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(04/07/10 4:44am)
As the curtain rises in Memorial Hall, the spotlight will shine on both new, innovative artists and classic, loved performers for Carolina Performing Arts’ sixth season.“It is important to establish long-term relationships, and when people ask us why we bring the same artists back sometimes, it is because we are actually interested in having the audience see the artists grow and develop over time,” said Emil Kang, executive director for the arts. “I think it is much more compelling experience than just seeing a single snapshot that you never experience again.”Carolina Performing Arts introduces the new International Theater Festival, which is made up of three performances celebrating international theater.The groups program also aligns with the 2010-11 Creative Campus Initiative, which explores the theme of “Voices of Dissent.” This project is meant to instigate discussion of the different forms of expression used speaking up and acting out against the status quo.The season, which begins August 17, also features global and local talents. Some performances will allow local community members chances to perform with famous artists.“This coming year we will be presenting a very diverse group of artists and not just in terms of their styles but in the works they are presenting,” said Harry Kaplowitz, the marketing manager for Carolina Performing Arts.
(03/29/10 4:49am)
G.I. Jane soldiers, “Alice in Wonderland” characters and ‘80s dancers did “stanky legg” dance moves and shimmied their shoulders Saturday night in Memorial Hall.The 4th Annual “Show Us What You Got!” Hip Hop Dance Off, organized by Carolina Union Activities Board’s performing arts committee, featured dance groups from universities across the state.Presenting the teams with a lively spirit and encouraging members of the audience to dance as well, B-Daht from radio station 102 JAMZ hosted the dance-off.“I thought it was fun; the crowd made it extremely fun. When you think about all the hard work they put into making moves, it was awesome,” B-Daht said.The group Couture from N.C. A&T State University won the competition, receiving $300.Beginning in darkness with flashlights to their faces, the Couture dancers created scenes from the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” with perfectly timed moves. “It was freaking amazing-slash-awesome,” said Dre’Sean Williams of Couture.Dance groups Opeyo! and Misconception and modeling troupe Concept of Colors represented UNC-Chapel Hill.Placing second and winning $200, Misconception’s dances traveled through time, from 1984 to 2004, with clothing, music and dance to represent the years.Slowly transitioning through time periods, the dance ended to “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics while a loud voice in the background said, “Life comes full circle.”“I was pleased with the outcomes,” said Victoria Wilburn, a member of Misconception and executive on the CUAB hip-hop board. “Each school brought a unique style of dance and different expressions of dance.”Concept of Colors modeled outfits of characters from the game Candy Land. They portrayed Lord Licorice, Princess Frostine, Lolly and other characters with candy cane, frosted cupcake and licorice costumes, strutting their stuff and posing for the audience.Physical Graffeeti, a dance group from UNC-Wilmington, took home third place for its dance capturing the story of “Alice in Wonderland.”Alice danced her way through all of the obstacles, meeting the evil Queen of Hearts, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat along the way. The dance ended with everyone collapsed at Alice’s feet.The audience cheered, danced and yelled proudly when teams from their schools took the stage.“I think it was great, the way people put it together. It was a great thing for UNC to have,” said audience member John Henson, who is also on the men’s basketball team.Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(03/17/10 4:43am)
Celtic fiddler Eileen Ivers will perform tonight at Memorial Hall. Daily Tar Heel staff writer Lindsay Saladino spoke with Ivers on Monday about her tour and her music. Ivers’ responses have been edited for space.Daily Tar Heel: Why did you start playing music?Eileen Ivers: I started playing fiddle when I was around 8 years old. I totally loved the instrument as a kid. My parents are both from County Mayo, in the west of Ireland, and they kind of wanted me and my sister to pick something of Irish up, whether it be dancing or the music.
(02/25/10 4:55am)
Six actors will try to remind audiences what matters most in life by illustrating what they learned in kindergarten while honoring the memory of a beloved professor.The cast and crew said they hope to honor the memory of UNC professor and PlayMakers Repertory Company’s Kenneth Strong, who died Jan. 12 after a long battle with cancer.The production, “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten,” is sponsored by Carolina Cancer Focus and based on the book by Robert Fulghum. All proceeds from the play go directly to the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Fund for Brain Tumor Research.
(02/19/10 5:14am)
The Daily Tar Heel had a chance to talk to the director of the new movie “Blood Done Sign My Name” and the author of the book the movie is based on.Jeb Stuart wrote, produced and directed the movie, which opens today. Tyson’s work, UNC’s 2005 summer reading book, examines the murder of Henry Marrow, a black man in Oxford, N.C.
(01/27/10 6:36am)
Correction (Jan. 28 12:45 a.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story listed an incorrect date for the post-performance discussion with Jules Odendahl-James as Sunday, Jan. 31. The actual discussion will be held Feb. 7. The story has been updated to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
(01/19/10 5:38am)
Kenneth P. Strong lived fully, loved greatly, taught passionately, performed powerfully and left his audience applauding loudly and wanting more of his incredible spirit.Strong, 52, died on Tuesday, Jan. 12, after a long battle with cancer. He was a professor in the department of dramatic art and a member of PlayMakers Repertory Company.A memorial was held at 1 p.m. Monday in the Paul Green Theatre to celebrate his life.The Rev. Chuck Bugg began the ceremony, speaking of how Strong inspired him and how he was someone who loved life.He finished the invocation by saying, “What matters most is the content of our character.”As friends and family shared memories of Strong, they showed pictures of his life on a screen in the theater, accompanied by the song “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green.Through those tales and tributes, Strong’s character rang loud and true.“When I think of Ken, I think of love and joy and laughter,” said Ray Dooley, a fellow professor in the dramatic art department and member of PlayMakers.McKay Coble, chairwoman of the dramatic art department and member of PlayMakers, shared a memory of a picture Strong had sent her while on vacation.In the picture he lay on a float, splashing around in the pool. He added a note that read, “Weather is here; wish you were beautiful.”Even though Strong liked to make others laugh, he was also dedicated to his work. While battling cancer, Strong still performed in plays and taught classes.His wife, Kee Strong, spoke of his desire for challenges. She said he was always looking to climb the highest mountain. Determined, he would passionately hike to the top of a mountain, and once there, would turn to her and say, “I think there is a higher one.”Some speakers at the memorial read letters or played recordings from Strong’s family.“If I have to walk across the universe, I will find you again,” Kee Strong said, in a recorded message.Just as people started crying during moving statements about Strong’s character, they were soon laughing at stories of him joking around and brightening others’ days.Teaching was another passion of Strong’s, and his students remember him most as the enthusiastic professor who made drama come alive in class.“He loved every one of his students, and he ended his class by saying ‘I love you,’” Coble said.One of Strong’s traditions in his lectures was to blast the song “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads and make his students stand up and do crazy arm motions.In remembrance, the memorial ended with all of Strong’s friends and family joyfully repeating the ritual. “In whatever years Ken had, Ken taught you and so many other people what really mattered in life,” Bugg said.Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(12/09/09 4:52am)
This article was published in the 2009 Year in Review issue of The Daily Tar Heel.
(11/17/09 5:33am)
The sounds of wooden bones, mountain dulcimers, steel hammers, banjos and medieval vocals will echo through Memorial Hall tonight.
(10/29/09 4:38am)
Two massive closets. Three levels of clothing. Racks of shoes. Containers stretching from the floor to the third floor ceiling. All contain the many props that help transform actors into characters as they take the stage.And even with two huge rooms, the closet is full to capacity. Located in the Center for Dramatic Arts, the costume collection is available for campus productions for both student and professional casts.Drama productions at UNC rely on the wedding dresses, wigs and green wool capes in the closet to bring out the life in their shows.Old and new piecesThe costume collection is split into three different collections: the pre-1900 costumes, the vintage and the 20th century clothing collection.The modern costumes account for the largest portion of the collection and include everything from medical scrubs to party dresses.Period-piece costumes, which are modern but made to look pre-1900, and vintage clothing that is actually from the 1800s are in a separate room.The two special vintage collections, the Costar and NowesArk, contain 19th century clothing and non-Western traditional clothing, respectively. They are no longer worn, but are used as models for clothes of the periods.Cultural shifts have moved some costumes into disuse. The collection includes 100-year old tiny shoes made for women whose feet were bound to make them smaller, a practice that no longer exists.More than just suitsThe closet also has some surprising costume accessories, such as bustles and corsets.Some plays also require actors to change their physical appearance.“The bum rolls go around your hips basically and add a bit of extra in the hips/butt region. They are for 17th and 18th century dresses, because you know how they go out a little bit instead of straight down,” said Erin Rodgers, costume technician for PlayMakers Repertory Company.“We have regular body padding for if somebody needs to be fat,” Rodgers said, adding that some will be used in an upcoming play. “A couple guys are getting fat pads so they can change their body shape.”Other clothes create challenges just to store. Hats must be stacked strategically in bins. Costumes are in acid-free containers to keep them from deteriorating.Adding to the collectionCostuming officials could not pinpoint the birth of the collection, but UNC has hosted plays for more than 80 years.Some costumes added to the closet through commisions, while others are donated.“People donate their wedding dresses and hope to see them onstage someday,” Rodgers said.Graduate students work on every step of costume design in their classes — sketching, fitting the actors, making the costumes and helping the actors in and out of the costumes during the performances.Undergraduate students can also participate. Sophomore Michelle Bellamy serves as the costume coordinator for undergraduate productions.“It is really fun, everybody working together, and all the actors and the director are really appreciative,” Bellamy said.Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(10/16/09 4:20am)
Due to an editing error, this story incorrectly attributed a statement from Stafford Wing to Terry Rhodes. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
(10/08/09 3:38am)
Thirty years ago, David Edgar adapted an 800-plus page novel into a two-part, six-and-a-half-hour play for the Royal Shakespeare Company.Tonight he will come to the Paul Green Theatre to talk about this process with the PlayMakers Repertory Company, who are performing the play, based on Charles Dickens’ “Nicholas Nickleby,” this fall.“An Evening with David Edgar,” will provide the inside scoop on PlayMakers’ production of “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” which opens in November.Edgar and Joseph Haj, the producing artistic director of PlayMakers’ production, will both talk about the work.With Edgar’s experience and expertise, the cast said they are excited to hear his insight and receive his feedback.“The greatest gift is having him in the room and being able to talk to him about these characters with whom he knows so closely,” said cast member Jeff Meanza.Working with the actors through the rehearsal process, Edgar created the script over time, rather than completing it before rehearsals began.Tonight’s discussion will also touch on challenges of the production, such as its length, preservation of the story and use of set.“The set has to be very versatile because we have to take the audience to so many locations,” said Hannah Grannemann, managing director of PlayMakers.The production will have 25 actors portraying 150 characters.The cast is learning the dialects, backgrounds and relationships of each character, as Nickleby’s travels takes him to different parts of England.This humorous story was only Dickens’ third novel.The story captures the struggles of its picaresque hero, Nickleby, and coverts his transformation from a naïve boy into a mature man.Focusing on particular portraits of characters, the piece differs from Dickens’ other work, which usually include an overarching theme that unites the story.“I’m sure there is a lot of stuff they can pull out of the book that would make great theater,” said English professor John McGowan.Nickleby encounters many eccentric characters doing wild and crazy things throughout his adventures, McGowan said.This is the Dickens Initiative’s first event. The Initiative seeks to include the community around it in the intricate, artistic process that goes into adapting Dickens’ classic novels.Marc Napolitano, an English department lecturer who will be working with the cast and crew of the play, said he thinks the biggest challenge for the cast will be preserving Dickens’ narrative style in a play format.Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(09/28/09 3:29am)
OpusPlaymakers Repertory Company
(09/17/09 4:41am)
The Chapel Hill Players have students cracking up with laughter every year with their sketch comedy and improv that they provide for the Chapel Hill community. And tonight, CHiPs brings that laughter to the Student Union Auditorium with a performance with the Upright Citizens Brigade, a professional comedy group out of New York.“This is a really exciting opportunity because they are the real deal when it comes to improv,” said Jillian Vogel, a sophomore CHiPs member.Co-artistic director of CHiPs John Reitz has had the privilege of performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and has taken classes from them in New York City.Reitz, a senior, said that he hopes to work with the Upright Citizens Brigade some day and pursue that work as a career path.Robert Stephens, director of CHiPs, joined the group his freshman year when he trained in their incubator program.CHiPs holds auditions every semester. Members first participate in the incubator training program, which is for at least one semester, before they try out for the CHiPs performance group.Stephens started performing his sophomore year and now, in his senior year, is the group’s fall semester director.He is an international studies major, but he said he thinks he will pursue comedy after he graduates, possibly in Los Angeles.“There are a lot of comedy opportunities out there. That is probably what most excites me,” Stephens said.As director, Stevens is trying some new ideas for the group, including two shorter shows in the Cabaret this semester in addition to their two main shows.This group usually performs two to three times a semester in Hamilton 100.Performances consist of a few sketch comedies and some short-form and long-form improv games where they take suggestions from the audience.They are going to try a method called “a bat,” where they perform completely in the dark and all you hear are the vocals.“The goal is to make people laugh and enjoy themselves, but the goal for this is to explore comedy as an art form,” Reitz said.And some CHiPs alums have been able to bring this comedy experience into their real-world jobs.UNC graduate Josh Sharp performed with CHiPs for three years. He is now living in East Harlem, N.Y., working for Citizen Schools teaching middle school students, where he runs an apprenticeship on improv.Citizen Schools provides both classes and apprenticeships for students, giving them hands-on experience.Sharp said that values he learned in CHiPs such as teamwork, acceptance and openness to others’ ideas are applicable to every part of life.The group plans to have shows on Oct. 30 and Dec. 9. They will also have two small performances in the Cabaret on Nov. 12 and 13.Stevens said that his favorite part of working with CHiPs is “being able to, night in and night out, have a great time with people who are very talented.”Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.