PERFORMING ARTS




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The Branch Museum of Design Opens New Chapter With “Undeniable”

The Branch Museum of Design is marking a period of transition with Undeniable, a new exhibition pairing fashion designer Christian Siriano and contemporary artist Ashley Longshore. The exhibition this week arrives as the museum undergoes a formal rebrand and...

The Best of RVA Magazine 2025

As we close out the year, here’s a look at some of the most impactful stories we published in 2025. Over the past year, we covered Richmond as a living system under pressure, focusing on the people, culture, and policies that shape daily life and determine who gets...

How a New Richmonder is Fostering Community Through Tiramisu

Editor’s note: Since this story was originally written, Alex Na hosted another free tiramisu drop over the weekend, continuing to build a following around his community dessert project. This feature was submitted by Jordan Smith, a journalism student at the Richard T....

Writer’s Block | On Our Backs in the Caribbean

Writer’s Block is RVA Magazine’s Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. We feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now. This week, we’re featuring a new story from...

Photo | What Suitcase Joe Found at Skid Row University

I hadn’t seen him in years. Then I caught his pop-up photo show in an alleyway gallery in Oregon Hill a few months back. The images were real life. Honest. Some of them tough to even look at. Street people, prostitutes, gang bangers, punks mid-fight, scenes in bars,...

The Bully.

Or The First Time I Learned How Fear Works Ed. note: This memory came back to me in the middle of the night, and it felt connected to the way fear shapes people and systems right now. It’s just a moment from childhood that suddenly made a lot more sense as an adult....

To Live In, or Reinvent the World. That is the Question.

Richmond Shakespeare’s Born With Teeth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9stwktUCxo Richmond Shakespeare took on Liz Duffy Adams’ Born With Teeth and won. Holy shit it’s good. In this two-man show, Avery Michael Johnson and James Murphy (Christopher “Kit” Marlowe and William Shakespeare, respectively) pushed, pulled, tugged, and sawed at the play...

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Richmond Shakespeare’s Born With Teeth A Review by Christian Detres, RVA Mag 2024

First Fridays November Will Be Lit Up with INLIGHT 2023

As autumn leaves crunch beneath footfalls on Broad Street, Richmond's Arts District readies itself for a vibrant night of cultural convergence. On November 3rd, the storied heart of downtown Richmond pulsates with an irresistible artistic energy during First Fridays. From 5 to 11 PM, galleries will fling open their doors, shopkeepers will offer...

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First Fridays Richmond, InLight 2023 on RVA Magazine

Alvion Davenport and The 25+ Year Journey of Godfrey’s

This article originally appeared in Virginia Pride Guide 2023. This is an updated version with proper dates in retrospect. You can read the whole original issue here Downtown in Monroe Ward, in an unassuming building nestled in a strip, lies a club labeled simply, “Godfrey’s.” Occupying two spaces, 308 and 310 E Grace St, Godfrey’s...

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Alvion Davenport of Godrey's, Pride Guide 2023

Goodnight Sweet Prince: Hamlet is Dead

You don’t review people’s art to make friends. You certainly don’t do it to lose them either. However, managing honesty while attempting charity is fruitless. Every once in a while you have to tell it like it is, even when it stings. This is going to sting. The premiere of Richmond Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Dominion Energy Center made a solid...

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Richmond Shakespeare Hamlet review by Christian Detres

Artist Morgan Bassichis Talks About Their Little Ditties

As of September 1, the Institute of Contemporary Art has been hosting More Little Ditties, a video installation by Morgan Bassichis. It remains until January 4, 2024. Christian Detres sat down with the artist to discuss their collection and how it relates to everything from the collective trauma of COVID-19, to the ongoing conflict in Israel...

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Morgan Bassichis x ICA 2023