Performance
Love Letters
Kenan Recital Hall, Peace College, Raleigh
Sunday, Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. and Monday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $25
The North Carolina Opera is celebrating Valentine’s Day with Brahms and John Lennon. Performing at Peace College in Raleigh, the company will perform Brahm’s “Liebeslieder Waltzes,” eighteen lyrical poems exploring love and songs from Beethoven and Fauré to Cole Porter and John Lennon.
Angels in America
Paul Green Theatre
Tues. through Sat. at 7:30 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. from Jan. 29 to Mar. 6.
Tickets $10 to $45
In two parts — the first, “Millenium Approaches” then “Perestroika” — “Angels in America” explores the issues of AIDS and homosexuality in the 1980s.
Tony Kushner’s award-winning drama features two couples — one gay and one straight — and their encounters with disease, sex and sexuality in the age of Reagan.
The two parts will run in rotating repertory through the week and back-to-back beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturdays.
The show officially opened with “Millenium Approaches” this Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Read assistant editor Katelyn Trela’s preview of the play here
Read staff writer Colin Warren-Hicks’ review of the play here.
Black Watch
Memorial Hall
Wed. and Thurs. at 7:30 p.m., Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m.
Feb. 9 – Feb. 13
Tickets are sold out
“Black Watch” tells the story of the Black Watch battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland’s controversial involvement in the Iraq War. The Black Watch went into Iraq in support of the United States against the word of the British parliament.
The play, from the National Theatre of Scotland, recently won four Laurence Olivier awards which honor theater excellence in London.
“Black Watch” is the first performance in a series as a part of Carolina Performing Arts’ International Theater Festival, which runs through April.
The piece is said to be an intense exploration of the trials and harsh realities of life in the war zone. Seating is limited — 240 seats on the Memorial Hall stage — and Canvas has it on good word that the entire weekend is sold out.
Read staff writer Britton Alexander’s preview of the play here.
Under Construction
Lab! Theatre
Kenan Theatre
8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 5 p.m. Monday
Free Admission
Just when you thought that those wacky kids at Lab! were done for a while, here they come back with a cultural adventure that spans the ages.
“Under Construction,” directed by Lab! regular Jeb Brinkley and featuring a cast of familiar Lab! faces, explores the evolution of American culture from the 50s to the modern day.
A collection of music, improvised scenes and narrative vignettes — as well as three continuously running television screens in the background — the work promises to be yet another challenging work in the Lab! repertoire.
Plus, tickets are free. Canvas will see you there.
Check out staff writer Brian Gaither’s preview of the play here.
Art
The Magical Real-ism of Amy Sherald
Robert and Sallie Brown Gallery in the Sonja Hayes Stone Center
Mon. to Fri., 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Feb. 3 – April 27
Free admission
“The Magical Real-ism of Amy Sherald” continues to dazzle at the Sonya Hayes Stone Center.
Sherald’s artwork is a self-reflection of life as a Southern black woman through post-modern eyes. The work removes the idea of skin color, illustrating the race of her characters through physical characteristics instead. The images grew into fantastical portrayals, full of color and life.
Read staff writer Jess Broadbent’s story on the gallery here
First Year
John and June Alcott Gallery, Hanes Art Center
Jan. 11 – Feb. 11
Free admission
This one month exhibit in Hanes Art Center features the work of students currently in the first year of a master’s in fine arts, including Lee Delegard, Ashley Florence, Cora Lim, Chris Musina, Jason Osborne, Neill Prewitt, Jonathan Sherrill and Seoun Som.
These eight artists’ works explore a variety of themes and mediums. See the artwork in the John and June Alcott Gallery.
Read staff writer Julie Cooper’s profile of the show here.
Ackland Art Museum
Gallery and Exhibits (10 a.m. – 8 pm Thursday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday)
Free admission
Through March, the Ackland is featuring three exhibitions:
-“Tradition in Clay: Two Centuries of Classic North Carolina Pots” features pottery from various collections — including Ackland’s own — all native to North Carolina. More than 100 pots are on display.
-“At Work in the Wilderness: Picturing the American Landscape, 1820-1920” explores the conflicting ideas of land in the quickly urbanizing country. The paintings all examine how one might reframe natural landscapes. The collection shines a light on the human/nature relationship. An audio accompaniment to the exhibit further explores ideas about the changing American landscape of the time.
-“The Oldest Paintings in America” showcases, through photography, the ancient rock art in Utah’s Colorado Plateau. Goodloe Suttler photographed the rock paintings that date to around 5,000 B.C.
Arts Editor Nick Andersen went to see the exhibits last Sunday, and his review will be forthcoming on this very blog.
The Ackland is also featuring the film, “A Fire in My Belly,” by artist David Wojnarowicz, in its second floor Study Gallery.
Wojnarowicz’s film — which was recently removed from the Smithsonian Institute’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. — features a scene in which ants crawl on a crucifix and deals largely with Wojnarowicz’s battle with AIDS.
The installation at the Ackland includes three films – two longer original cuts by the artist and the four-minute version that was re-edited by the Smithsonian.
All three versions of “Fire in my Belly” will be screened until Feb. 13 in the Study Gallery. Catch up with the films before they disappear.
And read staff writer Katherine Proctor’s post on an discussion panel discussing the film here.
Nasher Museum of Art
Gallery and Exhibits
Ongoing, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m .Thursday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday
$5 general admission, $3 non-Duke students with I.D., free on Thursdays
The Nasher at Duke continues its musical methods with the opening of “The Jazz Loft Project: W. Eugene Smith in New York City, 1957-1965,” a beautiful collection of photography and recordings from a crucial era in the jazz scene. Staff writer Michelle Lewis is checking out the exhibit this weekend, and will have a piece later in the week.
Miscellaneous
Diaspora Festival of Black and Independent Film
Films and Discussions
Ongoing though March 15
Sonja Hayes Stone Center
Hitchcock Multipurpose Room
Free admission
The Sonja Hayes Stone Center revives its regular diaspora film festival with a couple of knock-out films this month.
Thursday night’s documentary “Cuba: An African Odyssey” will explore the role of the Caribbean’s most notorious communist leader and his role in the independence struggles of fledgling republics in Africa.
Most screenings will feature commentary or discussion from directors or University scholars on a topic relevant to the film at hand.
See sonjahaynesstonectr.unc.edu for more information.
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