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 […]
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 […]
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’ […]
By Graham Schiltz Ten days after their first meeting, the cast members of Million Dollar Quartet are attending their first start-to-finish rehearsal. It’s described to me as a “stumble through,” but, to an outsider, that doesn’t seem to give the people on stage enough credit. There’s a buzz of excitement as actors fill the room […]
One of the earliest Marx Brothers comedies, The Cocoanuts finds the farcical siblings at their wackiest. Groucho runs the eponymous seedy hotel in Florida, but in reality spends most of his time trying to sell questionable land to unwitting tourists. As with most of the troupe’s wacky tales, the plot is less important than the […]
“I’ve come this far, but even so / It could be yes, it could be no.” The classic musical A Chorus Line opens with “I Hope I Get It”—and it kicks off Heritage Theatre Festival’s 2018 season. The story follows 17 aspiring dancers and their attempt to be cast in the chorus line of a […]
Every folk and Americana musician (and even many rockers) stands on the shoulders of Woody Guthrie. Born of Depression-era hardship, his music came in the form of ballads (“California Stars”), political commentary (“All You Fascists”) and children’s songs (“This Land Is Your Land”). Woody Guthrie’s American Song celebrates his work in a theatrical staging that […]