On the cover, Mike Riggs examines the various reality franchises that have landed in D.C., and wonders: Why is Washington the city where reality TV goes to die? I visit Arena Stage as it moves into its handsome Mead Center for American Theater, and recount some of the challenges of building the $125 million complex during a recession. Ted Scheinman checks in on Imagining Madoff, which premiered in Hudson, N.Y., recently but won’t be coming to D.C.’s Theater J, at least not this season. In One Track Mind, Ryan Little interviews America Hearts‘ Jess Matthews about her road ditty, “Home.” Ramon Ramirez reviews Arcade Fire‘s The Suburbs. Ben Westhoff reviews Bun B’s Trill O.G. Film critic Tricia Olszewski reviews Todd Solondz‘s Life During Wartime and Joel Schumacher‘s Twelve. And Chris Klimek reviews Scena Theater’s gentlemen-as-ladies-and-ladies-as-gentlemen take on The Importance of Being Earnest. On at least two levels, it’s a bit of a drag.

In City Lights: Lou Jacobson visits “Portray” at Addison/Ripley Gallery, and John Anderson checks out “Edvard Munch Master Prints” at the National Gallery of Art. Also: Gucci Mane; the Silent Orchestra performs to Salome; the films of John Hughes; Phosphorescent; and Rosanne Cash reads from her new memoir.