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‘Songs of Truth’ Brings Sojourner Truth to the Hippodrome

Editor's Note: For more on the life and legacy of Sojourner Truth, read Christian Detres' companion essay HERE. This has been an inspirational season for Richmond’s homegrown theatre. We are following up the sold-out run of Witchduck with the mid-project musical...

Northern Lights, Northern Lives: Queer Life Beyond the Lower 48

Northern Lights, Northern Lives: A Spectrum of Gender Across Alaska and the Yukon is a collection of 50 striking photographs of LGBTQ+ people and their allies that is set in the breathtaking landscapes of Alaska and Yukon. The images are accompanied by personal essays...

REVIEW | Ducking Awesome! WitchDuck Is Smart, Sharp, and Ruthless

I am rarely speechless, especially about theatre. Since I don’t get paid if I remain silent, I will make myself criticize a play I don’t feel I have any right to judge. Gotta pay the rent, and all that. I came into this performance of WitchDuck by Cadence and...

After Strong Turnout, Richmond Arts Park Enters Holding Pattern

Under the Manchester Bridge, what had been an idea for years turned into something tangible, at least for a day. Hundreds of people moved through the space as muralists painted, DJs played, and passersby stopped mid-bike ride or walk to figure out what was going on....

The Veiled Mirror Comes With Ghost Stories Included

If you are in the market for a glass eye in the same shade as your lover’s, some elaborate hair jewelry, or even an electric couch to use as a Victorian cure-all, then you need to head over to The Veiled Mirror. This Victorian antique store opened downtown in January,...

Richmond Had a General Strike and a First Friday on the Same Night

It was 72 and breezy. Unseasonably pleasant, almost chilly. VCU students were splayed out on picnic blankets in Monroe Park enjoying soft serve and the sunshine. Citronella and the smell of hot dogs wafted through the air from some folks having a cookout. “High...

My Life As a Spider: The Two Years I Tried to Delete

Editor’s Note: Max Winter is a University of Richmond alumnus reflecting on his time at UR in the late ’90s and the campus culture he experienced. You can read more of his work on his Substack HERE. Recently, while eating carnitas in East LA, I check my phone and get...

Review | King James and the Things Men Don’t Know How to Say

Before we go any further, no, you’re not crazy. There is no King James Shakespeare play. Rajiv Joseph’s very recent 2022 play is decidedly not Elizabethan and contains far more garbage can basketball than Hamlet. The only thing I love more than Richmond Shakespeare’s phenomenal run of Shakespearean productions is when they go on a tonal limb and...

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Review | A Christmas Carol at Virginia Rep: Tradition Done Right

There’s something about the dead center of winter that brings out the best in humanity. It might be the desire to stay huddled around the fire, TV, or kitchen table, when your people begin to look more like fellow travelers in life rather than the people constantly not cleaning up after themselves. It could be seasonal depression settling in that...

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Review | ‘Lungs’ Is a Mirror You Can’t Look Away From

Lungs is a stream of consciousness rom-com set in the pre-Trump fainting spell that privileged liberal America endured very loudly. The narrative employs the manic pixie dream girl and frustrated musician as the stereotypes to help us struggle with big decisions whilst policing climate change and renewables, carbon footprints, and the rise of the...

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Review | Witch — Entropy Is the Point

The sun, our sun, will expand to engulf the planet Earth in 5 billion years. Don’t bother setting an alarm or getting some extra SPF sunscreen, it won’t matter. Everything we have ever built, or will build, will vaporize and collapse to cinders. Everything. If it all ends in darkness, what is the point of anything? What is the full value of...

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