Get Out Hopping This Easter Weekend
It is Easter weekend, and the weather isn’t cooperating with rain forecast all weekend. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 60s on Saturday and low 70s on Sunday. Hopefully the morning showers on Saturday won’t dampen the free Easter egg hunt at the Frederick Douglass Historic Site or the Anacostia River Festival. Most of the other events are either inside or covered, like the D.C. Beer Festival at Nats Park.
Heading into Easter weekend, Metro’s month-long breather from weekend track work is over with the closure of the Largo Town Center station this weekend. Red Line trains single track between Grosvenor and Twinbrook with trains running every 9 minutes between Silver Spring and Medical Center and every 8 minutes between Glenmont and Shady Grove. Blue Line trains operate on a normal weekend schedule between Franconia-Springfield and Morgan Boulevard with buses replacing trains between Morgan Boulevard and Largo Town Center. Silver Line trains operate on a normal weekend schedule between Wiehle-Reston East and Morgan Boulevard with buses replacing trains between Morgan Boulevard and Largo Town Center. Green Line trains single track between Navy Yard and Anacostia with trains running every 15 minutes. Yellow Line Trains operates between Huntington and Mount Vernon Square ONLY from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday. They operate on a regular schedule after 10 p.m. Saturday and all day Sunday. Orange Line trains operate on a regular weekend schedule.
Anacostia River Festival
The Anacostia River Festival celebrates connecting people to parks. Activities include hands-on art projects, a bike parade, kayaking and canoeing, lawn games, live music and performances and much more. Held in Anacostia Park, this free event encourages residents and tourists alike to explore the communities and parks east of the river.
Apr. 14 from 1-5 p.m. at Anacostia Park, Anacostia Drive and Good Hope Road SE. Admission is FREE! A free shuttle will be available from the Anacostia Metro Station near the Howard Road exit to the festival site and back. Free parking is available at the Metro station and the Anacostia Park Skating Pavilion, 1500 Anacostia Drive SE.
Enrico David: Gradations of Slow Release
Enrico David: Gradations of Slow Release is the largest U.S. museum survey of David’s work. The Italian artist works in a variety of media, including sculpture, paintings, installations and works on paper. Many of his pieces focus on the human form and its gradually shifting and evolving nature, evidenced by the title of the exhibit and his incredible sculpture of the same name. The museum’s second level inner-circle serves as the perfect space to display David’s challenging works.
Through Sept. 2 from 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m. daily at the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Independence Avenue SW and Seventh Street SW. Admission is FREE!
Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths
Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths features more than 225 works of art spanning early archaeological evidence to today. The Iron Age revolutionized Africa and forever altered human civilization practically and symbolically. Technologies of iron smelting and forging, which likely began on the African continent around 2,500 years ago, were ardently sought and guarded. Their control could promote a king’s ambition, enhance a soldier’s fortune and secure a community’s well-being. Iron tools and weapons enabled Africans to forage, hunt and till the soil, assuring prosperity and protection. Throughout, visitors will notice how African blacksmiths were able to turn a natural resource into life-altering objects that not only served as utilities, but also displayed incredible artistry, spirituality and technical skill. The exhibit includes currencies in many shapes and sizes, wood sculptures studded with iron, musical instruments and elaborate body adornments.
Apr 17 through Oct. 20 from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
The Peculiar Patriot
This is the last weekend for The Peculiar Patriot. Liza Jessie Peterson performs this one-woman show that highlights the corruption and inequality found within America’s criminal justice system, which has imprisoned 2.3 million people, leaving an indelible impact on friends, families and communities. Peterson’s character, Betsy LaQuanda Ross, visits penitentiaries regularly to cheer up her loved ones. In addition to neighborhood gossip, Betsy shares illuminating information on the injustice at-hand. Peterson has spent decades working with prison populations, and her show traces the roots of the booming incarceration industry all the way back to plantations.
Apr. 19 at 8 p.m. and Apr. 20 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St. NW. Tickets are $20-$75.
Annie Jump & the Library of Heaven
Annie Jump, a small-town teen and science genius, comes face to face with her worst nightmare: a popular girl in Rorschach Theatre’s Annie Jump & the Library of Heaven. When she learns that this girl with great hair might be an intergalactic super computer tasked with bringing humanity to the stars, she must decide what is worth sacrificing to fulfill her destiny. Reina Hardy’s play for all audiences is about finding your place in the universe and intelligent life in your neighborhood.
Apr. 19-May 19 at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, Apr. 22 and May 6 and 3 p.m. Sunday at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NW. Tickets are $29.99 for adults and 19.99 for children and seniors.
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony
The National Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Gianandrea Noseda, will perform a fresh and exciting interpretation of one of the most famous pieces of music in history, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Although on the verge of deafness while composing this masterpiece, Beethoven boldly defied his impending affliction — instead rising above to immerse audience in a fearless symphony he called “a duel between free will and determination.” The collective will also take on Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 2 and Brahms’s Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn.
Apr. 19 and 20 at 8 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F St. NW. Tickets are $20-$109.
Easter Egg Hunt
Take the kids out to the annual free Easter Egg Hunt at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. You might not associate the Easter Bunny with the Lion of Anacostia, but the annual event at Douglass’ Anacostia home has become a community event. Beyond searching for eggs and photos with a human-sized bunny, the day includes tours of Douglass’ house with National Park Service rangers, face painting, lawn games, story time and family arts and crafts activities.
Apr. 20 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. with check-in for the hunt at 10 a.m. and the hunt for children 6-12 at 10:15 a.m. and children 5 and younger at 10:30 a.m. at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, 1411 W St. SE. Admission is FREE!
Animals, Collected
Animal statues and depictions on public buildings are so commonplace that they exist without question. But what is the symbolism behind these fixtures? It is a question the National Building Museum explores in-depth with its latest exhibition, Animals, Collected. The 125 objects pulled from the museum’s permanent collection, most of which have not been shown publicly before, feature two- and three-dimensional works that trace the history of animals and their relationship to well-known architectural structures. Sketches from Washington National Cathedral’s construction archives, sculptures from D.C.-area artist Raymond Kaskey and drawings from Chicago’s Northwestern Terra Cotta Co. are among the highlighted items.
Apr. 20 through Spring 2020 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Tickets are $7-$10.
Black Joy Experience
The Hirshhorn Museum will host a large, interactive concert on its plaza, celebrating music that has been used to promote freedom and equality. The modern art museum will host over a dozen performers at the Black Joy Experience who range the musical spectrum from D.C. street artists to Suitland High School’s Center for Visual and Performing Arts. Featured artists include Malik DOPE Drummer, K Charles, Christen B, Amber Mimz, Marvillous Beats, Artlab, Honey the DJ, Cramer, Ivory Haze, Eddie the Artist, C’est Lief Band, Eden Gem and more.
Apr. 20 from noon-5 p.m. at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Independence Avenue SW and Seventh Street SW. Admission is FREE!
D.C. Beer Festival
The Nationals may be in San Francisco, but Nats Park will be full on Saturday as more than 80 craft breweries offer samples of their spring seasonal brews at the annual D.C. Beer Festival. The breweries will be spouting their seasonal suds, as a dozen local food trucks including Smoking Kow BBQ, Red Hook Lobster, The Frenchman, and more serve up their tastiest eats. (Food sold separately.) There will be plenty of lawn games, 90s cover band Make More Animals, dueling pianos and DJs. The event takes place in the stadium’s concourses, Centerfield Plaza, Budweiser Brew House, Bud Light Loft and Budweiser Terrace.
Apr. 20 from noon-3 p.m. or 5-8 p.m. at Nationals Park, 1500 South Capitol St. SE. Tickets are $45 for general admission and $75 for VIP, which includes access to the warning track and dugouts, a commemorative tasting glass and a D.D. Beer Fest baseball cap.
Make Me Wanna Holler: Exploring D.C.’s Music Legacy
Washington native Marvin Gaye is the newest addition to the Postal Service’s Music Icons stamp series, and the National Postal Museum honors the soul legend with an afternoon of music during Make Me Wanna Holler: Exploring D.C.’s Music Legacy. DJ RBI spins music from Gaye and his contemporaries, while the Smooth & EZ Hand Dance Institute teaches steps that were popular in the 1960s and today. Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center has created Gaye-themed designs that can be screenprinted on your tote bags or T-shirts. And, of course, the stamps are available for purchase.
Apr. 20 from 3-5:30 p.m. at the National Postal Museum, 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Admission is FREE!
Ongoing events
All Work, No Pay from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. through February 2020 at the National Museum of American History, 1300 Constitution Ave. NW. Admission is FREE!
https://www.nbm.org/exhibition/hoops/ Hoops from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday through Jan. 5 at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for youth ages 3-17, students with ID and seniors ages 60 and older.
The American Revolution: A World War from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through July 9 at the National Museum of American History, 1300 Constitution Ave. NW. Admission is FREE!
Americans from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through 2022 at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Fourth Street and Independence Avenue SW. Admission is FREE!
Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965-1975 from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Aug. 18 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Baseball Americana from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday through July 27 at the Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE. Admission is FREE!
Celebrating New American Gardens from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily through Oct. 15 at the U.S. Botanic Garden, 100 Maryland Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
Daguerreotypes: Five Decades of Collecting from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through June 2 at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
LAST CHANCE! Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday through Apr. 21 at the National Gallery of Art, Fourth Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
Disrupting Craft from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through May 5 at the Renwick Gallery, 1661 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Admission is FREE!
Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice across Asia from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Nov. 29, 2020 at the Freer|Sackler Galleries, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
Evicted from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday through May 19 at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Admission is FREE!
Eye to I: Self-Portraits from 1900 to Today from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Aug. 18 at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Flickering Treasures from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday through Oct. 14 at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for seniors ages 60 and older, youth ages 3-17 and students. Children 2 and younger are FREE!
Game Change: Elephants from Prey to Preservation from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Feb. 1, 2020, at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
A Glimpse of Ancient Yemen from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Aug. 18 at the Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Sept. 29 at the National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
Into the Woods at 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday through May 22 at Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. Tickets are $27-$81.
It’s Hip to Be Square: The Mint Family from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily through Nov. 31 at the U.S. Botanic Garden, 100 Maryland Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
Nature’s Best Photography from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through September at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
One Year: 1968, An America Odyssey from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. through May 19 at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Orchids: Amazing Adaptations from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Apr. 29 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery’s Kogod Courtyard, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Outbreak from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through 2021 at the National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
Perfume & Seduction from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday through June 9 at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Admission is $18 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for college students, $5 for children 6-18 and children younger than 6 are FREE!
Playball and the National Pastime from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday through Apr. 30 at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Building 76, 736 Sicard St. SE. Admission is FREE!
Portraits of the World: Korea from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Nov. 17 at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Postmen of the Skies: Celebrating 100 Years of Airmail Service from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through May 27 at the National Postal Museum, 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Admission is FREE!
P.Y.G. or the Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through Apr. 28 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14 St. NW. Tickets are $20-$69.
Queens of Egypt from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily through Sept. 2 at the National Geographic Museum, 1145 17th St. NW. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, students and military, $10 for children 5-12 and children younger than 5 are FREE!
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pulse from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Apr. 28 at the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Seventh Street & Independence Avenue SW. Admission is FREE!
Recent Acquisitions from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Nov. 3 at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Represent: Hip-Hop Photography from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through May 5 at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, 1400 Constitution Ave. NW. Admission is FREE. Timed tickets are required on weekends and for groups of 10 or more.
Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday through Dec. 31 at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets are $12.71-$21.21 online or $14.95-$24.95 at the door.
Tiffany Chung: Vietnam, Past Is Prologue from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Sept. 2 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Sea Monsters Unearthed, Life in Angola’s Ancient Seas from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily through 2020 at the National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
Section 14: The Other Palm Springs, California from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through January at the National Museum of the American Indian, Fourth Street and Independence Avenue SW. Admission is FREE!
Shaping Clay in Ancient Iran from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through September at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
Subodh Gupta: Terminal from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through 2020 at the Freer|Sackler Galleries, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
Superheroes from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. through Sept. 2 at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, 1300 Constitution Ave. NW. Admission is FREE!
Watching Oprah: The Oprah Winfrey Show and American Culture from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through June at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, 1400 Constitution Ave. NW. Admission is FREE, but timed passes are required.
Welcome to the New World from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday through Spring 2019 at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets are $24.95 for adults, $19.95 for seniors 65 years and older, $14.95 for youth from 7-18 at the door with a 15 percent discount when purchased online. Children 6 and younger are FREE!
What Absence Is Made Of from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through the summer of 2019 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Seventh Street and Independence Avenue SW. Admission is FREE!
Zilia Sánchez: Soy Isla (I Am an Island) from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday and noon-6:30 p.m. Sunday through May 9 at the Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St. NW. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for students and senior citizens 62 and older, and children 18 and younger are FREE!
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.