transformed into a Victorian-era funeral parlor hosting a cocktail party every night reserved for those who purchase VIP tickets with vouchers for three drinks. Tours depart every 15 minutes from 7 to 10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18, and Friday, Oct. 25, and from 6 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19, and Saturday, Oct. 26. 1801 E St. SE. Tickets are $26.50 with fees online, or $62.20 for VIP. Call 202-543-0539 or visit www.congressionalcemetery.org.

FORD’S THEATRE’S HISTORY ON FOOT

A local actor offers the guided tour Investigation: Detective McDevitt, portraying Detective James McDevitt, a D.C. police officer patrolling a half-block from Ford’s Theatre the night President Lincoln was shot. Written by Richard Hellesen and directed by Mark Ramont, the 1.6-mile walking tour revisits and reexamines the sites and clues from the investigation into the assassination. Tours are offered approximately three evenings a week at 6:45 p.m. Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. Tickets are $17. Call 202-397-7328 or visit www.fords.org.

THE GHOST STORY TOUR OF WASHINGTON

A costumed tour guide will discuss the spirits said to haunt Lafayette Square and surrounding buildings, including the Hay Adams Hotel and Decatur House, some for over 200 years. Touted as D.C.’s “oldest costumed ghost tour,” the all-outdoor affair lasts approximately 90 minutes, and advertises that “someone on the tour will win a prize.” All tours start at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through October. St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1525 H St. NW. Tickets are $10 to $20. Call 301-873-3986 or visit www.historicstrolls.com.

LA TI DO: NEW WORKS FEAT. CHRIS URQUIAGA

Regie Cabico and Don Mike Mendoza’s variety show, held at Adams Morgan’s Afghani-inspired bistro Lapis, offers an evening of songs and spoken word considered “new work,” with a music feature on singer-songwriter Urquiaga. Guest performers include Kemi Adegoroye, Moriah Austin-Brantly, Morgan DeHart, Adrianna Marino, Michelle Moses-Eisenstein, Michael Santos Sandoval, and Robyn Swirling, all accompanied by Josh Cleveland. 1847 Columbia Rd. NW. Tickets are $5 to $20. Call 202-299-9630 or visit www.latidoproductions.com.

MARYLAND RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL

As summer nears its end, thoughts naturally turn to jousting, feasting, crafts, theater, music, and merriment. Yes, it’s time once again for one of the world’s largest festivals recreating 16th century England. Now in its 43rd season and set in a park outside of Annapolis, Md., the festival encourages patrons to dress up in period costume. They’re available to rent if you don’t have your own doublet and hose. Just don’t bring weapons, real or toy, or pets, as they tend to eat the turkey legs. It all takes place in the 27-acre Village of Revel Grove, where more than 200 professionals perform as characters of the era, naturally led by His Most Royal Highness King Henry VIII, wandering the steeds and streets when not on the village’s 10 stages or in the 3,000-seat arena, where a headline attraction is the jousting troupe Debracey Productions with its field full of horses, men in armor, chariots, trick riding and thrills for all ages. Also on hand are over 140 artisans exhibiting their predominantly handmade crafts in renaissance shops, five taverns and watering holes helping adult patrons stay hydrated and in good spirits, and 42 food and beverage emporiums to quench the hunger and thirst of even the youngest and most discerning. Weekends through Oct. 20. 1821 Crownsville Road, Annapolis, Md. Tickets are $23 to $27; passes range from $41 for a 2-Day Pass to $160 for a Season Pass. Call 800-296-7304 or visit www.rennfest.com.

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: THE GREAT CHEESY MOVIE CIRCUS TOUR

Joel Hodgson, the original host of one of TV’s most enduring shows, straps in for one last ride with his wisecracking robots on what is billed as an “exhilarating rollercoaster ride through some of the cheesiest films ever made.” Specific targets for attack include Jean-Claude van Damme’s 1986 martial arts “classic” No Retreat, No Surrender and the 1960 British horror bomb, Circus of Horrors. Friday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 19, at 3 and 8 p.m. National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets are $59 to $99. Call 202-628-6161 or visit www.thenationaldc.org.

SUGARLOAF CRAFT FESTIVAL: AMERICA’S HANDMADE MARKET

The annual Sugarloaf Crafts Festival, featuring 11 different events taking place throughout the country throughout the year, is considered one of the top craft experiences in the country. The festival returns to Virginia’s Dulles Expo Center for a fall show styled as a kickoff to holiday shopping with more than 300 artisans from around the country offering one-of-a-kind handcrafted gifts in various media — including functional and decorative pottery, sculpture, glass, jewelry, fashion, leather, wood, metal, furniture, home accessories, and photography. Gourmet food samples, live music and interactive children’s entertainment will also be on tap. Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 20, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 4320 Chantilly Shopping Center Drive, Virginia. Admission is $8 to $10 per day. Call 703-378-0910 or visit www.sugarloafcrafts.com.

WASHINGTON WALKS: THE MOST HAUNTED HOUSES, CAPITOL HAUNTINGS

Washington Walks offers two popular annual outdoor tours shining a light on the many ghosts and buildings said to be haunted in the nation’s capital. “The Most Haunted Houses: The Original Washington, D.C. Ghost Tour” is another guided excursion by night through Lafayette Park, purportedly “the most haunted site in the city.” Bustling with White House staffers by day, the seven-acre park turns eerily quiet by night, aside from the ghosts and spirits serving as reminders of the many violent quarrels, vicious attacks, murders, and suicides that have taken place there. Meanwhile, “Capitol Hauntings: Ghosts of the U.S. Capitol” explores one of D.C.’s oldest neighborhoods — also historically one of its gayest — with, naturally, a focus on the apparitions said to haunt the U.S. Capitol as well as the Supreme Court. Each two-hour tour starts at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through October. Tickets are $15 to $20. Call 202-484-1565 or visit www.washingtonwalks.com.