Photo by Katie Harbath

In a “magical” promotional stunt, a dragon will parade along 14th Street this weekend. A Chinese Dragon and lion dancers will entertain passersby outside of Source (1835 14th Street NW) on Sunday in advance of Constellation Theatre’s performance Journey to the West. And on Saturday, local artist Rose Jaffe will create a giant mandala with sidewalk chalk outside of the venue.

Constellation Theatre was also behind the appearance of two ponies on 14th Street last year and carriage rides in front of the Williard Hotel. That time, the festivities were to promote the performance of Equus, “which in turn, ended up selling very well,” says Travis Hare, whose PR company helped Constellation Theatre “dream up” the idea of the pony pop-up.

After that success, Hare says, his firm worked to help Constellation bring elements of its latest play to the street. Journey to the West tells the Chinese legend of a Buddhist monk who’s in search of sacred scripture. He’s joined by “a rambunctious monkey, an insatiable pig and a fierce river monster,” according to a description of the play.

“The arts can be a hard sell sometimes in D.C. and there is a lot of competition with concerts, movies, bars, and other theater companies, so we feel it’s important to offer something experiential to the general public to help raise awareness about the amazing creativity on display at Constellation Theatre,” Hare says, adding the public promotions also help local artists and companies.

The mandala street art is taking place on Saturday from noon until 3 p.m. and the dragons and lion dancers will make their debut at 1 p.m. on Sunday.