Tag Archives: 20004

Scribblings, Special Events, The Features
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Scribblings: Christopher Andrew

Photo courtesy of
‘MI5 Headquarters and Towers’
courtesy of ‘the grasshopper lies heavy’

This fall marks the 100 year anniversary of the founding of MI5, Britain’s counter-intelligence and security agency. As a celebration of the agency’s storied success since its inception at the turn of the 20th century, the service has authorized the publication of an official history by Professor Christopher Andrew of Cambridge University. This Thursday, November 12, the public is invited to meet with the author as he discusses his new book Defend the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 (here’s the Kindle link) at the International Spy Museum from noon to 1 p.m. Attendance is free.

Prof. Andrew reveals the precise role of MI5 in twentieth-century British history: from its foundation in 1909, through two world wars, and its present roles in counterespionage and counterterrorism. He describes how MI5 has been managed, what its relationship has been with government, where it has triumphed, and where it has failed. Defend the Realm also reveals the identities of previously unknown enemies of the United Kingdom whose activities have been uncovered by the agency and adds significantly to our knowledge of many celebrated events and notorious individuals while laying to rest a number of persistent myths.

A brief chat with Professor Andrew after the jump. Continue reading →

Penn Quarter, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Full Circle

FULL_CIRCLE_-_M_Russotto,_S_Marshall,_D_Escobar,_J_Dukes,_credit_S_Barouh_8363

Michael Russotto, Sarah Marshall, Daniel Escobar, Jessica Frances Dukes in Woolly Mammoth's "Full Circle." Photo credit: Stan Barouh

Twenty years ago this week, the Berlin Wall fell. It seemed proof positive that an overwhelming force of people could make a change for good, a stand against government oppression, by sheer numbers and tenacity, forever dispelling the myth of public apathy. Still true?

Woolly Mammoth’s production of Charles L. Mee’s rather chaotic “Full Circle” pushes and pulls the audience, moving around multiple physical settings in an attempt to put you in that head space of the crowd at the falling of the Berlin Wall. Are we meant to be spectators or participants? Maybe both.

The play is a riff on the original Chinese myth of the chalk circle, which in turn inspired Bertolt Brecht’s “Caucausian Chalk Circle.” There are certainly Brechtian moments in this production. Brecht’s own Berliner Ensemble features in the play, with its later director Heiner Muller even a character. He’s performed by Woolly’s Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. How’s that for full circle? It’s a classic piece of Brechtian detachment.

Do you need to know any of this deeper theatrical knowledge to enjoy the play? I’m not sure, because as I have that knowledge, it completely informed my experience. I have a feeling just as a participant in a crowd experiences different aspects, so will audience members here. Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Artist  – they’re all here. Every character is an archetype – we’ve even got Warren Buffet making a deus ex machina appearance!

Continue reading →

Downtown, Food and Drink, Night Life, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: W Wine Bar

Barscape, W Hotel Washington

"Barscape, W Hotel Washington" by Jenn Larsen on Flickr

It took me a while to return to the W Hotel after my first look back in July. Katie’s second look confirmed it was going to be a sleek and chic scene. But what about the drinks?

When I ask people what they think about drinks at the W, I tend to get the same response – “Love the view. Hate the line.” They’re referring to POV and its roof terrace, of course, both featuring a killer view of our fair city. POV is still going strong, even as the weather turns chilly. The hotel plans to keep the roof terrace open year-round, thanks to heat lamps and a new awning. So if you don’t have a reservation up top, most likely on peak nights you will end up waiting in a labyrinthine line snaking through the Living Room. That is, unless you just do the sensible thing – plan in advance and make a reservation.

But the most important thing to remember about a night of drinks at the W – it’s not just about POV. There’s a snug little bar tucked away beneath J&G Steakhouse that’s perfect for a rendezvous or two. Biggest surprise? Shssh – the drinks experience may actually be better. Continue reading →

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The Alchemist

ALCHMST__087

David Manis as Subtle, Jeff Biehl as Abel Drugger and Michael Milligan as Face
in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist, directed by Michael Kahn.
Photo by Scott Suchman.

I can’t speak for any other reviewer, but for me the most enjoyable reviews to write are the ones where I really enjoyed a production but still have some minor quibbles. A little Monday-morning quarterbacking is fun for everyone if you don’t take it too seriously and aren’t a jerk about it. Perfect productions are less fun because there’s less to say about them. Quality theater involves a very subtle energy that’s difficult – if not impossible – to convey to a reader. Bad theater is less fun still because you have to be a special flavor of jerk to enjoy smack-talking someone’s baby, and a lot of people put a lot of energy into putting something on stage.

The least enjoyable kind of theater to write about is the kind that’s always puzzling to see, considering how many people come to it with so much passion: the simply okay, unengaging and largely forgettable production.

Care to guess where The Alchemist fits into this?

Continue reading →

Scribblings, The Features
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Scribblings: Jennet Conant

Photo courtesy of
‘willie wonka chocolate bar’
courtesy of ‘rafeejewell’

At noon this Thursday at the International Spy Museum, Jennet Conant will discuss the exploits of one of Britain’s key agents of the “Baker Street Irregulars,” a group of agents formed under the British Security Coordination. The BSC was created by Winston Churchill as the British mounted a massive, secret campaign of propaganda and political subversion to weaken isolationist sentiment in America and manipulate Washington into entering the war against Germany.

Conant will discuss at this special author’s discussion the exploits of Roald Dahl from his book The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington. Beloved now for his books Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, in WWII Dahl used his dazzling imagination for espionage purposes. His dashing good looks and easy charm won him access to the ballrooms and bedrooms of America’s rich and powerful, and to the most important prize of all—intelligence.

The author took a moment to answer some questions posed by the Museum. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Free-for-all ends tomorrow

Photo courtesy of
‘The Taming of the Shrew’
courtesy of ‘hans s’

We’ve reached the last three performances of the Washington Shakespeare Company’s Free-for-all production of The Taming of the Shrew. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8pm and a 2pm matinee tomorrow. In all three cases the box office will start issuing tickets two hours before showtime (ie, 6pm for the evening shows and noon for the matinees) but lines start forming well before then. Their webpage says lines are starting two hours before the box office opens; less clear is how late you can show up and still get a seat.

It’s not a minor time commitment, but for a company and venue that charges upwards of $70 for seats it’s not a bad compensation rate for your time. I haven’t been yet but D.C. Theater scene liked the production. Some of their commenters were less enthusiastic but a WSC employee showed up to share a useful tidbit: season ticket holders were allowed to reserve seats for weekday performances but not weekends, so there should be more seats to go around these last three showings.

Downtown, Penn Quarter, The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Penn Quarter

Photo courtesy of
‘Penn Quarter’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

Another two weeks, another neighborhood!  This week we’ll be looking at the neighborhood at the center of it all: Penn Quarter. This neighborhood encompasses much of the downtown/Chinatown area north of Pennsylvania between 5th Street NW and 9th Street NW.  It’s a neighborhood that changed a lot in the past decade, seeing as it didn’t really exist before the 1990s.

History: This neighborhood is once again the heart of downtown DC, but up until recently it went through a pretty rough patch.  Because of its central location, the area was the hub of activity in the city up through the mid-twentieth century. Theaters, department stores, streetcar lines, restaurants, offices– this was the heart of the city (check out Washington Kaleidoscope’s Lost Washington series for historic photographs of the area).  But the streetcar lines were torn out, theaters were shuttered, and department stores closed their doors when the population base of the city escaped to the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s.  Apparently President Kennedy commented on the sad state of this part of Pennsylvania Avenue during his inauguration, and in 1962 the President’s Council on Pennsylvania Avenue was established.

The President’s Council proposed a number of redevelopment projects in the area (including plans for a Freedom Plaza that would have rivaled the size of Moscow’s Red Square), and in 1972 the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation (PADC) was founded to guide the redevelopment.  The PADC got a lot of things done: the Federal Triangle area was redeveloped and the Ronald Reagan Building was completed, the Canadian embassy was built, and a bunch of new mixed-use projects were undertaken in the Penn Quarter area.  The MCI Center (now Verizon Center) was a crowning achievement for the area when it opened in 1997.  With its sports events and concerts, it attracted restaurants and stores to locate in the area.  After the first stage of retail development, new downtown housing was built throughout the area, thus creating the neighborhood of Penn Quarter.  Today, the area is the most vibrant and active of the District’s neighborhoods– it’s hard to believe that fifteen years ago, it was considered to be an abandoned and dangerous part of town.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Cold War, Revisited

Photo courtesy of
‘KGB / FSB Headquarters’ courtesy of ‘rodc’

Need a lunchtime diversion? How about a history lesson…from the other side’s point of view?

Spymaster: My 32 Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West
Thursday, 30 July; 12 noon – 1 pm at the International Spy Museum
Cost: FREE!

He was the youngest general in the history of the KGB, and his intelligence career spanned the better part of the Cold War. As deputy chief of the KGB station at the Soviet embassy in Washington, DC, he oversaw Moscow’s spy network in the United States, and as head of KGB foreign counter-intelligence, he directed the KGB’s most valuable clandestine agents inside the United States. In his memoir, Spymaster, KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin (Ret.) provides an unparalleled look at the inner workings of Moscow’s famed spy agency. Join Kalugin to hear firsthand how he became disillusioned with the Soviet system, about his falling out with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and what he thinks of recent intelligence-related incidents with Moscow ties, including the death of Russian intelligence defector Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

And if you can’t make it during lunchtime, check out the two “spycasts” (podcasts) that Oleg did for the Museum a couple of years back.

Co-sponsored by The OSS Society.

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: but Lear is unlovable

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Joel Washing’

In brief: this is Shakespeare as torture porn.

It’s tough to organize this review. Put marginally less briefly, this production of King Lear pretty much sacrifices the story in order to wallow around in physical violence, partially demolished sets, thrusting and grunting and marital rape. It has a lot of visual appeal with regards to the sets and costuming but that’s not enough to recommend it.

That’s not really the fault of anyone on stage. With one significant exception every one of the actors does a nice job, though only Jonno Roberts as Edmund really puts in an notable performance. Others suffer from some odd choices that may or may not be their fault, such as the painful sing-song that Joaquin Torres uses when voicing Edgar’s alter-ego Tom.

The truly offensive content – and there’s a fair amount – likely all can be laid at the feet of the director, Robert Falls. If you’re going to go anyway you may want to skip the rest of this review, as it’ll be filled with spoilers for how several scenes are staged. That it’s possible for there to be a spoiler for a four-hundred year old work is an interesting fact in and of itself, I think, but not a reason to subject yourself to this production.

Continue reading →

Penn Quarter, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Fever/Dream

KenYatta Rogers and Kate Eastwood Norris in "FEVER/DREAM" at Woolly Mammoth. Photo by Stan Barouh.

KenYatta Rogers and Kate Eastwood Norris in "Fever/Dream" at Woolly Mammoth. Photo by Stan Barouh.

Battle of the sexes, generational conflict, and class warfare all tied up in a screwball comedy that re-imagines Calderon’s classic “Life is a Dream” – this is Woolly Mammoth‘s world premiere of Sheila Callaghan’s “Fever/Dream.” It’s a frolic, but with bite.

There’s something for everyone to relate to here. The generations are neatly drawn – Boomers worrying about relinquishing control, Gen Xers bitterly bemoaning the loss of their ideals to get ahead, Millennials seemingly disinterested but eager to be inspired. Witty references to the modern mania for celebrity culture abound.

Poor neglected Segis (an engaging Daniel Eichner) is chained up in the basement of a mega-corporation, doomed forever to serve in Customer Service. His crime? Being born on Black Monday, symbolizing the worst double losses of his corporate shark father Bill Basil – his money and his wife. But what if this hapless kid became head of the company? Would he be able to rise above revenge and pain to do what’s right for his employees? It’s really a King-for-a-Day morality play, peppered with hilarious moments – the accountant staff literally whipped into shape, the struggling temp (a heartbreaking Jessica Frances Dukes) grinding out meaningless tasks to perfection, the associates blogging on the job.

While Segis flounders in his new role, two rivals for the throne of CEO wage war against him and each other. “Coward,” hisses Kate Eastwood Norris as the chilly Stella Strong. “Cougar,” snaps KenYatta Rogers as the dapper Aston Martin. It’s a Hepburn/Tracy pairing for the 21st Century, and these two give what could have easily been cold caricatures a brilliant sheen. Love them. Continue reading →

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Design for Living

Design for Living

Robert Sella as Leo, Gretchen Egolf as Gilda and Tom Story as Otto in Noel Coward’s Design for Living, directed by Michael Kahn. Photo by Scott Suchman.

I postponed this review (sometimes being “new media” is convenient) because I wanted to make a 100% confident statement about the Shakespeare Theatre’s production of Design for Living: you should go.

The only problem I experienced with the production was a few noticeable hiccups with forgotten or flubbed lines. They were minor but sufficiently distracting to reduce some of my enjoyment of the production. With another week and a few days under their belt I have no doubt they’ve put that problem behind them.

Beyond that, this play was a delight.There’s a lot to recommend it, but maybe the best reason to go is so that when Tom Story wins the Helen Hayes award for lead performance next year you’ll have seen why for yourself. Continue reading →

Farm Fresh, Food and Drink, Night Life, Penn Quarter, People, Special Events, We Love Food
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Farm Fresh: Cafe Atlantico

Cafe Atlantico

WeLoveDC authors Donna (greenie) and Katie (foodie) have paired up to bring you a double-hitting feature about local area restaurants that take on the challenge of being green. Donna will explain the logic behind the environmentally friendly trends and Katie will tell you if the food tastes any good. It’s a rough life, but someone has to do it, right?

It is oh-so-trendy, but not just that, it’s plain good for you and the earth. Farm-to-Table dinners have hit DC hard, so when WLDC author Donna and I were invited to sample Chef Terri Cutrino’s Farmer’s Market Dinners at Cafe Atlantico, we jumped at the chance.

Katie: From a foodie standpoint, these dinners are interesting to me, not just because I’ve finally gotten around to reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma (I’m late, I know), but also because this particular type of dinner and dining can show you what exactly a chef is made of.

Because the ingredients are not picked until Thursday, and the dinner is put together on Friday, it’s a stretch. Sort of Top Chef meets real life, if you will. And the results, I must say are the same, given the short amount of time a Chef has to work on a dish, with specific ingredients, you’re bound to have it be hit or miss – just like Top Chef, you’ll be presented with dishes that shine, and dishes that flop. On our particular night we experienced both. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Earth Day For Foodies

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC01904.JPG’
courtesy of ‘lizkdc’

Looking for something to do this evening to celebrate Earth Day? There are a bunch of options, but the foodie one that tempts me is the official re-opening of Poste Modern Brassiere‘s patio “The Garden” with an Earth Day celebration benefiting FRESHFARM Market, the organization behind most of DC’s farmer’s markets.

With a $5 cover charge, you’ll get to snack on truffle frites and warm gougères, and sample the new summer menu of punches. Also in the drinks department, and keeping with the spirit of drinking locally for Earth Day, Poste will premiere its new, all-Virginia wine list. Vendors will be on hand to answer your wine questions. Cheese samples will be provided by neighboring Cowgirl Creamery.

I’m guessing with all this yummyness and fanfare, Poste will get pretty crowded tonight (unless it rains, party pooper, Mother Earth!). So I’d recommend getting there early. Poste is located in Chinatown at 555 8th Street, NW Washington, DC, 20004.

Entertainment, Sports Fix, The Features
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Eastern Quarterfinals: Caps vs Rangers

Photo courtesy of
‘Ovechkin Waits For Puck’ courtesy of ‘clydeorama’

After one of their most successful regular seasons ever, the Washington Capitals are now ready to begin what many call the “real” hockey season: the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Tonight kicks off Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, with the second seed Caps holding home ice advantage in facing the seventh seed New York Rangers. So how does it all break down, and what do we think will happen?

The Rangers are coming in with a simplified game plan: attack, attack, attack – and hope that goalie Henrik Lundqvist can stop all the pucks flung his way. It’s not the most sure-fire strategy, but it’s kept the Rangers hanging on the last half of the season and slipping them into the playoffs with a decent 11-6-1 record after March 4. Continue reading →

24 in DC, Fun & Games, Technology, The Features, WTF?!
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Amateur Spies (Like Us)

Photo courtesy of Don Whiteside
WLDC Stealth, courtesy of Don Whiteside

Unless this is your first time here you’re well aware that we’ve become a little obsessive over Jack Bauer’s tour through our city. We’ve got 15 17 hours worth of 24 recaps under our belt and fully intend to laugh (in order to fight off the tears) through the remaining 9 7 hours of Hollywood’s molestation of our geography. (Yes, Tiff, I suck at math.) So really, about the last thing we needed was to be further encouraged.

Enter the International Spy Museum.

The folks over at the museum’s retail store sent us some toys to play with, after having been entertained by our 24 recaps. So early in March, three items arrived in plain brown boxes by an unmarked panel truck. In the middle of the night.

After some email haggling, jovial threats and bickering, the WLDC staff managed to split up the loot gifts and proceeded to play with them: a micro-cam recorder, a ninja sword umbrella and night vision goggles. And now, we’re going to tell you all about it.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Under 35 pays $10

Photo courtesy of
‘Money’
courtesy of ‘AMagill’

If you’re under 35 and looking for something to do tonight, today’s Daily Candy claims that you can go see Ion [our Ion review is here] at the Shakespeare Theater Company’s Harman hall this evening for just $10. STC’s normal $10 program offers tickets for the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday performances but this seems to be something different. Daily Candy says there is a “post-show cocktail party” but I couldn’t tell you if that means there’s going to be post-show free booze or if they’ll say “Green Turtle’s across the street” or something in between.

I can tell you that Ion is well worth $10, so if you’re marginally less old and decrepit than me you may want to call them at 202-547-1122 and see if there’s still seats left.

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Ion

Photo courtesy of shakespearetheatreco

courtesy of shakespearetheatreco

Yes, there are puppets. More on that later.

I chose the above picture out of STC’s flickr stream to give you some idea about some of the unusual choices that director Ethan McSweeny takes in adapting this Euripides play. The caption for the above photo is Patricia Santomasso in rehearsal for the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of “Ion” And she’s not rehearsing a post-death pose – that’s from a period when her character, a member of the chorus, is sunning herself on a rock. At the temple of Delphi. Since she and the other handmaidens are dressed and behave like crass American tourists on vacation.

As Dave Barry would say, I Am Not Making This Up. Continue reading →

Fun & Games, People
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He Loves DC: Crickett The Clown

Photo courtesy of
‘Just hanging out’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

As many of us are aware after the parade yesterday, the circus is in town! I had a chance to catch up with one of the clowns in the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Crickett. Crickett hails from the DC area, and I was able to  talk to him all about what it’s like to be a clown, what he misses about DC, and even about that mysterious bearded lady…

Katie: Tell us how you and DC intersect, how long you lived here, what your early memories are?

Crickett: I moved to the DC metro area when I was in 10th grade from New York and simply fell in love with it since I got here. Over more than a decade, I have lived here off and on while working and studying. Many of my early memories consist of taking the metro into the city and riding the trains with friends and just hanging out and seeing all the free sites.

Any favorite places you miss?

Of course! After I have lived/ played/ entertained (I hesitate, for obvious reasons, to call what I do work) in large arenas, such as Verizon, I enjoy being entertained as opposed to doing it myself. The Palace of Wonders is my favorite place to go in DC. It’s a tiny little club that hosts regular nightly entertainment, both amateur and professional in vaudeville, burlesque, comedy, variety and such. One of my favorite groups, the Lucky Daredevil Thrill Show performs there regularly. It’s a great place to meet up and coming performers, relax, or see weird sideshow ephemera such as Fiji mermaids, swords, and other oddities. Other than that, I love the Smithsonian and the masses of other free museums DC has to offer, especially the Air and Space Museum or the Zoo

Name the best part of DC, in your opinion?

The cherry blossom trees when they’re out. On a sunny spring day, there is no better place to be or better company to have than the cherry blossoms.

How did you wind up a clown?

While I was attending University in Newport News, VA, I happened upon a now-defunct traveling sideshow. It was then I realized I could act outrageous, tour, color my hair, wear makeup, and have fun touring without being a rock star (or a drag queen for that matter). This appealed to me because I can’t keep a beat to save my life!

More on Crickett’s career as a clown, and where you’ll be able to find him while he’s in town after the jump. Continue reading →