Friday: Zine Workshop at People’s Book

Even as the world becomes increasingly digital, zines (small-circulation magazines) persist as a common method of information dissemination and storytelling. In recent years, political movements have used zines to counter online disinformation and surveillance tactics and people across the globe have turned to zine creation to document their experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re not all serious though, zines can also be silly and creative. For whatever purpose you have, zines are there for you as a medium to explore and Takoma Park’s People’s Book is hosting a free workshop for adults to do exactly that. Local educator and zine aficionado Julia Hainer-Violand will lead attendees in making their own zines. There’s no wrong way to make a zine. Playful and guerrilla in nature, this freeform approach to art-making is something overworked and lonely adults could benefit from trying out and maybe carry back into other parts of their daily D.C. lives. Zine Workshop starts at 6:30 p.m. on May 10 at People’s Book, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave., Takoma Park. peoplesbooktakoma.com. Free. —Serena Zets 

Saturday: BANDportier’s All Tomorrows at Dance Place 

Some argue that green is the fourth primary color on the spectrum—alongside red, blue, and yellow—but the definitive answer denotes green as a secondary color since it’s a blend of blue and yellow. It’s even more telling of the way our worlds have mingled with shades of this hue. From the color of our U.S. currency to the grass brightening parks that people set their picnic blankets on, the shade forms around us and facilitates connectivity between others. It’s also one of the colors dance artist and choreographer Kendra Portier has selected to center and explore at this weekend’s performance of All Tomorrows at Dance Place. The main show will be a septet, with Portier, the main choreographer and director of the project-based dance collective BANDportier, performing a snippet of her own. The show’s design was born out of collaboration between dancers involved, educators and interdisciplinary artists: Brit Falcon, Daniel Miramontes, Rebecca Steinberg, MK Ford, Emilia Bruno, Bree Breeden, Chris Brusberg, and Zoe Walders. Through the Pantone project, a series of choreographic variations that began during the pandemic to continue dancing and stay connected, Portier was thinking about how each of her dancers brings out a color unique to the other performers. But she was also thinking about how these colors play out among their dance sequences and how it affects their rhythm and synchronicity between each other. Portier explores this connectivity in All Tomorrows, admitting that dance serves as both a collective and personal endeavor. “The kind of listening required to truly dance with one another and the trust you have to have in your own voice,” she says. These dynamics are also on display through rehearsal videos Portier has shared on her Instagram ahead of this weekend’s performance. One snippet shows the seven dancers moving in sync while paired with someone else, in another they sway all together. It’s the energy that keeps them alongside each other. All Tomorrows starts at 7 p.m. on May 11 at Dance Place, 3225 8th St. NE. danceplace.org. $30. —Heidi Perez-Moreno

Opens Saturday: IN Series Opera’s The Return of Ulysses at Source Theatre

“Through Westerner’s eyes, encountering my work is a state of defamiliarization,” shares Bangkok-born Jitti Chompee, the artistic director of Thai dance company 18 Monkeys. A classically trained dancer and choreographer, Chompee has contributed his talents to IN Series Opera’s newest show The Return of Ulysses—Song of My Father. “Creating space between tradition and a new interpretation challenges familiarity, which drives creativity, and provokes the audience to rethink traditional literature in a new light,” Chompee says. In this opera, the familiar story of Homer’s The Odyssey is reimagined as a response to the Vietnam War. Odysseus, the great tactician of ancient mythology, outsmarted his foes with the infamous Trojan Horse after 10 years of bloody war but was delayed from returning to his home and long-suffering family for another decade as he fought sea monsters and cozied up with demigoddesses. The Return of Ulysses—Song of My Father views Venetian composer Claudio Monteverdi’s 1640 opera Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (“The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland”) through the signing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which marked the official use of U.S. military force in Vietnam, and interweaves popular Vietnam-era songs arranged in the style of Monteverdi madrigals. IN Series artistic director Timothy Nelson dug deeper into his own family history for the heart of the work, interviewing his father Charles, a Vietnam veteran, as well as other Vietnam veterans. The very word “nostalgia” is Greek for “the pain for home,” the idea that trauma and a prewar past can continue to haunt veterans even when they have returned to their loved ones. As Nelson says in a press release, “I wove, perhaps not unlike Penelope in Homer’s story, these threads into a new work that rejoices in the musical worlds of 1640s Italy and 1970s America equally, all in service of a profound story of what coming home from war means to soldiers and to the families, as well as our nation’s role in their wounds and in their healing.” (The Memorial Day performance is free to all Veterans.) The Return of Ulysses—Song of My Father runs from May 11 to 27 at Source Theatre, 1835 14th St. NW and May 31 to June 2 at the Baltimore Theatre Project, 45 W Preston St., Baltimore. inseries.org. $30–$65. —Colleen Kennedy

Tuesday and Wednesday: 2024 New York Dog Film Festival and 2024 New York Cat Film Festival at Arlington Drafthouse 

This is what the internet used to be like! Really! Before social media run by social outcasts did everything it could to divide us and monetize hate and vitriol, the internet was pretty much just a place to share dog and cat videos. Ask anyone over the age of 40, it actually was better back in the day. While it’s not possible to get in a time machine, you can get out of your house and head to a movie theater to watch some dog and cat videos (well, short films in this case). The 2024 New York Dog Film Festival and the 2024 New York Cat Film Festival at the Arlington Drafthouse is a chance to enjoy two hours of short films, animation, documentary, and narrative featuring our furry four-legged friends. To make a very adorable evening even more appealing, all proceeds from both screenings will benefit the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. The high cost of the ticket ($38!) is at least somewhat justified by knowing who benefits from these showings. In a time when vice presidential hopefuls are bragging about killing their innocent dog, maybe a night of shorts featuring happy pets will make you feel a bit more optimistic. The Dog Film Festival starts at 7 p.m. on May 14; the Cat Film Festival starts at 7 p.m. on May 15, both at Arlington Drafthouse, 2903 Columbia Pk., Arlington. arlingtondrafthouse.com. $38. —Brandon Wetherbee

Opens Wednesday: “I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli at the Capital Jewish Museum

This summer, the Capital Jewish Museum is bringing a special exhibit to its halls. Organized and curated by Los Angeles’ Skirball Cultural Center, “I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli chronicles the American Jewish experience in the 20th century through food, specifically the deli. “There’s a story here about people and place in immigration, and Jewish life in America,” says Cate Thurston, one of the exhibit’s curators. Delis were places for immigrants to earn a living,  conduct business, build community, and more. “It serves a lot of different functions for a lot of different people across a range of Jewish identities,” says Thurston. The Jewish Deli will feature signs, menus, and other deli-related artifacts from across the country, including those from Capital Jewish Museum’s own collection of local items. But the curators have also made a point to integrate in pop culture deli moments, as evidenced by the title (for the uninitiated, a cheeky reference to When Harry Met Sally…). “We wanted to be playful,” Thurston says. “Jewish creatives returned to delis in movies again and again. It’s a place where people meet, it’s a place where a writer can showcase a character or characters Jewish identity without doing a lot of interpretation around it.” And while the exhibit explores the past of Jewish delis, the concept obviously still lives on today.  “The delicatessen is not a dead food way,” Thurston says. “It’s a vibrant food way that is still alive and still thriving.” “I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli opens May 15 and runs through August 20 at the Capital Jewish Museum, 575 3rd St. NW. capitaljewishmuseum.org. $10–$15. —Hannah Docter-Loeb