Transforming the fable has required extra creativity. When it comes to music, for instance, Deven Balsam is appealing to modern sensibilities by adjusting the tempo or adding a house mix on top of a Tchaikovsky composition.
Author: Lauren Stepp
Showing 22-41 of 41 results
North Carolina Dance Festival returns to Asheville
In 1991, founder Jan Van Dyke introduced the festival as a traveling, statewide showcase of high-caliber choreography. Each season, two to three cities are selected to host concerts over the course of a weekend.
John C. Campbell Folk School and Penland School of Crafts appoint new leadership
It’s the season of change for two of Western North Carolina’s craft institutions. In May, John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown named Jerry Jackson as its new executive director. A month later, Penland School of Crafts in Penland announced that Maria “Mia” Hall would take the reigns as director, effective Jan. 1, 2018.
Miss Blue Ridge Pride Pageant challenges gender norms
“It’s a platform that can be used to vocalize LGBTQ+ issues that our community is currently facing,” says Ginger Von Snap, Miss Blue Ridge Pride 2016. Since taking the title, Ginger (aka Kaleb Sisco) has used her position to raise awareness of underrepresented subdivisions on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, like transgender youth and those who are gender-fluid.
22 London will host an exhibition of Latin American art
Randy Shull and his partner/“co-conspirator” Hedy Fischer will open ¡Viva! on Saturday, Sept. 16 — aka Mexican Independence Day. The exhibition features more than a dozen contemporary Latin American artists.
AAAC exhibition examines environmental issues
Dialogue is the hope for the opening reception, when seven artists — Deanna Chilian, Chuck Hunner, Julie Miles, Roger Munch, Leslie Rowland, Molly Sawyer and exhibition curator Joseph Pearson — will come together to speak about their work and its connection to nature.
The Wilma Dykeman Legacy honors women writers in new lecture series
Kathy Ackerman will be discussing Olive Tilford Dargan as part of a new female-author series sponsored by the Wilma Dykeman Legacy. The program features lectures on five writers — Dargan, Ellen Glasgow, Zora Neale Hurston, Julia Peterkin and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings — and three film showings.
Tracey Morgan Gallery celebrates non-native artists with ‘Transplants’
The Asheville area has long attracted out-of-state painters, photographers and indie crafters. But what happens after these creative nonnatives decide to trade visitor status for residency? Transplants, an art exhibit opening Friday, Aug. 6, and running through Sunday, Sept. 24, at the Tracey Morgan Gallery, seeks to answer that question.
Folkmoot returns for its 34th year
This year’s iteration, running from Thursday, July 20, to Sunday, July 30, features folk dance collectives from India, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Argentina, Russia, Israel, Taiwan and Wales. Traditional Appalachian and Cherokee groups will perform, too.
The Big Crafty returns for its 19th season
Brandy Bourne and Justin Rabuck have seen indie crafts evolve firsthand. Nine years ago, they founded The Big Crafty, a biannual art and craft market. With eclectic products and a convivial atmosphere styled after Taiwanese bazaars, The Big Crafty proved to be an instant hit.
The Cardboard Sea debuts an original play
Opening Saturday, July 6, at The Magnetic Theatre, Has Anyone Seen Ms. Ray? is all about things that go bump in the night. “It’s based loosely on Antigone,” Todd Weakley explains. “Except it’s like the writers of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ took a stab at it.”
Terpsicorps presents a unifying performance in election’s wake
Compassion, and possibly shared frustration, is the basis of Together We Stand, a series of dance performances onstage at the Diana Wortham Theatre Thursday-Saturday, June 22-24.
Different Strokes! stages ‘5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche’
Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective stages a comedy that will anchor a “FUNraiser” benefitting the group’s plan to open a 120-seat theater space.
Three free summer festivals worth visiting
This season, two new events — the Better Dads Festival and Xpand Fest — are launching in downtown Asheville. A little further out in Hot Springs, ballad singers and hikers are coming together to celebrate the Bluff Mountain Festival’s 22nd year.
Asheville Ballet puts a fresh spin on performance
Eight resident choreographers, three composers and two visual artists will come together for a night of collaborative live performance. With no restrictions beyond a 10-minute time frame, Asheville Ballet artistic director Ann Dunn likens the show to a floral bouquet: diverse and eclectic.
N.C. Stage Company produces Mindy Kaling’s ‘Matt & Ben’
Why are two women playing Matt Damon and Ben Affleck? Director Angie Flynn-McIver says cross-gender casting is the only way to rightfully perform Withers and Kaling’s script.
Blue Ridge National Heritage Area brings back the digital crafts trail
The Blue Ridge Craft Trails of Western North Carolina — Blue Ridge National Heritage Area’s newest addition to its programming — “raises all boats” by connecting collectors with authentic makers.
Conscious threads: Echoview Farm introduces recycled yarn
“Microfibers come off polyester clothes in the washing machine, and those particles pollute waterways,” says Grace Gouin, strategist at Echoview Fiber Mill in Weaverville. Streams are so loaded with the synthetic stuff that, in theory, fish are a certain percent yoga pant.
The Asheville Butoh Festival holds its own
Gillum composed Me, The Worst of Them All, as part of the four-day festival running Thursday-Sunday, April 20-23 at The BeBe Theatre. Her performance honors 17th-century Mexican nun and feminist Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and uses birdlike imagery to typify life in a male-dominated world.
ACT and UNCA team up to produce ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’
Asheville Community Theatre and the UNC Asheville the drama department collaborate on Peter and the Starcatcher, a Tony Award-winning prequel to Peter Pan. It opens on Thursday, March 30 at UNCA’s Carol Belk Theatre.