Arts

Back to the Future with Arts & Ideas, and the Big Read

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:52:00 -0500

Where can you find dances about spirituality by Connecticut women on roller skates, a talk by Maus's Art Spiegelman on the subculture of comics, and the American premiere of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney's translation of Sophocles' Antigone?

"For Colored Girls"... A Chance to Shine

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:16:00 -0500

Seven New Haven teens were praised for their poise and chutzpah as they brought new life to a 1970s play about the struggles of black women.

Morrison's Parable Comes to the Stage

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:04:00 -0500

The stage, once veiled with layer upon layer of gossamer fabric, has been stripped down to its skeletal basics. The floorboards, once dusty and dry, are covered with rainwater; they show more clearly than ever the image of groomed, white, middle-class girlishness painted on them in candied colors. A young black girl kicks up water as she dances frantically -- a dance that was lovely 90 minutes ago, when the houselights had just dimmed, when we didn't yet know its source.

Genre-Bender Run Wilde

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:54:00 -0500

In the languorous aftermath of a heavy meal -- lamps aglow against the darkening night, French windows open to evening breezes -- women lounge and discuss the divide between the sexes. One boasts that women "have always been picturesque protests against the mere existence of common sense." And after she has continued in this vein for a few minutes, her elderly hostess exclaims, with an awe-struck tone of approval, "How clever you are, my dear! You never mean a single word you say."

"Kingdom" Comes to Rotterdam

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:56:00 -0500

New Haven gave a celebratory send-off Monday to a community theater troupe bringing a homegrown hip-hop musical to Europe.

Katrina Ballads Pierce the Heart

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:30:00 -0500

Composer and singer Ted Hearne (pictured) led a performance of his “Katrina Ballads” that electrified his New Haven audience and powerfully reminded them that the tragedy in the Gulf Coast is far from over.

"Guided Men" at the Lot

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:02:03 -0500

Hill Regional Career High School seniors Malik Graves and Lorraine Gabriel, who know a lot of people their age who have enlisted in the armed forces for the bonus money, are exactly the audience artist Baptiste Ibar was hoping for to view his "Guided Men," Artspace's latest installation in The Lot, the unassuming public park tucked away just in from the corner at Chapel and Orange. Click here for the full story.

Aliens Invade Local Stage

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:30:00 -0500

Where did those radio waves come from?

Gallery Explores America's First Performance Artists

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:13:00 -0500

This stylish couple, Gerald and Sara Murphy, introduced corn-on-the cob, sliding doors, Ritz crackers, and everything else new, fresh, and American to the war-weary French Riviera in the 1920s. They were the prototypes for the heroes of the novel Tender is the Night, written by their heavy-drinking house guest Scott Fitzgerald. They created a life so full of taste, costume, and panache, that a day at the beach at Antibes (above) or a meal might be likened to performance art.

A Million Little Pieces of Eight

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:52:00 -0500

A peculiar sight awaited the attendees of Wednesday's world premiere of Shipwrecked! at the Long Wharf Theater--and I don't mean on the stage, although spectacular oddities certainly abounded there, too. No, I mean in the audience: there were children -- several of them -- attending the theater. On American Idol Wednesday, no less!

Full Spectrum Art

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:19:00 -0500

"I really identify with the hardship of the artist," said this young artist, Brendan Cunningham. He was showing his sketchbook at the opening night of Full Spectrum, the latest exhibition at the Small Space Gallery at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven.

Dinner With Friends Like These ...

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:55:00 -0500

In September 2001, President Bush vowed to rid the world of "evildoers," and with this rhetorical flourish, he singlehandedly resurrected that Biblical archaism for contemporary use. So, you could be excused for thinking that the Yale Repertory Theatre's latest offering, The Evildoers by David Adjmi, is a political drama -- perhaps a satire, but have we reached that point? - -about international terrorism.

A Soft Focus on the Body

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:03:00 -0500

In preparation for her latest solo performance piece Let Me Down Easy, which opened last night at the Long Wharf Theatre, Anna Deavere Smith traveled the world, conducting dozens of interviews. The topic: "the dramatically different corporeal experiences" of humankind.

A Christmas Story

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 13:50:19 -0500

As another hectic holiday season draws to a close, it's time to sit back, take a deep breath, and laugh at how, once again, we let another "feel good celebration" drive us a little bit crazy. Whether it was the fruitless search for the Wii, the mindless drone of yet another especially chipper Christmas song, or a grease fire that ruined the turkey, now more than ever most of us are in need of a real holiday. But before the trees get dumped on the curb, the lights are thrown into a box for next year's tangled mess melt down, and the brand new cashmere sweaters pill, take a look around the small neighborhood streets at the flashing lights and blow-up Santas in the distance. For this truly is the season to celebrate what Americans do best; flagrant displays of one-up-man-ship, the seamless amalgamation of the sacred with the secular, and vast amounts of energy wasting lawn ornaments, all in the name of "Christmas cheer."

New Haven Without Windows

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:31:27 -0500

In Constance LaPalombara's Citythere isn't a person or a vehicle in sight. Not even in a work called "Gridlock" or in this view, Ninth Square.