FRIDAY:
>> Get in line early tonight at the Rorschach Theatre in Columbia Heights for a special Pay-What-You-Can performance of their revival of Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day. Set in Berlin in the 1930’s, Bright Room is one of Kushner’s (Angels in America, Homebody/Kabul) earlier plays, but by no means his least accomplished. If younger District residents aren’t able to connect easily with Zillah, who is consumed by a hatred for Ronald Reagan, they should certainly have no trouble identifying with Agnes, who has a whole lot of really hip, intellectual “friends” who may or may not only be hanging out with her because she scored a sweet apartment. Box office opens at 7 p.m., and curtain is at 8, but given that Saturday night is already sold out, we suggest a 6:30 arrival if you want a decent shot at a seat — there are no reservations for this PWYC performance.
>> Silver Spring, MD native Lewis Black’s stand-up performance at the Warner Theatre tonight is sold-out, and the prices on Craigslist are really getting up there, but it just might be worth taking the plunge to catch the Daily Show’s angriest contributor in action. There’s almost nothing funnier than when the comedian’s “Back in Black” segment hits its mark, and from what we understand, his stand-up routine is along the same vein, except with A LOT more expletives. 7 p.m.
SATURDAY:
>> The 20th annual Filmfest D.C. kicked off this week, to some seriously mixed reviews. We’d have to agree that part of the reason we haven’t put up an extensive post with our picks for this year’s festival is that much of the line-up failed to jump out at us as particularly earth-shattering. The selection committee has placed an emphasis on two subjects this year: documentaries about Hip-Hop and films from Brazil. Neither is offensive or a total waste of time, but neither could hardly be seen as areas the cinema has ignored recently. If anything, the titles included in this year’s festival read like they’re picks from six years ago. We appreciate everything our local international film festival brings to the city, and there are a number of films included this year, like Mohammad Malas’ Passion and Robert Thalheim’s Netto, that we definitely plan to see. But overall, we’re shrugging our shoulders. Readers, if you see something really great, be sure to let us know. We’d love to be wrong.
>> It’s your last day to catch Corrine May Botz and Anne Rowland at Hemphill Fine Arts gallery before the show comes down, as well as the last day for Itsy Bitsy Bollocks at transformer. Also consider heading over to Project 4’s second-ever opening, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., for a show of new paintings by Terrie Pipa called Small Gestures.
SUNDAY:
>> We like to think Carol Bui as the D.C. area’s own, personal P.J. Harvey. Much like Harvey, Bui really requires a raucous backing band to challenge her hard-charging vocals, so we’re glad to hear she’ll be back home tonight at Galaxy Hut with her boys Mark and Ian, rocking out like she outta be. We’re all for sharing you with the rest of the country, Carol, but you are not a girl who should be taking the stage alone, just you and your guitar. We think too much of your rock chops. With Pagoda, 9:45 p.m., $5.
