Washington DC Travel Guide

Washington, D.C. is known throughout the country for its commitment to the arts. The district’s musical history has been well documented, especially the unique genres it spawnedD.C. hardcore and the funk subgenre of go-go. D.C. is also recognized as a home for theatre lovers, and has developed a scene infused with the same edgy and independent ethos as the best D.C. music. Throughout the district, clear wireless internet service makes it easy to stay connected at all times, so why not order some tickets to at least one performance during your stay?A number of local companies make their home in the district. The Arena Stage, founded in 1950, has the self-proclaimed mission “to produce huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit. Arena has broad shoulders and a capacity to produce anything from vast epics to charged dramas to robust musicals.” The theater’s 1967 play The Great White Hope, a fictionalized story of boxer John Arthur “Jack” Johnson, was later transferred to Broadway and made into a 1970 film. In 1976, the Arena Stage was the second theater outside of New York to receive a Tony for theatrical excellence.The Shakespeare Theatre Company is also housed in the district, and has been called “the nation’s foremost Shakespeare company” by the Wall Street Journal. Despite its name, the Shakespeare Theatre Company also produces plays by other renowned writers, from Euripides to Oscar Wilde. However, Shakespeare is certainly what made the company’s name (no pun intended). In 2006, the company performed Love’s Labor’s Lost at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Complete Works Festival, held at Stratford-upon-Avon.Perhaps the best known performing arts center in the district is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a renowned theater institution that also houses the Washington Ballet, the Washington National Opera, and the National Symphony Orchestra. Each year the Kennedy Center also holds the Kennedy Center Honors, which honors those who have devoted their lives to the performing arts. The Honors debuted in 1978 and were hosted by Walter Cronkite until 2002. Today, Caroline Kennedy (the former president’s daughter) hosts the awards, which are attended by the President and First Lady (also the honorary chair of the center’s Board of Trustees).Even if you’ve never attended a theatre performance before, a trip to D.C. is a perfect chance to try something new. The only downside is that afterwards, you may find that other theatres just don’t deliver, and find yourself making another trip. But then, that’s not really a downside, is it?