22 FRIDAY

Those turned off by the casual gore of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt’s uninventive bloodsuckers will find comfort in Urban Bush Women’s “Bones and Ash.” Based on a novel by Jewelle Gomez, the vampires in this story do not kill when they take blood, but instead leave the person with a vision, an answer to what she had been seeking. As Gomez writes, “It is in dreams that we find ourselves.” Using sung and spoken text, original music, and dance, this two-and-half-hour tour de force is the product of several years of collaboration between Gomez, Bush Women director Jawolle Zollar, and musician Toshi Reagon. At 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow at the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. $16-24. (202) 328-6000. (Holly Bass)