Roanoke Times
December 13, 2009

Arts & Extras w/ Mike Allen

Gone for a week, back Monday the 21st

I'm on vacation for the next week, but will be back in the office on Monday, Dec. 21. Expect to see another column on the Sunday before I return, about the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge's "40 Days and 40 Nights" festival and other things.

As one last little Arts Extra before I sign off, I'd like to mention that I attended Studio Roanoke's "Yes, Svetlana, There Is a Grandfather Frost" this afternoon and really enjoyed it. It's definitely not conventional holiday fare. It is, however, a fascinating hybrid: on one level, a sometimes funny, sometimes scary look inside the Orwellian conditions the press existed under in the Soviet Union; on another level, a moving exploration of fable, faith and what sorts of truth might matter most. (If that happens makes you interested in going at all, there's just one more show, at 8 p.m. tonight, details here. If not, you'll just have to take my word for it.)

I hope everyone's more caught up on holiday shopping than I am.... Take care!