Arts and Humanities

This week on our audio diary series, The Big Break, Actors Theatre of Louisville apprentice Samantha Beach gets some sage advice on second careers from the cast members of each of the theater's productions, while Louisville Ballet trainee Claire Horrocks opens her first full-length production of "The Nutcracker." Kentucky Opera studio artist Brad Raymond is on hiatus and traveling until January. 

When the three artistic directors of Theatre [502] launched their first season in 2011, they weren’t sure if Louisville would buy what they were selling—newer plays by buzz-worthy playwrights whose work speaks to theater-goers hungry for recent, relevant work, like Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's "Hunter Gatherers" (season one) and Annie Baker's "The Aliens" (season two).

Kentucky Arts Council chair Todd Lowe is the recipient of the 2012 James Welch, Sr. Arts Leadership Award. Lowe was honored by the Fund for the Arts Saturday night at the opening of Louisville Ballet’s “The Brown-Forman Nutcracker” for his commitment to volunteer arts leadership.

Praising the broad reach of his work and leadership in Louisville and across the Commonwealth, Fund for the Arts president and CEO Barbara Sexton Smith says Lowe is “the quintessential servant leader.”  

Louisville's Theatre [502] has one eye on the end times and the other on next year. 

On Wednesday, the company will present their last Small Batch event of the year, a staged reading of Eric Pfeffinger’s “Accidental Rapture."

The Small Batch Series is Theatre [502]’s roving side stage—their opportunity to produce events that don’t quite find a place in the company’s mainstage season.