MONDAY, OCTOBER 23
BOOKS Politics & Prose at the Wharf presents a conversation with two authors, Josh Dean and Jason Fagone. Fagone’s new book, The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies, delves into the career of Shakespeare scholar Elizebeth Smith Friedman, who used her language skills to break code and invented the modern science of cryptology. Dean’s book, The Taking of K-129: How the CIA Used Howard Hughes to Steal a Russian Sub in the Most Daring Covert Operation in History, tells the story of a mission to recover a Soviet submarine that sank in the Pacific near Hawaii in 1968. Free, 7 PM.
DISCUSSION Author Mike Wallace has chronicled the growth of New York City in his book, Greater Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919. Wallace will discuss his findings at the S. Dillon Ripley Center in a lecture titled “How Manhattan Became an Isle of Joy,” sponsored by Smithsonian Associates. In addition to an analysis of the growth of the city’s cultural institutions (think: New York Public Library and the Met), Wallace’s talk will delve into the pop-culture institutions that boomed due to the city’s immigrant enclaves. $45, 6:45 PM.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24
HORSES Calling all equestrians! The 59th annual Washington International Horse Show takes place at the Capital One Arena. The event includes show jumping, hunter, and equitation competitions and will feature current stars and Olympic veterans with their horses. Tickets $15-$40, through October 29. All days except Sunday have both a daytime (7 AM) and evening (7 PM) session.
BEER Normally, only members of The Bruery’s bottle clubs can purchase its Black Tuesday bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout. For the first time ever in DC, though, the beer will be available on draft at ChurchKey’s special release, which will include multiple vintages and variants of this rare beer. Alongside Black Tuesday vintages dating back to 2011, ChurchKey will have variants such as Grey Monday (Black Tuesday with hazelnuts) and PB & Thursday (Black Tuesday with peanut butter). Free to attend, 4 PM.
RACE Nothing celebrates the coming of Halloween quite like the 17th Street High Heel Race, which starts at 17th and R Street, NW, and proceeds down to JR’s Bar & Grill at 17th and Church. Participants must be dressed in drag and must register at LevelOne before the race (starting at 7 PM). Spectators need only to snag a good spot and follow the rules (the most important of which is not to enter the race route to take pictures). Free, parade at 7 PM, race at 9 PM.
MUSICALS Before Hamilton, Book of Mormon was the hot new musical, winning nine Tony awards after premiering on Broadway in 2011. The comedy penned by the creators of South Park tells the story of a pair of missionaries who travel around the world to spread their faith. Check it out at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House. Tickets $59-$229, through November 19.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25
DISCUSSION The National Gallery of Art’s annual Wyeth Lecture in American Art will feature University of California, Irvine professor Cécile Whiting’s lecture “The Panorama and the Globe: Expanding the American Landscape in World War II.” Whiting’s research focuses on the change in landscape painting between the 1930s and 1940s; her lecture will examine paintings by Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry. Free, 4:30 PM.
MUSIC Pianist and Kennedy Center Honoree Martha Argerich will perform with Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. This marks the first time this orchestra has been to the U.S. in nearly 50 years; the program features Verdi’s Aida Sinfonia, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and Respighi’s Italian symphonic poems Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. Tickets $45-$135, 8 PM.
