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Mezzo soprano Helena Brown will perform “A Concert of Music Inspired and Written by African-Americans” 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke with pianist Cara Modisett. (Brown starred in the folk opera “Miss Lucy,” performed last year in the June M. McBroom Theater in Roanoke.) Donations will benefit the Nsumensa Village Project, founded by Hollins University graduate Heather Nicole Bowden. For more information, call 774-5183 or visit stelizabethsroanoke.org.

Reviewer Jeff DeBell had a lot of great things to say about Little Town Players’ “The Nerd,” especially delighting in performances by Jamie Watson and Brian Lee. Did you see it? What did you think?

Theater review: ‘Nerd’ smartly done by Bedford’s Little Town Players
By Jeff DeBell

Bedford’s Little Town Players wind up their 36th anniversary season this weekend with Larry Shue’s “The Nerd.” The show will make you laugh, it will surprise you and it will make you feel pretty darn good about the potential of human kindness.

All that, and a couple of outstanding performances as well.

The play is set in the apartment of 30-something architect Willum Cubbert in Terre Haute, Ind. It’s his birthday but Willum isn’t feeling celebratory. His girlfriend is leaving town and his principal client is a demanding, unimaginative jackass.

Things seem about to take a turn for the better when Willum gets word that Rick Steadman is in town. Rick saved Willum’s life in Vietnam. Oddly, Willum has never laid eyes on his rescuer. He passed out before Rick dragged him from the line of fire in Vietnam and didn’t awaken until much later in a faraway hospital. But he promised in subsequent correspondence to be there if Rick ever needed help of any kind.

It looks like Willum will at last be able to deliver on his promise. Rick has nowhere to live, having been not-so-subtly encouraged to vacate his brother’s home in Wisconsin.

But from the moment he arrives in Terre Haute, Rick shows himself to be oblivious to social conventions and hopelessly insensitive to the feelings of others. His brother’s action makes perfect sense; Rick Steadman is a clod, a nerd times 10.

Click here to read the rest of the review.

Reviewer Jeff DeBell had some nitpicks but overall found a lot to enjoy in Attic Productions’ latest productions. Did you see it yourself? What did you think?

Theater review: ‘Murder is Announced’ a treat for Agatha Christie fans
By Jeff DeBell

Perhaps you like to guess who done it before the revelatory final scene of an Agatha Christie whodunit. Or perhaps you just enjoy looking on as the mistress of mystery weaves a knotty plot for her own amateur sleuth, the spinsterish Miss Marple, to blithely unravel at play’s end.

Either way, Botetourt County’s D. Geraldine Lawson Performing Arts Center is the place for you to be. Christie’s “A Murder Is Announced” – a true marvel of narrative knottiness – is on stage through Saturday at the playhouse near Fincastle.

The work first appeared as a novel in 1956. It was adapted for the stage by Leslie Darbon in 1977 and has lived happily ever after on television, in the movies and on the boards at countless community theaters. First-time director Celie Holmes is at the helm of this competent, if a bit languid, Attic Productions version.

The play opens on a Friday the 13th at Little Paddocks, the home of Letitia Blacklock, in the quaint English village of Chipping Cleghorn. (The program notes don’t actually say “quaint,” but with a name like that, what else could it be?) Letitia’s drawing room, designed by Dan Naff and solidly built by his crew, is the show’s only setting.

Living with Letitia at Little Paddocks are two of her young cousins, a longtime friend, a widowed boarder and the household cook, all of whom seem surprised to read in the local newspaper that their home will be the scene of a murder at 6:30 that very evening.

Click here to read the rest of the review.

Last week we published instructions about using our new online calendar, a tool that I know artists, musicians, theater companies, museums and other arts and culture-connected personnel need to know how to use. So here is a PDF that reprints was was in the paper Thursday, and here is more on the topic at the Refresh RT blog.

One of the problems the Jacksonville Center for the Arts just outside Floyd has coped with over the years has been that it has no presence inside the town limits.

Two weeks ago, that changed. The arts center opened Jax Galleria in The Station on South Locust Street, a retail space that also houses the Floyd Artist Association, Sustain Floyd, Troika Gallery and other arts and craft-related organizations and businesses. The Galleria offers work for sale by artists who are center members.

“The board felt that we needed a downtown presence,” said Jacksonville Center executive director John McEnhill. “The sales have been pretty good so far.”

The volunteer-staffed gallery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays. In June the Jax Galleria will open Thursdays as well.

The point isn’t for the new gallery to just serve as a store. It’s also possible to purchase memberships and sign up for classes there. “We’ll try to be as full service down there as possible,” McEnhill said.

Click here to read the rest of the column.

BLOGGER’S NOTE: For even more about Dwayne Yancey and his new play, visit his blog at http://dwayneyancey.wordpress.com/

My friend and co-worker Dwayne Yancey’s play “57 Hours in the House of Culture” opens Wednesday at Studio Roanoke.

Those who know Dwayne as a senior editor for The Roanoke Times might be surprised he has a full-length play making its debut in Roanoke. Those who know him as a playwright aren’t; Dwayne’s had numerous plays produced around the world — by his own count, 131.

Dwayne, who’s 53, started writing plays in 2000 during his off hours. Many of the longer ones are humorous one-acts aimed at high schools. They’ve been produced in 41 states as well as Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Mexico, the Philippines and Turkey.

But “57 Hours” is uncharacteristically dark. It’s an account of a violent and tragic 2002 incident in which Chechen terrorists held 850 theatergoers hostage in Moscow. After a failed rescue attempt involving poison gas, hundreds perished. The ghosts of the deceased are the ones who tell the story in the play.

“Because I’m a journalist I’m naturally predisposed to liking history and current events,” Dwayne said. “The fact that it took place in a theater seemed to me to cry out for a play. In many ways this was Russia’s 9/11.”

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Shared with me by museum spokeswoman Peg McGuire. What do you think?

From my Inbox to you:

Locust Street Players, a June Bug partnership, is a fledgling theatre company located in Floyd, Virginia.  It was founded by theatre majors and long-time best friends, Stacy Dowd and Susan Saunders.

Locust Street Players will be bringing their first show, Birth, a play by Karen Brody, to Roanoke, after an opening weekend at the June Bug Center in Floyd.

Dates:  May 25, 26 7pm, May 27, 2 PM

June Bug Center, Floyd

June 1, 2 7 PM, June 3, 2 PM

Metropolitan Community Church, Roanoke

Tickets available ONLINE ONLY (not at the door) at www.BoldAction.org/attend.

Birth is a documentary-style play based on over one hundred interviews the author conducted with pregnant women in the United States.  The cast works together as an ensemble to weave these many experiences into eight womens’ birth stories.  The play is funny, poignant, tear-jerking, and ultimately, thought-provoking.

BEBOLD is a movement to help promote and educate regarding mother-friendly childbirth.  All proceeds from these productions will go to benefit Mothering Circle, a group of women supporting other women through all seasons of life.

The showings will include a lobby ‘Birth Fair’, a bake-sale style concession counter, and and after-performance ‘talk-back’ featuring area professionals in the childbirth arena.

For more information about BOLD, visit BOLDaction.org.  Locust Street Players can be reached at LocustStreetPLayers@gmail.com, or find us on Facebook.

A fun story for your entertainment:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An unemployed Ohio man was browsing at his local thrift store for items he could restore and resell when he spotted a Picasso poster with the word “Exposition” written across the front, some French words, and the image of a warped round face. He handed over $14.14 for what he saw as a nice commercial print.

Some Internet searches later – and a closer look at markings on the lower right area – and he sold what’s believed to be a signed Picasso print for $7,000 to a private buyer who wants to remain anonymous.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Have any of you readers seen “Lake Effects” (starring Jane Seymour, shot and set at Smith Mountain Lake) as it’s aired this past week on the Hallmark Movie Channel? Tell me what you thought if you did.