Stone Cold Dead Serious

Greater Boston Arts goes behind the scenes at the American Repertory Theatre, capturing the ironic humor of "Stone Cold Dead Serious," the newest play by rising star Adam Rapp. In full dress rehearsal, Rapp, director Marcus Stern, and the actors fine-tune the performance in anticipation of its first run in front of a live audience. Rapp's latest play tells the story of the Ledbetters, a dysfunctional family of dropouts, junkies, and QVC addicts languishing in the wastelands of American suburbia. The author of 16 plays, Rapp went unproduced until the A.R.T. chose to stage "Nocturne" in 2000, and followed up the next year with Rapp's "Animals and Plants." A.R.T. Artistic Director Robert Brustein believes Rapp's balance of the comic and the heartfelt gives him a "once-in-a generation" appeal. Greater Boston Arts is on hand to see Rapp's characters come to life for the first time in front of an audience -- a moment Rapp calls "a little like giving birth."

American Repertory Theatre presents
Stone Cold Dead Serious
Loeb Drama Center
64 Brattle Street, Cambridge
Through March 12, 2002
For tickets and information call (617) 547-8300 or visit www.amrep.org.

The Culture of Violence

Greater Boston Arts looks at our culture's voyeuristic fascination with violence through twenty years of contemporary art. "The Culture of Violence," an exhibition at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, presents artists whose work reflects upon both the allure and the repulsion of violent imagery. Curators Helaine Posner and Donna Harkavy trace the history of this work through pieces such as Andy Warhol's seminal "Electric Chair." Through Leon Golub's paintings based on graphic documentary photographs, Sue Coe's illustrations of a gang rape in a New England bar, and Gregory Green's homemade bombs that remind us of the ease of terrorism, Greater Boston Arts experiences the horror that these artists use as their muse. Although the show was not created in response to September 11, both the curators and artists agree that they are looking at this work in a new light as a result of recent events. For more on artists Leon Golub, Sue Coe, and Gregory Green visit the highlight.

The Culture of Violence
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Fine Arts Center University Gallery
Amherst, MA
February 2 - March 15, 2002
April 2 - May 17, 2002
For more information call (413) 545-3670 or visit
www.umass.edu/fac/universitygallery.

Slavery Documents

Greater Boston Arts tells the story of the Cantata Singers' "Slavery Documents" on the eve of the world premiere follow-up to the controversial and unfinished first installment of a decade ago. Cantata Singers music director David Hoose explains that the first "Slavery Documents" commission, composed by Donald Sur, was only half finished at Sur's death in 1999. In 1990, Sur created a bold, hugely scaled libretto from the antebellum documents that offered religious defense of slavery. African American composer T.J. Anderson has recently composed the second installment, which he considers to be a personal response rather a sequel. "Slavery Documents 2" reaches from the agony of slavery to the hope of love, family, and, ultimately, spiritual redemption. Both compositions, sung by a racially mixed chorus of 80 voices, demand of the audience an honest confrontation with the legacy of slavery.

The Cantata Singers & Ensemble present
Slavery Documents 1 & 2
Symphony Hall
301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston
March 17, 2002
For tickets and more information call (617) 267-6502 or visit
www.cantatasingers.org.