March Culture Guide: 55 Things to Do in the DC Area

Happy March, DC!

Cherry Blossom season is on the horizon and March is budding with springtime activities and events. You can attend an outdoor festival, set out on a water excursion, celebrate Women’s History Month at a new exhibit, or see rap queen GloRilla perform at the Anthem.

10 Best Things to Do in DC

by Pat Padua

Music

Lorelei Ensemble and Marin Alsop

March 1

Alongside the National Symphony Orchestra, an all-female vocal group performs Julia Wolfe’s Her Story, then Alsop leads the NSO through Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

Books

Laila Lalami

March 5

Imagine if government agents, working from algorithms based on your dreams, could arrest you for crimes you might commit. Lalami’s latest, The Dream Hotel, concocts a world in which one suspect is taken in for fear she’ll murder her husband.

Theater

Eureka Day

March 6–22

What’s so funny about an outbreak of the mumps? Tony Award–winning director Anna D. Shapiro takes the helm on Jonathan Spector’s play set in an elite California elementary school whose vaccination policy becomes the source of tension and hilarity.

Museums

“Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist”

March 9–July 6

With work in a variety of media–including a lithograph of children at play and a cedar sculpture of a fist clenched for Black Unity–the DC-born American and Mexican sculptor made art about social justice throughout a life that lasted nearly a century.

Music

Leonidas Kavakos and the NSO With Gianandrea Noseda

March 13–15

Greek violinist Kavakos has a charisma that suits Shostakovich’s feverish Violin Concerto No. 2; the National Symphony Orchestra will perform a similarly rousing staple in Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

Museums

“Delighting Krishna: Paintings of the Child-God”

March 16

This colorful exhibit brings together 14 larger-than-life paintings from the Hindu Pushtimarg community depicting the god Krishna, whose playfulness is suggested in images that reference music and perfume.

Music

The All-Night Vigil at 110

March 16

The Washington Master Chorale closes its season with an anniversary performance of Rachmaninoff’s inspirational choral piece based on a Russian Orthodox ceremony.

Music

ANOHNI and the Johnsons

March 26

ANOHNI’s bewitching vocals fall somewhere between R&B crooning and avant-garde art song. The 2023 album My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross was her first in years with her backing band, the Johnsons; she’s touring with the group for the first time in a decade.

The English writer’s Booker Prize–winning novel, Orbital, spins a tale of six men and women on a final stratospheric whirl in their assignment to handle one of the last space-station missions before the program is abandoned.

Festivals

Earth to Space: Arts Breaking the Sky

March 28–April 20

What do artist Lia Halloran, actor Tom Hanks, and comedian/quantum mind reader David Zambuka have in common? These artists will join a group of astronauts and researchers in a series of events inspired by space exploration past, present, and future.

Want More Things to Do?

by Briana Thomas

Arts and culture:

• View the new “Uncanny” exhibit on Community Day at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (March 2, free, Downtown).
• National Gallery Nights opens its spring season of after-hours events with a printmaking party based on the theme “Revolutionary Women” (March 13, free, but registration required, ticket lottery opens March 3, National Gallery of Art).
• A collection of artists create works on peace and healing at Zenith Gallery’s “Amethyst” (March 7 through April 19, free, Northwest DC).
• Discover art from 20 Black comic book illustrators at Phillips@THEARC (March 12 through July 24, free, Anacostia).
• Create an heirloom quilt at NMAAHC (March 13-14, $50, free, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture).
  

Community and heritage:

• Don’t miss the Wharf’s New-Orleans inspired Mardi Gras parade and party (March 1, free, Wharf).
• Experience music, Irish dancers, pipe bands, and more Old Town fun at Ballyshaners St. Patrick’s Day parade (March 1, free, Alexandria).
• Celebrate International Women’s Day at Hotel Zena’s Her Plate five-course dinner, and meet local women chefs (March 6, $105, Downtown).
• International Women’s Day Agora at The Ven features live painting, keynote speeches from women leaders, and woman-owned vendors (March 6, $10, Dupont).
• Explore exhibitions at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and learn about Black women change-makers at the museum’s Community Day (March 22, free, but registration required, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture).

Theater:

• See the new comedy and drama A Room in the Castle at Folger Theatre (March 4 through April 6, $20+, Capitol Hill).
• It’s A Mother****ing Pleasure uses satire to discuss disability rights (March 6-30, pay-what-you-can+, Penn Quarter).
• Tragi-comedy Your Name Means Dream examines the future of AI at Theater J (March 12 through April 6, Dupont Circle).
• Ford’s Theatre presents the musical adaptation of the popular ’90s movie Sister Act (March 14 through May 17, $53+, Penn Quarter).
• Testosterone—an adults-only play— is inspired by a Grimm Brothers tale (March 15 through April 6, $54, H Street Corridor).
• Keegan Theatre presents the world premiere of #Charlottesville (March 22 through April 13, $54, Dupont).
• Jason’s Lyric Live! adapts the Black culture movie hit into a theater production (March 27 through May 4, $33+, National Theatre).

Shows and performances:

• Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington performs at Atlas Performing Arts Center (March 2, $31, H Street Corridor).
• Culinary show host Alton Brown brings his farewell tour to DC (March 8, $60+, National Theatre).
• Comedian and podcaster Caleb Hearon quips about the current state of standup with special guests at his So True Live Tour (March 13, $47+, Warner Theatre).
• Capital Comedy Festival returns to DAR Constitution Hall featuring top comics Lavell Crawford, Arnez J, Joe Clair, and Special K (March 15, $89+, Downtown).
• Laugh at top standup comedians Carol Leifer, Rich Hall, and Rondell Sheridan at Wolf Trap (March 21, $33, Vienna).
• Soul, R&B, and hip-hop blend together at Mary J. Blige’s DC concert (March 26, $79+, Capital One Arena).
• Watch action movie Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark while the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra plays the score live (March 28-30, $28+, Bethesda).

Music:

• Dance to electronic music played by DJ Technics and DJ Sega at 618 Cocktail and Whiskey Lounge (March 1, $22+, Chinatown).
• Visit Haydee’s Restaurant to catch DC hardcore band Grand Scheme live in concert (March 4, $10, Northwest DC).
• DC jazz vocalist Akua Allrich sings at Songbyrd as part of the Mars Arts DC Concert Series (March 5, free, registration encouraged, Union Market).
• Rock out to hardcore punk with Bootcamp at Rhizome DC (March 12, $12+, Takoma).
• Rap queen GloRilla brings her high-energy rhymes to the Anthem (March 14, $65+, Wharf).
• Bands Movements and Citizen team up for a live show at Fillmore Silver Spring (March 18, $53+, Silver Spring).
• Rising local star Tommy Richman promotes his new album Coyote at Howard Theatre (March 18, $25+, U Street Corridor).
• Yo La Tengo & Sun Ra Arkestra host a cosmic-funk concert at Howard Theatre (March 22, $40, U Street Corridor).
• DC hardcore rock group Drivel performs at Pie Shop (March 24, $15, H Street Corridor).
• Five bands from five regional states play a one-night show at Pie Shop (March 28, $15, H Street Corridor).

Cherry Blossoms:

• Cruise along the Potomac River in a Water Taxi to see budding cherry blossoms (opens March 20, $22, Alexandria, Wharf).
• Artechouse celebrates our beloved pink flowers with an immersive digital art installation, “Blooming Wonders: A Best-of-Spring Exhibition” (opens March 7, $24+, Southwest DC).
• Dance the night away at the Pink Tie Party (March 14, $250, Union Station).
• Race paddle boats in honor of Stumpy—DC’s beloved tiny cherry blossom tree (March 20, $100 per team, Tidal Basin).
• DC’s Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off this month with an opening ceremony packed with Japanese cultural performances including tap dancer Kazunori Kumagai and puppet theater company Seiwa Bunraku (March 22, free with $5 ticket fee, Warner Theatre).
• Move your feet to live music across multiple stages, and watch a fireworks finale at Bloomaroo (March 29, free, Wharf).
• National Harbor’s annual Sakura Sunday brings a Japanese pop-up market, art, music and dance, culinary treats, and more to the Maryland waterfront (March 30, free, National Harbor).

Things to do with kids:

• Take your kids to a joyful musical and Mardi Gras party at Imagination Stage (March 1, $9+, Bethesda).
• Local high school students star in Signature in the Schools: Failureland! (March 3, 10, $10, Arlington).
• Build F1-inspired race cars with LEGO bricks at LEGO Discovery Center (March 6 through April 27, $24+, Springfield).
• There’s a petting zoo full of instruments and child-friendly musical performances at Atlas Intersections’ Family Fun Day (March 8, free, H Street Corridor).

A version of this article appears in the March 2025 issue of Washingtonian.