MONDAY, JUNE 5
MUSIC New Zealand gothic-folk singer Aldous Harding performs at DC9 on Monday night. Her recently released second album, Party, continues the haunting intimacy she created on her 2014 debut. Richmond indie-folk band Luray opens the show. $12, 9 PM.
FOOD & DRINK Chef Todd Gray and Ellen Kassoff Gray opened the restaurant Equinox in 1999. On Monday night, Chef Gray will host a three-course dinner at the restaurant and will discuss Equinox’s early years and how he keeps its offerings current. $140, 6:30 PM.
TUESDAY, JUNE 6
BOOKS The word “umbraphile” refers to those who love eclipses—and often will travel to find them. Back in the summer of 1878, several such eclipse chasers raced to Wyoming and Colorado to observe a rare total solar eclipse, including young Thomas Edison and astronomers Maria Mitchell and James Craig Watson. Journalist and former NPR correspondent David Baron wrote the new book American Eclipse about this time, and he’ll discuss it at the S. Dillon Ripley Center, presented by Smithsonian Associates. $45, 6:45 PM.
MUSIC DC-born indie-rock musician Mary Timony has been in numerous notable bands since the early 1990s, including her current project Ex Hex plus the recent supergroup Wild Flag. She’ll play the music of her 1990s rock band Helium on Tuesday night at the Rock & Roll Hotel. $16 (advance) or $18 (day-of), 8 PM.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7
THEATER Mosaic Theatre’s production of The Return opens on Wednesday and runs through July 2 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center’s Sprenger Theatre. The play, which is part of the Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival, is an American premiere by Palestinian playwright Hanna Eady and Seattle-based writer Edward Mast, telling the story of the mysterious tension between a Palestinian mechanic and an Israeli Jewish woman from his past. Wednesday through June 11 are previews (Wednesday is Pay-What-You-Can), with opening night on June 15. $35 to $60, 8 PM with some 3 PM matinees.
DISCUSSION Former White House photographers Dennis Brack, Sharon Farmer, and Diana Walker will share their favorite images and the stories behind them at discussion entitled “From Kennedy to Obama: A Conversation with White House Photographers” at the American Art Museum on Wednesday night. The conversation will be moderated by former LIFE magazine photojournalist Lawrence Schiller, who organized the SAAM exhibition American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’s Life and Times. Free, 6:30 PM.
FOOD & DRINK Thirty DC restaurants are closed to the public on Wednesday night for the Dine-N-Dash restaurant crawl. Start at one of several 14th Street restaurants, including Policy and Lupo Verde, and enjoy unlimited specialty plates and craft drinks at restaurants in Penn Quarter and 14th Street. $125, 6 PM.
