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WorldPride’s arrival, a Victorian-era celebration, live music, comedy, art, theater and the debut home match of a new professional sports team fill the Washington region’s calendar beginning Friday, May 16.

WorldPride celebrations begin

WorldPride 2025 opens Saturday, May 17, and continues through June 8, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Pride celebrations in Washington, D.C. Events launching this weekend include DC Latinx Pride, API Pride and Trans Pride Washington DC.

This year’s theme, “The Fabric of Freedom,” draws on fabric as a symbol of identity, expression and resistance while highlighting the LGBTQ+ community’s cultures and backgrounds.

Arlington joins the celebration with Arlington Palooza from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Lubber Run Community Center, 300 N. Park Drive. Dupont Brass will headline the outdoor stage during a street fair featuring additional music, food trucks, artisans, games, moon bounces and community vendors.

Indoor activities include animal encounters, children’s story time, crafts, an immersive light show and dance lessons. Pride programming will feature inclusive stories, flag and friendship-bracelet crafts, and a collaborative Virginia LOVE sign art project.

Falls Church steps back into the Victorian era

Victorian Heritage Day will bring costumed reenactors, demonstrations and family activities to Cherry Hill Farmhouse, 312 Park Ave., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

The free event will explore daily life in Falls Church from the 1870s through the 1890s, with displays covering fashion, education, shopping, food, recreation, transportation, music, toys and games. Special programming will recognize the 150th anniversary of Falls Church receiving its town charter in 1875.

Children can participate in coloring activities and scavenger hunts, while visitors can hear music from the Victorian period. The farmhouse is beside City Hall and the Saturday farmers market, which runs from 9 a.m. to noon. Nearby parking includes the Kaiser Permanente garage at Park and Maple avenues.

The Victorian Society at Falls Church is presenting the program with the Friends of Cherry Hill Foundation and the city’s Recreation and Parks Department.

Music and dance take the stage

Herb Alpert and a new six-member incarnation of the Tijuana Brass perform at 7 p.m. Friday in Capital One Hall’s Main Theater, 7750 Capital One Tower Road in Tysons.

The concert marks the 60th anniversary year of “Whipped Cream & Other Delights.” The planned set draws from Alpert’s catalog, including “The Lonely Bull,” “Spanish Flea,” “A Taste of Honey,” “Mexican Shuffle,” “Tijuana Taxi,” “This Guy’s in Love with You,” “What Now My Love,” “Zorba the Greek,” “Ladyfingers” and “Rise.”

The informal, 90-minute program also includes audience questions and a large-screen presentation of photographs, videos, artwork and memorabilia from Alpert’s career, including his work at A&M Records.

Big Tow performs at 6 p.m. Saturday at Clare & Don’s Beach Shack, 130 N. Washington St. The group’s influences range from The Band, Jackson Browne and Ray Charles to Wilco, Tom Petty, Steely Dan and The Mavericks.

On Monday, May 19, Salangai Arts School of Classical Dance will introduce families to South Indian dance during a free Funday Monday performance and lesson. The program begins at 10:30 a.m. at the Stacy C. Sherwood Center, 3740 Blenheim Blvd. in Fairfax.

Designed primarily for children ages 3 to 5 but open to all ages, the event is sponsored by the City of Fairfax Commission on the Arts in recognition of Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Asian comedians gather in Tysons

Five comedians headline an Asian Comedy Showcase at 7 p.m. Saturday in The Vault at Capital One Hall. The program celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

The lineup includes Justin Um, whose comedy draws on his experience as a second-generation immigrant; Christian Escoto, a Filipino American comic raised in the D.C. area; Washington-based comedian and producer Shelley Kim; New York performer Shaunak Godkhindi; and Cantonese American comedian Ray Lau.

Um has appeared on NBC and CBS. Escoto regularly performs at the DC Improv and Hotbed Comedy Club and has toured colleges nationwide. Kim has appeared in PBS’s “The Art of Comedy” and CBS’s “Comedy in the Capital” and has opened for Roy Wood Jr. and Jordan Klepper.

Godkhindi’s work has been heard on Netflix Is a Joke Radio, and he has appeared in a Don’t Tell Comedy special. Lau, known online for his “Chipotle Bean Scheme” joke, appeared in the second season of Iliza Schlesinger’s “The Locals” and has filmed a Don’t Tell Comedy set.

Galleries spotlight figures and city life

“Faces & Figures” remains on view through June 1 at the Falls Church Arts gallery, 700-B W. Broad St. The juried exhibition examines the human form through photography, drawing, sculpture and folk, naïve and primitive styles.

Juror Teresa Oaxaca is a Washington-based painter whose training includes the Angel Academy of Art and Florence Academy in Italy, an apprenticeship with Odd Nerdrum in Norway and study at The Art League in Alexandria. Her work has received recognition from institutions including the Art Renewal Center, Portrait Society of America and Museu Europeu d’Art Modern in Barcelona.

Admission is free. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The exhibited pieces are also available to view and purchase online.

Principle Gallery, 208 King St. in Alexandria, opens Geoffrey Johnson’s solo exhibition Friday with a reception attended by the artist from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The show continues through June 9.

Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1965, Johnson studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His contemporary impressionist paintings, often rendered in a limited range of sepia tones, move between abstraction and realism while depicting crowds and urban scenes. His work is held in private and corporate collections, including those of Coca-Cola, Turner Broadcasting, BellSouth and Wachovia Bank.

Pamela Huffman’s solo exhibition, “In the Absence of Nurture… Nature,” continues through June 15 at Rare Bird Coffee Roasters in downtown Falls Church. Artworks Fine Art Studios at 819 W. Broad St. is also registering students for local art courses.

Pride season energizes area theaters

Several productions exploring queer identity and relationships are running as WorldPride begins.

“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” continues through June 22 in Signature Theatre’s intimate ARK Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave. in Arlington. Directed by Ethan Heard, the rock musical follows Hedwig as she recounts growing up in Communist East Germany, undergoing a botched sex-change operation, moving to the United States and pursuing an ex-lover who stole her songs. The production contains adult language and descriptions of trauma.

The Keegan Theatre’s “Falsettos,” running through June 15 at 1742 Church St. NW, follows Marvin after he leaves his wife, Trina, and son, Jason, for his lover, Whizzer. The Tony Award-winning musical examines family, relationships, baseball, bar mitzvahs and AIDS. Kurt Boehm directs and choreographs, with Elisa Rosman serving as music director.

Constellation Theatre Company presents “Head Over Heels” through June 1 at Source, 1835 14th St. NW. Built around songs by The Go-Go’s and inspired by Sir Philip Sidney’s “The Arcadia,” the musical combines Renaissance romance, Greek comedy, fantasy and gender-bending in a story about queer identity and self-discovery. Allison Arkell Stockman directs.

“We Are Gathered,” a new queer love story by Oscar-winning “Moonlight” screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney, opens Friday at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW, and runs through June 25. The play follows W. Tre and Free, whose chance meeting in a dark park developed into a relationship now facing questions about commitment, fear and a secret. During select performances, couples can exchange marriage vows onstage through the “Love Takes Center Stage” experience.

Other productions across the region include:

• “Sister Act,” closing Saturday at Ford’s Theatre, follows a nightclub singer who hides from the mob in a convent. The roughly two-and-a-half-hour musical is recommended for ages 12 and older.

• “Choke: Sucede hasta en las mejores familias” concludes its world-premiere run Sunday at GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. Presented in Spanish with English surtitles, Emilio Infante’s play follows a Baltimore Latino family confronting a medical crisis, generational divisions and life in the shadow of an oil refinery.

• “Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live & active cultures!)” runs through June 1 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW. Julia Izumi’s world-premiere play uses film, memory and an unlikely fixation on yogurt to examine cultural imperialism, consumption and artistic creation.

• “Twelfth Night,” directed by Mei Ann Teo, continues through June 22 at the Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 E. Capitol St. SE. The comedy follows shipwrecked twins Viola and Sebastian through disguises and tangled romances involving Orsino and Olivia. Tickets range from $20 to $84. The production runs two hours and 15 minutes and includes mature content, haze and strobing lights.

• “Senior Class” begins Friday and runs through June 22 at Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road in Olney. The world-premiere musical follows two Broadway-obsessed students who create their own version of “Pygmalion” after budget cuts leave their school unable to stage “My Fair Lady.” Tickets cost $41 to $101, and the show runs approximately two hours and 15 minutes.

Artist talks invite closer examination

The National Gallery of Art hosts a free virtual discussion of Jerome Myers’ “Life on the East Side” from 1 to 2 p.m. Friday. The interactive session is open to adults regardless of their art-history experience and will not be recorded.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, the gallery offers a 30-minute conversation in its East Building Atrium about “In the Tower: Chakaia Booker.” Curatorial and interpretation staff will discuss “Treading New Ground,” an installation of monumental tire sculptures, Booker’s use of the unconventional material and the environmental issues informing her art.

Pierogi, music and maritime traditions

Settle Down Easy Brewing Co., 2822 Fallfax Drive, hosts its Spring Pierogi Fest from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Pierogi supplied by The Polka Deli Polish Market in Vienna will be sold six for $12, with beef, potato-and-cheese and potato varieties available. Kielbasa skewers will cost $8. A toppings bar will offer sour cream, drawn butter, sautéed onions, diced bacon and ranch dressing, while queso can be ordered separately from the taco stand. Admission is $5 in advance or $10 on the day of the event.

The Library of Congress holds its May Family Day, “Musical Families,” from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE.

The free program connects families with Music Division and American Folklife Center collections. Musical story times for children ages 5 to 8 are scheduled at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., followed by a historical-instruments tour at noon and a Gershwin Gallery tour at 1 p.m. Activities take place on the mezzanine, with scheduled programming in the Whittall Pavilion. Building passes are required.

At The Wharf, the Port of Washington Yacht Club’s annual Blessing of the Fleet runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Recreation Pier, 760 Maine Ave. SW. Guest speakers open the family-friendly program at 11 a.m., and the boat parade begins at noon as vessels pass the pier to receive a blessing for the 2025 boating season.

District Inferno makes its home debut

Washington’s newest professional sports franchise plays its first home match Saturday when the District Inferno meets the Philadelphia Freedom at Squash on Fire, 2233 M St. NW.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m., and the women’s National Squash League match runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The all-ages event costs $13.

Founded in 2025, the District Inferno is competing in its inaugural season with Amanda Sobhy, ranked No. 10 in the world; Jasmine Hutton, No. 16; Torrie Malik, No. 45; Marie Stephan, No. 47; and Lisa Aiken, No. 67 and returning from injury.

The National Squash League, founded in 2024, uses three timed periods instead of traditional best-of-five matches. Teams can substitute players and call two-minute “Power Plays” during which only that team can score, creating a faster, more tactical format.

Organizers recommend Metro or ride-share service because parking in the West End can be difficult.