Arts

Homegrown: An Insurrection Play opens Thursday at The Station Theatre. Playwright Nicole Anderson-Cobb shares a bit about the themes she's exploring in this production. 

Debra shares her list of must-shop local arts and maker holiday markets. 

The Revolutionists is a play that allows women to speak to each other in the fullness of their own actions and ideas.

Bloomington-Normal-based author Julie Navickas will be at The Literary on Saturday, November 12th to talk about her newest romance novel.

Debra shares her list of five must-see art experiences for the month of November. 

Jeff reviews U of I grad Robert Bensen's poetry collection, What Lightning Spoke.

John Isberg's 2022 film is a love letter to slasher franchises of the 80s and 90s.

Deeply, viscerally, personal yet provocative and political, Black on Black on Black on Black's call for a revisioning of Black knowledge and production is not to be ignored. 

The Circular Fashion Expo is Saturday, October 29th, and features a fashion show, vendors, and a clothing swap.

C-U filmmaker John Isberg's indie-horror-slasher film is screening at the Savoy 16 theater this weekend. 

Jess speaks with the Head of the Department of Dance at the University of Illinois, Professor Sara Hook, about October Dance.

Debra shares her list of must-see arts events for the month of October.

Pride 2022 is a weeklong feast of celebration, education, and, yes, arts. 

Masterful, imaginative, and topical Mallory Raven-Ellen Backstrom's A Darkling at Nighfall crafts an immersive storytelling experience that, although steeped in fantasy, hits close to home. 

Maddie and Debra went to the first West Side Arts festival on September 17th. Here's what they saw and learned. 

This year's PYGMALION arts offerings are all about the complex, and sometimes humorous, intersections of art and identity.

Fall festivals and fairs aren't just for pumpkins. Find out how to satisfy your arts cravings at these upcoming events. 

Throughout its significant 100 piece exhibition, Fake News and Lying Pictures is Krannert Art Museum at its best.  

Fall semester brings a lineup of significant and thoughtful exhibitions and performances which promise to leave us better for experiencing them. 

Monk in Retrospect, installed at the IMC gallery until August 28th, is a love letter in words and images. 

Three artists. Three locations. Three new murals that bring color, energy, and vitality to Urbana. 

Debra chats with writer and director Tania Arazi Coambs about Stoplight, which premieres at the Station Theatre on August 11th.

Debra recaps her visit to the 2022 Crystal Lake Park Art Fair. 

Paul reviews the latest Carnivale Debauche show, Nerdlesque. 

Debra shares five August art experiences you won't want to miss.

Amy captures the magic of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and encounters some familiar C-U thespians along the way.

Katie Koca Polite of Krannert Art Museum attributed Stringfellow's combined use of collage and watercolor to his understanding that “the fullness and complexity of the African American experience could not be adequately captured in one medium.”

Watching Bad Jews is like sitting at a restaurant while the family four tables down argues. You definitely shouldn’t be watching, but gosh darn it, how could you not?  

Debra shares her thoughts on Beneath a Summer Sky: Watercolors by Carol Carter, on display at Parkland's Giertz Gallery through July 28.

Jess speaks with U of I professor and author Brett Ashley Kaplan about her debut novel.

Debra shares her must-see arts experiences for the month.

For Katie Snyder of The Museum of the Grand Prairie, the Healing Hearts Community Collage project will show future museum staff and guests “what the people of Champaign County really experienced during the multiple pandemics of recent years.

 Jacob talks with award-winning director, producer, and co-founder of Shatterglass Studios, Luke Boyce about the new Central Illinois Film & TV Production Training Course

Among the silver gelatin prints of businesses like Fannie Mae and Jerry’s IGA, OLD NEWS: The Archives boasts a photo of John F. Kennedy speaking at the University of Illinois' Foellinger Auditorium.

Debra shares her list of must-see arts experiences for the month.

Prism Studios presents Reclaim: Clarity in Community, an exhibition of “eclectic visual artworks in a variety of mediums.”

Jeanette Watts' new historical novel, My Dearest Miss Fairfax, tells the story behind the story of the secret engagement between Emma's Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill. 

Virtual readings provide an intimate space for poetry.

Debra recaps the 2022 School of Art & Design BFA exhibition. 

Andrei Kureichik, currently a Visiting Artist at the University of Illinois, created a play using the real words of Belarusians caught in the struggle for democracy. 

Sacred/Supernatural, which closes its run at Krannert Art Museum this weekend, explores mark making as a vehicle for mythological and religious meaning making.

Debra recaps some Instagram-worthy moments from Re-Fashioned 2022.

With lively characters and impressive dance, CU Ballet's The Little Mermaid made a splash at the Virginia Theatre.

The Station Theatre’s production of Borderline shows the importance of the stories we tell each other to keep the darkness at bay.

Debra talks with two of Re-Fashioned 2022's student designers. 

Allerton Park Artists-in-Residence Nicole Anderson-Cobb and Latrelle Bright are researching the history of the park and Monticello in the 19th century.

Debra shares her list of must-see arts experiences for the month of May.

Get your Broadway fix right here at home with Parkland Theatre's The Spongebob Musical.