World-acclaimed tenor Lawrence Brownlee makes for a great story. He’s a local area man who has taken the musical and operatic world by storm. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Brownlee sang pop tunes in such places as the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio before he went on to take his place on international stages […]
Article · February 11, 2015 by Roger Durbin
Artists take care of one another, or so it would certainly seem when it comes to Jon Haidet and Karen Starr, the owners of Hazel Tree Interiors. In an informal interview at the store, Haidet said that there are “tons of artists who don’t have any place to show” either a significant amount of their […]
Article · February 6, 2015 by Roger Durbin
From race to rubber. That’s the kind of locally-involved theater in which Akron’s Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture – through one of its participating theatrical groups, the New World Performance Laboratory – gets involved. CATAC has announced that it will receive a $15,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation […]
Article · February 4, 2015 by Roger Durbin
Their name is bound to get your attention. The catchy phrasing of Rachel and the Beatnik Playboys is the name of four area professional musicians who are coming to the intimate cabaret stage of the Akron Civic Theatre, a Knight Arts grantee, on February 14. The date of the performance screams date night, and the […]
Article · January 30, 2015 by Roger Durbin
Rubber City Shakespeare Company has to be the biggest art secret in the area. Well, apparently not to the couple of hundred people who have seen each of their productions; but to lots of people, they may still be the theatrical unknowns around town. Hopefully all that will change. During an interview with founder and […]
Article · January 28, 2015 by Roger Durbin
You don’t have to be a genius to catch onto what’s happening in “Einstein,” the play currently being shown at Actors’ Summit, a Knight Arts grantee. The one-act drama, written by playwright Willard Simms, ostensibly captures Albert Einstein at his home office in Princeton, N.J. in 1946. The audience is treated as invited guests – […]
Article · January 23, 2015 by Roger Durbin
Weathervane Playhouse, a Knight Arts grantee, commissioned Cleveland area writer Michael Oatman to create a play. That he did. His “Crazy Man,” which is set in south Akron, deals head on with some uncomfortable situations about race relations. Oatman’s play begins with two young African-American students coming on stage talking about having just seen a […]
Article · January 21, 2015 by Roger Durbin
Apollo’s Fire, a Knight Arts grantee, is well known for both its classical, and its funky, programming, giving the adjective “hip” to what most people might think of as stodgy, old, classical music. This becomes apparent in this current season and an upcoming program. It would be enough for most orchestras that this is Johann […]
Article · January 16, 2015 by Roger Durbin
Pianist Jonathan Biss is no stranger to the greater Akron area. He appeared several years ago (a feat for someone so young) for the Cleveland Orchestra, and has appeared a few times for Tuesday Musical Association, as recently as 2010. Biss is returning as the guest of Tuesday Musical, a Knight Arts grantee, on Tuesday, […]
Article · January 14, 2015 by Roger Durbin
How many dance companies do you know that take their name from a fungus – and at that, a particular volatile breed that can propel itself and stick on the surface of whatever it aims at? Perhaps that kind of funny connection occurred to the Dartmouth College dancers who began the group Pilobolus back in […]
Article · January 9, 2015 by Roger Durbin
Electric Pressure Cooker, billboard. Not long ago I caught an interview of National Public Radio. The guest was well-known comedian, writer, producer, actor and TV personality Louis CK. He talked at length about the benefit of open mic venues where he could try new materials – to see how it all sounded in his voice, […]
Article · January 8, 2015 by Roger Durbin