Weekend Entertainment Guide: ‘Test Kitchen for Change’ Exhibit, Comedy, Martin Luther King Jr. Documentary

On View: Inna Alesina: Test Kitchen for Change
Test Kitchen for Change uses bread making as a platform for engaging communities. Based on Slow Design principles, Inna Alesina's Test Kitchen for Change includes The Bread Zoo, which has containers and tools collected, borrowed, and made in order to educate people about bread, yeast, malt, wheat sprouting, and wild foods. The public is invited to participate in a bread-making event at VisArts.
When: Friday, Jan. 17–Sunday, Feb. 9; Opening Reception: 7-9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24
Cost: Free
Location: VisArts at Rockville, Common Ground Gallery

Cool Cow Comedy Presents Ben Kronberg
Ben Kronberg has been seen on Comedy Central, ABC and MTV.
When:  8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17
Cost: $15 pre-sale; $20 at the door (cash only)
Where: Visarts at Rockville
More: VisArtsAtRockville.org/comedy

Music: The 9 Songwriter Series
Organizers: “Be prepared for an evening full of surprises and pleasures where the collective talents of nine songwriters provide audiences with a rich, intimate, and varied listening experience.”
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18
Cost: $22
Where: BlackRock Center for the Arts
More: BlackRockCenter.org.

Theater: Blame it on Becket
In partnership with Montgomery Playhouse, the Arts Barn presents Blame It On Beckett. In the comedy by John Morogiello, a wide-eyed dramaturgy intern eager to better American drama is fed an endless stream of bad scripts and faces turf battles with her boss. This show contains adult language and is appropriate for patrons 17 and older, with parental guidance suggested.
When: Friday, Saturday and Sunday shows continue through Jan. 26. Showtime is 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday.
Cost: Tickets cost $16; Gaithersburg residents pay $14.
More: Details are available at the city of Gaithersburg’s website.

National Philharmonic: Three Great Classics
Program includes Mozart’s Divertimento K. 136, Bach’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Schubert’s Mass No. 2 in G Major. Featured performers: Gabriela Martinez, piano; Julie Keim, soprano; Robert Petillo, tenor; Kerry Wilkerson, bass; Victoria Gau, conductor.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18
Where: Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda
Cost: Single tickets start at $28. Free admission for kids ages 7 to 17, though tickets are required. For kids’ tickets, call 301-581-5100
More: Details about the concert and tickets are available at Strathmore’s website. 

Free Film Screening | ‘King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis’
Un-rated, this 1970s film is a compilation of documentary footage of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from the Montgomery bus boycott to the "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, from the dogs of Selma to the Nobel Prize and the fateful motel balcony in Memphis. With narration and commentary from Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Charlton Heston, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Clarence Williams III and others. Co-directed and produced by Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
When:  11:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 20
Where: AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring
Cost: Free, though tickets needed. Tickets will available at the AFI Silver box office on the day of show only; limit four tickets per person. Box office opens 11 a.m. Jan. 20.
More: Please visit the AFI website for more details about the film. A list of other MLK Day celebrations can be found here.