Will Halman

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Actor prepares to play 35 characters at once

By Will Halman | September 13

It can be hard for an actor to prepare for playing a character like Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, the real-life transvestite antiques collector who lived through Germany's Nazi and Communist governments. But Mahlsdorf is just one of 35 characters John Feltch will play in PlayMakers Repertory Company's upcoming one-man show, "I Am My Own Wife." The show, Feltch said, is "about that character but it's also about a bunch of other people involved in that person's life and the playwright himself and how he reflects on this person."

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Alumna helps scribe Sci Fi network show

By Will Halman | August 30

There's a new show on the Sci Fi network, and a University alumna helps write it. Johanna Stokes, an English and communications double major who graduated in 1997, writes for "Eureka." The a show follows a U.S. Marshal named Jack Carter who discovers a small secret town in the Pacific Northwest that was created as a safe haven for the smartest minds in America. And while Eureka is home to great scientific advancement and invention, the town also turns into a epicenter of great destruction.

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Changes underway for Ackland Art Museum

By Will Halman | August 22

The Ackland Art Museum is on the verge of big changes. With an upcoming season of exhibits and events, a plan for the expansion of the museum to more than twice its size and, soon, a new director, the Ackland will be transformed into a very different place. But how far off that transformation is, no one can say. "There's not a timetable on that," said Amanda Hughes, Ackland's director of special projects, referring to the expansion, which will create additional galleries, new studio space, a sculpture courtyard and a museum store.

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Deep Dish pumps fresh season lineup

By Will Halman | August 19

July 20 - In the coming season at the Deep Dish Theater, challenge is not just a theme in the shows the company will be producing. "Every year, we have more people involved, and responsibility gets spread a little more broadly, but there are an awful lot of cracks for things to fall through. And there aren't very many of us to pick them up." said Paul Frellick, Deep Dish's artistic director, founder and, commonly, director of a show. But of course, each show is about challenge, too.

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Theater's lineup boasts variety

By Will Halman | July 20

In the coming season at the Deep Dish Theater, challenge is not just a theme in the shows the company will be producing. "Every year, we have more people involved, and responsibility gets spread a little more broadly, but there are an awful lot of cracks for things to fall through. And there aren't very many of us to pick them up." said Paul Frellick, Deep Dish's artistic director, founder and, commonly, director of a show. But of course, each show is about challenge, too.

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To the strict listener, The Scourge of the Sea delivers

By Will Halman | July 13

MUSICREVIEW The Scourge of the Sea Make Me Armored 3.5 stars So here's another white guy with a guitar. He strums and sings quietly with his band. It should go well with doing homework or reading, but that's not the case. If relegated to the background, the record gets lost and suddenly you're at the end, with no memory of what you heard. A quiet, guitar-based album that doesn't work as background music? How is this possible? Frankly, it's a bit hard to understand. It should work, but it just doesn't in practice.

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Elevator action offers a few ups with equal downs

By Will Halman | June 22

MUSICREVIEW Elevator Action Society, Secret 2.5 stars Elevator Action came to rock. And they do, at first. Starting tracks "Surely You Know" and "Nuvo" start rocking, stay hot and leave you wanting more. "Nuvo" in particular hits with its chords-as-riff guitar playing, insistent beat and unexpected dynamics. You'll wish you could scream like vocalist Eric Gilstrap can. But then the Charlotte band forgets why they came. After the first three songs, the band tries out several rock subgenres, primarily sounding like pale versions of other bands.

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From end to beginning, new LP's a Pleasure

By Will Halman | June 15

MUSICREVIEW Boy Eats Drum Machine Pleasure 2.5 Stars This album goes backward. Usually, an LP begins with the best material and less impressive work goes at the end, saved for when the primary impact of the record is done with. Well, Pleasure saves the good stuff for the end. It's a daring choice, but unfortunately it's one that creates a focus on the lackluster material that begins the record. Early on, singer and primary instrumentalist Ben Rickard's melodies are sometimes awkward and even travel out of key, such as on "I'm An Angel Telling Lies."

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Much overdone in 'Da Vinci'

By Will Halman | May 25

MOVIEREVIEW "The Da Vinci Code" 2 Stars Dan Brown's ubiquitous book has car chases, murders and escape sequences - all the trappings of a star-studded action movie. And, of course, it became one. Too bad it doesn't work on the screen. Standard action movie events are everywhere - this movie, unlike its plot, is strictly by-the-numbers.

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Hotel Lights show potential but fall short of succeeding

By Will Halman | May 18

MUSICREVIEW Hotel Lights Goodnightgoodmorning 2 Stars The new EP from Chapel Hill's Hotel Lights, Goodnightgoodmorning, gets by OK but is bogged down by writing and arrangement issues. The band has a consistent sound: - quiet vocals over strummed guitar, front-mixed reverberating keyboard or piano accompaniment, drums and bass. Wilco's quieter work comes to mind. All of the songs here are passable. Nothing grates or fails outright.