Culture watch

You Say Theatre, I Say Theater …

It should come as no surprise that the super-professional team at the Flat Rock Playhouse would be able to create a topnotch theater education program — they are the State Theatre of North Carolina, after all. But, having a solid program and getting recognized for it are two very different things. Recently, however, their youth theater program, YouTheatre, was honored by the North Carolina Theatre Conference with the 2006 Constance Welsh Theatre for Youth Award. The Flat Rock Playhouse program, which has been in place under a number of names since the early 1960s, helps more than 600 students per year develop their acting and musical-theater skills.

Kershaw Joins Ghost Town

Country singer Sammy Kershaw recently joined the cast of the Ghost Town movie, currently filming at the long-closed Maggie Valley theme park. Kershaw, known for hits like “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful” and “Cadillac Style,” will play U.S. Marshal Morgan Duckett in the Appalachian revenge drama. Kershaw joins a cast that includes Bill McKinney and Herbert “Cowboy” Coward, both known for their less-than-flattering portrayals of rural Southerners in the film Deliverance (they played “Mountain Man” and “Toothless Man,” respectively).

The Cleverest Cartel

Once-local indie record label Broken Fader Cartel appears to be back in the music publishing game. The minds behind the formerly Asheville-based experimental “glitchtronica” group Discount Plastic Surgery have relocated to Chapel Hill, where they’ve recently released a new full-length album by Nauseous Youth Future. The album, Dosage, is available through the group’s Web site, www.brokenfadercartel.com. It is considerably more pleasant to listen to than the group’s earlier efforts.

The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown For Public Art

The Asheville Public Art Board recently began calling for applications for their first Public Artist of the Year award. The award is designed to recognize contributions to local public art, and the winner of this year’s prize will be given a $10,000 budget to create a “unique and durable” work that will be displayed for “long-term use” in Pritchard Park. Organizers are seeking a work that “responds to Asheville’s unique sense of neighborhood culture” and “enhances the concept of Pritchard Park.” Artists must be at least 18 years old, have lived in Western North Carolina for at least one year, and must have “contributed to the visual arts in Asheville” during that time. The deadline for applications is Monday, Jan. 15, 2007, at 5 p.m. For more information, e-mail Asheville Parks and Recreation Cultural Art Superintendent David Mitchell at dmitchell@ashevillenc.gov.