Artsline: Virtual Edition || July 19, 2021
“Let your imagination take you wherever you want to be. This piece of canvas truly is your world.” ~Bob Ross, The Joy of Painting
With the last eighteen months wiping away much of what we knew as “our world,” we now have the opportunity to repaint our community in vibrant and inclusive ways. This week, RVA arts and culture is doing just that – redrawing the lines with story and music and bold artistic strokes. Come out and experience the new artistic landscape in your hometown!
1. TWELFTH NIGHT
Theatre
Thursdays, Saturdays, & Sundays through August 13, 7:30pm
Agecroft Hall & Gardens, 4305 Sulgrave Road, Richmond, 23221
Photo: Holy News Guardian
The Richmond Shakespeare Festival is back at Agecroft Hall! Bring your lawn chair or blanket and join Quill Theatre on Agecroft’s back lawn where you can sit as close to (or as far from) other patrons as you like! You'll have a great view of the James River, the summer sky, the stage and, of course. Twelfth Night is Shakespeare's hilarious tale of unrequited love crackles with quick wit and gender-bending hijinks. Stranded on the coast of Illyria, Viola assumes the disguise of a page boy for Duke Orsino and finds herself at the center of an explosive love triangle in which identity, passion and gender all threaten to come undone. Bursting with vitality and romance, Twelfth Night gives us some of Shakespeare's most memorable characters and one of his most dynamic heroines. Purchase tickets online.
2. CAROLINE CALOUCHE & COMPANY SUMMER SHOW
Aerial & Contemporary Dance
July 23, 7:30pm - Random Acts of Kindness
July 24, 11am - Animalia
July 24, 7:30p, - Random Acts of Kindness
Dogtown Dance Theatre, 109 W. 15th Street, Richmond, 23224
$20/Adults, $10/Students in advance ($25 & $15 at the door)
Virtual via Dogtown STREAM: $7.99
Caroline Calouche and Company, a Charlotte-based aerial and contemporary dance company, returns to Dogtown Dance Theatre for an exciting weekend of performances. Richmond audiences will get the opportunity to enjoy two different shows from CC&Co. throughout the weekend: Animalia and Random Acts of Kindness. Animalia is an imaginative, high-energy circus and dance show for the entire family. And the cast of Random Acts of Kindness will demonstrate their love for each other and the audience with their impressive skills in dance and circus arts. Purchase tickets online.
3. 4TH FRIDAY ART SHOWS AND OPENING RECEPTION
Visual Art
July 23, 6pm
Exhibit runs through August 21
Art Works, 320 Hull St, Richmond, 23224
TAKE ME AWAY is the theme of the Summer All Media Show at Art Works, where they invite artists to explore vacations—the need for, the escape from the ordinary and a change of scenery. Also on display, new exhibits from Thyra Moore about evolution from adversity to optimism, Mark Price exploring the end of the world, as we know it, and a new nonsensible construct; Alyssa Sicard scrutinizing the lives, dreams, struggles, and hopes of the modern woman.
4. HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING
Film
July 23, 8:30pm
VMFA, 200 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, 23220
$8
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts offers an outdoor screening of the documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening, depicting students reclaiming a popular gathering spot on the campus of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. This film is constructed in a form that allows the viewer an emotive impression of the Historic South – trumpeting the beauty of life and consequences of the social construction of race, while simultaneously a testament to dreaming. As a part of the screening, the filmmaker, RaMell Ross, will appear in person in conversation with VMFA curator Valerie Cassel Oliver. Please bring chairs and/or blankets. Purchase tickets online.
5. FROM GERRYMANDERED TO GENTRIFIED
History, Culture
July 21, 7pm
Online
Join the Library of Virginia as they partner with The JXN Project and Richmond Public Library to offer a six-part summer lecture series celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Jackson Ward neighborhood. In this fourth lecture, moderator Allan Charles Chipman from Initiatives of Change leads a discussion with Duron Chavis of Black Space Matters, Zenobia Bey of Community 50|50, Iman Shabazz of Beyond Containment, and Sheba Williams of Nolef Turns exploring the arc of Jackson Ward as a neighborhood that was gerrymandered in the 1870s, redlined in the 1950s, and gentrified in the 2000s, as well as its subsequent disruption of families, communities, and businesses. Register online for this free event.
6. MONUMENT AVENUE: ORIGINS AND REVERBERATIONS
History
July 24, 10am
In front of main entrance to VMFA, 200 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, 23220
$20, children under 18 are free
Join The Valentine for a monumental experience! Richmond’s most seasoned tour guides lead participants through the infamous sites that sparked a national discussion. Discover Monument Avenue through augmented-reality glasses to both investigate its Lost Cause origins and to discuss its effects on Richmonders. After viewing and listening to archival sources, guests will dialogue about why Monument Avenue was created, who built it, and how it has changed physically and culturally during this 2-hour walking tour adapted from ARtGlass. Purchase tickets online.
7. CHILLIN' AT UNITY: LUCY KILPATRICK QUARTET
Music
July 22, 6:30pm
Unity of Bon Air, 923 Buford Rd, Richmond, 23235
Unity Church of Bon Air offers Chillin’ at Unity - Summer Evening Entertainments through August 21. This week, they feature an evening of jammin' Jazz and Blues with a quartet led by Queen of the Keyboard, Lucy Kilpatrick! Lucy will by joined by her talented spouse, Charlie Kilpatrick on keyboards, Forest Young on the drums, and a special guest vocalist Claudia Carawan. No registration required – just show up!
8. RIVER CITY POETS
Poetry, Literary Arts
July 25, 2pm
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, 1800 Lakeside Avenue, Richmond, 23228
$14/adults, $11/seniors, $8/children 3-12, under 3 are free
Join River City Poets at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens on select Sundays for poetry readings in the Garden celebrating nature. Presentation included with Garden admission.
9. COMEDY SPORTZ GRAND RE-OPENING
Improvisational Comedy
July 24, 7:30pm
CSz Richmond Theatre, 8906-H W. Broad Street, Richmond, 23294
$12
Comedy Sportz is back live and in-person for their Grand Re-Opening! ComedySportz is improvisational comedy played as a sport, with two teams and a referee taking suggestions from the loyal fans and creating scenes, games and songs with those suggestions. Always hilarious improv comedy for everyone - bring your date, your bachelorette party, your kids or your grandma. Everyone laughs. Purchase tickets online.
10. THE BRANCH MUSEUM ARCHITECTURE TOUR
Architectural Arts, History
July 23, 3pm
July 24, 10am
The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design, 2501 Monument Avenue, Richmond, 23220
$10
The Branch House’s architecture is one of the oldest preserved Tudor Revival masterpieces in the commonwealth of Virginia – and there’s nothing like seeing it from inside the gates. Residing at Monument Avenue, Davis Avenue, and the former Confederate Jefferson Davis Memorial, the Branch House represents over a century of urban history and preservation resiliency. Their guides will share how nostalgic architects made the Tudor-Revival style a prominent component of America’s cultural history in the early twentieth century. The Branch welcomes visitors to this historic place for a 60-minute architecture tour through the Great Halls and gardens. Register online.
If you are an arts or cultural organization with local classes, exhibitions, performances, or even book readings, submit your events to Artsline here. If you are an artist or an arts or cultural organization in need of resources and tools, check out the list of local and national resources from Richmond CultureWorks.
