Are you ready to Glo?

 
 

You are warmly invited to The Glo Show on Friday May 10, 2024 at the Olympia room at 701 Whaley. The house opens at 6:30 p.m. with heavy hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar, and the performance starts at 7. The Glo Show is a performance, dance party, and a fundraiser to raise $4000 for a matching grant to Power Company Collaborative from the South Carolina Arts Commission.

The Power Company Collaborative is a multidiscipline group of artists with dance as our root of origin committed to empowerment for all people through creative engagement. Martha Brim, artistic director for The Power Company Collaborative, aka PoCoCo, has been at the helm for almost 25 years!

The Glo Show has a triple purpose. First, to raise money to match Power Company Collaborative’s SC Arts Commission grant. The pandemic sucked for artists, but the Power Company continued to make work during the lockdown in a time that wasn’t easy for anyone. They received some small grants from the Arts Commission, but they’ve blown through the savings trying to continue their work. This matching grant would go a long way to support the 25th anniversary!

The second purpose is to celebrate PoCoCo and their silver 25th anniversary! According to Martha Brim, silver symbolizes radiance, brilliance and longevity.

The third, and grounding purpose for the variety show style evening is to honor Gloria Talcove Woodard. Gloria (Glo) was a friend, a luminous and joyful person in our community who died in 2018 from cancer. Her husband Doug said, “Gloria danced and laughed through the world with boundless energy.” There are many stories of Gloria launching into spontaneous dance pretty much wherever she went.

And that’s what Martha experienced with her throughout our friendship. Whenever she and I would get together we would end up dancing. After she died, Martha made a vow to herself that if she ever saw someone dancing in public I would join them as a tribute to Gloria.

During The Glo Show, they will be DIYing our own joyful luminosity as Glo-ing up with interactive possibilities (ok dance party)! As poet Amanda Gorman said “There is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it.”

The performers and artists who have generously donated their time come from as far away as South Africa. Performances include various dance styles, live music, performance art, puppetry and film. Some of the listed performers are: Erin Bailey and Moving Body Dance, Brittany Watkins, Beth E. Coiner, Besty Newman and La Tropa, Allison Tipton Milner, Amanda Ling, Lisa Wheeler, Leanne Kornegay, Sally T McKay and the Hump Day Tappers, and of course Ken May and Jeanne Garane!

There are many ways to support this fundraiser:

  1. Buy a ticket and enjoy the amazing show! ($30)

  2. Click on the link or qr code and donate.

  3. Share this information with people who are also luminous and may want to support PoCoCo.

  4. If you see someone dancing, join them. Glo and Martha style.

Visit the event page for more information and for tickets.

Philip Mullen Exhibition -- RED & WHITE -- in Taylors, SC

Wonder on to the SC Upstate for a new exhibition of Philip Mullen Art. Titled RED & WHITE, the show runs from May 10 through June 29, 2024 at the Hampton III Gallery at 3110 Wade Hampton Blvd, Suite 10 in Taylors, SC.

The Artist Reception is scheduled for Friday May 10th from 6 - 8 pm and a special event — Coffee and Conversation will be Saturday May 18th from 11 am - noon.

Poetry of the People with Al Black featuring Tim Conroy

This week's Poet of the People is Tim Conroy. I met Tim Conroy several years ago at a Columbia literary event and cajoled him into doing his first poetry feature. We became fast friends, haunting and terrorizing coffee shops throughout Columbia. Later, we teamed up with singer/songwriter, Lang Owen as the Two Hats & a Ponytail trio. When Tim's wife retired, they fled to Florida; however, he will be back in Columbia to perform Tuesday, 05/07 at Simple Gifts and Wednesday, 05/08 at Mind Gravy with Lang and myself for the Reunion Tour of Two Hats and Ponytail.

Tim Conroy is a military brat who has lived all over the country and eventually ended up in South Carolina. A retired educator and beloved social rabble rouser, he has published two books of poetry, Theologies of Terrain, Muddy Ford Press 2017 and No True Route, Muddy Ford Press 2023. During COVID, he co hosted the YouTube poetry interview series, Chewing Gristle

 

Lousy

My Dad said lousy a lot

to describe his children

a lousy jump shot, a lousy right fielder,

a lousy bedmaker, a lousy dishwasher,

with a lousy attitude.

 

We had lousy eyes, freckles, and postures.

 

But he would never admit,

we were stationed in lousy towns.

We could have become lousy

because he fought in three lousy wars,

where he won a few lousy medals.

 

Every year, we left friends and moved

on lousy cross-country car trips.

He had a lousy temper and backhand.

His world turned lousier when our mom divorced him.

He was lousy in love with her.

He tasted lousy when schizophrenia

came for one of his sons.

 

Afterward, he was never a lousy grandfather

or a lousy money giver.

He remained lousy at saying sorry.

 

When he died, we never felt lousier

and knew a pilot's love didn't land empty,

his caps and his godawful shirts,

his lousy flaws, our hearts.

 

No True Route, Muddy Ford Press, 2023

  

The Flight Jacket

hung in the closet to forget the throttle

and how it zoomed from carriers during

the Korean War, dipped into battle

of the Chosin Reservoir for the troops

to make a break for it through scarred paths

and never told its story, zipped up mute

stayed cold to the touch preferring the dark

every day its arms down not saluting

while its empty pockets refused to hold

onto the sound of bombs and men waving

screaming hello, goodbye, and blood marking

each sleeve forever, but the leather saved

many lives, though not Dad’s, his explosions

and how he didn’t want us to touch him

 

 

The Child We Need

 In front of imperial drones,

swollen under cement blocks

—tongues, old and young

because we doubt what is told

because it takes silence to listen

because we need to learn gestures

to rise reversals from wombs.

War-born babies and hostages

with no chink of light, no angels,

no safe mangers even for donkeys,

only hunger and inconsolable wails

until we embody the dead,

the child we need to live won’t

sing and fly paper kites in Gaza.

  

The Best Part

The truth be known,
gay or straight,

the priest gets paid,
the nun has a shitty deal,
the minister wants his ass kissed.

 Meanwhile I have felt a voice
in the forest of owls and ordinary spaces.
Strangers have rescued me from peril;
like you, love has saved me.


Your neighbor is human.

We don’t listen or tell it right,
we take it literally,

we can’t write it down better,
we make it too complicated.

Who have you loved in this journey?
What is it you have given?

 

From Theologies of Terrain, Muddy Ford Press, 2017

 

A Fitted Game

 The American Legion is full of men and women who battle

video games for printed slips to exchange at the bar for cash.

They don't dare add up the losses, so full of gin and silent friends.

Some say it's a loss of purpose and only passing time.

My Dad would have died playing if he hadn't croaked in bed.

His fingers reached, but I did not know what to tell him.

 

Their sacrifice isn't gone, and the popcorn kernels are still free,

salted, and buttered, sliding down throats that burn like cigarettes.

The flashing screen doesn't care who presses the fortune of the hours,

shouldering memories with sips. No soldier deserts the machine

that programs a fitted game, though many dream of a different outcome.

I have loved those players who won once

CALL for Visual Artists! Koger Center for the Arts Opens Submission Period for Annual Art Contest

The Koger Center for the Arts is bringing back their art competition, “The Project” for 2024. The submission period opened on April 17 and will close on July 19, 2024. The first-place winner for the contest receives a $500 stipend and a group of artists will get the opportunity to showcase their winning artwork!

The beginning of the art contest started during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The goals were simple – offer a small financial award to a South Carolina artist and provide a platform to showcase the talent of artists in our state through an exhibition at the Koger Center.

You can fill out the submission form here!

The requirements for submissions are as follows:

·         Artist must be over 18 years old and based in South Carolina

·         Submissions must be your own, original work

·         Submissions must have been created in the past 2 years

·         If an artist has applied before, repeat art cannot be submitted again

·         Previous winners of The Project/1593 Project (the name of the contest the year it was created) may not submit artwork for up to 5 years. Honorable mentions are still allowed to enter again.

The end of the submission period coincides with the run of the exhibit “The Project 2023 Winners’ Exhibition.” The featured, winning artists from last year’s submission period are Yvette Cummings (first place), Roberto de Leon (second place), Gerard Erley, Susan Lenz, Jo-Ann Morgan, and Cameron Porter (honorable mentions). More information about this upcoming exhibit can be found on the Koger Center site.

If you have any questions or concerns about the submission process, call the Koger Center Admin Office at (803)777-7500, or email Emily Moffitt at moffitte@mailbox.sc.edu.

 -Emily Moffitt

Jasper's TINY GALLERY Artist, PAT CALLAHAN, Transforms Columbia Scrap Metal into Wearable Works of Art

May’s Tiny Gallery artist is local jeweler and creative Pat Callahan, who some may know by the name Entangled Jewelry.  

Making and fixing objects were staples of Callahan’s childhood, with “creativity, making, and ingenuity always encouraged & patterned at home.”  

“A small hutch was always stocked with colored and plain paper, crayons, glue, and such. My mother & maternal grandmother helped my sisters and I explore embroidery, crewel work, knitting, crocheting, sewing, and baking,” she recalls. “My father, a mechanical engineer, could fix and repair seemingly anything, had an amazing array of tools, and somehow found time to craft furniture and carve miniature-scale US Naval ships.”  

Callahan spent her childhood drawing, and as she grew, she began replicating the life around her in her drawings: livestock on farms, animals from the zoo, and her own family moving around their everyday life. It is no surprise, then, that she would study art—graphic design specifically—in college, receiving a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University.  

After a career in graphic design, Callahan retired from USC Press—the university’s scholarly book publisher. Now having the time, she took her first jewelry class jewelry-making class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. At this time, she resumed a sketchbook practice and spent more time than ever in her studio. 

Callahan found her way to jewelry naturally through her figure drawing and sketching. In the 90s, she began figure-drawing with the group About Face, and this was her main form of creation for 15 years. 

“By 2007, I was building shadowboxes, which married my ingenuity with my love of nature findings, metal whatnots, and drawing. As part of this work I learned jewelry techniques to secure items in my boxes,” she shares. “In 2009 I moved my studio home after 13 years at Vista Studios, downtown Columbia, and soon surrendered to making jewelry with recycled, vintage, and metal finds. Through it all, my artistic expression beautifully counterbalanced a computer-based career.”

 This all led to Entangled Jewelry, where Callahan makes her creations through building off a special primary material: metal harvested from the streets of Columbia. She finds these materials to be “beautifully scuffed and abraded and rich with story” and believes “working with recycled and vintage elements honors [her] concern for Mother Earth.” She combines these with additional vintage and repurposed elements—and the rare gemstone—for edgy, industrial statement pieces.

The crafting process itself is organic. Whenever Callahan finds a particularly “tantalizing” piece, she keeps it on her work surface, and from here, pairings begin forming in her mind.

“Some pairings are immediate and assemble quickly; others evolve and demand I learn new skills or discover a tool,” she says. “This assemblage, one-of-a-kind approach feeds my creativity and curiosity. Possibilities are endless!”

 This industrial, innovative assemblage is apparent in her Tiny Gallery show. Washers and watches become wearable pieces of art in her necklaces. Metal you’d think nothing of as you walk over it on Main Street becomes the stunning centerpiece of a pin. Beads interspersed with charms and toolbox necessities transform into earrings.

“My Entangled Jewelry leans industrial style and genderless. This selection includes pins and clip pins as alternatives to necklaces and earrings,” Callahan says. “I believe in adornment!”

Some may be familiar with Callahan’s work from juried artisan markets such as the Rosewood Art & Music Festival, Sesqui Artisan Market, Cottontown Art Crawl, and Artista Vista Live Mart, and patrons can find her after the show as well at Art on State on May 10, 5:30 to 9:30, in West Columbia.

To purchase any of the works in this article, and to view the additional works in the show, head on over to Jasper’s online gallery space: Tiny Gallery.

-Christina Xan

 

Al Black's Poetry of the People Features Janet Kozachek

This week's Poet of the People is Janet Kozachek. Shortly before COVID I hosted an ekphrastic poetry event at the Arts Center in Kershaw County, Camden, SC; Janet has had a lot to do with introducing me to many opportunities to host poetry events in Camden, Orangeburg and Hampton County. She is a dynamic advocate of the creative arts and a talented poet, writer, and visual artist. I look forward to participating in whatever event she creates next.

-Al Black

Janet Kozachek  has led a long and eclectic career as a writer and visual artist,  pursuing work and advanced study in Europe, China, and New York.  She was the  first American to matriculate in the Beijing Central Art Academy (CAFA), where she studied  painting, poetry, and calligraphy.  Ms. Kozachek moved  to the Netherlands with her husband Nathaniel Wallace,  to teach with the University of Maryland overseas division for two years.  Returning to the United States she became a graduate student at Parsons School of Design. 
During graduate work at Parsons in New York, Kozachek studied painting and drawing with Larry Rivers, Paul Resika, Leland Bell, and John Heliker, and poetry with  J.D. McClatchy.  It was this brush with McClatchy, then editor of the Yale Review and author of Painters and Poets, that first inculcated the idea for Kozachek that painting and poetry could emanate from the same creative source in western as well as in  eastern art.


In South Carolina, Kozachek embarked on a long peripatetic career as an artist in residence and sometimes adjunct professor teaching Chinese art and Mosaic making throughout the state under the auspices of the South Carolina State Arts Commission.  Kozachek founded and became the first president of the Society of American Mosaic Artists in 1999.  She wrote for, and co-edited, the society’s quarterly publication, Groutline, and co-authored the catalogue for the first international exhibition of mosaics in the United States.   She also actively wrote for Evening Reader Magazine, publishing essays on art and social issues.  She is the author of four books of poetry. 

Song of the Sinuses

(On the occasion of the discovery that researchers playing ancient ceramic musical instruments would sometimes hear a note that others could not because it was generated from resonance inside their sinuses) 

The archaeologist,

with his vinyl gloves 

and his plastic straw,

played the ancient globular flute,

last touched a millennium ago

by Shaman’s lips.

Six whole notes

climbed up a scale

as the pressure of modern air

yielded sound.

For the record there were six notes.

The archaeologist heard seven.

Investigators played that tape

again and again

– in search of that seventh note.

that they were certain that they heard.

What was that seventh unrecorded final note

that could not be bound 

yet rang persistently in their heads?

It was a singular sinus sensation!

The lonely note was for 

the hearing of the solitary.

It was a spiritual resonance

of an internal sound

echoing in the caverns of their skulls.

Not every note must be noted.

Not every thought must be voiced.

Not every sound need be heard by others.

Not every action must be known,

nor every meaning ascertained.

Not every desire must be met.

There must be quiet in the world

to leave a space for internal music.

Listen.

News Cycle

( After a Drawing by Laurie Lipton)

Another school shooting

the jaded eyes and numbed mind

observe on the rectangular

porthole to the outside world

Another invasion

I watch the troops float onscreen

above my painted toes

Another disaster

A family sleeps on borrowed blankets

outside the rubble

of what was once their home.

I scan them while reclining

in my own bed

in my air-conditioned room.

Another war

feeds my evening news cycle

I watch it through

the hazy steam

that emanates from my

museum shop coffee cup 

decorated with scenes from

Picasso’s Guernica

aesthetically wrapped snugly

around the glazed form.

Purchased for just

$9.99 at the museum shop.

Another famine

plays out across my television

Mothers cradle emaciated infants

My cat cries out

wanting to be fed

I pause to feed her

and switch the channel

I am told

that brain surgery is performed

with just local anesthetics

to get below a scalp’s surface

with sedatives to blunt awareness

of what is inserted or extracted 

from the matter of mind

Brains don’t feel pain

Patient patients

close their eyes then

and don’t panic 

at what they see or hear

Another massacre?

Too many in a day now

to be counted

With the precision of a scalpel

the news cycle enters

through an anaesthetized cloud

of indifference

blunted by frequency

numbed by distance

cushioned with a thick cotton blanket

blocking out the fear

that the news 

some day

will find me

Celestial Beings and Lesser Gods

(Zaparozhia and Melania Perik)

Objects upon a white cloth

lay as offerings to people passing by

in the torpor of late afternoon shadows.

A solitary apple, a tempting trinket,

sit as the trappings of yearning

for a warm bed and respite from hunger.

A mass of woman sits

swaddled in a woven coat

and a thinking hat.

She nods her head downwards,

as hypnogogic hallucinations

fly within and without the hollows of trees.

Celestial beings and lesser gods,

half human and half chicken,

turn right side up and upside down

in their flight between somnolence and wakefulness.

They have been conjured.

They cavort among the boughs,

and then are exorcized 

from haunted limbs. 

Crow

Crow watches you

with eyes you cannot see,

black on black  against the setting sun,

waiting in quiet silhouette upon a branch.

Crow seeks you

in benevolent predation,

to feed upon your sorrows,

and swallow your regrets.

Crow finds you

alone among the living,

lost within memories of departed souls

who call and call your name.

Crow grasps you

in her claws folded

tight around your waist,

her black beak cool against your face.

Crow knows you

when you cross the bridge

into that great void

and come back home again.


Columbia-based Photographer Sean Rayford Releases New Publication Documenting the Final Days of the Old New Brookland Tavern

“When we leave this plane of existence, what do we leave behind? Do I make things of enough importance that future generations get to see what life was like during these times, through my eyes?…”

No one has documented the happenings of the Columbia area more than Sean Rayford. Rayford is a photojournalist and documentary photographer. His unmistakable images of his immersion into major national events have been seen by hundreds of millions of people worldwide who viewed the covers of the largest newspapers, print and online editions, around the world. And yet, it seems to those who don’t know him personally, a lot of his free time is spent documenting the range of day-to-day activities in Columbia and the surrounding area. 

On Saturday, April 27th, Rayford is releasing a new photo zine titled For the Record. The zine documents the last three months of the local club New Brookland Tavern, through Rayford’s lens, as it prepared to close after decades of live music at its West Columbia location. “When I learned about the building’s sale in West Columbia, I immediately began this project, knowing the days at the location in West Columbia might be limited. I had been procrastinating a personal photo project about NBT for about a year and I understand the role of photography and the passage of time,” says Rayford.

The more you look at Rayford’s photography the more you understand his burned-in ability to capture the most interesting moment between two mundane seconds of time. This imagery exists on his Soda Citizen Instagram page, and through photo books independently released by him. Part of this is that his point of view is in his DNA, the other part may be his dozen years or so spent behind the bar at the original New Brookland Tavern, watching the night unfold in front of him. Rayford explains “I went to my first show there (New Brookland Tavern) in the fall of 1998 when my suite mate’s band played. I think I was hired by my college radio co-host, Jonathan Dunagin, who was a booking agent at NBT. It’s where I’ve spent most of my adult Thanksgiving holidays.” 

Rayford has published compilations of his photography before, but a zine is a different approach for him and closer to his heart. “I look at zines as physical/analog publications that embrace a D.I.Y. mentality. It’s indie publishing without boundaries. They can be what you want them to be,” he explains. “I have more resources, knowledge, skills - but much higher expectations than when I tackled my previous self-publishing efforts. I’d always been on much smaller budgets — without viewing the project as a personal long-term investment in myself as a creator.” 

The final show at the West Columbia of location of New Brookland Tavern was December 29th, 2023, and the first show at its new Five Points location was the next day. Rayford documented both. 

“I’ve also obviously been a contributor to the smallest and biggest newspapers and magazines in the world. There’s something about challenging yourself, sharing, and delivering creative work. It’s fulfilling - and there is a grasp at immortality going on here,” he continues.

“When we leave this plane of existence, what do we leave behind? Do I make things of enough importance that future generations get to see what life was like during these times, through my eyes? What an immense privilege on multiple levels.”

The release party for For the Record will take place at the New Brookland Tavern in Five Points this Saturday, April 27th. Copies of For the Record will be available for purchase. 

Editor’s note: Rayford has previously been featured and been hired on assignment for Jasper Magazine.

-Wade Sellers

 

For the Record

60 pages / Color / 4.9 inches x 6.7 inches

Koger Center Upstairs Gallery to Open a New Group Exhibit - “Beat of the Heart” curated by Keith Tolen

“What is the beat of a heart?”

Keith Tolen - artist

The Koger Center for the Arts’ next art exhibition in the Upstairs Gallery features five of Columbia’s finest visual artists: Keith Tolen, Fred Townsend, Rodgers Boykin, Jeffrey Miller, and Ryan McClendon. The exhibit opens April 29 and will be housed in the Koger Center until July 1. The exhibit’s opening reception is scheduled for May 23, from 6 – 8 p.m., and is free to the public.

Tolen, a fellow member of the Jasper Project Board of Directors, approached the four other artists with an idea. A group exhibit showcasing artwork that answered the question “what is the beat of a heart?” in connection to the heart of South Carolina. The work engages the viewer to view the artist’s perspective on the idea and reflect on their own interpretations.

Exhibition Statement: “What is the beat of a heart? It is the contraction of your heart as it pumps blood to the rest of your body. One organ--made of valves, chambers, veins and arteries--is responsible for keeping an entire body--movement, consciousness, breathing--in working order. The thumping in our ears, the press of fingers to palm to check pulse, these are how we know our hearts beat, that we are alive. This exhibition features five moments represented by the work of five artists; each artist may be a key part of this show’s artistic body, but what connects them is this beat. Specifically, this heartbeat seeks to infuse the Carolinas with a pulse of new blood as each artist shares their Carolina experience highlighting the richness of living in this area.

Jeffrey Miller - artist

Each artist will share their images based on personal interpretation of the theme: what is art, and how does it serve as a heartbeat living in the Carolinas? The Carolinas pose a beauty that stretches across the terrain from the mountains and foothills to the piedmonts and swamps and, finally, out to the ocean. The diversity of the creative experience will be showcased as these five artists bring to visual light the magic of colors, shapes, and special details to share their stories. The goal of this collection is to engage the viewer with a creative journey into the broad array of expressionism that connects with our rich surroundings. The collective artworks seek to enrich the heart of every viewer as they explore the unique designs displayed in their bold beauty--arteries and veins that run through our state and ourselves. Leaving this body of work will have the viewers longing to purchase a piece in order to continue sharing in the lifeforce of these talented artists. This new blood represents a dose of new energy, pumping throughout not just the show, but each of our bodies, our community. The answer to the question, "what is art?" will become clearer to the audience as they savor each individual image, feeling it beat behind their own chests.”

Ryan McClendon - artist

The Koger Center Upstairs Gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and an hour prior to any Koger Center for the Arts performance

-Emily Moffitt

Jasper Project Board Member AL BLACK Creates New Poem to Celebrate Announcement of ONE BOOK 2024 Novel - BEAVER GIRL by CASSIE PREMO STEELE

In honor of the announcement of Cassie Premo Steele’s novel, BEAVER GIRL, as the selection for the ONE BOOK 2024 community reading project, we asked Jasper Project board of directors member and local poetry guru, Al Black, to read Beaver Girl and craft a poem in response to the message of the book. Al did not disappoint! Please read Al’s poem, and the signature poem for this project, The Remembering, below, then pick up your own copy of Beaver Girl, and write a poem, paint a picture, or create a piece of music in your response to the book and enter it in the Jasper Project’s THE ART OF ONE BOOK 2024 Arts Contest.

The Remembering

 

Leave your shoes here on the stump.

Go forward on bare feet,

step through into the Remembering.

 

The ground will know you.

The mycelium will announce your approach. 

Next to the beaver pond remove your gown.

 

Sit naked on the bank. Tonight is the Leaving of the Kits. 

The recitation of old stories 

of Livia, Chap and their families

 

Tales of a time when humans and beavers 

spoke the same language 

and learned to live together, again.

 

Tonight, young beavers must leave their parents

make space and time for the next litter.

They may invite you to swim 

 

to the far side of the pond with them.

There they will leave the water 

and begin their journey to new streams.

 

Not all of your sisters or all of the kits will remember, 

but if they listen,

they will feel memories of the Healing Time 

 

that came after the Great Dying Away. 

And maybe - if you are blessed,

you will remember and believe the old stories of a beaver girl

 

and that ancient laws of preservation are based in truth.

The door of enchantment is only open a short time

so do not question me, remove your shoes and enter the Remembering.

 

Al Black, 04/21/2024 

 

Announcing the Jasper Project's THE ART OF ONE BOOK 2024 CONTEST for Literary, Visual, and Musical Arts!

The Art of ONE BOOK 2024 – Cassie Premo Steele’s BEAVER GIRL!

Want to bring your own interpretation of 2024’s ONE BOOK  selection? The Jasper Project has an opportunity for YOU! Read Cassie Premo Steele’s Beaver Girl, then write a poem, paint a picture, or craft a piece of music with or without lyrics.

Entries

A panel of experts in the art of your entry will review submissions and choose winners in the following categories:

·         Poetry

·         Visual Art

·         Original Music

Winners will receive prizes, be featured in the Fall 2024 issue of Jasper Magazine, and be celebrated at the ONE BOOK 2024 Round-Up Party on Sunday, September 22nd at the One Columbia Co-op! DEADLINE JULY 1, 2024!

All submitted work must be original, family friendly, and capable of being performed or displayed in an outdoors setting. Both 2D and 3D work will be considered for the visual art competition.

Submission Instructions

Email your files to submissions@jasperproject.org. In the email please include your name, mailing address and phone number. Submissions are limited to 3 entries in each arts category.

Include the following attachments in your email:

·         Poetry – Word Document or PDF

·         Visual Art – Hi-res photos or scanned image of your work.

·         Music – MP3 or WAV (If files are under 150 mb you can attach them to the email). For larger files please send a Google drive, Dropbox or One Drive link. Youtube, Vimeo and Sound Cloud links are also fine.

Congaree National Park Spring Forest Wellness Journaling w/ ONE BOOK 2024's Cassie Premo Steele, author of Beaver Girl

Saturday, April 27, 2024

10:00 AM 12:00 PM

Harry Hampton Visitor Center - 100 National Park Road - Hopkins, SC, 29061

Cassie Premo Steele - author of Beaver Girl, the selected novel for ONE BOOK 2024

Journaling With Cassie Premo Steele, Author of Beaver Girl

Join us for our FREE Forest Wellness Program with Cassie Premo Steele, the author of the new novel, Beaver Girl, an environmental novel set in Congaree National Park. Relieve the stresses of your everyday life by taking the time to reconnect with nature and learn more about the importance of this special ecosystem. The program will include a 2-mile (round trip) meditative walk and a journaling workshop. In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to participate in mindful reflection, meditation, and journaling.

No previous experience is necessary, and all writing will be kept private. A free Congaree National Park journal and pen will be provided to registered participants.

Please meet at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center. All you need to participate is yourself, a water bottle, comfortable shoes, and comfortable clothing. Space is limited, so please sign up ahead of time. For questions or more information please email e-mail us

Pets are not permitted on this program, but service animals are welcome.

Registration is limited to 20 and opens March 26 on Eventbrite

Check out the Jasper Project’s ONE BOOK 2024 page for more info on additional ONE BOOK 2024 events

REGISTER HERE!

Taylor Spreeuwers -- Featured Artist at 52 Windows - An Evening of Art

52 Windows – An Evening of Art is the annual art auction and gala hosted by Columbia’s own Mental Illness Recovery Center, Inc. (Mirci). Jasper has been proud to share the wonderous work that both Mirci and the artists invited to participate in the gala have done, and we are excited to share with our readers the great artists featured this year. The gala is from 6 – 9 p.m. on May 9, 2024, at 701 Whaley. This week, we’re talking about another featured 52 Windows artist, Taylor Spreeuwers.

For over 17 years Taylor (Parrish) Spreeuwers has been working in the arts. She owns TaySpray Designs and Studio, an in-home art studio where she creates and teaches art. Taylor’s pottery, paintings, and murals can be found in various homes and establishments across the state of South Carolina. Taylor’s ceramic sculptures and pottery are primarily created in the slab hand building method. Whether Taylor is teaching her weekly art classes, hosting her summer art camps, whipping up her latest inspiration, or doing an Artist in Residence at public schools in the Columbia area, she can always be found connecting and creating.

Born and raised in Irmo, South Carolina, Taylor received a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of South Carolina in Art Education in 2007. She taught middle school art for 6 years in Lexington School District 1 before starting her own business. Outside of the studio Taylor spends her heart, time, and talents working with nonprofits, traveling, and raising two delightful daughters with her husband, Steve Spreeuwers (Spray-wers). They happily reside in Lexington in a home that really belongs to their Ragdoll, Birdie.

REVIEW: Brian K and the Parkway - Killing The Bear

When you’re a musician from the hometown of Bruce Springsteen, nobody is surprised when the Boss is cited as a major influence in your work. For Brian K. Pagels, who performs as Brian K and the Parkway along with Stephen Russ, it’s not that simple, however.  

Russ, who Columbia audiences may remember from his work producing The Restoration and his own act The Fire Tonight, now calls Arlington, Virginia home, while Pagels lives in Alexandria; the George Washington Parkway that connects their towns is where the band’s name originated.  

There are rousing stadium-worthy anthems on this new album, but more often he’s drawing from the Americana and power pop progeny of Tom Petty, Drivin’ N’ Cryin,’ and Marshall Crenshaw. 

“Just Rock & Roll” hits as one of those poppier tunes, somewhere between Elvis Costello and The Smithereens with a catchy chorus and classic 60s vibe, while “Wind the Clock” takes a moodier tune into a more modern sound that wouldn’t sound out of place between John Mayer and Hozier.  

Pagels isn’t a demonstrative singer, but the themes he touches on–problems and how to cope with them, detailed in striking lyrical vignettes set to expansive tunes–lend themselves to his emphatic, unhurried delivery. “Is The Grass Really Greener (In the Green Mountain State)” comes across like a lost Drive-By Truckers track circa Southern Rock Opera while invoking biblical plagues in a tale of getting the hell out of town, for better or worse.  

Cat Popper, who’s worked with Jack White, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals and others, guests on “Straight Through,” serving as a vocal foil in what turns out to be the most Springsteen-like tune on the album. A “doo-doot-doo” Motown style chorus, a bridge that echoes “Born To Run” era Bruce, and a quiet solo intro a la “The River,” it’s all there. Popper’s verses expose the vulnerability of the lyric, “The only way out of the darkness is straight through,” pointing to “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” as a retroactive solution, perhaps. 

The best rock music can function both as a recorded statement and a live expression; just listening to these tracks offers a hint at the emotional, visceral impact they’ll have in a live setting. Pagels and Russ will be hitting the road in support of the release, with a stop in Columbia scheduled for April 26th at Curiosity Coffee; the show will also feature Moses Andrews and a special guest appearance from former Restoration bandleader Daniel Machado. 

Find them on Bandcamp  and find the event details on Facebook.

Cassie Premo Steele's BEAVER GIRL is the ONE BOOK 2024 Selection!

The Jasper Project, in partnership with One Columbia for Arts and Culture and All Good Books, is delighted to announce that Cassie Premo Steele’s novel BEAVER GIRL has been chosen as the community reading selection for the ONE BOOK 2024 Project.

Set against the backdrop of a post-pandemic and climate-collapsed world, Beaver Girl follows the journey of Livia, a 19-year-old confronting the aftermath of environmental upheaval. As wildfires encircle her, Livia seeks solace in Congaree National Park, where an unexpected alliance with a beaver family becomes a central theme in her fight for survival.

Steele skillfully intertwines elements of a morality tale, shedding light on humanity's role in climate disaster. The novel delves into the ecological significance of beavers as keystone species, emphasizing their ability to shape landscapes and create sustainable water sources.

Beaver Girl  transcends traditional genres, offering a narrative that explores themes of redemption, resilience, and the interconnectedness of all living beings. Anxiety and Outcast Press, through this joint venture, bring forth a powerful story that challenges readers to reflect on the consequences of environmental negligence.

Jasper, One Columbia, and All Good Books have joined hands to provide a summer-long celebration of the project with programming, readings, an arts competition, and a culminating project party in September.

Pick up your copy of BEAVER GIRL,* read along, and join us for the following free events!

*Beaver Gril is available at All Good Books, Liberation is Lit, Amason, Barnes & Noble & Bookshop.org

Al Black's Poetry of the People with Marjory Wentworth

This week's Poet of the People is Marjory Wentworth. Marjory Wentworth was and is poetry in South Carolina. She inspired us to become more than we had been and even though she has relocated to Ohio she continues to return and uplift South Carolina poets. Her influence will resonate through the poetry of South Carolina for decades beyond our living. 

Talking with Marjory on the phone is a gift of light.

-Al Black

MARJORY WENTWORTH is the New York Times bestselling author of Out of Wonder, Poems Celebrating Poets (with Kwame Alexander and Chris Colderley). Her books of poetry include Noticing Eden, Despite Gravity, The Endless Repetition of an Ordinary Miracle and New and Selected Poems. Her poems have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize 7 times. She is also the co-writer of We Are Charleston, Tragedy and Triumph at Mother Emanuel, with Herb Frazier and Dr. Bernard Powers and Taking a Stand, The Evolution of Human Rights, with Juan E. Mendez. She is co-editor with Kwame Dawes of Seeking, Poetry and Prose inspired by the Art of Jonathan Green, and the author of the prizewinning children’s story Shackles. She served as the poet laureate of South Carolina from 2003-2020, and in 2021 she received The SC Governor’s Award for the Arts. Her archives are held at the James B. Duke Library at Furman University. Wentworth teaches at Wright State University. She was named a Black Earth Institute Fellow for 2022-25. For further information see marjorytwentworth.com.

The Architecture of Containment

 

Enslaved Quarters Part 1

 

In the small square bedroom

Above the kitchen, heat rising

From the stove in waves so heavy

It was almost visible. A family

trying to sleep here, would lie still

As long as possible, tossing

And turning beneath moonlight, pouring

Through the only open window.

 

Sometimes a breeze

Carrying the scent of the sea

Rippled through the thick air

As if it could change everything

 

But the window turned in

On itself, on them and their entire world

 

The city beyond the high walls

Was as far away as the moon itself

 

Even the horses, snorting

In the stables

Across the courtyard

Could sometimes see beyond these walls

 

Flocks of seagulls would often

Find their way here

Strutting across rooftops 

Then rising through the line

Of magnolias

High above the walls

some would hover, almost still

Suspended in the air like hope

  

For The Poetics of Witness program, the Gibbes Museum of Art, Sep. 20, 2023 

  

1937

 

I never imagined my grandmother at rest,

until I saw the Dorothea Lange photograph

of a sharecropper wife and mother of seven

children near Chesenee, South Carolina;

because this woman is so relaxed,

as if her endless work is done.

Sitting on a chair – one arm stretched across

her swollen belly, the other hand

holding her chin; deep in thought,

her eyes are focused on something outside

the frame, dreaming into the distance,

she looks as if she can see beyond

the cotton fields and the small town

where she was born,

before the babies came one after the other,

before the lean years, when the store

still had barrels full of flour,

oats, and rows of sugary canned fruit

lining the dusty shelves.

After the war to end all wars,

she was young, and life was sweet,

the way it must have seemed

to my grandmother, before giving

birth to eight children on the kitchen table

in the gabled house on a bog road

across the stand of apple trees

in West Bethel, Maine, where snowdrifts

reached the roof most winters

and mud clogged the roads each spring.

 

In Hebrew, Bethel means house of God.

Sometimes, she must have wondered

where God was in that house west of Bethel,

those grueling years of war and rationing,

when the babies came one after the other. 

My mother, number 5, was the fattest. 

After three boys in a row, she was adored –

the only one to find a tangerine in the toe

of her Christmas stocking, beneath peppermints

and a pair of red mittens knit by her mother. 

She had never seen a tangerine,

and did not know how to eat it. At first,

she thought it was a ball that she could roll

across the floor and watch the black barn cat

try to catch it. This story was her easy way

of explaining how poor they were,

and how my grandmother could make a holiday

out of almost nothing.  Like the mother

in the photograph in Chesnee, South Carolina,

who sat down at the end of the long day,

watched the sun setting over the peach trees,

this woman who believed that the pink light

spreading across the tops of the flowering

branches was shining just for her.

 

 

Inspired by the exhibition The Bitter Years:  Dorthea Lange and Walter Evans Photography from the Martin Z Marguiles/”Sharecropper wife and mother of seven children, Near Chesnee, South Carolina” photographer Dorthea Lange

  

Flight

 

Clouds disassembling

Breathless in sunlight

 

Solid as the afternoon

I am not a part of

 

That is the place

I am looking for

 

The earth’s magnet

Of troubles, spinning

 

As far away

As I am travelling

 

 Nothing is Abandoned

 

Lined with miles of tangled vines,

coconut palms and bananas

growing thick and green,

 

the dirt road to the market

climbs through clumps of tangerine

bougainvillea and trees

 

laden with lemons and limes,

passing pink painted box homes

where bright laundry is always

 

drying outside on the line,

and roosters pecking at the earth

announce the day triumphant.

 

The road is the color

of the sun rising over the sea.

There is smoke on the wind

 

and prayers playing on the radio,

as the road fills with people   

walking in the same direction.

 

Everyone carries something:

buckets of picked peanuts, 

a small child on her mother’s back,

 

bags filled with mangoes, sugar cane

stacked on a tray. An endless

array of items passes by, from loaves

 

of bread to used batteries;

nothing goes to waste

in this roadside economy.

 

And nothing is abandoned

on this road pulsing with light

and the gifts the world brings.

  

Ghana, 2014

CMA Partners with SPIT to bring Unframed Art: The Spit Hits the Fan

Jasper is a sucker for multidisciplinary arts projects! That’s why we love that Columbia Museum of Art is partnering with SPIT — Stars of Politically Incorrect Theatre — to bring us the play, Unframed Art: The Spit Hits the Fan, on Sunday April 28th at the CMA.

Read about this cool event below and grab those tickets before they’re gone!

UnFramed Art: The Spit Hits the Fan

Sunday, April 28 | Seating starts at 2:00 p.m. | Play 2:30 – 3:15 p.m. | Reception 3:15 – 4:00 p.m.

FOR ONE DAY ONLY!

What do you get when you mix up visual art, two wacky playwrights, and five performers with too much time on their hands? You get UnFramed Art: The Spit Hits the Fan, a short original adult comedy brought to you by the Stars of Politically Incorrect Theatre (SPIT) Players. It’s a bizarre companion piece to Interior Lives: Modern American Spaces, 1890-1945, loosely inspired by works in the CMA-exclusive exhibition. The zany cast of characters — performed by Nick Good, Emily Harrill, Tiffany James, Perry Simpson, and Kathy Sykes — comically interprets how the art speaks to them and gives voice to what possibly might be the story behind the art. The 45-minute play is produced by Larry Hembree, cowritten by award-winning playwright Lou Clyde and Perry Simpson, and directed by Emily Harrill. Please note that the production is sponsored by no one. UnFramed Art contains some mature language and themes, so discretion is advised. Arrive early to enjoy the galleries prior to the performance. Beer, wine, and light snacks for sale. Brief reception with light refreshments to follow. $20 / $16 for members. Join today!

Buy Tickets

REVIEW: Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune

Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune

Trustus Side Door Theatre

April 11 – 20, 2024

The play opens on a darkened apartment, with a couple making love. After working together for several weeks Frankie, a waitress has agreed to a date with Johnny, a short-order cook, and the two have ended up in Frankie’s one-room walk-up apartment. Johnny (played by Jason Stokes) has fallen madly, absurdly, head-over-heels in love with Frankie (Marybeth Gorman Craig). Frankie thinks this is an absurd notion. She’s had a lovely evening but would be happiest if Johnny would just get dressed and leave so she could get in her pj’s and eat ice cream and watch television. 

The evening unfurls as our two world-weary, battered souls talk and listen and question and argue about love and the notion of love, and whether any of us are really and truly prepared to meet the love of our lives, that one soul without whom we cannot live. A late-night classical music radio station provides the score, complete with a velvet-voiced deejay. 

Johnny is persistent and obnoxious and relentless and meddling and romantic, and he NEVER SHUTS UP in his quest to convince Frankie that she is in fact his soulmate. There were several times when I wanted her to push him out the window or split his head open with an axe. He’s just adorable. This may be the best work I’ve seen from Stokes, and I’ve seen him in any number of roles. His shading, his timing, his nuance, his unending enthusiasm is all spot on. 

I’m not sure how Marybeth Gorman Craig is able to pull off world-weary and luminous at the same time, but she does it beautifully. Her Frankie has been burned and disappointed by men over and over. Her skepticism is as relentless as Johnny’s enthusiasm. She would like to believe him, but her experiences won’t let her. Yet.           

When I first heard this was being produced in the Side Door, I was  concerned that it would be too “cozy” for this show. In fact it’s the perfect space. We feel as claustrophobic as Frankie. Jayce Tromsness’ scene design and Erin Wilson’s set dressing is true to tiny NYC apartments. There’s a working kitchen! I love a working kitchen on stage; Frankie’s need for a late-night nosh (cold meatloaf sandwiches – delish) resulted in real meatloaf sandwiches ON TOAST. (I went home and made toast after the show.)  There’s a later scene where Johnny whips up a western omelet; there is a soupçon of menace to his chopping skill. 

For any of you who might hesitate to see this show because you’ve heard that there would be  NAKED PEOPLE onstage, relax. There are no naked people onstage in this production, and it didn’t affect the story one iota.

 We’ve all had those all-nighters, where we argued and made up and loved and snacked and made discoveries about ourselves and each other and made love again until the sun rose. Hopefully, we’ve sometimes even had “the most beautiful music ever written” as a soundtrack. Erin Wilson has given us a lovely, lovely show. Frankie and Johnny are tired and resigned and hopeful and hopeless. You don’t necessarily get a “happy ending,” but you don’t get a sad one, either. I was sad and hopeful and wanted a cigarette at the end of the evening.

Sadly, you only have 4 more chances to see this production: April 17 – April 20 at 8:00 p.m. There is limited seating in the Side Door Theatre so make your reservations now. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling the theatre at 803-254-9732. Beer and wine are available for purchase in the lobby.

 

           

 

Two Jasper Events for Artista Vista - Friday April 19th - Big Tiny Gallery at Richland Library & Group Show with Archie, Archie, Krajewski, Tolen & Carpenter at Coal Powered Filmworks

Front Stoop by Kevin Archie

In addition to the closing reception for A Big Tiny Gallery, our collaborative exhibition with Richland Library, Friday night, April19 from 6:30 – 8:30 at the Main branch on Assembly Street, Jasper has another visual arts treat to contribute to this weekend’s Artista Vista celebration.

We’re delighted to welcome artists Laurel Steckel Archie, Kevin Archie, Michael Krajewski, Keith Tolen, and Kimber Carpenter for a group show at Coal Powered Filmworks, 1217 Lincoln Street (across from Blue Marlin) from 6 – 9 pm.

The Bath by Laurel Archie — This piece and more of Archie’s work is currently on display at Motor Supply Company Bistro on Gervais Street.

Corona by Michael Krajewski

Wild West by Keith Tolen

The Surprise by Kimber Carpenter

Please join us to check out these lovely artists’ work, grab a copy of Jasper Magazine, have a little nibble, and visit with us for a while. We’re happy to see you all, and we want to issue a special welcome to other artists from all disciplines to chat with each other as well as patrons and fill us in on what’s coming up in the arts for you. We’ll have a dry erase board set up for you to add any upcoming events you may have going on.

Please also visit our neighbors at Mike Brown Contemporary Gallery, Soulhaus Art next door!

Poetry of the People with Al Black featuring Frances J. Pearce

This week's Poet of the People is Frances J. Pearce. I first met Frances over a decade ago in the low country, where she is a respected fixture of the literary community. I've heard her read at literary events and admired her steady hand when she served as the President of the Poetry Society of South Carolina. Her poetry speaks of family and friends as she observes the passing of days casting her luster on our community of poets.

Mount Pleasant resident Frances J. Pearce is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer whose work has appeared in Archive: South Carolina Poetry Since 2005 (Ninety-Six Press), The Fourth River, North Carolina Literary Review, Kakalak, Fall Lines, I Am a Furious Wish: Anthology of Lowcountry Poets (Free Verse Press), and elsewhere. Her poetry chapbook Those Carolina Parakeets Once Far from Extinct was published by Finishing Line Press. She is a past president of the Poetry Society of South Carolina. 

Yorkshire Pilgrimage 

On a drizzly August afternoon, Marion, Jo,

Katherine, and I traveled on foot up the perilous

hillside path to find her resting place—not

 

amongst ancient graves surrounding the church,

but in the walled section beyond the gate, behind

Dunleavy, beside the Drapers. All lined up like patients

 

in a ward. Black letters on gray granite. Full name.

Dates. A line of verse: Even amidst the fierce flames

the lotus can be planted. A tangle of weeds. Blades

 

of bright green grass. A lantern leaning against Sylvia’s

headstone, an unfilled basket resting on the mound.

Later, jackets drooping, skin wet, we four pilgrims

 

filed down the High Street of Heptenstall, passing by

the wafting aroma of mutton pie. The others cut through

occupied pastures and returned to our borrowed rooms

 

in Ted’s hillside house, a mile from where he buried you.

Alone, I entered a pub, empty except for the German

Shepherd, sporting a red collar, seated next to a window.

Night Sounds in a Neighborhood along the Wando River

  

Sometimes palmetto fronds

rustling. Sometimes a foghorn

 

cautioning an approaching ship.

Sometimes the buzz of mosquitoes

 

out for blood. Sometimes a deafening

boom as lightning ruptures

 

a loblolly pine. Sometimes the call of

barred owl in pursuit of wharf rats.

 

Sometimes a shipping container

plummeting to ground at the nearby port.

 

Sometimes the swish of a car traveling

across wet pavement. Sometimes the

 

explosion of a transformer. Sometimes

the scream of the vixen calling her mate.

 

Often the neighbors’ various dogs

barking. One time, a sudden screech

 

when your speeding truck missed the

curve. Tonight, the floofy cat pretending

 

I’m her kitten, purring into my ear,

It’s all right. Everything’s all right.

REVIEW: The Visit at USC Theatre and Dance

THE VISIT

USC Department of Theatre and Dance

April 5 - 12

This writing is woefully late for a number of reasons; none of them particularly good, and for that we do apologize. However, the excellent work by everyone involved deserves an acknowledgement.

USC Theatre and Dance closed out the season with Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Visit, and what a production it was. The piece was first produced in 1956 in Zürich, Switzerland, and was adapted for British audiences in a production directed by Peter Brook and starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine. After touring Britain in 1957 – 58, the play was taken to Broadway. Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn starred in a film adaption in 1964, and Kander and Ebb (along with a book by Terrance McNally) flipped it into a musical starring Chita Rivera in 2001. In 2020, Tony Kushner’s  new English language adaptation was produced in London.

The story takes place in the “somewhere in Europe” village of Güllen, a village which has not fallen on hard times, but under them. A miserable, poverty-stricken, dingy little hamlet. The one bright spot is the impending visit of Claire Sachanassian, the wealthiest woman in the world. Claire grew up in Güllen, and the townspeople are hopeful and desperate that she will provide them with much needed financial assistance. The scene opens with villagers, desperate to make a good impression, frantically preparing for Ms. Zachanassian’s arrival. And arrive, she does.

As a young girl, Claire fell in love with Anton Schill, who has grown up to be a model Güllenite – a successful shop keeper with a devoted wife and children, and on his way to becoming the next Bürgermeister. Alas, young Claire finds herself  with a brӧtchen in the oven. Her beloved Anton abandons her, denies his paternity, and turns the townspeople against her. She is run out of town in shame. Claire will gift the town and each of its citizens a grand fortune, in exchange for the life of the man who abandoned her. Anton’s life is about to go to hell in a ham biscuit.

Revenge is a dish best served cold…

Rachel Vanek, a Sophomore (repeat – A SOPHMORE) nailed the role of Claire. She moves like a glacier across the stage – all icy, brittle perfection. I have no doubt that if you touched her, you’d get frostbite. Cruella Deville notwithstanding, there is a shimmer of that very young woman who was shamed by the people of Güllen so very long ago, and Claire begins to win us over. Vanek’s Claire is the Ice Princess personified. (She does not “Let it Go”). I look forward to seeing this young performer in other productions.

Olan Domer plays Anton Schill to smarmy excellence. If you met him in a bar, you’d keep your cocktail covered. His expression when he realizes that he is the fee for Güllens future  prosperity is priceless. Domer played the equally smarmy Karl Lindner in USC’s production of A Raisin in the Sun earlier this year.

There truly isn’t a weak link in this cast. Maggie Davisson as Bobby, Claire’s assistant, Dominic DeLong-Rodgers as the Bürgermeister, Cameron Eubanks, the village doctor, Didem Ruhi, the priest, Elaine Werren as Fraü Schill, and Elizabeth Wheless as the teacher were all very well-cast. Along with the rest of the ensemble, many of whom were double and triple cast, the story builds in intensity and suspense. I must mention Koby Hall and Rafe Hardin, who play the two blind men. Not only are they hysterically funny (until we learn how they came to be blind), but they are also blind and on stilts.

Lindsay Wilkinson’s costume design is amazing. Working with Kristy Hall, she develops a costume plot which is a bit art-deco, a bit Weimar Republic, a bit Picasso, and a smattering of A Clockwork Orange…. It was fascinating to watch the costumes change  as the characters  wearing them changed. Her use of patterns and color brought another dimension to the production.

The stage at Drayton Hall is massive, and the set/lighting/sound designers (Ashley Jensen, Lorna, Young, Danielle Wilson) filled it completely. The use of beautifully painted scrims allowed the set to change completely with a light cue. The sound was very well done. The train station serves as a focal point, and the sounds and the smokestacks turned me into a gleeful five-year old kid again. (I must confess I so wanted Claire to burst into “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” when she stepped out onto the balcony.)

The Visit is not only a story of revenge, but also a warning tale about avarice, integrity, loyalty, and the effects of soul-searing capitalism. Director Craig Miller, a USC alum, brought all of this together in an entertaining, provocative production. The only negative to this show is the all too short length of its run.

USC’s Department of Theatre and Dance has long been a contributor to some of the very best of Columbia theatre. Its students and faculty share their talents with theatres throughout the city. Many of them have gone on to teach, perform, and share their gifts on stages and in schools across the country.