Friday, May 02, 2008

Cheap dates

Theatre to donate portion of proceeds to USO-Metro
The USO of Metropolitan Washington partners with Olney Theatre Center for its upcoming production of 1776. For any ticket purchased through the Olney box office where “USO” is mentioned, USO-Metro will get $5.
1776 is a lighthearted, musically comedic look at John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson as they grapple with the Continental Congress and independence from Britain. Inspired by the words of our founding fathers.
1776 runs through May 11. Tickets are available from the box office, 301 924-3400.
Olney Theatre Center is in Olney, Md.

Green Spring Garden events
Basic gardening series: annuals, tropicals and tenders, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Friday.
Master gardeners will introduce attendees to exotics that can be used in gardening, $11.
Signs of a Garden, artist Judy Murrett shows simple techniques to help garnish a slate tile for a garden or home. The event is from 1 to 3 p.m., May 2. $35, including slate, paint and other materials.

Cooking with spring vegetables, May 3, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Participants create and eat several seasonal treats with easy recipes.
The program is for adults and children accompanied by an adult. $10/adult or $16/adult and child.
Children’s programs include: Build a birdhouse workshop, Saturday, 2 to 3:30 p.m., for kids 6 and older with accompanying adult. $20, including materials.
For children ages 3 to 5 with an accompanying adult, there is Garden Sprouts: May Flowers, May 1, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. or 11 a.m. to noon; or May 3, 10 to 11 a.m.
Walk through a rainbow of spring flowers in the gardens and create your own special rainbow bouquet to give for Mother’s Day! $5. 
Green Spring Gardens is at 4603 Green Spring Road, Alexandria. Information is available by calling 703 642-5173, or from http://www.greenspring.org.

Oral history program seeks volunteers
Alexandria Legacies, the City of Alexandria’s Oral History Program, needs volunteers to help collect the oral histories of long-time Alexandria residents by documenting their memories of living and working in Alexandria. The City has been collecting oral histories since the early 1980s. Oral histories, usually recorded on audio or video, help us understand the past by hearing
everyone’s unique life experiences. 
Volunteers interview long-time Alexandria residents, including members of its African American communities, and those who once worked at the Potomac Yard Railroad. Responsibilities include conducting an interview and/or transcribing an interview. Volunteers are welcome to interview long-time Alexandria residents they know personally!
Volunteer training sessions are May 10 and June 7, from 10 a.m. to noon, at the Alexandria Archaeology Museum (in the Torpedo Factory Art Center), 105 North Union St., Suite 327, in Old Town Alexandria. New volunteers should attend one of these sessions.
Space is limited and an RSVP is required by May 1. Interested people are asked to contact Jen Hembree, 703 838-4399, or via e-mail to .

Civil War weapons
Volunteers in Civil War period uniforms will demonstrate and explain the procedures used during the muzzle-loading era of American arms May 4 at Fort Washington Park. A musket demonstration is at noon, followed by artillery demonstrations at 1, 2 and 3 p.m.
The park is at 13551 Fort Washington Road, Fort Washington, Md., 20744.
Visitors will have the opportunity to participate in a non-firing artillery drill after each artillery demonstration.
Admission is $5 per vehicle. The event is appropriate for all ages.
More information is available by calling 301 763-4600.

Spring garden party
Mount Vernon has a Spring Garden Party on Mother’s Day weekend, May 10 and 11, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Estate “springs” to life with 18th-century-style musical groups, Mrs. Washington and friends greeting visitors, garden tours, colonial games and dancing, and early-American gardening demonstrations. Visitors leave with party favors - free seed packets. The event is held in conjunction with the end of the annual Gardening Days gift sale.
Activities are included in estate admission: $13 adults; $12 seniors; $6 children (6-11); free for children 5 and younger.
The first First Lady and some of her younger family members greet visitors in the Upper Garden from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 
Traditional 18th-century dancing from costumed interpreters in the Upper Garden is from noon to 4 p.m.
Colonial games may be played all day on the Bowling Green.
“Martha Washington” shares her insight as the mother to her children, grandchildren and her country in the Little Theater at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.
Guided, 30-minute walking tours focusing on Washington’s landscape design are offered at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Sheep-shearing is at the George Washington: Pioneer Farm site from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 3 p.m.
Information is available by calling 703 780-2000 or from http://www.mountvernon.org.