TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010

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An online guide to events, night life and entertainment

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has expanded this year to encompass the entire month of May. The full scope of activities is dizzying, but here are some of our favorites:

Embassy tours

Passport D.C. kicks off with the

“Around the World Embassy Tour,” with embassies from all corners of the globe inviting the public to partake in arts, fashion, music and food from their home countries. A week later, other embassies open their doors for “Shortcut to Europe: European Union Embassies’ Open House,” which offers more of the same, but with a more focused geographic and political scope.

“Around the World Embassy Tour”:

Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Shortcut to Europe: European Union Embassies’ Open House”: May 8 from 10

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Ambassadors from around the globe show D.C. love

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assport D.C., the annual celebration of international arts and culture in the District that begins Saturday,

a.m. to 4 p.m. For a full schedule and list of participating embassies, visit www. culturaltourismdc.org/things-do-see/

passport-dc. Free.

Berlinale Favorites: 60 Years of Outstanding Film

The Berlinale (the Berlin International

Film Festival) is one of the German capital’s largest cultural events and a big deal for the international film industry. Dieter Kosslick, Berlinale’s creative director and manager, has selected seven films from the festival’s six decades to be screened at the Goethe-Institut. The films include “Head On,” “Trace of Bears” and “12 Angry Men.”

May 10 through July 12.

Goethe-Institut, 814 Seventh St. NW. 202-289-1200. For a full schedule of films and screenings, visit www.goethe.de/ INS/us/was/enindex.htm. $4-$6.

Dragon boat races

The ninth annual Dragon Boat Festival

takes place at the Thompson Boat Center, with local and visiting teams competing in the two-day event. There will also be music performances and hands-on activities.

May 15-16 at 10 a.m. Thompson Boat

Center/Georgetown waterfront, 2900 Virginia Ave. NW. 800-372-1186. www.

dragonboatdc.com. Free.

International Children’s Festival

Meridian International Center produces the International Children’s Festival every May, with embassies hosting booths as well as music and dance performances from around the world. After the festival, check out Alliance Francaise’s Kids World Cinema showcase.

May 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kids

ANDREA BRUCE/THE WASHINGTON POST

ON DECK: Thompson Boat Center hosts dragon boat races May 15 and 16.

World Cinema from 4 to 5 p.m. Meridian International Center, 1624 Crescent Pl. NW. 202-667-6800. www.meridian.org. $10.

Today’s online tip

The American Film Institute’s tribute to Orson Welles continues with “Touch of Evil,” the 1958 thriller with one of the most famous opening sequences in cinematic history. Find out more at www.

goingoutguide.com.

Fiesta Asia Street Fair

The fifth annual National Asian

Heritage Foundation’s Fiesta Asia Street Fair features outdoor craft exhibits, live performances, food and open-market vendors, interactive displays, martial arts demonstrations, a talent show, cooking demonstrations and flash-mob dancing.

May 22 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Pennsylvania Avenue NW between Third and Sixth streets. www.

asiaheritagefoundation.org. Free.

—Justin Rude

PLANNING AN EVENT WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ? TELL U S . SEND LISTINGS INFORMA TION TO EVENTS@WASHINGTONP OST.COM

Sister keeps the light on for cat missing 3 years

ASK AMY

Dear Amy: My sister lives alone and

works from home doing market research. Until a few years ago her only companion was her cat, whom she had for about 10 years.

About three years ago she let

the cat out at night, as usual, and it never came back. By now we are all sure the poor thing is permanently gone, but my sister is still waiting for the cat to return!

She still has her food dishes and litter box in the kitchen and her toys are scattered around the house. My sister gets very angry if we

even suggest that she get another pet. Worse than that, ever since the cat went away she refuses to visit me or any of her other relatives who own cats. When I tell my sister that I think she needs help, she stops speaking to me for weeks at a time. This has been going on for

three years! Is this normal?

Worried Sister

If your sister functions well, has relationships, spends time out in the world and seems like herself (other than her eccentricity over the cat), then you shouldn’t focus on it. However, if she doesn’t leave her house easily (even aside from the cat issue), she could have a condition called agoraphobia. Her emotion over the cat might be a red herring, masking other issues. People who are agoraphobic

develop an extreme reluctance to leave their homes. This is debilitating but treatable. Your sister’s grief over the cat might have triggered this or another

issue, and I agree with you that she should get professional help.

I hope you can continue to

encourage her toward treatment. Don’t discuss the cat, but focus on her overall health. Don’t blame her for anything or accuse her of being weird or abnormal. Be very gentle and encouraging. Say you’re worried about her and want to try to help. She could start by discussing this with her physician.

Dear Amy:

I usually enjoy my relative invisibility with strangers, but now I’m seven months pregnant. Now that I’m really, really looking pregnant, I feel harassed by strangers for too much personal information. (I like talking to friends and family about my pregnancy; their questions don’t bother me.) I know that people enjoy sharing in pregnancy and are generally happy about this, but the never-ending “When are you due? No, what is the exact date?” and “Is this a boy or a girl? Your first child? What’s the other kid? What are you naming her? Are you breast-feeding her?” questions really get to me. What do you suggest as a polite and socially acceptable way to say, “None of your

business, nosy stranger!”?

Pregnant and Peppered

I realize this is annoying, but for some people (mainly women, I assume), the mere sight of a bulging belly causes them to forget their good manners and ask questions they would never dream of posing in

another context. A related syndrome occurs

after the baby is born, where, for instance, strangers might approach you and ask to smell your infant’s little head. This impulse tapers off around the time the child develops a mind of her own and thus becomes less interesting to all but her family.

If you find yourself trapped, one polite way to handle this would be to say, “I’m sorry — have we met?” You can respond further by saying, “I feel this is pretty personal.”

Dear Amy: I am in the same situation as

“Reluctant Eavesdropper,” the reader who was bothered by noisy co-workers gathered near her desk. There are days when customers who are calling me ask if there is a party going on in the background. I have brought it to the

attention of the two offenders and my supervisor. There is no easy solution as work space is limited. I am going to invest in a good noise-reducing headset shortly.

Annoyed

You can respond to prospective customers by saying, “My colleagues love our product so much they are extra- exuberant today! I hope you can forgive the noise.”

Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@ tribune.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.

© 2010 by the Chicago Tribune Distributed by Tribune Media Services

COLIN HOVDE

CLOWNISH:Cast members sport engaging masks in “House With Two Doors,” a 17th-century Neapolitan comedy by Faction of Fools Theatre Company.

Three out of the Fringe and into the spotlight

‘Hoodoo’ is highlight in inaugural series of ensemble dramas

by Celia Wren

She stepped on the gas, and now can’t get it off

HINTS FROM HELOISE

Dear Heloise: I purchased a nice pair of slacks and wore them to an event where buses were loading and unloading. Unfortunately, my slacks were long, and the hem got soaked with fuel that was on the ground. My slacks now smell like fuel. I have laundered them, and the odor is not as strong, but it is still obviously there. I’m not sure what I should use to launder my nice black slacks to remove the smell without damaging the

material or color.

Dolly from Fort Wayne, Ind.

Help is here! This happens more than you know. You must hang the

gas-stained garment outside so the fuel can evaporate as much as possible. It may take several days. Then wash the pants in the

hottest water the manufacturer recommends, adding a bit more detergent and 1

⁄4 cup plain

ammonia (non-sudsing) to the wash water. After washing, line-dry outside. Repeat this process if any smell remains. The most important thing to remember when handling fuel spills on clothes is to not place

the items in the dryer after washing them. Fumes from the fuel could possibly cause a fire, if there is any significant amount left in the material. You also might take the pants to your local dry cleaner. Discuss what the stain is, and the dry-cleaning experts should be able to assist you.

Dear Heloise: I have a couple of hints that I use all the time. When I have an important date or an appointment, I write it on my bathroom mirror with a dry-erase pen. No one sees it but me, and it cleans up with a damp cloth.

When I get a white glass or cup ring on a wooden table, I spray it lightly with a petroleum-based lubricant, and wipe it with a soft cloth. Works every time.

Susan, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: I keep an empty tissue box

next to the fresh, newly opened box. It becomes a handy receptacle for used tissues that might otherwise get left on the coffee table or bedside table. It goes in the trash when the next

box is opened.

Jo Migliavacca, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: We recycle our square clay

pots into frog houses. An overturned corner piece makes a nice frog house, and the frogs eat the slugs in my garden. Much safer than using slug bait, which my dog might get into.

K. in Houston

Dear Heloise: I have an easy method of

keeping athletic shoes and regular-wear shoes smelling sweet. I place used dryer sheets in each shoe after I exercise to keep the “gym smell” in check. When my running shoes get wet, I place rolled-up newspapers in each shoe for 24 hours. The paper absorbs the moisture and leaves the shoes dry and ready for the next workout.

Derck F., The Villages, Fla.

Send a hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Tex. 78279-5000, fax it to 210-HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com. Please include your city and state.

© 2010, King Features Syndicate

You might not expect to en- counter accordion music in the midst of a transformative mysti- cal journey — but the wheezing tunes fit quite naturally into “Hoodoo,” an intriguing physical theater piece with a current of whimsical humor coursing through its philosophical depths. Devised by an ensemble — Scot McKenzie, Dan Istrate, Kathleen Akerley and John Gurski — this 50-minute dreamscape imagines a mythic showdown between a man and an enigmatic being — a shadow self? — who just happens to be a dab hand on the squeeze- box. The piece is part of the inaugu-

ral Wattage performance series, a new initiative by those ever-ambi- tious folks at Capital Fringe. Watt- age also features two other just- minted shows: “The House With Two Doors,” Faction of Fools Theatre Company’s reconstruc- tion of a 17th-century commedia dell’arte work; and “Yours, Isa- bel,” a World War II play penned by Christy Hall. The three produc- tions run in repertory through May 9 at the Shop at Fort Fringe. During “Hoodoo,” a looming toadstool-shaped rock turns the stage into an eerie stretch of des- ert. (Jan Forbes designed the geo- logical formation, which at times looks like painted Styrofoam — but who expects high-gloss pro- duction values in the world of Fringe?) An exhausted traveler (McKenzie) in a torn black jacket and black pants crawls into view,

The Wattage series: 3 shows in repertory

Wattage is the brainchild of Capital Fringe, a performance series of three shows running in repertory that are “examinations of the thread of self through explorations in global citizenship,” according to the group’s Web site. The pieces are running through May 9 at the Shop at Fort Fringe, 607 New York Ave.NW. Call 866-811-4111 or visit www.

CapitalFringe.org.

digs for water and — in some of the show’s few spoken lines — sa- lutes the Earth, wind, sun and moon. Then, as wind wuthers in the background (Nate Taylor mas- terminded the evocative sound design), the man conjures his loincloth-clad double (Istrate) from the rock. The dancelike physical activity

that ensues — fight sequences; a bout of chair-tossing; steps and poses in which the two men mir- ror each other; a “Stomp”-like percussion moment — seems to ponder the mysterious, antago- nistic relationship between civili- zation and primitivism, rational- ity and instinct, the Self and the Other.

Or something like that. Any-

way, it’s all highly watchable, and the crisp, sinewy movements of Istrate, who has performed in Synetic Theater’s physically styl- ized productions, add consider- able flair. With its seamless flow and sensibility, “Hoodoo” is a tes- tament to the possibilities of en- semble creation.

An ensemble also generated

“The House With Two Doors,” but the product is far less polished. Faction of Fools is a troupe that specializes in commedia dell’arte;

its artistic director, Matthew R. Wilson, and his performers have, through months of creative brain- storming, re-imagined the 17th- century Neapolitan comedy “The House With Two Doors,” a tedious bit of antic buffoonery involving scheming lovers, doddering fa- thers, clownish servants, surrep- titious bedroom visits and occa- sional winking rifts in the fourth wall. Dressed in colorful period garb (Lynly Saunders is costumi- er), the cast tends to display the kind of fidgety movement-style characteristic of amateur per- formers — though Toby Mulford, Annetta Dexter Sawyer and Laura J. Scott bring poise to the roles of Il Dottore, Tartaglia and Rosetta, respectively. The production does boast beautiful masks designed by Antonio Fava, an international director, actor and craftsman.

style@washpost.com

Wren is a freelance writer.

Yours, Isabel, written by Christy Hall; directed by Rex Daugherty; with Stephanie Roswell and Matt Lutz. Approximately 90 minutes.

Hoodoo, devised by Scot McKenzie, Dan Istrate, Kathleen Akerley and John Gurski. Assistant lighting design, Yuriy Zahvoyskyy; costume design, Julianne Brienza. Approximately 50 minutes.

The House With Two Doors,

directed and devised by Matthew R.

Wilson, written by the ensemble, based on the Casamarciano scenario. Assistant director and deviser, Toby Mulford; sound design, Josh Taylor; set/props coordinator, Mike Smith. With Vanessa Buono, Chase Helton, Michelle Tang Jackson, J. Denise Perrino, Graham Pilato and TD Smith. Approximately 70 minutes.

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