Arts

Stand Up, Improv, and More at Greensboro's Idiot Box Comedy Club

by David Ford

The art of comedy is alive and well in the Triad and much of the credit goes to The Idiot Box Comedy Club in Greensboro. There you’ll find a veritable beehive of activity going on year-round. This fall is no exception with their monthly Knuckleheads production—an all-ages, kid friendly show with stand up, improve and sketch. Comedian Eric Trundy and club owner Steve Lesser are teaching stand up classes, and tonight at 8:00pm at the Idiot Box it’s round two of The 6th Annual Ultimate Comic Challenge. Eric knows the UCC well, as does Idiot Box Co-owner Jennie Stencel. Jennifer is a comedian and improv actor well-known to Triad audiences. From 2006-2010 she was the comedic traffic reporter on WXII-TV whose on-air antics—rapping the traffic report—eventually wound up on CNN, VH1, and MSNBC. David Ford began by asking Jennie how the Ultimate Comic Challenge came into being.

The Bel Canto Company Presents Double Double Toil and Trouble

by David Ford

Bel Canto Company presents Double Double Toil and Trouble, an exciting, international concert of cutting-edge 20th century pieces for vocal ensemble featuring Gian Carlo Menotti’s mammoth 30-minute work The Unicorn, The Gorgon and the Manticore: Three Sundays of a Poet (Introduction, Twelve Madrigals and six Interludes). The performances are Saturday, October 12 at 8:00 pm, and Monday, October 14 at 7:30 pm in Christ United Methodist Church in Greensboro. Bel Canto Artistic Director and conductor Welborn E. Young discussed the program with David Ford from his studio at the UNC at Greensboro where he is Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music. Also on the program will be music by Hungarian composer György  Orbán, Norwegian Ola Gjeilo, and Finnish composers Bengt Johanson, and Jaako Mäntyjärvi. Today we give a sample from all four.