Alex Granados

Everywhere you go right now, you’re probably hearing holiday tunes. But the internationally regarded baritone Steven Kimbrough is bringing a new sound to Christmas: opera. His new album, “Christmas Lullabies From Around the World” has the celebrated singer doing operatic renditions of some little known Christmas songs.

Manbites Dog Theater has been a Durham institution for 25 years now, bringing offbeat works to curious audiences, and fostering other theater groups as they struggle for a foothold. As part of its birthday celebration, the theater company is presenting “Seventy Scenes of Halloween,” the first production to premiere at the theater in 1987.

The iconic Frank Capra film has captured the hearts and minds of people around the world. It’s the quintessential American Christmas movie. Now, the Playmakers Repertory Company is bringing a stage adaptation to Chapel Hill. “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” is showing through December 16th at the Center for Dramatic Art on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Michael Gillespie never set out to be an intellectual. He wanted to play professional football and went to Harvard to begin his athletic career. But illness struck and he was forced to lose 60 pounds. His football career over, Gillespie began searching for a new course in life. Philosophy seemed to be the answer. Host Frank Stasio talks to Michael Gillespie, professor of political science and director of the Gerst Program in Political, Economic and Humanistic studies at Duke University and the Duke Program in American Values and Institutions.

Secession movements are cropping up across the United States following the re-election of President Barack Obama. But what do they even mean? Are they a fluke or an indication that changes are coming? And what relation does secession have with revolution?

For many aspiring playwrights, seeing your production come together piece by piece on stage is a faraway fantasy. But for the young students of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s undergraduate Writing for the Screen and Stage Program, this very fantasy will become a reality. Long Story Shorts is a festival of one act plays written by six undergraduate playwrights, and directed and performed by professional local actors.

Composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and Greensboro-based singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett have brought their musical talents together for a new album that explores North Carolina.

“Grand” is a designation reserved for only a few chefs around the world, and one of North Carolina’s own has just joined their ranks.

World War II and the Vietnam War are the subject of countless projects, movies, books and discussion. But in between the two, there was the Korean War, where more than 33,000 Americans died in combat during three years of intense fighting. Melinda Pash, a teacher

Science used to reside within the confines of the paper walls of literary journals and popular magazines. But increasingly, bloggers are at the forefront of science reporting. Bora Zivkovic has been collecting the best online science writing since 2006, and is the series editor for the most recent version, “The Best Online Science Writing 2012”