Above & Beyond: Spring Arts Preview 2025

Hard to believe, but WorldPride 2025 is almost upon us. It’s sure to be a pride for the ages, with more — a whole lot more — than any before in our city’s now 50-year history of Pride. Yet, denizens of D.C. and the National Capital Region have plenty of reasons to be prideful all season long, thanks to a steady and ever-flowing stream of LGBTQ and allied artists, authors, comedians, celebrities, drag acts, DJs, storytellers, and extraordinary entertainers galore.

THE ALDEN

McLean Community Center
1234 Ingleside Ave.
McLean, Va.
703-790-0123
www.mcleancenter.org

Spring Fest — A spring-themed arts and crafts festival with entertainment with special appeal to children the first Saturday morning of April (4/5)
Stuart Little — The Alden’s 2025 Youth Production focuses on the original tale by E. B. White (4/5-6)
McLean Earth Day — Billed as a “drive-through environmental action event”… the second Saturday morning in April (4/12)
Performing Arts Movies: The Spongebob Musical: Live On Stage! — The latest free monthly screening of an arts-focused film (4/17)
Spring Community Parking Lot Sale — Over 70 vendors, including area residents as well as flea market dealers, will be selling wares right from the McLean Community Center parking lot (4/19)
Chef Joel Olson’s A Cut Above: Knife Skills 101 — A workshop sharing culinary techniques to “help take the chore out of cooking,” including boning a chicken, chopping various raw vegetables, will be held for adults, complemented by a “Youth Knife Skills” workshop for the little ones in tow (4/23)
Chef Joel Olson’s Fish Market — Get the dish on fish in all its culinary variety in a workshop led by Chef Joel Olson (4/24)
Family Fun Bingo — Free popcorn for everyone and prizes for winners (4/25, The Old Firehouse, 1440 Chain Bridge Rd., McLean, Va.)
Underneath a Magical Moon — A family friendly production of local theater, presented by Tutti Frutti Productions (4/27)
Springtime Grillin (4/28)
Cooking Manners and Etiquette (4/28-29)
Arabian Nights (4/29)
Classic Hors D’oeuvres (4/30)
New Springtime Classics (5/1)
Foreign Language Film: — the Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month Selection (5/1)
Tacos Without Borders (5/2)
Parent Child Spring Baking — the first weekend in May also offers two additional workshops, a Youth Spring Baking (5/3) and an Adult Spring Baking (5/4)
Terrapin Puppet Theatre: The Paper Escaper (5/10)
Carnival Rides (5/16, Lewinsville Park, 1659 Chain Bridge Rd.)
McLean Day 2025 — The Northern Virginia hamlet’s biggest annual festival, held every year since 1915 (5/17, Lewinsville Park)
Foreign Language Film: Great Freedom — The Pride Month Selection (6/5, 6/11)
Luau Party (6/6, The Old Firehouse)
Jason Robert Brown & Friends — An intimate evening with the three-time recipient and five-time nominee of Tony Awards for multi-faceted work as a composer, lyricist, orchestrator, and director (as well as and a catalog including enduring Broadway shows such as Parade and The Last Five Years and especially marked by stage adaptations of hit films, including The Bridges of Madison County and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Brown will perform with his longtime trio and special guests (6/14)
Shrek the Musical — McLean Community Players (7/18-27)

ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

1333 H St. NE
202-399-7993
www.atlasarts.org

Atlas Gala 2025: An Evening of Magic — This year’s annual gala features two Wicked alumni, Christine Dwyer as Elphaba and Rachel Potter as Glinda from different iterations of the years-long second national tour, who have since appeared in other shows, Dwyer in national tours of Waitress and Finding Neverland, and Potter taking turns in The Addams Family and Evita on Broadway. Expect highlights from some or all of those shows and more at the gala also offering a silent auction, passed hors d’oeuvres, specialty drinks, and a dance party (4/23)
Hexagon: Splitting Our Sides — Billing itself “Washington’s only original political, satirical, musical comedy revue,” the all-volunteer nonprofit Hexagon celebrates its 70th anniversary year by presenting a new show with a new cast at a new venue, promising “two hours of songs, comedy, and slapstick written and performed by some of Washington’s funniest subversives,” a bipartisan blend of satire in which “no good cause will go unpunished — but it’s all in fun” (3/28-4/6)
GMCW: Sing Out: A Piano Bar and Open Mic — Once a month the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington invites anyone and everyone in the community to join them for a happy hour-intiating, anything-goes evening toasting the art of popular song, broadly defined, and the act of singing and singing-along and where anyone can take a stab at their favorite little ditty, be it a showtune, pop song, jazz standard, or “whatever you like to sing” — so long as you furnish or find the corresponding sheet music (amongst the GMCW stacks) so the pianist can offer proper support (4/9, 5/21, 6/11, 7/9, 8/13)
Decolonized Beatz: Indigenous WorldPride 2025 — Through a multi-genre mix of traditional storytelling, poetry, panel discussions, live music and dance, art, and film, this all-day “international and intersectional” festival, organized by the Indigenous-led nonprofit Crushing Colonialism as a de facto kickoff to Pride month and particularly D.C.’s hosting of WorldPride2025, will celebrate “the strength and resilience of Indigenous Queer and Two-Spirit communities” and feature “the voices of Indigenous and multiply marginalized 2SLGBTQIA+” artists and speakers from countries including Australia, Brazil, Finland, Canada, The Gambia, Fiji, Venezuela, Ecuador, as well as the U.S. Proceedings kick off with an “Indigiqueer Youth Film Screening & Discussion” with participants including Theo Cuthand, Yinet Molero, Mohammad Zahif, Tatiana Villegas, and Destiny Whitaker, continues with music and drag performances by Tony Enos, Lady Shug, Ritni Tears, and Rivolta Sata with drummers, and ends with a Dance Party featuring Sata as DJ (6/1)

Bethesda Fine Art Festival — Bethesda Fine Arts Festival

BETHESDA URBAN PARTNERSHIP

7700 Old Georgetown Rd.
Bethesda, Md.
301-215-6660
www.bethesda.org

Bethesda Film Fest — Six short documentary films screen together as one program, followed by discussions with the filmmakers, at this year’s Documentary Film Festival presented by BUP and Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District (4/4-5, Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema, 7235 Woodmont Ave.)
Bethesda Fine Arts — Art created by 120 of the nation’s best artists will be on display as part of this weekend festival also including live entertainment and set up on several streets closed to the public in downtown Bethesda’s Woodmont Triangle area (5/10-11, Norfolk, Auburn, and Del Ray avenues)
Summer Concert Series — Live music on Norfolk Avenue Friday evenings all season long (May-Sept.)
Bethesda Painting Awards Exhibit — A group exhibition displaying paintings by eight artists from Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. selected as finalists by a jury panel, making them eligible to receive a portion of $14,000 in prize monies if they’re awarded one of four top prizes (6/6-29, Gallery B, 7700 Wisconsin Ave., Ste. E)
Bethesda Outdoor Movies — Five nights of blockbuster hits under the stars at the corner of Norfolk and Auburn avenues (6/26-8/8)
The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards Exhibit — Renowned juried competition honoring regional artists working in all mediums (9/4-28)

THE BIRCHMERE

3701 Mount Vernon Ave.
Alexandria, Va.
703-549-7500
www.birchmere.com

WMAL Presents Free Speech Forum — NewsTalk 105.9 WMAL’s Larry O’Connor, Chris Plante, and Vince Coglianese plus Julie Gunlock and Patrice Onwuka will recap the First 100 Days of the second Trump Administration and debate the news of the day as determined by questions posed in writing from members of the audience (4/27)
Countess Cabaret with Luann De Lesseps — Star of The Real Housewives of New York (5/9)
Pat McGann — A night of “Keep Going” comedy (5/17)
Colin Mochrie & Brad Sherwood: Asking for Trouble — Improv stars from Whose Line Is It Anyway? team up for a show billed as “Two Legends. No Script. No Problem!” (5/30)
Scott Thompson — Starring as Buddy Cole in The Last Glory Hole (6/4)
Jason Ladanye — Extraordinary card magic (8/2)

BLACK CAT

1811 14th St. NW
202-667-4490
www.blackcatdc.com

Dan Savage’s Hump! 2025 — Billed as “the world’s best indie erotic film fest,” this year’s offering of hot, heavy, and hilarious “dirty” short films is split into two “all new” programs this year in honor of its platinum anniversary “20 Years of Going Hard” (4/11-12)
Mortified DC: Live (4/25)

CHERRY DC

Multiple Venues
www.cherrydc.com

Cherry Weekend 2025 — Loosely structured around the theme of the classical elements and an overarching “fifth element” of “music,” the weekend blows in with Air, a Friday night party where “the music flows like a strong wind” from headlining DJ Orel Sabag and local opener Jake Maxwell at Shaw’s classic no-frills venue and nightclub (4/11, DC9, 1940 9th St. NW). It then surges with Fire, a Saturday night “set ablaze with scorching beats and an atmosphere filled with fiery energy” thanks to the music of Las Bibas and local Tezrah at a new warehouse venue in an industrial pocket of Brentwood (4/12, Betty, 1235 W St. NE). Cherry continues by getting deeper into Earth, an afterhours event in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning headlined by a classic Cherry DJ Calagna, whose “sound in the club level will evoke the essence of Earth” and DJ Ed Wood offering his signature tribal sounds on the rooftop at Shaw’s iconic Flash nightclub (4/12, Flash, 645 Florida Ave. NW). It dives to a close with Water, a Sunday night party offering “a fluid world of cool, flowing beats” propelled by headlining DJ Jesus Montanez and DJ Chord and taking place at the popular subterranean club in the U Street Corridor (4/13, Bunker, 2001 14th St. NW)
Fabric of Freedom — Not quite two months later, the Cherry Fund will collaborate with KINETIC Presents and the Capital Pride Alliance to produce what is being planned as the city’s largest dance party during WorldPride 2025, located in a warehouse complex in Brentwood totaling over 100,000 square feet and incorporating Betty, Cherry’s Saturday night venue. Cherry is curating one of three stages at the party and will feature DJs Isis Muretech and Micky Friedmann (6/7, 1235 W St. NE) (See the KINETIC listing for more.)

DAR CONSTITUTION HALL

1776 D ST. NW
202-628-4780
www.dar.org/constitution-hall

CiSad (Gaat) — A concert-theater production focused on the resistance and the defense of Persian cultural heritage and Iranian territorial integrity against the Mongol army (4/17)
Katt Williams — Comedian on the Heaven on Earth Tour (5/9)
Jay Shetty — Bestselling author and host of interview podcast series On Purpose extends the brand with his On Purpose Live Tour (5/21)
Sarah Millican — Late Bloomer is the brand-new stand-up show from this well-loved and hard-working touring comedian from the U.K. (6/13)
Killers of Kill Tony — A multi-artist stand-up show of regulars and fan-favorites from a top live comedy podcast series featuring Ari Matti Mustonen, Hans Kim, Martin Phillips, Kim Congdon, and David Jolly (8/23)

ECHOSTAGE

2135 Queens Chapel Rd. NE
202-503-2330
www.echostage.com

Timmy Trumpet — A GLOW event with support from JSTJR and Rewilder (4/4)
DNBNL D.C.: Hybrid Minds | RUDIM3NTAL — “Drum and Bass All Night Long,” presented by Brownies & Lemonade with a 360° set and support from ÆON:MODE, Skepsis, and Joel Cruz (4/5)
Reggaeton Rave (4/19)
DJ HABIBEATS — Habibi’s House North America Tour presented by GLOW with support from OMAR & Auguste (4/26)
KAYZO — Unleashed XL Tour with a special set from Hivemind and support from SampliFire, Mozey, and Dennett (5/10)
Trixie’s Solid Pink Disco: Blonde Edition — Kickstart WorldPride 2025 a few days early with this Official Tuesday Event, presented by LiveNation for all ages, the nationally touring dance party helmed by Trixie Mattel who offers commentary asides when not performing and DJ-ing along with the party’s resident DJ Mateo Segade (6/3)

GLEN ECHO PARK

7300 MacArthur Blvd.
Glen Echo, Md.
301-634-2222
www.glenechopark.org

Transcending Time: Exploring the Beauty of Landscapes and Landmarks — A display of evocative artworks by Lesley Clarke and Hernan Murno capturing both celebrated and forgotten landmarks, from old structures to abandoned buildings, highlighting their intricate details and often-overlooked beauty (3/29-4/27, Park View Gallery)
Pieced/Pierced — A solo exhibition of handmade quilts embellished with capiz shells by multidisciplinary artist Rowena Federico Finn exploring the tension between fragility and resilience, tradition and transformation, as well as identity, belonging, and rejection per the perspective of this Filipina-American artist (3/29-4/27, Stone Tower Gallery)
2025 Yellow Barn Studio Instructors Exhibition — The Yellow Barn Studio & Gallery, Glen Echo Park’s primary painting and drawing residency and also one of the largest painting studios in the region, prides itself on its faculty’s unique artistic approaches, and this exhibition, featuring a whopping 27 participating instructors, certainly offers a glimpse into their diverse philosophies of painting and drawing (3/29-4/27, Popcorn Gallery)
Becoming Ourselves — The latest exhibition at the Resident Gallery Photoworks features trans and nonbinary adults and children captured in joyful poses at their respective churches in Maryland and Virginia, all as a way to celebrate their inclusion (Now-3/30, Photoworks)
Glen Echo Park Civil Rights and History Tour (4/5, 5/3, 6/7)
Four Mile Ranger Guided History Hike: National Parks Along the Potomac — Once a month April through August, the National Park Service offers this free two-hour, four-mile guided hike with stops along the C&O Canal, the Washington Aqueduct’s Union Arch Bridge, and the historic house of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, all while starting with an in-season carousel ride as well as a traipse through the park, once Washington’s premiere amusement park (4/12, 5/10, 6/14)
The DC Lindy Exchange: DCLX 2025: Jump for Joy — A weekend-long festival bringing together swing dancers from all over the world, with beginner swing lessons offered before the Friday and Saturday main dances in the Spanish Ballroom, and featuring some of the best live swing music around, with the lineup including The Craig Gildner Big Band at the Friday Main event and Chelsea Reed & the Fairweather Band and Gordon Webster Friday Late, Scott Silbert’s “Biggest” Big Band at the Saturday Main event, Keenan McKenzie & The Riffers and Gordon Webster (Blues Edition) Saturday Late, and the Jon Tigert Hangover Jam Band Sunday Afternoon and Jonathan Stout & His Campus Five featuring Hilary Alexander Sunday Main (4/25-27)
Art Walk in the Park — The first Friday of every month May through August but excepting for July features open studios and artist demos along with specific activities per month, with the May iteration set to include Magic Staircase, a public art installation by Lauri Hafvenstein (5/2, 6/6, 8/1)
Carousel Day – A festive, park-wide event that serves as the park’s official season opener, the first day the signature 104-year-old Dentzel Carousel is back up and running and ready for riding, complemented by a series of live music and performances, open artist studios and galleries, and more (5/3)
Strauss Ball — Annual, “formal attire” fundraiser for the park celebrating the back-in-action Carousel and organized around this year’s theme “An Evening with Strauss” presented by the group dance outfit Waltz Time with dancing to a live band and promising “grand march, refreshments, and dance cards included” (5/3)
Gala in the Park: A Midsummer Night’s Dream — Another evening fundraiser in the park, “a place like no other” (5/17)
Red Hot Blues & BBQ 2025 — “Your favorite barbeque-centric blues dance weekend” presented by group dance outfit Capital Blues over Memorial Day weekend (5/23-25)
5th Annual Pride Family Day – Presented by Glen Echo Park in collaboration with the office of Montgomery County Council President Evan Glass, this event includes a free hands-on arts and craft project (6/1)
Summer Concert Series — Every Friday evening throughout the summer the park features live performances by local musicians and performers representing a diverse range of styles, influences, and cultures (6/12 and every Friday thru 8/29)
Echo Arts Festival — The fall celebration of the visual and performing arts returns for its fourth annual edition (9/28)

HILLWOOD MUSEUM & GARDENS

4155 Linnean Ave. NW
202-686-5807
www.HillwoodMuseum.org

Setting Sail: The Story of Sea Cloud — An exhibition focused on the story of what was once the world’s largest sailing yacht, built by Hillwood’s founder Marjorie Merriweather Post and her husband E. F. Hutton, that went on to serve as a weather ship for the U.S. Coast Guard (On display through 6/15)
Dinnertime Documentaries — On select evenings every spring, Hillwood stays open a few hours later than usual and grants exclusive access for registered guests to wander around the mansion, gardens, and greenhouse, take in the special exhibition, and enjoy a seated dinner at the Merriweather Café, all culminating in the visitor center’s theater for a designated film screening. Inspired by Setting Sail: The Story of Sea Cloud, this year’s series is organized around themes of seafaring and the U.S. Coast Guard and includes: Maiden — the 2018 film directed by Alex Holmes about Tracy Edwards, who became the skipper of the first-ever all-female crew to enter the grueling yachting competition known as the Whitbread Round (4/2); Paratus 14:50, Katilin Smith’s 2015 look at the Coast Guard’s swift and lifesaving response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which helped rescue more than 33,500 people in the impacted area (4/9); Two Wars — A double feature screening of 2023’s Two Wars: The Road to Integration, tackling the topic of segregation and eventual integration of the U.S. military, and 2025’s Two Wars: No Mail, No Morale, about a group of nearly 1,000 women from the Women’s Army Corps who created a card index system that improved the military’s mail system and contributed to the war effort 4/16)
Guided Forest Bathing Walks — Inspired by the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or to absorb the forest atmosphere, this health- and wellness-promoting immersive stroll through the gardens at Hillwood is led by a Certified Forest Therapy Guide for five to 15 participants each (4/5, 4/11, 4/12, 4/18, 5/2, 5/16, 5/17, 5/31, 6/6, 6/14, 6/20, 6/28)
Gardener’s Focus Tour: The Spring Garden — See magnificent displays featuring tens of thousands of cheerful bulbs with Jessica Bonilla, Hillwood’s director of horticulture, who will also give insight into the design process for this year’s unique spring display as well as share practical gardening lessons (4/8, 4/10, 4/15, 4/17)
Earth Day Celebration — Members of Hillwood’s Environmental Action Team, or HEAT, will detail the property’s environmental stewardship initiatives (4/18)
Guided Bird Walks — Explore the vibrant life of winged creatures at Hillwood with birding guide Sam Krause (4/19, 4/27, 5/3, 5/18, 6/7, 6/22)
Music on the Lunar Lawn: Amy K. Borment Quintet — An outdoor evening concert inspired by the current exhibition Setting Sail: The Story of Sea Cloud (4/23)
Gardener’s Focus Tour: Woodland Path — A stroll through the property’s rustic and winding woodsy path, constructed in 2016, by Marshall Paquin, the senior gardener responsible (4/30, 5/7, 5/9)
Museum Shop Pop Up: Jianhui — A collection of nature-inspired handmade, eco-friendly designs using recycled, sustainable materials and developed by an acclaimed London-based Chinese designer who grew up in China (5/2-4)
2025 Annual Gala Gala Royale — The annual black-tie fundraiser, featuring a starlit seated dinner on the Lunar Lawn, doubles as a celebration and a preview of Hillwood’s next special exhibition, From Exile to Avant-Garde: The Life of Princess Natalie Paley (6/3)
Gardener’s Focus Tour: Bounty of the Cutting Garden — Explore Hillwood’s extensive cutting garden and learn about sustainable gardening practices all from Drew Asbury, Hillwood’s longtime horticulturist responsible for the greenhouses, the cutting garden, and the horticulture volunteer program (6/10, 6/13, 6/17, 6/20)
From Exile to Avant-Garde: The Life of Princess Natalie Paley — The first special exhibition to explore the exceptional glamour and enigmatic life of a 20th-century icon often forgotten today (6/7-1/4/2026)

KINETIC PRESENTS

www.kineticpresents.com

UNCUT: 4 Year Anniversary — Touted as “DC’s most risqué event,” KINETIC will celebrate four years of wild, unadulterated fun by resurrecting its popular UNCUT party with dancing, cruising a la play zone, and clothes check at Hook Hall. The party will also see the D.C. debut of Brazilian DJ Erik Vilar (a preview of his return with KINETIC for WorldPride 2025) plus an opening set by Onyx (3/29, Hook Hall, 3400 Georgia Ave. NW)
The World Comes to DC: 2025 Pride Weekend — KINETIC has teamed up with the Capital Pride Alliance and partnered with four of the gay world’s biggest party producers for “an unforgettable, international celebration like never before
El Mozo: Yes to All, “a party that embraces the spirit of inclusivity” and a Thursday night kickoff to WorldPride 2025 in partnership with party promoter El Mozo from Colombia as well as the LatinX History Project and featuring Colombian DJ Leo Blanco as well as DJ Onyx and a surprise performer — as well as venue — TBA (6/5, Venue TBA)
UNCUT XXL, the Friday night party will feature play zones and cruise spaces, an outdoor chill zone, a clothes check, and a massive stage with DJs Alex Lo, Eliad Cohen, and Las Bibas from Vizcaya, and promises “a no-holds-barred collision of sweat, sound, and uninhibited freedom with men from around the world,” (6/6, Venue TBA)
After World: Pride Afters, two parties in the wee hours after Friday and Saturday nights offering “a gritty, underground atmosphere,” with DJs — and venues — TBA (6/6, 6/7, Venues TBA)
Fabric of Freedom, a Saturday night “massive main event” in collaboration with the Capital Pride Alliance and international party producers the WE Party and D.C.’s Cherry Fund that will “activate the largest indoor and outdoor campus,” a large warehouse complex in Northeast D.C.’s Brentwood neighborhood with over 100,000 square feet of dance floor plus a large outdoor area and featuring three stages, a WE Party Main Stage of high-energy beats from WE Party legend Binomio as well as DJ Dan Slater B2B with DJ GSP and Erik Vilar plus “surprise pop performances,” the Cherry Fund Stage with “a vibrant mix of music and connection” helmed by DJs Isis Muretech and Micky Friedmann, and the DiscoVERS Stage of disco, nudisco, and disco house music with DJs Dawson, Alexis Tucci, and the legendary Kevin Aviance, plus “surprise pop-up performances” (6/7, 1235 W St. NE)
LaLeche, Sunday night’s “epic closing party” planned with world-renowned party promoters Matinée Group and featuring pulsating beats from international DJs Phil Romano, Jerac, and Danny Verde (6/8, Venue TBA)

LITTLE DISTRICT BOOKS

737 8th St. SE
202-629-2975
www.littledistrictbooks.com

Lavender Con: DC’s Queer Book Festival — This annual Pride month event returns as a two-day series featuring more than 80 authors from across the U.S. taking part in author panels and book signing and sales events, along with a queer makers market, and taking place at multiple venues in this queer-owned and -operated bookstore’s Capitol Hill neighborhood (6/14-15)

LOYALTY BOOKSTORES

1155 Dahlia St. NW
202-726-0380
www.loyaltybookstores.com

Jasmine Guillory: Flirting Lessons — The bestselling author of novels Drunk on Love and The Proposal returns with a new manuscript touted as “a captivating and sizzling new queer romance” that centers on two recently single, 30ish professional women in Northern California. Writer Nikki Payne of the feminist collective Smut U will lead a discussion with Guillory (4/9, DC Public Library’s MLK Library, 901 G St. NW)
Drag Story Hour with Charlemagne Chateau — Held early on the second Sunday of every month, Loyalty’s popular series features drag queens reading to kids, with grownfolk allowed only with the safety proviso “adults must be accompanied by a child to attend” (4/13, The DC Pop-Up in Upper Northwest)
Victoria Christopher Murray: Harlem Rhapsody — …presented by Cozy Girl Book Club (4/19, The DC Pop-Up)
Maika & Maritza Moulite: The Summer I Ate the Rich — (4/22, The DC Pop-Up)
Christopher Chambers: Street Whys! — (4/30, The DC Pop-Up)

Colin Jost at The Theatre at MGM National Harbor

MGM NATIONAL HARBOR

101 MGM National Avenue
Oxon Hill, Md.
844-346-4664
www.mgmnationalharbor.com

- Marlon Wayans — Wild Child Tour (4/12)
- Colin Jost (4/25)
- Matriarch: An Evening with Tina Knowles, Family, and Friends (4/30)
- Theresa Caputo — Live: The Experience with this medium (6/13)
- Nurse John — The Short Staffed Tour (7/11)
- Earthquake — “A Night With the Legendary” comedian (8/29)

NATIONALS PARK

1500 S. Capitol St. SE
202-675-6287
www.mlb.com

DC Beer Fest — Live music beats will fill the stadium, a dueling piano bar will appeal to some, and Food Truck Alley will beckon the hungry and hangry, yet the focus on this particular spring day at the ballpark is on beer. Lots and lots of beer, or rather beer samples from over 80 breweries, in limitless form for festivalgoers, who naturally must be at least 21 to gain entrance (4/12)
Uncorked: DC Wine Fest — A week after all that hoppy fermented grain, the buzz shifts to fermented fruit — the wine of it all — for the second Uncorked event offering tastings of more than 40 premium wine and bubbly brands over the course of three hours for general admission ticketholders — or four hours and a selection of “higher-end wineries” for VIP — plus “outside the bottle” options of seltzers, canned cocktails, and spirits (4/19)

POLITICS AND PROSE

5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
202-364-1919
www.politics-prose.com

Maureen Dowd — Notorious: Portraits of Stars from Hollywood, Culture, Fashion, and Tech is an assortment of features and profiles by longtime New York Times political and culture columnist known for her signature wit and incisive commentary about the culture of celebrity. Dowd will be in conversation with Simon Godwin of the Shakespeare Theatre Company (4/5)
Elaine Sciolino — Adventures in the Louvre: How to Fall in Love with the World’s Greatest Museum blends investigative journalism, travelogue, history, and memoir from a contributing writer for the New York Times, who’ll be in conversation with her Times colleague Maureen Dowd (4/5)
Jonathan Capehart — Yet Here I Am: Lessons from A Black Man’s Search for Home is billed as an inspirational memoir of identity, opportunity, and purpose, written by the gay Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and editor for the Washington Post editor and MSNBC host. He will be in conversation with Susan Rice, an advisor to both the Obama and Biden administrations (5/19)
Paul Elie — A senior fellow in Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs is out with his latest book, The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controvery in the 1980s, offering a group portrait with interlocking tales of the iconoclastic “crypto-religious” artists of the “Me” decade who helped spawn today’s religion-wary “post-secular” age, from Leonard Cohen to Toni Morrison, Andy Warhol to Madonna, Bruce Springsteen to Martin Scorsese (5/28)
Christine Brennan — The award-winning national sports columnist for USA Today and ABC and CNN commentator reads from her forthcoming biography, On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports (7/13)
Dr. Cat Dawson — A scholar affiliated with Smith College and Austria’s Academy of Fine Arts whose research explores the intersection of art history and feminist, queer, and trans studies reads from and discusses their forthcoming book Monumental: How a New Generation of Artists is Shaping the Memorial Landscape (8/11)

SIXTH & I HISTORIC SYNAGOGUE

600 I St. NW
202-408-3100
www.sixthandi.org

Ed Helms — SNAFU: The Definitive Guide to History’s Greatest Screwups (5/1)
Isabel Allende (5/7)
Maria Bamford — Revered for her deeply personal and experimental comedy about mental illness, from three hour-long stand-up specials to her surreal, semi-autobiographical Netflix series Lady Dynamite (4/10)
Ron Chernow — The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer who inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to write Hamilton based on his exhaustive biography returns with his latest work, illuminating the fascinating life of the writer long celebrated as the father of American literature, Mark Twain (5/15)
Isaac Mizrahi — The fashion designer, icon, and tastemaker swings through town with a six-piece jazz band for an evening of relatable and irreverent comedy cabaret (5/17)
B. Dylan Hollis — The author of Baking Yesteryear follows up with Baking Across America: A Vintage Recipe Roadtrip, offering a cross-country journey with 100 uniquely American recipes (5/21)
Jacinda Ardern — A Different Kind of Power from the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, having become the country’s youngeset leader in more than 150 years (6/5)
Ian Bagg — Canadian comedian known for his fast-paced and off-the-cuff style as well as for interactive crowd work (6/12)

STORY DISTRICT

Howard Theatre
620 T St. NW
www.storydistrict.org

Out/Spoken — Eight LGBTQ+ storytellers will share moments that shaped them, from falling in love to facing their fears, in this 15th Anniversary WorldPride Celebration hosted by comedian and storyteller Anthony Oakes (5/24)

Randy Rainbow -- Photo: Dirty Sugar Photography — Randy Rainbow at The Warner — Photo: Dirty Sugar Photography

WARNER THEATRE

513 13th St. NW
202-783-4000
www.warnertheatredc.com

Bitch Sesh — The You’ve Got A Friend In Me Tour (4/13)
Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: In Concert (4/30)
Anjelah Johnson-Reyes — The Family Reunion Tour (5/4)
Chris Distefano (5/29)
Randy Rainbow — National Freakin’ Treasure (5/31)
Josh Johsnon — The Flowers Tour (6/13-14)
Demetri Martin — The Quick Draw Tour (6/21)
Trevor Wallace — The Alpha Beta Male (6/28)
Jimmy Carr — Laughs Funny (6/29)

WORLDPRIDE 2025

www.worldpridedc.org

The full lineup of official and partner events and activities can be found on the event’s website, but key highlights follow. Mr, Mx, & Miss Capital Pride Pageant (4/3, The Schuyler, Hamilton Hotel, 1001 14th St. NW)

Taste of Pride — An event series celebrating the rich connection between the LGBTQ and culinary communities in D.C., organized by D.C.’s Business Improvement Districts and highlighting designated restaurants of participating BIDs and neighborhoods curating special menus for the occasion and offered during select weekends on a rotating basis, with the Adams Morgan Partnership BID the focus the first weekend in April (4/4-6); followed by the Southwest BID in mid-April (4/18-20); the Mount Vernon BID the first weekend in May (5/2-4); the NoMa BID in mid-May (5/15-17); DowntownDC BID over Memorial Day Weekend (5/23-25); Dupont Circle BID + 17th Street the weekend before Pride (5/30-6/1); Golden Triangle BID the weekend after Pride (6/13-15); and Capitol Riverfront BID the last weekend in June (6/27-29)
DC Latinx Pride (5/16-6/8)
Beyond The Landmarks: History and Culture Tours (5/17-6/8)
Trans Pride DC (5/17-18)
Pickets, Protests, and Parades: The History of Gay Pride in Washington organized by the Rainbow History Project (5/17-7/7, Freedom Plaza)
Modern Military National Gala (5/17)
DC Silver Pride (5/21)
Choral Festival (5/23-6/8)
DC Black Pride (5/23-26)
The Capital House Music Festival (5/23-24)
Film Festival (5/27-29)
Capital Cup Sports Festival (5/30-6/4)
Welcome Ceremony + Concert (5/31)
Snow Wife (5/31, The Atlantis)
Human Rights Conference (6/4-6)
Grace Jones & Janelle Monáe (6/5, The Anthem)
Bob The Drag Queen and Monét X Change — Sibling Rivalry Live (6/5, Lincoln Theatre)
Capital Pride Honors (6/5)
International Pride Orchestra: Pride Celebration Concert (6/5)
House Down Boots (6/5-6)
17th Street Block Party (6/6-8)
World Pride Music Festival & Global Dance Party (6/6-7)
Full Bloom (6/6-7)
YOUniverse Dance Party (6/6-7)
Mixtape Pride Party (6/6, 9:30 Club)
World Pride Street Festival (6/7-8)
Flag In The Map Exhibit (6/7-8)
World Pride Parade (6/7)
World Pride Post-Parade Concert — Cynthia Erivo (6/7)
Perfume Genius (6/7, 9:30 Club)
Betty Who (6/7, 9:30 Club)
World Pride International March + Rally (6/8)
World Pride Drag Brunch XXL — Featuring Alyssa Edwards (6/8)
TRÈS CHIC: World Pride Tea Dance (6/8)
World Pride Closing Concerts — Doechii (6/8)