Upcoming show...

"Hour Earth", which was postponed from March due to flooding in the theatre, is actually going to happen at Kittredge Theatre at Warren Wilson College, Saturday & Sunday, May 10 & 11 at 8. It's an evening of performance art, five pieces in all. I co-created the last piece on the program "out there out here" with the other artists, Julie Gillum and John Crutchfield, who are also presenting their own solo work under my supervision. Reservation info & directions.

Water not missing in a desert

Reading this, I couldn't help thinking that what seems like "cultural apartheid" and alarming "damage" to arts education in the UK, would not even register as unusual in the US, since school exposure to professional artists here is sporadic at best, and practically non-existent overall. Whatever happened to field trips?

Non-profits here who aren't already doing so have a responsibility to step up and provide independent access like this.

Asheville blog goes international!

The UK newspaper The Guardian picked up on our recent blog debate about anonymous blog reviews at the Asheville Performing Arts Reviews blog.

Their "Theatre and Performing Arts" blog discusses the issue and cites us a quarter of a world away!

Perhaps coincidentally, I been selecting posts from their blog on my google reader "shared items" page.

Growing Theatre Through Talk in a Special Place

This week, a discussion broke out on the Asheville Reviews blog regarding the appropriateness of posting anonymous reviews online (particularly negative ones). It was a great discussion that led everyone, I believe, to learn more about each other's good faith commitment to theatre in Asheville.

One participant is taking it further, by starting a continuing forum here.

Permanent links to these and other places are on this page of my website.

rare & extraordinary: eiko and koma

I went to see "Mourning" tonight, an hour-long piece by two remarkable performers in the Butoh tradition: Eiko & Koma. They were accompanied by pianist Margaret Tan playing music by John Cage.

It is so very rare to see anything in the theater at this level and depth--of presence and meaningful experience.

See if they are ever to be near you, and see them if you can.

www.eikoandkoma.org

A good word for a bad thing

Ever find yourself looking for a new word to describe "a play with an overly contrived and melodramatic plot?"

Well, George Bernard Shaw made one up. Here it is.

O for a blog like this...

Recently I discovered The Guardian newspaper's theatre and performing arts blog.

What's cool about it is that there is a great deal that is really about the theatre, not just what is playing or reviews, but ideas about the theatre and how it is practiced: a whole area of the online paper devoted to the topic.

I have a few items I like from this site in my "shared items" in the right-hand column, but you can also link to the main page here.