C-VILLE Writers



The free speech wall advertises the first annual Day of Dance Festival. The downtown mall will come alive with a full day of dance and music and games for families on Saturday, May 25.

First Annual Day of Dance makes moves on Saturday

The streets will sound with tapping and twirling, leaping and jigging this Saturday, May 25, as the first annual Charlottesville Day of Dance takes over the Downtown Mall. This family-friendly event features an international array of dance forms and fitness practices, from Ireland to India, ballet to Nia. Megan Hilary, the festival’s founder, says the [...]

The Steel Wheels’ Americana tour de force makes a stop at The Southern on Saturday. Ruby Sky Photography.

ARTS Picks: The Steel Wheels at The Southern

Entertaining audiences across the country with a heavy brew of original music, The Steel Wheels roll strong with influences from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and old-time musical weaving of four-part harmonies, upright bass, fiddle, and mandolin. Saturday’s show opens with a set by Ana Egge and serves as a sneak preview of the upcoming [...]

Photo Fellini's #9

ARTS Picks: George Melvin Tribute at Fellini’s #9

It’s been four years since we lost George Melvin, but the mark he made on the local jazz scene remains indelible. An accomplished touring musician, bandleader, and all around entertainer, Melvin delighted audiences for over 40 years. Matty Metcalfe kicks off the George Melvin Tribute, followed by performances from Sammy Horn, Skip Haga and the Bees [...]

Stephanie Holladay Earl as the Duchess and Andrew Goldwasser as Antonio in American Shakespeare Center’s production of The Duchess of Malfi. Photo by Michael Bailey.

ARTS Picks: The Duchess of Malfi at Blackfriars Playhouse

Vicious but mesmerizing, The Duchess of Malfi tells the story of one of the stage’s greatest women and two of its greatest villains. The widowed Duchess disobeys her two brothers by secretly marrying her household steward. When they reveal her sham, a slew of dreadful events are planned that ultimately result in a tale of [...]

Singer-songwriter Erin Lunsford will compete for the $1000 prize at Paramount Idol. Publicity photo.

Hopeful musicians strut their stuff at Paramount Idol

After the judges’ individual attention and constructive feedback, the finalists set their sights on the audience’s votes this Friday and everyone is excited about a different aspect of the performance. Tufts is eager to have the “exposure in the musical community and to be making connections,” while White said, “I love to sing in a really cool space and I’m mostly excited to perform in the Paramount.”

Play On! stages the delightful family musical Dr. Doolittle, the story of a doctor who views the human world through the eyes and language of animals.

ARTS Picks: Dr. Doolittle at Play On! Theatre

Human creatures large and small will enjoy Dr. Dolittle’s singing search for the Great Pink Sea Snail in Play On! Theatre’s final production at the IX building. This musical, based on the 1967 film starring Rex Harrison, is directed by Shelley Cole and features community youth and adult actors going wild as Dr. Dolittle’s famous animals—the Pushmepullyou, Chee-Chee the chimp, and Polynesia the parrot. $5-19, 7:30pm (2pm on Sundays).

Up-and-comer Luke Winslow-King relies on NOLA musical connections and respect for tradition in his mastery of the blues. Photo by Jason Kruppa.

ARTS Picks: Luke Winslow-King at The Garage

Drawing on lessons learned while busking on Frenchmen Street, training in classical music at the University of New Orleans, and working as a music therapist in New York City, Luke Winslow-King has a boiled-down, Delta blues, gospel, and jazz-themed new album, The Coming Tide, that has made fans of rock and blues heavyweights like Jack White and Robert Earl Keen.

Photo: John Robinson.

The 2013 UVA Issue: Four dialogues changing Mr. Jefferson’s University

“What do you think?” Four undergrads—all science majors and members of a UVA genetic engineering competition team—had gathered around a second-floor conference room table in the Physical and Life Sciences building for much of the afternoon to debate project concepts. They were getting ready to pick one project—heavy stuff like creating miniature cells from modified [...]

Bill Rough puts the fun in dysfunctional as a family is forced to gather under extraordinary circumstances in Live Arts’ August: Osage County. Publicity Photo.

ARTS Picks: August: Osage County

Live Arts takes an ambitious foray into the comically dysfunctional dark side of a pill-popping, secret-keeping Midwestern family in its spring production of August: Osage County, under the direction of Fran Smith. This Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Tracy Letts gives an all-access peek (the set is a literal cross section of a three-story Oklahoma homestead) into the lives of the estranged Weston clan as they are forced to reunite after their father goes missing.

Hanu Truck serves hungry customers at the Tom Tom Founders Festival. Photo: Darren Sweeney.

Hanu Truck bets on SoCal recipe for C’ville success

“I’m trying to bring two things that people don’t see a lot of in Charlottesville or the East Coast,” said Patrick Kim, who has been making waves in the city’s food scene ever since he arrived in Charlottesville in February to open his Korean taco truck, Hanu. Kim, who grew up in Southern California and [...]

Four County Players bring an extra dose of wit and feist to The Taming of the Shrew, the Bard’s classic tale of love and resistance, on the Main Stage in Barboursville.
Pernmoot Photography.

ARTS Picks: The Taming of the Shrew at Four County Players

Enjoy the verbal sparring and spirited courtship of Katharina and Petruchio as Four County Players closes its 40th anniversary season with Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Comedy ensues when a determined suitor (Martyn Kyle) pursues a strong-willed and resistant maiden (a fiery Mendy St. Ours) and the couple engages in a battle of wills, [...]

Charlottesville's only non-audition community theater company puts on crowdplease, Annie, starring children, adults, and a labradoodle played by Huckleberry Knox.

Theater for the people: The Black Box Players presents Annie

“‘Leapin’ lizards!’ You do not want to miss this show,” said MaryAnne Thorton, the director of The Black Box Players’ production of Annie, which will open tomorrow evening. Thorton has directed all of The Black Box Players’ shows since she founded the theater in 1986, and has also written scripts for several of its recent [...]

Local fan favorite William Walter & Company fills the nTelos Wireless Pavilion with high-energy rock and twang, thanks to a little help from friends DJ Williams and Tara Mills & Yankee Dixie. Publicity photo.

ARTS Picks: William Walter & Company

After 239 live gigs last year, it’s clear that William Walter & Company’s feel-good, high-energy rock resonates with fans across the map. Walter has picked up Best Emerging Artist accolades at Floyd Fest, international songwriting nominations, and national radio airplay on the road, and is returning to his loyal local fan-base at Fridays After Five, [...]

Students nibble carrots at the Buford City Schoolyard Garden, one of two Charlottesville community gardens recognized by the Piedmont Environmental Council following a yearlong contest. Photo courtesy of PEC.

Green happenings: Charlottesville environmental news and events

Each week, C-VILLE’s Green Scene page takes a look at local environmental news. The section’s bulletin board has information on local green events and keeps you up to date on statewide happenings. Got an event or a tip you’d like to see here and in the paper? Write us at news@c-ville.com.  Natural relations: Jeff Kerwin, [...]

Broadway comes to the John Paul Jones Arena for a one night performance of West Side Story, the classic New York musical spin on Romeo and Juliet. Publicity photo.

ARTS Picks: West Side Story

Never was there a tale of more woe than that of Maria and her Tony. Broadway’s West Side Story travels south to the John Paul Jones Arena for one night only. Revel in the Bernstein and Sondheim score, the knife fights, and the love story as the Jets and the Sharks spar on the streets [...]