Photo courtesy Alex Buckley

A disclosure so the FTC doesn’t go after me: this post is going to be 60% shameless plug.

I’ve spent the last few months stage managing for Kensington Arts Theatre’s production of The Rocky Horror Show. We opened last weekend to some wonderful audiences and this weekend we are pulling all the stops out for Halloween. Tonight we’ll have a performance at 8:00 PM but tomorrow night we’ll be having a special midnight performance for Halloween! What better way to celebrate the holiday than watching the show that’s been a horror cult classic for years.

The Rocky Horror Show tells the tale of Brad and Janet, a newly engaged couple that are left stranded when their car breaks down in a rain storm, and seek the sheltered at the nearby castle of Frank-N-Furter, a mad scientist who has a devilish plan in store for his new visitors.

For those that are Frankie fans, audience participation will be allowed and encouraged. If you are Rocky Horror virgin, you can find out what all the fuss is about here. Audience members will be free to shout out their favorite callbacks during the show, however keep your rice and pieces of toast at home. Props brought from home won’t be allowed due to safety reasons, however you can purchase all the props you need to shower the theatre with cards for sorrow and cards for pain.

To get complete details on the show check out KAT’s website- and if can’t catch it this weekend it’ll be running til November 14th.

If my shameless plug didn’t convince you to check out Rocky Horror then here’s a couple of other things you can do:

• The International Spy Museum will be holding a Spy Fright today and tomorrow. Besides a haunted Spy at Night event with cocktails, wearing a costume to the museum gets you discounts including 50% admission.  On Saturday the museum is also launching the latest Clue game: CLUE Secrets & Spies.
• The folks at Lindy Promotions are putting on the 10th Annual Nightmare on M Street, and if M Street two years ago means anything, it’ll be quite the show.
• From 6 PM – Midnight on Halloween stop by any Taco Bell for a free Black Jack Taco. No base stealing required.
• Instead of listing every single Saturday night Halloween party in town, just check out what The Washington Post, The Washingtonian, and BarDC have to say.

KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin (Ret.) was one of the youngest generals in the history of the KGB. During the Cold War he was a deputy resident at the Soviet embassy in Washington, DC where he supervised Moscow’s spy network in the US. He also served as head of KGB foreign counter-intelligence and directed several “covert actions” against the West. I don’t know what “covert action” stands for but you know it sounds juicy!

Well Kalugin spills the beans in his updated memoir: Spy Master: My 32 Years In Intelligence Against The West. He reveals how it all worked inside the KGB and how eventually fell out of favor with Russian president and fishing hunk Vladimir Putin. Putin accused him of being a traitor and he was actually convicted and sentenced to prison.

However like a good spook, Kalugin avoided jail and was granted asylum in the United States, where he is now a citizen. Wow that’s a really interesting story for a real-life spy.

He’ll be talking about that and his thoughts of more recent espionage related events in a lunchtime chat.

The talk and book signing will be from 12 PM – 1 PM at the International Spy Museum. Tickets are free and no prior registration is required. You can get complete details on the Spy Museum website.

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