What's happening, updated every Wednesday.
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On sale now! Events in the ~ future ~ that you may want to buy tickets for before they sell out:
KINDA EVIL at Pie Shop (10/8), 5K/10K Pumpkin Pacer at Rock Creek Park (10/10), Two Door Cinema Club (10/11), community week (10/14-21), tunes: Rebecca Black (10/15), JPEGMAFIA (10/21), Beck (10/25), Dana and Alden (10/29), Slow Pulp (11/9), Julia Jacklin (11/10)
Wednesday September 23
Embrace autumn with a surfer flick
This outdoor movie at The Yards has already been rescheduled, so they won’t let a 60-degree forecast stop them from screening Blue Crush on the first full day of fall. Wrap your picnic blanket tight and pretend it’s still summer. (7pm)
Abandon fall and embrace island life
Watch the season 51 (!) premiere of Survivor at DC9. Then sign up for Survivor DC with the rope tying and backstabbing skills you learn. (7pm)
Also || Taylor Tomlinson at 6th&I, burlesque: velvet hour, living room becomes writing room, tunes in the triangle, artist talk: the work against the world, japanese folk music doc, doc: the sami song of survival, webinar on workers rights, chess club at the library, survivor premier watch party, shop at christ church thrift, dating can be scary, dogs & margs, final cookbook club at bold fork
Thursday September 24
The moon’s not the only thing that’s full tonight
The mid-Autumn night market at Hi-Lawn is back for its fourth year. In a celebration of culture, two floors are dedicated to pop-up vendors, lion and dragon dancing, and over a dozen DC restaurants you know. Make sure to go hungry. (5pm)
The moon shines bright: in such a night as this…
Hark! Thou shalt attend the Folger Salon. Imbibe and give ear to learn’d scholars. (4:30pm)
Also || tunes at rhizome, local tunes: Annie Stirling, book talk: The Refuge, comedy at as you are., the US flag in art, open house event for teachers at the spy museum, dc yimby hh, Coach x Spotify pop-up, phone-free experience, family-friendly shakespeare workshop, learn how to make a cheese board, community resource fair
Friday September 25
See a world premiere!
At Theatre Prometheus it’s “Where Dead Women Go To Dance,” written by DC-based writer and educator Stephen Spotswood. The play follows two friends whose friendship changes when one dies, and is then resurrected. (8pm, until October 18)
Violin, but make it swaggy
Violinist K8A blends Ethiopian musical traditions with electronics, looping and improvisation. The music is catchy, eerie, and exciting. Catch her at Rhizome, joined by DC-based Ethiopian guitarist Andy Betezema. (7pm)
Also || comedy: Body Language, tunes: Thesaurus Rex, anti-capitalist coworking club, book talk: how to kill a witch, comedy: Yasmin Elhady, comedy: stumped, director talk: measure for measure, adult craft night at because science, hill family bike ride, local tunes: Bryce Bowyn, All Things Go, full moon yoga, comedy: if these walls could talk, American Black Film Festival Pop Up, smut slam: sexy storytelling
Saturday September 26
Gandhi said be the change, he didn’t say do it alone
Housing, labor, immigrant rights, climate, name your cause and there's likely already a DC group already working on it. This community organizing festival puts them all in one room. Meet a few, sit in on a workshop, and figure out where you fit. (12pm)
The only thing that justifies a terrible first date
…Is the debrief with your friends. Watch a play about “the worst first date known to womankind” and ditch your plus-one. You’ll get a free drink while you dissect the show with some new besties. (8pm)
Also || all things go, jazz in the parks, tunes at pocket, anti-rat webinar, dance and post-performance discussion at Kreeger, "Firebird" at Theatre of Harlem, The Art of Cyanotype, screening: Chicago Crossings, avoid the pro-data center party, hardcore tunes: plastique pigs, korean food tour in annapolis, author talk: Gutted, fever dream album release show, vintage pop-up, lost city sidewalk sale, zine swap, history of black georgetown, astronomy festival, mutual aid benefit show, venus play and discussion, swing dance at a barn, detention after dark embroider fancy napkins comedy show for Gaza, WABA 50 States Ride
Sunday September 27
DC alleys are more than just rats!!
Learn about the vibrant, hidden communities that formed in DC’s alleyways. Walk through local architecture and art from the city’s founding to today. (2pm)
Wake up and smell the puppuccino
Clear your dog's schedule because Dog Daze is throwing a morning party where the pups get live watercolor portraits, everyone gets treats, and a coffee bar to keep the humans functional. (10am)
Also || parks flea market, tunes at pocket, family square dance, fall decor workshop, screening: Life Itself, paw paw tasting and growing, memorials for troubled times, art to exhale, writing with plants, slow girls run club, all things go obviously
Monday September 28
Cumbia, cocktails, y más
Baile Northeast is leading a cumbia class at Algeria Bar for Hispanic Heritage Month. The class will fill the first hour and once you’ve got the steps, a DJ spins the rest of the night. They’ll have drink and food specials all night to keep the fiesta going. (7:30pm)
Do you hear the people sing?
Inspired by Portland’s People’s Choir, DC9 has started its own. Join 30 of your closest friends to sing songs (lyrics on the screen), dance, drink, or whatever your heart desires. (7:30pm)
Also || Charli XCX, jeff surak at rhizome, forgeries throughout history, jacob collier at strathmore, book swap
Tuesday September 29
We’re not board tonight
It’s Mahjong night at MLK. First time players are required to register for a lesson there in Hong Kong, Japanese or American style Mahjong. Plus lessons are available in English, Mandarin, or Cantonese. Last time I walked by, it was poppin’, so sign up now! (6pm)
Oh so you can predict election results? Tell me what book my bookclub’s gonna choose!
Catholic University professor Matthew Green will be at Profs and Pints to talk all things election prediction. What tools do people use? Are there things people think affect elections that actually don’t! How will the midterms turn out!?! (6pm)
Also || predicting election results, queer as craft, disoriented tropical madness at rhizome, David Foster and Katharine McPhee at Strathmore, yoga in the square, performative masc competition at trade
SEPTEMBER
9/30: music improv at rhizome, journaling with crystals, this cursed beautiful land, yoga at the farm, Educator Night at East City Bookshop, workshop: metal embossing, UB40 at Strathmore, tunes in the triangle, geoguessr for DC!, GGW Fall Mixer, farragut fun days, local scavenger hunt, WABA on Connecticut Ave, screening and talk: Groundswell, screening: Screenlight
OCTOBER
10/1: local tunes: Magic Item w/ Dr. Horsedoctor + Rain Shears, tunes: Magic Item, author event: Portrait of a Witch Undone, Phillips after 5, 50s Tiki Halloween, climate speaker series by Montgomery Planning Department, play: Hakawatis: Women of the Arabian Nights, microcinema: PERVERTS
10/2: eli winter trio at rhizome, tunes: The Tumblers, finding awe at NGA, anti-capitalist coworking club, heart of the matter, Immigration Film Fest, sculptures: Tame Joy
10/3: pianist Élisabeth Pion, screening: Stories and Pictures By, home rule fest, Swap Palooza, city within a city, MUNDIAL: Culturas Sin Fronteras, curiosity club, Trashcan Cinema, DC Coffee Festival
10/4: author talk: Audrey Goldberg-Ruoff, DC fall classic 5K & Half, screening: While We Are Here, Killick Hinds at Rhizome, finding awe at NGA, Secret Door Museum, tunes: ÊXSZA, whose line is it anyway tour, words from birds, mt pleasant walking whiskey tour, world sake day in dc, daytime burlesque, acoustic show at rhizome, book sale!!!!
10/5: john grisham at 6th & I, 2026 chef series
10/6: the vampire as other, community conversations with the teachers union
10/7: michael douglas at 6th & I, crafting the monochrome, dress for success DC, book talk: A Pinch of Magic
10/8: cookbook talk at 6th&I, Coco Smith at Rhizome, art: Change Ringing, KINDA EVIL at Pie Shop, a night on the farm, turn hard into humor, tunes: El Colmo at Comet Ping Pong, talk on Black women and Shakespeare
10/9: local tunes: Eliza Tebo w/ Integriti Reeves + Melanie McDowell, anti-capitalist coworking club, local noise at rhizome, author talk: find me where it ends, local tunes: emotional world, Michael Kosta at Howard Theatre
10/10: Chelsea Wolfe at 6th&I, Afterglow: Stories that linger, hip hop: EPIK HIGH, screening: Primary, Painting in the Kreeger Sculpture Garden, afterglow: stories that linger, crazy rich washington, tour leading to the War of 1812, rhizome writers retreat, 5K/10K Pumpkin Pacer at Rock Creek Park
10/11: moony w Wall Carpets, screening: If You Lived Here You Would Be Home Now, Raul Midón at Strathmore
10/12: the italian job, tunes at rhizome, profs & pints: Witches of Antiquity
10/13: grief quiltmaking, tunes at rhizome, author talk: The Gilded Rose, profs & pints: Horror in the East
10/14: tunes at rhizome, hair workshop for girldads, violinist Itzhak Perlman, singer-songwriter Taisha Estrada, podcast launch: loving abroad, community week (through 10/21)
10/15: comedy at Sixth & I, local tunes: Boat Burning, virtual creative writing workshop, poiseis quartet, circus: gravity & other myths, book talk: Back Where We Started
10/16: parks line dancing, Black Women and Shakespeare, finding awe at NGA, anti-capitalist coworking club, 10 years of building solidarity
10/17: local hip-hop: DFG Ju w/ Tolento Jones, screening: Maysles Films Inc., Tregaron Unplugged, textiles 101, rhythmic tales at rhizome, crochet 101, cluelesque: musical muder mystery burlesque
10/18: Simone Dinnerstein at WPA, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Recital, jazz piano: Chucho Valdés, Wu Fei at Strathmore, dc bald meet up, maria grand quartet, study hall at rhizome
10/19: recording This Day at Howard Theatre
10/20: cocktails for a cause, O.B. Hardison Reading with Cornelius Eady, revisioning internal rhetoric, jason calhoun at rhizome, the room where it happened, inner loop monthly reading
10/21: Raphael Rogiński at Rhizome
10/22: local tunes: Theron William, midnight tea at strathmore (night 1)
10/23: beatbox battle, give a shuck, anti-capitalist coworking club, midnight tea at strathmore (night 2)
10/24: tunes at rhizome, book talk: art & water, linocut workshop, Niladri Kumaar at WPA, eye on the prize at NGA, mindfulness and sketching in the garden, Sphinx Virtosi & J'Nai Bridges, walking tour of penn quarter, slut slam dc
10/25: parks flea market, screening toni cade bamabra school of organizing, walking tour of walter reed, pottery sale at eastern market
10/26: alton brown at strathmore
10/27: profs & pints: Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, humanities lab: to hear her speak
10/28: Silas House at East City, tunes at rhizome
10/29: afro-cuban all stars at strathmore, The Renaissance of U
10/30: anti-capitalist coworking club, night of the living SHRED
10/31: screening: Titicut Follies and A Couple, halloween showcase: fight night live, screening with orchestra: coco, meditation in the galleries, tour of rock creek cemetery
NOVEMBER
11/1: Mary in Ecstasy at NGA, maryna krut at strathmore, screening with orchestra: coco
11/4: sound at rhizome, alex edelman at strathmore
11/5: Tapestry Vocal Ensemble at Strathmore, alex edelman at strathmore
11/6: OFFSITE duo at rhizome, finding awe at NGA
11/7: nervous verbs, local tunes: Boilersuit
11/8: finding awe at NGA, making art through grief, las micas at strathmore
11/9: Rick Steves at Sixth & I, book talk: spy school
11/10: Julia Jacklin, american ballet theatre, earth's greatest enemy, new orthodox at rhizome
11/12: makers holiday market
11/13: finding awe at NGA, comedy: love isn't blind, makers market
11/14: Red Brick Weekend, comedy for a cause, finding awe at NGA, Ellington Carthan at Strathmore
11/15: monet: life in letters, finding awe at NGA
11/17: tunes: big head todd and the monsters
11/18: tunes: frances of delirium
11/19: virtual creative writing workshop, Amarilis Dueñas Castán at Kreeger
11/20: tunes at rhizome, winter wonderland at nats park
11/21: try writing a song, metal showcase at the pocket, tunes at strathmore
11/22: Germán López at Strathmore
11/23: latin dance competition
11/28: echoes of doubt at rhizome, tunes: Emmett & the Dead Ends
11/29: parks flea market
DECEMBER
12/1: celtic christmas carols
12/3: voctave a cappella christmas carols
12/4: HUMP! Film Festival, finding awe at NGA
12/5: HUMP! Film Festival, pas musique at rhizome, leslie odom jr at strathmore
12/8: hbd emily dickinson
12/9: sneak peak at folger's english christmas, jazz: Dave Koz
12/10: Andrew Yee and the Rothko String Quartet
12/11: English Christmas for the Ages
12/12: finding awe at NGA, christmas carols, local tunes at strathmore, christmas with the camerata
12/17: virtual creative writing workshop
12/18: christmas jazz orchestra
JANUARY 2027
1/24: dakhabrakha quartet from kyiv
1/26: music and poetry: a hard rain
MARCH 2027
3/2: hamlet at folger
MAY 2027
