Playwright Jeremy O. Harris made history this year when his provocative Slave Play garnered the most Tony nominations ever for a single work (12, including Best Play). He began writing Slave Play while attending the Yale School of Drama, where he earned an MFA in playwriting, but his inspiration was intrinsic, stemming from his experiences […]
Playwright Jeremy O. Harris made history this year when his provocative Slave Play garnered the most Tony nominations ever for a single work (12, including Best Play). He began writing Slave Play while attending the Yale School of Drama, where he earned an MFA in playwriting, but his inspiration was intrinsic, stemming from his experiences […]
Since 2012, Roanoke-based writer Beth Macy has been at the forefront of reporting on the opioid epidemic, covering the toll that the drugs have taken on people and communities in the Appalachian region. In that time, she’s tracked the story of one drug in particular: the painkiller OxyContin. Macy works in western Virginia, but the […]
Richmond-based artist Hamilton Glass wasn’t just upset about the George Floyd killing by police in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. He was upset about the nation’s reaction to it. “I was getting really frustrated about why so many people were now seeing this…as different,” Glass says in the 2020 documentary Mending Walls. “It’s been carnage […]
If there was one guiding light throughout director Bo McGuire’s near-zero-budget filming of Socks on Fire, his tale of family division over his beloved Nanny’s house, it would be Dolly Parton know-how. From the country icon, McGuire learned to “work with what you have.” He was at NYU, and had the equipment to make a […]
Since the 1940s, documentary photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks has remained relevant as both a visual chronicler of injustice and an example to aspiring artists everywhere. “He could turn an ordinary life into something extraordinary,” says John Maggio, the director of A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks, which takes its name from Parks’ […]
Citizen Ashe, by award-winning director Sam Pollard and Rex Miller, chronicles the life of tennis great and Virginia native Arthur Ashe, a trailblazing figure on the court and activist off. Ashe was the first Black man to win a singles championship at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and the Australian Open. He was also the first […]
Poe knows: Darkly funny with a dash of the macabre, Catherine Baab-Muguira’s debut book, Poe for Your Problems, depicts Edgar Allan Poe as a self-help guru. Baab-Muguira walks readers through Poe’s life, in tandem with self-reflection that allows you to say “nevermore” to your problems, and discover the difference between positive and poe-sitive thinking. Saturday […]
Magic gathering: Halloweekend fun awaits at the Witch’s Ball, a late-night soirée full of occult oddities and chilling curiosities. Ships in the Night celebrates a new album, Latent Powers, along with performances by Synthetic Division and Solemn Shapes. DJ Cadybug provides nonstop dance tracks, accompanied by witchcrafted cocktails and unearthly delicacies from a variety of […]
Oar stories: During the ’90s on Chicago’s West Side, Arshay Cooper became captain of the first all-Black high school rowing team, an experience he claims saved his life. A Most Beautiful Thing, the humorous and inspiring documentary based on Cooper’s award-winning memoir of the same name, chronicles the team’s journey and a reunion 20 years […]
The lineup for the 34th edition of the Virginia Film Festival is stacked with movies that are already getting Oscar buzz, like The French Dispatch, The Power of the Dog, Spencer, and Belfast. These films are bound to do big box office business for weeks to come, but this year’s fest also features several less-hyped […]