Our Picks

PHOTOFIELDS 2008: WAVE PARTICLE DANCE OF LIFE -- Closes Saturday. Images by Los Angeles-based artist Michael W. Barnard. R Street Gallery, 2108 R St. NW. 202-588-1701. FREE

REGIME CHANGE STARTS AT HOME -- Closes Saturday. The politically themed exhibition includes new works by Shepard Fairey, Al Farrow and Paul D. Miller, better known in the music world as DJ Spooky. Irvine Contemporary, 1412 14th St. NW. 202-332-8767. FREE

MID CITY ARTISTS FALL OPEN STUDIOS -- Saturday-Dec. 7. Twenty artists in and around Logan and Dupont circles open their studios to the public for a weekend of art exposure. Participating artists include Lucinda F. Murphy, Charlie Jones, Billy Colbert and Robert Dodge. For details, visit http://www.midcityartists.com. FREE

WINTER SILHOUETTES: BONSAI & PENJING EXHIBIT -- Opens Saturday. Through Dec. 14. Deciduous trees from the museum's permanent collection are shown without the cover of their leaves before being put into winter storage. U.S. National Arboretum, 3501 New York Ave. NE. 202-245-2726. FREE

GEORGIA GOLDBERG: LIGHT, SHADOW AND AIR -- Through Dec. 20. A gallery installation focusing on making the invisible visible. McLean Project for the Arts, McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean. 703-790-1953. FREE

LINO TAGLIAPIETRA IN RETROSPECT: A MODERN RENAISSANCE IN GLASS -- Through Jan. 11. The Venetian-trained studio glass artist credited with expanding the art form is the subject of a career retrospective featuring 140 works spanning four decades. Renwick Gallery, 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. 202-633-1000. FREE

PORTRAITURE NOW: FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY -- Through Sept. 27. Images by photographers working on assignment for such publications as the New Yorker, Esquire and the New York Times Magazine show the vulnerabilities and struggles of Everyman alongside similarly frank celebrity portraits. National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F streets NW. 202-633-8300. FREE

Movies

Films open Friday and are in general release unless otherwise noted. Opening dates subject to change. Check http://www.washingtonpost.com/moviesor Friday's Weekend section for details and complete movie listings.

WASHINGTON JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL -- See Can't Miss.

CADILLAC RECORDS -- For those who can't get enough of Beyoncé, here she is playing Etta James in this historically fictionalized account of the rise of Chess Records during the 1950s. Also starring Adrien Brody as famed music producer Leonard Chess, Mos Def as Chuck Berry, Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters and Gabrielle Union as the put-upon wife of Waters.

NOBEL SON -- This movie looks cracked-out beyond belief! Alan Rickman plays a philandering chemist who just won a Nobel Prize and has to deal with his tough-as-nails wife (Mary Steenburgen) and the violent kidnapping of their PhD-candidate son (Bryan Greenberg). Somewhere along the way, Bill Pullman and Danny DeVito get involved. Based on the trailer, this looks like a combination of "The Game," "Ransom," "Indecent Proposal," "True Lies," "Pulp Fiction" and "The Story of Louis Pasteur."

PUNISHER: WAR ZONE -- This superhero movie does not star Tom Jane, who played the Punisher in the 2004 movie. This one stars an Irishman named Ray Stevenson who battles a villain known as Jigsaw, a name that appears blatantly stolen from the "Saw" franchise. Either way, someone gets punished. (It's probably us.)

SAVE ME -- When it comes to Christianity and homosexuality, who's the boss? Let's ask Judith Light, who stars as a woman who runs a ministry that tries to counsel gay men to become straight. Robert Gant ("Queer as Folk") mentors Chad Allen (who played Matthew Cooper in "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman") through his "conversion." Suffice it to say, you can't spell "mentoring" without "men." Landmark's E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. 202-452-7672. $7.50-$10.

WAR CHILD -- See Can't Miss.

On Stage

TWELFTH NIGHT -- Opens Tuesday. Through Jan. 4. One of Shakespeare's most popular comedies deals with separated twins and mistaken identity. Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW. 202-547-1122. $20-$74.75.

TODD BARRY -- Thursday-Dec. 7. In addition to numerous late-night talk show appearances, the stand-up comedian has been on "Flight of the Conchords" and "Lucky Louie." DC Improv, 1140 Connecticut Ave. NW. 202-296-7008. $15-$17.

THE CHRISTMAS REVELS -- Opens Saturday. Through Dec. 14. Audience participation is encouraged during this fully costumed Renaissance theater piece. George Washington University, Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St. NW. 301-587-3835. $12-$45.

TEHREEMA MITHA DANCE COMPANY -- Saturday at 8 p.m., Dec. 7 at 4 p.m. A contemporary and traditional South Asian-inspired performance. Dance Place, 3225 Eighth St. NE. 202-269-1600. $22, seniors and students $17, 12 and younger $8.

BOOM -- Closes Dec. 7. The premise of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's dark doomsday comedy is whether a marine biologist and a journalism student's coupling in an underground lab could somehow help mankind avoid extinction. Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW. 202-393-3939. $38-$60.

GREY GARDENS -- Through Jan. 4. The cult documentary from 1975 became a Broadway musical last year, and now that musical comes to Washington. Broadway veteran Barbara Walsh stars in the tale of a mother and daughter who, after years of privileged living, allow themselves and their house on Long Island to descend into squalor. Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. 202-332-3300. $49-$67.

NEXT TO NORMAL -- Through Jan. 18. This musical about manic depression concerns a housewife who is falling apart. The production, directed by Michael Greif ("Rent"), came straight from New York. Arena Stage, 1800 S. Bell St., Arlington. 202-488-3300. $47-$66.

Sports

CAPITALS -- Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the Florida Panthers. Thursday at 7 p.m. against the New York Islanders. Verizon Center, 601 F St. NW. 202-397-7328. $25-$225.

WIZARDS -- Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the Portland Trail Blazers. Friday at 7 p.m. against the Los Angeles Lakers. Verizon Center, 601 F St. NW. 202-397-7328. $40-$275.