In remarks to guests at his newly opened gallery celebrating the work of legendary photojournalist Harry Benson this week, Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis mentioned that he’d just read a biography of Enzo Ferrari. “The first thing he did when he designed his car was he ripped off the rearview mirror,” Leonsis gushed. “He said, ‘I don’t care what’s behind us.’”

To be fair to the billionaire, Leonsis was in the habit of declaring his future-focused-ness long before his plan to move the Wizards and the Caps to Virginia fell apart last spring after Democrats in the General Assembly refused to back the proposal championed by private equity vulture-turned-Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. (Youngkin promptly turned his attention to purging voter rolls.) Soon after the Virginia deal imploded, the District announced it would spend $515 million on upgrades to Capital One Arena as part of an agreement that will keep the Wizards and the Caps downtown until at least 2050. Loose Lips reporter Alex Koma points out that several of the mogul’s pettiest demands—including that he be exempted from taxes that benefit D.C.-based sports franchises he does not own—have been weeded out of the final proposal.

One of the ways Leonsis is demonstrating his renewed commitment to the District of Columbia is via the two-story, 10,000-square-foot makeshift gallery in a former hair salon adjacent to the arena that celebrates Benson’s work and its connection to the federal city. 

The Glasgow-born Benson rocketed to fame in his early 30s, when the London Daily Express assigned him to photograph the Beatles in Paris. Benson subsequently accompanied the ascendant Liverpudlians on their first U.S. tour in 1964. On Feb. 11 of that year, the Beatles played their first American concert at the Washington Coliseum—formerly the Uline Arena, and since 2016, a “flagship” REI outdoor recreation store in NoMa. (So it’s not necessarily a love of corporate naming that prompted Leonsis, at a press conference last Monday, to refer to the site as “REI Arena” while waxing on the breadth of Benson’s career.) 

“Harry is, I believe, the world’s most important living photojournalist,” Leonsis said.

Certainly, Benson’s photos of politicians, entertainers, and athletes from Muhammad Ali and Elizabeth Taylor to O.J. attorney Johnny Cochran and U.S Army General “Stormin’” Norman Schwarzkopf made him one of the key figures in how the most powerful people in the second half of the 20th century were perceived. He covered Robert F. Kennedy extensively—he was standing next to the presidential candidate when an assassin shot him dead on June 5, 1968. Unsurprisingly, Benson’s decision to publish his pictures of the tragedy—including one of a terror-stricken Ethel Kennedy attempting to push him away from her just-shot husband—was controversial. 

Leonsis, a longtime collector of Benson’s photographs, called the 94-year-old shutterbug “my best friend” in his remarks earlier this week. The occasion was the opening of the exhibit of about 180 Benson photos from the personal collections of Leonsis and his business partner, Jeffrey Skoll. Portraits of every president since Dwight D. Eisenhower are part of the show, along with photos of Ali, the Beatles, Civil Rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis, and other notable figures. 

“We developed this with an eye for Instagram,” Leonsis said. “Big pictures, small copy.” His audience laughed, but Leonsis wasn’t kidding.

At a separate press conference last Monday attended by Loose Lips, Leonsis couldn’t resist comparing his own makeshift gallery to the more permanent one on the other side of 7th St. NW. 

“I walked through the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery around the corner the other day, and this is nicer,” Leonsis said. “This tells a better story. And so, your move, Smithsonian! Let’s uplift.”

Pressed on the comment moments later, Leonsis said, “the Smithsonian was created to collect, not to tell a story.” He then pivoted to praise Benson’s dedication to his craft. “This man was very close with John Lewis and with Martin Luther King,” Leonsis said. “In Selma, Alabama; in Mississippi, he was tear-gassed, was arrested, beaten. It’s an amazing history when you sit with him and talk to him.” 

It’s clear enough from his “tells a better story” comment that Leonsis was talking about curation, not the quality of the National Portrait Gallery’s holdings. Still, the NPG might take umbrage, given that the 62-year-old institution’s published mission statement is “to tell the story of America by portraying the people who shape the nation’s history, development and culture.” Comparing an exhibition of a single photographer’s work focused on a single city to that of a gallery comprising a variety of such exhibitions is hardly an apples-to-apples scenario. It’s more like apples-to-orchard. 

In fact, the NPG hosted a show of Benson’s work—organized by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery—in 2007. Ironically, then-Washington Post reporter Joel Garreau’s mixed review of that exhibit shares a common element with Leonsis’s far more extemporaneous remarks from 17 years later. Garreau criticized Benson for having frequently staged the scenes captured in his famous photos—a shot of the Beatles having a pillow fight, for example, or another one, 28 years later, of Bill and Hillary Clinton canoodling in a hammock outside the Arkansas governor’s mansion. 

“What you see is an awww-inspiring photo of two people who seem very much in love,” Garreau wrote of that shot of the Clintons. “The viewer, however, might be happier appreciating the image and not reading the wall caption. For there it is revealed that Benson set it up.” He does not dispute Benson’s skill or artistry as a photographer; it’s simply his claim to be a photojournalist that makes Garreau cry foul. “The reason Benson is not well remembered may be that, much of the time, the territory he worked was not so much news, as he might have you believe, but what only can be described as display advertising,” Garreau concluded. 

The review got Garreau a published rebuke from Benson himself, who called it “gratuitously mean-spirited and embarrassing.”

But Garreau did advise visitors to just enjoy the photos and ignore the captions. Or as Leonsis put it 17 years later, “Big pictures, small copy.”

Climate change has been a key part of Diana Movius’ life ever since the fourth grade. She distinctly remembers that day in elementary school when a scientist came to talk to her class about deforestation and climate change. 

“I was just absolutely devastated. Because before that, I had no idea that climate change was a thing,” Movius says. “I had no idea that rainforests are being destroyed. I remember I came home crying, and I asked my mom if it was true. And she said, ‘Yes.’ And I just lost it.” 

Today Movius is a climate policy expert and choreographer—she has been combining these two passions her entire life. She’s worked at several climate-focused think tanks and organizations, working with the Climate Advisers and the World Bank. But ballet, which she’s been dancing since she was 5 years old, has always been a priority. 

In 2014, she founded Dance Loft on 14, an intentionally affordable dance studio in Petworth. Located in a restored 1920s theater, Dance Loft offers ballet and contemporary classes for youth and adults; it’s also available to rent as a rehearsal space for other genres. 

The same year she opened Dance Loft, Movius had an idea to bring her two loves together. She created GLACIER: A Climate Change Ballet, which will be performed at the National Portrait Gallery for the first time on April 28, as part of the gallery’s ongoing exhibition Forces of Nature: Voices That Shaped Environmentalism (spotlighted in our 2023 Fall Arts Guide). The ballet envisions dancers as melting, cracking ice, and portrays animals, such as polar bears, enduring the rapidly changing climate. GLACIER has been performed more than 40 times since its inception, at theaters and climate policy events alike, including New York Climate Week. It was most recently performed at the Dance Loft on 14 in the fall. 

The production uses dance to capture the sadness and immediacy behind climate change. Movius describes the project as a “deep-seated urgency” to get at the emotion behind the inevitability of climate change and dire need to reduce its effects, beyond the technical text in legislation she was working on in her policy jobs. 

But the creation of the dance stems back to one night when she watched a documentary on how the Arctic and Antarctic are responding to their changing temperatures. She was inspired. 

“I realized there are all these different types of ways that ice in the Arctic and Antarctic are responding to climate change, and those have physical movement qualities,” Movius says. “That could be the structure for the piece.”

Movius hopes the audience at the National Portrait Gallery performance walks away feeling validated in their fears about climate change, but also prompted to act. 

Other dance companies are tackling similar topics through movement. The San Francisco Ballet recently put on a production focusing on the ethics of artificial intelligence, for example. And using art, specifically dance, to communicate technical and intimidating topics is a powerful vehicle to meet people where they are.

“It also sort of humanizes an issue and makes it more relatable,” Movius says. “There are scientific issues that feel dry … But when you take that concept and put it into a performance, that makes it more relatable and accessible, and, I think, it gives the human dimension of why experts feel the way they do about these issues.” 

GLACIER: A Climate Change Ballet by Diana Movius starts at 4 p.m. on April 28 at the National Portrait Gallery as part of the ongoing exhibition Forces of Nature: Voices That Shaped Environmentalism. npg.si.edu. Free.

A new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery explores the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass through both memorabilia from his life and several photographs of the man himself. In addition to being a leading abolitionist and civil rights activist, the museum notes that Douglass was “the most photographed American of the 19th century, a public face of the nation.” This accolade was no accident. 

The NPG’s guest curator, John Stauffer, noted in remarks at a June 15 press preview that Douglass understood the power of images in shaping public perception. Stauffer, the Sumner R. and Marshall S. Kates Professor of English and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, worked with Ann Shumard, the NPG’s senior curator of photographs, to develop a collection that adds a more nuanced lens through which to understand Douglass’ abolition work. 

In his remarks, Stauffer quoted Douglass, who said in a speech, that “poets, prophets, and performers are all picture-makers and visibility is the secret of their power.” The exhibition displays ephemera from his life along with images of Douglass. Copies of his written works and posters promoting Douglass’ pro-abolition meetings sit alongside photographs, paintings, and busts of the activist. The different pieces exhibited aim to demonstrate the intimate relationship between images and protest. 

Douglass was first and foremost an abolitionist who championed African American rights before and after Emancipation Day. But he is also remembered for being “one of the 19th century’s most influential writers, speakers and intellectuals,” the press release notes. Stauffer calls the mid-19th century “the golden age of oratory.” As public speaking became more popular, these speeches helped to spread new ideas, Stauffer explains. Douglass saw the impact new forms of media and technology—such as the photograph—could have on establishing him as a public figure, and giving credit to his work advancing human rights.

Douglass understood the power of photography as a “true art,” the press release notes, for its ability to capture its real human subjects in a way that other art forms did not. Specifically, the release contrasts photos with the racist caricatures that were often used to portray African Americans.

As an activist, Stauffer tells City Paper, Douglass knew fame would broaden the reach of his message, and photography was a huge asset to accomplishing this. The art helped the public connect Douglass’ words to his real face. As Douglass’ fame spread, Stauffer says, he would sell photographs and copies of autobiographies during his speeches. “He recognized the importance of disseminating different forms of his voice,” Stauffer says. Picture making was crucial to his protest and activism. 

One Life: Frederick Douglass explores the life of one of the nation’s greatest civil rights leaders. The exhibition spans from his birth into slavery in Maryland to his escape and eventual freedom to his enduring legacy. The exhibition opens ahead of Juneteenth, the holiday marking the emancipation of enslaved African Americans and acknowledging the inequality that continued immediately afterward, which still manifests in society today. 

Douglass and his abolition work remain an inspiration for activists today. The exhibition depicts the long arc of Douglass’ life through samples of his work and objects that “highlight the power of his remarkable impact,” Stauffer says in the press release. At the press preview, the curator highlighted pieces such as the copies of his written work, correspondence, and photos that One Life: Frederick Douglass displays, and that signify the success and breadth of his activism. 

The exhibition is not the only local tribute to the life and legacy of Douglass. The District rededicated the South Capitol Street Bridge to Douglass, naming it the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, in 1965. 

Douglass hailed from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, but after escaping slavery in 1838, at the age of 20, he traveled to New York, where he married Anna Murray. After Emancipation Day, he returned to the mid-Atlantic and settled in Uniontown, a historic neighborhood in Southeast D.C., where he built his home on Cedar Hill. The estate remains a historical site, and Anacostia now has several murals honoring the abolitionist. 

After Douglass and Murray settled up north, he began attending abolitionist meetings and later, the exhibition explains, “went on to publish three autobiographies and a novella, deliver thousands of speeches and edit the longest continually running Black newspaper of the 19th century, then called The North Star.”

The exhibition will include several of Douglass’ written works as well as his correspondence with President Abraham Lincoln, whom he befriended and advised as his words and ideas spread, and his political influence grew. 

The exhibition explores his friendship with President Lincoln and his eventual position as U.S. Marshal of the District of Columbia. But its larger focus remains on Douglass’ enduring influence on artists and activists today, and how photography, this “true art,” helped to facilitate this. Douglass, the Gallery notes, saw this art to be an engine of social change.

Douglass’ words and work continue to be used as a model for activists and leaders today focused on issues of representation, equity, or enfranchisement. Adding a new depth to the public understanding of Douglass’ work demonstrates not only the significance of his accomplishments, but how it can continue to shape activism today. 
One Life: Frederick Douglass runs June 16, 2023, through April 21, 2024, at the National Portrait Gallery, 8th and G streets NW. npg.si.edu. Free.

Thursday: Unexpected Occurrences at the Kreeger Museum

Taking in the setting and the artworks at the Kreeger Museum’s somewhat out-of-the-way location always feels like stumbling upon hidden gems. That feeling is magnified in Unexpected Occurrences, an exhibition featuring the current cohort of Hamiltonian Artists fellows. The Kreeger’s permanent collection has always hosted a mix of modern art masters as well as exemplars of D.C.’s own art scene such as Sam Gilliam and William Christenberry, but for the past year their The Collaborative guest artist series has spotlighted local talent and D.C.-based arts organizations, and this exhibit is particularly thrilling. Rather than be cordoned off in their own gallery, the works of the Hamiltonian artists are interspersed throughout, creating interesting connections and commentary. Joey Enriquez has a clay monoprint, a form of printmaking that uses designs etched and painted onto clay slabs to transfer an image onto paper, hanging around the corner from a Wassily Kandinsky painting that has sand mixed into the pigment. Amber Eve Anderson has created a video of the turning pages of a book featuring photos of beds overlaid with wave sounds; fittingly enough it sits on a shelf in the library, surrounded by books. Some works were created specifically for this particular space or were selected to critique the collection in some way. Madeline Stratton has a selection of brightly colored and interestingly shaped paintings that take their forms from elements of the building’s architecture, and the colors are more vibrant, neon hues of colors drawn from the Claude Monet paintings that surround them. A sculpture by Lionel Frazier White III, titled “one for the dead,” is an assemblage of doors, candles, and bottles, recalling the tradition in Black communities of pouring one out for the dead. Sandwiched between a room of African sculptures and a room of some modern art stars, it shows a line for how museum’s can evolve their collections and make them more representational. Unexpected Occurrences runs through Aug. 27 at the Kreeger Museum, 2401 Foxhall Rd. NW. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. kreegermuseum.org. Free, advance registration required. — Stephanie Rudig

Saturday: Candlelight: The Best Anime Soundtracks From Joe Hisaishi at Miracle Theatre

What’s so special about Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki movies? Is it the gorgeous animation? The lovingly drawn food? The unique, otherworldly creatures and immersive locations? Or, could it be the music? Those iconic piano scores that, while unique unto themselves, practically scream Ghibli when you hear them? We often underestimate the importance of sound and music in film. (David Lynch, director of films like Fire Walk With Me and Mulholland Drive, believes movies are half visual and half auditory.) Films need to tell stories and explore themes, sure, but they also need to tap into elemental emotions. Music can transport us to a new setting. It can coax out our sympathy for a once-loathed antagonist (even a faceless wraith) and inspire us to take a fresh, fantastical look at what we thought was familiar. In the films of Miyazaki, a lot of that heavy lifting is done by a composer named Joe Hisaishi, who has been working with Miyazaki since the 1980s. Since then, he has become the sound of Ghibli’s most iconic films. Search “Ghibli Music” or “Miyazaki Music” on YouTube. You’ll pull up compilations with millions of views, consisting mostly of Hisaishi’s compositions. All over the world, people are listening to Hisaishi’s music throughout their workdays, microdosing themselves with just enough of that Miyazaki magic to get through another hour or two of spreadsheets and grinning through Zoom meetings. The Hisaishi Candlelight Experience is an opportunity to hear this music in a new way, performed live by the Listeso String Quartet, bathed in the amber glow of flameless candles. Candlelight Concerts has, in the past, presented performances focused on the likes of Vivaldi, Bach, and Queen. It’s only appropriate that Hisaishi and his contributions be honored alongside these names. The quartet will perform songs from Ghibli classics like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo. Candlelight FEVER: The Best of Joe Hisaishi plays at 6:30 and 9 p.m. on Aug. 13 at Miracle Theatre, 535 8th St. SE. themiracletheatre.com. $40–$50. —Will Lennon

Sunday: Family Ties, Powerful Partnerships at the National Portrait Gallery

Two newer, smaller exhibits at the National Portrait Gallery use mid-19th century photographs to illustrate the ties that bind. Powerful Partnerships: Civil War-Era Couples offers modest, sepia-toned portraits of Civil War generals and their spouses—one might call them power couples of the time. Intriguingly, except for Ulysses S. Grant, the featured military men—Nathaniel Banks, George McClellan, and, to an extent, John C. Frémont—had mixed (at best) records on the battlefield, leaving their wives to impress viewers a century and a half later by having found fulfilling supporting roles at a time when avenues for women’s advancement was sharply limited. Family Ties, meanwhile, collects family groupings captured in daguerreotypes, the dominant photographic method of the 1840s and 1850s. Despite their small size, the daguerreotypes, as always, impress with their reflective, jewel-like surfaces. The exhibit features some bold-faced names, including painter Thomas Eakins, former First Lady Dolley Madison (in 1848, just a year before her death), members of Hawaii’s Kamehameha dynasty, then-future President Zachary Taylor, and Peter Cooper, the founder of New York City’s Cooper Union. But the most stunning image is the 1856 daguerreotype of the extended family of Thomas Ustick Walter, a leading architect of the time and a key designer of the U.S. Capitol. Not only does the image include members of Walter’s blended family, but also a free Black woman who worked in Walter’s D.C. household—a definition of family that would have been decades ahead of its time. Family Ties runs through June 11; Powerful Partnerships runs through May 2025 at the National Portrait Gallery, 8th and G streets NW. Daily, 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. npg.si.edu. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Sunday: The Young Master at the Freer Gallery

I’d like to tell you that Jackie Chan’s 1980 feature, his debut for the legendary Hong Kong production company Golden Harvest, used to show at the former Town Theatre on New York Avenue NW, once the place in town to see martial arts movies, now home to the National Museum of Women in the Arts. But The Young Master, Chan’s second feature as a director, has always been elusive in this area. Newspaper listings from the era only reveal a couple of midnight shows at Annandale’s long-shuttered NTI Jefferson in the early 1980s. But worldwide, this thriller grossed what in 2021 dollars would be a cool $200 million. Grossing $10 million Hong Kong dollars, The Young Master was one of the movies that made Chan a superstar. And, in one exquisitely choreographed fight scene after another, his charm and violent temper (and gluttony for punishment) bursts off the screen. Chan, at his peak, was like a dancer—as if Gene Kelly had taken up Kung Fu instead of tap shoes. With his Everyman looks and natural athleticism, Chan made it look effortless, though it was far from easy. In what would be one of many instances of major injury on set, Chan almost suffocated during filming due to a throat injury. Behind the scenes, in what sounds like a subplot out of one of his movies, Chan ran afoul of gangsters who wanted the rising star to make another movie for his old boss—or else. Fortunately, it all worked out; Chan established a winning formula that would sustain him for decades, and if more recent vehicles like 2017’s The Foreigner give him fairly tepid political thriller plots, he hasn’t lost his ability to win over an audience, albeit with less death-defying stunts. The National Museum of Asian Art closes out this year’s Made in Hong Kong film festival with a 35mm print of Chan’s genre classic. The Young Master screens at 2 p.m. on Aug. 14 at the Freer Gallery of Art, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. asia.si.edu. Free. —Pat Padua

Daily: Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room at the Sackler Gallery

D.C. is blessed with several artistic sanctuaries where one can escape for a moment of zen: the Rothko Room at the Phillips Collection, the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, and the gardens at Hillwood Estate, just to name a few. But the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room at the National Museum of Asian Art is a retreat unlike anything else at any other museum. Hundreds of statues sit atop painted and carved tables, as well as candlesticks, bells, drums, and other ritual objects. The walls are lined with tapestries and paintings, lights flicker in the dimly lit space, and the sound of Tibetan monk chants fills the room. It’s an utterly engrossing experience, one that envelops the audience in an atmosphere of calm while presenting a dizzying array of things to look at. The room sucks visitors in, and they may have a hard time tearing themselves away. I’d personally come back for a hit of the shrine room every day if I could, but in lieu of that, it can be experienced virtually, chanting and all. Online, visitors can browse and dive further into the various items on display, clicking to reveal background information. Really though, in tense and troubled times like these, it’s worth traveling to this relaxing oasis and unwinding in person. The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room is ongoing and open daily 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the National Museum of Asian Art’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. asia.si.edu. Free. —Stephanie Rudig 

There are a lot of sayings about home. It’s where the heart is, there’s no place like it, and, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Really, that’s the continuing appeal of Downton Abbey—for the fans and its stars alike. 

“It was just really like going home, to the family,” actor Elizabeth McGovern tells City Paper about coming back to play the role of Cora Crawley in the film Downton Abbey: A New Era. Wearing loose black pants and teal silk blouse with her perfectly gray hair pulled back into a classic ponytail, McGovern is stunning.

It’s May 17 and the Oscar and Emmy-nominated actor is in D.C. for one day only to do movie press and attend a special screening of the film hosted by Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the U.S. Dame Karen Pierce DCMG, Comcast NBCUniversal, and Focus Features. When I arrive at her suite, it’s 3 p.m., and she hasn’t left her Georgetown hotel filled with press and PR people all day. McGovern can’t tell me how a D.C. premiere differs from one in New York or L.A. or London, as this is her first in Washington (“I’ll have to get back to you,” she jokes). But she’s no stranger to the city. 

Though she doesn’t give me a year, McGovern says she did a play—Ring Around the Moon—at Arena Stage some years back. “So I spent some time here then.” A quick google confirms, then was in 1988. She’s been back for brief visits since. She looks out the window overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue NW. “It’s so frustrating especially because it’s so gorgeous out,” she says.

As a show, Downton ran from 2010 to 2015, and won numerous awards, including an Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. Four years later, the first movie was released. At the time, critics described it as a sort of homecoming. The same can be said for the latest movie, which arrived in theaters on May 20. The problem with A New Era, however, is that to succeed in telling a new tale, the film must untie storylines already nicely packaged at the show’s or movie’s end. It reminds me of something David Crane, one of the creators of Friends, said when asked about its characters: “I’d like to believe they all ended up happy, which is also one of the reasons why we always resisted the idea of doing a follow-up or a reboot. Because you’re going to do a show where, if you’re going to keep their stories going, you need conflict. I don’t want to see the episode where characters are getting divorced or, God forbid, they all come back to Central Perk for someone’s funeral.” (It’s a lesson we’ve certainly learned from the Sex and the City movies, not to mention the franchise’s And Just Like That reboot.)

For McGovern, however, A New Era offers something, well, new. “I’ve been one of the people over the years who said we gotta stop while we’re ahead,” she says. “But I never would have thought it possible to feel that there was something really fresh. It’s almost like it’s been given a shot of oxygen in this movie.”

In some ways, the film picks up where the last left off. It opens with Tom Branson’s (Allen Leech) wedding to Lucy (Tuppence Middleton), who we met in the first film as a lady’s maid and secret heir to a wealthy estate. We learn Violet (Maggie Smith) is still alive and has been gifted a villa in France. “Cinema people” want to film a movie at Downton, Edith (Laura Carmichael) wants to work again, and Mary (Michelle Dockery) is annoyed with her husband’s ongoing absence. (If you’re a Matthew Goode fan, don’t even expect a cameo this time around; when asked why McGovern shrugs: “You’d have to ask his agent.”) Anna (Joanne Froggatt) and Bates (Brendan Coyle) have a child, Daisy (Sophie McShera) and Andy (Michael Fox) are married, Thomas (Robert James-Collier) is still sad, gay, and alone—but far less mean, and Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) finally says aloud that she likes Molesley (Kevin Doyle). In short, life goes on, and, for that alone, there’s a comfort in watching the new film.

Though it’s often described as an “upstairs, downstairs” story, much of what Downton created for viewers was a family, both blood and chosen, to root for. It’s also a story that, despite its never-ending drama, the ups and downs are tempered by British sensibility and dry wit. McGovern describes the latest story as “almost like you’ve been given a hug.”

She continues, “I just hope an audience will escape for a couple hours. I think that’s what the movie gives them. It’s sort of an injection of positivity—and that’s so important. We’re so inundated with negative news stories, negative images, a feeling of absolute hopelessness and helplessness, but somehow this family goes on and on and on.”

But even then, it feels at once like there’s too much to tell and yet not enough. The film struggles to find its pacing, which it doesn’t really do until almost two-thirds of the way into the two-hour runtime. Likewise it initially seems as if the majority of the cast are going through the motions (Jim Carter as Carson is a notable exception). To be fair, the script splits the massive clan apart for a large portion of the film, with some traveling to France to see the aforementioned villa; this is the likely culprit of the jarring scene changes. And new cast members turn on the charm: Jonathan Zaccaï as the Marquis de Montmirail and Laura Haddock as Myrna Dalgleish provide fresh humor, while Hugh Dancy (Jack Barber) brings Hollywood and a bit of romance to Downton, and Dominic West‘s Guy Dexter hints at a love story to root for.

As a devoted fan, I found myself laughing aloud time and again. During the screening at the National Portrait Gallery on May 17, the audience laughed right along with me. When the lights came on, many wiped away tears. McGovern sums it up as, “this circle of life. The new is always encroaching [in Downton], but you get a sense of the continuity, of going on… It’s reassuring,” she pauses. “I hope people are reassured.”

What’s next for Downton is unclear. McGovern admits she doesn’t know if this is the end and says there have been talks of possible prequels and spinoffs—maybe one following Thomas’ new plotline, or maybe the story of Cora and Robert’s courting. Nothing is set. What McGovern does know is that she’d like to return to theater soon. Before stepping back into Cora’s shoes, McGovern wrote and starred in the two-person play, Ava: The Secret Conversations, which premiered in London. 

“It was so much fun to do, and I loved it so much; I’d like to do it somewhere in America. But I don’t know,” she says. “As you might imagine, it’s so tough with theater right now…so it might take a while.”

Asked if she’d consider bringing the play to D.C. she enthusiastically exclaims: “Sure! If anyone would ask me I would!”

Maybe it’s not true what they say—that you can go home again—but you can let some stories have their long-awaited happily ever afters. 

Downton Abbey: A New Era is in theaters everywhere as of May 20.

Welcome to Friday! City Paper is trying some different things as we move toward a digital-first existence. What does that mean for you? For starters, City Lights will now be delivered in one easy-to-access package every week. So check back here on Fridays for our recommendations and ruminations on the best and lesser known artsy events happening in our fair city. —Sarah Marloff

Open Saturday: LE DRIP: The Uncontainable Sauce of Black Essence

Blu Murphy, the D.C.-based artist and arts educator, is celebrating her Black community and featuring its stories in her current solo exhibit LE DRIP: The Uncontainable Sauce of Black Essence, on display at Alexandria’s Target Gallery. Using her elementary and middle school students as the subjects of her work, Murphy seeks to spotlight individuals who are often overlooked at the age they begin to become “unseen.” The series centers Black narratives in mixed media works combining photography and graffiti, as well as collage elements. As Murphy notes in the press release, the paint drips, for which the exhibition is named, represents the “uncontainable and undeniable sauce of the [B]lack essence,” the ingredients of which is the community’s “combined pain, triumphs, joys, strength, and swag.” By tagging the works with “I am Art,” Murphy challenges viewers to see and ask themselves to consider what is art and what is valuable? The exhibition itself pops against the white walls of the gallery. The stark contrast shines a spotlight on the untold stories of frequently undervalued individuals. Over the entrance of LE DRIP, shoes hang from the ceiling to remember lost community members. Emerging as the exhibit progresses is a breakthrough—a disenfranchised community that is seen. Black essence drips through each portrait and flows from one piece to the next, proving that the unseen leads to masterpieces. “I see art everywhere I go, most importantly in my community,” Murphy says. “Everyone is a work of art.” Through July 17 at Target Gallery, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria. torpedofactory.org. Open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free. —Anupma Sahay

Sunday: District Cinema: Flee

Patricia Nader is a film fan who’s spent the past two months planning the launch of District Cinema, a pop-up experience devoted to screening independent foreign film in slightly unusual settings. After weeks of organizing, the pop-up will pop up for its first time at the Adams Morgan Afghan Bistro, Lapis, on Sunday, May 15. The eclectic, swanky restaurant is an ideal setting for a screening of Flee, a Danish documentary about Amin, a queer Afghan refugee’s journey from Afghanistan to Denmark. The film puts a unique twist on the documentary format—director Jonas Poher Rasmussen opted to use animation to tell Amin’s story while protecting his identity. While Rasmussen won’t be there in person, District Cinema will share a pre-recorded Q&A with the director following the screening. “I launched [District Cinema] because I love film and I think D.C. has a need for more film events,” Nader tells City Paper. But it’s not just about movies. The hope is that District Cinema will not only host film screenings, but also feature food and drink specials—“To shed light on different cultures through film, but also through other mediums,” says Nader. That’s exactly what this first event aims to do. Ticket holders will be treated to a specialty cocktail—or mocktail—as well as a selection of Afghan appetizers from Lapis. The Bib Gourmand restaurant, owned by a local Afghan family, has been a great partner, says Nader. Likewise, the city’s Immigration Film Festival has also joined forces with District Cinema to help make the event happen. Nader, whose day job is in the hospitality industry, says the pop up is a passion project that she’s doing with the help of some friends. That passion is clear. District Cinema isn’t looking to profit from ticket sales. Instead, all proceeds will be donated to Afghanistan Youth Relief Foundation, an organization that supports displaced Afghan refugees in the region and throughout the country. For now, Flee is the only screening on the calendars, but Nader’s hopeful District Cinema will host monthly events, with fundraising components (a June event that will likely support Ukraine is in the works). But first, let’s enjoy this one. District Cinema presents Flee and fundraiser starts at 6:30 p.m. on May 15 at Lapis, 1847 Columbia Rd. NW. instagram.com/districtcinema_. $55. —Sarah Marloff

Ongoing: Sporarium 

Friends Artspace shines a light on sculptures—quite literally—in its new exhibition by Yuko Nishikawa. Sporarium showcases ceramic pendants, sculptures, tableware, and lamps, among other objet d’art, some plunging from the ceiling and some bewitchingly arranged along the walls and tables of the small gallery. Nishikawa’s roots in Brooklyn and Japan inspire her whimsical ceramics, which are created in all colors and shapes. As a designer and contemporary ceramicist, Nishikawa plays with edges and coloration to create pieces alive with story. She experiments with lighting to create movement and illuminate the ceramics in the exhibition. As the light moves through the edges and colors of the pieces, alternate surfaces are dimmed and highlighted, colors are softened, and shadows create gradients. The industrial application of lighting constructs movable designs to continue each story. As the ceramics move and evolve, Nishikawa’s journey with her ceramics remains constant, even as the pieces spring up from her handwork and transform in the depths of her kiln. Friends Artspace calls the artist’s connection with her works as her “delight” to reunite with the ceramics as she retrieves them, and her excitement for their reveal. With new parts of each fantastical ceramic to discover as the light continues to shine, refracting on surfaces and illuminating different areas, the pieces can feel both recognizable and unexplored. Nishikawa seeks to trigger wonder with the mystery of each piece. “‘Piku piku’ is a Japanese onomatopoeia that describes involuntary movements caused by unexpected contact,” says Nishikawa. “I want my work to make you feel piku piku, tickling something deep down inside you.” Through May 27 at Friends Artspace, 2400 N. Edgewood St., Arlington. friendsartspace.com.  —Anupma Sahay

Wednesday: Cloud Cult

Minnesotan indie rock band Cloud Cult had grand plans for the release of their long-awaited studio album, initially slated to be unveiled to the public in March 2020 via collaborative performances with the Minnesota Orchestra. Those plans, and the album, were shelved when the pandemic hit, but the delay gave the band an opportunity to reevaluate the material. “There was so much transition going on personally and globally, that it felt like spending time with the songs and letting them adjust to the new paradigm was important,” explains lead singer Craig Minowa. “Some of the songs got ditched, and some of them drastically changed themselves to adjust with the times.” The resulting effort, Metamorphosis, focuses on global change and the need for people to make serious adjustments to face global crises. Now finally hitting the road, including a stop at City Winery on May 18, Cloud Cult, who have always promoted eco friendliness, calculated a way to offset any carbon emissions they’ll have during this tour. “We figured out how much co2 we’re making with our flights, with our travel, with our electricity on stage and in the hotels,” Minowa tells City Paper. “We figured out how many trees need to be planted in order to absorb all that. So this tour, we’re probably going to plant over 1,000 trees just to suck up what we’re putting out there.” The band also picked up where they left off in March 2020, finally playing three sold out shows with the Minnesota Orchestra this past April. “It was absolutely surreal to go from a pandemic where we’re performing over our webcams to being in a venue with a couple of thousand people, all wearing masks, but still sitting shoulder to shoulder,” says Minowa. “That was pretty wild.” Doors open at 6 p.m. on May 18 at City Winery, 1350 Okie St. NE. citywinery.com. $25–$35. Proof of vax and masks required. —Christina Smart

Ongoing: Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue

On June 17, 1972, the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate complex were broken into. Since then, the word “Watergate” has come to represent far more than just the building. The term is used in reference to the burglary, the White House’s attempt to cover up their complacency, and President Richard Nixon’s involvement in the matter. Fifty years after the historic event, the National Portrait Gallery explores the political scandal that ensued through its exhibit, Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue. The exhibit is part of the Portrait Gallery’s One Life series, an initiative that explores the biography of a single figure, theme or moment in time. Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue features twenty-five objects in various mediums—paintings, sculptures, cartoons, and, of course, portraits of those involved in the scandal (including Nixon himself). “The nation has been fascinated by Watergate for more than fifty years,” Portrait Gallery’s acting senior historian Kate Clarke Lemay says in the exhibit’s press release. “The incident and its aftermath have evolved in the decades since into a uniquely American meme, buoyed by depictions in film and pop culture and regular reference in modern political discourse.” The goal of Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue is to “examine the crisis and its contributors through the lenses of the artists and critics of its time,” Lemay continues. The exhibit is an attempt to bring visitors “face-to-face” with all those involved, demonstrate how current events influenced the art and portraiture of the era and vice versa. Though Sept. 5 at the National Portrait Gallery, 8th and G streets NW. npg.si.edu. Free.  —Hannah Docter-Loeb

Here are some arts-related headlines and news stories you may have missed in recent days. We’re sending thoughts to Goonew’s loved ones and fans while streaming Back From Hell. Check back weekly for future Monday Arts Roundups.

Rest in Power: Goonew, an acclaimed Maryland rapper, was shot in the back and killed on Friday evening near his childhood home in District Heights. The Washington Post praised him for his “gift for smearing time, phrasing his rhymes slightly in front of the beat, making the present moment feel weightless and imprecise.” He released his first mixtape in 2017 and has been releasing music and collaborating with local artists ever since. Local rappers, producers, and record labels took to social media over the weekend to remember Goonew. His mother, Patrice Parker Morrow, told WUSA9, “All he wanted to do is try to get his family out the hood. He had a heart bigger than his body. When they took him, they took me.” 

Some Good News: Southeast D.C. rapper Nappy Nappa’s latest album was declared Bandcamp’s Album of the Day last week. The music streaming site calls  ONDAMICUNDERDACOSMICLYTZ, “classic NAPPA: strange, potent, and entirely in its own universe.” Meanwhile, local rocker Bartees Strange was featured in New York Times Magazine’s music issue. Strange, who grew up playing in D.C. hardcore bands, recently signed to 4AD and released his latest single, “Heavy Heart,” on March 1.

Night(s) at the Museum: After a long spell without nightlife, dancing, and art, the National Gallery of Art is bringing back NGA Nights. Now rebranded as National Gallery Nights, the three three-hour events will take place in the West Building on April 14, May 12, and June 9 from 6 to 9 p.m. The first National Gallery Night—Flowers After Hours—is an ode to our blossoming city and all things floral. Expect music by DJ Little Bacon Bear, performances from electric cellist Benjamin Gates, and live art from botanical artist Emily Paluska of Revery Paper Flora. (It will also be a great time to visit NGA’s major upcoming exhibit, Afro-Atlantic Histories, which opens on April 10.) Reservations are required and open now. May’s theme is Prom and embrace your inner Francophile for June’s French Connections.  

Primary Partners: Hamiltonian Artists and local visual arts journal East City Art have entered into a partnership to create a series of online publications aimed at promoting critical writing on the region’s visual art community. Dubbed Essays on Art, the written works, focusing on Hamiltonian Fellows creations, will be commissioned by different writers live at Hamiltonian Artists and East City Art’s online publication. “It’s important that we support artists with a significant piece of thoughtful writing about their work,” Lily Siegel, Hamiltonian Artists’ executive director, said in last week’s press release. “And that we provide opportunity for writers to critically engage directly with the artists working in their communities.”

Sk8er Boi: Megan Fox’s significant other announced an international tour this morning with a stop planned for the nation’s capital. Machine Gun Kelly will play Capital One Arena on June 24, with support from Avril Lavigne and iann dior. This marks MGK’s  first ever arena tour. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 25 at 10 a.m.

Don’t Throw Away Your Shot: Hamilton is coming back to the Kennedy Center, and tickets go on sale on Tuesday, March 22 at 10 a.m. Get your fingers locked and loaded—the show has a history of selling out months of performances within minutes, and the last thing you want to do is duel with overcharging ticket bots. Hamilton runs from Aug. 2 to Oct. 9. —Ella Feldman

Portrait Mode: The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is seeking entries for its 2022 Teen Portrait Competition, which encourages youth to represent their own identity through portraiture.  The competition comes from the Teen Museum Council, a group of 20ish local teenagers who implement teen activities and projects at the museum. Artists between the ages of 13 and 17 can submit a photographic portrait via email (NPG-TeenPortraitCompetition@si.edu) to enter the competition. Submission deadline is March 29. Entries will be judged by the council, and two grand-prize portraits will be displayed at the gallery later this year. —Nelea Johnson

Orchids: Hidden Stories of Groundbreaking Women

We are emerging from the nadir of the cold season—bitter and frigid, gray skies, slippery streets, and wan daylight. It’s enough to make one droop or wither. If you are a delicate hothouse flower, there is at least one vernal escape. It is time again for the annual Orchids exhibition in the glass-enclosed Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, centrally located in the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. Flashes of fuchsia, varying shades of pink, violet, yellow, coral, and bright white. Spotted, dotted, and striped. Delicately thin but sturdy green stakes. Whether one startling symmetrical flower spike, or a cluster of beautiful designs, this most fascinating of flowers blooms and seduces with its bursts of vibrant color, uncanny blossoms morphing into familiar (bees, lizards, faces, and humanoid forms) and alien shapes, and deliciously fragrant aromas. In addition to the exotic orchids, this year’s accompanying exhibit is dedicated to the Hidden Stories of Groundbreaking Women. Described as “barrier-breaking botanists, cutting-edge conservationists, and inspired illustrators,” the didactic panels between the blooms celebrate figures such as modernist painter Georgia O’Keeffe; the 17th-century Chinese courtesan turned poet and painter Gu Mei; and the “Julia Child of orchids,” Rebecca Tyson Northen, whose Home Orchid Growing, published in 1950, remains the perennial how-to on domestic orchid care. Several Smithsonian botanists, including Melissa McCormick and Sarah Hedean, join their ranks. Stop by the Courtyard Café, sit among the orchids, read a favorite book (maybe Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief ), and find a tropical respite during these last few weeks of winter. Orchids: Hidden Stories of Groundbreaking Women runs through April 24 at Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, 8th and G Streets NW. gardens.si.edu. Free.

Block by Block: Naming Washington 

Your morning commute may feel like a chore—the streets just a means of connecting you from A to B. But Leslie Ureña, the National Portrait Gallery’s curator of photographs, sees things a bit differently. In a press release for the Gallery’s current exhibit, Block by Block: Naming Washington, Ureña says “the naming of streets and places creates a living history, connecting past to present.” This feels especially true in Washington, D.C., where many streets bear the names of historical figures. The goal of the exhibit is to connect these namesake’s with the modern-day locations. For instance, gallery visitors will see Mathew B. Brady’s portrait of Clara Barton alongside information about the Clara Barton Parkway, off which sits the home of the American Red Cross founder. Similarly, a portrait of Malcolm X by an unidentified artist connects with today’s Malcolm X Park. Ureña hopes that this exhibit will inspire D.C. residents to get a new appreciation for their city, and turn daily commutes into a communion with icons of decades and centuries past. All together, it features 16 reproductions of portraits and is housed in the National Portrait Gallery’s Riley Gallery. Other figures represented include astronomer Samuel Pierpont Langley, architect Raoul Wallenberg, and Civil War officer David G. Farragut. Whether you are a history buff or looking to spark your curiosity, this ongoing show promises to deliver. The exhibit runs through Jan. 16, 2023, at the National Portrait Gallery, 8th and G Streets NW. npg.si.edu. Free.

Wind Down Wednesday: Hygge and Home

Hygge, approximately pronounced “hoo-guh,” is a Danish word that the Oxford dictionary defines as “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture).” Although it’s said the word has no direct translation into the English language, the National Portrait Gallery is nevertheless trying to bring some into our lives with “Wind Down Wednesday: Hygge and Home,” a virtual happy hour and relaxation event. This week, the event celebrates writer Marilynne Robinson and her portrait, which can be found in the museum’s Her Story: A Century of Women Writers exhibit. Starting at 5 p.m. on Instagram live, local plant-based chef Megan Segarra will kick off the event with a tutorial of her infused spiked tea and a non-alcoholic alternative. The drinks will be enjoyed with a discussion of Robinson’s portrait—a gentle photograph of her surrounded by plants, taken by Alec Soth—and a reading of excerpts from her books. Then, local candle maker Amina Ahmad will guide viewers through a lesson on candles and aromatherapy. If that wasn’t enough hygge, the hour will end with a botanical watercolor workshop inspired by Robinson’s portrait. The event beings at 5 p.m. on Jan. 27 on Instagram Live @smithsoniannpg. Free.