White House Area & Foggy Bottom
Overlooking the Potomac River, the magnificent Kennedy Center hosts a staggering array of performances – more than 2000 each year in venues including the…
White House Area & Foggy Bottom
Overlooking the Potomac River, the magnificent Kennedy Center hosts a staggering array of performances – more than 2000 each year in venues including the…
Washington, DC
The major-league Washington Nationals play baseball at this spiffy stadium beside the Anacostia River. Don't miss the mid-fourth-inning ‘Presidents' Race’ – an…
Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights
The Black Cat is the go-to venue for music that's loud and grungy with a punk edge. The White Stripes, Arcade Fire and Foo Fighters have all thrashed here…
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Washington, DC
Woolly Mammoth is the edgiest of DC’s experimental groups. For most shows, $20 ‘stampede’ seats are available at the box office two hours before…
Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights
Built in 1910, Howard Theatre was the top address when U St was known as 'Black Broadway.' Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and other famed names lit the…
Washington, DC
The nation’s foremost Shakespeare company presents masterful works by the Bard, as well as plays by George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Eugene O’Neill and…
Washington, DC
The Anthem opened in 2017 and has quickly become one of DC's best live-music venues. The 6000-capacity hall books acts from Judas Priest to Lorde to Big…
Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights
The 9:30, which can pack 1200 people into a surprisingly compact venue, is the granddaddy of the live-music scene in DC. Pretty much every big name that…
Washington, DC
Playboy magazine once named Madam's Organ one of its favorite bars in America. The ramshackle place has been around forever, and its nightly blues, rock…
Washington, DC
This historical venue – where John Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln – is still an active theater. It stages works related to Lincoln’s life and times …
White House Area & Foggy Bottom
The Washington Opera is based at the Kennedy Center and puts on a varied showcase throughout the year. Plácido Domingo helmed the company until 2011, when…
Washington, DC
The 270-seat, Renaissance-style theater attached to the Folger Shakespeare Library stages classic and modern interpretations of the bard's plays, as well…
Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights
DC9 is as intimate as DC’s live music venues get, and about as divey as well. Not that we’re complaining; there’s always a good edge on in this spot. Up…
Washington, DC
Washington’s NFL team, the Redskins, plays September through January at FedEx Field. The team has experienced a lot of controversy recently, and not only…
Washington, DC
The mod, glassy Arena Stage is the second-largest performing-arts complex in Washington after the Kennedy Center. The three theaters inside (including a…
Upper Northwest DC
Dating from the 1920s, this handsomely restored art-deco movie house shows a mix of independent, foreign and first-run films. It's operated by the local…
Washington, DC
The R&R Hotel is a great, grotty spot to catch rockin’ live sets from the likes of Thurston Moore, St Vincent and the Dead Kennedys. Don’t let the name…
Washington, DC
DC Improv is comedy in the traditional sense, featuring stand-up by comics from Comedy Central, Saturday Night Live and HBO in its main theater. The…
Georgetown
Greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan played this venerable club back in the day. The talent remains just as sterling now, and the setting just as…
Washington, DC
This ever-busy facility is DC's arena for big-name concerts and sporting events. Washington’s rough-and-tumble pro-hockey team the Capitals (www.nhl.com…
Washington, DC
Reggae and highlife bands take the stage nightly at Bukom. Be prepared for sore but happy hips as you join the mix of West African immigrants and ex–Peace…
Washington, DC
Washington’s oldest continuously operating theater shows flashy Broadway musicals and big-name productions. A lottery for $25 tickets (cash only) takes…
Upper Northwest DC
La Maison is otherwise known as the French embassy. The beating heart of Gallic DC occupies eight elegantly landscaped acres, anchored by the marble,…
White House Area & Foggy Bottom
The Washington Ballet hasn’t been known for many groundbreaking productions, although its reputation is beginning to change as it explores the work of…
White House Area & Foggy Bottom
There's lots on offer here. On the ground floor there's a popular restaurant and three bars, one of which offers free live music most Thursday, Friday and…
Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights
The only truly cutting-edge dance space in the capital is tucked away in Brookland. It’s run by four resident dance companies offering a year-round…
Washington, DC
This singing troupe claims to be the only group in America that tries to be funnier than Congress. Many of the performers are former congressional…
Washington, DC
Lots of locals show up for these free outdoor jazz, blues and world-music concerts at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Bring a blanket and…
Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights
Twin sisters own this long, narrow, red-walled club, and they've been staging hot jazz acts here for some 20 years. It's a jazz enthusiasts', keep-your…
Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights
This contemporary four-theater complex has been staging Pulitzer Prize–winning and premiere plays for more than 35 years. It cultivates a lot of local…
Washington, DC
This small Wharf venue has a rootsy feel, like it could be set in Austin or Nashville. Blues, country and rock bands take the stage, including the…
Washington, DC
All kinds of indie goodness get performed at the art-deco Atlas, from operettas to innovative new plays, ethnic dance shows and cabaret music. Four…
Washington, DC
Multiple-time Major League Soccer champions DC United play March through October at shiny new Audi Field, opening mid-2018. Tickets start at around $30…
Washington, DC
The eight screens flicker with first-run independent and foreign films, documentaries and classic revivals. Crab-cake bites, empanadas, wine and craft…
Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights
Set in a converted 1920s movie palace, the Gala stages Spanish and Latin American plays. Most performances are in Spanish with English subtitles. The…
Washington, DC
This beautifully restored 1924 art-deco theater was originally built for vaudeville and silent films, but it now stages headliner concerts, comedians, and…
Washington, DC
In the basement of the Ripley Center, the Smithsonian's Discovery stages delightful puppet shows and other live educational performances for children aged…
White House Area & Foggy Bottom
This is the affiliate orchestra of the Kennedy Center and one of the best chamber symphonies in the nation.
Washington, DC
Resident troupe that puts on musical theater for children at Glen Echo Park.