Get Out.

In which we recommend pursuits you might want to, um, pursue.

So it’s National Coming Out Day. Because I don’t think there’s a creature on the planet that doesn’t already know I’m a giant homosexual, I’m going to turn my own observation outwards. I thought I’d suggest a few things y’all might want to check out over the next few days.

(Oh, but: If you or someone you care about is also observing National Coming Out Day today, many congratulations and much, much love. May you always be happy and free.)

• If you’re in D.C. and it’s been a while since you visited, here’s your reminder that the National Cathedral and its gardens make a terrific place to get away from day-to-day busyness for an afternoon. And I can’t think of a better or more solemn reason to pay a visit than the 25th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death. It was 25 years ago tomorrow, Oct. 12, that the Laramie, Wyoming university student died in the wake of a savage gay-bashing that left him in a coma for almost a week. (I was 30, working as an editor at USA Today; it remains to this day the only time I ever lost my composure in a newsroom.) Shepard’s resting place since 2018 — the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea at the National Cathedral — will be open to visitors all day tomorrow, if you’d like to take a moment and light a candle. At noon, the cathedral’s massive Bourdon bell will toll 25 times in Shepard’s memory. If you can’t make it tomorrow, the cathedral will hold its annual service commemorating Shepard’s life on Thursday, Nov. 30, at 6 pm.

  

  Obie-winning performer Whitney White created and anchors ‘Macbeth in Stride,’ at the STC’s Klein Theatre through Oct. 29. Photo: Shakespeare Theatre Company

• If you’re as ancient and creaky as I am, you may have fond memories of Shakespeare In Washington, the sprawling six-month festival of theater, dance, opera and more that Michael Kahn curated back in 2007. Comes now the Shakespeare Everywhere Festival, a 12-week successor courtesy of Simon Godwin (who succeeded Kahn as artistic director at the Shakespeare Theatre Company) and Francesca Zambello, artistic director of the Washington National Opera — and one of the first shows on the calendar is Whitney White’s Macbeth in Stride, a rowdy musical deconstruction of the Scottish Play that has a few ideas to share about the Lady behind the man. (Want to meet the creator? Check out this interview.) It opened this week at the STC and runs through Oct. 29. For my out-of-towners: The broader festival serves up more Shakespeare (and Shakes-adjacent stuff, from art exhibitions to ballets to lectures) through the end of December. So hop a train — we’ll get coffee.

• While we’re talking festivals: the AFI Silver is about to kick off Noir City DC, a two-week tour through some of the most stylish of Hollywood shadowplays. Barbara Stanwyck! Claudette Colbert! Edward G. Robinson and Jimmy Stewart! Festival curator Eddie Muller, formerly of Turner Classic Movies, hosts kickoff screenings this weekend, Oct. 13-15, with other screenings through Oct. 26. You can get an all-access pass for $200 — and if you buy it before 6 pm tonight you get to have cocktails with Eddie while he’s in town.

Get Out (Without Leaving Home)

• If you’re not in D.C., or if you’ve already planned a weekend in your PJs, join me (virtually, and on your own time) at the latest installment of the Playbill Songwriters Series, featuring Here Lies Love music director J. Oconer Navarro. It’s presented in celebration of Filipino-American Heritage Month.