Raleigh
SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD
Kennedy Theater–This Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy Festival production revisits composer Jason Robert Brown, whose small-ensemble musical, The Last Five Years, proved a hit last summer. But the critical responses to this, Brown’s first musical, have praised the propulsion, confidence and humor in its music–and noted the slender thematic threads that try to unite songs from 16 different characters individually confronting new lands and experiences. The memorable Mary Cuchetti, who sold last year’s production of Starting Here, Starting Now, returns. The play runs from today until July 9. —Byron Woods
Durham
YOUNG WRITER’S CAMP
Regulator Bookshop–Two decades of writers from around the world have passed through Duke’s Young Writer’s Camp. The aspiring teen authors meet in two classes each day, focusing not only on their style but also on the effect the pen can have in any community. The top 20 writers from this year’s session gather in the Regulator basement at 7 p.m. to share original poems, essays and short stories.
