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Northern Virginia and the Washington area head into the final weekend of April with a crowded calendar of festivals, performances, exhibitions and outdoor activities. Highlights include Falls Church Arts Day, Independent Bookstore Day, Georgetown’s French Market, several theatrical premieres and free recreation for teens.

Festivals and community events

Falls Church Arts Day comes to Cherry Hill Farmhouse and Cherry Hill Park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 26. Arts in the Park will showcase artists around the park, farmhouse and Falls Church City Hall. The rain date is May 3.

The 22nd Georgetown French Market runs from April 25 through April 27 in the Book Hill area along Wisconsin Avenue NW. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., more than 35 boutiques, antique shops, galleries, salons and restaurants will offer promotions, including discounts of up to 75 percent. Food and drink specials will feature French wine, pastries, croissants and macarons. Live music, roaming performers, a unicyclist and pop-up book sales are scheduled Saturday and Sunday.

Independent bookstores launch a regional crawl

One More Page Books, 2200 N. Westmoreland St. in Arlington, will celebrate Independent Bookstore Day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Visitors can search for a Libro.fm Golden Ticket worth 12 audiobook credits or an OMP Silver Ticket redeemable for an item from the prize cart. The store will also have free book and puzzle tables and new branded merchandise.

More than 1,600 stores nationwide are expected to participate in the April 26 celebration, which the American Booksellers Association established in 2013.

“Independent Bookstore Day is one of our favorite days of the year,” One More Page’s Eileen McGervey said. “It celebrates both the bookseller and the reader.”

The day also begins the second NoVa and Indie Bookstore Crawl. The program runs through May 31 and includes 15 shops in Northern Virginia, Frederick, Maryland, and Wardensville, West Virginia.

Participants can collect stamps with a special passport. Visiting four stores earns a book prize, while eight visits earn a tote bag. Anyone reaching at least 10 participating stores by May 31 will be entered for a grand prize containing contributions from all 15 businesses.

The participating stores are:

• Bards Alley, 110 Church St. NW, Vienna
• Big Planet Comics, 426 Maple Ave. East, Vienna
• Birch Tree Book, 11 W. Market St., Leesburg
• Curious Iguana, 12 N. Market St., Frederick
• Fonts Books & Gifts, 6262 Old Dominion Drive, McLean
• Friends to Lovers, 301 Cameron St., Alexandria
• Hundred Acre Books, 172 E. Davis St., Culpeper
• Middleburg Books, 17 S. Madison St., Middleburg
• Old Town Books, 130 S. Royal St., Alexandria
• One More Page Books, 2200 N. Westmoreland St., Arlington
• The Open Book, 104 Main St., Warrenton
• Scrawl Books, 11911 Freedom Drive, Reston
• Spelled Ink, 132 W. Main St., Orange
• Winchester Book Gallery, 7 N. Loudoun St., Winchester
• WordPlay, 50 W. Main St., Wardensville

One More Page is a woman-owned independent bookstore that describes itself as a welcoming community space devoted to reading, friendship and connection.

Authors, poetry and music at the library

Mary Riley Styles Public Library, 120 N. Virginia Ave. in Falls Church, will mark National Poetry Month with “Turn of Phrase: Conversations Between a Poet and Bassist.” The all-ages program runs from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday in the lower-level conference room.

Poet Heather Grant and bassist Chris Kosky will demonstrate a call-and-response exchange between poetry and music. Grant’s debut collection, Where All Is Brought to Light, was published in July 2023. Kosky, a former member of the United States Air Force Band, has played double and electric bass for more than 40 years.

On Sunday, Northern Virginia author Sharon J. Wishnow will discuss her debut novel, The Pelican Tide, from 2 to 3 p.m. in the library’s upper-level conference room. The event coincides with the 15th anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The novel follows Louisiana chef Josie Babineaux as she tries to save her family’s Cajun restaurant, repair her relationship with her daughter and recover from her husband’s gambling debts. An offshore platform explosion and resulting oil spill then threaten the family, its island community and a beloved brown pelican.

Wishnow holds an MFA from George Mason University and founded Women’s Fiction Day. She is also executive editor of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association’s WriteOn! magazine.

Comedy, concerts and opera

The State Theatre, 220 N. Washington St. in Falls Church, hosts a $5 Comedy Night on Friday, April 25. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show begins at 8:30 p.m.

DL Funkband is listed for a 5:30 p.m. performance Friday, April 5, at Clare & Don’s Beach Shack, 130 N. Washington St. in Falls Church. The Dunn Loring group blends R&B, go-go, funk, rock and soul.

George Mason University’s Wind Symphony presents “Niagara Falls: A Journey Through Power, Reflection, and Motion” at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 24. The program includes Roshanne Etezady’s energetic fanfare “Shoutout,” Vittorio Giannini’s Symphony No. 3 and John Mackey’s reflective “Some Treasures Are Heavy with Human Tears,” written in response to the 2019 tragedy in Dayton, Ohio.

Michael Daugherty’s “Niagara Falls,” a cinematic work inspired by the waterfall and its surrounding tourist attractions, closes the concert. Tickets are $15 for the general public, $10 for seniors and $5 for students.

Mason Opera stages Ricky Ian Gordon’s opera 27 at Harris Theatre on George Mason’s Fairfax campus from April 25 through April 27. Performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday.

The opera follows Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas through two wars in their Paris apartment at 27 Rue de Fleurus, bringing figures including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald into their world. Gordon is expected to introduce each performance. Tickets are $20 for the general public, $15 for seniors and $5 for students.

New plays and returning stage favorites

Creative Cauldron, 127 E. Broad St. in Falls Church, opens the regional premiere of Marisela Treviño Orta’s Woman on Fire, running from April 24 through May 11.

The ghost story centers on Juanita, who reluctantly moves to a small Arizona town after her husband, Jared, begins a government job. When he gives her painting supplies, her attempt to create a family portrait is interrupted by an otherworldly presence. Juanita turns to her sister for a ritual cleansing as visions, family secrets and questions about her Mexican American identity come to the surface. Elena Velasco directs.

The Arlington Players present Legally Blonde: The Musical at Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre, 125 S. Old Glebe Road. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. April 24, 3 and 7:30 p.m. April 26, and 3 p.m. April 27. The musical follows Elle Woods from a painful breakup to Harvard Law School, where she confronts stereotypes and discovers her abilities.

Vienna Theatre Company brings The Emperor’s New Clothes to the Vienna Community Center, 120 Cherry St. SE, for four family matinees. Shows begin at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. April 26 and May 3. Tickets, available only at the door, cost $5 for children, $10 for adults and $8 for seniors.

GALA Hispanic Theatre presents the world premiere of Emilio Infante’s Choke: Sucede Hasta en las Mejores Familias from April 24 through May 18 at 3333 14th St. NW. Presented in Spanish with English subtitles, the play follows Baltimore couple Esperanza and Gonzalo Guerrero as a medical crisis during their daughter Cassandra’s visit exposes generational tensions. With an oil refinery looming nearby, the family must decide whether to remain in a home shaped by both affection and industrial decay. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Mosaic Theater Company’s cullud wattah concludes its run April 27 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Set in 2016, after Flint, Michigan, has gone 936 days without clean water, the drama follows General Motors employee Marion. Her potential promotion is complicated when her sister joins protests accusing the company of poisoning the water.

The U.S. premiere of Sleepova also ends April 27 at Olney Theatre Centre, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road. The Olivier Award-winning play follows four Black British teenagers—Elle, Shan, Funmi and Rey—whose friendship helps them navigate sickle cell disease, faith, family, sexuality and romance.

At Arena Stage’s Kreeger Theater, Larissa FastHorse’s comedy Fake It Until You Make It runs through May 4. The story pits Wynona, the Native American leader of N.O.B.U.S.H., against River, her white counterpart at Indigenous Nations Soaring. Their nonprofit rivalry produces mistaken identities, stolen cats and revelations about ambition and authenticity.

Signature Theatre’s production of In the Heights continues through May 4 at 4200 Campbell Ave. in Arlington. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ musical follows residents of New York’s Washington Heights as they contend with gentrification, dreams for the future and a winning lottery ticket somewhere in the neighborhood.

Several productions enter their final weekend. Bad Books, Sharyn Rothstein’s play about a mother confronting a librarian over her troubled teenager’s reading material, runs through April 27 at Round House Theatre in Bethesda. Their conversation escalates into a conflict about politics, judgment and care for children.

Synetic Theater’s The Immigrant also closes April 27 at Theater J, 1529 16th St. NW. Paata and Irina Tsikurishvili adapted the work from Charlie Chaplin’s 1917 silent comedy, transforming an immigrant’s arrival in New York into a broader journey through love, family, failure and redemption. The production includes flashing lights, haze and Nazi imagery.

Puppetry for younger audiences

“The Magic of Hans Christian Andersen” runs April 24 through April 27 at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Guest artist Applause Unlimited uses storytelling, songs and more than 20 hand puppets, rod puppets and marionettes to present The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina and The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Performances begin at 10:30 a.m. Thursday and Friday and at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The approximately 60-minute production is recommended for ages 4 and older.

Exhibitions and artist events

Falls Church Arts’ juried “Faces & Figures” exhibition continues through June 1 at 700-B W. Broad St. The show explores the human form through photography, drawings, sculpture, folk art and other styles and materials. Admission is free. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends.

At Principle Gallery, 208 King St. in Alexandria, landscape painter Lynn Boggess opens “The Twentieth Year” with a reception from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday. Boggess, who grew up near Parkersburg, West Virginia, is known for applying thick oil paint with a cement trowel to balance expressive texture with realism.

Steven John Fuchs will attend the closing event for “City Stories” from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday at Fred Schnider Gallery, 888 N. Quincy St., Suite 102, in Arlington.

At the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, 3550 Wilson Blvd., Joshua Challen Ice’s “Something to Do With My Hands” runs through May 25. The immersive installation resembles an abandoned, surreal construction site where someone appears to have been building a chair. Plans, tools and partially completed forms raise questions about labor, care and the boundary between fine art and practical craft.

McLean Project for the Arts’ “Spring Solos” continues through June 14 at 1234 Ingleside Ave. The exhibition features Jackie Hoysted, Emon Surakitkoson and Heidi Fowler. An artist talk is scheduled for May 10, followed by a Tea & Talk on June 4.

Fowler’s “Detrimorphose” uses discarded materials including junk mail, plastic and computer parts to explore brokenness and redemption. Hoysted’s interactive “Rudimental” connects geometric imagery and meditative sound with ancestral relationships to nature. Surakitkoson’s “Crossing Culture” uses joined canvases, wood panels and sculpture to examine unity and her Thai American identity.

Sandra C. Dovberg’s “A Life in Art” remains at Reston Art Gallery, 11400 Washington Plaza West, through April 28. A meet-the-artist event is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. April 27.

Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art presents “MATRICULTURE” at 12001 Market St., Suite 103, in Reston through May 18. Guest curator Liz Ensz brought together work by Devin Harclerode and Nadia Nazar examining craft, motherhood, reproductive labor and nurturing. Harclerode uses handmade silk and SCOBY curtains, while Nazar’s steel sculptures, drawings and animations consider her mother, grandmothers and motherland.

At Tephra’s 11805 Freedom Drive location, Marie B. Gauthiez’s “We Dwell in Between” continues through June 29. Gauthiez treats the house as a metaphor for the subconscious, using relief paintings, drawings, wall fragments and an immersive plaster installation to evoke surfaces altered by time.

Pamela Huffman’s solo show “In the Absence of Nurture… Nature” remains at Rare Bird Coffee Roasters in Falls Church through June 15.

“A Brighter Light,” an Arlington Artists Alliance member-juried exhibition, runs through May 4 at 2700 Clarendon Blvd., Suite R330. The works use color, texture, light and shadow to explore resilience, clarity, hope and renewal.

Free skating and a quieter trip outdoors

Middle and high school students can take over Thomas Jefferson Community Center from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday for Teen Spring Skate Night. The free event includes open skating, music, games, snacks and a cycle class. Registration is required.

Long Branch Nature Center hosts Forest Bathing from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. Participants will move slowly through woods, streams and fields while paying close attention to the changing spring landscape. Snacks and tea will conclude the program. Attendees should dress for the weather and be prepared to sit on the ground or a log. Registration costs $12 under program number 632940-X.

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, 5400 Ox Road in Fairfax Station, continues its daily Spring Egg Hunt through April 30. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., participants receive a worksheet at the visitor center, search for giant decorated eggs and draw each design before claiming a prize.

The hunt costs $8 per participant and includes garden admission. Regular admission of $5 to $8 applies to accompanying visitors who are not hunting. All ages may participate, and fees are collected at the door.