On April 25th, 2008, Kimberly Christen, Assistant Professor in Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University, gave a lecture entitled A Safe Keeping Place: Shifting Museum Spaces and Embedded Aboriginal Cultural Protocols. She discussed her work in developing cultural protocols to protect sacred and sensitive information while creating a community digital archive in collaboration with the Warumungu community in Tennant Creek, Northern Territories. The archive, called Mukurtu, contains thousands of photographs, recordings and other historical documents from this community in central Australia. Much of the material was supplied by missionaries, museums and even local cattle stations. A demonstration of the Mukurta archive can be seen online at www.mukurtuarchive.org . You can also visit Christen’s blog, Long Road, at www.kimberlychristen.com
Charlottesville Podcasting Network
Expanding the public square through multimedia
Live Arts Season Announcement 2008-2009
I had a conversation with John Gibson, Artistic Director for Live Arts, the day after he announced Live Arts’ next season’s schedule to a packed house.
The full interview is well worth listening to; you’ll hear the season in the first six minutes.
Stop reading now if you want to be surprised, because below is the list of Live Arts next season:
- Disney’s High School Musical
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley
- Flyin’ West by Pearl Cleage
- Sweeny Todd by (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler, based on Christopher Bond’s stage version of the story.)
- 2 Weeks of New Modern Dance
- Visit to a Small Planet by Gore Vidal
- The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder
- Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo
- Tartuffe by Moliere
- Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl
Need more — Listen. Need more live arts — www.livearts.org
Live Arts presents Mother Courage
Mother Courage and Her Children opens March 28th at Live Arts, downstage, the big stage, with Fran Smith [a Live Arts founder] playing the title character. Mother Courage was written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht — one of the heroes of modern theatre. This play is often considered the greatest anti-war play of all times. And now, Live Arts presents a new translation/adaptation by one of the greatest living English playwrights, David Hare.
If you can you image a time where war dominates the headlines, where economies hinge on that very war, and where the men in power say the war is necessary, yet won’t fight themselves - if you can image that - you might just find yourself among friends at Live Arts over the next month.
Satch Huizenga directs Mother Courage at Live Arts and we stole a few minutes of his time to ask how this 59 year old play remains timeless.
@ Live Arts March 28 to April 19, 2008
LiveArts.com or Box Office: 434-977-4177
[ photo: Fran Smith and Ron Hasson in Mother Courage and her Children at Live Arts - (c) Will Kerner ]
Barhoppers bring theatre to the masses
It’s the annual Barhoppers show on this week’s edition of WNRN’s Sunday Morning Wake-Up Call! Members from Offstage Theatre’s Barhoppers 2008 join Rick Moore in the studio to present some samples from their show. The show’s various directors and producers explain what exactly Barhoppers is and how it got started, while the actors perform excerpts from some of the skits - “Automatic Writing,” “Tragic Hero,” “Big Fish, Little Fish,” and “Answer Man.”
Barhoppers is theatre performed in bars - and this year, all seven skits are by local playwright Joel Jones. You can see the show at Rapture for the next two weeks, Sunday through Tuesday, 7:30 at Rapture. The show is open to all ages, though parental discretion is advised. Tonight is the only non-smoking show.
Live Arts presents In The Blood
In the Blood, by Suzan-Lori Parks, is a play about Hester, a homeless mother of five. Hester is a daughter of our society, the mother or our children, and a victim of her own well meant intentions. She is us; and she is the person we walk by, judge and ignore. Listen here to a conversation with the show’s director, Clinton Johston; and lead actor, Aisha Renée Moore.
In the Blood plays at Live Arts
March 14 to 29 (preview on 13th)
Box Office: 434-977-4177
www.livearts.org
[ Pictured: Mark Washington and Aisha Renée Moore
- from In the Blood at Live Arts. Photos © Will Kerner ]
Andy Straka on “Record of Wrongs”
On Thursday, February 28, 2008, author Andy Straka spoke at the New Dominion Bookshop about his newest novel, Record of Wrongs. Straka gave a description of the characters and plot of his book, which is a departure from his mystery series featuring private investigator Frank Pavlicek. He discussed the research behind Record of Wrongs, including the real-life events that lend credibility to his fictional account.
Charlottesville Michael Fitts currently showing at C&O Gallery
Charlottesville artist Michael Fitts was a guest on WINA’s “Charlottesville–Right Now!” with Coy Barefoot on March 5, 2008. Fitts is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University who currently has a show at the C&O Gallery. He’s also the art designer for the U.Va Alumni Association, and discusses his work with Coy.
Susan Gregg Gilmore reads at New Dominion Bookshop
On Tuesday, February 26, 2008, author Susan Gregg Gilmore spoke at the New Dominion Bookshop about her writing career and read from her debut novel, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen. She then answered questions from the audience about the novel and her writing process. Gilmore concluded her presentation by answering the most pressing question of all: Just what is a Dilly Bar?
Author James Collins reads from Beginner’s Greek
James Collins is a former editor at Time, and has contributed to the New Yorker, among other magazines. He grew up in New York City, but he and his family now call Charlottesville home. On January 15, 2008, Collins appeared at New Dominion Bookshop to read two passages from his first novel, Beginner’s Greek. He also took questions from the audience on topics ranging from his influences to how much of his own life experiences entered into the work.
LIVE ARTS PRESENTS Sondheim’s A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
Live Arts proudly presents Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s A Little Night Music, directed by John Owen, musical direction by Greg Harris. A Little Night Music will run in our DownStage Theater December 07, 2007 through December 22, 2007.
Set in Sweden at the turn-of-the century, A Little Night Music tells the story of Frederik Egerman, Desiree Armfeldt and Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, and their revolving love interests. They attempt to sort and resort their relationships in order to fill the voids in their lives. When the characters retreat to Desiree Armfeldt’s chateau in the country, they find themselves in the depths of emotions with everything (and everyone) they were trying to escape.
A Little Night Music is a musical whirlwind about what happens when couples explore their relationships, sexuality and each other. Frederick Egerman takes his young, virgin wife Anne to the theatre, forcing her naivety to take a reality check with her husband’s infidelity. Anne confides in her friend Charlotte, only to discover that Charlotte’s husband, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm is involved in his own illicit romance. Desiree Armfeldt, an actress, finds herself in the limelight of it all. The musical waltzes through the lives of two couples and their affairs, as they exchange partners and sentiments to explore their frenzied relationships. There is no shortage of laughter, confrontation and lusty temptation.
A Little Night Music features a book by Hugh Wheeler with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Wheeler is a multiple Tony Award winner, including his win for A Little Night Music in 1973, a musical inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s motion picture, Smiles of a Summer Night. A Little Night Music was adapted to the screen in a film version starring Elizabeth Taylor in 1978. Sondheim is an Academy Award winner, and an unprecedented seven-time Tony Award winner. His 1973 Tony Award win was for Best Score of A Little Night Music. He has also received several Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and has written renowned music compositions, including the score for West Side Story.
Cast, alphabetically: Taylor Baltimore, Ruth Anne Bishop, Rosa Brown, Maya Cichon, Jeff Dreyfus, Dan Finn, Stephanie Finn, Sonya Hayden, Nick Heiderstadt, Luke Hudnall, Marthe Rowen, Dan Stern, Linda Waller, Heather Waters, and Gary White.
Free tickets to the Thursday, December 06, 2007 Preview are available in person at
C-VILLE Weekly. This ticket giveaway will be available on a first come, first served basis, and will continue until gone. Limit is 2 tickets per person, and FREE admission is only via these tickets.
Reserved Seating $19.50/ $22.50 (Fri & Sat) • Members $17.50 / $20.50 (Fri & Sat) • General Seating (Balcony) $10.00 • Tickets on-sale November 20, 2007