Arts/Culture

Artpark is welcoming Indigenous programming back to its lineup for 2021 with a festival this Saturday that incorporates traditional and contemporary Native arts and culture. 

The pandemic prevented CEPA Gallery from getting people into their building in downtown Buffalo over the course of 2020. As a result, CEPA shifted its focus of contemporary photography and other visual arts to public spaces.

The life of an Italian immigrant who later founded one of the largest charitable organizations in the world will be captured in a film that includes scenes to be shot in Buffalo beginning next month. Hundreds of people are sought to be hired as paid extras.

The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester is a regional favorite that highlights the many ways people have fun, including toys and electronic and video games. Now you can add TV game shows to that mix.

The Kenan Center wears many hats as a small arts organization in Lockport. It’s home to a gallery, a theater, a Montessori School and recreation programming. And coming out of the pandemic, it’s looking to grow.

A 36-foot mural of Ulysses author James Joyce was unveiled Monday afternoon on Franklin Street in downtown Buffalo. It comes just in time for Bloomsday, a celebration of the Irish writer’s life that takes place every June 16.

What was your COVID song? WBFO wants to know. As we transition out of the pandemic, Mental Health reporter Nick Lippa shares what music got him through 2020 with mental health advocate Karl Shallowhorn.

Because the seating is restaurant style, which can be Covid-compliant, Jay Desiderio's dinner theater was allowed, after a lot of discussion with Erie County, to open.  After diners have eaten they are treated to an early-ish Neil Simon comedy based on the Biblical "Book of Job" - the story of a man whose faith is tested severly, as so many people's were during the last 15 to 18 months.  Starring favorite Buffalo comedic actors Dave Marciniak and Jimmy Janowski, it's squarely in the Neil Simon vien.

After, what, 15 months, Javier Bustillos posted a STAGEFRIGHT column titled "the world slowly reawakens... " in Anthony's blog "TheaterTalkBuffalo.com," which led Peter to run out and buy a new big wall calendar. Fifteen months ago there might be a play or musical in every square on every single day (if you include the occasional reading on Monday) and some days had both a matinee and an evening performance in two different venues. Wow! We aren't there....yet. Yet, just filling in a few live items felt good.

Sit back for an entertaining extended (17 minute) Theater Talk with two-time Tony nominee Alison Fraser who reminisces about Buffalo's Sesquicentennial and her original song celebrating Buffalo composers (see list), her Tennessee Williams:Words and Music album, and her audio-book reading of Alexander Nemerov's Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York.

Women deacons in the Catholic Church appear closer than ever, after a number of decisions this year by Pope Francis giving women a greater role in the faith. The change would mean a huge step forward for gender equality in the largest religious denomination.

Safe, socially distanced, and (mostly) "audience outdoor" live theatre returns to the Alleyway Theatre with the 30th annual short-play "Buffalo Quickies" festival to run from June 17 to July 10 in storefronts along Main Street all near Shea's. Small audience groups will watch from seats on the sidewalk, listen through headphones as the actors perform behind storefront glass, then stroll to the next window to peek in on another story, seeing all six short plays in a single evening. Theater Talk also notes the passing of stage (yes!) and screen's Olympia Dukakis and LGBTQ activists Madeleine Davis and Bruce Kogan.

We loved her on stage as Shug Avery in THE COLOR PURPLE and just look at her now. Gabriella (Gabby) J. McKinley will receive the Buffalo State President’s Medal for Outstanding Undergraduate Student which recognizes a student for exceptional academic achievement, community service, leadership, and creativity. And she'll deliver the student address during the virtual baccalaureate ceremonies Saturday, May 15. She's working with the Broadway League and will be in this summer's Shakespeare in Delaware Park productions.

When will theaters re-open? Broadway shows (including national tours at Shea's) require 100% use of capacity. Per Playbill, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that Broadway shows would reopen at that capacity beginning Sept. 14. However, without a crystal ball, the governor did not specify in his remarks exactly which shows are planning to operate on this timeline.

The contemporary play FOXFINDER by British playwright Dawn King is available to stream from New Phoenix Theatre and is the dystopian story of paranoia and fear of an unseen enemy. Actor Rick Lattimer sees strong parallels with the Q-Anon phenomenon which fueled the paranoia which led to the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Back in March, with a hit show (HAND TO GOD) in his theater, Road Less Traveled Productions' Artistic and Executive Director Scott Behrend moved swiftly and decisively to shut it down due to COVID, and now, just as swiftly and decisively, has announced a full season starting on November 4, 2021.