IF YOU CONSIDER Shakespeare too easy, if you sneer at those lowbrow lovers of Moliere, you might be a Congreve fan.
You also might not have very many friends.
William Congreve's play "The Way of the World" is the epitome of Restoration comedy — dense, wordy, festooned with ruffles and, if you can wade through the culture shock, often hilarious.
It's set in a society in which class reigns supreme. Sound familiar, Washingtonians?
» Shakespeare Theatre, 610 F St. NW; 7:30 p.m., $23.50-$55.50; 202-547-1122. (Gallery Place)
Photo by Scott Suchman
SOMETIMES, LIVING in Washington, you just want to show off how smart you are. It worked so well in undergrad at Brown, and maybe even getting your masters at University of Michigan, and now you never get the chance to show off your knowledge except to the other people in your office, and you get the feeling that they might be tired of your anecdotes about Woodrow Wilson because they keep locking you in the closet and forgetting about you until Monday morning.
Fado, the Irish pub in Chinatown, holds trivia nights every Monday — drink the $4 Harp and Bass and chow down while showing off your quiz bowl chops.
D.C. is filled with trivia nights, but Fado's is the only one I know of where you can eat curry fries. It's also one of the harder trivia nights, so winning here will really mean something when you tell the office Tuesday morning.
» Fado, 808 7th St. NW; Mon., Sept. 29, 8 p.m., free; 202-789-0066. (Gallery Place)
Photo by Dudley M. Brooks/The Washington Post
HOWARD DEAN probably wants to forget Jan. 14, 2004, but his fateful scream is being commemorated with its own dance as part of "Elected!," a concert of politically themed performances by Jane Franklin Dance. The concert also has segments on the absurdities of everyday life and the "crime" of skateboarding.
» Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW; Sat. & Sun., 8 p.m., $20-$30. 703-933-1111. (Gallery Place)
TO SOME PEOPLE, Thomas Friedman is the male Maureen Dowd. Some people are wrong. He's not Gail Collins (my personal favorite columnist), and sometimes he says wacky things, but he's funnier and more insightful than Dowd and I never feel after reading his column that I have wasted ten minutes of my life. I could have been eating cookies, Maureen Dowd. I could have been reading an essay by Jincy Willet. But no, I gave you my trust and you ground it in the dirt under your heel. And yet I keep coming back.
But back to Thomas Friedman: He's very pleased with himself, but so are most writers. His new book is "Hot, Flat and Crowded," about what will happen to the world if we don't seek alternative energy sources. It's timely, it's well-written and if you read it, you can say to everyone "Have you read Thomas Friedman's new book? Oh, you haven't? Oh ... well, no big deal. We can't all be winners."
» Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW; Tue., Sept. 23, 7 p.m., $12 or get two free tickets when you buy the book; 202-408-3100. (Gallery Place)
NOT LONG AGO, STARBUCKS discontinued the bulk of its music retailing. There was not, that I noticed, much of an outcry in response.
Nonetheless, Barnes and Noble stepped in to fill the void for fans of inoffensive pop with a series of compilations called "Sunday Music."
Having (full disclosure) worked for the company, I feel sufficiently qualified to define this invented genre. Sunday music is for shopping, reading the paper or really savoring some sort of "skinny" espresso concoction. Sunday music is pleasant enough but will not distract you from your other leisure activities. Sunday music is Norah Jones.
For the bulk of her new album, "Acid Tongue" (Warner Bros.), Sunday music is also Jenny Lewis.
YOU'VE SEEN ANDY WARHOL'S "Sleep" and Ingmar Bergman's extended version of "Scenes From a Marriage," but as a cinema marathoner you're still a piker until you've settled in for all 15-plus hours of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Berlin Alexanderplatz."
Based on Alfred Döblin's classic modernist novel, the 1980 film parallels an ex-con's backsliding re-entry to society with Weimar Germany's descent into fascism. You're asking if, in the age of Netflix, full immersion is worth the back pain. But think of what else you'll be getting: currywurst, commentary by Desson Thomson and the company of a roomful of people who enjoy watching Germans have sex with their clothes on.
» Goethe-Institut, 812 7th St. NW; Sat., noon-11 p.m.; Sun, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., $9-$20; 202-289-1200. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)
Written by Express contributor Glenn Dixon
Photo courtesy Goethe-Institut
THE UNITED STATES is the beating heart of the world. Or maybe it's China. But you know what is no longer the beating heart of the world? Greece.
So the Greek Embassy has sponsored a re-enactment of the Trial of Socrates at the Shakespeare Theatre, with Justice Samuel Alito presiding. It's like they want us to remember how one of the greatest thinkers of all time was Greek ... and ... um ... they had him executed.
» Shakespeare Theatre, 610 F St. NW; Tue., Sept. 16, 7:30 p.m., $35; 202-547-1122. (Gallery Place)
Photo by Richard T. Nowitz
IF YOU LIVE in the District, you might notice that while Alexandria and other D.C. suburbs seem to be bursting with festivals, the city itself gets a little shafted. I've seen you try to shrug it off. "We've got the Smithsonian," you sniff, "Why would we need some silly festival?"
You need hide your feelings no more! Wines of Argentina is sponsoring (for the zillionth year in a row) the Arts on Foot festival. Penn Quarter will become a maelstrom of local art and food, with an outdoor festival and booths and tastings from D.C. restaurants and oh, you've never seen such a show! Grab your significant other, your dog or your copy of "Eat Pray Love" and go walk around. We'll show all those Virginia suburbs how the big boys do neighborhood festivals. We'll show 'em all!
» Penn Quarter, centered at 7th and F streets NW; Sat., Sept. 13, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., free; 202-626-0011. (Gallery Place)
Photo by Olivia Boinet/The Washington Post
MARLOWE PARKER was locked up in Angola Prison when the hurricanes came. His family was out there in the wind and water, and his only connection was the TV. So he painted from it.
Skylar Fein had moved to New Orleans six weeks before the hurricanes. After they let him back in, he gathered wooden debris from the streets; soon, he was making art in his backyard amid the devastation.
Photographer Aubrey Edwards was in New York when they hit. She came down as soon as she could, making portraits for impacted families "or anyone who needed a break from the rebuilding." She was soon working with the Kid Camera Project, a group providing therapy by giving Katrina-scarred children cameras — and creative outlets.
Now, Edwards is curating "Way Down in New Orleans," an art show about Katrina and Rita at Civilian Art. Including the work of Fein, Parker and 30-odd others, the show brings a comprehensive view of the hurricanes' devastation to D.C.
Continue Reading "In the Aftermath: 'Way Down in New Orleans'" »
CELINE DION is a legend. From "Beauty and the Beast" to "Titanic" to her takeover of Las Vegas, she has acquired millions of fans and mountains of adulation.
I mean, personally I'd rather have a lobotomy with an ice pick than hear "My Heart Will Go On" at a dance party, but if you love this overblown Canadian songstress, you're not alone. And you're lucky, cause you can go see her perform tonight!
» Verizon Center, 601 F St. NW; Mon., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., $49.50-$188; 202-397-7328. (Gallery Place)
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
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