About Performing Arts

Spend a summer evening with local historian Garrett Peck as you virtually step into the heyday of Washington’s “Black Broadway,” when jazz filled the clubs and theaters of U Street and the nightlife scene rivaled Harlem’s.

Blossoming in Vienna and spreading like a mania through Europe, the waltz proclaimed a new freedom of sexual expression and individual liberties in the early 19th century. Classical music and opera expert Saul Lilienstein traces the development of a musical form and a dance that changed history.

Spend a summer evening with local historian Garrett Peck as you virtually step into the heyday of Washington’s “Black Broadway,” when jazz filled the clubs and theaters of U Street and the nightlife scene rivaled Harlem’s.

Will Rogers’ plainspoken humor and clear-eyed social commentary struck a chord with audiences around the world during the early decades of the 20th century and made him the voice of his nation. Author Daniel Stashower explores this true American original’s life and legacy and actor Scott Sedar performs some of his most celebrated monologues.

Opera and classical music expert Saul Lilienstein surveys Stravinsky’s major accomplishments, from his early ground-breaking music for the Ballets Russes, through the neoclassical masterworks that culminated with The Rake’s Progress, to the far-reaching modernism of his later years.

You've got a brilliant idea for a terrific film. Your next move is to master the steps in turning it into a reality on the screen. Spend a valuable two days with Marc Lapadula, a screenwriting professor at Yale University, as he analyzes the key ingredients of a successful script.