THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6
FILM Last year’s inaugural Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival gave audiences an early look at the eventual Best Picture winner Spotlight. Even if the follow-up for this investigative reporting-focused festival doesn’t include any Oscar bait, there’s still lots to get excited about, such as Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, from Hoop Dreams director Steve James, which looks at a tiny Chinatown bank that was the only US financial institution to be criminally charged after the 2008 crash. Expect discussions with heavy hitters, too, including “Panama Papers” reporter Jake Bernstein. The festival runs through October 8. $15 per screening or $75 for an all-access pass, various times
COMEDY Known for playing Frank Rossitano in 30 Rock, a writer constantly armed with absurd one-liners and sloganed trucker hats, Judah Friedlander brings his own zany, hilarious standup routine to DC Improv for a handful of shows through Saturday. $20, 7:30 PM
FOOD & DRINK Brooklyn Brewery’s Mash Tour comes to DC, joining forces with local breweries and restaurants for a weekend of food, music, and—of course—tons of craft beer. Thursday’s activities include Dinner With Friends at The Royal, in which Brooklyn Brewery teams up with the LeDroit Park eatery for a one-night-only menu. Or, head over to the Howard Theatre for a free show featuring garage rockers Black Lips. $50, 7 PM / Free, 7 PM / various times
MUSIC Composer, pianist and native Washingtonian Jessica Krash performs a variety of compositions at the Strathmore. Highlights include a first-time-in-DC performance of Sulpicia’s Songs, in which a teenage girl from ancient Rome’s passionate musings about her boyfriend are put to contemporary piano accompaniments for songs from medieval Spain. $30, 7 PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7
WATCH It’s Union Market’s final drive-in movie of the season, and they’re ending with a showing of Ghostbusters. Enjoy snacks and drinks from the market as you watch Venkman, Stantz, Spengler, and Winston fight the ghosts taking over New York City. $10 per car or free for walk ups, 8 PM
DANCE A single evening at local dance festival VelocityDC at Sidney Harman Hall offers more kinds of movement than you might see all season, featuring companies and choreographers devoted to an expansive range of genres, from ballet, jazz, and tap to hip-hop, Indian, and DC’s own brand of East Coast swing. The Washington Ballet joins several other troupes for the performance, while more take to the sidewalk and cafe windows as part of the festival’s site-specific works. Through October 8. $18 to $30, 6:30 PM
HAUNTED HOUSE With animatronic spiders, the stench of rotting corpses, and plenty of blood and guts, Scream City might be the most elaborate haunted house in Washington. Thrill seekers have two flavors of fright: the “Slaughter Factory” or “Exorcism Estate.” Scream City opens Friday, and sticks around until November 5. $30 to $40
MUSIC There’s finally a chill in the air, but it will still feel a little like summer at 9:30 Club as Neon Indian bring their hazy, electronica vibes to stage. Also paying this evening is electropop duo Classixx. $30, 8 PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8
MUSIC The name of music festival All Things Go Fall Classic refers to the lyrics of Sufjan Stevens’s beloved 2005 song “Chicago,” which influenced the four native Washingtonians behind this concert. They launched their music blog, All Things Go, ten years ago, and the festival debuted at Union Market in 2014 to 3,000 attendees. This year it expects 12,000, with a bigger venue and acts such as Passion Pit, Sylvan Esso, and Maryland-born Ace Cosgrove. $75 to $99, 12 PM
EAT Join Taste of DC this Saturday and Sunday for a delicious block party on Pennsylvania Ave featuring all your favorite local wineries, breweries and and restaurants. It’s easily one of the most cost-effective ways to sample dishes from places you’ve been curious to try, as each of the 60-plus restaurants will have one tasting item priced between $1 and $3, along with some favorites from their menu available for $8 or less. $10 to $80, 1 PM
DANCE Whether it’s your first attempt at do-si-doing or you’re a seasoned professional, everyone is going to have a good, slightly sweaty time at the Folklore Society of Greater Washington’s Great American Square Dance Revival at St. Stephen’s church, featuring foot-stomping tunes by the Allegheny Highballers and a proper “figure caller” to shout out the moves. $5, 8:00 PM
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9
THEATER It’s your last chance to check out Constellation Theatre Company’s production of Urinetown, The Musical at Source. This dystopian farce imagines a world in which a twenty-year drought has lead to a lack of private toilets and citizens must pay to, um, take care of business. As we sit in the throes of an intense presidential election, the idea of watching a play that “satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, [and] corporate mismanagement” will either be music to your ears or a dystopic nightmare of your own. $25 to $50, various times
DEBATE It’s harder to say which is more shocking: that reality television personality Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for president, or that he’s in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Fame. Join local comedians Brandon Wetherbee and Chris Kelly at the Black Cat for the release of their book, The Donald: How Trump Turned Presidential Politics into Pro Wrestling, which explains how this mind-boggling series of events came to be. Plus, stick around to watch the second presidential debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton, along with the chance to play some trivia. 8 PM, Free
