Thursday
Taffety Punk’s “Freddie: A Girl” at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
545 7th Street SE, 8 p.m., $20
A small but mighty local theater company begins performances of a new play based on Freddie and Truus Oversteegen, teen sisters who join the Dutch resistance and become spies, saboteurs and assassins who shoot Nazis from their bicycles. Lise Bruneau, a local theatermaker with Broadway credits, directs. Thursday and Friday’s performances are discounted previews. “Freddie: A Girl” opens Saturday and runs through Sept. 19 at the intimate black-box space on Capitol Hill.
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CatVideoFest 2026 at AFI Silver
8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, 11:30 a.m., $8-10
Every office has that coworker who’s always ready with a cute animal video (or GIF). This film screening is for them, and other cat lovers. Each year, Oscilloscope Laboratories collects the most fantastic feline clips on the internet and rolls them into one long, adorable package. Cinemas then partner with local rescues to host screenings. Thursday is your last chance to support City Dogs and City Kitties by catching CatVideoFest at AFI.
More to explore: Bluegrass trio Chatham County Line at Jammin’ Java.
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Friday
Chamber Music With the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra
The Justice Forum at The Reach, 2700 F Street NW, 6 p.m., free
Closed or not, the Kennedy Center is contractually obligated to continue paying members of its Opera House Orchestra, who normally perform with touring ballet companies, musicals and other special events (in addition to their gigs with the Washington National Opera). So why not let them play for the public? Friday the musicians offer an hour of music by Dvořák at The Reach. The repertoire includes his inspired-by-Iowa “American” String Quartet No. 12 in F Major and his lively Bagatelles, Op. 47.
Maraca Bruja at National Geographic Museum of Exploration
1600 M Street NW, 6 p.m., $20
When the National Geographic Museum of Exploration opened in June, the DMV didn’t just gain a museum, it gained a world-music concert series. The Friday night Concerts in the Courtyard continue this week with Maraca Bruja. The New York-based collective focuses on music of Colombia’s Caribbean coastline. Members play a variety of instruments, including the gaita, an indigenous flute made from hollowed-out cactus stems.
More to explore: Sango and New Impressionz Band at La Cosecha in Union Market
Saturday
Summer Square Dance at Peirce Mill
2401 Tilden Street NW, 7 p.m., free
Do-si-do with or without a partner at the annual Square Dance sponsored by Friends of Peirce Mill and held on the grounds of D.C.’s only functioning gristmill. First-timers and fans of contra dancing (plus all related folk dance forms) will all swing round and round beneath strings of lights in Rock Creek Park.
Culture Quest Kids Fest at Deanwood Recreation Center
1350 49th Street NE, 3 p.m., free
A trio of D.C. government organizations with very long names — the Mayor’s Office on African American Affairs, the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation and the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities — team up to sponsor a daylong community festival for families.
More to explore: “Klex,” six 10-minute plays inspired by one work of art, at The Stacks.
Sunday
The Playground closes at the National Building Museum
401 F Street NW, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. $16 to $19
The Building Museum’s annual summer installation gives families a chance to keep kids clean and active while escaping the heat. This year, the museum commissioned an imaginative play space from the New York firm Snarkitecture. Sunday marks the final day of the installation. Small adventurers can navigate a 100-foot obstacle course, climb a 15-foot wall, chill in rope hammocks, shoot hoops, wander through a maze and tunnel through a “dig pit” full of cork pieces, all in one air-conditioned place.
“Merrily We Roll Along” at Signature Theatre
4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., $47 to $97
“Merrily We Roll Along” traces the lives of a trio of friends in reverse, and rather famously flopped on Broadway when it opened in 1981. But “Merrily” gained pop-culture momentum after it was featured in the film “Lady Bird” and was revived on Broadway in 2023, in a production that starred Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe. Shirlington’s Signature Theatre, which specializes in Sondheim musicals, began previews for “Merrily” on Tuesday and the show runs through Nov. 1.
More to explore: James Taylor opens a three-night stand at Wolf Trap. Sunday is sold out, but tickets remain for Tuesday and Wednesday.