Phillip Crook

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Ackland, UNC relations set to tighten with grant

By Phillip Crook | August 18

Correction: Due to a reporting error, this story states that Robert Cantwell co-curated the Ackland exhibit "The '50s and the Anti-'50s." He is teaching a class on the subject of the exhibit. A $1.25 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will be pumping through the veins of the Ackland Art Museum in the coming years with the impetus of enhancing the museum's role in University education.

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CPA sees rise in student attendance

By Phillip Crook | April 25

It was a season of surprises. Aretha Franklin canceled her season-opening performance for Carolina Performing Arts, student attendance to CPA events reached a new high, and of all the shows CPA presented, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Joshua Bell proved to be the most popular. But what surprised Emil Kang, UNC's executive director for the arts and the man behind CPA's 2007-08 season, was something less tangible. For Kang, the success of the past season exemplified a delicate change taking place in the community.

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Dance company advances 'non-narrative art'

By Phillip Crook | April 21

The work of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company is of the sort that often challenges audiences' intuitions about what is and what isn't "art." For many in attendance at Carolina Performing Arts' presentation of the company Friday, the convergence of jarring music, graphic sets and atypical movement defied expectation and resulted in utter confusion. Others came to Memorial Hall to indulge in the non-narrative choreography of Merce Cunningham - considered the world's greatest living choreographer - and left satisfied with the simple appreciation for bodies in motion.

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Dance show to enrapture with two performances

By Phillip Crook | April 18

When provocative American choreographer Merce Cunningham freed his dancers from the limitations of music, he also set out to release audience members from expectations of meaning behind the movement. Audience members looking for a story within Carolina Performing Arts' presentation of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at 8 p.m. today in Memorial Hall should be prepared to take a different look, said Robert Swinston, the assistant to the choreographer.

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Power comedian brings humor education home

By Phillip Crook | February 15

Take CNN, dress it in a black blazer, add expletives and you've got UNC alumnus and comedian Lewis Black. Noted for his "Back in Black" segment on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," Black is the name power and motivation behind the Carolina Comedy Festival, which kicked off its fifth year Thursday with a student stand-up competition.

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PlayMakers mixes it up with Pulitzer-winners

By Phillip Crook | January 25

In keeping with its mission to expand the breadth of theater-going experiences in Chapel Hill, PlayMakers Repertory Company is trying something new. The company will unveil two Pulitzer Prize-winning plays in preview performances this weekend. The shows officially premiere on Feb. 2 as a rotating repertoire until the end of the month. On alternating days, audiences will have an opportunity to experience the plays in tandem, as the themes of faith and truth intertwine and relate across both pieces.

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Classical performance sells out hall

By Phillip Crook | January 10

Memorial Hall hosted three of classical music's powerhouse names Wednesday in one of Carolina Performing Arts' most anticipated performances of the season. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring superstar violinist, violist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman, was the first show in CPA's 2007-08 program to sell out last fall, and for many audience members the concert proved to be well worth the five-month wait.

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'Nutcracker' classic comes to campus

By Phillip Crook | November 30

Radio stations play Christmas music weeks before Thanksgiving, and shopping malls tempt customers with early holiday sales; but once "The Nutcracker" comes to town, there can be no doubt that the holiday season is in full swing. Carolina Performing Arts will present Carolina Ballet's production of Peter Tchaikovsky's classic ballet this weekend, beginning today in Memorial Hall. A familiar tale to most, "The Nutcracker" is the story of a German girl, Clara, and the world of her dreams, in which reality transforms into a whimsical fantasy of dancing snowflakes, sweets and toys.

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Show whips up ovation

By Phillip Crook | November 12

Emil Kang, UNC's executive director for the arts, said he decided to bring "Must Don't Whip 'Um" to Memorial Hall, not to draw huge crowds but because he believed it to be the kind of production that would take audience members by surprise. And after Saturday's show, the audience rose to its feet in an emotional reaction to an unexpectedly intimate, stirring and joyful performance. "Must Don't Whip 'Um" is a multimedia musical about fictional minor '70s pop artist Cameron Seymour at the last concert before she disappears.

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It's raining acrobats in Memorial Hall

By Phillip Crook | October 24

If Cirque Eloize's "Rain" were actually a meteorological phenomenon, it would be the kind of downpour most people look forward to - an unexpectedly lively, sun-drenched afternoon shower. The Canadian contemporary circus troupe enchanted a substantial Memorial Hall audience Tuesday night with a series of comedic and moving vignettes displaying contemporary circus acts.