The Connection Newspapers

1 week ago | connectionnewspapers.com | Bonnie Hobbs

Featuring 45 performances spanning six days, the 40th annual Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts Festival promises entertainment for everyone. Over two weekends, April 25-27, and May 2-4, people can choose from a wide variety of live theater, music and dance performances. There’s even a fashion show, as well as an evening of music from film and television performed by the Mason Community Arts Academy.

1 week ago | connectionnewspapers.com | Bonnie Hobbs

Sophie wants her father to walk her down the aisle at her wedding on a small Greek island. Trouble is, she doesn’t know who he is – and neither does her mother. After reading her mother’s diary, she discovers there are three possibilities. So unbeknownst to her mother, she invites them all.

2 weeks ago | connectionnewspapers.com | Shirley Ruhe

AARP Tax-Aide is offering free tax clinics at both the Central Library on Quincy Street and the library branch on Columbia Pike. The nationwide program helped over 1.7 million people in the 2024 tax year with 28,000 volunteers at 3,300 sites. Karen Miller, Tax-Aide and the local coordinator at the Central library location in Arlington, says they have doneabout 700 returns since the clinic began in February this year.

3 weeks ago | connectionnewspapers.com | Jeanne Theismann

Spring is in the air and flowers are blooming in “Native Gardens,” the Karen Zacarias play that shines a comedic light on the delicate dynamics between neighbors. Set in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., “Native Gardens” is especially timely as the script addresses privilege, class and racism through the metaphor of gardening. “Native Gardens is a comedy with a point,” said producer Marg Soroos.

3 weeks ago | connectionnewspapers.com | Jeanne Theismann

A sellout crowd of more than 400 attendees filled the ballroom of the Westin Alexandria Old Town Hotel March 29 as Senior Services of Alexandria raised more than $185,000 at its annual gala celebrating 57 years of serving the City of Alexandria. “The gala was a fantastic success,” said SSA executive director Mary Lee Anderson, who for the first time missed the evening after suffering a broken ankle due to a fall. “Thank goodness my staff is fantastic. The gala went perfectly.