Washington City Paper

Meet the Only Runner on Cardozo Education Campus’ Girls Cross-Country Team Daryerly Yriarte is managing school, a part-time job, English classes, and the internal struggle to just keep running.

Cardozo’s girls cross-country team is the smallest high school sports team in D.C.: Daryerly Yriarte, a junior, is the only runner.

She’s managing school, a part-time job, English classes, and the internal struggle to just keep running. Full story:

Pillion Gives the Gay Leather Community the Rom-Com Treatment This weekend you have your choice between two sexy movies with hot leading men. Why not pick the kinkier and sweeter one.

“Wuthering Heights” and Pillion have more in common than you may think, writes critic Alan Zilberman. “Both feature a tall, chiseled, improbably handsome man indulging his idea of unconventional romance and eroticism.”

But one “avoids cliches for something more psychologically astute.” The review:

D.C. Attorney General Targets D.C. Slumlord With RICO Lawsuit, Alleging Corrupt Enterprise Across 70 Rent-Controlled Buildings Despite the AG’s lawsuit, another notorious slumlord has reappeared as a representative at a building in Razjooyan’s enterprise.

D.C. AG Brian Schwalb hit Ali “Sam” Razjooyan with a RICO lawsuit, accusing him and his family of running an illegal real estate empire.

Despite the suit, another notorious slumlord has reappeared as a representative at a building in Razjooyan’s enterprise. More here:

On Background: A New Improv-Journalism Mash-Up D.C. improv veteran Shawn Westfall and local author Dan Kois put journalists’ stories center stage at their new monthly comedy show.

On Background, a new live comedy set from D.C. improv veteran Shawn Westfall and local author-journalist Dan Kois puts journalists’ stories center stage.

More on the debut show featuring former Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema:

Where in D.C. Is Darrow Montgomery? Guess the location, win a prize!

📍We’re back with another game of Where in D.C. is Darrow Montgomery? Reply with your guesses to win some City Paper merch.

How a D.C. ‘Slumlord’ Scammed Tenants and Lenders to Build a Portfolio of Neglected Properties, According to Lawsuits and Tenant Accounts Ali “Sam” Razjooyan and his associates are accused of doctoring loan documents and tricking tenants out of their rights. While they get rich, tenants are displaced.

@wcp.bsky.social investigative reporter Suzie Amanuel has been reporting on Razjooyan and his associates since 2024, including his doctoring of loan documents and tricking tenants out of their rights as he has built a portfolio of neglected slums:

washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7541...

Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” Doesn’t Reach New Heights Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, and their costars are the only things keeping this film from drowning in its own decadence.

Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” is horny, pretty, and “has all the subtlety of a heart attack,” writes Sarah Marloff.

“Play with period, absurdity, and fashion all you want," Marloff writes. “The problem with 'Wuthering Heights' is that it can’t decide what it’s trying to be.” Full review:

On Beckett, Not Beckett, Just Beckett: How Samuel Beckett Is Speaking to D.C. One of the defining playwrights of the 20th century is having a moment as three local organizations pay homage to his work.

Samuel Beckett is having a moment in the District. Three local orgs are creating productions, homages, and responses to his work.

What is it about the absurdist, darkly humorous playwright’s work that is speaking to D.C. creatives? Full story:

D.C. Cop Charged With Scamming Pennsylvania Man on Facebook Marketplace Metropolitan Police Department Officer Christopher Bijan Shahsavar ghosted a man who paid him $2,500 for a gaming console.

A D.C. cop was charged with four felonies after scamming someone in Pennsylvania via Facebook Marketplace.

MPD is now trying to fire Shahsavar, who challenged that decision during an adverse action hearing last week. Full story:

Beats Me: Ari Lennox Takes Neo-Soul to New Heights and Jeff Draco Drops Long-Awaited New Music Early 2026 brings new music from Massie, Cryptid Summer, Cash on the Nail, Unity for the Outcasts, and RDGLDGRN.

Neo-soul from Ari Lennox, a long-awaited single from indie-pop darling Josh Draco, and a reggae-rock track from RDGLDGRN. Our music writers round up the latest in local tunes:

As Girls Basketball Participation in D.C. Declines, Ballou’s Courtney Lucas Is Reinvigorating Her Team Girls face unique barriers to athletic participation, but Coach Lucas ensures her students are supported both on and off the court

Coach Courtney Lucas “was willing to actually go through the fire to win the girls over,” says Ballou High School’s principal.

Girls face unique barriers to athletic participation, but Coach Lucas shows what support on and off the court can do. Read more:

Where in D.C. Is Darrow Montgomery? Guess the location, win a prize!

Where’s @darrow-m.bsky.social? Reply with your best guess and be entered to win a prize!

This week we’re giving two winners tickets to the DC Independent Film Festival’s Annual Forum.

Deep Holes, Rats the Size of Dogs, and Restrictive Priority: When Access to Fields Are the Barrier to Youth Sports “They’re all falling apart. I mean, I’d like to take you out to a DPR field and show you what it’s like.”

D.C. kids participate in sports at high rates, but access isn’t equitable. We’ve partnered with a class at American University to look at the barriers some kids face.

First up is a story about how the city’s failure to maintain certain fields leaves young athletes without a safe place to practice:

Trayon White Wants to Postpone His Bribery Trial Again Councilmember White is pushing to delay the start of his criminal trial until June after changing attorneys again.

Trayon White wants to push back the start of his criminal bribery trial—again. After switching attorneys for the second time in this case, he’s asking for a June 8 start date. More here:

Spot LIT: Booked for 2026 It promises to be a strong year for new releases from local authors; here are seven can’t miss titles to read between now and June.

Local authors are booked and busy in 2026. Columnist Hannah Grieco rounds up her seven most anticipated reads to add to you TBR pile:

More Bark Than Bite Constellation’s Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors Is Still a Bloody Good Time Save for its unveiled queerness, this Transylvanian count’s European sanguination feels like a product of another age.

Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors is not like the other vampire comedies—it’s “silly in a Muppet-y key” writes critic Chris Klimek. “Save for its unveiled queerness and the odd Amazon joke, A Comedy of Terrors feels like a product of another age.”

Theatre Washington’s Impact Report Shows a Vibrant But Imbalanced Theater Region. What Happens Next? As theaters continue their slow recovery from the pandemic, local advocates and leaders seek to tell the field’s story in dollars and cents.

Theatre Washington created a “rare opportunity to tell a story of the local theater industry in the language of dollars and cents,” writes contributor Jared Strange.

Its report examines the economic impact of DMV theater and offers new insight. Strange breaks it down:

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What to Stream: Peacock’s Primo Picks Perhaps you got a Peacock subscription for the sports, but the streaming service offers killer (if little-seen) shows to catch up on as well.

Between the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl, February is a big month for sports—and for Peacock. Columnist Bill Frost rounds up the best underrated Peacock originals to stream in your sports downtime:

Every Scare in Paranormal Activity Is Masterfully Earned Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production is impeccably crafted, visually compelling, and deliriously, deliciously scary.

On stage through Feb. 7, STC’s Paranormal Activity is “visually compelling, if not jaw-dropping” and “deliriously, deliciously scary.” Melissa Lin Sturges reviews:

Rik Freeman’s Personal Touch Community members are seeing themselves and the Anacostia River reflected in Rik Freeman's exhibit Wade in the Waters at Phillips@THEARC.

At Phillips@THEARC, local artist Rik Freeman focuses on Black diasporic experiences in aquatic scenes.

Wade in the Waters tells “stories of community, the stories of history, the stories of resilience,” Freeman explains. More here:

A Video of a Bat-Wielding Tenant Confronting Her Landlord Went Viral. But There’s More to the Story. Jeffrey Levin and Michele Watley have been locked in litigation for years.

A video of a bat-wielding tenant went viral, prompting widespread sympathy for her landlord. He portrayed himself as a small landlord crushed by pro-tenant laws and a tenant refusing to pay rent.

But public records tell a different, more complicated story:

Restraint and Star Power Make the Horror Comedy Send Help Agreeably Disgusting Master horror filmmaker Sam Raimi proves he’s still got it alongside a major assist from Rachel McAdams in a commanding lead role.

Send Help, Sam Raimi’s dark comedy about a corporate staffer stranded on a desert island with her petulant boss, is “wildly entertaining” and “agreeably disgusting.” Alan Zilberman’s review:

Photographer Farrah Skeiky Wins the Fifth Annual HAUS AWARD Queer collective haus of bambi celebrates Farrah Skeiky at the annual HAUS AWARDS ceremony, taking place on Jan. 29 at DC9.

For 15 years, photographer Farrah Skeiky has documented gigs, D.C.’s food scene, countercultural movements, and more. Now queer collective haus of bambi is celebrating Skeiky and her work at the annual HAUS AWARDS ceremony on Jan. 29 at DC9:

Termination of Officer Who Drove Drunk in His Take-Home Cruiser Reversed By Administrative Judge In body cam footage, Officer John Bewley is seen slurring his words, mocking fellow officers, interfering with his fiancee’s arrest, and resisting arrest.

A D.C. cop was fired for driving his MPD cruiser to the scene of his fiancee’s DUI arrest. Body cam footage shows him slurring his words, mocking fellow officers, and resisting arrest.

In Nov., a judge reversed the termination. Mitch Ryals on how difficult it is to discipline a cop in the District:

The Mercy Seat Mercy, Timur Bekmambetov’s ticking-clock “screenlife” thriller, is a state-of-the-art specimen of artificial stupidity.

“Not one fender was bent in the making of this minor motion picture.” Critic Chris Klimek says Mercy is a “harebrained real-time whodunit” that “appears to have been written, directed, and performed via algorithm.” The review:

Swing Beat: What It Means for Local Artists to Cancel Shows at the Kennedy Center Big-name performers can afford to cancel their shows at the Kennedy Center. But for some D.C. musicians, “they gotta put up with that ignorant-ass shit.”

Who gets to boycott the Kennedy Center? Big-name artists can afford to cancel shows, but local musicians say the decision isn’t so simple for them.

“If a musician’s depending on income from the Kennedy Center, they gotta put up with that ignorant-ass shit,” says one artist. More here:

Studio Theatre’s New Pages, New Stages Nurtures New Theater Works The inaugural fest brings together Theater J, Theater Alliance, Arena Stage, and Solas Nua to develop new work and fill the gap left by Page-to-Stage.

This weekend, Studio Theatre kicks off the inaugural New Pages, New Stages festival.

The fest brings together Theater J, Theater Alliance, Arena Stage, and Solas Nua to develop new work and fill the gap left by the Kennedy Center’s Page-to-Stage. More here:

Meet the Local Label Bringing Cassettes Back to D.C. As artists ditch Spotify and nostalgia reigns supreme, Punch Tab Tapes offers an easy and affordable entrance to physical media.

"The entire tech world has gone full fascist. Any time you can get out of that is good.” —Rob Cline, Punch Tab Tapes co-founder.

Meet the 20-somethings operating a not-for-profit cassette label out of a Columbia Heights row house:

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Is a Great Film’s Ugly Inverse Picking up where 28 Years Later left off, The Bone Temple, Nia DaCosta’s installment of the zombie franchise, is too violent for this critic.

Picking up where 28 Years Later left off, The Bone Temple is grisly, explicit, and features Ralph Fiennes lip-synching to Iron Maiden.

Nia DaCosta’s “overindulgence in gross-out violence” had critic Chris Klimek squirming in his seat. The review: