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Encore Stage & Studio Proudly Presents the World Premiere of "Cul de Sac"
Arlington, VA – Encore Stage & Studio is delighted to present Cul de Sac, the world premiere play adaption based on the nationally syndicated Cul de Sac comic strip by Richard Thompson. Thompson and his comic strip won the 2010 Reuben Award, the highest honor given by the National Cartoonists Society. The play follows four-year-old Alice Otterloop and her older brother, Petey, as they learn about friendship and the importance of being yourself. When Alice decides to help Petey become more exciting she risks sending Petey further into his shell. With the help of their parents, teachers, and new and old friends the Otterloop children just might be able to learn something from each other. This production runs June 3 through 12 at Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre (125 S. Old Glebe Rd. Arlington, VA 22204).
"He never wanted to be anything other than a cartoonist," says playwright Amy Thompson in describing her husband Richard Thompson. Richard, a long-time Arlington resident, had created thousands of illustrations and cartoons for dozens of magazines and newspapers before Cul de Sac debuted in The Washington Post Magazine in 2007. Thompson drew on incidents from his own childhood ("there's a lot of him in Petey, the withdrawn artist" says Amy), and the lives of his family, including two daughters, Emma and Charlotte. Everything from Charlotte's unbounded exuberance, to Emma's discovery that a manhole cover made a great stage, to the reluctant introduction of a guinea pig in their home was fodder for Thompson's re-imagined suburban Washington.
Thompson's Cul de Sac drew the attention of comic fans worldwide including some very famous fans. Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson was so impressed that he wrote the introduction to the first Cul de Sac collection.
"[The comic strip] is one of those rare visions that shows how surprising the ordinary world really is. Richard Thompson's wonderfully peculiar Otterloop family is closely observed with deep sympathy and rings absolutely true," stated Watterson, "I'm a huge fan."
Children's book author Mo Willems (Knuffle Bunny, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Elephant & Piggie series) wrote the introduction to the second collection. "If Cul de Sac isn't French for 'wonderfully loopily sincerely life-affirmingly stupendously hilarious' then there is something wrong with the French language," stated Willems.
Pixar director Pete Docter invited Thompson to collaborate on character development for his most recent film, Inside Out. "Cul de Sac is the funniest strip to appear in decades," writes Oscar-winner Docter, whose other films include Monsters, Inc. and Up. "It's full of great characters, well-observed truths that most of us have forgotten about, and is so beautifully and funnily drawn that it is an absolute joy to look at even if you can't read. (Of course, if you can't read, then you'd better stop right now.)"
In 2009 Thompson was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and began treatment. Thompson's friend Chris Sparks solicited other artists to contribute to a book collection, Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's, to raise money for Parkinson's research through the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Encore Stage & Studio will hold a special fundraiser in the theatre lobby in to contribute to this effort.
On September 23, 2012, Cul de Sac ended its run of original strips, and Thompson retired. He kept up his Cul de Sac blog for some years afterward, but otherwise, published no new work. An offer was made to buy the rights to Cul de Sac and continue the strip with a new writer and artist, but Thompson declined. It seemed the world had seen the last of Alice, Petey, Madeline, and Peter Otterloop, as well as their friends Dill, Beni, Andre, Loris, Miss Bliss, and all the others.
Encore Stage & Studio, with efforts to build its performances highlighting local and original work, approached Amy Thompson about writing a play. Amy Thompson has worked for Encore as a drama teacher and director for some years, and has written several shorter works for summer camps and classes. Amy's Encore show credits include direction for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 2013 and Much Ado about Nothing in 2015. She was eager to write a full-length play, and suggested that Cul de Sac would make a perfect choice for children's theatre. Over the years, Richard had turned down all requests by other writers to adapt the strip for the stage, while asking Amy why she didn't do it herself. Encore accepted, debuting Cul de Sac's for its early summer show of the 2015/2016 season.
We are excited to announce Chuck Leonard as director for this production. Production staff also includes Matthew Heap (Composer), Thomas Boudreaux (Technical Director), Amy Thompson, Kristen Jepperson and Marji Jepperson (Set Designer/Builder and Props), Debra Leonard (Costume Designer/Builder and Make-up Designer), Gary Hauptman (Lighting Designer), Caitlin Orzechowski (Assistant Lighting Designer), and Drew Moberley (Sound Engineer).
Performance Dates and Showtimes:
Fridays, June 3 and 10, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturdays, June 4 and 11, 2016 at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Sundays, June 5 and 12, 2016 at 3 p.m.
Every effort has been made to preserve the look, feel, and heart of the original strip. Fans of the strip will recognize the Otterloop house, Mr. Otterloop's tiny red car, Dill's kiddie car, and Alice's manhole cover. Young audiences who have never seen the strip will recognize the world of some typical (but dramatic) preschoolers and third graders. And everyone, no matter his or her age, will get to experience what it's like to be a child. We recommend this production for ages 4 and older.
Tickets are $15 for Adults; $10 for Children, Students, Military and Seniors. Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased at www.encorestage.org or by calling our box office at (703) 548-1154.
About Encore Stage & Studio
Encore Stage & Studio's 2016 season is sponsored by Fairlington Dental and
is supported in part by the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Arlington Cultural Affairs Division of Arlington Economic Development and the Arlington Commission for the Arts.
Saturday, April 16, 1 pm
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Saturday, April 16, 3 pm
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This screening is held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium. Watch the trailer. From the creators of Ghost in the Shell comes a wonderfully expressive and beautifully animated tale that combines bursts of whimsy and humor with deeply felt emotion. The last time Momo saw her father they had a fight; now, all she has left to remember him is an incomplete letter he wrote, penned with the words "Dear Momo" but nothing… |
Grant Morrison's new Wonder Woman: 'You don't give up sex just because you gave up men.'
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Washington Post Comics Riffs blog April 12 2016
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Former CIA agent Tom King is mining his own experiences for the Dark Knight's war on crime.
Anne Atwood
Washington Post April 9 2016
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Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Gareth Hinds
Julie Danielson (a.k.a. Jules)
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A boy. A girl. Two families meeting for the first time. One dinner. One "normal" night. Secrets. Potions. True Love. What could possibly go wrong?
The Wakefield Players present The Addams Family, a musical comedy that will have you dying with laughter. Come see the show at 7:00 on April 29, 30, May 06 or 07. Tickets are $10 at the door. Wakefield High School. 1325 S. Dinwiddie St.
NEWS from the LIBRARY of CONGRESS |
April 7, 2016
First in Series of Library Events to Mark World War I Centennial An exhibition showing how American artists galvanized public interest in World War I will open next month at the Library of Congress. "World War I: American Artists View the Great War" will open on Saturday, May 7 in the Graphic Arts Galleries on the ground floor of the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. The exhibition is free and open to the public Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It will remain open for a year, closing on May 6, 2017. The exhibition is made possible by the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, and is the first in a series of events the Library is planning in connection with the centennial of the United States' entry into World War I. An online version of the exhibition will be available on the opening date at www.loc.gov/exhibits. Drawn from the Library's Prints and Photographs Collections, the exhibition will feature 25 fine prints, drawings, cartoons, posters and photographs. An additional 70 photographs will be shown in a monitor slide show. The works on display reflect the focus of wartime art on patriotic and propaganda messages—by government-supported as well as independent and commercial artists. In the fall, an exhibition rotation will occur and 27 new items will be placed on display. A total of 40 artists will be represented. Many of the artists featured in the exhibition worked for the federal government's Division of Pictorial Publicity, a unit of the Committee on Public Information. Led by Charles Dana Gibson, a preeminent illustrator, the division focused on promoting recruitment, bond drives, home-front service, troop support and camp libraries. Many images advocated for American involvement in the war and others encouraged hatred of the German enemy. In less than two years, the division's 300 artists produced more than 1,400 designs, including some 700 posters. Heeding the call from Gibson to "Draw 'til it hurts," hundreds of leading American artists created works about the Great War (1914–1918). Although the United States participated as a direct combatant in World War I from 1917 to 1918, the riveting posters, cartoons, fine art prints and drawings on display chronicle this massive international conflict from its onset through its aftermath. Among those who heeded the call were James Montgomery Flagg (best known for his portrayal of Uncle Sam), Wladyslaw Benda, George Bellows, Joseph Pennell and William Allen Rogers. In contrast, such artists as Maurice Becker, Kerr Eby and Samuel J. Woolf drew on their personal experiences to depict military scenes on the front lines as well as the traumatic treatment of conscientious objectors. Finally, cartoonists offered both scathing criticism and gentle humor, as shown in Bud Fisher's comic strip "Mutt and Jeff." Photography also provided essential communication during the First World War. The selected images detail the service of soldiers, nurses, journalists and factory workers from the home front to the trenches. American Red Cross photographs by Lewis Hine and others employ artful documentation to capture the challenges of recovery and rebuilding in Europe after the devastation of war. Katherine Blood and Sara Duke from the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress led the division's curatorial team. Betsy Nahum-Miller from the Library's Interpretive Programs Office is the exhibition director. The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division holds more than 15 million photographs, drawings and prints from the 15th century to the present day. International in scope, these visual collections represent a uniquely rich array of human experience, knowledge, creativity and achievement, touching on almost every realm of endeavor: science, art, invention, government and political struggle, and the recording of history. For more information, visit www.loc.gov/rr/print/. The Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, holds more than 162 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its website at www.loc.gov. With the most comprehensive collection of multi-format World War I holdings in the nation, the Library is a unique resource for primary source materials, education plans, public programs and on-site visitor experiences about The Great War, including exhibits, symposia and book talks. # # # PR16-65 |
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https://newrepublic.com/article/132355/conflicted-man-interview-ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther
A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong writer Rafer Roberts discusses Valiant Entertainment's series, the dynamics of characters, and art as therapy. Comic Culture is directed and crewed by students at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. I'm posting the video as producer/host and not as an official University publication.