The State of Things

Raleigh Ensemble Players has been presenting provocative theater in the capital city since 1982. Earlier this year, the company moved into a renovated theater space on Fayetteville Street, defying a recession that has plagued many arts organizations. REP’s first full-length production in the new facility will be "Distracted," a play about the challenges of dealing with Attention Deficit Disorder.

Before playwright Suzan-Lori Parks penned the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Top Dog/Underdog,” she wrote “The America Play.” The abstract narrative centers around a character called The Foundling Father, a grave digger who impersonates Abraham Lincoln in a novelty performance that allows people to act out the role of the President’s assassin. “The America Play” is currently in production at Greensboro’s Triad Stage UpStage Cabaret.

The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh presents "Mirror Image: Women Portraying Women," the second exhibition in its North Carolina gallery. The thematic group show features work depicting women done by women artists who live in the state, but have national and international reputations.

Professional tennis players like to say that to master the game, you must first log no less than 10,000 hours on the court. Rex Miller crossed that threshold before the age of 10. Both of Miller’s parents were tennis players and they often brought him to the court as a child, first to observe, then to learn the game.

The third annual InstroSummit - an all instrumental music festival - returns to North Carolina this weekend. Bands from all along the East Coast will descend on Chapel Hill with three days of lyric-free performances. The line-up includes The Space Rangers, a 4-piece surf rock band from Ulm, Germany.