When I moved to this area from New York City, the first thing I wanted to do was go see a show at the American Shakespeare Center. From the moment I learned of it, I was enamored of the dream it promised: a self-sustaining center of Shakespearean, Elizabethan, and early Modern drama in the heart of the Shenandoah, on a stage designed to the specs of the hallowed old Blackfriars Playhouse in London.
It’s been over 40 years since Jimi Hendrix’s untimely death, and we’re still not over it.
Life of illusion A magician since the age of 7, Wes Iseli dazzles audiences with illusory skills that combine crowd participation, comedic banter and the ol’ sleight of hand routine. He travels the East Coast regularly with his act, mentors aspiring illusionists and stays in good form by performing a weekly gig here in the […]
The Southern Belles play testosterone-driven dirty country, honky-tonk, electric bluegrass, and psychedelic jams.
British steel The snarky, gossipy family and the conniving house staff you know and love are returning to T.V., and to the Paramount. The theater kicks off 2013 with a screening of the Season 3 premiere of “Downton Abbey.” The show will broadcast on the jumbo screen, and there’s a ticket option for a reception […]
Pick up tuner According to Cody Purvis, you can’t have too much of a good thing, except maybe “Too Much Truck.” The soulfully deep-voiced 18-year-old is country through and through, capturing the outlaw spirit of Merle Haggard and the contemporary energy of Toby Keith. His tunes bounce with charisma, and at 6’5″ Purvis is a […]
Whiter shade of pale Abstract art is all about blurring boundaries, but pushing two seemingly oppositional modes toward one another takes skill. The pieces in the McGuffey Art Center’s “abstractreal realabstract” exhibit drag realism into the realm of the abstract, and vice versa. In mostly oil-based paintings, five associate members—Nancy Bass, Robin Braun, Margaret Embree, […]
The Infamous Stringdusters is a band set smack in the middle of the new bluegrass crusade. Active curators of the genre and tireless, intrepid meddlers, playing the spirit of the music however it manifests, and damn the math. Surgeons of the genre, helping to save it by cutting it open and expertly futzing with the innards.
Leave a light on Paying the heat bill has never sounded so enticing as at Rapunzel’s 11th Annual Christmas and All Other Holidays Party. Whether you’re celebrating the solstice or another traditional wintry holiday, the venue pulls together with warmth at its one and only yearly fundraiser. An impressive line-up of local artists donate their […]
Happy ’til the end You may as well go out laughing. That’s what Play On! Theatre has in mind as it invites everyone to await the end of the Mayan calendar in humor at the Improvocalypse. With troupes from all over Virginia—Bent Theatre, No Strings Attached, West End Comedy, and Found Fathers—in the house, the […]