This 33-year-old theater complex strives to be not just the hub of Washington's cultural and entertainment scene, but a performing arts theater for the nation. It is constantly evolving, and right now that evolution involves an immense expansion, which will add two buildings to the 8-acre plaza in front of the center, and better connect the center to the rest of the city. The center lies between the Potomac River and a crisscross of major roadways, which makes it sound like it's easily accessible when, in fact, it is not, for its location actually isolates it from the rest of town. So don't be put off by the unseemly sight of major construction equipment -- it's going to be there for quite a while, a decade at least, as the expansion proceeds. The center's performances, meanwhile, continue uninterrupted.

These are top-rated performances by the best ballet, opera, jazz, modern dance, musical, and theater companies in the world. The best costs the most, and you are likely to pay more for a ticket here than at any other theater in D.C. -- from $14 for a children's play to more than $280 for a box seat on a Saturday night at the opera, although most ticket prices run in the $50 to $60 range.

Tip: If you want a really good, really cheap seat in the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall, try for a chorister seat. Prices vary widely, but, to give you an idea, the National Symphony Orchestra charges $25 for these seats (orchestra seats go for about $55). Each of the 63 seats is situated right behind the stage and above the orchestra. Call the regular box office number to try and reserve one of these, which are available on a night-by-night basis, that is, you can't book a whole season's worth of chorister seats. Keep in mind, though, that you'll be as much on view as the performing musicians.

The Kennedy Center is committed to being a theater for the people, and toward that end, it continues to stage its free concert series, known as "Millennium Stage," which features daily performances by area musicians and sometimes national artists each evening at 6pm in the center's Grand Foyer. (You can check out broadcasts of the nightly performances on the Internet at www.kennedy-center.org/millennium.) During the summer, the Ken-Cen adds Millennium Stage performances every Wednesday at noon on the steps of the Library of Congress's Thomas Jefferson Building. The Friday "Weekend" section of the Washington Post lists the free performances scheduled for the coming week; the daily "Style" section lists nightly performances under "Free Events," in the "Guide to the Lively Arts" column. Also call about "pay what you can" performances, scheduled throughout the year on certain days, for certain shows.

The Kennedy Center is actually made up of six different national theaters: the Opera House, the Concert Hall, the Terrace Theater, the Eisenhower Theater, the Theater Lab, and the American Film Institute (AFI) Film Theater. The renovation of the Opera House will be complete by February 2004, when the Washington Opera (www.dc-opera.org) returns to perform there (until then, the company takes the stage at the Daughters of the American Revolution's [DAR] Constitution Hall). The 2003-04 schedule includes productions of Verdi's La Traviata, Strauss's Die Fledermaus, Bellini's Norma, Puccini's Manon Lescaut, and the East Coast premiere of André Previn's first opera, A Streetcar Named Desire, based on the play by Tennessee Williams. The Washington Opera's artistic director is Placido Domingo, and tickets often sell out before the season begins. The National Symphony Orchestra presents concerts in the Concert Hall from September to June.

Among the other productions coming to one of the Kennedy Center stages in the 2003-2004 season are performances by the New York City Ballet Festival, the American Ballet Theatre, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem; the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Taming of the Shrew; a Stephen Sondheim musical, Bounce; and The Producers, the popular Mel Brooks musical. A highlight of the season is the Tennessee Williams Explored Festival, in which the center will stage A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Glass Menagerie, and an evening of five one-act plays by the playwright, four of them world premieres; this last endeavor, called "Five by Tenn," will be produced by the Shakespeare Theatre, whose artistic director, Michael Kahn, once worked with Williams.

The Theater Lab continues by day as Washington's premier stage for children's theater and by night as a cabaret (now in its 17th year) hosting Shear Madness, a comedy whodunit (all tickets $34).

These are just a smattering of Kennedy Center offerings.