May 18 Arts and Culture Spalding Festival of Writing Begins Readings by faculty, guests and alumni of Spalding University’s brief-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing program begin Saturday. All readings are free, ticketless and open to the public. By Erin Keane May 18 Arts and Culture Spalding Festival of Writing Begins Erin Keane
May 18 Arts and Culture House, Vaswani Write a Novel in Letters Meena is an Indian immigrant living in New York City’s Chinatown whose parents are studying for their U.S. citizenship exam. River is a basketball star and the son of an Eastern Kentucky coal miner. When the two kids are paired together in a pen pal program, they learn as much about the similarities between their families and cultures as their differences. By Erin Keane May 18 Arts and Culture House, Vaswani Write a Novel in Letters Erin Keane
May 18 Arts and Culture Spalding Festival of Writing Begins Readings by faculty, guests and alumni of Spalding University’s brief-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing program begin Saturday. All readings are free, ticketless and open to the public. Events will be held at Spalding’s Egan Leadership Center Lectorium (901 S. Fourth St.), Spalding’s Auditorium (824 S. Fourth St.) and at the Brown Hotel (335 […] By Erin Keane May 18 Arts and Culture Spalding Festival of Writing Begins Erin Keane
May 17 Arts and Culture Painter Explores Advertising Influence in 21C Lecture The figures in artist Ryan <a href=" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-righ By Erin Keane May 17 Arts and Culture Painter Explores Advertising Influence in 21C Lecture Erin Keane
May 17 Arts and Culture Painter Explores Advertising Influence in 21C Lecture The figures in artist Ryan McGinness’ “Women” series are flattened, graphic shapes, calling to mind both a Matisse painting and public signage, compelling in bold color and broad strokes. “His work is exploring contemporary culture in a really compelling way, drawing on advertising and different kinds of visual iconography that we’re surrounded by, from both […] By Erin Keane May 17 Arts and Culture Painter Explores Advertising Influence in 21C Lecture Erin Keane
May 16 Arts and Culture Flyover Film Festival Lineup Announced Thirty-six films will make their Kentucky premieres in the Louisville Film Society’s fourth annual Flyover <a href=" style="padding-top: 0px; pad By Erin Keane May 16 Arts and Culture Flyover Film Festival Lineup Announced Erin Keane
May 16 Arts and Culture Flyover Film Festival Lineup Announced Thirty-six films will make their Kentucky premieres in the Louisville Film Society’s fourth annual Flyover Film Festival June 7-10. The films range from a concert feature on Louisville rockers My Morning Jacket to a dark comedy by provocative Comedy Central stars Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. By Erin Keane May 16 Arts and Culture Flyover Film Festival Lineup Announced Erin Keane
May 15 Arts and Culture Louisville Arts Groups Receive NEA Grants The Kentucky Arts Council announced a round of National Endowment for the Arts grants for Kentucky organizations. The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival will receive funding from the NEA to support their community arts programs. By Erin Keane May 15 Arts and Culture Louisville Arts Groups Receive NEA Grants Erin Keane
May 15 Arts and Culture Shatner Donates Samurai Statue to Frazier Museum Actor William Shatner has donated a bronze statue of a samurai to the Frazier History Museum’s permanent collection. Douwe Blumberg’s “Way of Horse By Erin Keane May 15 Arts and Culture Shatner Donates Samurai Statue to Frazier Museum Erin Keane
May 15 Arts and Culture Shatner Donates Samurai Statue to Frazier Museum Actor William Shatner has donated a bronze statue of a samurai to the Frazier History Museum’s permanent collection. Douwe Blumberg’s “Way of Horse and Bow” depicts a Japanese warrior riding on horseback into battle. Shatner and his wife own several pieces by Blumberg, a former horse trainer who lives outside of Lexington. The Shatners commissioned […] By Erin Keane May 15 Arts and Culture Shatner Donates Samurai Statue to Frazier Museum Erin Keane
May 14 Arts and Culture Elvis Expert Nash Says ‘King Creole’ Showed Promise Elvis Presley’s musical career is the stuff American legends are made of, but experts say the king of rock and roll always dreamed of winning an Academy Award for acting. He was never nominated, but according to critics, his early film work showed a promising young talent. By Erin Keane May 14 Arts and Culture Elvis Expert Nash Says ‘King Creole’ Showed Promise Erin Keane
May 14 Arts and Culture Elvis Expert Nash Says ‘King Creole’ Showed Promise Elvis Presley’s musical career is the stuff American legends are made of, but experts say the king of rock and roll always dreamed of winning an Academy Award for acting. He was never nominated, but according to critics, his early film work showed a promising young talent. In the 1958 drama “King Creole,” Presley played […] By Erin Keane May 14 Arts and Culture Elvis Expert Nash Says ‘King Creole’ Showed Promise Erin Keane
May 14 Arts and Culture ‘The Snowflake Theory’ Dares to Be Traditional As exciting as a world premiere of a new play is, it’s even more exciting to see the first full staging of a piece written by a local. It’s one way of checking our pulse as a community — what are we writing about and how? Sometimes it feels like Louisville writes mostly zombie comedies […] By Erin Keane May 14 Arts and Culture ‘The Snowflake Theory’ Dares to Be Traditional Erin Keane
May 14 Arts and Culture Review: ‘The Snowflake Theory’ Dares to Be Traditional As exciting as a world premiere of a new play is, it’s even more exciting to see the first full staging of a piece written by a local. It’s one way of checking our pulse as a community — what are we writing about and how? Sometimes it feels like Louisville writes mostly zombie comedies and pop culture parodies, but in a truly subversive move, local playwright Nancy Gall-Clayton dares to experiment with staging a traditional family comedy.“The Snowflake Theory” made its debut Thursday at The Bard’s Town Theatre (where producing Kentucky playwrights is a core part of the mission) and not even one zombie shambled onto the set, much less to a rock and roll score. Instead we meet the family Klein, Jews from an unnamed Mid-Southern town who work out their differences around a well-worn dining room table.Marge (the excellent Carol Tyree Williams), a widow who married young, has decided it’s past time she live life on her own terms. At the top of the show, she’s throwing out her kosher dishes in favor of hot pink plates when 40-year-old single daughter Rebecca (Susan Crocker) reveals she’s been artificially inseminated. Then her immature thirty-something son Clark (Scott Goodman) brings home Violet (Laura Ellis*, who brings most of the big laughs), his sweetly dippy fiancée with Technicolor hair, and a plan to enlist in the military.Suddenly, progress doesn’t sound so great to Marge, who enlists the help of an inexperienced but gung-ho rabbi (the always reliable Ted Lesley) to help her deal with these sudden changes through Scrabble and Jell-o and a rekindled enthusiasm for family Sabbath dinners.Gall-Clayton’s writing is witty and warm, and her characters are never humiliated (much) or even left awkwardly twisting in the wind. It’s reminiscent of Neil Simon’s sweeter moments, and if its gentle approach to comedy feels a bit dated (like Marge herself says does), it’s at least a self-conscious approach — jokes about screen savers and “the computer” place this story squarely in generation gap territory. Surely, many local families will see themselves in the Kleins. The funniest thing about the family is how weird they seem to believe they are, when really, they’re so sweet and functional a different kind of Southern playwright would have to say “bless their hearts.”At times, the family’s penchant for making jokes to diffuse conflict is a bit too realistic. Dramatically, it would have been more satisfying to see some of these conflicts come to a head. Big moments, like Rebecca revealing that she doesn’t want Marge at the baby’s delivery, aren’t really allowed to explode, nor is Clark’s pathological reluctance to reveal his true self to his mother and sister.Ultimately, everyone tries their best to get along and comes over for dinner, and if nothing more is at stake than fixing up Rebecca with an eligible Jewish bachelor or teaching Violet the basics of Jewish life, well, so be it. That’s life for many families—you get through the ups and downs with a few jokes and a lot of food, no zombie siege emergency plan needed.“The Snowflake Theory,” which runs through May 20, kicks off the theater’s 2012 season. The next production is The Bard’s Town executive director Doug Schutte’s “Misses Strata,” an update of Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata,” which opens in June.*Laura Ellis is an employee of WFPL. By Erin Keane May 14 Arts and Culture Review: ‘The Snowflake Theory’ Dares to Be Traditional Erin Keane
May 11 Arts and Culture Review: Pandora’s Pop Opera ‘Bare’ a Real Heartbreaker Sexually active teens getting high under the not-so-watchful eye of a Catholic boarding school sounds like a salacious premise, but Pandora Productions’ pop opera “Bare” is a sweet heartbreaker about emotionally neglected teens who just want someone to love, darn it.The kids at St. Cecilia’s aren’t terribly interested in the church’s authority, but they are desperately seeking a close relationship with God. Mostly, they want to be seen and heard for who they truly are, and all of their decisions are guided by that desire.Written by Jon Hartmere, Jr. (book and lyrics) and Damon Intrabartolo (book and music), “Bare” opened Thursday in Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Bingham Theater, where it runs through May 20. Pandora’s artistic director Michael J. Drury directs.Jason Brent Button plays Jason, the handsome over-achiever all the girls—including the campus It Girl Ivy (Katie Nuss)—want to date. But at the top of the show, Jason only has eyes for his roommate Peter (Robbie Lewis), a sweet moppet of an altar boy who just wants to kiss his boyfriend in front of other people, even though pragmatic Jason thinks they should keep their relationship “the best-kept secret.” Jason’s confusion lands him in Ivy’s bed with disastrous consequences for all.Lewis and Nuss are both devastating talents, completely in charge of their characters’ vulnerabilities and strengths. Both have strong voices and act convincingly through their songs, even when the material dips into maudlin territory (though I suppose if anyone’s going to sing a song called “Touch My Soul” without a trace of irony, it’s a 17-year-old girl).Musically, the numbers with a little attitude are the strongest. Kate Holland takes the underappreciated role of Jason’s sarcastic sister and runs with it, and her three songs are among the show’s highlights, especially the snarky, cello-backed “Spring.” Tymika Prince as feisty nun Sister Chantelle saves the day twice, first as Peter’s vision of a Dianna Ross-styled Virgin Mary (“911! Emergency!”) and again when she consoles him with “God Don’t Make No Trash.”Some elements of the plot feel a bit like a time capsule from the late Nineties–if kids still go to raves, they probably don’t rap about them, though Neill Robertson (campus drug dealer Lucas) sells that number with everything he has, making me wish he had a larger role.Choreographer Christephor Gilbert could have worked the cast a bit harder. Company numbers enjoy a kinetic energy, but the show’s many solos and duets often leave the actors on stage with little to do but stand there and sing. A more aggressive staging could keep the dramatic tension from flagging in those scenes.Musicals can be tricky for Louisville’s smaller companies to cast, due in part to a small pool of available triple-threat performers–those who can act, sing and dance equally well often end up cast in better-paying, longer-running shows. Add the additional complicating layer of finding adult performers who can convincingly play teenagers and the pool gets a little smaller.Button (though very capable in the role) looks and acts about a decade older than the rest of the teen characters, which ends up doing a great disservice to the emotional arc of the play. Jason is a confused kid, trying to please everyone he loves–his demanding parents, church leaders, the boyfriend he loves, the girl who offers him a glimpse of what a straight life could offer. But Button’s relative maturity makes him seem old enough to know better, so when his character blows off Ivy or pushes Peter away, it doesn’t play like a sympathetic kid fumbling for the right path. He comes off like that jerky older guy insecure kids like them might have dated (and survived) in high school, and it undermines the tragic ending of the play.On opening night, sound issues kept several numbers from reaching their potential. In several numbers, lower voices were obscured by the music, and the sound levels could also have been behind some performers’ difficulties with staying in tune. These wrinkles aren’t necessarily fatal flaws, though, and could easily be ironed out for the rest of the run.Karl Anderson’s set is sparse but effective. Three stained glass windows hang throughout the show as a reminder of the influence both authority and faith have on the kids’ lives, and Theresa Bagan’s lighting design makes solid use of them as well.Pandora announced their next season on opening night. Starting with September’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” all 2012-13 productions will take place at the Henry Clay Theatre. By Erin Keane May 11 Arts and Culture Review: Pandora’s Pop Opera ‘Bare’ a Real Heartbreaker Erin Keane