To Do List for the Weekend of October 1 – 4

The pre-Hays code film Madam Satan will be screened at the Hill Center Sunday at 4pm.

Tonight the Hill Center welcomes novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux. His tenth and most recent book focuses on the Deep South which highlights the region’s cuisine and music as well as the nation’s poorest performing schools and high rates of unemployment. Theroux chats with local journalist Bill Press. The event is free and begins at 7pm. Reservations are encouraged and you can make yours here.

Friday morning is the world premiere of Stay Awake, the opening production in the Atlas Performing Arts Center’s fourth season of Theatre for  the Very Young, a series of live theatrical performances designed for the under 5, ants-in-the-pants crowd. Choreographed by Margot Greenlee and designed by artist Kevin Reese, the show imagines a lullaby that work as planned and sends the main character to a Dreamland of a different sort. The production runs through October 12. Tickets are available here.

The Wunder Garderten Biergarten in NoMa kicks off a weekend of Oktoberfest celebrations at noon on Friday. Expect oompah music from the Edlweiss band, games and of course beer. Entrance fee is $10 and you must be 21 and over to attend.

Scream City DC opens this Friday at RFK Parking lot 8. A full hanted house experience complete with creepy zombies, bloody everythings and sheer terror the horror happening will be in residence all month with “performances” each weekend at 7pm. Tickets are $30 though the Fast Pass “Demon Pack” is $40. They discourage anyone under 13 from attending. Here’s a glimpse of the scary they intend to bring. Reserve those tickets here.

Saturday celebrate Fossil Appreciation Day with a free dinosaur-themed story time and craft session at the Rosedale Library (1701 Gales Street NE.  Ages 4 and up.

Congressional Cemetery hosts the annual Dead Man’s Run 5K and Kids’ Fun Run at 6pm Saturday. The fee is $40 for the 5k, $10 for the fun run. More information on the run can be found here.

At the Atlas Urban Arias, DC’s contemporary opera company, presents AS ONE, a new opera that explores the journey of Hannah, a transgender woman who seeks to understand her own identity and achieve acceptance in the outside world. This one act opera stars a mezzo-soprano and a baritone as they share the part of a sole transgender protagonist. The opera runs through October 10th and tickets are available here.

The Hill Center has revived the pre-code film series, Tough Dames in Satin Slips, hosted by the New Yorker’s Margaret Talbot and film critic Nell Minow. The ‘code’ is the Hays code of 1934 which greatly restricted the content of Hollywood films. The pre-code films are often darker, racier and more cynical that what the studios produced for years afterward. This Sunday the film will be Madame Satan, a story about a socialite who learns her husband is cheating on her and she hosts a costume party ON A DIRIGIBLE where she disguises herself as Madame Satan to win him back. This film not only features the blimp party but also seriously intense musical numbers and some amazing Deco costumes. The screening is free but registration is encouraged. Sign up here.