Our Man In Arlington

My wife Jean and I went to Washington, Virginia last Saturday, known to many as “Little Washington.” We traveled there to do a little shopping at Washington’s very nice specialty shops and galleries, have dinner with old friends, who retired to a lovely house in the country near Sperryville, and attend an evening performance at The Theatre at Washington, Virginia. (The town is also famous for its Inn at Little Washington, which boasts one of the country’s great restaurants.)

The Arlington connection here is the theater. It is owned and operated by Arlington’s own Wendy Weinberg. Wendy and her husband Bob have been very active in Arlington civic and political circles for a generation. While it is inaccurate to say that they have retired – they both live peripatetic lives going a multitude of things – they do spend a good deal of their time in Little Washington and have a house there.

More to the point, when they began spending time in Rappahannock County in the late 1960’s, Wendy spotted Little Washington’s only movie theater (she spells it with an “re” because she is from England) and promptly fell in love with it.

She bought it several years ago and has been managing the theater herself for at least fourteen years. And what a great job she has done. The theater has become the cultural center of the county and draws audiences from all over the East Coast because of the theater’s eclectic programming. As Wendy put it in an email, “Since the town's population is 198 and the Theatre seats 220, the audience is necessarily drawn from a wide area -- sometimes from as far away as New Jersey and North Carolina, but mostly from the metropolitan DC area and, of course, from Rappahannock and surrounding counties.”

Movies are still shown at the theater. Recent screenings include “Bend it Like Beckham,” “Whale Rider,” “In America,” and “Mystic River.”

But the theater has much more than movies. Wendy has a relationship with the Smithsonian Institution that sends marvelous musical ensembles to the theater. The programs are called “Smithsonian at Little Washington.” In February, James Weaver on the harpsichord and Kenneth Slovak on cello featured works by Bach and Vivaldi. The next Smithsonian concert will be on May 22, featuring a new quartet, “The Esterhazy Machine,” playing Haydn

It is not just classical music, either. We have been to concerts by John Eaton playing and singing wonderful American standards, the famous Charlie Byrd playing great guitar, and the Yale Russian Chorus one Christmas week. Two programs coming up look particularly interesting: “Operas Star Crossed Lovers” with soprano Jacqueline Neimat and friends singing operatic love songs (May 29) and the Washington Balalaika Society Orchestra (June 5).

Jean and I saw the legendary Oscar Brand’s program “Ballads and Ballots.” Brand sang political campaign songs from George Washington to George W. Bush and interspersed them with great commentary about the role of music and politics. Brand has been doing this on NPR for almost 60 years and has received two Peabody Awards and countless other accolades during his long and fruitful life. But the details of that delightful performance will be saved for another column.

You don’t have to be from Arlington to take the trek out to Little Washington and see some great shows. I suggest that you check the theater’s web site www.Theatre-Washington-VA.com. You won’t regret it, I promise!