Power Through The Zombie Apocalypse

My original plan for this week’s column was to discuss our culture’s obsession with zombies. I was going to talk about the popularity of AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” I was going to explain that I think people are enthralled with zombies because they offer a rarity: judgement-free scenarios. You kill a zombie because they want to […]

ARTS Pick: Step Afrika!

Stepping it up Combining tradition with youth education, a global vision with local venues, and the visual with the audible, D.C.-based dance group Step Afrika! performs its own distinct fusion of spoken word, clapping, and footsteps. With ears attuned and eyes wide open, performers and fans are united to the beat of these lyrical feet. […]

ARTS Pick: Into the Woods

Broadway has a knack for re-telling classic children’s stories, and one of the early big ones was Into the Woods. Four County Players is mounting Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s multiple Tony Award-winning show in the continued celebration of its 40 seasons.

ARTS Pick: Girl Rising

In honor of International Women’s Day, founders of Teen Tech Girls and Feast! have teamed up using Gathr to host a screening of Academy Award-nominated director Richard E. Robbins’ highly-acclaimed new film, Girl Rising.

Good buzz: In The Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)

Onstage, a fine-featured woman removes her skirt, collapses her bustle, and adjusts the corset nipping her waist. Her hands are pale and flighty as she sits on the doctor’s bench and pulls a medical drape up to her chin. Diagnosed with hysteria, a Victorian umbrella term for ailments including headaches, light sensitivity, and predisposition to […]

Film review: Jack the Giant Slayer

There’s a story about “Jack and the Beanstalk” in which Jack trades a cow for some magic beans. He gets the beans wet, they grow into a beanstalk that reaches into the sky, and Jack and a rabbit battle a giant with a speech impediment who wants to grind their bones to make bread.

East side story: Nashville anti-hero Todd Snider goes electric

Todd Snider lives on the other side of the tracks from the Music City establishment. It’s in his attitude as much as his address. With a reverence for Americana in its many forms, and a delivery that can mirror the wry wit of early Dylan or the earnest twang of John Prine, Snider tells humorous tales of sketchy characters and uses thought-provoking wisdom from the dive-bar underbelly to rail against what ails him.