The Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in Oldham County is home to about 1100 felons and one unusual theatre company. It’s an all-inmate ensemble called Shakespeare Behind Bars. For sixteen years, the group has staged full productions of plays like Hamlet and Macbeth and Julius Casear. Each year, they do a series of performances, some for […]
Author Archives: Graham Shelby
Actors Theatre’s A Christmas Story Tells a Tale of Holidays Past
In Actors Theatre of Louisville’s new production of A Christmas Story, it’s striking how distinctly the emotions of the characters resonate, while at the same time, the world those characters inhabit feels fundamentally different from the world outside the theatre. The play is largely faithful to the original screenplay, and captures the purity and ferocity […]
A Veteran’s Son Goes to Vietnam
Louisville writer and occasional WFPL voice Graham Shelby grew up wondering what had happened to his father in Vietnam. Just after graduating from college in 1994, Graham went to find out. Among his most memorable stops: an orphanage just outside the city of Nha Trang. Listen to the story here.
Writer’s Block Festival Successful, Planning for Next Year Begins Soon
About 250 writers and book lovers attended the inaugural Writer’s Block Festival held over the weekend in Louisville. Centered in the NuLu District of East Market Street, the festival combined writing workshops with readings and panel discussions on the screenwriting, the publishing business and other subjects. Sessions with limited enrollment filled up or sold out […]
Local Festival Seeks to Give Writer’s Block a Good Name
Louisville’s visual art lovers have St. James. Theatre fans have the Humana Festival. Poet Lynnell Edwards says there are already a few events tailored to bibliophiles, but there’s always room on Louisville’s arts calendar for more. Edwards is the president of Louisville Literary Arts, a nonprofit that’s sponsoring the inaugural Writer’s Block Festival. “We want […]
Tom Sawyer, “A History of a Boy,” Comes to Actors Theatre
Tom Sawyer is one of literature’s most celebrated children; a character who has inspired adaptation for more than a century. The first U.S. film version appeared in 1907. The first Soviet Tom Sawyer film debuted in 1936. There are musical, cartoon, theme park and video game incarnations of Tom, and thousands or even millions of […]
Actors Theatre’s Dracula Fights Vampire Hunters (and Other Vampires)
Don’t be fooled by the script in Actors Theatre of Louisville’s production of Dracula; it would have you believe that Count Dracula’s enemy is the vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing. But that’s a bloody lie. Van Helsing may be the nemesis of Dracula, the character, but Dracula, the play, has a rogues gallery all its […]
Sense and Sensibility Opens at Actors Theatre of Louisville
Maybe you remember the story of Sense and Sensibility from English Lit, or your own reading, or one of its many TV and film incarnations. If not, playwright and director Jon Jory has a primer: “This is a story that pits passion against rationality.” Jory’s words appear in the program for the new Actors Theatre […]
Audio: New Teachers Prepare for Life in Japan
Sixty-six years ago today, the Emperor of Japan announced that the Japanese were surrendering to the United States. Celebrations broke out all over the U.S. and August 15th become known as VJ Day. Today, of course, Japan is a staunch ally. And for one group of young Americans, the idea of victory in Japan is […]
An Interview With A Prairie Home Companion’s Sound Effects Artist Fred Newman
Sound effects artist Fred Newman is an integral part of A Prairie Home Companion. In this interview, Fred talks about his roots, including the sounds that made him want to make sounds for a living. Fred also describes his first show with Garrison Keillor and how he used his own unique mouth sounds to get […]