Raleigh: Artery, Indy Week

Update: Longtime regional director Haskell Fitz-Simons dies at 64

Byron Woods — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:36:00 -0400

UPDATE May 14 5:00pm: The funeral for Haskell Fitz-Simons' will be Tuesday, May 21 at 4 p.m. at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 1520 Canterbury Road, Raleigh. A reception will follow in the church's fellowship hall.…

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A loopy musical send-up with a heart: this Drowsy Chaperone's no sleeper

Byron Woods — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:58:00 -0400

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

North Carolina Theatre
Through May 12

Musical theater fans can be quite rigid in their tastes, and even more so once they’ve reached a certain age. Take this tart little number, whom I encountered the other night in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium.…
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From Iron Man to Funky Winkerbean, a guide to upcoming comic book events in the Triangle

Zack Smith — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:35:00 -0400

This Friday Iron Man 3, which was partially filmed in Cary and throughout North Carolina, will blast into theaters after already taking in $200 million internationally. While it's the biggest comic-book-related event in the Triangle, it's not the only one, as a series of local and national creators are headed through the area during the next few months.…
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"The world's best artist" Mitch O'Connell brings modern kitsch to Raleigh

Zack Smith — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:47:00 -0400

Mitch O'Connell's colorful, crazed pop-art illustrations have appeared everywhere from the cover of Newsweek (four times) to a recent full-page story in The Wall Street Journal, but you'll have to forgive him for hoping for a good-sized turnout at his appearance at Nice Price Books in Raleigh on April 27.

"I’ll be in North Carolina meeting my fiancé’s father," says O'Connell, on the phone from his home in Chicago.…
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A problematic Elektra, on the trail of a generational dilemma

Byron Woods — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:17:00 -0400

ELEKTRA
2 stars (out of 5)
Chip Rodgers
Meredith Studio Theater
Through Apr. 14

I love it when a theater review heralds the arrival of a new artist or a new work of art.

Sorry, but this isn’t one of those.…
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Embrace your inner goddess: 50 Shades of musical kink

Emma D. Miller — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:46:00 -0400

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve likely heard of E.L. James’ best-selling erotic romance series Fifty Shades of Grey. The trilogy had less than illustrious origins: The first book began as a piece of self-published online Twilight fan fiction.…
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CAM Raleigh changes leadership on eve of second anniversary

Chris Vitiello — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:28:00 -0500

RALEIGH—As CAM Raleigh approaches the two-year mark, the museum is making changes. It’s also taking the opportunity, in advance of the noise of birthday celebrations next month, to revisit its aspirations.…
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Brandon Sanderson finishes Robert Jordan's bestselling Wheel of Time Series with A Memory of Light

Zack Smith — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:24:00 -0500

Imagine if J.K. Rowling had died before finishing Harry Potter, or if (as some fans fear) George R.R. Martin passes away before completing A Song of Ice and Fire, the bestselling series that’s also the basis for HBO’s Emmy-winning Game of Thrones. Now imagine you’re the one who has to come in, bring the epic to a satisfactory conclusion, resolve dozens of dangling plot threads, all while dealing with a passionate and demanding fan base who’ll never let you forget it if you fail.…
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What the ocean saw: David Gatten's films at NCSU

Chris Vitiello — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:31:00 -0500

DAVID GATTEN FILM SCREENING AND DISCUSSION
N.C. State University
Caldwell Hall G107, 2221 Hillsborough St.
Fri., Feb. 15, 5-7:30 p.m.

This is the true story of how the ocean made a movie.

To be more precise, filmmaker David Gatten collaborated on a movie with the Atlantic Ocean, where the Edisto River empties its freshwater into the ocean’s salt along the South Carolina coast.…
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Black Hawk Down author Mark Bowden talks The Finish: The Killing of Osama bin Laden

Zack Smith — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:16:00 -0400

Journalist Mark Bowden’s books have covered everything from D-Day to cyber war to NFL football to the intense military action of Black Hawk Down, the basis for the Oscar-winning film of the same name. Now, he’s chronicled a recent and harrowing event in international history with The Finish: The Killing of Osama bin Laden (Atlantic Monthly Press), a chronicle of the 10-year battle to find the notorious terrorist.…
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Stephan Pastis talks Pearls Before Swine and the future of newspaper comic strips

Zack Smith — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 12:20:00 -0400

As the mind behind the hit newspaper comic Pearls Before Swine, Stephan Pastis appreciates the time he's able to get away from the drawing board and interact with his fans. "When you’re a cartoonist, you basically see nobody," says Pastis, who appears at Quail Ridge Books and Music Monday night, in a call from his home in Santa Rosa, Calif.

"You’re in a room by yourself, and you know that people see the strip, but the reality to the people reading it is very different from your reality — it’s like being a stand-up comedian who can’t see the audience.…
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Cirque du Soleil's athletic prowess compensates for show's flaws

David Fellerath — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:51:00 -0400

Cirque du Soleil's Dralion - Images by Independent Weekly

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: DRALION
* * * stars
PNC Arena
Through Aug. 19

Cirque du Soleil is a global juggernaut, but it's still a surprisingly youthful institution. In contrast to, say, those 19th-century animal drivers Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey, Cirque is a babe.…
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Heroic puppetry, but how late? Hot Summer Nights / Theatre Raleigh's AVENUE Q

Byron Woods — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:23:37 -0400

AVENUE Q
4 stars (out of 5)
Hot Summer Nights / Theatre Raleigh
Fletcher Opera House, Progress Energy Center
through Aug. 19
www.hotsummernightsatthekennedy.org

It’s hard enough being one character on stage in a musical.

In Hot Summer Nights / Theater Raleigh’s lively production of AVENUE Q, Heather Maggs, Adam Poole and Erik and Annie Floor play ten.…
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It's wrestling, but is it art? Food trucks and smackdowns tonight in Raleigh

Craig D. Lindsey — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:24:00 -0400

There’s art to be found in men beating the crap out of each other. There is also wholesome, family entertainment located there too.…
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Raleigh Ensemble Players files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection

David Fellerath — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:12:00 -0400

Raleigh Ensemble Players (REP), the 30-year old theater company in downtown Raleigh, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.

This afternoon, the company sent an email to members of the area theater community confirming that the company had ceased operations, effective immediately: "Following the unanimous adoption of a resolution by REP's Board of Directors, the company has filed for bankruptcy."…
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Large turnout at CAM Raleigh as Redress Raleigh promotes eco-fashion

Craig D. Lindsey — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:10:10 -0400

By 8 p.m. or so, the Contemporary Art Museum in downtown Raleigh was fully stocked with spectators last Friday evening. They were all in attendance not for art, but for fashion.…
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New company has almost all the "Proof" we need: Exit Through Eden at Raleigh Ensemble Players

Byron Woods — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:27:00 -0400

PROOF
3.5 stars (out of five)
Exit Through Eden
Raleigh Ensemble Players
Through Apr. 22

Catherine, the bright, bewildered daughter of a deceased mathematical genius, isn’t the only one with something to prove in this current production of David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. A new director at the helm of a new theater group is having to present a few bona fides as well.…
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El Anatsui's optimistic objects

Chris Vitiello — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:27:00 -0400

Artists are a resourceful lot. In their hands, common materials become artifacts charged with new significance.…
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When The Spinning Stopped: LES MISERABLES' 25th Anniversary at Progress Energy Center

Byron Woods — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0500

LES MISÉRABLES
4 stars out of 5
Broadway Series South/North Carolina Theatre
Through Feb. 19

There’s a certain contradiction when a production celebrates the 25th anniversary of a world-wide musical theater phenomenon by completely discarding the original’s landmark production concept—and then cutting, according to reports, somewhere between 20 and 40 minutes from the show. That, however, is the outcome with the 25th Anniversary Tour of LES MISERABLES which stops at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium this week.…
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Fortune rising: One-time Peace College student returns to Raleigh for Goodnights gig

Craig D. Lindsey — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:11:00 -0500

You hate to be the asshole who points out that it’s a good thing Fortune Feimster has that first name, since a lot of that has been coming her way as of late. But it’s true.…
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Addictive personalities in an uncompleted house: Love Drunk at REP

Byron Woods — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:43:24 -0500

LOVE DRUNK
2.5 stars out of 5
J&J Productions
@ Raleigh Ensemble Players
Through Dec. 17
brownpapertickets.com/event/210573
417-2477

Director Joshua Benjamin and actors John Honeycutt and Jess Jones find themselves in the best of theatrical company this week. Would that that were better news than it is.

For after I witnessed two of the region’s most renowned actors humbled by the demands of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at PlayMakers Rep the night before, this upstart company’s production of Romulus Linney’s last play, Love Drunk, similarly seemed a theatrical puzzle only partially solved by last Sunday night in Raleigh Ensemble Players' Fayetteville Street theater space.…
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Khan artistry: Why you should visit the NC Museum of Natural Sciences' exhibit on the Mongolian warlord

Craig D. Lindsey — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:52:00 -0500

So, tonight is First Friday and, as always, downtown Raleigh will have a bevy (that’s right, I said bevy!) of happenings that wandering folk can dip into.…
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Drive to Raleigh to see one photograph? Do it.

Chris Vitiello — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:07:00 -0500

“It is not (it seems to me) by painting that photography touches art, but by theater,” Roland Barthes wrote in Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. The French theorist’s book investigates the relatively young medium through the question of why certain individual images fascinate him.…
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Remembering SPARKcon 2011: Raleigh shows off local artists

Tom Elrod — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:37:21 -0400

Despite some rain and colder weather, the four-day event called SPARKcon, the sixth-annual celebration of Raleigh's creativity, was well-attended and included a number of great showcases for local and independent artists.

SPARKCon is organized around various “Sparks,” collaborative groupings of artists around a theme.…
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Author Kevin Wilson on The Family Fang; reading tonight in Raleigh

Zack Smith — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:59:00 -0400

His first novel, The Family Fang (Ecco, $23.99) only been out for a few weeks, but Kevin Wilson is already making waves as an author. The book's received rave reviews, including a full page in Time magazine and a profile of the author in the New York Times, and has appeared on that paper's bestseller list.…
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