4 Best Performing Arts in Northern Virginia, Virginia

This state-of-the-art performance complex on the suburban Virginia campus of George Mason University satisfies music, ballet, jazz, dance, and drama patrons with regular performances in its 2,000-seat concert hall, the 460-seat proscenium Harris Theatre, and an intimate 140-seat black-box theater. 

The Tony Award–winning Signature Theatre company has earned national acclaim for its presentation of world premiere and reimagined musicals, especially those of Stephen Sondheim, as well as contemporary plays. Signature’s modern facility has two intimate black-box performance spaces where theatergoers can see Broadway-caliber shows performed with live orchestras 50 feet or less from the stage.

One of the most distinctive performing arts groups in the Washington area uses music, dance, high energy, acting, and athleticism to transform the works of Shakespeare, Dante, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert Louis Stevenson into visual theatrics that are guaranteed to leave audiences fascinated. The award-winning theater is tucked away in Virginia's Crystal City, a short Metro ride away from downtown Washington.

At the only national park dedicated to the performing arts, the 7,000-seat outdoor Filene Center (half of them sitting on the sloping lawn) hosts more than 80 performances from June through September. They range from pop and jazz concerts to dance and musical theater productions. The National Symphony Orchestra performs here in summer, and the Children's Theatre-in-the-Woods, running for seven weeks, delivers 40 free interactive performances, including puppetry, dance, and storytelling. In colder months, the intimate, indoor Barns at Wolf Trap fill with the sounds of musicians playing folk, country, and chamber music, along with many other styles. The park is just off the Dulles Toll Road (Va. Rte. 267), about 20 miles from downtown Washington. WMATA provides round-trip bus service from the McLean Metro stop to the Filene Center during summer events.