During the second weekend in September, members of the community will have the opportunity to view and contemplate art while enjoying the outdoors and mingling with neighbors in what local artist James Yates calls an “out of gallery” experience. “Yard Dreams” is a collective of installations in the front yards of select homes along Belmont […]
One of the earliest ordinances against cross-dressing was passed in Columbus, Ohio, in 1848, making it illegal for someone to appear in public “in a dress not belonging to his or her sex.” While police enforced such laws on public streets and jailed offenders, the impersonation of women by men, and men by women, became […]
For all its utility in tracking our planetary revolutions, earthly seasons and our personal development from one sunrise to the next, time may be the human construct that inspires the most anxiety. If you find conventional planners too rigid, digital calendars too ethereal, if you seem incapable of committing to a routine of tracking your […]
As American citizens of all races and colors march in protest of police brutality and racial profiling this summer, the publication of local poet Patsy Asuncion’s collection, Cut on the Bias, offers a message of peace, inclusion and an account of the deep pain of growing up with two separate identities in such a divisive […]
Many artists in Charlottesville who don’t have the privilege of pursuing their art full-time have found that employment in the food service industry allows them the flexibility to pursue their creative muse. We scouted around town, found four artists who work in the restaurant business and asked them about their experience in both professions, whether […]
This month, the Heritage Theatre Festival presents a unique piece in a production notable for its director’s connection to the venue in which it’s performed. Award-winning director and choreographer Cate Caplin, who has worked with the likes of David Hyde Pierce on Broadway, has directed and choreographed six different seasons of the Heritage Theatre Festival, […]
Every good story needs an indomitable force that drives the narrative forward. In Pauls Toutonghi’s book Dog Gone, that force is a golden retriever mix named Gonker, who happens to be from this area. “I first heard the story of Gonker when I went to my in-laws’ house for the first time,” says Toutonghi, the […]
Though Jean Genet’s 1947 play The Maids (Les Bonnes) is known as a sadomasochistic, cruel and absurd work, director Stephen Simalchik says he would describe his Offstage Theatre production as playful before he would call it dark. “Something that is only cruel or shocking I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time on,” he […]
Throughout the last four centuries, publishers, editors and artists have created a vast range of textual interpretations of William Shakespeare’s works—from original printings and family-friendly versions to Romeo and Juliet translated into social media posts, complete with emojis. To commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, UVA’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library has […]
Hannah Barnaby’s second young adult novel, Some of the Parts, published in February, was “partly inspired by my own experience with sibling loss,” she says. Her brother, to whom the book is dedicated, died accidentally, and while the events in the novel differ greatly from Barnaby’s experience, she says the emotional journey of the protagonist […]