When Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah was growing up in Spring Valley, New York, he didn’t realize writing was a career path. He felt drawn toward the art, even though he was unaware that “actual human beings” composed Harry Potter books, science-fiction, and the fantasy works and anime he enjoyed. “I didn’t come from a place where […]
Since Hannibal Buress began his comedy career in 2002, he has hit screens in a variety of ways—from the series “Broad City” to the films The Secret Life of Pets, Tag, Blockers, Baywatch, and Daddy’s Home. Though Buress is booking big gigs and taking his stand-up tour nationwide, he’s unsure about fame. Even his bio […]
“The Charlottesville Threshold Singers have been singing to hospice patients and others in need of comfort and peace for more than a dozen years.”—Lynn Pribus It wasn’t easy for Lynn Pribus to move from California to Charlottesville 11 years ago, despite being closer to her children and grandchildren. She missed writing for the Sacramento Bee, […]
When New York-based comedian and actress Ashley Gavin met Jerry Seinfeld, she asked him when he last bombed a show. Seinfeld’s answer? “At a party last New Year’s Eve.” “I bombed a show last week. Everybody bombs,” Gavin says. “People think it stops happening.” She feels less likely to fall flat when performing stand-up comedy […]
“Half of the people are stoned / and the other half are waiting for the next election. / Half the people are drowned / and the other half are swimming in the wrong direction.” This quatrain may bring a contemporary alternative-rock song or spoken-word critique on the political climate to mind, but it’s actually from […]
What happens when two artists walk into a bar? Ask textile artist Tobiah Mundt and painter Kim Anderson and you’ll get the same answer: It’s an immediate connection. Both women relocated to Charlottesville with their families, Mundt from northern Virginia and Anderson from Nebraska, and sought a stronger connection to the art community. This past […]
Before meeting on the patio outside Kardinal Hall, Richard Needham worried about his outfit. He thought his white jeans might be too feminine, or that his “There is no planet B” T-shirt and rope necklace with a C-shaped bear claw tied to the end might be too much of a conversation-starter. “It’s a double-edge sword. […]
What do two cellists, one percussionist, and a tennis match have in common? The answer is “a lot,” if you ask UVA faculty member and distinguished percussionist I-Jen Fang. On Sunday at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, as part of the Staunton Music Festival, Fang will be joined by cellists Jan Müeller-Szeraws and Michael Unterman. […]
On an overcast and humid evening on the Downtown Mall, multi- media artist Golara Haghtalab seems to fill the Mudhouse with light. She recognizes a barista from when she worked there “a long time ago,” and though Haghtalab can’t remember his name at first, she still strikes up a spirited conversation. With that same palpable, […]
Describing love is hard. Describing the love you and your partner share in front of a congregation of family and friends? That’s hard enough to render any author speechless—even UVA creative writing professor and distinguished poet Lisa Russ Spaar. When couples ask Spaar for recommendations, her go-to, she says, is poetry. “Everything looks like a […]