On Thursday, April 18th WILL-TV’s Prairie Fire will air a segment from Deke Weaver’s CETACEAN (The Whale). The show opens with ten minutes of introduction to this unique interdisciplinary and multi-media performance, followed by 50 …
Posts by Amy Penne:
Roger Ebert’s Film Festival lights up Champaign’s Virginia Theatre this week
The Looney Tunes theme has been playing on a loop in my head for the last few days. Cue, Bugs Bunny: Overture, curtain, lights, this is it, the night of nights…oh what heights we’ll hit. …
Amy Penne
Arts Editor at Smile Politely
Ebert symposium 2024 to discuss film representations and their critics
This week ahead of the Roger Ebert Film Festival which runs Wednesday through Saturday, we get what may be one of my favorite features of Ebertfest week: the pre-festival symposium. The 2024 Chaz and Roger …
Amy Penne
Arts Editor at Smile Politely
The tulips are popping for Boneyard Arts Festival weekend
The daffodils and violets are also showing off just in time for Champaign County’s signature Boneyard Arts Festival this weekend, April 12-14. With over 70 vendors throughout the county, there is truly something for everyone. …
Amy Penne
Arts Editor at Smile Politely
Story and scale from MFA Art & Design Students
Krannert Art Museum’s East Gallery was bustling last Saturday afternoon for the 2024 MFA exhibition’s opening reception. This year’s cohort of MFA Art and Design students produced an impressive variety of art. From leaded glass, …
Amy Penne
Arts Editor at Smile Politely
The presence of genius: Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott sparkle at the Foellinger Great Hall
I’ve been in the room with a handful of musical icons. My Aunt Molly took me to see Elvis Presley in 1976; I snuck out of the house to see Prince in 1982 at the …
Amy Penne
Arts Editor at Smile Politely
Filming relationships: A conversation with Jonah Koslofsky
Early in After Party, the new short film written and directed by Urbana native Jonah Koslofsky, we encounter Ben and Ellie preparing for a Halloween party in Chicago in 2021. The party invokes memories of …
Amy Penne
Arts Editor at Smile Politely
Five things in arts: April 2024
Robert Browning famously opened his poem “Home thoughts, from Abroad” with the line “O to be in England/Now that April’s there.” England’s got nothing on April in Champaign-Urbana. From Boneyard, to Ebertfest, to the proliferation …
Amy Penne
Arts Editor at Smile Politely
Poetry month begins with Janice Harrington at the Urbana Free Library
Champaign-Urbana knows how to do National Poetry Month. With so many luminous writers and poets in town, it can be hard to keep up. But this month, I’ll be dropping bits and bobs about readings …
Amy Penne
Arts Editor at Smile Politely
Ebertfest announces full lineup for 25th anniversary
And just like that – April is nearly here and the full lineup for Ebertfest just dropped. With Bob Fosse’s Star 80 headlining opening night and Malcolm D. Lee’s The Best Man featured center stage, …
Amy Penne
Arts Editor at Smile Politely