(Foreground to back) Kate Eastwood Norris, J. Fred Shiffmanand Lourelene Snedeker in Michael Hollinger’s play,Ghost-Writer, which premiered at Florida Stage in March. Florida Stage subscribers to get special offers in mid-JulyFollowing the unexpected news earlier this month that Florida Stage was filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and could not refund … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: Pinsky brings message of poetry’s endurance to Delray festival
Robert Pinsky.By Chauncey MabeAs America’s only three-time poet laureate, Robert Pinsky would appear perfectly suited to deliver a “State of the Nation”-style disquisition.Who better to survey the role of poetry in contemporary life -- the challenges (and opportunities) presented by the digital revolution, the rise of spoken-word and hip-hop, the advent of the … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2010-11: The season in books
Former President George W. Bush. (Illustration by Pat Crowley)By Chauncey MabeThe economy may still look scary, but for South Florida’s four major literary festivals, there will be no double-dip recession. Learning from last year’s challenges, each plans robust programs for the serious and casual book lover over the coming season.Take Miami Book Fair … [Read more...]
Arts feature: Poetry festival starts somberly, ends in joy
Poet Marie Howe.By Chauncey MabeIn the dark times, will there also be singing?Yes, there will be singing. About the dark times.-- Bertolt BrechtA somber tone dominated the sixth edition of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, with the distinguished faculty focusing on “poems of witness” and elegies for the dead. Yet by Saturday, the busy last day of the festival, the atmosphere had … [Read more...]
Arts feature: Palm Beach Poetry Festival bigger than ever
Miles Coon, left, and Delray Beach Mayor Woodie McDuffie,with a proclamation making Jan. 18-23Delray Beach Poetry Week.(Photo by Michiko Kurisu) By Chauncey MabeMiles Coon did not build the Palm Beach Poetry Festival into one of Florida’s top literary events in five short years by being cautious.After last year’s economically troubled festival, when one workshop had to be … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: PB County gets new dance company; FAU gets cache of rare recorded Judaica
Jerry Opdenaker (Photo from his MySpace page).Ex-Ballet Florida workshop chief founds dance companyPalm Beach County has a new dance company, and it will make its debut in early February at the Duncan Theatre, on the Lake Worth campus of what will soon be Palm Beach State College.O Dance was founded by and is named after Jerry Opdenaker, most recently director of the … [Read more...]
Arts feature: National Poetry Slam leaves streets sparkling with spoken words
Sierra DeMulder of the St. Paul-Soapboxing poetry slam team.(Photo by Katie Deits)By Chauncey Mabe For five days last week downtown West Palm Beach was the coolest place on earth.Or it at least it seemed that way during the 20th National Poetry Slam that brought 68 teams of mostly young poets to Clematis Street for a rolling competition that was part counterculture festival, … [Read more...]
ArtsBriefs: ‘Hammerklavier,’ young recitalists, and poets
Pianist Valentina Lisitsa.Going big at the piano: Valentina Lisitsa, a Russian-born pianist long resident in South Florida, tackles two monumental solo piano works tomorrow night at the Boca Steinway Gallery under the aegis of Abram Kreeger's Piano Lovers series. Foremost among them is the Beethoven Hammerklavier Sonata (No. 29 in B-flat, Op. 106) , the composer's longest, most … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: National Poetry Slam coming to West Palm in August
SlamCharlotte, last year's winner of the National Poetry Slam.(Photo by Katya Szabados)WEST PALM BEACH -- The National Poetry Slam, which since 1990 has seen writers hurling hexameters at each other in closely followed contests, will be held this year in West Palm Beach beginning in the first week of August.The slam is set for Aug. 4-8, and will pit roughly 80 teams of three to … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: Palm Beach Poetry Festival opens fifth fest this month
By Greg Stepanich DELRAY BEACH -- Four hours after the oath of office is administered to Barack Obama, a group of professional writers and everyday folks will gather around a microphone at the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach to read eight-line poems inspired by the event they have just witnessed, the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States. Poems written to … [Read more...]