A rich variety of topnotch talent has made The American Theatre the premier venue in Hampton Roads...
Hampton Roads Magazine

PortFolio Weekly, Tuesday May 1, 2007

A review of Ute Lemper's incendiary performance at The American Theatre on April 19th, 2007! http://www.portfolioweekly.com/Pages/InfoPage.php/iID/2807

Hampton Roads Magazine, March/April 2007

for the second year in a row... FAVORITE PERFORMING ARTS THEATER The American Theatre Click here to view the entire article.

Portfolio Weekly / Feb. 27th, 2007

A Scottish Festival in Phoebus By Jim Newsom Click below to read the entire article about Caldonia and Bonnie Rideout! http://www.portfolioweekly.com/Pages/InfoPage.php/iID/2557

Hampton Roads Magazine, March/April 2006

Hampton Roads Man of the Year Michael Curry, director of Hampton Arts Click here to view the entire article.

Hampton Roads Magazine, March/April 2006

FAVORITE PERFORMING ARTS THEATER The American Theatre This landmark building has helped revitalize Phoebus, and you appreciate its state-of-the-art acoustics and talented and diverse performers. Click here to view the entire article.

The Daily Press / January 24th, 2007

Dancers break away from Earth's gravity BY DAVID NICHOLSON Can't afford a flight on the next rocket to the moon? Let Moses Pendleton's fertile imagination take you there. Strange shapes and cosmic landscapes inhabit "Lunar Sea," the evening-long work by the Momix dance company onstage tonight and Thursday at The American Theatre. Pendleton, who founded the company in the early 1980s, uses an old theatrical device - phosphorescent paint illuminated by black light - to fashion his lunar world. In "Lunar Sea," five women wearing costumes painted phosphorescent white seem to float in mid-air or turn inside out like amebas under a microscope. What audiences don't see are the five muscular guys supporting them, says Brian Simerson, a Virginia Beach native and dancer with the company. Dressed in black body suits which make them invisible to the audience, the men spend about 80 percent of their time lifting the women so that they appear to be floating in space. The dancers wear protective goggles which protect them from the black light but makes it almost impossible to see anything. "It's a lot of responsibility the men have to take care of the women," says Simerson. "We develop a very intimate relationship because you can't see. "For me, I enjoy the trusting. There are so many details, and the black shows every imperfection, so we're rehearsing all the time." Using black light in contemporary dance is an old tradition. Choreographer Alwin Nikolais was famous for it in his whimsical theater pieces of the 1960s. In the late 1990s, Pendleton teamed with choreographers Daniel Ezralow and David Parsons to create Aeros, a European light show that featured the movements of members of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation in a theatrical setting. In his notes on "Lunar Sea," Pendleton says he was "trying to devise a ballet as if you were witnessing it on the surface of the moon with just one-sixth of the Earth's gravity." He originally created the piece as a 25-minute work for Ballet Austin in Texas. After that company toured it, he expanded the piece for his own company. It now runs 90 minutes with no intermission and is broken into two sections, "Sea of Tranquility" and "Bay of Seething." This will be the third production, after "Baseball" and "Opus Cactus," that Momix has performed at The American Theatre. Simerson has performed in all of Pendleton's works. Growing up in Virginia Beach, he studied dance under Deborah Thorpe at the Governor's School for the Arts in Norfolk. "She's a lot of the reason I'm doing what I do today," he says of Thorpe. While earning a degree in music composition from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Simerson performed with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company before joining Momix in 1994. He's also a composer and choreographer. While some critics have faulted "Lunar Sea" for being more theater than dance, Simerson says the piece has taught him a lot about being a performer. "It's a light show, and a great family show," he says. "The kids love it."

Hampton Roads Magazine, January/February 2006

That Kind of Town by Don Harrison Click here to view the entire article.

Hampton Roads Magazine, March/April 2006

THE A LIST: 50 VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE SHAPING LIFE IN HAMPTON ROADS Michael Curry Hampton Arts/American Theatre, director Michael Curry has been the director of Hampton Arts since the Hampton City Council created the association in 1987. He has overseen renovations of both the historic Charles H. Taylor Arts Center and the highly acclaimed American Theatre, established the Great Performers Series and transformed Hampton into a venerable arts haven. Through his direction and vision, the American Theatre has attracted internationally renowned performers and a diverse range of entertainment to the once sleepy and now revived Phoebus area. Click here to view the entire article.