Chapel Hill
Summer and Smoke
Deep Dish Theater CompanyTennessee Williams’ 1948 play, also known as The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, lacks the name recognition of A Streetcar Named Desire, but this tale of a spinster courted by a childhood friend-turned-rakish doctor in 1916 ranks alongside his many acclaimed works. In the spirit of other Williams plays, it deals with a combination of powerful desire and painful isolation in the South, with an innocent but dignified woman dealing with a powerful masculine energy determined to oppress and humiliate her. The production, directed by Tony Lea, runs through Sept. 19. Friday’s opening night sold out, so get your tickets soon. For more information, call 968-1515 or visit www.deepdishtheater.org. Zack Smith
Disclosure: Culture Editor David Fellerath’s partner, Katja Hill, plays the lead in Summer and Smoke.
Durham
Marcus Anderson
The Backyard BBQ Pit No. 2In the two years since opening its first location near the intersection of highways N.C. 55 and 54 at the edge of Research Triangle Park, the family-owned Backyard BBQ Pit has become a must-stop for the area’s adventurous eaters. With slow-cooked ribs whose flavors unfold with every turn of the tongue, homemade lemonade augmented by chunks of pineapple, and walls covered in the signatures of all first-time customers, that reputation is well deserved. Now the Pit will move to the other end of the city by adding a second spot in the former home of Durham’s Pizza Palace at 3218 Guess Rd. Tonight they’ll celebrate the grand opening with a jazz concert featuring Durham saxophonist Marcus Anderson. His second album, From the Heart, shows as much flavor and variety as those ribs, swinging from smooth soul and hard funk and blowing lines through any styles in between. Twenty bucks gets you music, all-you-can-eat food and free drinks (seriously, lemonade). The party begins at 9 p.m. and ends at 2 a.m. Grayson Currin
Raleigh
“The Southern Plantation Revisited”
N.C. Museum of ArtFollowing Friday’s 8 p.m. outdoor screening of Gone With the Wind, the museum screens the documentary The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind in the auditorium at 2 p.m. Executive producer Daniel M. Selznick (son of GWTW‘s producer David O. Selznick) and film critic Godfrey Cheshire will lead discussion.
The special music/movie combo continues tonight in the amphitheater with a screening of Cheshire’s documentary, Moving Midway, depicting his search for his familial roots during the process of moving his ancestral home from near present-day Knightdale. Before the screening, at 7 p.m., a concert of Piedmont blues and old-time Southern string band music celebrates the 80th birthday of Algia Mae Hinton, a Piedmont blues singer, guitarist and dancer. Hinton’s music provides the soundtrack for Moving Midway, and her late husband was descended from the Midway Plantation community.
Tickets for Gone With the Wind and The Making of a Legend are $8; tickets for the concert and Moving Midway screening are $12 (ages 7-12 are $6, and under 6 are free). Visit www.ncartmuseum.org. Sarah Ewald
