Artswatch: December 2, 2015

The older of the Smithsonian’s two interconnected museums of Asian art, the Freer Gallery of Art will close for renovations Jan. 4 through the summer of 2017. The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will remain open. On Saturday, Jan. 2, and Sunday, Jan. 3, the public is invited to say goodbye-for-now to the Freer in person, visit the building and collections, don “a mask and a Peacock Room tattoo” and pose for selfies with Freer and Whistler.

You can buy tickets to “Shear Madness” performances at the Kennedy Center through March, but the days of the tour-group-pleasing comedy, in which a murder takes place above a Georgetown hair salon, may be numbered. Senior Vice President for Artistic Planning Robert Van Leer is meeting this month with the producers of the show, which has occupied the Kennedy Center’s Theater Lab since 1987. “Shear Madness” will be bumped by “The Second City’s Almost Accurate Guide to U.S. History” from June 19 to July 31.

A former church in Frederick, Maryland, will become the East Street Arts Center, with an art gallery, classrooms and a 180-seat performance space for the Landless Theatre Company. Led by Producing Artistic Director Andrew Lloyd Baughman, the 12-year-old company uses the tagline “Theatre for the Theatre-Challenged.” The soft opening is Dec. 5, with the grand opening Feb. 1.