Exploring communal ways of healing 

“Outside of biomedicine, relationships lie at the core of healing—between people and their ancestors, between microcosm and macrocosm, between qualities and elements,” writes Eleni Stecopoulos in her new book, Dreaming in the Fault Zone: A Poetics of Healing. A poet, essayist, editor, critic, and UVA MFA alumna, Stecopoulos’ previous books include Visceral Poetics, a work […]

Live Arts stages compelling he-said, she-said plays

We humans are social animals, which is one reason why theater endures as a way for people to share space and feel something together. In a time when our nation feels quite divided (ahem: understatement), any opportunity to learn from history and engage with challenging subjects in thought-provoking ways is a good opportunity. The current […]

Brian Regan in the HotSeat

Visiting close to 100 cities each year on a nonstop theater tour, comedian Brian Regan has built a 30-plus-year career through lots of laughs. A co-star in three seasons of Peter Farrelly’s TV series “Loudermilk,” Regan has also starred in his own Netflix sketch comedy and stand-up series “Stand Up And Away! With Brian Regan.” […]

Ailey II

Founded by pioneering choreographer Alvin Ailey in 1974, Ailey II has been pairing the talent of early-career dancers with emerging choreographers to shape the next generation of modern dance for the past 50 years. In Revelations, his seminal work, Ailey incorporates African American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel music, and holy blues to plumb the nadir of […]

The Emily Kuhn Quintet

Chicago-based jazz trumpeter Emily Kuhn returns to her hometown with The Emily Kuhn Quintet. As part of a residency with the Charlottesville Jazz Society and WTJU, the group will perform a public concert featuring new original music and selections from Kuhn’s recent release, Ghosts of Us. Pulling on the threads of connection, stillness, grief, and […]

“The Monster Squad”

Spooky season is upon us, so it’s the perfect time to revisit the camp and comedy of ’80s cult classic The Monster Squad. Dracula believes the creatures of the night should rule the world, and he’s enlisted a cadre of creeps to aid the cause. Can a plucky pack of prepubescents stop the monsters before […]

An otherwise brilliant version of The Scottish Play

“We do it with the lights on,” says The American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse website about its use of “universal lighting.” So right up front you know that whatever you see in its elegant, woody environs will take place with the house lights aglow.  Understandably, in its staunch attempt to maintain historical accuracy wherever possible, […]

JSAAHC adds highly detailed Black spaces exhibition to its permanent collection

“Toward a Lineage of Self” is the latest addition to the “Pride Overcomes Prejudice” permanent exhibition at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Featuring an interactive digital map, the exhibition uses deed records, oral histories, documents, and photographs to show how Charlottesville’s historically Black neighborhoods came to be, the struggles they faced when confronted […]

Virginia Film Festival lineup has broad reach

Stories of survival, the trials and triumphs of friends and families, animated offerings, and films from around the world. The 37th Virginia Film Festival brings together an incredibly diverse program of features, shorts, and documentaries for your consideration. The festival takes place from October 30–November 3 at various theaters throughout Charlottesville, opening with Sean Baker’s […]

Live Arts Voyages season

The Voyages season is underway at Live Arts. Whether capturing the spirit of adventure, making way into the unknown, or steppingback in time, the 2024-25 lineup shares thematic elements related to trailblazing, travel, and trips near and far. On stage now, An Iliad and What the Constitution Means to Me embody very different voyages. The […]