Playwright Beth Henley, Artist Alexis Lavine, "The Wire", and Composer Tom Hauser

Beth Henley

Back in 1978, American dramatist and actress Beth Henley won a Pulitzer Prize for her play Crimes of the Heart. It was the Mississippi native's first professionally produced play, and since then Beth's become one this country's most influential theatre voices. That voice is well known for blending the comic and the serious in nearly all of her pieces. A wonderful example can be found throughout her play Abundance which opened earlier this week at Hanesbrands Theatre in Winston-Salem, and is directed by Preston Lane.

Abundance was Beth Henley's first play not set in the South. The 25-year narrative takes place in the 1860s in Wyoming and tells the story of two mail order brides. The hopelessly romantic Bess and fiercely determined Macon meet while waiting for their husbands to arrive. They become close friends as the years pass and their lives overlap. One husband is the abusive, revolting Mr. Rooker who is so foul that his nastiness actually provides comic relief. Husband #2 is the meeker, glass-eyed Mr. Flaherty faced with a loveless and bankrupt life. Beth Henley spoke with David Ford by phone from her home in Los Angeles.

American dramatist and actress Beth Henley. Her 1990 play Abundance set in 1860s Wyoming is presented by Triad Stage and playing at Hanesbrands Theatre in Winston-Salem through May 17^th.

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Alexis Lavine

She's being honored in Watercolor Artists Magazine as one of the “Ones to Watch”. Last year three of her paintings were published in The Artistic Touch, volume 6, and she kicked off 2015 by having her work accepted by the American Watercolor Society. Their annual spring exhibition just wrapped up last month in New York City, and it's considered by many to be the most prestigious and competitive watercolor exhibition in the country.

But you don't have to travel to the big city to catch Alexis Lavine's wonderful work.  The Greensboro-based artist has a solo exhibition of recent watercolors going on at Hampton House Gallery on Coliseum Drive in Winston-Salem, through May 30^th.

Alexis Lavine's use of color and light is truly awe-inspiring and her skills as an artist allow her to represent her subjects in a variety of styles from impressionistic images to hyper realism so detailed you may give it a double take to make sure it's not a photograph. Whichever techniques she's exploring, her paintings are captivating, personal reflections that will have your eyes glues to the canvas.

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Critical Media Studies and The Wire

The HBO series The Wire completed its critically acclaimed broadcast run in 2008.

In the years since, interest in the show hasn't waned, and if anything its significance is even clearer. Widely heralded as either the best or one of the best television series of all time, much has been written on The Wire - if you doubt Eddie, it's just a Google search away.

Eddie's guests today contributed to a 600-page book of essays on the show, but from a new perspective. The Baltimore-based drama was the subject of Professor Mary Dalton's Critical Media Studies class. She tasked her students with authoring and publishing a book - Critical Media Studies: Student Essays on The Wire. Eddie spoke with students Connor MacKenzie and Ally Harper about their writing.

Critical Media Studies: Student Essays on The Wire is available now on Amazon.comin physical and digital versions.

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Composer/Producer Tom Hauser

Composer/producer Tom Hauser received his BM in Sound Recording Technology from Ithaca College before earning an MFA in Film Scoring at UNC School of the Arts. He's since returned to Winston-Salem where he's found the perfect marriage of both in surround sound composing techniques. He's employed in the recently premiered Indie film Brewconomy, and in his current sound engineering project In Saturn's Rings due out next year.

Tom's film Death and the Robot (directed by Austin Taylor) continues to play at film festivals across the United States, and has over 32,000 views on Vimeo.