ArtCraft

Christmas stories take the larger Nativity narrative—the arrival of an ambassador of peace, goodwill and redemption—and put the metaphor to work on individual transformations, those personal moments when generosity of spirit triumphs over our meaner, selfish natures. The best results are both heartwarming and as unique as the transformed individuals themselves.

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.

The Bard’s Town Theatre closes its second season this month with “The Kings of Christmas,” an original holiday comedy written by executive director Doug Schutte. Directed by Schutte and artistic director Scot Atkinson, “The Kings of Christmas” uses a narrative framework loosely based on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” to help a frustrated young man come to terms with his eccentric family and regain his Christmas spirit.   

For arts patrons who aren't fans of Christmas shows, this isn't exactly the most wonderful time of the year. The so-called "sweet weeks" between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day are packed with Christmassy fare, with Tiny Tim duking it out with the Sugar Plum Fairy and the entire populations of Bedford Falls and Santaland competing with holiday films and parties for family entertainment dollars and time.

Actors Theatre of Louisville opened its 37th production of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" last night. Actors Theatre's show is the second longest-running production in the country (the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis has them beat by a year), and while small changes happen from year to year, Actors doesn't mess with what works—solid acting paired with lovely music, a liberal dose of humor and the cozy familiarity of a timeless redemption story well-told. 

This week on our audio diary series "The Big Break," Actors Theatre of Louisville apprentice Samantha Beach finishes her run of "A Christmas Story" with a fun souvenir—a recording of herself playing the teacher during a student matinee. Over at the Louisville Ballet, Claire Horrocks explains why the snowflake and the flower are the toughest roles she tackles in "The Nutcracker" and Brad Raymond spends his break from the Kentucky Opera learning music for the Kentucky Opera. (No rest for the talented.)