Our Picks

Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. University of Maryland, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Kay Theatre, Route 193 and Stadium Drive, College Park. $35, seniors $33, students $7. 301-405-2787.

Critics' Choice

NOSFERATU, A SYMPHONY OF HORROR

[MOVIE] There are ways to celebrate Halloween other than sitting at the front door and dispensing candy. You could, for instance, watch a silent horror film the way it was meant to be experienced: in the dark and huddled with other people as live music plays. Take a date Friday night to "Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror," F.W. Murnau's atmospheric black-and-white 1922 classic starring Max Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok, and watch the interplay of images with the notes and tones of Silent Orchestra.

-- Desson Thomson

Friday at 7 and 9:30 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. $20. 301-495-6720.

MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY

[ON STAGE] The company marks 80 years with three powerful works from Graham's earliest decades Friday at George Mason University. The evergreen "Appalachian Spring" (1944) will be among them -- not content to be a classic, it is the company's calling card -- along with the less frequently performed "Embattled Garden" (1958), in which love, as well as sin, blooms in the Garden of Eden, and "Sketches From 'Chronicle,' " one of Graham's anti-fascist works from 1936.

-- Sarah Kaufman

Friday at 8 p.m. George Mason University, Center for the Arts, 4400 University Dr., Fairfax. $20-$40. 703-993-8888 or 888-945-2468.

Date in a Box

WHAT: Middle Eastern art, food and film make for a great downtown date this weekend.

FIRST: Meet at the Freer, where the ongoing exhibition Arts of the Islamic World features fantastic examples of architecture, calligraphy, illustrations, ceramics, metalwork, glass, textiles and ivory art dating from the 9th to the 17th centuries. (Freer Gallery of Art, Jefferson Drive and 12th Street SW. Free. 202-633-4880.)

THEN: Enjoy falafel sandwiches and kebabs in a laid-back setting at George's Townhouse. (1205 28th St. NW. 202-342-2278.)