July at the National Portrait Gallery Includes Portrait Discovery Kits, A Living Self-Portrait: Rita Moreno and More

Below is a full list of July events and programs at the National Portrait Gallery. All events are held at the National Portrait Gallery, located at Eighth and F streets, N.W., Washington, D.C., and are free unless otherwise noted. For information, call (202) 633-1000 or visit npg.si.edu. The National Portrait Gallery is open every day from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., except Dec. 25.

Portrait Discovery Kits

Saturdays, July 5, 12, 19 and 26, 2 to 5 p.m.

Sunday, July 6, 13, 20 and 27, 1 to 4 p.m.

Portrait Discovery Kits are an interactive and imaginative way for visitors to learn more about people who are in the Portrait Gallery's collection and their contributions to American history. The kits offer a self-guided tour, "Seek and Find" cards, "Portrait Detective" and "Historian Guides," and a "Compare and Contrast" activity using a doll. Visitors can check out kits just outside of the education center, room E151 on the first floor. Kits must be returned prior to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays. This program is sponsored in part by the Reinsch Family Education Endowment.

A Living Self-Portrait: Rita Moreno

Wednesday, July 9: reception, 6 p.m.; program, 7 p.m.

Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium

Celebrate the life and work of Rita Moreno, actress, singer and dancer and the only Latina (and one of only a few performers) to have won EGOT four major annual American entertainment awards: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. She has also won a Golden Globe. Join us to hear Moreno's life story as told to Taína Caragol, curator of Latino art and history at the Portrait Gallery. Moreno is represented in the special exhibition "Dancing the Dream" on the first floor. Tickets must be purchased in advance; reception and program, $50 ($45 before June 30); program only, $15 ($10 before June 30).

Reception & Program tickets:

http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?pid=7779558&agency=TDC&campid=TDC_NEW_WWW_2013

Program only tickets:

http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?pid=7781018&agency=TDC&campid=TDC_NEW_WWW_2013

Orders may also be made by calling the Smithsonian Theaters Concessions and Attractions ticketing line at1-866-868-7774. Your e-mail confirmation from Tickets.com or Smithsonian Theaters serves as your ticket for the program. Please bring it with you to the event.

Docent Tour: Shakespeare at the National Portrait Gallery

Saturday, July 12, 1:30 p.m.

National Portrait Gallery docent Lorna Grenadier leads a special tour of Shakespeare at the Portrait Gallery in lieu of the Docent's Choice tour held at 1:30 p.m. Although William Shakespeare may be more than 200 years older than the United States, his works have resonated in American life and culture from our country's earliest days. This tour will highlight figures in the Portrait Gallery's collection whose lives were touched by the Bard in diverse and surprising ways as we celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth.

Curator's Tour: Face Value: Portraiture in the Age of Abstraction

Saturday, July 12, 2 p.m.

Chief Curator and Curator of Painting and Sculpture Brandon Fortune leads a tour of "Face Value: Portraiture in the Age of Abstraction." Meet at the exhibition entrance on the second floor near the "Struggle for Justice" exhibition.

Portraits Alive! Program Tours-Session 1 performances

July 16, 17 and 18, noon and 2 p.m.

Meet in the F Street lobby

Teens selected from D.C., Virginia and Maryland lead a theatrical tour that brings the Portrait Gallery's collection to life through an original, student-written play. The program, in its seventh year, takes visitors on a memorable journey to a variety of portraits as the students perform biographical portrayals of the people represented in various photographs, paintings, drawings, sculptures or prints.

Baseball Family Festival

Saturday, July 19, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard

Play ball with the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum! Tour the galleries to find some of the best names in the game, baseball-themed crafts, a book-signing of Becoming Babe Ruth with author Matt Tavares and appearances by local team mascots.

Portrait Discovery Kits

Saturdays, August 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30, 2 to 5 p.m.

Sundays, August 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31, 1 to 4 p.m.

Portrait Discovery Kits are an interactive and imaginative way for visitors to learn more about people who are in the Portrait Gallery's collection and their contributions to American history. The kits offer a self-guided tour, "Seek and Find" cards, "Portrait Detective" and "Historian Guides," and a "Compare and Contrast" activity using a doll. Visitors can check out kits just outside of the education center, room E151 on the first floor. Kits must be returned prior to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays. This program is sponsored in part by the Reinsch Family Education Endowment.

Portraits Alive! Program Tours-Session 2 performances

August 6, 7 and 8, noon and 2 p.m.

Meet in the F Street lobby

Teens selected from D.C., Virginia and Maryland lead a theatrical tour that brings the Portrait Gallery's collection to life through an original, student-written play. The program, in its seventh year, takes visitors on a memorable journey to a variety of portraits as the students perform biographical portrayals of the people represented in each photograph, painting, drawing, sculpture or print.

National Portrait Gallery walk-in tours

Walk-in tours begin in the F Street lobby.

Highlights of the National Portrait Gallery tours

Weekdays, 11:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.

Saturdays and Sundays, 11:45 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.

Docent's Choice tours

Weekdays, 1 and 3:30 p.m.

Saturdays and Sundays, 1:30 and 4:30 p.m.

Behind the Scenes

An Introduction to the Lunder Conservation Center

Wednesdays, 3 p.m.

At the Lunder Conservation Center, learn how museum conservators use science, art history and skilled hands to preserve objects in the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum collections. Group size is limited; please register at the Luce Foundation Center information desk before 3 p.m. on the day of the program.

Upcoming Exhibitions

One Life: Grant and Lee: 1864-1865

July 4 through May 31, 2015

Press preview: July 1, 10 to 11:30 a.m.

This special installation of "One Life" considers two lives that were intertwined during the Civil War. The rivalry between generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee is one of the most memorable in American military history. Lee was a polished and seemingly invincible Confederate commander who encountered Grant, a rough-hewn upstart, in the Virginia campaigns of 1864 and 1865. Grant and Lee both stand alone as genuine world historical individuals in their impact on America, but they are also are the product of their relationship to each other.

In the way that each embodied the society for which they fought, their clash became a harbinger of the evolution of warfare in the 20th century. Ultimately, the Union would prevail, in part with the adoption of a total war philosophy of destroying both armies and resources.

Photo Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Great Hall. Photograph by Rob Mac a member of the NPG Group Pool on Flickr.com