MONDAY, APRIL 3
SPORTS Monday is opening day at Nationals Park: they play the Marlins, and Stephen Strasburg has been named starting pitcher for the first game in the 162-game season. The first 20,000 fans today will get a Magic 8 Ball; there are a number of other goofy promotions this season (a Max Scherzer Snow Globe on May 24, a Nationals fedora on July 26, and a Bryce Harper starting lineup action figure on August 29, to name a few). $43 to $255, 1:05 PM.
FOOD & DRINK Rustico in Alexandria is hosting a Near & Far Beer Dinner Series featuring a five-course dinner menu paired with beers from one brewery. April’s edition will feature beers from Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery—a farm brewery in Goochland, Virginia—alongside crispy quail, fried chili pork, seared pink pepper beef, and a flourless chocolate cake. $60 (reservations required, 703-224-5051 or slaters@rusticorestaurant.com), 7 PM.
TUESDAY, APRIL 4
MUSEUMS The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s monthly series Double Take: One Artwork Two Viewpoints continues with a look at Alexis Rockman’s 2004 painting Manifest Destiny. This month’s discussion will feature perspectives from Joanna Marsh, SAAM’s senior curator of contemporary interpretation, and Jeffrey Stine, curator for environmental history at the National Museum of American History. Free, 6 PM.
HAPPY HOUR Women working full-time and year-round in the US are typically paid 80% of what men are paid, meaning that the typical woman works at least 15 months for the same paycheck her male counterpart received in 12. April 4 is Equal Pay Day, the symbolic day when American women’s pay “catches up” to what men took home by December 31 of the previous year. The American Association of University Women is sponsoring an Equal Pay Day UnHappy Hour at Sauf Haus, where 20% of drink sales will be donated to closing the gender pay gap. There will also be trivia, giveaways, and a pop-up shop. Free to attend (with registration), 5:30 PM.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5
FILM The documentary Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened tells the story of Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince’s musical Merrily We Roll Along, whose highly anticipated 1981 debut flopped after 16 performances. The doc, playing at the Avalon, reveals the story behind the show’s creation and the consequences of the choices made, through interviews with Sondheim and Prince as well as the original Broadway cast of the show. $12.25, 8 PM.
DISCUSSION Casey Trees design and advocacy director Maisie Hughes will discuss how good design—combined with plans and policies—create and sustain a healthy urban forest at “Planning for Trees” at the National Building Museum. $10, 12:30 PM.
BOOKS James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Joan Nathan has pulled together a collection of recipes from the global Jewish diaspora. King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World refers to the king said to have sent ships across the ancient world, initiating a cross-pollination of culinary cultures. Alongside these recipes, Nathan’s book provides historical details and personal histories; she will be in conversation with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer at Sixth & I. $40, 7:30 PM.
