Cheap Dates

Book-signing
Author S. Henry-Lewis signs her book, "Notes to God: The Written Prayers of a Simple Woman," from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Jesus' Bookstore, 4823 Allentown Road, Camp Springs, Md., 20746.
Colonial ball dancing lessons
Dance master Corky Palmer offers English country dancing lessons from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Jan. 29, Feb. 5 and Feb. 12. The lessons are in preparation for a Feb. 14 Birthnight banquet and ball, hosted by the George Washington Birthday Celebration Committee and Gadsby's Tavern Museum, an annual celebration of the birth of our first president.
Dance classes are $12 per class or $30 for the series.
More information is available by calling 703-838-4242 or from gadsbystavern.org.
The museum is at 134 North Royal St., Old Town Alexandria.

Genealogy
Historian and genealogist Char McCargo Bah lectures at the Alexandria Black History Museum Feb. 7 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
"Their Voices Can Be Heard II" examines oral history techniques used to find descendants of people buried at Freedmen's Cemetery.
The lecture is free and open to all.
Bah will discuss how to use oral history in family research and the important role it played in connecting pre- and post-Civil War individuals to Freedmen's Cemetery, the historic African-American burial ground recently reclaimed by the City of Alexandria.
She will show how her oral history techniques can effectively be used for any family history research.
Reservations, encouraged but not required, are available by calling 703-838-4356.
The museum is at 902 Wythe Street, Alexandria, and is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Freedom train
James Lee Community Center Theatre presents "Ride on the Freedom Train," Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. The event is open to the public.
The theater is at 2855-A Annandale Road, Falls Church.
The play, a collaborative expression of Black History, is done entirely by actors and actresses from Fairfax County.
Free tickets are available from Nomikka Hunter, 703-324-555, or David Sher, 703-534-3387.
Colonial music
Gadsby's Tavern Museum welcomes back David Hildebrand of the Colonial Music Institute for a concert honoring George Washington. Performances are at 3 and 5 p.m. Feb. 15, in celebration of George Washington's birthday.
Hildebrand will perform a concert with songs and instrumentals familiar to our first president and will present a lecture about period music that was popular with the first president and other founding fathers.
The performances, open to all, are at Gadsby's Tavern Museum, 134 North Royal St., Alexandria. Doors open a half hour before performance time and light refreshments will be served.
Tickets are $20 per person, $15 for members of the museum's society.
Reservations are recommended and are available by calling 703-838-4242. Tickets are available on line from the tickets link of GadsbysTavern.org.

A Raisin in the Sun
James Lee Community Center Theatre presents "A Raisin in the Sun," Feb. 20 at 7 p.m.
The theater is at 2855-A Annandale Road, Falls Church.
The play originally debuted on Broadway in 1959. The story is based upon a family's own experiences growing up in the Washington Park Subdivision of Chicago.
The play is the first written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway and the first Broadway play with a black director.
Tickets, $5, are available from Nomikka Hunter, 703-324-555, or David Sher, 703-534-3387.