Arts & Culture :: Culture

Rebecca Makkai: author discusses 'I Have Some Questions For You'

Rebecca Makkai: author discusses 'I Have Some Questions For You'

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Feb 21, 2023

Novelist and straight ally Rebecca Makkai has created some of the most unforgettable queer characters in contemporary fiction. She shared insights on new novel, 'I Have Some Questions For You.'

Sargent's 'Grand Affair' - biography of the painter brings new light on his life

Sargent's 'Grand Affair' - biography of the painter brings new light on his life

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Feb 14, 2023

Paul Fisher, professor of American studies at Wellesley College, begins his full-scale biography, "The Grand Affair: John Singer Sargent in His World," with a confession that Sargent, a great American artist (1856-1925), is also an abiding enigma.

Sargent and Spain: John Singer Sargent exhibit graces the Legion of Honor

Sargent and Spain: John Singer Sargent exhibit graces the Legion of Honor

  • by Robert Brokl
  • Feb 14, 2023

Like a swank ocean liner of a bygone era, the John Singer Sargent exhibition, "Sargent and Spain," at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco from the National Gallery in Washington, is a welcome arrival, full of his trademark bravura paintings and drawings.

Mark Morris Dance Group's "The Look of Love" - company director & Berkeley native Sam Black returns to his roots

Mark Morris Dance Group's "The Look of Love" - company director & Berkeley native Sam Black returns to his roots

  • by Philip Mayard
  • Feb 7, 2023

Cal Performances welcomes back Mark Morris Dance Group for the Bay Area premiere of Morris' "The Look of Love: An Evening of Dance to the Music of Burt Bacharach." Company Director and Berkeley native Sam Black discussed his work with Morris.

Tom Crewe's 'The New Life' - Wilde times in Britain

Tom Crewe's 'The New Life' - Wilde times in Britain

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • Feb 7, 2023

Tom Crewe's debut novel, "The New Life" (Scribner), has been rightly praised as historical fiction at its finest. The irony, richly deserved, is that its two main protagonists, John Addington and Henry Ellis, never met in real life.

Streaking through history: New Yorker article tells of Robert Opel

Streaking through history: New Yorker article tells of Robert Opel

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Feb 6, 2023

Robert Opel, the famed "Oscar streaker," was also a gay gallery owner, nudism activist, and freelance photographer whose life and death are the subject of an expansive essay by Michael Schulman in the February 6 issue of The New Yorker magazine.

Castro art gallery starts fundraiser as rent doubles

Castro art gallery starts fundraiser as rent doubles

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Feb 6, 2023

Queer Arts Featured, a boutique, gallery and event space located at the former camera shop owned by Harvey Milk, had its rent double this past month. The owners have launched a GoFundMe campaign.

Chingwe Padraig Sullivan: queer Native American actor in SF Playhouse's 'Cashed Out'

Chingwe Padraig Sullivan: queer Native American actor in SF Playhouse's 'Cashed Out'

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jan 31, 2023

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Chingwe Padraig Sullivan reflected on growing up in New England and pursuing a career in theater as a queer Native American. Sullivan costars in the cast of "Cashed Out," currently running at SF Playhouse.

'Clyde's' - Lynn Nottage's diner comedy at Berkeley Rep

'Clyde's' - Lynn Nottage's diner comedy at Berkeley Rep

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jan 31, 2023

The beautifully balanced ensemble of five actors who play the owner and staff of a truck stop diner in "Clyde's" are provided with a bumper crop of fresh, zesty dialogue by Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage.

Winter's tales; new books part 2

Winter's tales; new books part 2

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Jan 31, 2023

Continuing on our Winter Books picks, here comes part two, which contains even more provocative reading material than the first group. Enjoy tales of thrillingly engrossing wartime queer love, conversion camp survival, and speculative foreign lands.

'Getting There' - world premiere debuts at NCTC; 'tick tick BOOM' postponed

'Getting There' - world premiere debuts at NCTC; 'tick tick BOOM' postponed

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jan 24, 2023

"Getting There," Dipika Guha's shifting, shimmering new play asks its characters and audiences to puzzle over a half-dozen abstract but interrelated concepts: loneliness, desire, friendship, love, guilt, and aging.

Brittney Griner's drama in a comic: basketball star's life told visually

Brittney Griner's drama in a comic: basketball star's life told visually

  • by Laura Moreno
  • Jan 24, 2023

Brittney Griner's inspirational life story has now been immortalized in a new comic book published by TidalWave Comics, "Female Force: Brittney Griner."

Winter's tales: new and upcoming LGBTQ books, part 1

Winter's tales: new and upcoming LGBTQ books, part 1

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Jan 17, 2023

Book lovers have so many reasons to be excited as it is already promising to be another stellar year for queer literature. Presented here are just a few examples of the amazing literary delights at —or coming soon to— a bookstore near you.

SF Ballet's 'next @ 90' festival: former Principal Dancer Nicolas Blanc returns as choreographer

SF Ballet's 'next @ 90' festival: former Principal Dancer Nicolas Blanc returns as choreographer

  • by Philip Mayard
  • Jan 10, 2023

In celebration of San Francisco Ballet's 90th anniversary, the company kicks off its spring season this month with the 'next@90 festival,' featuring nine world premiere ballets by nine choreographers from around the world, including Nicolas Blanc.