RCC Unveils 2021-2022 Season Of Professional Touring Artists

RESTON, VA — Reston Community Center released its list of performers and performances for the 2021-2022 Professional Touring Artist Series (PTAS) at the CenterStage. Among the acts highlighting this season are longtime bluegrass band The Seldom Scene, author Heather McGhee, and the hilarious Dragapella music of The Kinsey Sicks.

“It is our great pleasure to welcome our audiences back to the CenterStage,” said RCC Arts and Events Director Paul Douglas Michnewicz, in a release. "Whether you are seeking an escape from your troubles with sublime dance or want to be inspired by thought leaders or you just need to laugh, the Professional Touring Artist Series has something for everyone to enjoy.”

Reston residents and employees will be able to purchase tickets for the 2021-2022 season starting 1 p.m., on Aug. 1, before tickets are made available to the general public starting 1 p.m., on Aug. 8. Proof of employment or residence may be required for some purchases.

Here are the dates and details for the 2021-2022 season, including descriptions provided by RCC:

• Mutts Gone Nuts, A Comedy Dog Act: Sunday, Sept. 19, 3-7 p.m.; $10 Reston/$15 Non-Reston. Expect the unexpected, as canines and comedy collide in a smash hit performance that’s leaving audiences everywhere howling for more.
• National Heritage Award Fellows Paschall and Company and Chuck Brown Band at the Reston Multicultural Festival: Saturday, Sept. 25, 11 a.m.-6p.m. (Performance times vary), Lake Anne Plaza; Free, All Ages. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellowships are the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts. Come to the annual Reston Multicultural Festival to see some of these great artists and so much more.
• The Seldom Scene: Saturday, Oct. 2, 8 p.m.; $25 Reston/$35 Non-Reston. What does it take for a bluegrass band to remain popular for more than four decades? For The Seldom Scene, it has taken talented musicians, a signature sound and a solid repertoire, as well as a delightful sense of fun.
• The Blackest Battle By Psalmayene 24: Monday, Oct. 25, 7:30 p.m.; $15 Reston/$20 Non-Reston. As part of the Washington West Film Festival, this performance is directed by Raymond O. Caldwell. In this revolutionary hip-hop musical, Bliss and Dream, members of warring rap factions, fall in love while wrestling with making sense of their turbulent lives.
• The Dancing Light - Celebrating the Warmth of Winter with Akua Allrich and The Tribe: Saturday, Nov. 20, 8 p.m.; $15 Reston/$20 Non-Reston. Come share an evening filled with music from around the world celebrating the wonder of the season and joy of living.
• Baratunde Thurston - Writer, Comedian, Activist: Sunday, Jan. 16, 2 p.m.; $15 Reston/$20 Non-Reston. Baratunde Thurston holds space for hard and complex conversations with his blend of humor, wisdom and compassion.
• Reston Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration Keynote Address and Community Lunch - Heather McGhee: Monday, Jan. 17, 11 a.m.; $5 Reston/$10 Non-Reston. Heather McGhee is one of the most brilliant and influential thinkers exploring inequality today. Both her viral TED talk and her instant New York Times bestseller The Sum of Us reveal the devastating true cost of racism – not just for people of color, but for everyone.
• A Reading of American Moor With Keith Hamilton Cobb: Saturday, Feb. 5, 8 p.m.; $15 Reston/$20 Non-Reston. Keith Hamilton Cobb embarks on a poetic exploration that examines the experience and perspective of Black men in America through the metaphor of Shakespeare’s character Othello, offering up a host of insights that are by turns introspective and indicting, difficult and deeply moving.
• Ibram X. Kendi - Author of How to Be an Antiracist: Wednesday, Feb. 9, 8 p.m.; $15 Reston/$20 Non-Reston. Ibram X. Kendi is one of America’s foremost historians and leading antiracist voices. His book, How to Be an Antiracist was published in 2019 to great acclaim.
• Art Spiegelman - What the %@&*! Happened to Comics?: Sunday, Feb. 27, 3 p.m.; $20 Reston/$30 Non-Reston. Pulitzer Prize-winning artist/illustrator and author Art Spiegelman, author of Maus and Maus II, almost single-handedly brought comic books out of the toy closet and onto the literature shelves.
• Lúnasa: Sunday, March 20, 3-7 p.m.; $25 Reston/$35 Non-Reston. Named for an ancient Celtic harvest festival in honor of the Irish god Lugh, patron of the arts, Lúnasa is a gathering of some of the top musical talents in Ireland.
• Spectacular Falls, A Slippery Solo Musical With Anita Hollander: Saturday, March 26, 8 p.m.; $15 Reston/$20 Non-Reston. Come share a humorous, edgy, moving and somewhat slippery exploration of how we all fall, how the world can fall apart and how we rise again.
• Mr. Vaudeville and Friends Present Mystery! at the Vaudeville House: Saturday, April 2, 3 p.m.; $5 Reston/ $10 Non-Reston. Bring the family and join an audience of unlikely sleuths for an afternoon of high crimes and high jinks.
• Class: The Carla Perlo Story: Wednesday, April 6, 8 p.m.; $15 Reston/$20 Non-Reston. Experience a documentary film, interspersed with live performance, about dancer and choreographer Carla Perlo and her influence on her students, the field of dance, the communities in which she worked and her advocacy for property ownership by artists over the course of 48 years.
• 123 Andrés: Saturday, April 9, 3 p.m.; $5 Reston/ $10 Non-Reston. 123 Andrés is the award-winning duo of Andrés and Christina, who entertain with catchy songs and a high-energy show that gets kids and families singing and dancing in Spanish and English.
• Reduced Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet’s Big Adventure (a prequel): Sunday, April 24, 3-7 p.m. $25 Reston/ $35 Non-Reston. The Reduced Shakespeare Company returns to Reston with the Washington, DC premiere of this hilarious (and completely fictional) prequel to Hamlet.
• Living Simply So Others Might Simply Live - Ed Begley Jr. Actor: Wednesday, May 4, 8 p.m. An Earth Day Special! $15 Reston/$20 Non-Reston: Ed Begley Jr. will share his inspiration and insight into one of the world’s most important causes – environmental sustainability. All ticketholders will be given a packet of pollinator flower seeds. Stay afterward for a book signing.
• A Quest for Freedom: A collaboration between Nai-Ni Chen Dance and the Ahn Trio: Wednesday, May 18, 8 p.m.; $20 Reston/$30 Non-Reston. Originally inspired by the Ahn Trio’s adaptation of David Bowie’s Space Oddity and their interpretation and performance of Purple Rain byPrince at Ellis Island, Nai-Ni Chen worked with the Trio to find their common vision in this dance and live music performance.
• The Kinsey Sicks: Saturday, June 4, 8 p.m.; $20 Reston/$30 Non-Reston. America's favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet will serve up a feast of a cappella music and comedy.

Unless otherwise indicated, all performances will take place at CenterStage, which is located at Reston Community Center Hunters Woods (2310 Colts Neck Road in Reston). More information about all of the performances is available online.