MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5
MUSIC New York band Postmodern Jukebox is its own kind of cover band: the group takes modern pop songs and recreates them in different styles (typical favorites: swing and jazz). The group has a rotating cast of performers and vocalists; the only true constant is pianist/arranger Scott Bradlee. Hear these old-time interpretations of contemporary songs at Strathmore’s Music Center. $35-$85, 8 PM.
THEATRE Scena Theatre is opening its 32nd season with an all-female cast in Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. In addition to this gender-bending feminist point of view, Scena has re-set Wilde’s satire of high-society England into 1930s Hollywood. Through December 2. $35-$45.
DISCUSSION If you didn’t get enough true crime stories at last weekend’s “Death Becomes Us” festival, head over to the Lincoln Theatre where attorneys David Rudolf from The Staircase and Jerry Buting from Making a Murderer will discuss the prosecutions of Michael Peterson, Steven Avery, and Brendan Dassey. The pair will open the floor to audience questions and will discuss their famous cases. $35, 8 PM.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6
MUSEUMS British artist Stephen Wiltshire is known for his ability to recreate large-scale images from his photographic memory. See him at work at the Phillips Collection where he’ll be drawing a cityscape of Doha, Qatar, based on a recent half-hour helicopter ride over the city. Through November 11 (drawing hours vary by day). $12.
MUSIC British electronic music duo The Orb pioneered the ambient house subgenre in the late 1980s. They’re celebrating their 30th anniversary with a show at U Street Music Hall; expect them to play some of their classic atmospheric chill-out music as well as songs from their newest album, No Sounds Are Out of Bounds. $20-$25, 10 PM.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7
LECTURE Explore art criticism at a lecture by New York Times critic Roberta Smith at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Smith will reflect on her career and how art criticism has evolved in the last four decades, especially as art by people of color has become more prominent and celebrated. Free, 6:30 PM.
BOOKS Chef Anita Lo has cooked for hundreds at her Michelin-starred restaurant Annisa, but she’s also proficient at cooking for just one. Her cookbook Solo: A Modern Cookbook for a Party of One embraces the challenge of cooking for oneself, with 101 fast, single-serving, single-dish meals. Lo incorporates many different styles and cuisines into this collection and will speak about her work with Washington Post food editor Joe Yonan at Politics & Prose at Union Market. Free, 7 PM.
