After last year’s celebration was canceled due to COVID-19, the annual Zelda Fitzgerald Week is back with a series of online lectures on all things Zelda Fitzgerald — art, literature, dance, mental health, her marriage to writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and, of course, her tragic death in the 1948 fire at Highland Hospital in Asheville.
Alaina Doten, executive director of the Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery, Ala., will launch the weeklong celebration with a virtual tour of the property — the last home the Fitzgeralds shared. Additional highlights include “Asheville’s Doomed Duo: F. Scott and Zelda,” presented by Tom Hearron on Tuesday, March 9, at 7 p.m. and “Discover Zelda’s Art Work and the Artist in You,” a workshop led by Annie Gustely, taking place Thursday, March 11, at 7 p.m.
The series concludes Saturday, March 13, with an online auction benefiting Aurora Studio & Gallery, a local nonprofit art space created for artists who have experienced trauma.
A $10 donation is suggested for each event. To see the full schedule, visit avl.mx/914.
‘Hindsight 2020’
TheatreUNCA will stage two virtual performances of Hindsight 2020 at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 5, and Saturday, March 6. The production combines recorded and livestreamed performances. “When I began to develop the concept of Hindsight 2020, I wanted to curate an evening of performances that would reflect and, in some way, document the deeply emotional and uniquely cataclysmic year we’ve had,” says director Stephanie Hickling Beckman in a press release. “I was also excited to open this project at UNCA because I think this generation of young adults has important and introspective things to say, and I wanted to provide them a platform and an audience. My hope for this show is that it reminds us that we are all in this together, and maybe, just maybe, bring with it some hope for tomorrow.” Free to attend, with donations accepted. To register, visit avl.mx/91y.
‘The Book Club Play’
North Carolina Stage Company’s latest live Zoom production, The Book Club Play, is running through Sunday, March 21. The play tells the story of Ana, a type A personality with a strong passion for her book club. But when the group becomes the focus of a documentary film, pandemonium ensues.
“Even in a time when we can’t be together in person, the theatrical experience is about connection,” says Michelle Carello, the theater’s associate art director. “We hope audiences have an opportunity to laugh, to see a bit of themselves in Book Club, and enjoy what we continue to learn about our humanity through the stories we share.”
Tickets are $25. For show times, visit avl.mx/915.
The Measure of Gold
Local author Sarah C. Patten recently celebrated the release of her latest novel, The Measure of Gold. A work of historical fiction, the story follows the 1940 journey of a young woman named Penelope who leaves her Tennessee home to reunite with a childhood friend in Paris just as Germany is invading the country. A chance meeting with an alchemist results in Penelope’s daring entry into a world of espionage. To learn more about the book, visit avl.mx/917.
‘Time of the Month’
“Time of the Month,” is a new weekly series hosted by Beer City Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a local nonprofit dedicated to promoting and celebrating diversity, social awareness, universal joy and the expiation of stigmatic guilt. Every Sunday at 7 p.m. in March, a new episode will air on the group’s Facebook page. The series will explore and poke fun at traditional, contemporary and ancient holidays. For additional information, visit avl.mx/91h.
Submit your writing
Throughout March, the Journal of Black Mountain College Studies, a peer-reviewed publication of The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, is accepting submissions for academic articles, essays, reviews, poetry, images and forms of artistic expression related to the history and legacy of the former college. The latest issue’s theme focuses on underreported stories from the college that deserve greater attention. To submit your work or proposal, email journalbmcstudies@gmail.com. Find out more at avl.mx/91f.
Calling all artists
Preserving a Picturesque America, a local nonprofit that seeks to raise awareness and preserve natural and historic places through art and literature, is inviting local artists from the southern Appalachian Mountains to submit original works in all media for a juried exhibition. According to a press release, “The subject must be a modern version of one of the original Picturesque America vantage points in North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, in the French Broad River basin.” The deadline to submit is Wednesday, March 31. To learn more, visit avl.mx/91p.
Griffin Awards
The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County is accepting nominations for the 2021 virtual Griffin Awards. Categories for individuals, companies and organizations include: restoration; rehabilitation; adaptive reuse; in-fill construction in historic and traditional neighborhoods; research, publication and education; stewardship; and preservation. The submission deadline is Saturday, March 6, at 5 p.m. To submit, visit avl.mx/8zq.
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