LIVING Picks: Week of February 28-March 6

Family Mad Hatter’s Murder Mystery Escape Room Friday, March 2 Teens in grades seven to 12 are invited to search for clues and crack a series of locks to escape from the Mad Hatter’s tea party. Light refreshments served. Free, 6:30-8pm. Crozet Library, 2020 Library Ave., Crozet. 823-4050. Nonprofit Liberation & Freedom Day celebration Saturday, […]

Silk Thai keeps it authentic

By Sam Padgett and Erin O’Hare The red house at 2210 Fontaine Ave. that once housed Thai 99 has a new coat of paint and a new inhabitant: Silk Thai Restaurant. Silk Thai owner TK Chin (nephew of Thai 99 owner Eddy Keomahathai) is bent on maintaining the friendly and welcoming environment that Thai 99 […]

Solidarity Cards Project promotes the power of sharing

On November 11 of last year, equipped with a small clipboard, some index cards and a handful of pens, Destinee Wright waited outside the Paramount Theater after a discussion with Spike Lee about race and racial injustice in America, followed by a screening of two Lee documentary films, I Can’t Breathe and 4 Little Girls. […]

Lisa Beane uses “Karma” to address atrocities

Nine years ago I reviewed an exhibition at the Fralin Art Museum featuring the work of William Christenberry. Included in the show was his “Klan Room Tableau,” a peculiar installation of dolls dressed in KKK robes. According to Christenberry, the highly personal work was his means of exposing and exorcising the hatred and violence of […]

Jitney is fueled by authenticity and emotion

Lights go up on the wood-paneled stage in the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center auditorium to reveal the inside of a jitney cab station in Pittsburgh. It’s early fall 1977 and the Hill District, a group of neighborhoods that have long been the cultural center of black life in the city—full of black-owned homes, […]

Ayanna Dookie has something funny to say

Ayanna Dookie got her start in comedy by talking shit in the Black Engineers Society student lounge at the University of Maryland. She’d sit around at lunch, telling jokes and poking fun at fellow students who found her so entertaining they’d come to the lounge, sometimes bringing friends from other departments, hoping to catch her […]

ARTS Pick: Antoine Scott

Antoine Scott has shared the stage with such comedic notables as Kevin Hart and “30 Rock”’s Tracy Morgan, and has appeared on Showtime and TV One. Scott’s manic energy takes audiences along on a wild comedy ride with a special Mother’s Day show presented by the United Nations of Comedy that includes Anthony DeVito and […]

ARTS Pick: Fences

Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, August Wilson’s award-winning Fences offers an inside look at an African-American community in mid-20th century America. The play follows 53-year-old Troy—a former baseball star and thief—who struggles to provide for his small family. Troy’s wife, Rose, asks him to build a fence around their home, which comes to symbolize the protections […]

ARTS Pick: Mike Recine

Personal stories about fellow Jersey boys and Brooklyn hipsters color the dark wit of comedian Mike Recine, who got his start performing open mic standup at Panera Bread. Recine pokes fun at everyday people, but shows a softer side when he hands out jars of his homemade pasta sauce at shows. Saturday, March 18. $20, […]

ARTS Pick: Funnyman Skiba

Not only does Funnyman Skiba keep things rolling between bits during the annual United Nations of Comedy show, he cultivates new talent while maintaining a stand-up career of his own. Skiba has shared the stage with Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart, and is referred to by peers as a comedian’s comedian. The Washington, […]