More Falls Church Businesses Get Micro-Grants — “This round was open to a wider range of small businesses and non-profit applicants than those awarded to 84 businesses in a first round in May… All 42 eligible applicants will receive funding thanks to the [Falls Church] EDA.” [Falls Church News-Press]

Ransomware Attack — “A DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) subsidiary has experienced a ransomware attack on some of its systems, the Tysons tech firm disclosed Monday. Xchanging is a global standalone insurance managed services business, according to a release from DXC. The company does not believe that the attack compromised any customer data, however, some customers currently do not have access to the platform.” [Washington Business Journal]

“Vienna is for Lovers” — “To aid small businesses during the pandemic, the Vienna-based owner of custom apparel maker French Press Printing has held T-shirt fundraisers in Vienna and Oakton. Now French Press Printing’s Sarah Bohn is featuring a local artist’s original work and donating a portion of proceeds.” [Vienna Patch]

Citizens Group Backs Subdivision — “The McLean Citizens Association (MCA) board of directors passed a resolution July 1 in favor of a rezoning that would allow a three-house subdivision to be built at 8801 Jarrett Valley Drive.” [Inside NoVa]

McLean High School plans to have its new modular ready by mid-December.

Ellen Reilly, the school’s principal, wrote in a newsletter to families today that the school’s tennis courts will close next Monday, July 13, so that the trailers can occupy the space.

Until the new modular is ready later this year, the trailers will need to stay on the tennis courts, she said.

Plans to address the school’s overcrowding with a proposed boundary adjustment have stalled as the Fairfax County School Board grapples with COVID-19 challenges.

The modular will replace 14 trailers at the school in an effort to alleviate some of the overcrowding issues, Elaine Tholen, the school board member who represents the Dranesville District, previously said.

Reilly said that she will keep families updated on the construction progress

Vienna officials want to fix the erosion along a stream of Bear Branch Tributary.

The Vienna Town Council is set to vote on awarding the design contract for the stream restoration project, which will improve roughly 1,900 linear feet of the stream and its banks from Cottage Street SW downstream to I-66, according to town documents.

In total, the project costs approximately $2 million. In September, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved giving roughly $1 million to the town for the project.

“Town DPW staff will lead and manage the project, and Fairfax County staff has pledged support with plans and review if requested,” according to town documents.

Earlier this year, town staff reviewed nine design proposals and narrowed their selection to the one from Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions, Inc. The town is set to vote on awarding the contract to the firm tonight.

The National Weather Service wants people in Fairfax County to prepare for storms today (Monday).

The area is under a Flash Flood Watch from 3-9 p.m. and a Severe Thunderstorm Watch from now until 11 p.m.

More from NWS about the Flash Flood Watch:

Thunderstorms will develop this afternoon and continue this evening along the I-95 corridor. Some areas may experience multiple thunderstorms through this evening. Rainfall amounts of 1-2 inches are possible, with some isolated amounts over 3 inches possible. This amount of rain over urban areas may lead to instances of flash flooding, as well as a potential for creeks and streams to rise rapidly if some of the higher amounts are realized.

Another, possibly stronger and more widespread round of thunderstorms is expected this afternoon/evening. A Flash Flood Watch is in effect for the areas highlighted in green on map 1. Also, the threat level for severe weather has been increased across the areas in yellow on map 2 pic.twitter.com/JvPr1GcDKO

— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) July 6, 2020

Severe Thunderstorm Watch for this afternoon and evening. pic.twitter.com/6CwJvsZBIm

— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) July 6, 2020

(Updated 2:40 p.m.) Vienna police received a couple of reports last week about assaults along the W&OD Trail.

All of the incidents happened Monday (June 29) on the bike trail. Around 1:40 p.m. near the Vienna Community Center, a woman said a man on a bicycle hit her butt with his hand as he rode by before doing the same thing to a girl riding a bike, according to the police recap.

Police were not able to find the man after searching the area, according to the recap.

Then at 8 p.m., a similar incident happened near the 800 block of Follin Lane SE. “On June 30, a resident reported that the previous night she was walking on the bike trail when an unknown man approached her on a bicycle and struck her on her buttock with his hand,” the police recap said.

Juan Vazquez, the spokesperson for the police department, said it’s too soon to tell if the incidents involved the same man or not. Vazquez declined to offer suspect descriptions from the incidents.

Drive-in movies are coming to Tysons Corner Center on Friday.

While the movies are free, Tysons Corner Center is asking people to donate $25 to Second Story, a local nonprofit that helps people seeking food, shelter and emergency support. People can donate by texting “2SGIVE” to 50155 or on Second Story’s website.

The series, which is sponsored by the Hyatt Regency Tysons Corner Center, will run from July-September, according to the mall’s website.

Moviegoers can expect a different film on the second weekend of each month:

• Friday, July 10: “The Sandlot”
• Friday, August 14: “Aladdin”
• Saturday, Sept. 12: “Mrs. Doubtfire”

People must reserve spots because of limited space along Fashion Blvd between Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, according to the mall’s website.

The drive-in will open at 6 p.m. ahead of the screening at 8:30 p.m. The mall’s website is encouraging moviegoers to shop and eat at the mall, listen to live music and stay at the Hyatt Regency.

With restrictions on movie theaters due to the pandemic, several drive-in movies have popped up around Tysons this summer, including at the McLean Metro lot, The Boro and the Mosaic District.

Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash

Citizens Group Raises Concerns About Tysons Project — “A proposed Tysons development might be the right thing for a spot now occupied by low-rise commercial buildings, but the applicant should resubmit the proposal after making several improvements, McLean Citizens Association board members said July 1.” [Inside NoVa]

FCPS Town Hall Tonight — “Join FCPS Superintendent Scott S. Brabrand, Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Sloan Presidio, and director of the office of special education procedural support Jane Strong for an FCPS virtual Town Hall on Monday, July 6, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.” [Fairfax County Public Schools]

Tysons Company Donates Thousands of Masks — “Fairfax County received a donation of 15,000 FDA-approved KN95 masks from Portals Global, a Tysons-based consulting firm. Portals Global’s CEO Omo Igiehon said he chose Fairfax County as the donation recipient in order to give back to the community that he has lived in for 21 years.” [Fairfax County Economic Development Authority]

New Mayor, Town Council Members — “New Vienna Mayor Linda Colbert and the new Town Council will be sworn into office at a public ceremony on July 6. The ceremony will be held outside the Vienna Community Center at 6 p.m.” [Patch]

(Updated 5:55 p.m.) Medieval pageant wagons inspired the “Drive-Thru Drama” production that kicks off this weekend in McLean.

Danielle Van Hook, The Alden’s director of Youth Theatre Programs, came up with the idea while in the middle of Zoom rehearsals for “Dorothy Meets Alice or the Wizard of Wonderland” in mid-May. The in-person show ended up getting cancelled, but Van Hook wanted to still find a way to bring theater to the community.

“I just started thinking, ‘What would have happened if this pandemic had happened in like the 1980s and we didn’t have this kind of virtual technology?'” she said.

Van Hook said her idea is a twist on the pageant wagons — instead of having the actors playing the scenes along a parade route, the audience goers are the people who move. During the production, the audience drives from stage to stage to watch actors deliver two- to three-minute monologues at fixed locations.

The Alden, which is a part of the McLean Community Center, is debuting the show “Small Change,” which was written and directed by Andrew Scott Zimmer.

“‘Small Change’ follows the travels of a $1 bill as it journeys through time and space, interacting with different people’s lives and leaving its mark on the world,” according to MCC. “Actors will perform one, cohesive story through short monologues at various stations in the center’s parking lot.”

Having the actors stand in parking spaces was the original idea before realizing that there are sections of trees and islands in the parking lot that could get converted into stages, Van Hook said. “Each little stage has its own kind of personality,” she added.

To limit person-to-person contact, the theater requires that audience members buy their tickets in advance. On show nights, audience members will be checked in by their cars’ license plates. Then, they will get an orientation from the front of house manager on what they can expect.

“He gives them a little bit of a rundown of the speed limit and how you know when you move on from the stage that you’re at to the next one,” she said.

In order to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus, the actors will wear face shields and stay six feet away from the cars and other people outside.

Personal protective equipment is one of the many considerations Van Hook has had to take into consideration as the producer for the show.

“It’s been really interesting to sort of think about all of the little details and how we adapt it for this new style, and for me personally, it’s been sort of an exercise in like remembering why I like really loved making theater,” she said.

And of course, she’s hoping it doesn’t rain — or worse.

While all of the elements of theater — audience, actors and stage — are there, Van Hook said that the format changes the experience.

“One of the interesting things about this medium — and the same thing with Zoom — is that you can’t necessarily control how the audience is viewing the show,” she said, adding that the positions of people in the car will affect the view and sound.

“We’re recommending that if the audience is on the left side of the car that the right side windows are up, because it helps with the sound,” she said, adding that the actors are projecting their voices. Audience members will be able to follow along with large-print ADA script that they can print out ahead of time or read on their devices.

Even the size of the car and how close or far away from the ground it is will impact the audience.

The “Drive-Thru Drama” is also “much more intimate” than traditional theater, she said. “You kind of get a show that’s just for you.”

There’s also the trippy concept that it’s a communal experience that isn’t in-sync.

“There’s a couple of cars along the route at any given time. The same show is going on at the same time, but it’s at five or six different places in the show at the same exact moment. So there’s different audience members viewing the show from different moments in time, all at the same time,” she said.

A few weeks ago, the theater held auditions via Instagram. Now, dress rehearsals are wrapping up for the production.

The shows will run for two weekends — July 3-5 and July 10-12. While the shows run from 6-8 p.m., the shows are 30-minutes-long and the tickets give audience members time slots for when they can arrive.

“If they have a ticket for 6-6:15 p.m., they don’t have to be there at 6,” she said, adding that they are expecting some delays because they can only admit one car at a time. “Hopefully the longest somebody is waiting to get in is like 15 or so minutes.”

A limited number of tickets for the shows became available online two weeks before the opening.

Going forward, Van Hook hopes that the format can provide The Alden and other theaters more options, both for when the interior spaces are closed and for engaging with audiences differently.

“If you’re comfortable in your car, you can be comfortable in this style of theater, which I think is really cool and could definitely open some doors for people that just are uncomfortable in a theater-type space.”

Van Hook also said the format could work well for high school drama clubs that want to put on shows to fundraise. When the coronavirus risk lessens, she said she would like to see multiple actors on the stages, improv and even audience participation.

“Once we kind of figure out the flow, there’s a lot of ways that we could adapt it and change it each time and really to be surprising.”

Last night’s town hall with Fairfax County’s police chief covered a variety of issues related to police reform, from progress on the demands made by Fairfax County NAACP to body-worn cameras.  

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn hosted the meeting last night to give locals a chance to provide input and ask questions. The conflict-free town hall mainly focused on Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. answering questions from audience members and explaining FCPD’s policies in detail. 

Roessler highlighted the reforms made by FCPD since the shooting of John Geer, an unarmed Springfield man, in 2013. They have shifted towards a “co-production” method of policing, which emphasizes the importance of community engagement by bringing in advocates to review issues and discuss police report narratives. 

A big goal of the police department is to increase diversion of tasks, including sending mental health or substance abuse cases away from the police. Lee District Supervisor Rodney Lusk, who is the chair of the county’s Public Safety Committee, also emphasized that the current range of issues diverted to the police is “too much to ask of them” and is in support of the Diversion First model. 

The chief addressed terminology that the public wanted to be defined, including the FCPD’s definition of the use of force as “anything beyond a guide or escort, or above putting handcuffs on.” Roessler said that anything beyond that is subject to investigation. Additionally, he clarified that chokeholds are prohibited in Fairfax County. 

Roessler also touched on the development of body-worn cameras. He said that the idea has been in the works since June 2015, and he wants to adopt the co-production model of community engagement in this development.

He says they are making “great progress” on this project and that the policies regarding the cameras are addressed online in an American University pilot program testing the same model of body camera policies. They plan to evaluate the body cameras again in-person in September to ensure the policies are exceeding community expectations.

Roessler discussed the evaluation and promotion process of officers, saying that evaluation begins upon application. He described a thorough path of training that officers go through before assignments. Additionally, they value community engagement when evaluating candidates for senior staff positions to ensure officers “embody the spirit of what the community needs for the future.” 

“We want our officers to engage with the community members in a positive fashion, not just calls for service,” Roessler said in describing what they look for upon officer evaluation. 

Other issues covered included the presence of the MS-13 gang, to which Roessler said they “will be relentless on gang activity in Fairfax County.”

When asked how the police department addresses domestic and sexual violence, Roessler said they use the Lethality Assessment Program — Maryland Model to assess the situation and connect victims with immediate help, such as counselors, attorneys or volunteers from the community.

Photo via Youtube Live

Tysons’ 1st Stage Theatre announced today (Thursday) that it’s delaying its upcoming season until February and will focus on virtual class offerings this summer.

Until 2021 rolls around, 1st Stage will offer new online classes. The “Virtual Classroom” will feature six education courses taught by the theater’s staff:

• July 13-Aug. 17: “Introduction to Playwriting” by family member Bob Bartlett
• July 14-Aug. 18: “Beginning Scene Study” by Associate Artistic Director Deidra LaWan Starnes
• July 15-Aug. 19: “A Director Prepares” by Artistic Director Alex Levy
• July 17-Aug. 21: “Beginning Voice Training” by Casting Director Jane Margulies Kalbfeld
• July 18-Aug. 22: “Approaches to Script Analysis” by Literary Manager Laura Esti Miller
• July 19-Aug. 23: “Introduction to Improvisation” by Director of Engagement Heidi Fortune Picker

Instead of kicking off its 13th season later this year, the theater will wait until February. The new season will include three productions from February-May before the Logan Festival of Solo Performance, which was cancelled this summer, will return in July 2021.

The season is now scheduled to kick off with “The Waverly Gallery,” directed by Alex Levy and written by Kenneth Lonergan. Then in April, the theatre will show “The Nance,” directed by Nick Olcott and written by Douglas Carter Beane. “Mlima’s Tale,” directed by José Carrasquillo and written by Lynn Nottage, will be the season’s last production.