Influential figure: While developing a play about a meeting between former president John F. Kennedy and former British prime minister Harold Macmillan, screenwriter and playwright Nick Drake came across another figure in Kennedy’s life that piqued his interest—George Thomas, who was JFK’s personal valet from his time in the Senate until his death. Drake’s research led him to the Miller Center and then to Thomas’ hometown of Berryville, Virginia, where his review of photographs, travel records, and oral histories raised the idea that Thomas had an influence on Kennedy’s landmark June 1963 address that laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Playwright and director Leslie Scott-Jones will host a discussion with Drake to distill his findings.
Related stories
Ecological wonder
“To tell you about the beauty, I must also speak of threat,” writes Greg Wrenn in Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis. A complex exploration into personal and ecological trauma that also investigates alternative healing and the cultivation of wonder, this book is as much a prompt for personal reflection as it is a […]
Mountain mindful
A local by way of Waynesboro, Scott Miller pays tribute to his roots with his latest album, Ladies Auxiliary. The founder of energetic alt-country rock band The V-Roys slows to singer-songwriter mode on the record, and employs a band of women in songs that capture the music and characters of his native Appalachia. $25, 7:30. […]
Tiptoe thrills
Since 1974, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo has been preening and poking fun at an uptight world with “razor-sharp wit and breathtaking pointe work.” The Trocks, as the all-male comic ballet company is known, celebrate their 50th anniversary with a worldwide tour that confirms the troupe’s long-running global sensation status. $24.75-44.75, 7:30. The Paramount […]
