ARTS and THEATERA Christmas Carolin’ We Go
* Only one of the three local plays with “Christmas Carol” in the title can be described as dizzy and possibly hilarious. Not that the Blue Barn show featuring Jacob Marley (see review elsewhere on this page) isn’t full of droll humor and much more, and not that the famous Omaha Community Playhouse version isn’t a more heartwarming and uplifting display of stagecraft. But for sheer nuttiness it’s hard to...
entered on 12/01/10 at 02:57 PM | read more »
Act of Torture
Care for a syllogism? You know, that exercise in deductive reasoning that attempts to reach a valid conclusion based upon a given major and minor premise, such as: * All methods of torture are illegal. * Waterboarding is a method of torture. * Therefore waterboarding is illegal. If you doubt either premise, check the definition of torture according to the Geneva Convention as well as the UN Convention against...
entered on 12/01/10 at 01:27 PM | read more »
Marley Christmas
Three Scrooges and a couple of Jacob Marleys sat around the edge of the stage and the front row as the Blue Barn cast got ready to rehearse a fascinating play that could just as well be called Marley Meets the Bogle. But the title is Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, a darker and delightfully droll story that opens by reminding us, “Marley was dead, to begin with.” For emphasis, author Tom Mula borrows from Oz...
entered on 11/24/10 at 11:24 AM | read more »
Noises Off, Vertical Hour and Looking Ahead to Jersey Boys
* You may have seen the cast of Noises Off perform the play Nothing On, but the University of Nebraska at Omaha version is the first time in my many viewings that it’s worth watching the action at intermission. That’s when the crew turns the two-story set by student Charles V. Fisher completely around. The bedroom farce features nine doors for nine actors. Prop master Darin Kuehler equips it with plates of...
entered on 11/24/10 at 11:22 AM | read more »
Timeline Marches On
Anne Meysenberg folds four sheets of paper at a time, and methodically stuffs them into envelopes. People at the midtown Omaha bar where she works periodically give her a curious look. One man asks her if she’s operating a satellite post office. But Meysenberg, director of the Kent Bellows Studio and Center for the Visual Arts, is, as she puts it, “multitasking.” She stuffs hundreds end-of-year donor appeal...
entered on 11/24/10 at 11:03 AM | read more »
Artsy Holidays
* Happy Thanksgiving! Because it’s officially the holiday season, this week’s column is devoted to all things holiday, beginning with the Durham Museum’s annual tree lighting ceremony. The ceremony runs 4-7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 26. Vocalist and local KIOS radio personality Michael Lyon will perform, and visitors can decorate cookies, create holiday gifts and share their list with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Durham’s...
entered on 11/24/10 at 11:01 AM | read more »
Girl CrazyThe New BLK Ad Agency, Art Gallery, and Creative Think Tank is an “all boys house” according to...
‘From Here to There’Flo Oy Wong recently brought a variety of mixed media work from California to Council Bluffs and...
Magic MarkerIt may not be possible to identify a Metro arts “look” the way one readily identifies a...
Missed Musicals Make Way for Song Cycle
Robbie Burns told me there would be weeks like this when the best-laid plans of mice and men would fall victim to the...
Add Amy Laaker to the long list of capable women directors who do so much to make theater here strong and diverse. She...
Playhouse ‘Desire’ Not Too Big for Drew
I have two problems with Bob Fischbach’s reviews in the World-Herald, and they both popped up again in his takes on the...
UNL juried art competition…Omaha artist showing abroad…
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln's Department of Art and Art History is sponsoring the Nebraska National Collegiate...
Bemis under the Rainbow…Vinton Universally Human festival…Agrarian Art in Florence…
The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts announced the launch of Michael Jones McKean's The Rainbow: Certain Principles of...
Silent Waters at MAM…EVENTgelical art dreams…
Thursday at Bemis brings the art talk with James Murray (painting), Catherine Lane (drawing) and Julie Schenkelberg...
Sculptor Sidney Buchanan shows careers worth of work…
Artist Sidney Buchanan is known for his enormous public sculptural work around the city—at University of Nebraska-Omaha,...
Lincoln artist to exhibit in Denver…Project [101]’s B[ugs]!...
Lincoln jewelry artist Casey Sheppard was selected to exhibit at the upcoming Cherry Creek Arts Festival, a Denver event...
He’s known as Mr. Mummy, but Bob Brier’s love of Egypt happened rather late in life and unexpectedly.
Brier is a Senior...
The Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards sees two artists grabbing majority of honors
The visual arts awards nominees comprised seven different categories on Sunday night. Awards were given out for Best...
CUT! Costume and the CinemaWhat do the following actors and actresses have in common? Keira Knightley, Kate Winslet, Johnny Depp, Amy Adams, Colin...
