I’ve always loved the frills of language. I’ve rarely met a noun or verb that didn’t need a modifier or three or four. Alliteration, rhyme, simile, metaphor and great swags of hyperbole have long been my friends in the intoxicating game of words. Being especially prone to exaggeration and excess, I recently called my life […]
Kate Dobbs Ariail
Bio: Kate Dobbs Ariail writes about the arts.
Posted inArt
God’s Ear turns to music for succor
God’s Ear Manbites Dog Theater Through June 5 If you are a human over the age of about 12, something or someone will have already broken your heart at least once. So you know how hard it is to grieve, and that it is even harder to talk about grieving because every single thing there […]
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PlayMakers Artistic Director Joseph Haj caps a remarkable season
Hamlet runs through June 6 at the Folger Shakespeare Libary in Washington, D.C. Visit www.folger.edu. “The only reason to be a theater artist is that it makes you a bigger person,” said Joe Haj in his office at the UNC Center for Dramatic Art, which houses PlayMakers Repertory Company, and where he was making final […]
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The new North Carolina Museum of Art opens up
As you approach the North Carolina Museum of Art from Blue Ridge Road in search of its new building, you may find yourself wondering where it is. When you realize that the grouping of what appear to be metal sheds is the museum, you may thinkwhoa, we just spent $72.3 million on that? Hurry up […]
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Ghost & Spice’s Boston Marriage
Boston Marriage Ghost & Spice At Common Ground Theatre Through May 1 The American playwright David Mamet has a reputation for being foul-mouthed and, if not misogynistic, then just not that interested in the lives of women, whether or not they talk dirty. Partly to counter the idea that he couldn’t write for women, he […]
Posted inCulture
Solo show about women reclaiming their bodies at Common Ground
‘rie Shontel’s Mama Juggs: Three Generations Healing Negative Body Images ** Common Ground Theatre March 19-20; rieshontel.blogspot.com ‘rie Shontel’s autobiographical theater work is a strange amalgam of comedy, pathos and public service announcement. Set in a shabby Oakland, CA, public housing living room where she grew up, which is oddly draped with a small fortune […]
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PlayMakers Rep’s The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest PlayMakers Repertory Company Through March 21 PlayMakers Repertory Company is wrapping up its preposterously ambitious 2009/2010 main stage season with a gorgeous production of Oscar Wilde’s most delightful playstill fresh after 115 yearsThe Importance of Being Earnest. That’s life in the academic world: It’s not even spring yet, but already […]
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Paperhand Puppet’s Love and Robots: A Puppet Rock Opera
Love and Robots: A Puppet Rock Opera Paperhand Puppet Intervention At The ArtsCenter March 5–7 In Saxapahaw March 12–21 Been feeling heartsick and helpless lately? Depressed because John-Boy turned out to be a big fat liar? Freaking because the major corporation to which you entrusted your online backup went out of business? Furious because all […]
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Deep Dish’s An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband Deep Dish Theater Through March 6 Oscar Wilde’s plays are so well-larded with rich lines, so well-stuffed with bon mots and so well-basted with sly, amusing observations that even a less-than-brilliant production of his work will offer a pleasurable theatrical meal. Such a one is currently being served at Deep Dish Theater, […]
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Burning Coal’s The Seafarer
The Seafarer Burning Coal Theatre at Meymandi Theatre at the Murphey School Through Feb. 21 Conor McPherson’s fine and funny play The Seafarer has been described as the thinking person’s version of It’s a Wonderful Life, but that is a glib gloss. To begin with, The Seafarer lacks sentimentality (and will be difficult for people […]