The Shakespeare Theatre Company's 2007-2008 season continues with Major Barbara. Full of Shaw's signature shrewd, urbane wit, Major Barbara depicts timeless tensions between wealth and charity, government and religion, business and family. Often called Shaw's greatest play, Major Barbara offers a provocative discourse, while entertaining us with vivid characters, intriguing plot twists and a hefty dose of pure fun.

The first exhibition to explore photographs made from paper negatives—calotypes—in Great Britain in the 1840s and 1850s, Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840–1860, will be on view from February 3 through May 4, 2008, in the West Building photography galleries. The exhibition features 120 calotypes, many of which have never before been exhibited or published in the United States, made by about forty artists.

The Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) has made adverse findings against Western Australia's Director General of Health, Neale Fong.

Across the country, communities in rural areas have a hard time recruiting doctors, who are more attracted to the lifestyle and salaries of big cities. But the small wheat-farming town of Colfax, Washington, has come up with a clever solution to the problem. The community hospital and some of its doctors are paying a local woman's way through medical school. The med student has committed to return to her hometown to practice after completing her studies. Tom Banse reports.

The Hirshhorn presents an unprecedented two-part exploration of contemporary moving-image art that focuses on the ways in which the cinematic has blurred distinctions between illusion and reality. "The Cinema Effect" includes film, video and digital works by a range of influential and emerging international artists.

The human perception of color is a complex sensory phenomenon filtered through the eyes, brain, language and multiple layers of social experience. While shades of red (examined in the 2007 Textile Museum exhibition RED) quicken the pulse and increase blood pressure, blue induces a calming effect and is widely perceived as a “cool,” tranquil color.

On Saturday, Feb. 2, the Corcoran will celebrate Groundhog Day for the first time with three new art workshops for kids: Art of the Pennsylvania Dutch, Natural Time, and Drawing Shadows. Designed for specific age groups, each workshop will meet from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

The Finishing Touch: Accessories from the Bolivian Highlands, on view at The Textile Museum February 15 through September 18, 2008, invites visitors to explore the liveliness and diversity of the region’s woven and knitted textiles. The Museum’s first new exhibition of 2008, The Finishing Touch features a charming group of belts, bags and other accessories made and used by the indigenous people of the Bolivian highlands.

Artist, poet and musician Patti Smith will give an intimate performance of songs and readings inspired by the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art's collections Feb. 1, at 7:30 p.m., in the Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium of the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Washington, D.C.

A traveling exhibition of extraordinary archaeological treasures from the National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, will begin a 17-month tour of the United States in spring 2008, it was announced today by the National Geographic Society and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company announced that its Youth and Family Series will begin with On the Eve of Friday Morning, a newly commissioned play by award-winning local playwright Norman Allen. Nassrin, a contemporary girl in Iran, spends a night awaiting word of her imprisoned father's fate. To pass the hours, her mother tells her the tale of Mushkil Gusha, a central story of their ancient Persian culture.

The National Portrait Gallery has commissioned a portrait of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics, from David Lenz, winner of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2006. The painting will be included in the National Portrait Gallery's permanent collection.