Weekend Arts Round Up, December 10, 2020


Hanukkah begins at sundown tonight, Dec. 10 — and it’s the last day to register for Temple Shalom’s virtual bake-along. On Tuesday, Politics and Prose will welcome Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia and ESPN’s Jesse Washington, co-author of legendary Hoyas coach John Thompson’s new autobiography. Also book-related: Planet Word is calling all crossword lovers! For details, click on the headings below.

GALA Hispanic Theatre: Online Film Festival

The theme of GALA Hispanic Theatre’s online film festival, running through Dec. 13, is Latin American innovation. Available for viewing: the documentary “La Mami,” set in the bathroom of Cabaret Barba Azul in Mexico City; “Los Sonámbulos (The Sleepwalkers),” about a teenage sleepwalker; “Três Verões (Three Summers),” a comic portrait of contemporary Brazil; “Vendrá la Muerte y Tendrá Tus Ojos (Death Will Come and Shall Have Your Eyes),” in which lovers retreat to a cabin when one gets a terminal diagnosis; “Las Mil y Una (One in a Thousand),” about a young woman’s LGBT awakening in northern Argentina; “Sanctorum,” in which a boy searches for his mother in a region torn by drug-related violence; and “El Fantasma del Convento (The Phantom of the Monastery),” a 1934 Mexican horror film directed by Fernando de Fuentes. All films are in Spanish or Portuguese with English subtitles. Tickets are $8 per film and festival passes are $50.

Weschler’s: Live Auction

On Dec. 11 at 10 a.m., Weschler’s, located at 40 West Gude Drive in Rockville, Maryland, will hold a live Capital Collections auction. Among the lots to be offered: a Philadelphia Chippendale walnut lowbow, c. 1760-80, est. $3,000 to $5,000; “Cow (Yellow and Blue)” by Andy Warhol, est. $8,000 to $12,000; and an Edwardian platinum and diamond ring, c. 1910, est. $20,000 to $30,000. Weschler’s is currently open by appointment only.

Levine Music: Online Master Class

Levine Music will present a free online master class with California-born jazz guitarist Julian Lage — a child prodigy, Berklee College of Music graduate and three-time Grammy nominee — on Dec. 11 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. During the class, Lage will discuss and demonstrate technique, practicing and improvisation.

Dumbarton Concerts: Live-Streamed Performance

Dumbarton Concerts will live-stream a winter solstice concert featuring Helicon, Charm City Junction, the Ken & Brad Kolodner Trio and Scottish National Fiddle Champion Elke Baker on Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. The program fuses Celtic dance rhythms with seasonal, Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian, Appalachian, world and bluegrass music. A meet-the-artists session will follow the concert. Tickets are $26.

Russian Chamber Art Society: Online Performance and Conversation

Vera Danchenko-Stern, the Russian Chamber Art Society’s founder and artistic director, will host the fourth installment of Russian Tea Time with Vera on Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. This online event will include an encore presentation of RCAS’s 2018 performance of a narrated, condensed version of Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades,” followed by a conversation with soprano Jennifer Casey Cabot, mezzo-soprano Susana Poretsky and tenor Viktor Antipenko. Tickets are $15.

Temple Shalom: Virtual Bake-Along

Participants in a virtual Hanukkah bake-along on Dec. 13 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. are asked to bring a donation for DC Diaper Bank that morning to Temple Shalom, 8401 Grubb Road in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where they can pick up a family activity kit (contact the temple to make an alternative arrangement). At the bake-along, Paula Shoyer, the Kosher Baker, will show them how to make blue-and-white cookies. The group will light the Hanukkah candles together at 5:30 p.m. Advance registration is required, with Dec. 10 the deadline to reserve a kit.

Signature Theatre: Online Play Reading

On Dec. 14 at 7 p.m., Signature Theatre will present a free online reading of “The Story of Walter” on YouTube, with a live discussion at intervals with Alabama playwright Audrey Cefaly and director Holly Twyford. In the play, Walter, the father of a spunky 7-year-old daughter, struggles to navigate the world of single parenthood.

Jackie: Virtual Cooking Class

Chef Jerome Grant of Jackie — an American bistro that pays tribute to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis — will lead a free virtual cooking class on Dec. 16 at 4 p.m. Participants must register for a time slot on Dec. 14 or 15 to pick up a complimentary box of ingredients and recipes at Crossing, 949 First St. SE. On the day of the class, live-streamed from the demo kitchen at Crossing, a new luxury building at Navy Yard, the group will cook berbere-spiced meatballs and couscous along with Grant.

Politics and Prose: Online Book Talk

On Dec. 15 at 6 p.m., Politics and Prose bookstore will present an online discussion about “I Came as a Shadow,” Georgetown University men’s basketball coach John Thompson’s posthumously published autobiography, with co-author Jesse Washington of ESPN and John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University. Admission is pay-what-you-can, with purchase of the book encouraged.

Planet Word: Online Conversation

Planet Word, the new museum in historic Franklin School that explores the power, beauty and fun of language, will present “Crosswords and the People Who Love Them” on Dec. 17 at noon. Adrienne Raphel, author of “Thinking Inside the Box,” will lead this free online conversation about where crosswords came from, how they’re built and why we can’t get enough of them.

Museum of Women in the Arts: Virtual Happy Hour

On Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m., the National Museum of Women in the Arts will host a virtual happy hour in honor of pathbreaking French American sculptor Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), who was born on Dec. 25. Art critic Amei Wallach, who made the documentary “Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress, and the Tangerine,” will be on hand for this contribute-what-you-wish event, at which artworks and stories will be shared and participants will toast Bourgeois with a specialty cocktail. The museum, at 1250 New York Ave. NW, is open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $10, $8 for seniors and students and free for age 18 and under. Masks are required, social distancing is in effect and visitors are encouraged to purchase timed-entry tickets in advance.

Classical Movements: In-Person Concerts

Classical Movements will present two afternoon performances of “Hallelujah! Gospel & Choral Favorites with Camerata Baltimore” on Dec. 19 at 1 and 2:30 p.m. in the Secret Garden at the Rectory, 711 Princess St. in Alexandria, Virginia. The program of gospel music, spirituals and classical repertoire in celebration of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas includes “Hallelujah” from Handel’s “Messiah,” Saint-Saëns’s “Christmas Oratorio” and works by John Rutter, Undine Smith Moore and Amy F. Bernon. Seating will be socially distanced and masks are required. Tickets are $45.

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