Month: February 2018

Categories
Real Estate

Buyer Demand Drives Albemarle’s Thriving Real Estate Market

By Celeste M. Smucker –

Albemarle County has everything Charlottesville area home buyers want, from gorgeous views and a wealth of outdoor activities, to easy access to all of the region’s lifestyle amenities.  And while some parts of the County have a definite urban vibe, others feature a rural setting with  privacy, acreage and even more expansive views of the mountains than are available closer in. 

Albemarle residents also value their proximity to entertainment, sports and cultural activities associated with the University and the Downtown Mall. In addition, our nationally recognized medical care services and active job market are big draws and why many home buyers start their search in Albemarle.

The County’s active real estate market offers everything from townhomes and condos to villas and single family residences in a wide range of prices. Indeed, most buyers will find housing that suits them, although first timers may be increasingly frustrated by the limited number of affordable options.

Tight inventory also presents challenges for buyers at higher price points causing many to consider building.  They may have to wait longer to move in, but when they do they have a home that suits their needs whether that is space for a growing family or a situation where they can age gracefully in place.

Most of Albemarle’s real estate activity, including new construction, is concentrated in a few spots thanks to the County’s comprehensive plan that restricts growth and development to designated areas that make up just five percent of its total. 

If you want to live in a neighborhood, look to Pantops on the east, Crozet to the west and the Hollymead area to the north. Another option is neighborhoods south of town that have rapidly grown in popularity since the opening of 5th Street Station with its shopping, entertainment and other essential services.

Privacy seekers will find that Albemarle also offers a lot in the way of horse farms and estates and that much of the land is protected from future development by conservation easements. The County also features walkable neighborhoods where community-oriented residents can meet friends for coffee, work out at the gym, visit a hair salon or see a health care or other service provider all close to home. 

Why Home Buyers Love Albemarle

People move to Albemarle to be close to jobs at the University and in the growing high-tech sector. Many also appreciate Charlottesville’s reputation for being a great place to retire—and the retirees are often University grads who fell in love with the mountains when they were students and finally make good on their dream to return. 

Quality of life is also reflected in the availability of excellent medical care that is increasingly important to people as they age. 

Fortunately UVA Hospital, is ranked #1 in Virginia, and has national ranking in six adult and four children’s specialties according to US News.  The hospital also received the highest  ratings possible in six procedures or conditions. Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital ranked #18 in Virginia and is considered high performing in four procedures or conditions of adults.

Another highlight of the Albemarle lifestyle is the schools, which are of special importance to families.  Niche.com recently ranked Albemarle schools at # 258 out of 10,626 school districts nationwide, and #3 of 131 districts in Virginia.  Rankings are based on indicators such as test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, and teacher quality.

Albemarle’s Lively Real Estate Market
Thanks to its lifestyle offerings and desirable, close-in location, Albemarle has a very busy real estate market.

The Charlottesville Area Association of REALTORS®  (CAAR) recently released figures on 4th Quarter 2017 activity and reported a 13.9 percent year-over-year increase in Albemarle’s closed sales for single-family detached homes and a 7.3 percent increase in sales of attached homes. 

Strong pending sales compared to the 4th quarter of 2016 (a 12.7 percent increase in attached and a huge 24.3 percent increase in detached pendings)  will get 2018 off to an impressive start as well.  However, substantial year-over-year inventory reductions suggest the market will still be tight and that prices will continue to rise.

Inventory shortages are a challenge that frustrate buyers and agents alike. Ann Hay Hardy with Frank Hardy Sotheby’s International Realty explained that “inventory is low and has been for awhile. It’s definitely a sellers’ market.” She added that some areas are hotter than others  noting that in-town listings are very high in demand.

It’s not just more urban listings that are selling, though.  Albemarle agents are also pleased with improvements in the market for rural properties.

Nest Realty Group’s John Ince noted that rural buyers seem increasingly concerned about living close to town.  A veteran of 30+ years in the local real estate market, Ince reports what he calls “a change in attitude in this current generation of near-retirees” who still long for the peace and quiet of the countryside but want to be close to all of Charlottesville’s many amenities. He described any rural property less than 20 minutes from town as “golden.”

Hay Hardy described the “really good activity” in country markets noting that,  “I am very encouraged.” She is especially pleased with the sales of  bigger farms and estates, those defined as having over 100 acres, possibly with multiple outbuildings or a manor house, and sell for over $3 million.

While everyone loves the idea of an active real estate market, the demand for homes close-in to the action pushes prices up and makes Albemarle an expensive place to live compared to others of similar size, said Rives Bailey, Broker with Montague Miller and Co. – Downtown.

On the other hand, thanks to Albemarle’s amenities such as  the schools, quality of life variables and resources like arts and outdoor activities, the market there “is on much less of a roller coaster than elsewhere,” Bailey reported, stating that even during the recent downturn, the market in Albemarle did not suffer as much as other parts of the state, some of which are still in recovery.

Boomers and Millennials Dominate
Bailey described two big demographic groups that dominate the current market, Boomers and Millennials. Many in both groups are moving closer to town (and that includes Albemarle areas like Crozet or Pantops) but for different reasons.

The Boomers are often those who at one time moved to the country to enjoy the privacy of living on 2-10 acres.  Now  they are ready to downsize and want a home near medical care and other essential services along with entertainment venues and cultural activities.

Millennials also prefer being closer in,  in part because  they are social and want to be near each other.  They also want easy access to entertainment and restaurants.

For both of these groups Albemarle locations such as Crozet, Pantops, Hollymead or neighborhoods south of town near 5th Street Station, offer what they’re looking for. And while these areas are not walking distance from the Downtown Mall, they are still close enough for buyers to enjoy it easily.

Demand for close-in housing from both of these two large demographic groups is a big part of what  drives the growth of the Albemarle market, and what  is causing prices to rise so rapidly.  Sellers who want to take advantage of these favorable market conditions should call their agents today about getting their homes listed.  They may be surprised at the price they can expect and how quickly they get an offer.

First Time Buyers
A group that is especially impacted by rising prices is first time buyers.  There are still some options out there for this group, but it is a challenging market for them and they may have to settle for older homes, Bailey said.  While livable, these properties may need work and require that buyers be willing to take on renovation  projects the first several years they live there.

In reference to first time buyers, Hay Hardy described “huge price increases, seemingly overnight,” that are especially difficult at the lower end of the spectrum because they can price buyers out of the market all together.  Her advice to first timers is that if you find a house you like and can afford don’t waste time thinking about it but rather, “jump fast.”

Albemarle’s Other Buyers
For people who move from up north, our climate—which is relatively mild but still has four seasons—is a big draw.  We also gets our share of buyers from Florida who relocate here after living through a hurricane or experiencing a couple of years of no autumn or spring. 

Of course these out-of-state buyers also appreciate the much lower prices, property tax rates, and heating costs compared to the Northeast, or Northern Virginia.

Hay Hardy sees buyers from three distinct groups.  A third of them are local and moving up to more space for their growing families.  Another third are from out of town and not familiar with Charlottesville. Often they are people who read about the area or were driving through on their way somewhere else, stopped for lunch and decided to stay. 

Still others are those with a connection to the University who find a way to come back to the beautiful place they remember from their younger days.

New Construction
A big beneficiary of inventory shortages and increasing prices is new construction. The high prices of new homes preclude building as an option for most first timers (although they should ask their agent about townhomes), but there is a huge demand at the upper end of the market.

The area south of town where several new communities have recently come online is a good example.  Greg Slater with Nest Realty Group reports that new construction contracts for 2017 were up 25 percent in that area,  a tremendous increase.

He cited examples such as Oak Hill Farm stating: “Marketing launched in late 2016 but before roads and infrastructure had even started. Sales started before buyers would even know when they could have their home or drive to their lot. In 2017, 38 homes sold with an average price of $633 thousand.”   Another new neighborhood, Sunset Overlook, had 13 sales in December alone.

New construction is also booming in Crozet, another popular Albemarle County location.  Jim Duncan and David Farrell, both with Nest Realty Group, reported in a podcast that 113 new homes were built in Crozet last year compared to 90 in 2016, an impressive 26 percent increase.

If you want to live close-in and still enjoy a quieter lifestyle, call your agent today about Albemarle. If resale is what appeals you have options, but inventory remains tight so expect to decide quickly when you find the perfect house.  For buyers who can afford it, new construction is also an exciting choice.  Count on your agent to help you make the most of that option as well.

Celeste Smucker is a writer and blogger who lives near Charlottesville

Categories
Real Estate

Down Payment Assistance and 100 Percent Financing Now Available

By Celeste M. Smucker –

Buying a home can definitely enhance a family’s long-term financial security. Yet often buyers continue to rent, believing they have to save a large down payment in order to qualify for a mortgage.  The good news is there are many sources of down payment assistance for eligible buyers, and a surprising number of options in the way of 100 percent financing.

Sources of Help
Most buyers today surf the net to learn about qualifying for a mortgage.  For those who need down payment assistance, one reliable place to start is called Down Payment Resource (downpaymentresource.com) where they will find information about a surprising number of options.

An informative video at the site explains that there are “a ton of opportunities out there,” of which 36 percent are not just for first timers. 

Buyers can also peruse the sites for VHDA (Virginia Housing Development Authority) and Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA), a local non-profit with a mission to “create housing opportunities and build community through education, lending and development.” Homebuyers can access PHA’s counseling program to determine their eligibility for the organization’s down payment and closing cost assistance programs.

Unfortunately, while the internet is a good place to start, don’t believe everything you read as there is a lot of misleading or downright incorrect information out there. Which is why contacting your local lender is also a great idea.

Andy Zemon with Waterstone Mortgage Corporation in Charlottesville urges buyers to do so as soon as they know they want to buy, which could be as early as when they sign a year’s lease on an apartment.

Not only does this kind of lead time give them a chance to correct any credit issues, but they may be surprised at the resources available from home buyer counseling to down payment and closing cost assistance.

Zero Down Programs
You may believe that zero down programs disappeared with the recent market downturn and the tightening of credit requirements.  Like other rumors about this industry, that one is also false.

There are a number of 100 percent loan options, Zemon said, including alternatives for buyers with at least a 620 credit score.  In fact, there are alternatives that “can be used for first time buyers, multiple home owners and anywhere in between,” he added. 

One example, the Wealth Building Loan, is a zero down option available only through Zemon’s company. This adjustable rate loan has a fixed rate for the first seven years. Adjustments in the rate after that time are “designed to keep payments consistent with a 1 percent annual income increase.” The loan is also designed to facilitate faster building of home equity, and there is no prepayment penalty if for some reason the borrowers elect to refinance.

Fulton Mortgage offers a program called Homebuyer Advantage Plus that features 97 percent financing explained Mortgage Loan Officer, Julia Morris.  However, buyers can combine it with down payment assistance plans or help from sellers up to a total of 105 percent of the home price. 

Borrowers will also be happy to learn that there is no mortgage insurance on this loan, which means lower monthly payments.  Home buyer education is required.

Still another 100 percent loan comes from USDA, and is called the Rural Housing Service Loan.  This loan is for rural properties, which means if your dream house is in Belmont you’ll have to find another type of financing.  However, you may be surprised at the close-in neighborhoods that are USDA loan eligible.  Contact your lender for information about qualifying areas.

Other 100 percent financing is available for special borrowers such as veterans.  There are also “physician, dentist, and veterinarian programs [offering] up to 100 percent financing with no mortgage insurance,” Zemon said.

Down Payment Grants
VHDA was created by the General Assembly in 1972 and works in partnership with local governments, community organizations, lenders and others to provide financing for affordable housing throughout the Commonwealth. 

One way they can help is through Down Payment Assistance (DPA) grants available to first time buyers defined as those who “have not owned and occupied a primary residence in the last three years.” The minimum credit score to receive the grant is 620 and the maximum grant amount is 2-2.5 percent of the home’s purchase price.  Buyers must occupy the home for at least a year.

The DPA is a genuine grant, which means it does not have to be repaid.  You must meet a number of requirements to qualify.  To determine if you are a candidate talk to your lender or a counselor at PHA for more information.

Mortgage Credit Certificates
Eligible first time homebuyers can also make use of another VHDA benefit:  a Mortgage Credit Certificate or MCC. 

The MCC allows qualifying recipients to receive a tax credit (better than a deduction) every year they live in their home, in the amount of 20 percent of their mortgage interest paid. 

If their annual mortgage interest paid is $10 thousand they can subtract 20 percent (or $2 thousand) from their total tax liability. They can still use the remaining $8 thousand in interest paid as a deduction.  For advice on whether this program will benefit you contact your tax advisor.

The credit can be used annually as long as the buyers remain in the home.  Income and loan limits apply, so talk to your lender about qualifying for this amazing first time homeowner benefit.

If you dream about being a home owner, contact your local lender or PHA about down payment assistance and zero down loans.  With this kind of support available, you will be living in your dream home before you know it.

Celeste Smucker is a writer and blogger who lives near Charlottesville.

Categories
Opinion

Power to the people: Getting off on the hero myth

Six of the top 10 highest grossing movies in the U.S. last year were superhero fantasies, earning a tremendous sum of $2.29 billion in box office receipts. We’re desperate to live in these simply drawn stories, eager to watch a powerful guardian—no! the most powerful guardian of all!—rise from the rubble and set things right. But as Roxane Gay has put it so bluntly, in truth no one is coming to save us. Photo credit: Warner Bros

“Catnip for reporters.” That’s how Metallica fan and Democratic newcomer Danica Roem described her winning campaign in Virginia’s 13th District last November. She is, after all, the transgender woman who defeated the anti-LGBT incumbent Bob Marshall.

Nevermind that her platform was all about lines of stalled traffic and not lines outside bathroom stalls. The simple narrative of vindication, course correction, redemption—whatever you want to call it—proved irresistible to many observing that race. Good vs. evil, progress vs. tradition, insider vs. outsider, rebel vs. authority? Those are fun stories to write.

Such was the undercurrent for Nikuyah Walker’s visit to “The View,” too. Nazis and Klansmen march on Charlottesville and just a few months later a black woman is named mayor?  Why that’s enough to get Whoopi and the gals feeling better about the state of the world. Enjoy the buzz, viewers at home, and meanwhile let’s sidestep the part about how mayor is a ceremonial post in this town.

Yep, there’s no shortage of simple narratives, and their appeal crosses every divide.

A couple of weeks ago, I worked security for one of the women’s marches, and doing so put me directly up against a reporting crew from Alex Jones’ Infowars. Positioning my body between InfoWarriors and the marchers as per non-violent training protocols, I heard nearly an hour of nonstop right-wing commentary from behind me.

The terms reporter Owen Shroyer used to describe the scene didn’t match the assembly I saw before me, yet his vocabulary was familiar. At first I recognized his talk of things that were the “greatest” or the “best” as being the lexicon of the 45th president.

Indeed, when he wasn’t comparing the marchers to Satan and decrying their obviously slavish devotion to fake news, he was talking about the “massive success” of the administration, with “record high” thises and “record low” thats. Bestest, worstest, beautiful… Sounding like nothing so much as Donald Trump himself when he’s dishing the base a simplistic world view that’s two parts stimulant and three parts red meat, Shroyer could have been a “Daily Show” regular from the Jon Stewart days.

Yet his schtick was more comic book than comical. These days, it’s Marvel’s world, we just live in it. And pay for the privilege while we’re at it. Six of the top 10 highest grossing movies in the U.S. last year were superhero fantasies, earning a tremendous sum of $2.29 billion in box office receipts. We’re desperate to live in these simply drawn stories, eager to watch a powerful guardian—no! the most powerful guardian of all!—rise from the rubble and set things right. After the credits roll, we hope we’ll find her or him out in the parking lot kicking ass and taking names. But as Roxane Gay has put it so bluntly, in truth no one is coming to save us.

Not Oprah. Not Mark Warner. Not Elizabeth Guzman, the new Virginia delegate who was tapped to give the Democratic response to the State of the Union address in Spanish, not Robert Mueller, Devin Nunes nor any of the folks at the Riverside who want to oust three Charlottesville City Councilors.

It’s time to remind each other that when we get high off simple delicious rhetoric, we can’t do the painstaking work that lies ahead. As a great master named Ben Kenobi once put it, “The truth is often what we make of it; you heard what you wanted to hear, believed what you wanted to believe.” In other words, mind the catnip, Padawan.

Yes, Virginia is a monthly opinion column.

Categories
News

In brief: Richmond watch, a local avenger, new rules and more

AR-15-style assault rifle outfitted with a bump stock

As the General Assembly finished its fourth week in this year’s session, most of the 3,000 or so bills legislators filed will die in subcommittee, but some are inching toward the governor’s desk for signature into law.

Killed bills:

Danger zone

After a bill to ban the devices used in the Las Vegas concert slaughter passed a Senate Courts of Justice Committee, a Senate Finance subcommittee killed the measure. Other gun safety bills have met a similar fate.

Tebow down for the count

The 13th time was not the charm for Delegate Rob Bell’s bill to allow homeschooled kids to play in public school sports. The past few years it’s made it to the governor’s desk, where it was vetoed, but this year, it died in committee.

Local statue option

A House of Delegates subcommittee smothered several bills January 31 that would have allowed cities like Charlottesville to decide what to do with their Confederate monuments, including one carried by House Minority Leader David Toscano. The Senate had already nixed letting localities determine the fate of their monuments.

Staying alive:

Child porn hearings closed

Toscano’s bill to close child pornography preliminary hearings to protect victims passed the House of Delegates 98-0, but raises freedom of the press issues. A Fluvanna deputy suggested the measure when he realized those sitting in the balcony of a courthouse could have seen images of victims, a scenario not likely in balcony-less Charlottesville and Albemarle courts, where the public was eager to learn details in cases such as that of former CHS teacher Richard Wellbeloved-Stone.

Let doctors decide pot prescriptions

The Senate unanimously passed a bill February 5 that allows physicians to prescribe  cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil for any condition, not just intractable epilepsy, which is already on the books. The House passed its own version of the bill February 2. TBD: where patients with prescriptions actually buy the approved marijuana products.

Kings Dominion overthrow

Two bills that would allow localities to determine if schools open before Labor Day and that rescind the Kings Dominion law passed the House.

 

Quote of the Week: It’s a movement where 30 people with cheap tiki torches can seem like an army in the echo chamber of social media, where white men claim to be the real victims and where a weekend warrior can pass himself off as a disillusioned veteran of war.—How an Alt-right Leader Lied to Climb the Ranks, a New York Times documentary on Eli Mosley

West2nd

SUP with West2nd

City Council denied a special use permit at its February 5 meeting for developer Keith Woodard to add a 10th floor to his multimillion-dollar mixed-use project called West2nd.

Council changes

Meetings will now begin half an hour earlier at 6:30pm, and community members will be permitted to speak more than once at each session. Speakers will not be able to give their allotted time to another person, but they may now share it. As for the kill switch? Council is now required to livestream on public access TV through any disruption.

Oath of office

Katrina Callsen. Contributed photo

Katrina Callsen, the Albemarle County School Board member whose campaign drew controversy last year because of her association with Teach for America and massive donations from its affiliates, was one of several women featured on the cover of a January issue of Time magazine. The article, called “The Avengers,” highlighted the trend of women running for office since Donald Trump’s election.

Lambeth lives

After mass opposition, UVA’s Board of Visitors will no longer consider historic Lambeth Field as a location for its proposed softball stadium, university officials announced at the January 29 BOV meeting. Three alternate locations include the Park, which is located on North Grounds, a soccer practice field near Klockner Stadium and a parking lot at University Hall.

Friends of Harvey

A new women’s group goes after UVA alum/mega-donor/billionaire Paul Tudor Jones for supporting Harvey Weinstein and for saying childbearing is a focus “killer” for women traders and investors. Women United collected signatures to remove his name from UVA buildings at the January 31 men’s basketball game at John Paul Jones Arena, named for Jones’ father.

Categories
Living

Box’d Kitchen focuses on modern Mediterranean

Box’d Kitchen owner Curtis Woo says combining food styles, such as putting kimchi on pizza, comes naturally. Photo by Eze Amos

By Sam Padgett and Erin O’Hare
eatdrink@c-ville.com

Box’d Kitchen, a restaurant that recently opened at 909 W. Main St. in the same block as Benny Deluca’s and Asian Express, eludes a concise description: Its Yelp page claims it serves Mediterranean food, but the decor looks Asian. And its name is reminiscent of a pizza joint, yet its staple is meat or veggies served on top of basmati rice and salad. Box’d Kitchen chef and owner Curtis Woo originally started the business under the name Over the Rice, but the name seemed to imply that his food was Asian…which it’s not quite.

“I don’t like calling my food ‘fusion,’” Woo says. “I am always combining foods. I don’t think twice when I put kimchi on pizza—it’s just natural.”

Woo prefers to refer to his food as modern. Ultimately, Box’d Kitchen doesn’t fill any particular culinary niche…it’s out of the box, so to speak.

Uber hungry

UberEATS, an on-demand food-delivery app supported by the Uber ride-hailing platform, has arrived in Charlottesville. So far, Christian’s Pizza, Citizen Bowl Shop, The Juice Laundry, Revolutionary Soup, Fig Bistro and a few other local eateries have signed up to participate. How it will ultimately differ from food delivery services already in place, such as GrubHub, remains to be seen, but the UberEATS press release claims the aim is “to get people the food they want, delivered faster.”

Fat Tuesday

Because we all can’t get to New Orleans for Carnival celebrations, a few downtown restaurants are bringing the party to Charlottesville. Though Mardi Gras isn’t officially until February 13, spots like The Bebedero, The Whiskey Jar, Brasserie Saison, Escafé, Citizen Burger Bar, Hamiltons’ at First & Main, Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint, Rapture, Iron Paffles & Coffee and Paradox Pastry, among others, are offering Cajun and Creole food and drink specials through Mardi Gras night when, starting at 6pm, the Elby Brass band will lead a parade through the Downtown Mall.

Sweet everythings

Over at MarieBette Café & Bakery on Rose Hill Drive, February is for hot-chocolate-lovers. Every day of the month, the spot known for its French pastries and artfully-stenciled boule loaves, will serve a different flavor of hot chocolate. That’s 28 different flavors total, among them salted caramel, hazelnut, white chocolate cardamom, pistachio, raspberry, Moroccan spice, peanut butter…and a Love Elixir for Valentine’s Day.

All the feels

Valentine’s Day has come early for all you Blue Moonies out there: Blue Moon Diner will host a pop-up dinner from 5 to 8pm on February 14 at the Snowing in Space Space Lab at 705 W. Main St. The limited menu of $10 dishes includes pork barbecue sliders on a buttermilk biscuit with two sunny-side-up quail eggs and potato salad; andouille and chicken jambalaya with a biscuit; the diner’s classic Hogwaller hash; and a veggie scramble with a biscuit. Honky-tonk hero Jim Waive will play music starting at 6pm. But wait, there’s more: Starting March 3, Snowing in Space will host a Blue Moon pop-up from 9am to 1pm on the first Saturday of every month.

Categories
Arts

Screens: We can’t separate art from the artist

Chinatown stars Jack Nicholson and was the last film that director Roman Polanski made in the United States before fleeing the country while awaiting sentencing for unlawful sex with a minor. Polanski has been a fugitive from the U.S. criminal justice system since 1978. ©SNAP/Entertainment Pictures/ZUMAPRESS

The rise of Time’s Up, the movement challenging sexism, harassment and abuse against women in the entertainment industry, has led to a tone deaf, contemptible yet predictable backlash. Spend enough time on social media and you’ll see two main counterarguments: There’s a witch hunt by women seeking fame and money, or we should focus on the art, not the artists.

It’s horrifying that there are people willing to believe that an entire gender is making a fortune by risking careers and sacrificing privacy as opposed to men wielding their wealth and power against those who have neither. Other writers have tackled these counterarguments in great detail, so I’ll focus on the one that passes itself off as enlightened.

Separating art from artist is impossible as long as an artist receives credit and is enriched by a work’s success. But even if you could, why on earth would you want to? The drive for separation seems to be applied to today’s pop culture. If you try to separate history’s great works of art from their creators, you rob them of their intended depth. Boris Pasternak, James Baldwin, George Orwell, John Milton, Ernest Hemingway, Leo Tolstoy—take a class on any of these writers and you’ll learn everything there is to know about them. Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo—good, bad, unsavory, it’s all relevant. There are aspects of their work that aren’t directly tied to their biography, but all had deeply felt beliefs and life experiences to convey. To say that one has nothing to do with the other is ahistorical.

If you argue for separation for living artists, are you defending their integrity or that of your DVD collection?

It feels like a reflexive defense for having enjoyed something created by a known perpetrator. It’s why Roman Polanski continues to work despite fear of extradition. No doubt a genius—Rosemary’s Baby is an unassailable horror classic, and his adaptation of Macbeth is perhaps the greatest filmic expression of catharsis—but if you can watch Chinatown, in which child rape is a central plot point, and ignore that he raped a child shortly after its release, forget what that says about Polanski. What does that say about you that you’ve convinced yourself the two are unrelated?

For Aziz Ansari, who did something “not as bad” as Polanski or Harvey Weinstein—perhaps it’s not exactly the same offense, but it’s part of the same conversation about power and consent—it is still a mistake to separate him and his behavior from “Master of None.” The show illustrates how easy it is to not be a creep while dating, yet Ansari took partial consent and used it as carte blanche, leaving a woman feeling violated. His art demanded we look at him in a certain light and use him as an embodiment of standards that he himself betrayed.

If you found meaning and intelligence in “Master of None,” or upon hearing the accusations against Joss Whedon of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and Matthew Weiner of “Mad Men,” and feel strange about these shows in retrospect, there is no shame in it. The shows belong to more writers and performers than just their creators.

Recognizing the value in someone’s work does not automatically make you complicit in its creator’s misdeeds, but suggesting we continue to employ and celebrate them as though nothing ever happened does. There are many ways to reconcile your relationship with art created by contemptible people—shun, acknowledge critically (I am a Jew who will rewatch Apocalypto at the drop of a hat, but Mel Gibson will never be off the hook). All are valid so long as the creator and his deeds remain firmly in your analysis. To do otherwise means not only that your priorities are backward, but that you’re just plain bad at understanding art.

Playing this week

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
377 Merchant Walk Sq., 326-5056

12 Strong, The Greatest Showman, I, Tonya, Ladybird, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Paddington 2, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Winchester

Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Shops at Stonefield, 244-3213

12 Strong, Den of Thieves, Darkest Hour, Forever My Girl, The Greatest Showman, Hostiles, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Lady Bird, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Paddington 2, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Violet Crown Cinema
200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 529-3000

12 Strong, Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Faces Places, Hostiles, I, Tonya, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Categories
Arts

Review: Women work their way up in Live Arts’ Top Girls

Under the direction of Betsy Rudelich Tucker, the cast of Top Girls brings fierce women to life, including Claire Chandler’s Marlene, the ultimate ’80s businesswoman who was just promoted at the agency where she works. Photo by Martyn Kyle

Enter: a lively dinner party. Lots of crosstalk. Women in a startling array of historical costumes.

There’s Isabella Bird, a 19th-century globe-trotter and well-educated author. There’s Joan the Pope, a ninth-century intellectual who lived as a man and briefly became the pope. There’s Dull Gret, a sword-wielding peasant and army leader lifted from the Bruegel painting Dulle Griet. There’s Lady Nijo, a 13th-century Japanese concubine who became a wandering nun. There’s Patient Griselda from The Canterbury Tales, a peasant-turned-wife-of-a-marquis, forced to prove her loyalty again and again. And then there’s Marlene, the polished hostess and ultimate ’80s businesswoman, who has organized this gathering of powerful independent women to celebrate her recent promotion.

As the conversation volleys like an uneven tennis match, each woman argues the rightness of her actions and the normalcy of her isolation, pain or sacrifice. Even as she describes breaking free from the status quo, she justifies the behavior of others who beat, tortured or abused her.

You’re struck by the striving of individuals who cannot outpace the parameters of their time. Each woman is a bonsai tree, lovely but limited, unaware of the container controlling her growth. And you can’t help but wonder, as you shift in your seat, what invisible limits stifle you.

So begins Live Arts’ production of Top Girls, Caryl Churchill’s award-winning 1982 play that examines women chasing success in a man’s world. Despite being written nearly 40 years ago, the show feels fresh and painfully relevant.

Top Girls
Live Arts
Through February 24

As the story moves from timeless dinner party to Top Girls, a job placement agency in 1982 London, we’re invited to peer through the glass of one specific fishbowl: the professional and personal life of “ball-breaker” Marlene, whose circles include a frustrated sister, rebellious niece and high-flying female co-workers.

In the Playbill, Assistant Director Kelli Shermeyer writes, “TOP GIRLS presents us with a network of women who must navigate their identities and desires through the mutually-reinforcing structures of misogyny and capitalism.”

From every angle in the show, women suffer and sabotage one another. Money and career stand in direct opposition to marriage and children. Women who chase personal freedom steal power from women who choose family values—and vice versa.

Unsurprisingly, resentment simmers between each rigidly defined social role. There’s a distinct lack of empathy between women of different generations, relentless measuring against personal standards and passing judgment on those who, circumstantially or preferentially, find themselves on varying paths.

Most disturbing, for me, is the creeping idea that individualism destroys humanity. In the world of Top Girls, sisterhood seems like a laughable concept. As a woman, you either embrace solidarity through second-class status, or you transcend by trampling your peers.

But Live Arts’ production (and Churchill’s fantastic script) gives viewers the chance to draw their own conclusions.

Jen Bottas forcefully portrays Angie, a teenager constantly wrestling with her emotions. Photo by Martyn Kyle

In a tight space transformed by clever set pieces and a delightful ’80s soundtrack, you witness the manifold ways women connect, clash and spar in their quest for a better life.

Under the talented direction of Betsy Rudelich Tucker, the cast of Top Girls does a remarkable job of bringing fierce women to life. Each character feels distinct and often multilayered, which is amazing considering every performer (aside from the show’s lead) does double or triple duty.

As Marlene, Claire Chandler is tremendous, facing slings and arrows and sharing her own hardened pronouncements with a red-lipped smile. Even when she breaks in the powerful third act, she lacks the softness associated with feminine sorrow despite her real-looking tears.

That same flinty foundation underpins all the women of Top Girls, excepting teenagers Angie and Kit. Angie especially, forcefully played by Jen Bottas, repeatedly wrestles her flashpoint emotions in hopes of winning her aunt’s affection. She’s furious one minute, fragile the next, and it’s painful to watch her clumsy attempts to don the straightjacket of a top girl persona.

Jess Kristensen captivates as the show’s lone romantic, while Gretchen York makes an enjoyable man-eater who knows how to hang with the boys.

Madison Weikle plays girls who are young and desperate to be taken seriously, and Barbara Roberts gets caught in a gap between generations. Kat Maybury gives us long-suffering matrons who offer gruff comic relief, conservative outrage or martyred resignation depending on the era.

Also, did I mention the costumes? Maybe I’m just an ’80s kid, but damn, I loved the looks by designer Sri Kodakalla.

Watching these women play a game with all the rules rigged against them, it seems no surprise they lash out in frustration and bitterness at one another.

What does it mean to become a “top girl” in a culture of misogyny? What does it take to support other women while jockeying toward success? Can you make space for nuance and personal freedom without sacrificing one another?

Live Arts’ Top Girls doesn’t give you the answers. It only asks the uncomfortable questions. But at a time like this, when cultural crosstalk abounds, you ought to go and listen.

See Top Girls at Live Arts now through February 24.

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Arts

Noah Gundersen considers the distress of modern times

Noah Gundersen gets heavy at the Southern on Saturday. Publicity photo

Noah Gundersen recently saw the world’s largest easel. He says that the roadside attraction, located in Goodland, Kansas, is a whopping 80 feet tall with one of Vincent van Gogh’s sunflower paintings stretched across it. That stop, like many, is just one of the perks of having a good tour manager, he says.

There’s little way of knowing exactly what other stops are in store for the Seattle-based singer-songwriter as he embarks on his current tour, which arrives at the Southern on Saturday, but he’ll likely find other cultural oddities along the way.

Gundersen has already found his way from indie-folk to harder hitting rock soundscapes. His 2017 release, White Noise, is proof of that. The album, a follow-up to 2015’s folk-caressing Carry the Ghost, is his most rock-laden yet and he’s gone as far as to dub it a “sensory overload.” But Gundersen notes that his decision for a dramatic shift in musical styles came naturally.

Noah Gundersen
Saturday, February 10
The Southern Cafe and Music Hall

“Music has always been pretty closely tied to my own personal life,” he says. “I’ve never been able to really separate the two. The music that I was making at the time didn’t feel current. I just wasn’t connecting with it and I felt like a new chapter was necessary, so I began the process of discovering what was true to me now.”

For White Noise, Gundersen worked with a producer, Nate Yaccino, in addition to longtime band members and collaborators Abby Gundersen and Jonny Gundersen (his siblings) and Micah Simler. Gundersen feels that the eight-month process required more patience and time, but that the results are rewarding.

“Previously I made records pretty quickly without taking as much time as I probably should have,” he says. “Further down the road I would be dissatisfied with the product, so with this record I didn’t want to repeat that mistake.”

He also didn’t want White Noise to be as hyper-confessional and personal as his past efforts. “I still wanted them to be intimate. but more so focused on the way I was experiencing the state of our culture and the political climate,” he says. “…I think there’s a lot of fear and uncertainty and anxiety in the world, which I was trying to mirror on the record.”

Songs like “Sweet Talker,” “New Religion,” “Wake Me Up I’m Drowning” and “Number One Hit of the Summer” each have different elements of themes related to political and social turmoil. These frustrations slither through the course of White Noise much like the snake seen on the album’s cover art.

Gundersen says that technology and communication also played a role in contributing to the sometimes dreamy and other times nightmarish disarray of White Noise tracks. He explains that the song “New Religion” was influenced by “a kind of self- consumption that we have with social media and with fake manufactured ideas that emphasize what life is supposed to be.”

Meanwhile, the song “Heavy Metals” is “about being okay with how small of a space we fill in the universe and coming to terms with it,” says Gundersen.

Gundersen is currently performing stripped-down versions of these songs with Abby. He describes the benefits of touring with his sister and the connection that it’s caused him to find on the road.

“Touring can be lonely,” he says. “You’re away from family quite a bit so it’s great to be able to take a part of my family with me and be able to still have those bonds.”

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Arts

A View From Some Broads breaks with casting tradition

Linda Zuby gathers an all-female cast to sing an eclectic set of show tunes for A View From Some Broads, as part of Four County Players’ Songs in the Cellar cabaret series. Photo by Linda Hogan

In “Bosom Buddies,” the famous duet from the Broadway musical Mame, eccentric bohemian and title character Mame Dennis gives her friend, actress —and famed lush—Vera Charles a bit of advice: “I feel it’s my duty to tell you it’s time to adjust your age / You try to be Peg O’ My Heart, when you’re Lady Macbeth.”

It’s a biting observation that stings all the more because it’s true: The passing of time is inevitable, and there comes a point in every actor’s career when she no longer makes a convincing teenage Irish heroine a la Margaret O’Connell in “Peg O’ My Heart.” Instead she is cast in roles like the ruthless, power-hungry and—let us not mince the important word here—older Lady Macbeth (who isn’t that old)—a deliciously complex role that appeals to many actors, but Mame’s point here is that Vera needs to come to terms with the reality of her age, which Mame declares to be “somewhere between 40 and death.”

And while there’s plenty of life to live after 40, there aren’t many theater roles for women of this age, says Linda Zuby, a local actor and director who, at 60, knows this reality firsthand. She’s played a slew of great roles (including Lady Macbeth), but there are some—such as Gwendolen in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest—that she’s aged out of.

While lamenting the lack of juicy roles, Zuby and a few other women decided to make a performance for themselves, something in which they’d sing the songs they want to sing, age limits be damned. The resulting revue, A View From Some Broads, to be performed as part of the Songs in the Cellar series at Four County Players this weekend, features nine women, ages 30 to 64, performing songs made famous by some of Broadway’s most legendary dames. Together, the songs tell a story about the journey from young womanhood to adult womanhood, says Zuby, who directs the show.

At the top of the performance are songs usually sung by children, including “When I Grow Up” from Matilda the Musical (it takes on a whole new meaning when sung by women, says Zuby), and moves into songs from Once Upon A Mattress and other musicals, songs that take a look at “some of the things you think about when you’re younger,” particularly the “get married to my prince kind of thing” that you buy into until your experience teaches you otherwise, says Zuby.

The revue’s second act includes “Before the Parade Passes By” from Hello, Dolly!, “Sister Suffragette” from Mary Poppins (you know the one, originally sung in the 1964 film by Glynis Johns as Mrs. Winifred Banks, a “Votes for Women” sash draped across the chest of her powder blue gown), which, Zuby notes, is as relevant today as it was decades ago.

“Bosom Buddies” that classic, frothy comment on the nature of female friendship, is in there, too, along with plenty of other well-loved numbers.

Ultimately, A View From Some Broads is “about the journey that women take,” says Zuby, a group of women reminding themselves that roles like Lady Macbeth—and for that matter, Mame and Vera—are just as good as Peg O’ My Heart.

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News

Mourning period: Judge considers whether Confederate statue tarps are temporary

A judge will decide by February 27 if the tarps that shroud statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson should be removed. Photo by Eze Amos

Over the weekend, unknown persons three times did what plaintiffs in a lawsuit against City Council want done: removed the tarps covering statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

Almost exactly a year after City Council voted 3-2 to remove the statues on February 6, 2017, Judge Rick Moore heard a motion from plaintiffs in Charlottesville Circuit Court February 5 asking that the tarps covering the statues be removed immediately, and to fine the city if it doesn’t.

City Council voted to shroud the statues August 21 in mourning for the deaths of Heather Heyer and Virginia State Police Lieutenant Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke Bates following the deadly August 12 Unite the Right rally. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit—11 individuals, the Monument Fund and the Sons of Confederate Veterans—contend that the city used mourning as a “pretext” and intends to permanently cover the statues with “trash bags,” according to attorney Braxton Puryear.

He cited a November 6 City Council resolution to create a new master plan for Emancipation and Justice parks that included screening to more elegantly conceal the statues. “There’s no fixed time for removal,” said Puryear. “They’re not temporary but permanent.”

The plaintiffs called a funeral director as an expert witness on mourning periods, despite Deputy City Attorney Lisa Robertson’s objection that he wasn’t an expert for dealing with the aftermath of a traumatic community event.

Hill & Wood’s John Mathis testified about various religious mourning practices, which Moore said were not relevant, as well as public mourning practices for deceased police officers or firefighters: mourning badges, bunting, flags at half mast, wreaths and processions.

Robertson asked about the significance of the first anniversary of a death, and Mathis said it was a milestone “for family, but not for the people who came to the funeral.”

“There’s no mourning period that goes on five months,” said Puryear.

He also argued that the city did not get approval from the Board of Architectural Review to cover the statues with “trash bags.”

Plaintiffs’ attorney Ralph Main called City Manager Maurice Jones as an “adversarial witness.” Jones said the tarps cost $3,000 each and City Council had discussed when the tarps would come off and that August 12, 2018, was a possibility.

The tarps unlawfully interfere with the statues and prevent citizen enjoyment of them, said Main. “We have them to see them,” he said, comparing the draping with going to Paris to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, only to find it covered because “someone may not like Leonardo’s views.”

Robertson said it made sense to look at the first anniversary to end the mourning period because the event is now “referred to by the date it happened.”

That’s what gave Moore pause.

He said he needed more time before making a decision. His biggest concern is that since the decision to shroud August 21, “Council has had plenty of time to say how long” the statues should remain covered and then the city comes to court and says it should be one year, he said. “That’s what I’m struggling with.”

Moore says he’ll have a decision on the tarps by February 27 when he hears the city’s demurrer on the lawsuit. He also set a couple of trial dates for the lawsuit against City Council: January 31-February 1, 2019, for a two-day trial, and October 26 if the parties decide they can do it in one day.

After the hearing, statue-supporting attorney Lewis Martin is confronted by a woman who opposes the Confederate monuments. Staff photo