15EZTHE WASHINGTON POST.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019miss the crinkly acoustic walls in
the studios, or the glass-walled Sky-
light Pavilion’s views of the river —
and whatever performances hap-
pen to be going on. A free app, called
Reach Fest, includes a planner and
live schedule.
However, the Kennedy Center’s
website firmly states that tickets for a
certain time slot “do not guarantee
entry to any specific event. The rea-
son is space: The Reach’s overall ca-
pacity is 5,000, but that number is
spread across 130,000 square feet
indoors and outdoors. Take Saturday
night as an example: The outdoor
plaza where the Chuck Brown Band
and Parliament-Funkadelic bassist
Bootsy Collins are performing holds
2,000 people. The indoor Studio K,
where 1990s hip-hop artists Speech
and Arrested Development perform,
has a capacity of 350, and the Justice
Forum auditorium, where Charles
Burnett’s “Selma, Lord, Selma” is be-
ing screened, has 144 seats.
Once a room or venue hits capac-
ity, that’s it, which is probably going
to encourage fans to arrive early
and camp out well before the per-
formance time for the artist they
want to see. You’ve been warned.I have tickets for two time slots
on the same day. Do I have to
leave and get back in line at the
end of the first one?
No. Each day of the festival has a
different theme, such as jazz (Sun-
day) or classical and Broadway
(Wednesday), with performances
throughout the day. If you have
tickets for multiple sessions, make
sure you arrive on time for the first
one of the day.
“An intentional break in activi-
ties between each time slot” serves
as a cue that the session is over,
Pendoley explains, but they’re not
going to make everyone exit. If you
have tickets for the next one, you’re
welcome to hang out until the next
round of activities begins.I don’t want to wait in long lines,
even for De La Soul, but I want to
see what the fuss is about. Can I
just drop in on my lunch break
next week?
That’s probably the best way to
get a feel for the Reach: As of press
time, none of the festival’s weekday
10 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. time slots were
sold out, which means you should
be able to show up and walk in.
While many of the daytime pro-
grams are targeted at families, there
are plenty of other things to see and
hear, such as the National Symphony
Orchestra’s rehearsing with Broad-
way stars for a tribute to composer
Alan Menken (Wednesday at 1 p.m.);
a conversation with best actress
nominee Yalitza Aparicio of “Roma”
(Tuesday at 11 a.m.); or musicians
from the Opera House Orchestra
performing “a concert in the chill-
out lounge space” of the Skylight Pa-
vilion (Monday at noon). And there
will be hands-on activities and a vir-
tual reality lounge, among other
things, open daily.Will there be anything special to
eat and drink, or are we stuck with
the Kennedy Center cafeteria?
There are two new options at
the Reach: a coffee bar in the main
Welcome Pavilion, and the River
Cafe, a coffee shop and small res-
taurant, in the River Pavilion — the
space farthest from the existing
Kennedy Center.
Food at the festival is being
“curated” by two locals: chef Erik
Bruner-Yang of Maketto and
Brothers and Sisters, and Eric Hil-
ton, the owner of Marvin and the
Brixton, and a co-founder of the
electronic group Thievery Corpo-
ration, which performs at the festi-
val Sept. 13. The schedule features
meet-and-greets with D.C. chefs
from all eight wards, whose food
will be featured during these spot-
lights. More menu options at the
River Cafe will come from Bruner-
Yang’s existing concepts. There
also will be food trucks through-
out the festival.
Beyond the festival, Bruner-
Yang and Hilton will begin curat-
ing pop-ups at the River Cafe
sometime in 2020, though all the
details aren’t clear yet.If performances are free, what
about parking?
The Kennedy Center’s usual
parking rates — $20 in advance, $23
at the door — will apply throughout
the festival. The most economical
way to get there is the usual free
shuttle bus, which runs daily, every
15 minutes from outside the Foggy
Bottom Metro station, but expectcrowding and lines during popular
events. At peak times, such as week-
ends, it might be faster to walk the
half-mile from the Metro station.What kind of events and activi-
ties will be at the Reach once the
festival’s over?
One of the goals for the Reach is
to provide visitors with a behind-
the-scenes views of rehearsals and
the creative process, by making the
studios open to the public. “There
is no backstage space,” Kennedy
Center President Deborah Rutter
told The Post in June. “It’s not like
there’s a front of house and back of
house.” Daily guided tours will be
offered after the festival ends.
The Kennedy Center hasn’t re-
leased a Reach-specific calendar
yet, though the Moonshot studio,
which offers interactive and
hands-on activities, will begin of-
fering Saturday morning drop-in
events for families on Sept. 28.
The Reach’s first visual arts exhi-
bition is “Portraits of Courage,” a col-
lection of 66 paintings of veterans by
former president George W. Bush,
which will be on display from Oct. 7
to Nov. 15. (Free timed tickets are
required.) Other highlighted hap-
penings include an Oct. 1 book sign-
ing and discussion with Ben Folds, a
National Symphony Orchestra artis-
tic adviser, and “Let’s Talk Dance,” an
Oct. 5 discussion about legendary
modern dance choreographer Mer-
ce Cunningham’s artistic process as
part of the Kennedy Center’s “Merce
Cunningham at 100” program.
[email protected]BILL O'LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POSThich includes rehearsal rooms that double as intimate performance spaces.
BILL O'LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POSTOrganizers suggest arriving 30 minutes before your ticketed time to
get through security, but you can roam the buildings once you’re in.IF YOU GOThe Reach Opening Festival
Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. kennedy-center.org.
Dates: Saturday through Sept. 22.
Admission: Free. Timed-entry passes are required, and are available via
the Kennedy Center’s website.RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws