Arts & Culture

All-around actor/actress
Susan Roberts Knowlson
Whether she’s a benevolent witch (The Wizard of Oz) or a neglected wife (The Last Five Years), Susan Roberts Knowlson excels on stage. Flights of fancy, goofy monkeyshines, vengeful anger, and true-to-life heartbreak are all in her repertoire. And her clear, high voice is an asset to any musical theater production.

Playwright
Stan Peal
Charlotte has developed quite a collection of playwrights. The past year boasted productions of plays by four local writers. Among them, Stan Peal stands out. His plays blend comedy and poignancy as they seek answers to life’s most fundamental questions. Produced in August, The Expanding Sky is a historical musical about the life of an astronomer, and it’s a worthy addition to Peal’s substantial repertoire of locally performed works.

Director
Dennis Delamar
In the past year, Dennis Delamar directed both extremes of the theatrical world with finesse. Lions, scarecrows, and munchkins—oh, my!—followed the yellow brick road into audiences’ hearts in Central Piedmont Community College Summer Theatre’s all-singin’, all-dancin’ Wizard of Oz, while a horde of very different characters quietly emerged through the voice of one man in Actor’s Theatre’s spare and affecting production of I Am My Own Wife.

Set/costume design
Johann Stegmeir, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte
Children’s Theatre’s productions of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Magician’s Nephew were the kind of visually stunning sensations that we normally associate with big-ticket Broadway shows. The creative extravagance was the product of the brilliant set and costume designer Johann Stegmeir, who has worked with Children’s Theatre in years past and designs for opera and theater companies across the nation.

Museum exhibition
Families of Abraham, Levine Museum of the New South
Families of Abraham is an example of what this award-winning museum does best. Created in Charlotte for Charlotte by Charlotteans, this beautifully crafted exhibit of photographs, texts, and artifacts helps build community, challenging viewers to embrace the diversity in their own neighborhoods and in the world at large. It’s on display through July 31.

Artistic innovation
Charlotte Film Festival
With a grant from the Arts & Science Council and more than 300 entries from hopeful filmmakers, Louis Gurgitano founded the Charlotte Film Festival last fall. Although the local movie industry is growing, attendance was sparse—it’s easier to get crowds to a filming of a Will Ferrell comedy than to a screening of a Canadian film noir. But those who came got the real indie experience, with director talk-backs and actors’ autographs.

Cultural collaboration
Charlotte Civic Orchestra and The Charlotte Museum of History
When cultural organizations work together, they can create rich experiences that connect to audiences on many levels. The Charlotte Civic Orchestra and The Charlotte Museum of History brought the 1930s into the present by joining an exhibit (Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression) and a concert of Depression-era American music. The two added up to a sensory sum that exceeded the parts neither event could have offered alone.

Poetry collective
SlamCharlotte
What started as a couple of guys at UNC-Charlotte sharing their passion for wordplay has evolved into a blossoming slam poetry scene. With NoDa bar Wine-Up serving as home to weekly open mics, and Spirit Square as the backdrop for monthly competitions, experienced as well as aspiring poets have an outlet to get themselves heard. Popular poets include Bluz, C.P. Maze, Da Minista, and Q, and they have led Charlotte’s team to as high as a second-place finish in national competitions.

Performing arts season
75th Anniversary Season, Charlotte Symphony
No other orchestra in the Southeast has as long a history of continuous programming as the Charlotte Symphony. This season, the orchestra celebrated seventy-five years of fine music-making with several extraordinary events, including two sold-out performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a gathering of five former music directors for a “Return of the Maestros” concert, and the world premiere of a piano concerto by esteemed composer Michael Daugherty.

Lecture series
Novello Festival of Reading
The public library’s annual festival of reading is one of Charlotte’s finest cultural offerings. This year’s speakers included twenty-seven authors, including local literary celebrities Bob Inman and Doug Marlette and national stars Amy Tan and Mitch Albom. The writers are diverse, representing a wide range of genres and reader demographics. Best of all, most of the lectures are free.

Recording artist
Anthony Hamilton
The R&B crooner’s debut album was titled Comin’ From Where I’m From, so it should come as no surprise that Hamilton can often be found where he is from. In between touring for his gold-selling sophomore album Ain’t Nobody Worryin’, shooting videos for singles like “Sista Big Bones,” serving on the Grammy’s Board of Governors, and recording duets with icons like Al Green (they recorded two songs in March), Hamilton spends most of his free time in Charlotte. He says he’s taking a little break to help his wife, singer Tarsha McMillian, promote her upcoming debut album.

Alternative culture Web site
www.makecharlotteweird.com
Brainchild of legendary ’zinestress Little Shiva, this site does more than just list arts events—it attempts to transform the city we live in. You can find film showings, gallery openings, and dance concerts on its calendar, but also the latest happenings for roller derby and the local fetish scene. Profiles of local personalities—some wearing tuxedos, devil horns, or King Tut headgear—show a side of Charlotte that is usually invisible.

Best seat in the house
Halton Theater, Central Piedmont Community College
The opening of this elegant theater in November 2005 was overshadowed by the simultaneous debut of ImaginOn, but in the past eighteen months, the Halton has proved to be a jewel. Its classy décor can rival any European opera house for grace. With 1,100 seats, it maintains a grand, but intimate, feel. And, as recent chamber music and orchestral concerts prove, it has excellent natural acoustics.

Eclectic arts venue
Pura Vida Worldly Art
There are exquisite handicrafts from around the world on sale here, but there’s also a gallery showcasing fresh work by local artists, a full-service coffee bar, and live music in the Gypsy Lounge. Book groups and intimate author readings spark lively intellectual discussions. Come in to shop once and you’ll find reasons to come back again and again.
1521 Central Avenue
704-335-8587

Photographer
Don Sturkey
As the retrospective exhibit Chasing the Light demonstrated, Sturkey is one of North Carolina’s finest photographers. Hired by The Charlotte Observer in 1955, Sturkey has spent a lifetime casting light on both the famous (Elvis, Ray Charles, Lyndon Johnson) and the ordinary, approaching them all with revelatory insight. And his eye for beauty—a nearly abstract image of a snow-covered cow pasture is a good example—is exceptional.

Above, The chase is on at the 1963 World Championship Coon Hound Water Race at Lake Hartwell, S.C. The raccoon is in a protected cage being pulled ahead of a hoard of flying hounds. Right, Senator John F. Kennedy and Jackie at a Democrat political gathering at the Hotel Charlotte in January 1959. Photographs copyright by Don Sturkey.

One-man show
Scott Ripley in I Am My Own Wife
The thirty-five different characters in I Am My Own Wife are old and young, male and female, kind and cruel, American and German. Scott Ripley inhabited each voice, each body, with authority and empathy. This production at Actor’s Theatre proved that a single performer can evoke as complete a world as a stage full of actors.

Singer
Beth Chorneau
Jazz chanteuse Beth Chorneau has been a favorite around here for years. Her lovely voice continues to mellow; her timing and phrasing are complex and natural, giving old tunes a new, intimate sound. Noel, Chorneau’s recent Christmas album, infused the tired holiday genre with a fresh dose of swing.

READERS’ CHOICE
Gallery
Red Sky

Museum
Mint Museum

Performing arts company
Blumenthal Performing Arts Center

Local band
The Avett Brothers

Actor
Patrick Ratchford

Comedian
Tone X

Ballot Blooper
Museum
Bechtler
That’s a high honor considering it hasn’t even been built yet.