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Valentine’s Day weekend brings a crowded calendar of dinners, exhibitions, theater, comedy, dancing and live music to Falls Church, Tysons and the wider Washington region.
Dining
Ellie Bird at Founders Row in Falls Church is serving a four-course Valentine’s Day dinner Feb. 13 and 14. Tickets cost $105 per person, with a menu featuring house-made breads, inventive flavors and luxury ingredients.
Other Falls Church-area restaurants offering Valentine’s menus or specials include Idylwood Grill, La Côte D’Or Café, Northside Social, Yume Sushi, 2941 Restaurant, Cuates Grill and Trio Grill.
Art exhibitions and openings
Idylwood Studios will hold a “Petit Opening” from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, at 7617 Idylwood Road in Falls Church. The new community arts space occupies former Sunday school classrooms upstairs at Idylwood Presbyterian Church.
Four established local artists—Mominard Abstracts, Casey Wait, Huffman Art Haus and Molly F. McCracken—have studios there. The venture plans to exhibit emerging artists, offer affordable classes and host a teaching artist in residence.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, 3550 Wilson Blvd., opens a new exhibition season Feb. 14. Featured shows include works by Milan Warner, Brandon Morse and Joshua Challen Ice, along with “A Passage of Force Through Matter: Current Painting” and “Moments: Hardships and Joys We Carry.”
An Art After Hours celebration is scheduled for Feb. 22, when visitors can meet exhibiting artists and tour resident studios. The exhibitions continue through Feb. 26.
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, “Pictures of Belonging” examines the careers of Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi and Miné Okubo, three American women artists of Japanese descent whose work remains underrecognized.
The exhibition follows their artistic development before, during and after the incarceration and displacement of Japanese Americans during World War II. It remains on view at 8th and G streets NW through Aug. 17, 2025.
Theater
Creative Cauldron opens its new home at 127 E. Broad St. in Falls Church with “Steel Magnolias” beginning Feb. 13. Set in Truvy’s Louisiana beauty salon, the play follows six women whose humor and intimate conversations reveal the strength of their friendships. Performances continue through March 9.
Nova Nightsky Theater presents the final weekend of Sam Shepard’s “Fool for Love” at 225 E. Broad St. in Falls Church. The drama follows Eddie and May’s volatile relationship in a motel near the Mojave Desert. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13 and 14 and 2 p.m. Feb. 15. Chris D’Angelo directs, with Hannah Ruth Blackwell serving as stage manager.
Signature Theatre’s production of “In the Heights” runs through May 4 at 4200 Campbell Ave. in Arlington. The Tony Award-winning musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes follows residents of New York’s Washington Heights as they confront gentrification, dreams of a better future and the possibility of a life-changing lottery ticket.
Capital One Hall in Tysons hosts the 10th-anniversary edition of “Men Are From Mars – Women Are From Venus: LIVE!” The adults-oriented production blends stand-up comedy and theater through vignettes about dating, marriage and intimacy. Writer Eric Coble and director Mindy Cooper returned to update the show for its 2024-25 run. The performance includes one 15-minute intermission.
At Theatre on the Run in Arlington, Dominion Stage closes “The City of Conversation” on Feb. 15. Anthony Giardina’s play spans 30 years and six presidential administrations, centering on Georgetown hostess Hester Ferris as political divisions strain her family. Jessie Roberts directs. Performances begin at 8 p.m., and the coupon code “HESTER5” reduces the general-admission door price by $5.
“GUAC” completes its run at Woolly Mammoth Theatre on Feb. 16. The 100-minute, intermission-free production tells the story of Manuel Oliver, who became an activist after his son Joaquin “Guac” Oliver was killed in the Parkland school shooting seven years earlier.
Standard tickets are $30. A $60 benefit ticket includes a 50% donation to Change the Ref, while Sunday performances use a pay-what-you-will model.
Comedy and dance
The State Theatre, 220 N. Washington St. in Falls Church, brings back its $5 Comedy Night on Saturday, Feb. 15. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show begins at 8:30 p.m. Guests must be at least 18 unless accompanied by a parent, and valid identification is required. In-person box-office purchases carry a $1 fee.
At George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax, Versa-Style Street Dance Company and Lion’s Den DMV lead a workshop on California street-dance traditions at 7 p.m. Feb. 14.
The program includes 45 minutes of popping with Precise, 45 minutes of krump with BeastBoi and a panel discussion moderated by Lion’s Den DMV founder Lauren DeVera. Participants will explore movement, rhythm, vocabulary and the cultural history behind both styles.
Glen Echo Park hosts a Balboa lesson with Dabe and Janelle from 8:30 to 9 p.m. Feb. 14, followed by social dancing until 11:30 p.m. The beginner-friendly event takes place in the Ballroom Back Room at 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Admission is $12 by card or $10 by cash or check.
Jazz, poetry and a costumed run
Busboys and Poets at 14th and V streets NW presents “Just Love,” a dinner salon inspired by James Baldwin, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 14.
Martheaus Perkins will open with a poem dedicated to Baldwin. Zeina Azzam and E. Ethelbert Miller will perform poetry and discuss love, Baldwin and creativity before singer Lena Seikaly and her quartet headline the evening. The program is presented by Baldwin100, the Cheuse Center, Busboys and Poets, and Mason Exhibitions Arlington.
Cupid’s Undie Run returns to The Wharf on Saturday, Feb. 15, from noon to 4 p.m. Participants will gather at Union Stage before running roughly a mile around The Wharf and returning for a dance party.
The annual event supports people affected by neurofibromatosis, a group of genetic conditions that cause tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body.