Washington DC: Culture and sports
With five different theater spaces, the Kennedy Center , 2700 F St NW (tel 202/467-4600, ; Foggy Bottom Metro), next to the Watergate complex, hosts most of the capital's highbrow cultural events (including Washington Opera and Washington Ballet Company performances). It also presents nightly film screenings organized by the American Film Institute (tel 202/785-4600). The highly regarded, often pioneering Arena Stage , Sixth Street and Maine Avenue SW (tel 202/488-3300, ; Waterfront Metro), puts on contemporary theater and performance pieces at its three-stage complex, while the historic Ford's Theatre , 511 Tenth St NW (tel 202/426-6924; Metro Center Metro), has a family-friendly program of mainstream musicals and dramas, frequently historical in nature. The celebrated Shakespeare Theatre , 450 Seventh St NW (tel 202/547-1122, ; Archives-Navy Memorial Metro), stages four productions a year, plus a free summer performance in Rock Creek Park. The experimental Woolly Mammoth Theatre , 1401 Church St NW (tel 202/393-3939, ; Dupont Circle Metro), and the Source Theatre Company , 1835 14th St NW (tel 202/462-1073; U St-Cardozo Metro), the anchor of DC's alternative theater scene, are also worth seeking out.Out of the city, Wolf Trap Farm Park , 1551 Trap Rd, Vienna, VA ( ), is the country's first national park for the performing arts, presenting concerts, opera, ballet and dance at the outdoor Filene Center (tel 703/255-1860) or the indoor Barns (tel 703/938-2404). There's a Metro-shuttle bus service for most performances. For half-price, same-day theater tickets , call 202/TICKETS or visit the TicketPlace booth on the ground floor of the Old Post Office Pavilion on Pennsylvania Avenue NW; otherwise TicketMaster (tel 202/432-7328 or 1-800/551-7328, ) has full-price tickets for all arts, music and sports events.
Tickets to the Washington Redskins football games at FedEx Field, just inside the Capital Beltway in Landover, Maryland (tel 301/276-6050, ), are sold on a season ticket basis only. You'll have better luck catching the DC United soccer team at RFK Stadium, 2400 E Capitol St SE (tel 703/478-6600; Stadium-Armory Metro). The huge downtown MCI Center (tel 202/661-5500, ; next to Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro) hosts home games of the pro basketball Washington Wizards ( ) and Mystics ( ), as well as the pro hockey Washington Capitals ( ). The prospects for the woebegone Wizards rose when Michael Jordan left retirement to take the floor for them in 2001. The Caps added further star power to their line-up that same year by signing Czech superstar Jaromir Jagr, a prolific goal scorer and perennial all-star, to a seven-year $77 million contract.
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