A few weeks ago, InStyle magazine named Forever Is the Worst Long Time by Ann Arbor-based novelist (and health journalist) Camille Pagán as one of “7 Books You Need to Read in February 2017.”

We’re now in March, of course, but Pagán’s new tale of contemporary friendships and romance gone askew offers a temporary escape hatch appropriate for any time of year.

Forever is Pagán’s third novel; her debut was The Art of Forgetting (2011), followed by Life and Other Near-Death Experiences (2015), which was a bestselling Kindle First selection that got optioned by Jessica Chastain’s production company Freckle Films.

Forever tells the story of James Hernandez, a would-be novelist who ends up writing copy for U-M’s business school. (Pagán is a U-M grad who grew up in Dearborn.) Though James falls for his childhood best friend Rob’s fiancee/wife (Lou) upon meeting her, he buries his feelings, delivers a toast at the wedding, and tries to build his own life. But years later, when Rob and Lou’s marriage falls apart, James is torn between what he wants and loyalty to his friend. In the end, he can’t resist acting on his long-repressed attraction, and the consequences for all three are far-reaching and life-changing. READ THE REST HERE

Maureen (Aisling O’Sullivan) lets her manipulative mum Mag (Marie Mullen) have it in Druid Theatre Company’s “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” presented by UMS. (Photo by Stephen Cumminskey)

When two ordinary, scribbled-on pieces of paper in an envelope magically morph into a miserable woman’s key to happiness — and your heart pounds as you hawkishly, breathlessly watch the precarious letter being set down, picked up, walked around the stage, and handed off — that’s the power of live theater.

But it takes pros to achieve that level of emotionally tense stage magic, and when it comes to interpreting Martin McDonagh’s work, there may be none on Earth that can match Ireland’s renowned Druid Theatre Company, which performed The Beauty Queen of Leenane March 9-11 at the Power Center, courtesy of University Musical Society.

In the play, 40-year-old Maureen (Aisling O’Sullivan) lives alone with her demanding, manipulative 70-year-old mother Mag (Marie Mullen). When handsome former neighbor Pato Dooley (Marty Rea) briefly returns from London, where he works in construction, Maureen gets what seems like her last chance at love and a different life.

McDonagh’s script feels both Shakespearean, with its misunderstandings and intercepted messages, and like Williams’ The Glass Menagerie turned inside out: instead of a mother pushing a reluctant daughter out into the world, a mother repeatedly sabotages a frustrated daughter’s attempts to leave. But one thing is constant between Glass and Beauty Queen: both daughters are pushed to embody their mothers’ self-image. And as we learn more about Maureen’s past struggles, and how she ended up living with Mag, the push-pull bond between them seems all the more toxic but inescapable. READ THE REST HERE

This month, WEMU’s All Things Considered host Lisa Barry and I spent a few minutes talking with Ann Arbor Film Festival executive director Leslie Raymond. Plus, we chatted about a few additional upcoming cultural events happening in March. Check out the eight minute segment here.

Acclaimed Irish theater company Druid returns to Ann Arbor, courtesy of UMS, with a production of “The Beauty Queen of Leeann.” (Photo by Matthew Thompson)

Check out my list of local event highlights for the month of March, featured on AAACVB’s blog!

Among upcoming events of note are Druid’s production of “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” presented by UMS; Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5K, a Mott fundraiser with family-oriented activities following the run/walk events; the 55th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival; and Authors in Chelsea, which will feature young adult novelists.

Check out all the details here.

PRESS RELEASE: The Ann Arbor Summer Festival is pleased to announce this season’s Movies By Moonlight. These free screenings on the lawn and seated patio are enjoyed by hundreds of people each night. Vendors offering popcorn, beverages and other treats add to the unique environment where friends and families gather under the stars each night at Top of the Park. The films run June 11-July 2nd at Top of the Park, 915 E. Washington St. in Ann Arbor.

10 pm Tuesday, June 13 – Groundhog Day
10 pm Wednesday, June 14 – Doctor Strange
10 pm Thursday, June 15 – Ghostbusters: Answer The Call

10 pm Sunday, June 18 – Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
10 pm Tuesday, June 20 – Hidden Figures
10 pm Wednesday, June 21 – Good Morning Vietnam (30th Anniversary)
10 pm Thursday, June 22 – Say Anything

10 pm Sunday, June 25 – Secret Life of Pets
10 pm Tuesday, June 27 – Men In Black (20th Anniversary)
10 pm Wednesday, June 28 – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
10 pm Thursday, June 29 – Beetlejuice
10 pm Sunday, July 2 – La La Land 

The remainder of the festival’s 2017 Mainstage ticketed line-up will be announced in early April and the other 140+ admission-free events will be announced through May 1st.

For the most up-to-date information, please visit the festival’s website at: A2SF.org.

Photo courtesy of Nancy De Los Santos

The night before the official opening of Chicana Fotos—a new art exhibit featuring the early work of photographer/filmmaker Nancy De Los Santos at Wayne State University’s Walter P. Reuther Library—a group of University of Michigan undergrads who co-designed the exhibition were putting finishing touches on the installation, doing some last-minute problem-solving, and eating pizza.

“At one point, we were all sitting around, and I said, ‘I feel like we’ve all shrunk, and we’re now living in our model,’” said U-M student Emilie Farrugia.

That’s because for the last few months, a dozen U-M Stamps School of Art & Design students who enrolled in an Exhibition Design class taught by Hannah Smotrich and Katie Rubin have been hashing out ideas regarding which photos to showcase, and how to arrange them within the Reuther Library’s unique gallery space, so as to tell De Los Santos’ story in a cohesive way.

This involved small groups of students building detailed cardboard models, which De Los Santos—a U-M alumna herself—came to see in person, offering thoughtful feedback. She talked about the stories behind individual photos, from which the students then re-calibrated their ideas, building toward a common vision. READ THE REST HERE

Charles Kiley and Billee Gray in 1942

Because nearly 900 letters were exchanged between soldier-journalist Charles Kiley and his fiancee, Billee Gray, during World War II, Ann Arbor’s David Kiley has an amazing window into not only his parents’ courtship, and their lives as young adults, but also what it was like to live in that era, both on the front lines and at home.

For this reason, he collaborated with his sister (Anne Kiley) and brother-in-law (Thomas Pellechia) to edit their 2015 book, Writing the War: Chronicles of a World War II Correspondent. But because Kiley — director of communication at U-M’s Ross School of Business and publisher/editor-in-chief of the professional theater website EncoreMichigan.com — is passionate about theater, he soon started thinking about how to adapt the material into a stage play.

The resulting show, I’ll Be Seeing You, will have its world premiere at U-M’s Arthur Miller Theatre this weekend, with performances on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm. In the show, two actors play Charles and Billee as they write and read each other’s letters; plus, two radio singers perform music from that era, while a radio announcer — played by Kiley, who’s also making his directing debut — offers news from the front. READ THE REST HERE

Earlier this month, a fellowship application required me to write an essay about the “intellectual and social values that shape (my) work as a journalist,” and what resulted was a kind of personal manifesto for arts journalism. This actually turned out to be a great exercise, forcing me to articulate the value of what I do while drowning out all the voices that tell me daily that it no longer has worth.

Recently, for the first time in years, I stumbled upon the first creative work I ever published, and I was struck by how the poem laid bare the seed of my life’s work:

Kelly Girls

Musicals are like TV weddings in our house.
No one speaks. Per Mom.
She raised me right, made me a Gene
Kelly girl. None of Astaire’s austere, floating-tails
partner dancing for us. No sir.

We watch Gene’s exaggerated Irish smile for hours.
He makes garbage can lids tap shoes
and stomps puddles into foot-fountains
and teaches French children English
for a Gershwin song.

And whenever Gene stops talking and starts dancing,
Mom removes the wood oval quilt frame from her lap
(covering up her canes on the carpet)
and leans forward in the recliner.

Her intent face opens
and I hear her breathe in as though she’s been
underwater
for days.

On some level, even as a young child, I understood the visceral power of the arts. Continue reading →

Kim Cameron

Through his research, U-M Professor Kim Cameron has discovered the benefits of the “heliotropic” effect, wherein all living systems bend toward that which is life-giving and lean away from that which is life-depleting. It is one of the building blocks of his work.

No, Cameron is not a professor of biology. Rather, as a member of the Ross School of Business faculty, he is one of the top scholars in the organizational sciences. Cameron’s scholarship—including 15 books and involvement in more than 120 academic articles—has demonstrated that the natural law applies not only to the sun-yearning plant on the windowsill, but also to professionals in a work environment.

He argues that a humane, positive work culture that emphasizes the “deviant good,” or what’s going well, tends to perform better and be more productive than one that focuses on the “deviant bad.”

Cameron, who co-founded U-M’s Center for Positive Organizations, recently traveled to share his ideas with consultants in Japan, as well as natural gas executives in China, but he took a few minutes while abroad to answer questions about his work. READ THE REST HERE

Singer/songwriter Timothy Monger‘s career may have peaked in middle school.

Despite three albums during a decade-plus run with the acclaimed folk-rock band Great Lakes Myth Society and a solo career that has also produced three records, including the new Amber Lantern, Monger said the loudest cheers he’s ever received was when his middle school band, All the Young Dudes, rocked his former elementary.

Perhaps Monger’s fans will take that as a challenge and make some noise when he celebrates the release of Amber Lantern at The Ark on Wednesday, February 8 at 8 pm. (Caleb Dillon of Starling Electric will open.) The album is slightly more rock-oriented than his past works, but Monger also made a conscious decision to set aside his guitar at times and experiment with instruments outside his wheelhouse, such as an organ, a hurdy-gurdy, and a Pocket Piano synth, which he checked out from this library’s Music Tools collection.

Monger, who grew up in Brighton and lives in Saline, recently answered questions about his new songs, crowdfunding rewards, never finishing Moby Dick, and the world’s greatest elementary school rock concert. READ THE REST HERE