Ongoing: Death Comes to Tudor Place 

There’s only so much spook one can pack into the 31 short days of October. Thankfully, Tudor Place understands the season’s conundrum: For the entire month, the historic house and museum will offer visitors a tour that adds a haunted layer of depth to its existing offerings. The Georgetown estate’s specialty exhibition and guided tour spotlights the natural spooky traditions of Tudor Place and similar upper-class households of the 1800s. The Death Comes to Tudor Place tours will examine how funeral customs and burial practices evolved at the house across nearly two centuries. Visitors will learn “why clocks are stopped, mirrors are draped in black fabric, and why most funerals were held at home.” In addition, estate artifacts “not traditionally on display, will show how members of the family memorialized their deceased relatives,” the press release explains. The tour will also dive into the funerary customs of enslaved and free domestic laborers of Tudor Place, which reflect the inherited customs and values these workers collected from their own communities of the time. “Grief has always been a part of the human condition,” Rob DeHart, curator at Tudor Place, explains in the exhibition’s announcement. “This installation reveals how people have historically expressed their grief and how factors such as class and race come into play.” Death Comes to Tudor Place runs through Nov. 5 at Tudor Place Historic House & Garden, 1644 31st St. NW. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m to 4 p.m. tudorplace.org. $10. —Camila Bailey

Saturday: New Works Inspired by Fahrenheit 451 at RE4CH Creative

Fans of Fahrenheit 451 know that it takes the concept of banned books to an extreme. So what better work to close out Banned Books Week? On Oct. 7, the DC Bushwick Book Club will host a multidisciplinary event based around Ray Bradbury’s classic. This club originated in 2009, when Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Susan Hwang decided to prepare a musical performance inspired by literature. The group has since expanded its reach worldwide, merging books and indie art in a number of locations. For each show, participating artists read a selected story and respond with their own creative works. “I’m always excited to see what people come up with and what pieces of the book inspire people,” says D.C.’s event organizer and musical artist, Sea Griffin. “It really is like a book club discussion only through art and performance.” The local chapter of the Bushwick Book Club formed a year ago and has previously spotlighted authors such as authors Kurt Vonnegut and Octavia Butler. The Fahrenheit 451 show will be its fifth event and will feature various artists including Ari Voxx, Safety Bear, and filmmakers Kerri Sheehan and Paris Preston. DC Bushwick Book Club: New Works Inspired by Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 starts at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 7 at RE4CH Creative, 1023 15th St. NW. eventbrite.com. $10.45. —Dora Segall

Closes Sunday: Progression at Multiple Exposures Gallery

Every so often, Multiple Exposures Gallery holds a collaborative photography exhibition involving its members. Over roughly six weeks, photographers—14 of them this year—contribute images in sequence, always thematically playing off the previous image with either a photograph they’ve already taken or with a new one. The new image may mirror the previous one’s subject matter, composition, or color. The 2023 exhibit includes 56 images, hung in order as if they were one long game of telephone. While I was flummoxed by three or four of the proposed connections, most can be seen clearly. The participating photographers over-use windows as a transitional element, and sometimes the connections are overly literal, such as the presence of folding chairs. More subtle, and compelling, are transitions based on the receding angle of a surface (as in one pairing by Alan Sislen and Clara Young Kim and another trio by Sandy LeBrun–Evans, Sarah Hood Salomon, and Soomin Ham), small protrusions from wall (as in images by Ham and Tim Hyde), or echoed geometries, as with Francine B. Livaditis’ rusted circular fan and Fred Zafran’s spreading ripples along the surface of a pond. While the connections between photographs are the exhibit’s lifeblood, a number of images are notable on their own, including Van Pulley’s photograph of an abandoned building out west with a sky whose rays echo the pattern of the flag of Arizona; Livaditis’ bold, elemental portrayal of a marble pyramidion in New Orleans; and LeBrun-Evans’ image of an isolated house under swirling, long-exposure stars and adjacent to artfully curving sand dunes. Each can be seen as part of an evolution, but also on their own. Progression runs through Oct. 8 at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria. Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. multipleexposuresgallery.com. Free. — Louis Jacobson

Wednesday: Cure at Freer Gallery of Art

It’s a cinematic injustice that we don’t talk more about one of the most frightening villains ever committed to film, Kunio Mamiya from Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure (1997). This malevolent character, a master of hypnosis, doesn’t rely on physical prowess or brute force; instead, he relies on his ability to compel unwitting individuals to commit unspeakable acts of violence. Sharing a space with this seemingly unthreatening, lanky figure might not initially scream danger, however, authorities swiftly discover that the words that escape his lips transform into potent weapons aimed at the hidden, uncomfortable depths of the human psyche. While Cure may not have spawned more popular American remakes like its Japanese horror counterparts, The Ring and Ju-On: The Grudge, it remains elusive from Western hands due to its deliberate, methodical, and almost sterile portrayal of violence. The film follows Detective Takabe as he investigates the grisly murders plaguing Tokyo, each victim marked by a sinister X carved into their necks. At the center of it all is Masato Hagiwara’s Mamiya, who is nothing short of disquieting in the role as he continually taunts law enforcement and preys upon the vulnerabilities of ordinary people. It comments on the intricate web of despair and alienation that plagued contemporary Japan during the late ’90s, drawing us into a world where the line between sanity and insanity blur. It also has one of my favorite jumpscares ever, revealed through a silent cut and a small flash of light. Watch out for the corners of each room. Cure screens at 2 p.m. on Oct. 11 at the Freer Gallery of Art, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. asia.si.edu. Free. —Ryan Oquiza

Monday: The TOB Experience celebrate Lil Chris’ birthday at THRōW Social

“Lil” Chris Proctor was still in middle school when the Take Ova Band, better known as TOB, played its debut show on Christmas 2004 at the now-defunct Club Levels in Northeast. Since then, Lil Chris has evolved from being an affable and engaging lead talker of one of the city’s top bouncebeat bands into something more: In recent years, he has emerged as one of the true leaders of go-go, mentoring young musicians and contributing to anti-violence efforts. No less important, TOB has performed in countless musical demonstrations protesting gentrification, systemic racism, voter suppression, Trumpism, and the disenfranchisement of communities east of the river. More recently, Lil Chris appeared in Lovail Long’s theatrical production Grease With a Side of Mumbo Sauce at the Lincoln Theatre, portraying legendary D.C. rapper Fat Rodney. On Oct. 9, The TOB Experience performs an Official Birthday Celebration for Lil Chris with special guests Anwan “Big G” Glover, lead talker of Backyard Band, and Frank “Scooby” Sirius of Sirius Company and The Chuck Brown Band. Established in 2020, the TOB Experience is a TOB offshoot that meshes the band’s stripped down bouncebeat with a more traditional go-go sound, complete with horn section, congas, cowbell, and tambourine. Band management describes the evening as “a nostalgic moment” that will celebrate Lil Chris’ birthday with various styles of go-go. The TOB Experience play at 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 at THRōW Social, 1401 Okie St. NE. throwsocial.com. $35–$300. —Alona Wartofsky

Next Thursday: Emo Orchestra featuring Hawthorne Heights at Warner Theatre

When Hawthorne Heights frontperson JT Woodruff first heard his friend and booking agent Ben Mench–Thurlow’s concept for Emo Orchestra, he thought Mench-Thurlow was insane. Arranging some of the greatest emo songs ever written for an orchestra to play would not only be nontraditional but a lot of work with many moving parts. Woodruff was up for the challenge though. “As a musician who’s been doing this for 20 years, if you can’t find a way to thrive in chaos, you’re just not going to last,” he tells City Paper. The hardest part was picking the set list, which consists largely of songs by Hawthorne Heights’ friends and contemporaries—songs like “MakeDamnSure” by Taking Back Sunday and “Misery Business” by Paramore—that work with Woodruff’s vocals and the band’s tunings. While it might be hard to believe, Hawthorne Heights hadn’t played another band’s song live before the inaugural Emo Orchestra tour began earlier this fall. “We want to do them how Hawthorne Heights would do them,” Woodruff says. “We’re not trying to cover them.” Yes, Hawthorne Heights will also play its own classic hits “Ohio Is for Lovers” and “Niki FM,” as well as a lesser-known acoustic song “Decembers” and new track “The Storm.” The songs themselves were arranged by 26-year-old British conductor Evan Rogers, which was a tall order given emo music’s characteristic distorted guitars, loud drums, and screaming vocals. Finding the road orchestra to play them was yet another feat. Will Deely from the band Beartooth is serving as auxiliary guitarist so Woodruff can function as lead singer, another first for him. Punk rockers count to four and play, but the more clinical, precise orchestral world relies on timed sequences. “You feel like you’re doing a surgical procedure, instead of playing rock songs to your fans,” Woodruff says. “That’s been the only stress-inducing thing for us, but it’s all part of it; it’s all great.” While trading the nightclubs and concert venues Hawthorne Heights usually plays for a theater experience might not be as conducive to crowd surfing or moshing (at least no one had tried either, as of their second performance), there’s something magical about seeing faces light up when they recognize a favorite song being brought to life by an orchestra, Woodruff says, adding: “I would just say, buckle up.” Emo Orchestra featuring Hawthorne Heights plays at 7 p.m. on Oct. 12 at Warner Theatre, 513 13th St. NW. emo-orchestra.com. $35–$116. —Dave Nyczepir