Article Text
Cherry blossoms are nearing full bloom, and the weekend of March 29-30, 2025, brings concerts, exhibitions, theater, dance and spring celebrations across Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Live music
Composer and drummer Keith Butler Jr. will perform with members of Seysow from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 29, at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, 120 N. Virginia Ave. in Falls Church.
Butler, flutist and vocalist Alex Hamburger, and bassist Stephen Arnold will present excerpts from Rest/Imagine: Themes for a Bloodline, the tentative title of a work commissioned by Little City Concerts. Written for flute, piano, bass and drums, the piece reflects on literacy, Black imagination and families’ frequently unspoken histories.
Seysow, pronounced “say so,” includes musicians active in the region’s jazz and experimental scenes. Members have appeared at the Kennedy Center, DC Jazz Festival, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Twins Jazz, Strathmore Music Center and Blues Alley. The group is scheduled to perform the complete commissioned work April 5 at Falls Church Episcopal.
The Coozies will play at 5 p.m. Saturday at Clare & Don’s Beach Shack, 130 N. Washington St. in Falls Church.
On Sunday, Les Arts Florissants will mark the 300th anniversary of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with a 4 p.m. performance at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts, 4373 Mason Pond Drive in Fairfax.
The 15-member chamber orchestra will use period instruments and place movements from Vivaldi’s familiar composition alongside lesser-known music by Monteverdi, Uccellini and Geminiani. Violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte will be featured. The all-ages program runs about 90 minutes plus intermission. Tickets are $36, $51 or $60, with half-price admission for students through Grade 12.
Art around the region
Pamela Huffman’s solo exhibition, In the Absence of Nurture… Nature, remains on display through June 15 at Rare Bird Coffee Roasters in downtown Falls Church. The show features work by the local mixed-media and acrylic artist.
Falls Church Arts, at 700-B W. Broad St., is presenting Light & Dark: Contrast through April 6. Juried by Aimee George, the exhibition brings together black-and-white and color photography exploring contrasts between illumination and darkness.
In Arlington, A Brighter Light runs through May 4 at the Arlington Artists Alliance’s Alliance Gallery, 2700 Clarendon Blvd., Suite R330. The member-juried exhibition uses color, shadow and texture to consider hope, renewal, clarity and resilience during uncertain times.
Glenn Kaino’s monumental sculpture Bridge is on ongoing display in the Luce Foundation Center on the third floor of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, at Eighth and G streets NW in Washington.
Nearly 100 feet long, the aerial installation consists of 200 golden casts of Olympic champion Tommie Smith’s outstretched right arm. Smith raised a black-gloved fist during the medal ceremony after winning the men’s 200-meter race at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, making a historic statement of Black solidarity and support for human rights. Bronze medalist John Carlos echoed the gesture.
Kaino created the sculpture in 2013 and 2014 through an ongoing collaboration with Smith. The work connects Smith’s action and its consequences with the present, examining how an individual gesture can reverberate across generations.
For Women’s History Month, the National Gallery of Art is also offering a tour centered on 10 works by women artists currently displayed in its galleries.
Families can make modeling-clay creatures at the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington’s free “MoCA on the Move” program from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, March 30, at Metropolitan Park in National Landing. The event on the central green will include music from Duck Chuck Goose, snacks and hands-on art activities. Similar gatherings are planned every Sunday during the spring.
Dance at Glen Echo
The Folklore Society of Greater Washington is holding a two-day urban dance weekend at Glen Echo Park, beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday and continuing with programming at 6 p.m. Sunday.
The weekend includes workshops, complex dance figures, non-gendered calling, live music, food and community activities at the covered Bumper Car Pavilion and elsewhere in the park. Lisa Greenleaf and River Rainbowface will call dances, with music from Free Raisins—Audrey Jaber, Amy Engelsberg and Jeff Kaufman—and Bowrider—Kelsey Wells, Alex Sturbaum and Brian Lindsay.
Theater in Falls Church, Tysons and Fairfax
Creative Cauldron’s bilingual Snow White/Blancanieve continues through April 6 at 127 E. Broad St. in Falls Church. The Learning Theater production takes a comic approach to the Grimm tale, complete with the Magic Mirror, Evil Queen, helpful little miners and music by Conner and Smith. Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for students.
Auditions for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown are scheduled from 7:30 to 10 p.m. March 25, 26 and 27 at Lubber Run Amphitheater, 300 N. Park Drive in Arlington. The production is seeking young performers for its small ensemble.
Providence Players of Fairfax is staging Jerry Mayer’s 2 Across at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through April 5 at 2855 Annandale Road in Fairfax. Directed by Barbara Gertzog, the romantic comedy follows a psychologist and an unemployed advertising executive who meet aboard a San Francisco BART train at 4:30 a.m. Their contrasting approaches to a crossword puzzle fuel an 80-minute conversation as the strangers discover they may be solving more than clues.
Signature Theatre’s production of In the Heights runs through May 4 at 4200 Campbell Ave. in Arlington. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Tony Award-winning musical follows residents of New York City’s Washington Heights as gentrification, dreams for the future and a winning lottery ticket put the neighborhood on the verge of change. Latin music and hip-hop drive songs including “96,000,” “Paciencia y Fe,” “Carnaval del Barrio” and the title number.
In Tysons, the final weekend of Debbie Tucker Green’s hang runs through March 30 at 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Road, Suite LL. Directed by Deidra LaWan Starnes, the darkly comic drama places three people in a room as a woman faces a decision about the fate of a criminal. The production contains sensitive material.
Final performances and continuing D.C. shows
The last performance of It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure is set for 2 p.m. Sunday, March 30, at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW.
Created and performed by the disability-led company FlawBored, the satire follows public relations firm Rize after it is accused of ableism. Ross, a Blind influencer, enters the resulting battle over image, guilt and profit. The 60-minute production examines disability rights, identity politics and the commercialization of social causes. Performances are relaxed, audio-described and captioned.
Lauren M. Gunderson’s A Room in the Castle continues through April 6 at Folger Theatre, 201 E. Capitol St. SE. The play reimagines Hamlet through Ophelia, her handmaid and Queen Gertrude as they confront the growing dangers of the Danish court. Directed by Kaja Dunn and co-produced with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, the 85-minute drama uses music, humor and suspense to explore survival, care and obligations between generations. Tickets range from $20 to $84.
At Theater J, José Rivera directs his tragicomedy Your Name Means Dream through April 6 at 1529 16th St. NW. Naomi Jacobson and Sara Koviak star in the story of Aislin, an older woman who needs constant assistance, and Stacy, the humanlike AI robot assigned to care for her. Their developing bond raises questions about friendship, consciousness, technology and what qualifies a being as alive.
Priyanka Shetty’s world-premiere production of #CHARLOTTESVILLE runs through April 13 at Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Written and performed by Shetty and directed by Yury Urnov, the work recounts the events of Aug. 11 and 12, 2017, when white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville for the “Unite the Right” rally and clashed violently with counterprotesters.
Drawing on interviews with more than 100 residents, civil-trial transcripts and news accounts, the solo performance considers race, white supremacy and identity from Shetty’s perspective as an immigrant from India. It also connects the events in Charlottesville with nationalism and racial divisions elsewhere in the world.
Shakespeare heads to New Orleans
The Little Theatre of Alexandria opens Much Ado About Nothing on Saturday, March 29, at 600 Wolfe St. The production relocates Shakespeare’s romantic comedy to the music-filled streets of modern New Orleans.
Beatrice and Benedick trade sharp remarks while friends work to expose the affection beneath their rivalry. Claudio and Hero’s relationship, meanwhile, is threatened by deception. Joey Pierce directs, with Margaret Chapman and Christine Tankersly producing.
The show runs through April 19, with performances at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. The approximately two-hour production includes an intermission and is open to all ages. Reserved seats cost $26, and every attendee must have a ticket.
Adult satire at Atlas
Testosterone continues through April 6 at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. The play reverses elements of the Grimm Brothers’ “The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear” to examine toxic masculinity and privileged attempts to do good.
The satire pits Ingo, who keeps his family inside a high-tech security fortress, against his fearless brother Raul, who lives in the crime-ridden area Ingo fears. Their collision disrupts both worlds and challenges their assumptions about love, courage and justice.
Karin Rosnizeck directs Neil Blackadder’s translation. The 90-minute production is limited to audiences 18 and older and contains frequent coarse language, sexual content, prop weapons and intense references to or depictions of violence.
Fireworks cap a blossom-filled Saturday
Bloomaroo brings a free spring festival to The Wharf, 760 Maine Ave. SW, from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 29. The celebration will spread live music across several stages and conclude with fireworks over the Washington Channel at 8 p.m.
Activities include face painting on Recreation Pier, koi-kite and cherry-blossom crafts, balloon animals, a haiku station, blossom-themed drinks and a Japanese cultural program in The Grove featuring Nen Daiko drummers. Visitors can also stop by a flower truck and other promotional displays.
The District Pier stage lineup includes Starlight Anthem, Yani the Band and 3AM Tokyo. Pink PaLiSh and Perfekt Blend are scheduled for Transit Pier, while Pebble to Pearl and Jimi Smooth & HitTime will appear at M Street Landing.
The Grove will host Nen Daiko, Umami House Band and DJ Les Talusan. Too Much Talent Band and DJ TEE NICE are slated for Market Pier. The performance schedule is subject to change.