Aiyana Straughn will be challenged to take audiences from a Manhattan playground to a Crimean battleground in the Virginia premiere of Jackie Drury’s Marys Seacole, a play based on the real-life story of a Jamaican-born nurse who cared for British soldiers during the Crimean War. Staged at Live Arts February 14 through March 2, the […]
Aiyana Straughn will be challenged to take audiences from a Manhattan playground to a Crimean battleground in the Virginia premiere of Jackie Drury’s Marys Seacole, a play based on the real-life story of a Jamaican-born nurse who cared for British soldiers during the Crimean War. Staged at Live Arts February 14 through March 2, the […]
No stranger to the stage, John Gibson worked at Live Arts for 18 years, from 1992 to 2010. During his run as executive and artistic director, Gibson introduced youth programs and new works, advocated for under- represented playwrights, and launched pay-what-you-can performances, among other initiatives. Since moving to Atlanta in 2011, Gibson has worked as […]
Leave the prairies of Kansas and head over the rainbow into a magical land with The Wizard of Oz. Featuring all your favorite songs from the classic 1939 film, the show follows Dorothy Gale as she navigates the yellow brick road and encounters fantastical friends and foes along the way. Train your brain, steel your […]
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 […]
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 […]
Delayed vote The Charlottesville School Board voted on Thursday, May 30, to delay a decision on reinstating School Resource Officers in city schools until 2025. Now referred to as “Youth Resource Officers,” SROs (YROs) have not served in Charlottesville schools since they were replaced with Care and Safety Assistants in 2020. Several teachers, students, parents, […]
Celebrating theatrical works for the stage, Live Arts’ WATERWORKS Festival returns to downtown for its second iteration. The 2024 fest features pieces from local, national, and global playwrights, including one-acts, full-length performances, readings, and special events. An opening night reception and closing day wrap party bookend three weeks of theatrical excellence. The New Works section […]
With three stages, over 50 artists, and friends everywhere you turn, the Tom Tom Festival’s Downtown Mall Block Party is the gateway to the annual event’s creative side. From the wild focus of Bad Hat Fire and fluid moves of Capoeira Resistência C’ville, to the blasts of the No BS! Brass Band and expansive jams […]
Family gatherings during the holiday season are a universally acknowledged experience. You know, the simultaneous dread and excitement, dodging probing questions about your love life, gossiping about family members who’re in the other room, rehashing old dramas, and adding fire to new feuds. In Live Arts’ holiday offering, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, characters new […]
A farce for the force: Italian playwright Dario Fo’s political satire Accidental Death of an Anarchist pokes fun at the Italian police force by imagining a fictionalized aftermath of 1969’s real-life Piazza Fontana bombing. Giuseppe Pinelli, an anarchist wrongly accused of the bombing, plummets to his death from a fourth-floor window while in a police […]