Trouble In Mind Raleigh Little Theatre March 30, 2024
“Don’t think!” the director yelled, stomping over the actress’ rebuttals.
That was part of a pivotal scene in Trouble in Mind. It’s a play within a play, set in the 1950s during rehearsals for a Broadway show about lynching.
The charter of the actress, Wiletta, is an African American woman who’s been cast as the leading lady for the first time in her career by Al Manners, a white director whom she’s worked with before. Wiletta is fighting to have either the script or the plot of play changed to reflect a more thoughtful and logical ending. But every time Wiletta tries to get past a “but or an “I only thought,” Al cuts off her every word, eventually forcing her quiet. The repeated shutdowns and dismissals reveal the overarching theme of the show, racism in the arts.
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Synclaire Cruel
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Mar 4, 2024 8:51 pm
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Sheryl Underwood Raleigh Improv Raleigh, N.C. March 2, 2024
Laughter, cheers, and applause boomed from the Raleigh Improv Saturday night as Sheryl Underwood and quick-witted comedians stole the stage. Fans filled the comedy club located in the Parkside Town Commons shopping center in Cary, North Carolina, eager to see the storytellers, commentators, and critics, doused in humor.
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Brian Slattery
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Feb 19, 2024 12:55 pm
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Brian Slattery Photos
The pork platter at the Pig.
The Pig Chapel Hill, N.C. 2/17/24
Before me sat a plate of pork, hush puppies, coleslaw, and pickles. Behind that, because I’d insisted on trying more sides, a bowl of fried okra and another bowl of collard greens. Behind that, a huge glass of sweet tea.
I was at the Pig in Chapel Hill, N.C. to try, for the first time, Eastern North Carolina barbecue — a regional variant on the cooking style known the country over that almost every Eastern North Carolina expat I’d met in the past 25 years had told me was the best.
Was it just hometown pride and nostalgia talking? Or was it really the best, or enough to stand toe to toe was Kansas City, Memphis, and Texas to stake its part of the spotlight on the barbecue stage?
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Brian Slattery
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Feb 18, 2024 2:58 pm
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Bergamot Quartet, Tercel, Spare, and Blood Red River The Cave Chapel Hill, N.C. 2/16/24
People filed into the Cave on W. Franklin Ave. in Chapel Hill and quickly filled the narrow space, gathering around to listen. “Sleep Walk” played on the sound system. Strangers made friends with strangers as they got change from the bartender in the hopes of playing pool. Near the stage, a man in glasses with a white beard smiled. “I’ve never seen a string quartet at the Cave before. I’ve seen just about every other kind.”
Excitement filled the air at the North Carolina Museum of Natural History in downtown Raleigh as people bounced from presentations to booths, and to information tables and displays on all three floors. Some were hurrying to a presentation while others stopped and admired handwoven baskets, and the custom-made jewelry, quilts, and kitchenware.
The occasion was the annual African American Cultural Celebration, which brings together the lives of African Americans from the past to the present.
At the beginning of the Stranger Times exhibit, panels are situated in a circle, citing the Emmy-winning Netflix show Stranger Things as part of the origin story. Stranger Times uses the show’s alternate dimension “the upside down” to symbolize what life was like for teens living in Durham at the height of Covid-19. A spotlight is put on every area of their life that changed.
Beyond Curie: A Celebration of Women in Science is a dynamic display of breakthroughs and advances made by a diverse group of women over the last 100+ years.
As visitors step off the elevator on the fourth floor of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh, they’re greeted by walls doused in history making discoveries.
A red light beamed throughout the Great Raleigh Trolley, holiday decorations were strung about the carriage — and the tale of a missing head emerged. The narrator, Daisy, stood front and center as a Christmas Spirits Ghost Tour traveled to some of the most haunted places in Raleigh.
Sweet aromas waft through the air from a maze of treats. Christmas decorations fill the room as the lights produced a blue hue, and the low hum of a buzzing crowd is heard while holiday music plays in the background.
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Synclaire Cruel
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Nov 28, 2023 11:53 am
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Synclaire Cruel Photos
Scenes from the annual celebration; Seth Turner, at right, came up from Florida for the gathering.
Annual American Indian Heritage Celebration North Carolina Museum of History Raleigh Nov 18, 2023
The dancers stood in the center of the stage, facing a full crowd of onlookers. The drummers sat on the right and began playing a steady beat as a person chanted into a microphone that echoed throughout the plaza. Then, with a shuffle, the dancers began moving rhythmically along to the music. Depending on the dance, the performers could be seen using a fan or wearing a shawl. In other instances, you could hear the jingles attached to their regalia tinkering along, matching their movements. It amplified the sound of the performance, enabling visitors to get lost in the story, message, or prayer they were conveying.
These dances, chants, drumbeats and colorful regalia filling the grounds at the North Carolina Museum of History for the annual American Indian Heritage Celebration exploded with themes of unity, connection, resiliency, and strength. One particular message was made clear: “We are not a people of the past, we’re still here.”
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Synclaire Cruel
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Nov 21, 2023 1:31 pm
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6lack in concert.
6lack, QUIN, Jordan Ward “Since I Have A Lover” World Tour The Ritz Raleigh, N.C. Nov. 18, 2023
The beat dropped, the live band began to play, and the crowd was cheering within seconds. 6lack started performing “Rent Free,” and fans sang and rapped right alongside him: “I been through a lot this year/ Had to pay the price this year.”
As the venue darkened, mesmerizing images of purple shapes and waves and matching lights moved and bounced to the slow rhythm of the song on the screen behind him. From a distance, it left 6lack as only a shadow on stage. But it brought the point of the song into focus — he was telling a story about a lost love.
A wall-sized message lets you know that despite the conventionally arrayed art on the walls, an exhibit currently up at Duke’s Nasher Museum of Art is charting new territory: A human did not choose and describe the works on display. Artificial Intelligence (Al) did.
Tethered hot air balloon rides are a surreal experience that one isn’t likely to soon forget. So I learned at my first visit to a big annual event in North Carolina, the Carolina Balloon Fest.
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Synclaire Cruel
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Oct 23, 2023 11:23 am
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Chia Chong/Savannah College of Art and Design
Afrofuturism in Costume Design Ruth E. Carter National tour Through March 31, 2024
Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design, a colorful and informative touring exhibit of outfits designed to transport viewers back into the midst of some of the most popular movies over the past 30 years, mesmerized attendees at its recently-concluded four-month stop at Raleigh’s North Carolina Museum of Art before its current stop in Detroit. Carter’s ability to transform materials and fabrics into visually striking pieces generates a deeper appreciation for the art of costume design.
