DC Scenes

Jeff Malet • April 11, 2016

The National Asian Heritage Festival-Fiesta Asia is a street fair held in Washington, D.C., in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The event showcases Asian art and culture with a wide array of activities including live performances by musicians, vocalists and performance artists, pan-Asian cuisine, martial arts and lion dance demonstration, a multicultural marketplace, cultural displays and interactive activities.

View our photos of the Fiesta Asia Street Fair in D.C. (May 18) and Fiesta Asia in Silver Spring (May 4) by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="150464,150393,150387,150382,150375,150369,150364,150359,150353,150348,150398,150404,150409,150459,150454,150449,150443,150437,150432,150427,150422,150415,150343,150337,150332,150255,150249,150243,150238,150470,150232,150475,150226,150479,150261,150267,150272,150326,150320,150315,150309,150302,150297,150290,150284,150277,101312" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet •

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week. Currently, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from around the world converge on Washington, D.C., to participate in a number of planned events which honor those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. This year’s main events took place between May 13 and May 15 and the Annual Candlelight Vigil, Honor Guard Competition, Emerald Society & Pipe Band March and Service, 5K run, Unity Tour Bike Ride and Memorial Service on the Capitol West Lawn with keynote speaker President Barack Obama.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial which is located at the Judiciary Square Metro on the 400 block of E St., NW, in Washington, D.C., features bronze sculptures depicting a series of lions protecting their cubs, symbolizing the protective role of law enforcement officers. Blue-gray marble walls are inscribed with the names of more than 17,500 officers who have been killed in the line of duty (dating back to 1792). The National Law Enforcement Museum, a 55,000-square foot underground facility will be built near the memorial that will tell the story of American law enforcement through high-tech, interactive exhibits, collections, research and education. The museum is expected to open in 2015.

View our photos of National Police Week 2013 by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="150751,150672,150666,150661,150656,150651,150646,150640,150634,150629,150624,150678,150684,150689,150746,150740,150734,150729,150724,150717,150712,150706,150700,150695,150618,150612,150606,150527,150520,150515,150507,150502,150756,150497,150760,150492,150765,150532,150537,150544,150601,150595,150590,150584,150579,150571,150566,150559,150554,150549,101314" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet •

Senior members of the military and member of the theatrical establishment held a joint press conference at the Arena Stage’s Mead Center for American Theater April 18 to announce the expansion of Blue Star Theatres Program to help military families.

Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for theater, and Blue Star Families, a national non-profit for military families, announced that 85 theaters in 33 states have now joined the Blue Star Theatres program. With support from MetLife Foundation, the program connects a variety of theater offerings to military personnel and their families across the United States. This initiative recognizes the profound contributions of service families and seeks to build stronger connections between theaters, military families and their communities. “Blue Star Theatres builds on the work already occurring at many theaters nationwide, including: playwriting classes to empower creative expression for veterans; community discussions on plays whose themes resonate with military families; free or discounted ticket programs; job postings and casting notices on military bases; and much more. TCG and Blue Star Families will connect theaters with local bases and military families, and develop and disseminate best-practices for engaging with deployed personnel, veterans and service families.”

The program included a reading of a scene from “ReEntry,” a docudrama about returning veterans, written by Emil Ackerman and K.J. Sanchez, featuring actor Larry Mitchell.

View our photos of the announcement at Arena Stage and the reception which followed by clicking on the photo icons below.
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Jeff Malet •

The District of Columbia celebrates April 16 as Emancipation Day. On that day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia. That act would free about 3,100 slaves nine months before Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation, becoming the country’s first freed from the institution of slavery.

View our photos from the Emancipation Day Parade up Pennsylvania Ave. by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="146856,146757,146750,146743,146736,146729,146721,146713,146706,146698,146691,146765,146772,146849,146843,146835,146827,146817,146809,146802,146794,146787,146779,146683,146676,146582,146575,146568,146863,146560,146868,146553,146873,146547,146878,146589,146596,146669,146661,146654,146647,146640,146633,146625,146617,146610,146603,101246" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet •

Joel Grey came to the Smithsonian for a special donation ceremony and the screening of his Academy Award-winning performance in “Cabaret” at the National Museum of American History’s Warner Bros. Theater Feb. 22. The event marked the film’s 40th anniversary. In honor of the occasion, the actor donated the straw hat that he wore when he danced with a gorilla, while singing, “If You Could See Her (Through My Eyes).” Other items from the museum’s collection of “Cabaret” costumes were on display, including the black tuxedo pants and tailcoat used by Grey in the film and the 1987 revival tour, and the pink satin vest, wig and shoes worm by Grey in the stage production.

Before the screening of “Cabaret,” Grey sat down with curator Dwight Blocker Bowers for a discussion of the film.
Grey said he was just about to quit the business in 1966 after a series of uninspiring roles when he got a call from famed producer and director Hal Prince about a new show based on John Van Druten’s 1951 play “I Am a Camera,” which in turn was adapted from the 1939 short novel “Goodbye to Berlin” by Christopher Isherwood. Grey was to be given five songs by his good fiends John Kander and Fred Ebb, but there was initially no real definition of his character role. In rehearsal, it took weeks before Grey found the darkness in that character which became the emcee. It was based in part on real persons Grey encountered while he was stationed in Germany in the Army, and nightclub performers he had seen earlier.

The musical was set in Berlin in 1931 during the Nazi rise to power, and just a year before the actor was born. The straw hat Grey donated was worn during what he considers to be the “quintessential place in the film where everything changes . . . the character of the emcee was . . . so much of a double idea… Adolf Hitler-like in that he promises the audience a very good time . . . bread on every table. . . . They follow and they have a good time, and at the end he turns out to be something other than what we thought he was.”

View our photos of Joel Grey at the Smithsonian by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="101173,142586,142579,142572,142566,142558,142551,142544,142537,142600,142607,142529,142612,142617,142593" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet •

The Smithsonian celebrated Presidents’ Day Weekend with a variety of special events, including Presidents’ Family Day at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery and the fifth anniversary of the Live Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum with special arts and crafts activities for children of all ages. We also took a stroll through the 2013 Orchids of Latin America exhibition which will run through April 21, also at the National Museum of Natural History.

View our photos by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="101169,142414,142407,142400,142392,142386,142378,142428,142371,142433,142364,142439,142356,142445,142421" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet •

The 57th Presidential Inauguration theme, “Faith In America,” was echoed in President Barack Obama’s inaugural address from the west side of the U.S. Capitol Jan. 21 to a crowd that filled the National Mall. The president began his second term by asking the nation to act with “passion and dedication” to broaden equality and prosperity at home, nurture democracy around the world and combat global warming. He concluded with these words: “Let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.”

View our photos of Inauguration Day by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="139863,139786,139780,139773,139766,139760,139752,139745,139738,139793,139800,139856,139848,139842,139834,139828,139820,139814,139807,139732,139725,139719,139645,139638,139630,139870,139876,139882,139622,139887,139652,139659,139712,139706,139700,139693,139686,139680,139673,139666,101129" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet •

Participants in the “Million Puppet March,” an event to support funding for public broadcasting, gathered at the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool on Nov. 3, in Washington D.C. just three days before the presidential election. It was a response to Mitt Romney’s proposal during a presidential debate to reduce the national deficit, in part, by cutting funding to the Public Broadcasting Service and PBS programs, such as “Sesame Street.”

View our photos by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="101048,136580,136587,136593,136600,136606,136614,136620,136627,136634,136640,136646,136653,136660,136666,136673,136679,136574,136568,136709,136487,136702,136494,136697,136500,136692,136507,136514,136520,136526,136534,136540,136546,136554,136560,136686" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet •

Columbus Day ceremonies in the nation’s capital featured the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of the nation’s memorial honoring the great discoverer Christopher Columbus on Monday, Oct. 8, on Columbus Plaza at Union Station. The Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain (also known as Columbus Monument) was carved from Italian marble by Lorado Z. Taft and was erected at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station in 1912. The work depicts a figure of Columbus standing before a ship’s prow with Old World and New World images to either side.

The event was sponsored by the National Columbus Celebration Association in coordination with the National Park Service. Participating in the ceremony, the Knights of Columbus, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, National Italian American Foundation and dignitaries from the Italian Embassy, the Spanish Embassy and the Organization of American States.

View our photos by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="135484,135390,135383,135376,135369,135362,135355,135348,135342,135335,135397,135405,135413,135477,135470,135464,135457,135450,135442,135436,135428,135420,135328,135320,135228,135220,135214,135492,135206,135497,135198,135504,135511,135235,135241,135249,135314,135307,135300,135293,135286,135278,135271,135264,135256,101014" nav="thumbs"]

Jeff Malet •

Members of the White House News Photographers Association cover the major news events involving the President and Congress here in Washington and around the world. The best of their work is now on display thru March 29, 2013 at the Newseum in a special exhibit titled “The Eyes of History 2012: White House Photographers Association”.

Charles Dharapak of the Associated Press was named photographer of the year for his photographs of President Obama shaking the prosthetic hand of a Medal of Honor winner; and Michelle Obaba’s secret shopping excursion to a suburban Target store. Andrew Harnik of the Washington Times won the political photo of the year for his photo of Ron Paul delivering a speech in front of a huge American flag reminiscent of George C Scott as General Patton. These and over 70 other photographs will be on display in the Concourse level of the Newseum which is located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW in Washingtin D.C.

The images offer a window to the history of our times. More than 250 photojournalists competed for awards in 50 categories, in a contest that honored the best news photography of 2011. The exhibit, also includes Neweum produced videos featuring interviews with the winning photographers.

On November 17, the Newseum will host Nikon Photo Day featuring photographers Dharapak, Harnik, and others discussing their photos, with activities throughout the day celebrating photojournalism.

View some of the prize winning photos by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="100998,132882,132875,132861,132869" nav="thumbs"]