Leaving Iowa Theatre in the Park Through April 29 Leaving Iowa sometimes does its job a little too well, which means audiences might feel like they’re trapped in a car with screaming children on a never-ending trip. For others, though, its close-to-home look at family vacations might evoke a sense of nostalgia. Tim Clue and […]
Zack Smith
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Posted inArt
University Theatre’s The Arabian Nights offers insight
The Arabian Nights University Theatre Titmus Theatre, N.C. State Campus Through April 22 Though Ala al-Din (aka Aladdin) appears briefly in University Theatre’s production of The Arabian Nights, the tales adapted from the classic work are more ribald than anything you’d find in a Disney film. There’s castration, multiple infidelities and an entire story revolving […]
Posted inCulture
This American iPad: A Q&A with Ira Glass
Those familiar with Ira Glass’ wry, quizzical voice as the host of public radio’s This American Life will get to experience his unique brand of storytelling in person when he appears at the Durham Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 23. The appearance comes after a week in which This American Life made headlines when […]
Posted inCulture
Joey the war horse comes to Durham, and what the new DPAC season says about Broadway
Photo by D.L. AndersonUnveiling Joey Last week, the slogan “New York Has Never Been So Close!” was proclaimed at least four times in the presentation for the 2012-2013 SunTrust Broadway series at the Durham Performing Arts Center. But while I’m certainly looking forward to several of the touring productions, including the season opener, War Horse, […]
Posted inArt
Two nights of film comedy at the Carolina Theatre
Jay & Silent Bob Get Old Thursday, March 15 Cinematic Titanic Friday, March 16 Carolina Theatre It started as a little show on a UHF channel in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and grew into a series that spawned almost 200 episodes, countless rip-offs and a cult that remains loyal to this day. It was Mystery […]
Posted inArt
The emerald-green fields of Ireland in TIP’s Stones in His Pockets
Stones in His Pockets Theatre in the Park Through March 18 When I say the performances of Ryan Brock and Mike Raab in Theatre in the Park’s production of Marie Jones’ Stones in His Pockets are dizzying, I mean that literally. The production requires the two actors to embody more than a dozen characters, transitions […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Nevermore Film Festival’s master class on suspense and terror
Nevermore Film Festival Feb. 17–19 Carolina Theatre “Is it safe?” These three words, once heard in the context of 1976’s Marathon Man, will keep you from heading to the dentist for a good while after seeing the film. It was nearly two years in my case. If you have not experienced the orthodontic terrors of […]
Posted inCulture
Chapel Hill Comics owner draws cover for comic based on cult Adventure Time cartoon
On Saturday, Feb. 18, fans will head to Chapel Hill Comics to pay $15 for a comic book with a locally drawn cover depicting a princess made of bubblegum and a vampire rocker who drinks the color red instead of blood, and was traumatized by her father eating her fries as a child. And I […]
Posted inArt
Burning Coal’s Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha Burning Coal Theatre Through Feb. 19 With his shock of curly hair, scarf and blazer, Randolph Curtis Rand looks more like a star of Rent (or possibly Doctor Who) than the title character of Man of La Mancha. But then again, isn’t that the whole point of Man of La Mancha, […]
Posted inCulture
Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, and “Why We Broke Up”
Photo by Meredith HeuerDaniel Handler Teen romance has been the subject of a library’s worth of novels, but Daniel Handler, the novelist best known for his A Series of Unfortunate Events books as Lemony Snicket, has taken a different path with his novel Why We Broke Up (Little, Brown, $19.99). Taking place after the aforementioned […]
