CHAMBER MUSIC Common Ground Theatre 4815B Hillsborough Rd. Durham 919-384-7817 www.cgtheatre.com Through April 25 Mutual assured destruction was the common ground of Cold War politics at its most ludicrousthe idea that if the other “side” chose the nuclear option, in the argot of the 1960s, we’d retaliate instantaneously, and boom, all would fall down dead. […]
Kate Dobbs Ariail
Bio: Kate Dobbs Ariail writes about the arts.
Posted inArt
Acclaimed tap dancer Michelle Dorrance brings the Blues back to Chapel Hill
DORRANCE DANCE: THE BLUES PROJECT Thursday, Sept. 25–Friday, Sept. 26 7:30 p.m. Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri, $10–$59 UNC’s Memorial Hall 114 East Cameron Ave., Chapel Hill 919-843-3333 www.carolinaperformingarts.org When the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival commissioned a new work from internationally known tap dancer and choreographer Michelle Dorrance last year, she knew exactly what she […]
Posted inArt
Vanities is the musical equivalent of a beach read
VANITIES: THE MUSICAL Theatre Raleigh @ Kennedy Theatre Through May 25 As the weather warms, it’s time for light clothes, light drinks and light entertainment. Though it’s not quite summer yet, Theatre Raleigh has opened its 10th season of Hot Summer Nights with VANITIES: THE MUSICAL, a chick-lit beach book of a musical. Directed by […]
Posted inArt
Superhero Shakespeare in Spirits to Enforce
SPIRITS TO ENFORCE Manbites Dog Theater Through May 10 A favorite of audiences, The Tempest is perhaps even more beloved by actors and writers for its delicious wordplay and its meditations on the magical craft of manifesting ideas, dreams and memories through art. That’s “The Tempest by William Shakespeare”a line repeated frequently by the phone-banking […]
Posted inCulture
Theater review: PlayMakers’ Hold These Truths
Hold These Truths ★★★★★PlayMakers at Kenan Theatre Through April 27 PlayMakers concludes a season remarkable for its thoughtfulness on big topics, whether timely or timeless, with a PRC2 Series production. Hold These Truths spotlights a particularly sordid, shamefully little-known episode in 20th-century American history, and offers a lens through which to look at more immediate […]
Posted inTheater
The Diary of Anne Frank
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK Burning Coal Theatre Company @ Murphey School Auditorium Through April 27 Is there anyone in America who does not know the story told in The Diary of Anne Frank? Two Jewish familiesplus one irascible dentisthide from Nazis during World War II in a secret annex behind Otto Frank’s company in […]
Posted inArt
“Rapier wit” is an apt term for Stoppard’s 1993 play
ARCADIA Deep Dish Theater Through March 22 Either you love Tom Stoppard’s erudition, which runs through his plays like quicksilver, or it makes you grumpy with its elaborate high-flown thoughts on pretty much everything. “Rapier wit” is an apt term for Stoppard’s skewering of, for instance, academics, as he does so very well in his […]
Posted inArt
Exploring the aftermath of loss in Love Alone
Anyone who has experienced loss of a loved one knows the rage and helplessness that can accompany it. Most of us never witness the ravages of a wrongful death, but Deborah Salem Smith’s 2012 play Love Alone is the story of a family that does. This play, which gets its regional premiere this week at […]
Posted inArt
Sweet Tea at PSI
SWEET TEA: BLACK GAY MEN OF THE SOUTH ½ PSI Theater, Durham Arts Council Through Feb. 22 We learn during E. Patrick Johnson’s captivating one-man performance that he was the first black man from Hickory, N.C., to earn a Ph.D. For this, he notes wryly, the city of Hickory honored him with a hickory stick, […]
Posted inArt
A religious drama at Burning Coal
The Jesus Fund Burning Coal Theatre Through Feb. 16 Terry Milner’s new playhis firstis very definitely of its time. Driven by issues and ideas more than emotions or dramatic situations, The Jesus Fund, directed by Beth Gardiner, explores the Balkanization of American life, particularly in regard to religion and spirituality. Set in a failing seminary […]