Bonny Wolf, NPR commentator and author of the book "Talking With My Mouth Full"
@ National Harbor
Q:What's your favorite food TV show or host?
A:"I like 'Top Chef.' They're serious about food, and have personality."
MONDAY: Can't get tickets to see Helen Mirren live onstage in "Phedre" this September? Beat all those ticket-carrying sheep to the show on Monday when the Shakespeare Theatre Company screens a performance of London's Royal National Theatre's production. The public screening is part of Natty Theo's initiative to broadcast performances of plays from London on cinema screens around the world.
» Harman Hall, 618 F St. NW; Mon., June 29, 7:30 p.m., call theater for prices; 202-547-1122.
Photo courtesy The National Theatre
Bargain Redemption
An edgy stop-motion animated feature that explores the meaning of life is not kiddie fare, unless your toddler has been asking what it's all for. "$9.99" takes audiences on a wild ride with a 28-year-old slacker who finds an ad that promises a booklet that will explain his reason for being. The cost? $9.99. The angel that comes with it? Priceless.
» E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW: opens Fri., June 26, 202-452-7672, (Metro Center)
Hold the Martini
The International Spy Museum screens the film debut of the popular kids' book series "Stormbreaker" as part of its KidSpy program on Thursday. The film follows Alex Ryder from prep-school lad to super-spy when his uncle disappears. The $7 ticket price includes a debriefing from a former spy.
» International Spy Museum, 800 F St. NW; Thu., June 25, 1-3 p.m., $7; 202-393-7798. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)
Continue Reading "Indies & Arties: Meaning of Life Comes at a Price" »
TUESDAY: Beyonce Knowles is so fierce that she has to invent an alter ego named "Sasha Fierce" to hold all her fierce fierceness. You can check it out when she performs in concert tonight in Baltimore. We'd describe the music, but you've heard it, so what's the point? Oh, and if being run over by a dump truck full of fierce just once wasn't enough for you, she's performing tomorrow at the Verizon Center.
» First Mariner Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore; Tues., June 23, 7:30 p.m., $21-$126; 202-397-7328.
Photo courtesy Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images
WEDNESDAY: You can always count on the Smithsonian for a decent film series. Tomorrow, they're showing "It Happened One Night," a 1930s classic about a beautiful rich girl and a wisecracking working man who ... you know the rest. So how about instead of wasting two hours of your life on "The Proposal," you try a romantic comedy that's funny and classy but just happens to be 75 years old? OK? Good.
» Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th and F streets NW; Thu., June 25, 6:30 p.m., free; 202-633-1000. (Gallery Place)
Photo courtesy Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
TUESDAY: In a surprisingly non-controversial artistic statement, artist Ami Martin Wilber has created a series of egg-like sculptures that took her 40 weeks — right, right, the period it takes to gestate a human baby. Oh, and that show is called "Gestation." The works are beautiful, spare and memorable. But who's going to break it to her that humans don't lay eggs after those 40 weeks? That's gonna be a tough conversation.
» Flashpoint, 916 G St. NW; through July 18, free; 202-315-1310, flashpointdc.org. (Metro Center)
Photo courtesy Brandon Webster
MONDAY: If you've never seen a Mike Daisey monologue, you don't know what you're missing. He's smart, eloquent and interested in the world around him — all the elements that make a great writer.
This time around he's tackled "cargo cults" — if you don't know what they are, go to Wikipedia. It will blow your tiny mind.
Daisey's show, "The Last Cargo Cult," will have a longer run this winter, but the sneak preview is tonight.
» Woolly Mammoth, 641 D St. NW; Mon., June 15, 7 p.m., $15; 202-393-3939, Woollymammoth.net. (Gallery Place)
Photo Courtesy Kenneth Aaron
TALK ABOUT REDUCE, reuse and recycle — artist Jean Shin is a champion of all three. She turns pill bottles into stalactites, computer keys into textiles and lottery tickets into paper cities.
It's all part of her show, "Common Threads," at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
"Few people think of the possibilities of making art from mundane objects which we might otherwise toss in the trash," says the exhibition's curator, Joanna Marsh. "For Jean, it becomes material for something thought-provoking."
Shin's work offers social commentary rife with whimsy and playfulness. "Chance City" is $25,382 in losing lottery tickets stacked like houses of cards. "Her expectation is that part of the installation will collapse," says Marsh. "The piece is vulnerable in the same way that our own economic infrastructure is vulnerable."
Continue Reading "Taking Another Look: Shin's 'Common Threads'" »
SUNDAY: Whether you're a poor, struggling intern or you're just interested enough in the theatrical process to want to see how a rehearsal differs from opening night, you don't want to miss the open rehearsal of "King Lear" at the Shakespeare Theatre. Quick recap: King Lear, a lionhearted monarch sinking into his dotage, makes a bad decision regarding his daughters' inheritance. Chaos ensues.
Stacy Keach — who played Richard Nixon in D.C. last year; does he have a thing for the role of the fallen giant? — stars as Lear, and it should be a roof-raising performance. Besides, it's free Shakespeare.
No need to make reservations. Just show up for the 3 p.m. rehearsal or the 6 p.m. rehearsal and prepare for an hour and a half of high drama.
» Shakespeare Theatre, 610 F St. NW; Sun., June 7, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., free; 202-547-1122. (Gallery Place)
Photo by Liz Lauren
WHAT A SWELL party it is to spend time with Noel Coward's witty, well-dressed 1920s bohemians in the Shakespeare Theatre Company's "Design for Living."
Sure, the 70-plus years since the Brit bon mot-slinger penned the comedy have diminished its power to shock but taken away none of the pleasure of watching its artistic freethinkers trade witty barbs and jump in and out of the sack with each other.
The setup is simple: Three twentysomething pals — Otto, Leo and Gilda — hang out, drink up and hook up in Jazz Age Paris, London and New York. Their creative pursuits — Gilda's an interior designer, Otto's a painter, and Leo's a playwright — provide some of the play's juice. The scandal comes from continual partner-swapping. What starts off as a Gilda-and-Otto romance morphs into every other imaginable pairing short of a threesome.
Continue Reading "Mad About the Boys: 'Design for Living'" »
THIS WEEKEND: The hotly anticipated Sheila Callaghan play "Fever/Dream" hits Woolly Mammoth Theatre on Monday, closing out Woolly's 29th season in style. With the help of multiple actors and extras, choreographer Meisha Bosma and the ace directing of Howard Shalwitz, "Fever/Dream" tells the frightening, zany, surrealistic story of an office drone rocketed to CEO status ... or is he?
» Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW; opens Mon., June 1, through June 28, $26-$60; 202-393-3939. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)
Written by Express' Nathan Martin
Addison Road