After Hours at the Hirshhorn with Tycho Recap

Check out this Storify from the Hirshhorn, of their After Hours event featuring Tycho, this past Friday.

It was my first time attending one of their After Hours, and I had a blast! Check it out.

Did you go? What did you think?

Do you wish you went? Why didn't you make it?

- J Street Jr

Holiday theatre picks

Hey there,

Been a long while since I've blogged, but getting back to it. Thought a good way to jump start this blog again, would be by sharing some holiday theatre picks I highly recommend checking out this year!!

1) Black Nativity, Theater Alliance:

This Christmas classic returns to Theater Alliance with a fresh voice. Langston Hughes chronicles and celebrates the birth of Jesus, while also celebrating the birth of Blackness. This classic story told through gospel, blues, funk, jazz, and dance asks you to look inward and find the wonder in life.

The show runs at the Anacostia Playhouse from December 11, 2014 to January 4, 2015.

2) A Very Pointless Holiday Spectacular, Pointless Theatre:

It's Christmas eve at the North Pole, and Santa's elves are off the clock and ready to cut loose! Pointless Theatre presents a winter cabaret for adults, an irreverent celebration of the holidays featuring puppetry, improv, and a funky reindeer band.

The show runs at Flashpoint's Mead Theatre Lab from December 2nd - January 3rd.

3) A Christmas Carol, Ford's Theatre:

Join the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future as they lead the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey of transformation and redemption. Originally conceived by Michael Baron, this music-infused production captures the magic and joy of Dickens’s Yuletide classic. Acclaimed Washington stage actor Edward Gero returns to play Scrooge.

The show runs from November 20, 2014-January 1, 2015. Check out the trailer below:

So, those are my three. What are yours, theatre or other?

Please share other holiday arts happenings you'd recommend in the comments!!

- J Street Jr

Haruto's Fattened Calf at VeraCruz Gallery

Hey there,

So it's been a while, but here's a post about a friend of mine's exhibit, at a relatively new gallery/performance space, VeraCruz Gallery.

I had the pleasure of being introduced to this place by my friend, Haruto Imamura. What's great about the venue, is that in addition to the exhibit, they ask the artist to do an installation piece as well. Here's what was up when I first went there.

And this weekend he's got a show opening there. You can RSVP on Facebook right here: Haruto's washington DC art show-opening night!!

Managed to catch a clip of him working on one of the pieces.

This was going on right before a Social Media Week DC event, "Social Media and the Local Music Scene: Engaging local audiences and re-envisioning social networks".

And here's one of the pieces, Haruto's friend Mike managed to hang before the event started, a piece he lovingly calls, "Love Like Disaster"

And small world, one of the owners/bartenders is sisters with someone I did a show with years ago!! And VeraCruz is managed by the folks behind The Dunes, a venue I've been at not just once, but twice previously, for a Class Acts Arts fundraiser and a SpeakeasyDC performance.

Full disclosure, I work at Class Acts Arts and sit on the board of SpeakeasyDC.

But I digress. Hope you can make the opening at VeraCruz this Saturday. And whether or not you can, Haruto's show will be up until the end of April.

Make sure to like VeraCruz Gallery on Facebook, follow them on Twitter (if you're there), check-in on Facebook and/or Foursquare (or wherever you are).

AND if you tweet about it, make sure to use #dcarts!!

- J Street Jr

It's Capital Fringe time

Hey there,

It's that time of the year, Capital Fringe Festival time. I stopped by Fort Fringe yesterday evening, home of the box office, the Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar and several of the official festival venues within a block or so.

The Capital Fringe Festival Box Office

Disclaimer: I actually worked at the festival as the PR/Marketing intern while in grad school at AU for Arts Management. I've proceed to produce a show every year since '10 at the festival, including this one. That being said, if you're interested in following that, please check out my AWoL Productions blog.

Now if you're not familiar with Capital Fringe, it's an opportunity for artists and companies to produce and present work for a generally adventurous audience. Half the time, you don't know what you're going to get and it can be pretty exciting. One thing to keep track of during the festival is the board in the box office.

The "Board" inside the Box Office

Anything you need to know about shows in the festival (i.e. cancellations, sold out shows) will be posted here.  I do recommend connecting with the festival on Facebook and/or on Twitter as well. Shows aside, the other awesome part about the festival is just hanging out in between shows, reuniting with old friends and making new ones.

Most of this community gathering happens under and around the tent, with a bar that has food and drink, the tent which also houses a performance stage.  And, if you haven't got a chance to check it out yet, take a look at this year's shows online.

The festival runs July 12 to 29. And if you already knew about the festival, are there any shows you're already looking forward to?

- J Street Jr

Follow @JStreetJr