Dave Chappelle, Outdoor Movies, and a Wine & Watercolors Class: Things to Do in DC, July 29-August 1

Hey hey!

We’ve got comedy, outdoor movies, and a Sound of Music sing-along.

Hear from Beanie Feldstein, who is smart and funny.

Here’s what you should check out this weekend:

Exploration time: The National Air and Space Museum is reopening Friday, but make sure to bring your face masks (more on that later) as today the Smithsonian announced that it is requiring masks for all visitors, including fully vaccinated folks.

Puppers’ paradise: Schitt’s Creek fans might be looking for more opportunities to laugh at Eugene Levy, and Sunset Cinema is ready. Head to the Wharf for an outdoor screening of Best in Show, Levy’s 2000 mockumentary that parodies the high-end world of dog competitions. Thursday 7/29 at 7:30 PM; Free, find out more here.

If Olivia Rodrigo is on repeat: Indulge your 12-year-old emo self at Union Stage’s “Sad and Boujee” party. The touring event will play sad hits from artists like Panic! at the Disco and Drake with a mix of dance tracks from Cardi B and others to strike that perfect balance of a “Crying in the Club” vibe. Friday 7/30 at 7 PM; $10-$25, buy tickets here.

Get creative: Shop Made in DC is hosting a self-guided Wine & Watercolors class. Sip as you work on two masterpieces using shared supplies. Friday 7/30 at 5 PM; $20, buy tickets here.

Back to live entertainment: The Anthem is reopening to live audiences this weekend, starting with a special show from Dave Chappelle on Friday night (tickets sold out in just three days). The venue’s upcoming lineup includes Kesha, James Blake, Juanes, Jason Mraz, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and more. (Note that the Mayor’s newly announced mask mandate requiring all Washingtonians to wear masks in indoor public settings starts on Saturday.)

But if you really wanted to see Chappelle: The comedian will be at the Kennedy Center on Sunday to speak a bit in an event screening his pandemic documentary, Untitled: Dave Chappelle Documentary Film. The movie traces the outdoor stand-up that Chappelle performed last year after the murder of George Floyd. Sunday 8/1 at 8 PM; $59-$99, buy tickets here.

More laughs: Read funny lines from Cecily Strong, Rachel Bloom and other top comics in the business in Notes From the Bathroom Line: Humor, Art, and Low-Grade Panic from 150 of the Funniest Women in Comedy. Then, tune into a virtual conversation with the book editor Amy Solomon and Booksmart actor Beanie Feldstein at Sixth & I. Sunday 8/1 at 7 PM; $8-$35 (book included), buy tickets here.

Find new friends: Bring plants and propagations to Femme Fatale’s “GCP Community Lughnasadh Swap and Prop” event with Caroline Hooks who runs glassceilingplants. Bring greenery gifts or a potluck dish to exchange for new potted friends as part of the Gaelic tradition celebrating the start of the harvest (called “Lughnasadh”). Sunday 8/1 at 6 PM; Free ($25 if you come empty-handed), register here.

On the lawn: Head to the Library of Congress for an interactive outdoor movie night—a Sound of Music sing-along. Warm up those vocal chords and bring your friends to belt the hiiiiillllllllllls are aliiiiiiiiiiive as you watch the classic film on the LoC’s north lawn. Saturday 7/29 at 6:30 PM; Free, find out more here.

Something new:

The new mask mandate in DC starts on Saturday.If you’re like me, you might’ve kept your face masks close in the past few months…and unfortunately there’s a good reason for it. Today I wrote about the new mask mandate in DC and why these numbers have been a bit confusing lately:

This afternoon, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that, starting Saturday, the city will again require everyone over the age of two to wear face masks indoors, whether they are vaccinated or not. All Washingtonians will now need to mask up at restaurants, museums, gyms, and other public settings in the city.

This news follows the CDC’s guidelines that were updated on Tuesday with the same distressing directive to fully vaccinated people. (Virginia Governor Ralph Northam also recommended wearing masks indoors today.) The efforts aim to curtail the increasing rates and spread of Covid cases across the country due to the Delta variant that’s even more contagious than the virus’s previous iterations.

The CDC specifically recommends people “wear a mask in public indoor settings if they are in an area of substantial or high transmission.” However there was some confusion this week over the status of DC’s transmission levels due to a discrepancy in labeling between the CDC’s definitions and those of the DC Department of Health. According to the city’s Department of Health’s website, DC remains in the “moderate” category of community spread with a daily case rate (per 100,000 population) of 8.3. The CDC considers an area with a “substantial” transmission rate to mean that there are between 50 and 99.99 total new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days. The organization says the level of community transmission in DC is “substantial” and its Covid data tracker says the seven-day case rate per 100,000 people is 52.

Shortly after the new guidelines went public on Tuesday, the White House  informed its staff that masks were once again required on the premises. “The new [CDC] data moved Washington, D.C., from yellow to orange, indicating that it has a ‘substantial’ level of community transmission, senior officials said,” wrote the New York Times, describing the memo. “Over the past week, the city had a seven-day average of 52 cases per day, a 148 percent increase from the average two weeks ago.” Using the CDC’s definitions, the New York Times, Politico, and other outlets said that DC’s transmission fell into this concerning “substantial” category, but the numbers have not been similarly reflected in DC’s local Covid reporting.

Read the full story here.

Thanks for reading! Tell me what you’re up to at home by dropping me a line at rcartagena@washingtonian.com.