Going by the calendar, Halloween is on Tuesday. But the partying has already begun, continuing tonight at the Watergate’s Argentta Spa, on Saturday at Tudor Place and Malmaison and on Sunday at Pinstripes. This weekend also offers dance and zarzuela, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” at the National Theatre and the final performances of Nilo Cruz’s “Sotto Voce” at Theater J.
Wet Bar Halloween Pool Party
Tonight, Thursday, Oct. 26, from 8:30 to 11 p.m, the Argentta Spa at the Watergate Hotel, 2650 Virginia Ave. NW, hosts a Wet Bar Halloween Pool Party with a DJ and full access to the locker rooms, pool, sauna and Jacuzzi. Guests, who must be 21 or older, are asked to dress in silver or black swimwear. Tickets are $30 (including a glass of Prosecco). For details, visit eventbrite.com or call 202-838-4503.
Trick or Treat in the Garden
Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, 1644 31st St. NW, invites area families to don costumes and wander the estate’s meandering paths to find treats — not tricks! — in every corner of the North Garden on Saturday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., rain or shine. There will also be pumpkin and face painting and traditional outdoor games. Tickets are $10 per child and $5 per adult chaperone. For details, visit tudorplace.org or call 202-965-0400.
BKE’s Halloween Bash at Malmaison
BKE’s fourth annual Halloween Bash in Georgetown will take place from 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, until 3 a.m. on Sunday at Malmaison, 3401 Water St. NW. There will be DJs and a costume contest. Tickets are $25 ($30 for a multi-location pass). For details, visit eventbrite.com.
Kids Club Halloween Bash at Pinstripes
Pinstripes Georgetown, 1064 Wisconsin Ave. NW, invites kids and their family members to a Halloween party with bowling, mini-pumpkin painting and a costume contest on Sunday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to noon. Tickets are $12 per child and $6 per adult (including two hours of bowling, shoe rental, a craft for kids and a $5 brunch voucher). For details, visit pinstripes.com or call 202-625-6500.
Along with a robotics-themed Design Night, Friday offers performances of dance and zarzuela …
Design Night DC: Robotics
This Design Night DC, featuring WeRobotics cofounder Patrick Meier, will explore how robotics are being used to accelerate the impact of humanitarian aid, global development and environmental protection efforts. At the event, on Friday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m. at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW, there will be networking, food, music and activities that bring robotics to life. Tickets are $25. For details, visit go.nbm.org.
‘Bits & Pieces and a Pint’
This performance by Jane Franklin Dance will include excerpts from children’s piece “Complete Dogness,” new works by Forty+, excerpts from “Aflight,” “True Blue,” “Fightin Words” (set to bluegrass fiddling) and a pint at New District Brewing Company. “Bits & Pieces and a Pint” will be performed Friday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m. at Theatre on the Run, 3700 S. Four Mile Run Drive, Arlington, Virginia. Tickets are $27. For details, visit janefranklin.com or call 703-933-1111.
Zarzuela Double-Bill
Also on Friday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m., Teatro Lirico of DC presents a double-bill of two of the wittiest zarzuelas in the Spanish lyric repertoire: Giménez’s “El barbero de Sevilla” (The Barber of Seville), a comedy of errors that uses Rossini’s opera as its starting point, and Barbieri’s “Gloria y Peluca” (Wigs and Glory), with music that gives a festive Spanish twist to the Italian bel-canto style. The performance will take place at the D.C. Scottish Rite Center, 2800 16th St. NW. Tickets are $27 to $80. For details, visit teatroliricodc.com.
Here are two kid-friendly events on Saturday …
Islamic Architecture for Kids
Students aged 9 to 12 will learn about the structure, materials and forms of Islamic architecture through a class that includes a tour of exhibition “Design for Diversity: the Aga Khan Award for Architecture,” on view at the District Architecture Center, 421 7th St. NW. From 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 28, the session, taught by architect Kevin Storm and Executive Director Mary Fitch, will conclude with a hands-on activity creating geometric designs. Tickets are $20. For details, visit aiadc.com or call 202-347-9403.
‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’
The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, invites area families to celebrate Halloween at the National with Bright Star Theatre’s interactive production of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The characters in Washington Irving’s classic tale include bumbling Ichabod Crane, beautiful Katrina Van Tassel, bullying Brom Bones and the (not-so-scary) Headless Horseman. Tickets are free with RSVP. A limited number of walk-up tickets will be available the day of the show. Performances are Saturday, Oct. 28, at 9:30 and 11 a.m. For details, visit thenationaldc.org or call 800-447-7400.
On Sunday, the National Gallery of Art will host a conversation with Amy Sherald, recently chosen to paint Michelle Obama’s official portrait …
Artist Amy Sherald
Amy Sherald paints dynamic portraits designed to divulge an erudite understanding of the psychological consequences of stereotyping and racism. Each portrait depicts a friend or acquaintance suspended in vivid fashions before a nondescript background; skin tones are represented using a gray scale as a way of challenging the concept of color-as-race. Sherald will participate in a free conversation with Hammer Museum curator Erin Christovale on Sunday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m. in the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium, 150 4th St. NW. For details, visit nga.gov or call 202-737-4215.
Also this weekend: cutting-edge dance and a play about the refugee ship the S.S. St. Louis …
LMnO3 at Dance Place
New York-based LMnO3 (shorthand for the three dancer-choreographers Lohse, Marquis and Oakley) shifts identities in a kaleidoscopic pageant of status and femininity. “B.A.N.G.S.: Made in America” uses hard rap, body percussion and a game show to repurpose how we unapologetically wear our own Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness and Size. Performances at Dance Place, 3225 8th St. NE, are Saturday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 ($25 for seniors and artists, $15 for college students and age 17 and under). For details, visit danceplace.org or call 202-269-1600.
‘Sotto Voce’ at Theater J
Love transcends all borders in Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz’s passionate and lyrical “Sotto Voce.” A young Cuban man’s research into the fate of the S.S. St. Louis leads him to a reclusive writer who refuses to talk about the ship of Jewish refugees that fled Nazi Germany only to be denied entry into both Cuba and the United States. As he strives to uncover the mysteries she’s hiding, an old romance is relived and a new one blossoms. Performances at Theater J, 1529 16th St. NW, are Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 28, at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 29, at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 to $70. For details, visit edcjcc.org or call 202-777-3210.