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MONDAY

When last we saw Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City as adapted by PBS, Mona, Michael, Mary Ann, and Mrs. Madrigal were celebrating with Colombian weed-filled brownies on a chilly San Francisco Christmas Eve. Asked how she was doing, the tawny-haired Mona (Chloe Webb) blurted, “Smilin’ in the face of perversity.” Maupin continued his clever characterizations in More Tales of the City, and now it, too, has been made into a series, due to air on Showtime June 7. (Perhaps cable status will spare these episodes the conservative Congressional outcry that threatened to cut PBS’s government funding for “promoting” homosexuality in the original series.) Maupin’s addictive chronicles mix flashes of pop culture brilliance (child-porn sleeze Norman uses Scrabble tiles to solve Mrs. Madrigal’s anagram puzzle) and true hipster dialogue (preserved nearly verbatim in the films). To get a preview, benefiting the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and Reel Affirmations, take in the “Capital Pride” (sneak) premiere screening at 7:30 p.m. tonight and Tuesday at the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. $25-60. (202) 661-7026. (Ginger Eckert)