Weekly Arts Round Up, December 3, 2020
By • December 3, 2020 0 1089
The Washington Ballet will present a virtual Nutcracker Tea Party on Sunday. On Tuesday, a Phillips Collection curator will chat with activist projectionist Robin Bell. In Woolly Mammoth’s soon-to-stream play, a father and son cook together via Zoom. The headings below link to details about these and other events.
Sporting Library & Museum: Online Talk
In conjunction with the exhibition “A Horse of Course: The Equine Image in Art,” on view through March 29 at the National Sporting Library & Museum, Jeffrey Allison, Paul Mellon Collection educator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, will give an online talk on Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. Allison will trace how painters and sculptors have used the horse as subject matter from prehistory to the present. Tickets are $5 (free for members). Located at 102 The Plains Road in Middleburg, Virginia, the museum is open to the public by advance reservation on Friday and Saturday at 2 p.m. (members may reserve earlier times), with masks required. Admission is $10, $8 for seniors and ages 13 to 18 and free to college students, age 12 and under, first responders and SNAP/EBT cardholders (up to four individuals).
Natural History Museum: Family Webinar
As part of its free Natural History at Home series, ocean educators from the National Museum of Natural History will lead a family webinar on the narwhal, an animal uniquely adapted to live in the cold Arctic climate, on Dec. 5 from 11 to 11:45 a.m. Materials needed for the session’s science skill-building activity: a cardboard or paper tube, a piece of white paper, a pencil, scissors, tape or glue and crayons or markers. Registration is requested, but not required.
Woolly Mammoth: Live-Streamed Play
“This Is Who I Am” by Amir Nizar Zuabi, presented by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and PlayCo and directed by Evren Odcikin, will premiere on Dec. 5 at 8:30 p.m. The show will be performed and broadcast live five nights a week at 8:30 p.m. through Jan. 3, with no Monday performances and 4 p.m. matinees on the five Sundays (exceptions: 4 p.m. matinee on Dec. 9; no performance on Dec. 24 or 25). In the play, an estranged father and son reunite over Zoom to recreate a cherished family recipe from their respective kitchens in Ramallah and New York City. Single tickets are $15.99 and household tickets are $30.99. “Six-Packs” and “Golden Tickets” (all-access season passes) are also available.
Asian Art Museum: Online Panel
On Dec. 6 at 2 p.m., the National Museum of Asian Art will host an online panel discussion with filmmakers featured in the film series Alternate Realities: Science Fiction From Across Asia, hosted by Samirah Alkassim of George Mason University. The panelists will include: Sophia Al Maria, director of “The Future was Desert Parts 1 & 2”; Søren Lind and Larissa Sansour, directors of “In the Future They Ate from the Finest Porcelain” and “In Vitro”; Trương Minh Quý, director of “The Tree House”; and Shengze Zhu, director of “Present.Perfect.” Tickets are free.
The Washington Ballet: Tea Party at Home
The Washington Ballet’s Nutcracker Tea Party at Home will take place on YouTube on Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. This free, 40-minute “Nutcracker” experience will feature guest performances, interactive activities, the story of the Washington Ballet’s unique production and behind-the-scenes interviews.
The Phillips Collection: Online Conversation
On Dec. 8 at 8 p.m., Vesela Sretenović, senior curator of modern and contemporary art at the Phillips Collection, will engage in an online conversation with D.C.-based multimedia artist Robin Bell. Bell’s video works and projections, often carrying social commentary and political messages, have been exhibited and projected at Washington venues including the Corcoran, the Kennedy Center and the Trump International Hotel. His commissioned projections on the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library can be seen at sunset through February. Located at 1600 21st St. NW, the Phillips is open Thursday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. by timed-entry ticket (free through Dec. 27), with masks and social distancing required.
Civil War Medicine Museum: Online Presentation
The National Museum of Civil War Medicine will host a free presentation on Facebook Live by Director of Interpretation Jake Wynn and Education Coordinator John Lustrea on Dec. 9 at 1 p.m. The pair will highlight their favorite artifacts, from chess sets to surgical kits, most of which are not on display. The museum, located at 48 East Patrick St. in Frederick, Maryland, is open, with masks required, on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekdays by appointment. Admission is $9.50, $8.50 for seniors and military, $7 for students and free for age 9 and under.
The Birchmere: In-Person Performance
Rock and blues guitarist Gary Hoey will perform at the Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave. in Alexandria, Virginia, as part of Ho Ho Hoey’s Rockin’ Holiday Tour, on Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere is operating at less than half-capacity, with masks required when audience members are not at their seats. Tickets are $35.
Folger Shakespeare Library: On-Demand Concert
Available on demand starting Dec. 11, “Christmas with the Folger Consort” is a prerecorded performance of Yuletide favorites. Performed by a vocal quartet, winds, strings and continuo, the program includes works by Michael Praetorius, Bach’s cantata “Wachet auf (Sleepers Wake)” and carols by William Billings and other American and English composers. Tickets are $25, $35 and $50. The concert can be viewed through Jan. 5.
Chamber Dance Project: Film Club
Participants in Chamber Dance Project’s Great Works! series get a monthly video link to watch a history-making ballet, then meet up online with Artistic Director Diane Coburn Bruning on the third Thursday to discuss the work and its impact. This month’s featured ballet is George Balanchine’s “The Four Temperaments” of 1946, to be discussed on Dec. 17 from 6 to 7 p.m. The series is for members only (donors of $100 or more).
