Spring Break
I have two words for UMKC's graduate production of "The Cure at Troy": loved it. The set, the costumes, the actors, everything just clicked. The play was performed in the Spencer Theatre of the Performing Arts Center, and ran from April 19 to 27. The play, written by Seamus Heaney, is an adaptation of Sophocles' "Philoctetes.
"The Yardbirds want to play the blues badly-and they do," Blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson quipped in the 1960s. This line is particularly potent when discussing the potentially controversial relationship between races and the types of music we tend to associate with them.
A room full of poets alighted on Pierson Auditorium at the poetry slam this past week. Music by Tieanna Cooper, who also goes by the name of Re-al, gave life to the auditorium; Cooper started the event by reciting two of her poems with music from her latest CD called "Naked Truth.
My second foray into the frontier of new European graphic novels brought me to Geneva, Switzerland. A story about AIDS is often set in a place of poverty and squalor: Sub-Saharan Africa, or an inner-city housing project. In "Blue Pills: a positive love story," by Frederick Peeters, the virus lives among privileged European urbanites.
In the opera world where Puccini, Wagner and Mozart are Gods, it's oftentimes difficult for new composers to break into the scene and have their work performed. April 17-20 in Union Station, UMKC broke the mold by dedicating four of its five spring operas to student-written works.
It seems customary this time of year for critics and newspapers to publish a kind of preview for the summer, Hollywood's favorite time of year. The movie houses are packed with blockbusters and highly-marketable fare destined to earn the industry a ridiculous amount of money.
"I'm finding it hard to believe that things are going to get better." If you're familiar at all with the plot of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," you might assume that this line is spoken by the main character, Peter, who has just been dumped by his girlfriend, Sarah Marshall.
It's not quite summer yet, but when the heat hits Missouri it's going to be hot and humid. So now's the time to gather up some fresh, easy summer beverages to enjoy when summer actually begins. Homemade lemonade is a good place to start. It takes a lot of time to juice the lemons, but the results are definitely worth the effort.
Tuesday, April 29 Bank on It: Paul Wenske, a consumer reporter, discusses tax rebate checks and other issues at 6:30 p.m. at the Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St. "The 3 R's: Relax, Relate, Release" Stress-Free Finals Event: Multicultural student affairs is hosting this event from 5:30 to 7:30 p.
Mark Twain is coming back to Kansas City this June. The Mark Twain creative writing workshop, that is. The workshop is named after Samuel Clemen's pen name as a tribute to the Missouri writer, according to Robert Stewart, editor of New Letters magazine and one of the teachers at the Mark Twain.
