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Thursday, November 19, 2015
Arts Theater review: The Woolgatherer
Posted By Perry Tannenbaum on Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 3:04 PM
Anyone who has seen William Mastrosimone’s Extremities, either onstage or at the movies, is likely to approach the playwright’s previous 1979 drama, The Woolgatherer, with a certain amount of wariness. For me, the violence that erupted in Extremities when I saw it at UNC Charlotte in 1991 was shocking – and I’m not easily shocked. The new Citizens of the Universe production of that earlier script often seems to be headed down a similar harrowing path as Rose, a painfully shy and paranoid hemophiliac who works at a dime store candy counter, entertains a grubby long-haul trucker named Cliff in her boarded-up South Philly apartment.
Obviously, there are echoes of Rocky (1976) in this coupling, with Rose’s counter work and Cliff’s corny jocularity fitting the Adrian & Balboa mold. But Rose’s fragility also seems partly inspired by Laura in The Glass Menagerie. As for the seething aggression that we see churning inside Cliff as Rose neurotically fends off his advances, it seems to be rooted in a deep underclass place, the wild soil of our industrial jungle. Cliff’s restless, predatory instinctiveness in David Pollack’s performance reminded me of the fearsome yet inwardly broken Pale in Lanford Wilson’s Burn This (1987).
Yet the drama does prove to share some crucial DNA with Extremities, for Mastrosimone also toys with the idea that the shrinking Rose is as much a predator as the well-traveled and rugged Cliff. So as the story unfolds, and the balance of power teeters, it’s advisable to forget that Pollack himself is directing this tense two-hander. Aspects of Megan Sky’s manner as Rose may strike you as overly directed or insufficiently spontaneous at first. Her arm folding, her cowed bent-over head, and her sideways movements pulling away from Cliff are the most obvious ways an actress can signal that she’s shy.
Then as the truth emerges in Act 2, you may perceive hints from Sky that rudimentary acting may be Rose’s primary weapon. Buying that will likely raise your estimate of Sky’s performance after the previously fleeced Cliff returns, knocking on Rose’s door in the middle of the night.
No set builder was required to provide this sturdy door, for COTU’s newest production is at the unleased site where Carolina Actors Studio Theatre once stood – the same 2424 N. Davidson St. address previously occupied by Charlotte Rep and NC Dance Theatre. Both of the CAST theater venues have now been liquidated, but COTU is actually using the space where Rep and NCDT had their lobbies, elevated above the floor where performances and rehearsals were previously staged, directly accessible from a doorway facing 28th Street. Folks are manning the old CAST entrance on the side of the parking lot, but we found parking less iffy last Friday out on 28th Street.
It’s a much cozier performing space than any that’s been used by the three previous tenants, raw and ramshackle in the true COTU spirit. This corner of 2424 works especially well with Mastrosimone’s raw, déclassé script. The chemistry between Pollack and Sky frequently shuttles between attraction and repulsion, veering more toward extremes when antagonisms are roused. Whether either of these commitment-averse losers could be redeemed kept me guessing until the emotional denouement.
Obviously, there are echoes of Rocky (1976) in this coupling, with Rose’s counter work and Cliff’s corny jocularity fitting the Adrian & Balboa mold. But Rose’s fragility also seems partly inspired by Laura in The Glass Menagerie. As for the seething aggression that we see churning inside Cliff as Rose neurotically fends off his advances, it seems to be rooted in a deep underclass place, the wild soil of our industrial jungle. Cliff’s restless, predatory instinctiveness in David Pollack’s performance reminded me of the fearsome yet inwardly broken Pale in Lanford Wilson’s Burn This (1987).
Yet the drama does prove to share some crucial DNA with Extremities, for Mastrosimone also toys with the idea that the shrinking Rose is as much a predator as the well-traveled and rugged Cliff. So as the story unfolds, and the balance of power teeters, it’s advisable to forget that Pollack himself is directing this tense two-hander. Aspects of Megan Sky’s manner as Rose may strike you as overly directed or insufficiently spontaneous at first. Her arm folding, her cowed bent-over head, and her sideways movements pulling away from Cliff are the most obvious ways an actress can signal that she’s shy.
Then as the truth emerges in Act 2, you may perceive hints from Sky that rudimentary acting may be Rose’s primary weapon. Buying that will likely raise your estimate of Sky’s performance after the previously fleeced Cliff returns, knocking on Rose’s door in the middle of the night.
No set builder was required to provide this sturdy door, for COTU’s newest production is at the unleased site where Carolina Actors Studio Theatre once stood – the same 2424 N. Davidson St. address previously occupied by Charlotte Rep and NC Dance Theatre. Both of the CAST theater venues have now been liquidated, but COTU is actually using the space where Rep and NCDT had their lobbies, elevated above the floor where performances and rehearsals were previously staged, directly accessible from a doorway facing 28th Street. Folks are manning the old CAST entrance on the side of the parking lot, but we found parking less iffy last Friday out on 28th Street.
It’s a much cozier performing space than any that’s been used by the three previous tenants, raw and ramshackle in the true COTU spirit. This corner of 2424 works especially well with Mastrosimone’s raw, déclassé script. The chemistry between Pollack and Sky frequently shuttles between attraction and repulsion, veering more toward extremes when antagonisms are roused. Whether either of these commitment-averse losers could be redeemed kept me guessing until the emotional denouement.
Arts It's what's inside that counts at Discovery Place's Body Worlds
Posted By Ryan Pitkin on Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 2:47 PM
On Thursday, Discovery Place officials invited media members to preview its newest installation, Body Worlds; perhaps the only experience you’ll ever have in which dead people body shame you.
Body Worlds & The Cycle of Life uses German anatomist Gunther von Hagens’ world-renowned plastination process, in which a hardening plastic is injected into usually pliable bodily fluids to form a permanently preservable organ or, in some cases, complete body from a deceased human.
Each of the bodies featured in Body Worlds was donated for plastination by its former owner. There are currently 16,000 people on the international waiting list to be immortalized in one of van Hagen's exclusive exhibits, including 25 in North Carolina and six in Charlotte. I, for one, am not one of them. Though I find the idea highly respectable in the name of education, I'd rather not live out eternity looking out on people from an exhibit telling them how their liver shouldn't look.
Body Worlds first premiered at Discovery Place in 2008, and this is its first time back. This time around, von Hagens’ wife, Dr. Angelina Whalley, developed the exhibit. It focuses more on health and what a human faces through his or her life as opposed to the emphasis on anatomy seen at the exhibit seven years ago.
“Where it was more anatomical before, I tried to be more relevant here,” Whalley, a licensed physician, said. “I focused on how a body evolves through a lifetime.”
This includes a new “Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” feature, in which plastinated embryos and fetuses show each stage of prenatal development; a place where arguments over abortion will be sure to break out weekly. Coming full circle, the exhibit also features “Centennial Village,” a hallway describing research of and comparisons between communities throughout the globe in which large clusters of people living well over their life expectancies can be found.
Whalley’s focus on health and taking care of one’s own body is apparent and hard to hide from. As I smugly passed a blackened lung and comforted myself with the old, cliché notion that I’m just a social smoker at certain times on the weekends, the next case over featured a display about the risk of “passive smoking” that sent me reeling back into a realm of self-hatred.
It’s not all about diseased organs, however, as the most beautiful displays show healthy bodies in action; muscles, organs, nerves and blood vessels in clear sight. It’s enough to make a guy want to hit the gym hard and then quit in a month – you know, like everyone's going to do after New Year's anyway.
The 11,000-square-foot exhibition, featuring more than 100 human specimens, is something you need to see for yourself to get the full gist of, but I thought I’d push you along with some photos of the exhibit's funnest features.
Film / Film News Opening Friday
Posted By Matt Brunson on Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 1:44 PM
- Lionsgate
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 - Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore
The Night Before - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen
Secret In Their Eyes - Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman
Spotlight - Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton
News Lunch Break (11/18/15): Overnight rains lead to road closures south of Charlotte
Posted By Ryan Pitkin on Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 12:38 PM
Heavy rains overnight have led to flooding in the greater Charlotte area. Most of the rain is reportedly done coming down for the day, with the exception of moderate showers in localized spots, and the sun is expected to return by this afternoon. The rain led to some flooding, especially in Union County. For a long list of the roads closed today in that area, see this story from WSOC. (Keith Monday & Christine Rapp, WSOC) Fallen trees associated with the storm also took out power in different areas of Charlotte this morning. Check here for Duke Energy's power outage map.
Lupie's Cafe on Monroe Road is currently closed after the building looks to have suffered extensive damage from a hit-and-run car accident overnight. The driver smashed into the building's front porch and entrance at about 2:30 a.m. this morning. Police said 26-year-old Zakariya Azizy was cited for the hit-and-run. (April Bethea, Charlotte Observer)
Lupie’s Cafe on Monroe damaged after overnight hit-and-run https://t.co/9Uzt7MSjGS h/t to @ObserverArchive for pics pic.twitter.com/07yXSRM01o
— April D. Bethea (@AprilBethea) November 19, 2015Officials confirmed this morning that the man suspected of planning the Paris attacks last Friday night was killed during a raid on an apartment in Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb. Paris police said the body of 27-year-old Abdelhamid Abaaoud was found in the apartment following the raid, along with a second body, a female who was possibly Abaaoud's cousin who reportedly detonated a suicide vest during the raid. Abaaoud is believed to be connected with at least six of four terrorist plots foiled in France this year. Several people were arrested in the raid. (USA Today)
A video obtained and released by the Daily Mail shows one of the attacks in Paris last Friday, in which three men attack a cafe full of people. The video shows two men calmly firing on the cafe while a third maneuvers a car behind them. The men then enter the vehicle and drive off. In the first video, one attacker is seen approaching a woman just out of a view and attempting to kill her execution style, but his gun jams. She then stands up, entering the view of the camera, and runs off.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Thursday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 7:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Nov. 19, 2015 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Miller and the Other Sinners at Double Door Inn
• Gantt After Dark: Latin Night at Harvey B. Gannt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
• Leigh Nash (of Sixpence None The Richer), Gabe Dixon at Evening Muse
• White Trash Buffet & Karaoke at The Dirty Hippie
• Momix Botanica at Knight Theater
• Miller and the Other Sinners at Double Door Inn
• Gantt After Dark: Latin Night at Harvey B. Gannt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
• Leigh Nash (of Sixpence None The Richer), Gabe Dixon at Evening Muse
• White Trash Buffet & Karaoke at The Dirty Hippie
• Momix Botanica at Knight Theater
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Wednesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Wed, Nov 18, 2015 at 7:49 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Nov. 18, 2015 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• UniverSoul Circus at Metrolina Tradeshow Expo
• Screening of Radical Grace at Great Aunt Stella Center
• Taste of the Mint at Mint Museum Uptown
• Broadway on Tap at RiRa
• Discover Another Culture: Japan at Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library (University location)
• UniverSoul Circus at Metrolina Tradeshow Expo
• Screening of Radical Grace at Great Aunt Stella Center
• Taste of the Mint at Mint Museum Uptown
• Broadway on Tap at RiRa
• Discover Another Culture: Japan at Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library (University location)
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
News Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks to large crowd at Davidson College as part of book tour
Posted By Ryan Pitkin on Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 3:23 PM
In seven weeks touring with his new book, Between the World and Me, critically acclaimed journalist and best-selling author Ta-Nehisi Coates said he has yet to see a crowd as big as the one that attended his lecture at Davidson College last night.
Organizers distributed 4,000 tickets to see the 2015 MacArthur Fellow speak on issues including what inspired him to write the new book, the death of his friend Prince Jones at the hands of police in 2000 and broader issues like the criminalization of black bodies.
“It’s easy, as a writer, to tell stories that confirm what is already known,” said Davidson College President Carol Quillen while introducing Coates to the crowd. “It’s much harder to see through familiar narratives to stories untold; stories that are hidden, occluded, rendered unspeakable by what is taken for granted. TNC is such a rare writer.”
Organizers distributed 4,000 tickets to see the 2015 MacArthur Fellow speak on issues including what inspired him to write the new book, the death of his friend Prince Jones at the hands of police in 2000 and broader issues like the criminalization of black bodies.
“It’s easy, as a writer, to tell stories that confirm what is already known,” said Davidson College President Carol Quillen while introducing Coates to the crowd. “It’s much harder to see through familiar narratives to stories untold; stories that are hidden, occluded, rendered unspeakable by what is taken for granted. TNC is such a rare writer.”
News Lunch Break (11/17/15): McCrory wants to shut doors on Syrian refugees
Posted By Ryan Pitkin on Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 11:30 AM
Yesterday afternoon, Governor Pat McCrory joined other Republican governors in asking that the federal government does not resettle refugees from Syria in their respective states. McCrory questioned the screening process done by the State Department, but officials with the Catholic Diocese, which works directly with the State Department to resettle refugee families, including one that settled in Charlotte last week, said they are pleased with the vetting process and don't see any need for change.
[STORY]: Gov. Pat McCrory asks federal government to not send Syrian refugees to NC https://t.co/n6s5VL6Fec pic.twitter.com/T1OVCwNuhv
— WSOCTV (@wsoctv) November 16, 2015Officers in Cayce, South Carolina shot and killed a man who allegedly fired on them while they tried to arrest him for a drug-related offense early this morning. Both officers were reportedly injured during the struggle, which took place at about 1:30 a.m., with one being shot. Both officers were hospitalized and are expected to recover fully.
Cayce officers were making a drug related arrest when the suspect shot at 2 officers, striking one. Suspect deceased pic.twitter.com/zQwmEXAjhv
— Savannah Levins (@LevinsReports) November 17, 2015Troubled TV star Charlie Sheen appeared on NBC's "Today" this morning and announced that he is HIV positive. Sheen was a well-known client of infamous "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss. He stated that he has paid up to $10 million to people who have blackmailed him by threatening to make his infection public.
A woman was killed in a car accident on I-85 in Belmont last night. The wreck reportedly happened just before 10:30 p.m. in the southbound lanes of I-85 between the Catawba River Bridge and Exit 27. Police believe the woman was in a car that was slowed or stopped on the roadway near an exit ramp before being struck by a car trying to use that ramp. The names of those involved have not been released and it is unclear whether charges will be filed.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Tuesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 7:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Nov. 17, 2015 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Kamelot and Dragonforce at The Fillmore
• Bingo at Hattie's Tap & Tavern
• Poetry Reading at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library Plaza Midwood
• Piano Recital: Music of Brazil at Davidson College
• Fight Night Comedy Competition Championship at The Comedy Zone
• Kamelot and Dragonforce at The Fillmore
• Bingo at Hattie's Tap & Tavern
• Poetry Reading at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library Plaza Midwood
• Piano Recital: Music of Brazil at Davidson College
• Fight Night Comedy Competition Championship at The Comedy Zone
Monday, November 16, 2015
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Monday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 3:09 PM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Nov. 16, 2015 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Ta-Nehisi Coates at Davidson College
• Find Your Muse Open Mic at Evening Muse
• Trivia at Sir Edmond Halley's
• The Monday Night All Stars at Double Door Inn
• Knocturnal at Snug Harbor
• Ta-Nehisi Coates at Davidson College
• Find Your Muse Open Mic at Evening Muse
• Trivia at Sir Edmond Halley's
• The Monday Night All Stars at Double Door Inn
• Knocturnal at Snug Harbor
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Blogger Will Folks on alleged Haley affair: 'Nikki climbed on top of me, rubbing her crotch back and forth' 12
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Longtime dancer to leave NC Dance Theatre 3
Mia Cunningham, a dancer who has spent 18 seasons performing with the North Carolina Dance Theatre, is set to retire.
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Question the Queen City: Hugh McManaway, the man behind the statue
It pays homage to a traffic director, friendly neighbor and one of Charlotte's most beloved local characters
