ARTS Pick: Washington Balalaika Society Orchestra

Folk forward: Award-winning soprano Olga Orlovskaya performs as part of the Washington Balalaika Society Orchestra, with more than 60 musicians playing music from Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe on traditional instruments. The balalaika is a three-stringed instrument of Russian origin with a triangular body that varies in tone depending on its size. Though it’s been […]

Of two minds: Housemates cohabitate and collaborate

Sitting on a bench full of pillows at a large, round wooden table she made with her own hands, Bolanle Adeboye smears veggie cream cheese on both halves of a cinnamon raisin bagel. The visual artist is fighting a cold, and her housemate, cellist and songwriter Wes Swing, asks if she’d prefer a cup of […]

ARTS Pick: The Currys

Staying on the tracks: In January, the Charlottesville-by-way-of-Florida act The Currys announced: “After years of writing, rewriting, arguing, rewriting again, arguing again, performing, recording, traveling, and recording some more…we are finally able to announce the release of our third full-length album.” The group celebrates This Side of the Glass with a performance that includes opening […]

ARTS Pick: The Public

Mighty pen: Emilio Estevez didn’t take his father’s stage surname because he wanted to honor his Spanish heritage—and make his own way in the film business. Being the son of Martin Sheen, the brother of Charlie Sheen, the husband of pop star Paula Abdul (for two years), and labeled a member of the Brat Pack […]

ARTS Pick: Restroy

Monsters of jazz: Led by former Charlottesville resident and current Chicagoan Christopher Dammann on upright bass, Restroy is a jazz sextet that combines electronic and acoustic resources to create a “traditional experimental” sound that’s endlessly rewarding. Also from the fertile Chicago jazz scene, James Davis supplies most of the melodic material on trumpet, and erstwhile […]

ARTS Pick: Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman

Headstrong monarch: Political conspiracy, abuse of power, personal vanity, and madness dominate playwright Dario Fo’s Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman. Over a period of 12 days, the Virgin Queen dwells in her boudoir, preparing for her lover’s arrival, and undergoing beauty treatments while stressing out over the similarities between herself and characters in William […]

The courage to be earnest

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 […]

Essential voices: VA book fest panel looks at music as a change agent

About 100 miles outside of Berlin, Germany, author Tim Mohr stood in a snowy field gripping an axe in his hands. He’d borrowed a friend’s car to get there, and, anticipating neither the sub-zero cold snap nor the fact that he’d have to chop frozen wood in exchange for an interview with a former member […]

Alice in Blunderland: Arden of Faversham’s murderously funny mishaps

“Comfort thyself, sweet friend; it is not strange / That women will be false and wavering.”—Franklin, Arden of Faversham (Act 1, scene 1) Maybe the scheduling was merely coincidental, but witnessing the debut performance of the early modern true-crime drama Arden of Faversham on International Women’s Day felt particularly wrong—and perhaps more comical because of […]