RAAC Movie - Anatomy of a Fall
2024-03-15 19:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
This sensational and engrossing film won the Palme d’Or, top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and ran away with the top European Film Awards for best film, best director, best actress, best screenwriter for 2023.
The movie propels its audience through a mystery that begins with Samuel dropping to his death from the upper window of a French chalet he shares with his wife Sandra and their eleven-year old son Daniel. The immediate and obvious question is whether Samuel jumped or was pushed, but the courtroom drama that follows leads us into other mysteries. One involves Samuel and Sandra’s conflicted relationship; another is about why she writes and why he wishes to but doesn’t; then there is a running subtext about language itself; and finally, there’s young Daniel. This movie challenges its viewers in how they understand and believe things. As noted by The New Yorker, “we can’t help wondering: when, and under what emotional pressure, does a memory shift from being a reliable account of something to a story that we tell ourselves about what we wish had occurred?”
Anatomy of a Fall is R rated and there are some subtitles. The movie will be free, with donations welcome to help offset production costs.

Improv Workshop
2024-03-30 13:00 - 16:00 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
The popular improv group, Playback Theatre, will be leading an improv workshop for people interested in learning their unique improv techniques. Boomie Pedersen, a talented actress and long-time member of the Playback troupe based in Charlottesville will help lead the workshop.
To register for the 3 hour improv workshop contact Patty Hardee at pahardee@gmail.com.

Improv Performance
2024-03-30 19:30 - 21:30 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
The performance features the Playback Theatre actors listening to true stories from audience members. The “teller” then casts the actors in different roles and they use all their creative resources to immediately play the story back to the audience. The resulting “re-enactments” are often poignant as well as funny, finding the heart and the funny bone embedded in each tale.
“We’re pleased to be bringing back Playback,” says RAAC Theatre Artistic Director Patty Hardee. “Before covid, the group led a well-attended workshop that drew people interested in learning Playback’s unique improv techniques. That evening they demonstrated in performance the range and fun of Playback improv.” Boomie Pedersen, a talented actress and long-time member of the Playback troupe based in Charlottesville will help lead the workshop. Last September in the Little Washington Theatre Boomie performed the one-woman show “The Man Who Eats Books,” a play by the late Julie Portman.
“Playback brings to the stage stories and story fragments suggested by the audience,” says Boomie. “The workshop introduces the participants to the forms used to play back stories, starting with the simplest one-word story and moving to fully casted longer stories. Everyone has stories and feelings and those are really the only two requirements for Playback, along with a spirit of adventure and a ‘yes, and’ attitude.”
Tickets are $17.85 and can be purchased at Eventbrite.

Steel Magnolias
2024-04-26 19:30 - 21:30 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
RAAC presents Robert Harling’s play about the bond a group of women share in a small-town Southern community and how they cope with the death of one of their own. Tickets can be purchased at Eventbrite
The performances will be:

Friday April 26th at 7:30 PM
Saturday April 27th at 7:30 PM
Sunday April 28th at 3:00 PM
Friday May 3rd at 7:30 PM
Saturday May 4th at 7:30 PM

Steel Magnolias
2024-04-27 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-04-28 15:00 - 17:00, 2024-05-03 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-05-04 19:30 - 21:30 | VA

Movie - The Taste of Things
2024-05-17 19:30 - 21:30 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
RAAC will screen The Taste of Things, Friday, May 17 at 7:30 PM at The Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA.
The film, part of RAAC’s revitalized movie program, is set in 1889, and tells a moving story of a cook and the gourmet she works for. Based on a 1924 novel and directed by Tran Anh Hung, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, 2023, and has been nominated for multiple awards. Juliette Binoche and Benoit Maginel beautifully handle the interplay of an unconventional romance woven into a celebration of gorgeously prepared food.
The movie is free and RAAC appreciates donations to cover production costs.

Movie - One Life
2024-06-14 19:30 - 21:30 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
Sir Anthony Hopkins stars in this true story about British humanitarian Nicholas Winton, where kindness is king. In his role as an aging Winton, Hopkins reminisces about his past, when he was a 29-year-old British stock broker travelling to Prague in 1938 and quickly sizes up the catastrophe set to unfold under Nazi occupation. Working with two officials from the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia, he manages to get hundreds of mostly Jewish children out on trains before the borders close. The film brings back the fraught moment facing Europe, and Hopkins superbly shows the effects of age, and regret for those he couldn’t save.
The movie is free, with donations welcome to cover production costs.

No Ordinary Person
2024-06-22 19:30 - 21:30 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
No Ordinary Person, RAAC’s annual performance of autobiographical stories told by Rappahannock friends and neighbors, will return to the Little Washington Theatre on June 22 (7:30 pm) and June 23 (3 pm). This year’s storytellers are Barney O’Meara, Jane Coon, Caroline Anstey and Chris Doxzen.
Tickets are $17.85 and can be purchased at Eventbrite. Tickets will be $20 at the door.

No Ordinary Person
2024-06-23 15:00 - 21:00 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
​No Ordinary Person, RAAC’s annual performance of autobiographical stories told by Rappahannock friends and neighbors, will return to the Little Washington Theatre on June 22 (7:30 pm) and June 23 (3 pm). This year’s storytellers are Barney O’Meara, Jane Coon, Caroline Anstey and Chris Doxzen.
Tickets are $17.85 and can be purchased at Eventbrite. Tickets will be $20 at the door.

Auditions for 12 Days of Christmas
2024-08-24 13:00 - 16:00, 2024-08-25 13:00 - 16:00 | Old RAAC Theatre, 310 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22747, United States
RAAC will be holding auditions for our annual holiday production, 12 Days of Christmas, on August 24 and 25. If you are interested in auditioning please complete the audition form by clicking here.

Julius Caesar
2024-09-06 19:00 - 21:00, 2024-09-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
The play will be presented by CAST, the Cambridge American Stage Tour, a troupe composed of Cambridge students who have been crossing the Atlantic annually for over two decades to bring the works of British playwrights to our shores. This diverse group of undergraduate and postgraduate students travels up and down the East Coast, visiting colleges from the University of Florida to Harvard, with stops at high schools and venues like the Little Washington Theatre on the way.
Tickets are $20 plus fees and can be purchased at Eventbrite.

RAAC Movie - American Fiction
2024-09-13 19:30 - 21:30 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
American Fiction is a thought-provoking and funny film directed by Cord Jefferson and starring Jeffrey Wright. The American Film Institute ranked this movie as one of the ten best for 2023; it also won five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Wright, and best adapted screenplay for Jefferson. Wright sensitively plays Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a literary-minded African American writer who is pressed to chase greater commercial success by churning out cliche-filled works depicting Black suffering at its rawest. Exasperated, he composes a hoax novel filled with rappers, crack, and deadbeat dads, but the story grows more complicated when the book becomes a soaring success. American Fiction shines a light on questions of race, class and trend-driven publishing. Yet it isn’t a lecture, but a drama involving complex characters whom movie audiences care about.
There is no ticket charge, but donations are welcome to offset production costs.

Endgame
2024-09-27 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-09-29 15:00 - 17:00, 2024-10-04 19:30 - 21:30, 2024-10-05 19:30 - 21:30 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
The RAAC Community Theatre will be presenting a production of what Samuel Beckett called his masterpiece, Endgame. Performances are scheduled for September 27 and 29, and October 4 and 5 at the Little Washington Theatre (291 gay Street). The show on Sunday, Sept. 29 will be a matinee (3 pm); the other three shows will be at 7:30 pm.
After an exceptional production of Waiting for Godot in 2019, director Mike Mahoney and the Godot team are taking on Beckett once again. The cast includes Godot actors Hugh Hill and Andy Platt, along with Mike King (recently seen as the male lead in Our Town), and long-time RAAC thespian Sallie Morgan. Platt and another Godot veteran, Stephanie Mastri, are assisting with direction.
Literary critic Harold Bloom called this play the most original work of literature of the 20th century, and this production promises to deliver wit, pathos, and thought-provoking ambiguities.
Tickets for Endgame may be purchased through Eventbrite ($15 plus fees; $20 at the door).

RAAC Talks - Judd Swift
2024-10-03 19:00 - 21:30 | Rappahannock County Library, 4 Library Road, Washington, VA, 22747, United States
Rappahannock author Judd Swift will describe what it’s like to arrange trips for American presidents, in a talk at the Rappahannock County Library.
Swift was an advance man for presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. In a conversation with journalist Andy Alexander, Swift will share engaging stories from his recent book, My Presidential Life. This RAAC Talk is free and open to all.

The 12 Days of Christmas
2024-12-06 19:30 - 21:00, 2024-12-07 15:00 - 16:30 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
Don’t miss this year’s holiday offering by the RAAC Community Theatre—The 12 Days of Christmas by DC playwright Renee Calarco. In this wacky and lighthearted imagining of the backstory of The Song, Shirley the Christmas Partridge is tasked with carrying on the family tradition of gathering everyone for the singing of The Song. With strict instructions to guard the Five Golden Rings, Shirley sets out on her quest. As with all odysseys, there are obstacles to overcome and surprises along the way. But with the help of others, Shirley gains confidence and discovers a brand new way to present The Song.
Purchase tickets at Eventbrite.

RAAC Talks - Jennifer Ackerman
2024-12-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
Award-winning author Jennifer Ackerman will give a RAAC-RLEP Talk at Little Washington Theatre to discuss her latest New York Times bestseller, What An Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds. This book is a brilliant scientific investigation into owls–the most elusive of birds–and why they exert such a hold on human imagination.
Charlottesville-based Ackerman has written about science and nature for three decades, and is lauded for a number of previous award-winning books including, The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way.
The Talk is free. Hearing assistance is available.

Audition for 12 Angry Jurors
2025-01-05 14:00 - 17:00, 2025-01-07 18:00 - 21:00 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
Auditions for 12 Angry Jurors will be held on Sunday, Jan. 5 and Tuesday, Jan. 7. If you would like to audition please complete the audition form that can be found here.

RAAC Movie - Conclave
2025-01-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
RAAC will screen the newly released, critically-acclaimed mystery thriller, Conclave, based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris. It stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto and Isabella Rossellini. In the film, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Fiennes) organizes a papal conclave to elect the next pope and finds himself investigating secrets and scandals about each candidate.
Directed by Edward Berger and written by Peter Straughan, it was named one of the top ten films of 2024 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. Among other accolades, it is nominated for six Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture-Drama and received eleven nominations at the 30th Critics’ Choice Awards, including Best Picture.
Though the RAAC film is free, donations are welcome to offset production costs. Hearing assistance is available.

RAAC Movie - The Order
2025-02-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
RAAC’s next free movie will be The Order, a domestic terrorism thriller focused on the true story of how the FBI closed in on a violent anti-government militia in Freeland, Washington. In the 1980s, when the group was gathering adherents and weapons, counterfeiting money and robbing banks, local law enforcers, uneasy dealing with domestic terrorism threats, seemed to look the other way, until the arrival of a determined FBI agent, played by Jude Law.
The group magnetized ordinary citizens by emphasizing pride in family and religion, and the supremacy of white citizens over others. Clustered into an isolated compound on Whidbey Island, believers lent themselves to the urgent mission their leaders laid out: rescuing White Christian America from a communist takeover plot. Having accepted the premise that only violent upheaval could prevent disaster, the group moved into battle-mode, deaths multiplied, and loyalty to a mesmerizing cult leader went unquestioned.
Violent extremists make for violent movies, but in this one, the acting carries the day. Jude Law’s character exudes intelligence and commitment to a harrowing mission, while showing signs of age and exhaustion. There are several moments when dialogues lapse into silence, with facial expressions alone delivering the emotional punch.
The film is based on the 1989 non-fiction book The Silent Brotherhood: The Chilling Inside Story of America’s Violent, Anti-Government Militia Movement by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt. The film had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in August where it competed for the Golden Lion award.
Though the movie screening is free, donations are welcome to offset production costs. Hearing assistance is available.

RAAC Talk - Paula Whyman
2025-02-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Little Washington Theatre, 291 Gay Street, Washington, VA, 22740, United States
In her new book, author Paula Whyman describes how she attempted to restore 200 acres of Rappahannock County farmland that was long gone-to-seed. Whyman will tell her story, as recounted in her delightful book, Bad Naturalist, at the Little Washington Theatre. The event is sponsored by Rapp at Home and RAAC.
