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 […]
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 […]
For more than two decades, the Voices of Adult Learners reading has brought a diverse range of writers and experiences to the book festival. “We think it’s really special, given the turmoil in Charlottesville over the last couple years,” says Carol Coffey, director of Thomas Jefferson Adult and Career Education at PVCC. “We have this […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
As Disney finds the next title from its vault to adapt, Border explores what it means to truly update a fairy tale for modern audiences. What is a fairy tale, after all, but a story that explores the space where our world and the realm of spirits, demons, monsters, and other mythological beings overlap? It […]
Crime author Don Winslow has spent nearly the past 20 of his career writing about the Mexican-American drug trade. “My number-one job and my first priority is to tell a good story, and a good crime story,” says Winslow. Winslow first became interested in the Mexican-American drug business in 1998, after hearing of a massacre […]
Award-winning Canadian author Esi Edugyan’s latest novel, Washington Black, begins in the brutal world of a Barbados sugar plantation in the 1830s. But the story, quite literally, soon soars beyond, as the young boy Washington Black escapes from the plantation in a hot-air balloon, spirited away by an English gentleman-scientist named Titch. The book traces […]
Before Match.com and the like, we had matchmakers such as Dolly Gallagher-Levi, the exuberant leading lady in Hello, Dolly!. Arriving in New York City to assist Yonkers half-a-millionaire Horace Vandergelder in finding a new wife, Dolly works her way through one tricky escapade after another before discovering she is the perfect mate for him. Memorable songs […]
The Harlem Globetrotters’ combination of easy athleticism and circus-worthy moves elevates the team to a supernatural level on the basketball court. Since 2013, their sporty antics have led to entries in The Guinness Book of World Records, and in 2018 they added five new records, including: Most basketball under-the-leg tumbles in one minute (female), most […]