The Issue: The owner of the Takoma Theatre is planning a five-story apartment building for the historic spot. The theater has occupied the corner of Fourth and Butternut Streets NW since 1923; Milton McGinty bought the building in 1983. But the low-density neighborhood of Takoma has not been kind to a privately owned arts building that puts on plays, and McGinty wants to head to a greener pasture—real estate. In 2007, he petitioned to turn the theater into an office building, catalyzing the formation of Takoma Theatre Conservancy, a nonprofit that wants to purchase the property; he was ultimately denied by the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). But now McGinty proposes razing the theater and replacing it with an apartment building—with a tiny theater on the ground floor. With the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) and the Conservancy up in arms, will HPRB still pull an Atropos?

Save the Theater: According to the ANC 4B resolution against the demolition passed Oct. 15, “there is strong and active support among people in the community to keep the Theatre, with the prospect of at last having an active cultural arts and education center.” The resolution notes there are no other theaters in Ward 4, and only one in Ward 5—at Catholic University. Ward 4B Commissioner Faith Wheeler told City Desk, “The Conservancy has had engineers look at the building, surveys and analysis done, and interviews with people from various walks of life to determine the viability of a cultural arts center. We’ve had a an extremely positive result.” The Conservancy would like to host everything from film showings and theater performances to educational lectures.

Time is Up: According to Capital Community News, the empty lot is worth $2 milion more if the floundering theater is demolished. McGinty told the paper, “I threw caution to the wind, and I didn’t consider location and all the financial issues that could apply.” A commenter on the blog DC Mud points out, “What is the purpose of saving something that has no viable economic alternative? We cannot have these museums of public space. It is time to move on.”

Next Step: At an Oct. 22 meeting, HPRB unanimously voted against the demolition, a step that Wheeler says “they were bound to do anyway by regulation.” McGinty has appealed to the preservation board. In the meantime, nail-biting theatre-nostalgics can contribute to the Takoma Theatre Conservancy. If the building is demolished and rebuilt, McGinty promises at least to keep the theater's sign and facade, for posterity.

Photo by Mr. T, Creative Commons Attribution License

Due to unforeseeable building construction, the Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan regrets that we must temporarily close the Counter-Photography: Japan’s Artists Today exhibit until further notice. Members of the JICC mailing list will be notified when the exhibit reopens. We apologize for the inconvenience, and sincerely hope that we will be able to make the exhibit accessible to the public as soon as possible.

In the next few months I will be transition from my role as Executive Director of the Washington Project for the Arts and join the WPA Board of Trustees. The decision to leave as Executive Director is solely precipitated by my desire to spend more time with my immediate and extended family. In the next few years my children will begin leaving home and starting college and I would like to be more present in their lives and see them as much as possible.

More info on WPA's search for a new executive director coming shortly.

Surprised to learn that an institution as fundamentally square as the LoC would screen something as inherently controversial as a Zappa flick? (Four of them, actually.) Norman Middleton says, Don't be.

A senior producer at the Library of Congress and the host of the Frank Zappa Mini-Film Festival, Middleton begins his defense of the film schedule--which includes obscenity-laden classics like Uncle Meat, The Amazing Mr. Bickford, Does Humor Belong in Music?, and Motels--by clarifying that Zappa is not obscene--"he's diverse."

Turns out the diversity schtick is useful for more than just pandering. According to Middleton, the LoC's big-tent curatorial philosophy is the "one reason the rock and roll film series exists. Because there's practically no other way to present that kind of music at the Library of Congress."

But is the LoC's tent big enough for the larger- and grosser-than-life Zappa?

"Frank Zappa was a serious musician, and was considered so by most people. I was impressed  by his political stance on censorship. And some serious orchestra's [such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and others] have performed his music. But his films are a different kind of animal. He uses his sense of humor and his wry sense of life in these movies, and he also expands his artistic vision."

But what about all the man-humping? And Zappa's dirty, dirty mouth?

Middleton admits he had to watch Uncle Meat twice before committing to a screening. "It was a little wild, kind of obscene in the stricter since. So I had to watch it again to make sure I wanted to program it. To let the audience absorb the film as they will."

Check out Washington City Paper's City Lights write-up of Uncle Meat. "And," Middelton reminds, "don't forget your rubber chicken."

• Honfleur Gallery: "Fragile" by John K. Lawson "examines the artist's work pre and post Hurricane Katrina," using "mixed media and C-prints."  1241 Good Hope Rd SE
• ARCH Training Center &  Development Corp: "Photo Collide" is a group show featuring "local student and emerging artists," using "black and white and digital prints." 1227 and 1231 Good Hope Road SE
• AEDC Building: "Hyperfotos" by Jean Francois Rauzier features "Large scale digital works by winner of the 2008 Arcimbaldo Award." Corner of MLK Jr. Blvd SE & Good Hope Rd. SE
• 1922 MLK Jr Blvd SE: "The Female Form" byt JF Bauret & Renee Woodward "Compares black and white photography by two artists from different generations and countries."
• Vivid Solutions: The National Geographic Photo Camp Exhibition features "digital prints by students of the National Geographic Photo Camp."

Head on over to ARCH Development's website for gallery hours and more information. Entry to all exhibits is free.