Three days of screenings, competitions, and talks take place across Charlottesville as filmmakers from around the globe present their work at the Indie Short Film Festival. The fest grew out of the Indie Short Film Series, established locally by writer, director, and event marketing guru Ty Cooper in 2019. After touring to other markets, Cooper is back with a 70-plus roster of animation, drama, documentary, and comedy shorts, paired with award ceremonies, artist talks, table reads, and technical breakout sessions.
$15-149, times and locations vary. indieshortfilmfestival.net
Originating from a 1765 commedia dell’arte by Carlo Gozzi, The Green Bird gets a modern staging that is “40 percent improvised,” says Director Dave Dalton of UVA Drama’s update. Gozzi’s version had serious undertones that were meant to expose what he considered dangerous ideas of Enlightenment thinkers. At UVA, the play is a hilarious ride through a dysfunctional fairy tale, filled with recognizable, over-the-top 21st-century archetypes, and told by a 19-person cast of wild characters dominated by a mysterious, powerful bird.
Two first-time homebuyers in Crozet celebrated with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville on March 16.
Katrena Cooper and Tanjah Wheeler are still closing on their homes, but they enjoyed meeting their new neighbors and soaking in the sunny weather during the afternoon celebration.
“It means a lot to me to be closer to one of my dreams of being a homeowner,” said Wheeler. “I’m looking forward to meeting new people, good people. And I’m also looking forward to just letting my son come outside and play.”
Achieving homeownership has been a long process for Cooper and Wheeler, who thanked their support systems, families, and Habitat for helping them through the process.
“I would like to give a special shoutout to my kids for sticking by me,” said Cooper. “I just want to thank God. I can’t wait to get in and get settled, and get to know my new neighbors.”
Rising home prices in Crozet have made affordable housing more and more scarce in that part of Albemarle County.
“Crozet has changed a lot … as it’s changed it has become less accessible to people, to working-class folks in the community, and so we’re really grateful to be part of the solution to making sure that Crozet continues to be a place where people from all walks of life can move,” said Habitat President and CEO Dan Rosensweig. “We need to keep pushing, and we need to make sure that when there are new homes built in Crozet there are also opportunities for Habitat families and other folks of more limited means.”
Longshot
March Madness is officially here, with three Virginia teams headed to the big dance.
On Friday, March 22, 12-seed James Madison and 16-seed Longwood will vye for upset victories over Wisconsin and Houston, respectively. While the Bleacher Report predicts the Dukes will beat the Badgers, few are optimistic that the Lancers will pull off a win against the No. 1-seed Cougars.
Though considered a contender for the NCAA tournament by many, Virginia Commonwealth University missed out on Selection Sunday after losing to Duquesne in the March 17 Atlantic 10 tournament.
The University of Virginia has to play its way into March Madness in a First Four matchup against Colorado State after a devastating March 15 overtime loss to surprise ACC tournament-winner North Carolina State.
At press time, the Hoos hadn’t hit the court for their 9:10pm tipoff on March 19, but several sports analysts predict UVA will drop the ball.
Ed. note: UVA lost to Colorado State in their March 19 game.
In with the new A longstanding Corner business is changing faces: Ellie’s Country Club opens this week, on Thursday, March 21, at the former location of The Biltmore. UVA graduate and Virginian Restaurant Company manager Ashley Major purchased The Biltmore earlier this year, and told The Daily Progress she plans to revive the Corner mainstay’s live music. The Biltmore, which closed in December, was a popular student spot for more than 30 years.
Ceasefire vote Charlottesville City Council voted down a resolution on March 18 that would have required council to formally call for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The resolution, drafted by the Charlottesville Jewish Organizing Collective with support from other faith-based and community organizations, was supported by a petition with more than 1,300 signatures. Most of the public commenters at the City Council meeting were in favor of council formally calling for a ceasefire, but council members were split 2-3 in their vote, with Natalie Oschrin and Michael Payne voting yes.
20 years later A jury found 39-year-old Albemarle County resident Kevin Moore guilty of murdering Jesse Hicks, a crime that had gone unsolved for 20 years. Hicks, a trucker, went missing in 2004, and his remains were found a decade later on property owned by Moore’s family. According to The Daily Progress, jurors took just two hours to convict Moore and recommend a sentence of 28 years. Moore’s father, Glenn Spradlin, was painted by both the prosecution and defense as the instigator of the murder. While Spradlin was also arrested and charged, he died of cancer a year before the trial.
Ed. note: An earlier version of this story misrepresented the amount of City Council meeting attendees in favor of a proposed resolution calling for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. C-VILLE regrets the error.
Longtime Charlottesville Area Transit driver Matthew Ray (center with sign) says the potential pay bump in a new contract between CAT and the city could help drivers commit to working for CAT full-time. Supplied photo.
Charlottesville’s unionized bus drivers reached their first agreement with the city after City Council passed a groundbreaking ordinance to allow collective bargaining for public sector employees. The focal point of the deal was a substantial wage increase for bus drivers.
Charlottesville Area Transit representatives, now members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, negotiated a tiered system of pay increases into the three-year contract.
In a statement, the local chapter said, “Before we won our union, there was no pay progression at CAT. Workers could spend decades at the city and make less than someone else newer than them. This deal fixes that and dramatically improves wages across the board for all job classifications.”
The new contract proposes a 2 percent pay increase for all job titles with an additional 2 percent increase for each year of service, up to eight years. That would raise the starting pay for an operator from $22.36 an hour to $23. But each year, the deal stipulates a wage increase for each level so that by 2026, starting pay would be $24.15.
The contract is now awaiting the City Manager’s signature and City Council’s April 9 approval of the budget, which would fund the pay raise. If approved, the new contract will go into effect on July 1, but wage increases won’t go into effect until January 1 of next year.
Both sides agree that bus drivers should be paid more—stagnant wages have forced many long-term drivers to need second jobs. Recruitment of new drivers has also hit a low point.
Matthew Ray, who has been driving for Charlottesville Area Transit for 10 years, says his pay will increase from $22.35 to $31 an hour. Ray’s wife has worked in the school bus division of transit for two and a half years. He says she will get a $5-an-hour raise.
“It’s definitely going to be life-altering money,” Ray says. “When you’re making five, 600 dollars more a paycheck, that is huge. For this area, that is getting people out of their second jobs where they only need one now.”
Ray has been involved in organizing the CAT workers under the Amalgamated Transit Union since the new legislation first came into view.
“Since the ATU’s first day showing up down here,” Ray says. “I was attracted to them instantly and got involved.”
Ray is now the shop steward of the Charlottesville chapter, which means it’s his role to represent the area’s bus drivers to city management. In negotiations, the union argued that bus drivers should be able to afford to live in the area where they are driving people around.
Ray says the number of bus drivers for the city has been declining for the past several years.
“We don’t have the people and we don’t have the buses to provide the level of service we did seven years ago,” Ray says. “At one time we were like 80-85 drivers. We’re down to like 50-55 drivers right now.”
That means CAT has had to reduce its routes and run routes less frequently. Currently, routes 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, and 11 run every hour and routes 2, 4, 5, 7, and 9 run every half hour. Route 12, a service that ran on Sundays, has been discontinued.
An hour can be a long time to wait, especially if you miss a bus or if the bus is delayed. As a result, Ray says, ridership has flagged.
“When you can’t provide the services to the public that you need to provide to get people to and from work, they stop riding your bus,” Ray says. “And that’s our current predicament. We don’t have the ridership we had five, six, seven years ago.”
CAT currently has 40 buses in its fleet, but only operates 17 and two trollies. In order for CAT to provide more service, the city needs more bus drivers.
The new contract could provide the push that the transit sector needs. Ray says the wage increase will put CAT among the most competitive transportation industry jobs in Virginia and turn the tide for the city’s bus drivers.
Before April of 2020, it was illegal for a municipality in Virginia to enter into collective bargaining agreements with employees. That year, a bill passed the Virginia House of Delegates repealing the prohibition on collective bargaining for public sector employees. The new bill left it in the hands of localities to decide if they would recognize labor unions as bargaining agents. In October of 2021, Charlottesville was among the first cities to do so. The city now recognizes bargaining units for the police department and fire department as well as public transit.
Matthew Ray is proud of what the workers have accomplished. “The City of Charlottesville is unionizing,” he says. “Not just us three, but everyone.”
Mojgan Ghazirad signs copies of her autobiographical
novel 'The House on Sun Street' at a March 12 event at the Staunton Public Library. Photo by Pat Jarrett/Virginia Humanities.
The Virginia Festival of the Book is back in action March 20-24, with five days of panels, parties, and events to celebrate all things literary. Renowned authors flock to our city for engaging talks, everyone on the Downtown Mall has a book or two in their arms, and our too-long reading lists get even longer. This year’s milestone fest celebrates 30 years, with appearances by acclaimed authors such as Roxane Gay, Sarah Weinman, Percival Everett, Jami Attenberg, and Jeannette Walls. Here are a few of our recommendations for lit-lovers looking to indulge their interests, learn something new, or connect with others over the pages of a good book.
FOR THE DISRUPTORS
A UVA prof’s critical look at Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue
Bonnie Hagerman, an associate professor in UVA’s Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, discusses her debut book, answers questions, and signs copies on March 21 at the Omni Hotel. Publicity photo.
Jumping through hoops: Bonnie Hagerman debut reveals the scant media coverage of female athletes
In 1964, Sports Illustrated editor André Laguerre faced a challenge. As the temperature dropped and winter neared, so did the off-season for many sports. With a five-page spread to fill and no games to cover, Laguerre decided to run a travel story with photographs of model Babette March in a white bikini. The inaugural swimsuit issue was born.
Many of us can remember the first time we saw a cover of the controversial swimsuit issue, which catered to the male gaze and didn’t even include female athletes until a 1997 feature on tennis player Steffi Graph became a massive moneymaker. Models like Christie Brinkley, Elle Macpherson, and Tyra Banks posed scantily clad in high-fashion images that couldn’t be more out of place in a sports publication. More recently, Ronda Rousey became the first athlete to show up on the cover in 2016, followed by soccer star Alex Morgan, and tennis champ Naomi Osaka.
Why did it take female athletes so long to show up, and why are they forced to turn into models for this publication that brushes their athleticism under the rug in favor of playing up their sensuality?
Questions like these were catalysts for University of Virginia Professor Bonnie Hagerman’s debut book, Skimpy Coverage: Sports Illustrated and the Shaping of the Female Athlete.
An athlete and collegiate rower herself, Hagerman found her unique specialty of women, gender, and sport in graduate school. What originally started as a master’s thesis turned into a Ph.D. dissertation, and last year, a published book.
“I’d grown up with Sports Illustrated magazines all around the house, and I was aware of the fact that female athletes didn’t show up on the pages very often, and when they did there wasn’t much written about them,” says Hagerman. “I was interested to see which athletes they did portray, and what they did say about them.”
Two decades in the making, Skimpy Coverage dives into SI’s treatment of female athletes since its founding, examining race, femininity, identity, sexuality, stereotypical archetypes forced on sportswomen, and large-scale events such as the Olympics.
The book follows sportswomen of the past, like Wilma Rudolph, who was at one point the fastest woman in the world, and women’s tennis maverick Billie Jean King, to current-day GOATs Serena Williams and Megan Rapinoe, using them as case studies to examine female athletes’ lack of media coverage and the hoops they have to jump through for support, despite being the best in the game.
The challenges faced by these women still impact athletes today, at every level. Working at UVA afforded Hagerman first-hand experiences from student-athletes.
“Students in my classes really helped me hone what I wanted to say,” says Hagerman. “To put it in perspective, some of the issues I was seeing female athletes dealing with in the 1950s are things some female athletes in my classes are talking about. Challenges presented by expectations of femininity, the challenges of being a lesbian in sport.”
Think back to the NCAA championships in 2021, when images of the men’s and women’s basketball weight rooms went viral. The men’s much larger, and well-equipped, while the women’s measly room housed a simple rack of dumbbells.
“What was great about that was that people were upset,” says Hagerman. “They realized it was unfair, and there was a swift response.”
Support for women’s sports is growing—just look at the record-setting fan turnout for the UVA women’s basketball game against Virginia Tech. For Hagerman, recognizing these milestones is as important as working to fix what’s wrong.
“There’s been a ton of change since Sports Illustrated’s [swimsuit issue] was first published in 1964,” says Hagerman. “Title IX in 1972, Billie Jean King’s activism for equal pay, Venus Williams following up with that activism for equal pay and being successful, we see more media coverage of women on TV. There have been a number of great moments to celebrate, but we still need to recognize the challenges that remain. There’s a lot to be done.”
Whether you’re a casual Olympics watcher every four years or a die-hard lover of sports, Hagerman’s Skimpy Coverage offers a new lens through which readers can critically watch and cheer for their favorite teams—go Hoos!
FOR QUEER VOICES
Celebrate queer love, friendship, and found family
Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant Curtis Chin In his memoir, Chin touches on his upbringing as a queer, Chinese American boy in Detroit in the ’80s. In the midst of homophobia and racism, Chin found sanctuary in his family’s Chinese restaurant. Thursday 3/21 | UVA Bookstore
Better Halves: Romcom Heroines Meet Their Matches Ashley Herring Blake & Lana Harper Try out a new trope at this love-filled panel with two acclaimed romance writers. Blake’s Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date sees sparks fly in a fake dating scheme, and Harper’s In Charm’s Way is a light-hearted, magical enemies-to-lovers romp. Friday 3/22 | Omni Hotel
Alternate Appalachias Jeff Mann, Danielle Chapman & Anya Liftig This three-person panel includes Jeff Mann, author of Loving Mountains, Loving Men: Memoirs of a Gay Appalachian, now in its second edition. Mann discusses his relationship with Appalachian culture and society as a gay man, alongside authors Danielle Chapman and Anya Liftig. Friday 3/22 | New Dominion Bookshop
FOR THE NATURE LOVER
Animals-lovers, gardeners, farmers—it’s all good here.
Wild Asana: Animals, Yoga, and Connecting Our Practice to the Natural World Allison Zak Author and yoga teacher Allison Zak gets to the bottom of the dog in downward dog in her illustrated exploration of yoga poses and their animal counterparts. Then, grab a mat and try out the moves for yourself. Thursday 3/21 Central JMRL Library
Growing Organic Food Tanya Denckla Cobb Learn how to grow your own food with Tanya Denckla Cobb, author of The Backyard Homestead Guide to Growing Organic Food. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, herbs, whatever you’re planting, Cobb’s got the info on seed-starting, growing, and harvesting. Saturday 3/23 Omni Hotel
Love for the Land Brooks Lamb Brooks Lamb and fellow farmers Ebonie Alexander, Michael Carter Jr., and Renard and Chinette Turner discuss dwindling farmland in the face of suburban sprawl, racial injustice among farmers of color, and other concerns. Lamb’s moving book highlights stories of small-scale farmers caring for the land. Sunday 3/24 Ivy Creek Natural Area
FOR THE HISTORY LOVER
Stories retold, histories remembered, and ideas reborn.
The New Brownies’ Book: A Love Letter to Black Families Karida Brown & Charly Palmer The Brownies Book was originally published as a monthly magazine by W.E.B. Dubois in 1920. Now, it’s reimagined by scholar Karida Brown and artist Charly Palmer as a beautifully illustrated celebration of Black culture, with stories, play excerpts, poetry, art, and more. Saturday 3/23 Omni Hotel
Book Tour: James Percival Everett The acclaimed author is bringing his book tour to town. Get an early peek at James, Everett’s stunning reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, this time told by “Jim.” Saturday 3/23 The Paramount Theater
Unsung Women Ruth P. Watson, Virginia Pye & Stephanie Dray Get to know Maggie Lena Walker, the first Black woman bank president, in Watson’s A Right Worthy Woman, then travel to Gilded Age Boston in Pye’s The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann, and wrap it up with Dray’s Becoming Madam Secretary, a look at Francis Perkins. Wednesday 3/20 JMRL Central Library
ICYMI
Don’t miss a second go round of readings by these authors, “as seen in C-VILLE.”
Erika Howsare “The loveliness of deer might go without saying, but still, there it is: The more you look, the more they seduce,” writes Erika Howsare in her debut nonfiction book, The Age of Deer. Howsare appears at the Natural Born Creatures panel alongside Nicolette L. Cagle. Thursday 3/21, JMRL Central Library.
Irène Mathieu Referencing the milky covering that can occur on an infant’s tongue after feeding, Irène Mathieu’s milk tongue is a collection filled with precise, embodied language that explores parenthood, family, and the intricacies of existence in this world. Mathieu appears at the Family Trees & Legacies panel with Remica Bingham-Risher and Lightsey Darst. Friday 3/22, New Dominion Bookshop.
Diane Flynt “Behind each knobby brown orb, underneath every quirky apple name or sprightly flavor, lies a person, culture, and history. And nowhere is this history more interesting than in the South,” writes cidermaker Diane Flynt in Wild, Tamed, Lost, and Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South. Sunday 3/24, James Monroe’s Highland.
Henry Hoke A queer mountain lion in “ellay” is the narrator of Open Throat, a novel by Charlottesville’s own Henry Hoke. If that piques your interest, pick up a copy at Queer Reimaginings, a panel moderated by Hoke with SJ Sindu and Addie Tsai. Thursday 3/21, Omni Hotel.
The Albemarle County School Board (above) voted 7-0 in favor of Superintendent Matthew Haas’ redistricting recommendation.
Supplied photo.
The Albemarle County School Board approved a redistricting plan on March 14. While some parents are celebrating, others are less than thrilled that their children will be attending new schools.
The decision to redistrict was prompted by a population surge in the northern part of Albemarle County, and significant overcrowding at Baker-Butler Elementary School. As part of the redistricting recommendation, the district selected the North Pointe site—on Route 29 north of Proffit Road—as the location for the new elementary school. While ACPS is building a new elementary school to support the population growth, current infrastructure challenges make it infeasible to wait until the school’s projected opening in 2029 to redistrict.
With 750 students—more than 200 students over the building’s capacity—Baker-Butler is strained. All fifth grade classrooms have been moved to trailers, but the school is still strapped for space. Several teachers share space, staff rooms have been converted into classrooms, and the school’s physical and occupational therapists are based in the hallway.
Less than 15 minutes away, Stony Point Elementary has an enrollment of only 181 students, and is the smallest school in the county. Low enrollment at the school has led to problems keeping staff and maintaining at least two classes per grade level.
In October 2023, ACPS convened a redistricting committee to determine how to best reorganize elementary school boundaries in two phases. Phase one—the newly passed redistricting recommendation—redraws attendance areas to relieve enrollment concerns during the construction of the new elementary school. Once the new school is completed, school boundaries will be redrawn again, which is phase two of the redistricting.
Committee priorities included zoning neighborhoods together when possible, ensuring efficient transportation routes, and limiting the number of households rezoned in both phases. After months of meetings and a community survey, the ACPS redistricting committee made its recommendation to ACPS Superintendent Matthew Haas in February, and he presented the final recommendation to the school board on February 22.
The final recommendation redistricts 189 students, moving 42 students from Stone-Robinson to Stony Point Elementary; 88 students from Baker-Butler to Hollymead Elementary; and 59 students from Woodbrook to Agnor-Hurt Elementary.
The most contentious element of the plan was the movement of students from Stone-Robinson to Stony Point Elementary—32 percent of 758 respondents expressed no support for that in the community survey conducted in early February.
Ahead of the school board vote, several parents addressed representatives in a public hearing on the redistricting.
Advocates for redistricting spoke about the close-knit community at Stony Point Elementary and the logic of adding the Cascadia neighborhood to the attendance area.
“We relocated to Albemarle County two years ago specifically because of the unique rural character of the northern part of the county,” said Clinton Key, a Stony Point parent. “When we moved here we didn’t know anyone, and the generosity and inclusivity of the school’s leadership, its staff, and its community were essential to the success and quality of the experience my children had of joining the Albemarle community.”
“We would strive to be more of a school family by adding the neighborhood of Cascadia specifically,” said Stony Point parent Anika Johnson. “It would be a wonderful addition, because our children play at the same playgrounds, ride bikes together, [and] our sidewalks connect to each other’s neighborhoods.”
Opponents to the redistricting expressed concerns about the recommendation not effectively addressing overcrowding and equity issues, among other items.
“This proposed plan is not equitable, nor does it adequately address the phase one objectives of the redistricting initiative of rebalancing enrollment across the northern feeder pattern,” said Rupert Egan. Specific issues raised by Egan include the addition of trailers to Hollymead, and the plan’s failure to truly address overcrowding at Baker-Butler.
“Cascadia is not a good fit for Stony Point’s needs,” said Cascadia resident and Stone-Robinson parent Colin Thomas, who argued the new neighborhood’s potential demographic variations would be difficult for the small elementary school to handle. “As a smaller school, Stony Point is less able to handle enrollment unpredictability than a larger school like Stone-Robinson.”
Ahead of the vote, several members of the school board spoke about redistricting difficulties. Chair Judy Le talked to her constituents in the Rivanna District, which was the area most heavily impacted by the redistricting.
“I have given immense consideration to this vote, because as a parent I understand the ramifications both positive and potentially negative,” said Le. “There is no reason that Stony Point should continue to have difficulty staffing due to its size, there’s no reason Baker-Butler should continue to burst at the seams. And the recommendation Dr. Haas has made to us is the most equitable way to do the things we need to do.”
The redistricting recommendation passed unanimously, and will go into effect for the 2024-25 school year with a one-year exemption for families of rising fifth graders.
The Piedmont Housing Alliance has filed for a final site plan for the third phase of the redevelopment of Friendship Court into Kindlewood. File photo.
Charlottesville’s new Development Code has been in effect for a month, and most of the players involved say not enough time has passed to determine any effects so far.
“It’s early in the experience for staff and developers and they are still learning the day-to-day implications of the new code,” says James Freas, the city’s director of Neighborhood Development Services.
Ashley Davies, the chair of the Charlottesville Area Development Roundtable, also says it is too soon to make any conclusions.
The city’s new development portal allows anyone to track what is happening. As of Friday, March 15, there have been no new applications for critical slope waivers, Comprehensive Plan amendments, rezonings, or special uses. There have also been no submissions of the new major “development plan” that is the first review step for staff in the Department of Neighborhood Development Services. Two minor developments have been filed with one at 816 Hinton Ave. and one at 133 Stribling Ave.
“It is very interesting to me that we had a rush of over 1,000 housing units trying to get special use permits under the old zoning at the last minute, and no rush of new applications,” says Ben Heller, a vocal critic of the new zoning, referring to student housing projects like Verve Charlottesville and 2117 Ivy Rd. Those projects were approved under the old zoning, which did not have a requirement that one in every 10 units be designated as affordable.
The Piedmont Housing Alliance has filed for a final site plan for the third phase of the redevelopment of Friendship Court into Kindlewood. That will see 13 existing buildings demolished to make way for at least 88 units across four new buildings.
That site plan has a fee of $3,560, and triggered what may be the city’s first tree removal permit with a request to take down 26 trees. That permit will cost $1,300 to process. There’s also a “public infrastructure plan,” but the development portal doesn’t have any details.
In February, the Board of Architectural Review reviewed its first project under the new zoning for a new apartment complex proposed for 1609 Gordon Ave. The 0.172 acre property is now zoned Residential Mixed Use 5, but within a design control district. Because the cost of construction would be above $350,000, both the old rules and the new rules require a preliminary discussion with the BAR. The developer had submitted a plan that assumed the project was RX-3, which allows less buildable space. Freas said NDS staff are talking with developers and answering questions about projects that will soon be submitted.
“There are a number of projects being prepared for submission, and we are talking through the questions associated with these projects,” Freas says. “The code is a new approach, and it requires more thought on design to figure out what one can do with a piece of property.”
Meanwhile, the city has responded to a lawsuit by several property owners seeking voidance of the new zoning code based on a claim that it was adopted without sufficient scrutiny from the Virginia Department of Transportation.
“In the city’s view, plaintiff’s efforts to secure a judicial veto of the Zoning Ordinance, which was the product of a very thoughtful legislative process, are not well-taken,” says City Attorney Jacob Stroman.
Rita Dove was on sabbatical from the University of Virginia English department when Richard Danielpour emailed the U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner.
The Grammy Award-winning composer wanted to discuss collaborating on A Standing Witness, a cycle of songs that covers 50 years of American history, with original music set to poems as lyrics. The project was no small task. And Dove says that, at first glance, it seemed outside her wheelhouse. She was doing her own work, and she doesn’t write poems on spec or for occasions, but she does love collaboration and the way it can stretch the participating artists. When Danielpour said he had mezzo soprano Susan Graham in mind to perform the songs, Dove could visualize the project, and she signed on. C-VILLE Weekly spoke with Dove ahead of the Charlottesville premiere of A Standing Witness at Old Cabell Hall on Thursday, March 21.
Composer Richard Danielpour and poet Rita Dove celebrate their collaboration, A Standing Witness, joined by mezzo soprano Susan Graham and Music from Copland House. Photo by Bill Head.
C-VILLE Weekly: Talk about the concept and collaboration process. Rita Dove: First thing is to try to figure out what events you are going to talk about.
The whole sequence starts around 1968. Which also felt like a time when, in American history, we kind of turned around and looked and said, “This democracy is not what we thought it was. Things are cracking open.”
We seemed to be on the same wavelength. We started out with a whole process, with some touchstones. Halfway through, we took one out. I kind of said no.
Richard wanted to do the integration of Negro baseball leagues … but I thought we already had one with Muhammad Ali. We looked at the whole arc, and I said to Richard, “We need more women.” He agreed, and then Roe v. Wade came in … I was working on poems and I thought, “Roe vs. Wade. This changed everything in the world.” What I am trying to say is that it was a very fluid collaboration.
My way of working is to start in the middle of things. I was somewhere right around Woodstock, and poor Richard was waiting patiently for the first ones. He starts at the beginning. He said, “musically, I need the first ones.” We reached an artistic compromise where I gave him the first four poems … with the caveat that I might change a line or two. So once that started he was able to tolerate my bouncing around.
How long did the process take? About a year. Year and a half. We did not meet. The first time I met Richard was at a performance of this piece. …I didn’t hear the music either.
I want these poems to stand as poems as well, not lyrics of music. For that reason, I didn’t want to hear the music. I didn’t have to hear the music. The first time I heard [A Standing Witness] was at The Kennedy Center after the pandemic.
How did you feel when you saw it for the first time? I was terrified. Then I was terrifically relieved with the first song. I eventually forgot about the fact that these were my words.
What does it mean to you to put this onstage in Charlottesville? It has always been my dream, and Richard and I talked about this, to have A Standing Witness come to Charlottesville. I mean, Charlottesville with its Thomas Jefferson and the whole, almost schizophrenic, history of this town. It felt like this is a lighting rod for the kind of conflicted democracy that we have.
This Standing Witness, by documenting or by bearing witness—I guess you could say testimonials to these stages along the way in history. I mean I think it’s … something that will really have resonance here.
I can imagine Susan standing there as a witness. It will feel like she is singing to Thomas Jefferson, “this is a country we have wrought.”
What can this type of collaboration teach us on a broader level? Music is one of those mediums that penetrates us that has nothing to do with how educated we are or our class.
One of the things that I hope will happen is to remind the audience or infuse the audience with a historical memory. A reminder that these things happened in such a short space of time. Sixty years is not a lot. In a way it shows people why we are where we are today.
The theatrical aspect of it is that we are all in a room, strangers, for the duration of this piece. There’s no putting it down or flipping of the page. There’s no way you can say, “I’ll just close my eyes and listen to the orchestra,” because there’s this woman on stage, and her presence is amazing, and her singing, bearing witness. It comes out toward you.
Who would you like to see in the audience? First I’d like to see a lot of young people in the audience because they were not around at that time. I’m sometimes amazed at how little my students know about U.S. history, even 20 years ago.
To know what people felt back then and the anxiety level and how that helped or contributed to actions. That’s something that’s very hard to convey. It’s something that history books really can’t tell you, but music and poetry can. They can bring you in like that.
I also hope the audience is extremely mixed. I hope we see older people there. I want to see people who are not connected to the university … this is for everyone.
With such a vast body of work, what stands out to you? There’s so many things. One of the things that surprised me utterly, and of course changed my life, is when I got the Pulitzer. But I was not even dreaming of something like that.
Not every artist is prepared for the limelight. How was that for you? Absolutely not prepared. I was very shy.
When I write, and when I wrote, it was such a wonderful space, and my solitude. In came this wonderful thing, but there were some thorns to it. So I had to learn how to balance … and learn how to put on a public face. The only reason I did not resent it as much as I could have was because I remembered my first exposure to poetry. Meeting my first poets.
Talk about when you first connected to poetry. When I was about 10-11, I started reading Shakespeare’s plays—you know, go for the big book in the house—and luckily my parents didn’t tell me, “You won’t understand that.” I didn’t understand that this was poetry, but it was language that was singing.
I didn’t think poets were alive. They just existed in books. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I met my first poet. My teacher took us to a book signing … by John Ciardi of his translation of Dante’s Inferno. I didn’t know what the inferno was, but here he was, and I bought the book, and he signed it. I thought, “you did this?”
I mean, I’ve gone to the White House, that was cool. But the things that are really cool are if students do something. When I get a letter from someone who says their whole class is doing a unit of poetry … that’s what’s really exciting and means that someone has been woken up.
How do you spend time outside of your professional life? My husband and I enjoy ballroom dancing and Argentine tango. Otherwise, I am an obsessive crossword puzzler. I always do my puzzles in ink. I can’t abide pencils.
Are you Wordle obsessed? No. I don’t like Scrabble, you’d think I would … and the Wordle did not appeal to me. I love jigsaw puzzles, and I really like the wooden ones. When you work with words, and are writing all the time … I just want to do something. I want to move my body.
The Albemarle High School Jazz Ensemble takes the stage at The Paramount Theater for its annual Swing Into Spring benefit concert that features a lineup of local and regional musicians, including John D’earth, Charles Owens, Andrew Randazzo, Greg Thomas, and more. Under the direction of Andrew LaPrade, the award-winning ensemble is raising money for City of Promise, which aims to make a positive impact on generational poverty through full-family, child-centered initiatives.
$30, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 Main E. St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net
Mistaken identities, stowaways, high society, and lovelorn bachelors abound in Anything Goes, the raucous musical that takes place on a luxury ocean liner. Among the cast of wacky characters is an evangelist-turned-nightclub singer, a gangster and his moll, and an upper-crust lord and his intended, who all make matches and enemies aboard the S.S. American. Popular Cole Porter tunes include “I Get A Kick Out Of You,” “It’s De-Lovely,” and “You’re the Top.”
Parental discretion advised. $10-20, times and dates vary. 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville. fourcp.org
