The 12th annual Maupintown Film Festival returns with a powerful lineup that includes shorts, documentaries, animated films, and discussions with filmmakers, experts, and community members. This year’s theme, Bold and Beautiful, highlights the Black community’s long tradition of resistance against injustice while holding fast to an unshakable sense of pride and cultural identity. The three-day […]
A condensed all-female production of Shakespeare’s King Lear reimagines the Bard’s darkest masterpiece as a compelling exploration of maternal authority and sisterhood in Queen Lear. Mounted by Cottage Industry, a women-only performance and production troupe based in Charlottesville, the one-hour play places veteran actress Kate Bennis in the titular role under the direction of local […]
Through 10/10 The Ruffin Gallery at UVA presents an expansive group exhibition that brings together the knowledge and aesthetic achievements of individuals whose ancestral lineage predates Spanish colonialism, and who center millennia of inherited epistemologies within their contemporary practices. “Fuego Eterno: Soberanías Visuales” features sculpture, photography, video, painting, performance, textiles, mural, and installation works by […]
Since taking the reins at Second Street Gallery in 2016, Executive Director and Chief Curator Kristen Chiacchia has expanded the nonprofit’s reach while creating programs that connect artists and audiences in fresh ways. One of her biggest successes is “Teeny Tiny Trifecta,” the annual exhibit and art sale that has grown from 72 artists its […]
In a crossover combining fantasy and sci-fi tailored for kids, tweens, and the young at heart, Disney’s Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour brings elements of two popular film franchises together for a one-of-a-kind interactive live concert experience. Pulling from Descendants (wherein the children of Disney’s most infamous villains grapple with the choice between good and evil) […]
Birmingham, Alabama’s Mountain Grass Unit is growing a following with fresh cuts blending traditional bluegrass with country, jazz, funk, rock, and metal influences. Featuring Drury Anderson (mandolin, vocals), Luke Black (guitar, vocals), Josiah Nelson (fiddle, vocals), and Sam Wilson (bass, vocals), the quartet chugs through foot-stomping sets that bring old-time Americana sounds to new heights […]
Singer-songwriter Valerie McQueen treks in from the Shenandoah Valley for an evening of Americana at Offbeat Roadhouse. Drawing influence from genre standouts like Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss, McQueen’s strong voice drives a sound that brings folk to the front, with touches of country and rock inflections. Her songs tease out narratives drawn from everyday […]
Seventy-five years after its original release, Rashomon is still gaining new fans with its gripping story of murder recounted in four perspectives. Touted as the film that woke up the world to Japanese cinema, director Akira Kurosawa’s groundbreaking work gets credit for prompting the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to permanently add a […]
The lyrics may be seriously connected to societal concerns, but the bluesy, high-energy funk from Gordon Sterling and The People tells you that this Washington, D.C., sextet comes to town to get down. It’s easy to get caught up in the hip-swingin’ freedom of the group’s groovy dance numbers—and Sterling’s charismatic leadership takes you there, […]
Digital wizard Todd Rundgren was making electronic music way before it was cool, and so naming his current tour Still Me (Still We) indicates we can expect him to bring out his rock radio classics—“Hello It’s Me” and “Bang the Drum All Day”—while plugging into some of the longplay prog and experimental suites of his […]