Compiled by Richard Selden
WEST AFRICAN DANCE MLK
KanKouran West African Dance Company, led by Artistic Director Assane Konte, presents its annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. On Saturday, Jan. 13, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 14, at 4 p.m., the company will perform a new work, “Bolo,” meaning “Bridge of Togetherness,” at Dance Place, 3225 8th St. NE. Tickets are $30 (with discounts for seniors, artists, college students and children). For details, visit danceplace.org.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S VOICES DAY
Sunday, Jan. 21, the anniversary of the Women’s March on Washington and other protests following President Donald Trump’s 2016 inauguration, has been designated International Women’s Voices Day. On that day, in conjunction with D.C.’s Women’s Voices Theater Festival, theaters and theater artists worldwide are invited to present public or private readings of unproduced works by women playwrights. For details, visit womensvoicestheaterfestival.org.
NEW HIRSHHORN LOBBY BY SUGIMOTO
Tokyo-based artist Hiroshi Sugimoto (b. 1948) and his architectural firm, New Material Research Laboratory, will redesign the lobby of the Hirshhorn Museum at Independence Avenue and 7th Street SW, reconfiguring the entrance and furnishing the space with art objects by Sugimoto, who had a solo exhibition at the Hirshhorn in 2006. Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s prismatic light sculpture “Your oceanic feeling” will be installed in the new lobby, which will open in February, complete with a Dolcezza coffee bar.
PLAY READING AT THE PHILLIPS
On Thursday, Jan. 25, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a staged reading of “Bakersfield Mist” by Stephen Sachs at the Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St. NW. Inspired by true events, “Bakersfield Mist” tells the story of an unemployed, chain-smoking ex-bartender who believes the thrift- store painting she bought for $3 is an undiscovered masterpiece by Jackson Pollock. Admission is $12. For details, visit phillipscollection.org.
