Artsline: Virtual Edition || OCtober 25, 2021
“Gnome and elf and fairy,
Witch and ghost make merry
On this last of dear October’s days.”
~Lettie C. Van Dervee
The last of October is upon us – All Hallow’s Eve and the thinning of the ghostly veil, leading to spooky stories and creepy images to frighten the little kid in all of us! RVA’s arts and culture has lots of great ways for you to get out and enjoy the scare, or even just take in the beautiful colors of our parks in autumn. Find some great picks for both below! Happy Halloween!
To list your events on Artsline, go to vpm.org/artsline.
1. UNHAPPY HOUR
Literary Art, Music
October 28, 6pm
The Poe Museum, 1914 E Main Street, Richmond, 23223
$8
For the first time since the pandemic, The Poe Museum will host the one and only UnHappy Hour of 2021. It will be the most miserable event of the year complete with the annual costume contest! The Embalmers will provide groovy surf rock tunes. Event sponsors include Triple Crossing, Shockoe Wine, and Station 2. Come commiserate with The Poe! Purchase tickets at the door.
2. COMEDYSPORTZ SPOOKTACULAR
Improv Comedy
October 29 & 30, 7:30pm
CSz Richmond Theatre, 8906-H W. Broad Street, Richmond, 23294
$12
Join the CSz Richmond Theatre for TWO NIGHTS of scary and haunted games, as their ComedySportz match becomes filled with players and games that will make you SCREAM with laughter! Great for a Halloween date night or an excursion for the whole family! Purchase tickets online.
3. AUTUMN GARDEN WALK
Landscape Art, History
October 30 & 31, 10:30am
Agecroft Hall, Richmond, 4305 Sulgrave Road, Richmond, 23221
$7
Agecroft Hall offers this 45-minute guided garden tour to learn about the formal gardens rom a different perspective. Learn about Tudor monarch Henry VIII’s passion for beautiful gardens, Renaissance gardens and harvest festivals, and 20th century “Virginia Garden” design. What do they all have in common? Each is part of the heritage of the gardens at Agecroft Hall. Stay after the guided tour to explore other garden areas on your own Purchase tickets online for October 30 or October 31.
4. RICHMOND BALLET: STUDIO TWO
Dance
October 26-31, times vary
Richmond Ballet, 407 East Canal Street, Richmond, 23219
Most tickets: $26-$46
Former Richmond Ballet dancer Tom Mattingly returns to Richmond to create his second world premiere on the company, a stunning visual display inspired by Virginia’s natural beauty. Piano sonatas by current German composer Goe. Allegro Brillante by George Balanchine is a light and effervescent sixteen minutes full of sparkling swiftness and precise execution. A quick burst of classical ballet, this celebrated work captivates audiences from start to finish. Online option available for November 8. Purchase tickets online.
5. EDGAR ALLAN POE: LESSONS FOR CREATIVE SUCCESS FROM LITERATURE’S GREATEST ANTIHERO
Literary Art, History
October 28, Noon
Online
Join writer Catherine Baab-Muguira for a lively and informative look at Edgar Allan Poe and how his life can teach us counterintuitive lessons on achieving creative success. Edgar Allan Poe led one of the saddest lives ever. Even so, the magnitude of Poe’s success strains credulity. His poetry and fiction have been translated into every major language, and rarer still, people the world over recognize his face. In fact, Poe’s feuds, mistakes, and missteps—the way he did everything “wrong”—worked for him. The Virginia Museum of History and Culture offers this fun and accessible lecture about how Poe’s life can teach us counterintuitive lessons on achieving creative success—despite the odds and no matter your “flaws.” This lecture will be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube for public viewing.
6. THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW: COVER TO COVER
Film, Music
October 31, 10pm
The Byrd Theatre, 2908 West Cary Street, Richmond, 23221
$30/admission, $20/seniors
Yes And Theatrical Company is taking their Cover to Cover series to the movies! This fundraiser event is a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with the songs performed live and in sync with the film by Trunk Show Band and their complete cast of characters. Your ticket includes a General Admission seat to the screening/concert + one curated prop bag and audience participation script. No outside props will be permitted. Of course, there will also be a costume contest for prizes! Purchase tickets online.
7. PIPELINE
Theatre
Through November 7, times vary
Virginia Rep’s November Theatre, 114 West Broad St, Richmond, 23220
Tickets: $36-$56
Virginia Rep presents Pipeline, by Dominique Morisseau. In the story, Nya, an inner-city public high school teacher, sends her son, Omari, to a private boarding school to give him opportunities her students do not have. When an incident at school might get him expelled, Nya must face his rage, her parenting choices, and her struggle to give him a future out of the school to prison pipeline. Morriseau’s Pipeline is so compelling that it was one of the most-produced plays in the country in 2019. Purchase tickets online.
8. CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF A COMMUNITY
Culture, History
October 28, 7pm
Online
Please join The Library of Virginia for a virtual discussion about the Columbia Pike Documentary Project, a multidisciplinary history of an Arlington neighborhood that’s one of the most culturally diverse communities in the nation, and possibly in the world. Project writer Sushmita Mazumdar will moderate a conversation with photographers Lloyd Wolf, Xang Mimi Ho, Dewey Tron, and Lara Ajami about how their personal connections to the community allowed them to capture the strength, pride, resilience, elegance, and beauty of so many overlapping cultures. This program complements the library’s photography exhibition Columbia Pike: Through the Lens of Community, on view through January 8, 2022. Register online for this free event.
9. THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT
History
October 29 & 30, 6:45pm
Henricus Historical Park, 251 Henricus Park Road, Chester, 23836
$10
This weekend, legends and tales from throughout the centuries come to life before your eyes! Take a guided tour through Henricus Historical Park in the dark as interpreters dramatically demonstrate and perform old English folklore stories of witches, ghosts, goblins, shucks, and all “things that go bump in the night.” Come see what colonial Virginians thought were spooky, scary, or mysterious in our early history! Purchase tickets online.
10. ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: DASH SHAW
Visual Art, History, Literary Art
October 27, 7pm
The Virginia War Memorial, 621 S. Belvidere Street, Richmond, 23220
Richmond native, Dash Shaw, is an award-winning cartoonist, animator, writer and director. His most recent feature film, Cryptozoo, received the NEXT Innovator Prize at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and is distributed by Magnolia Pictures. During this in-person presentation, Dash will discuss his latest graphic novel, Discipline, which chronicles the life of a teenage Quaker who joins the Union Army and experiences firsthand the brutality of the Civil War. Join the Virginia War Memorial for this program to discover how Dash Shaw incorporated archival materials from actual Quaker soldiers into this story and how the battlefield illustrations of Thomas Nast and Winslow Homer influenced the style of Discipline. Register for this free in-person presentation or view the simultaneous livestream via Facebook Live.
If you are an arts or cultural organization with lectures, 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.
