Arts

J.D. Salinger wrote nine letters and postcards to aspiring Canadian writer Marjorie Sheard.

Books
Arts

Pen Pal Of Young 'Jerry' Salinger May Have Been First To Meet Holden

9:47am October 25, 2013

by Susan Stamberg

From 1941 to 1943, J.D. Salinger exchanged letters with a young, aspiring writer in Toronto named Marjorie Sheard. The letters predate Catcher in the Rye, but Sheard may have been one of the first people to learn about its eventual protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Sheard's letters from Salinger are on display at the Morgan Library in New York.

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Arts

Greensboro College Presents Blithe Spirit

8:14am October 25, 2013

by David Ford

Early 20th century English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, Noel Coward was known for his witty and flamboyant personal style. Time magazine described him as a combination of “cheek and chic, pose and poise”. Coward's Blithe Spirit is a comic play and centers around socialite novelist Charles Condomine who invites a clairvoyant to his home. Her séance backfires badly leaving Charles and his second wife, Ruth, tormented by the ghost of his annoying and temperamental first wife, Elvira. Greensboro College actors Josh Belt who plays Charles, Samantha Hight who plays Ruth and Nicole Swofford who plays Elvira bring Blithe Spirit to the Gail Brower Huggins Performance Center on the Greensboro College campus, Wednesday night, October 30th at 7:30 PM. They were joined by Professor of Acting and Voice Jo Hall.

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'Wheelmen' Exposes Doping Culture And The Armstrong 'Conspiracy'

5:33pm October 24, 2013

Wall Street Journal reporters Reed Albergotti and Vanessa O'Connell say that champion cyclist Lance Armstrong was at the center of "the greatest sports conspiracy ever." Their book chronicles everything from group blood transfusions on the team bus to extensive efforts to silence and intimidate those who might expose the abuse.

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12 Years a Slave, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, is based on an 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup, a free black man in upstate New York who was kidnapped into slavery in 1841.

Arts

'12 Years A Slave' Was A Film That 'No One Was Making'

3:59pm October 24, 2013

Director Steve McQueen tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that he wanted to help fill a "huge hole in the canon of cinema." And actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose parents are from Nigeria, says he grew up feeling "a sense of unity amongst African people and people of African heritage."

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Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, a free black man in upstate New York who was kidnapped into slavery in 1841 and won his freedom 12 years later. The film 12 Years a Slave is an adaptation of Northup's 1853 memoir.

Arts

Historian Says '12 Years' Is A Story The Nation Must Remember

3:59pm October 24, 2013

Yale historian David Blight says Americans like to think of themselves as "the country that freed the slaves," but prefer not to dwell on the sobering history that came first. He says the new film 12 Years a Slave is a rare, effective depiction of slavery in the United States.

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'Blockbusters': Go Big Or Go Home, Says Harvard Professor

11:54am October 24, 2013

by NPR Staff

Anita Elberse's new book, Blockbusters, examines the strategy behind making and marketing megahits. She tells NPR's Renee Montagne that content companies — publishers, movie studios and the like — can create blockbusters by dedicating most of their budgets to a select few likely winners.

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Arts

Winston-Salem's The Breathing Room Will Be Creative and Holistic Incubator

9:03am October 24, 2013

by David Ford

The Breathing Room in Winston-Salem is a place where people come together to create and collaborate in a community in a safe supportive environment. It's education-based and offers opportunities for individuals to experiment in both the holistic and expressive arts under the guidance of skilled, local practitioners. On Friday night, October 25th from 7-8:30 it's an evening of kirtan and meditative instrumental music from around the world. The following afternoon it'll be a free creative writing and spoken word poetry workshop from 1-2:30. Co-founder Suzy McCalley spoke with me recently about the upcoming arts events at The Breathing Room, and you'll find out about taro, reiki, yoga, and more from Co-founder Emily Stewart by listening to the complete interview posted above.

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Books
Arts

Bridget In Middle Age: We're Not So 'Mad About' This Girl

6:43pm October 23, 2013

by Meg Wolitzer

Bridget Jones, as you may have heard, is back: 51, widowed and juggling two small children and a much younger boy toy. Reviewer Meg Wolitzer says that while she doesn't mind the subtraction of hunky Mark Darcy, she misses the messy but honest charm of the younger Bridget.

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New York Rep. Anthony Weiner announces his resignation from Congress in the wake of a sexting scandal on June 16, 2011. His speech that day was incorporated into the play The Weiner Monologues.

Anthony Weiner (The Myth, Not The Man) Takes The Stage

6:43pm October 23, 2013

by Margot Adler

The former congressman's exploits have been turned into an off-off-Broadway play, The Weiner Monologues. The production uses only found text — articles, talk-show jokes, Weiner's own words, and so on — in its script.

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Arts

Dynamic Group Rhythm and Brass Provides UNCSA Residency

9:17am October 23, 2013

by David Ford

“Beyond Category” is a term that the late great Duke Ellington used to describe those artists whom he felt transcended normal boundaries. For the past 2 decades, Rhythm & Brass has lived up that ideal, and this weekend they're coming to the Triad with a program that weaves together works from Bach to Bee Bop and far beyond where you ever thought a brass quintet plus percussion could go. The concert is Saturday night, October 26th at 7:30 PM in Watson Hall on the University of NC School of the Arts campus. The American Record Guide calls Rhythm & Brass “nothing short of stunning”. Tom Brantley is the group's trombonist.

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