Simon McBurney to Bring The Encounter to Broadway
View Comments Star Files Simon McBurney in ‘The Encounter'(Photo: Robbie Jack) Related Shows Show Closed This production ended its run on Jan. 8, 2017
Tony nominee Simon McBurney will bring his latest solo show The Encounter to Broadway, following a run at London’s Barbican Centre. Tickets are now on sale for New York performances, which will begin on September 20 at the Golden Theatre; opening night is scheduled for September 29. McBurney co-directs alongside Kirsty Housley.The Encounter premiered in August 2015 at the Edinburgh International Festival before transferring to the Barbican. In the one-man play, McBurney draws from Amazon Beaming, a book by Petru Popescu about National Geographic writer and photographer Loren McIntyre’s experience with tribes along the Amazon River.McBurney received a Tony nomination for directing a revival of The Chairs; he also helmed a revival of All My Sons on Broadway. As artistic director of the theater company Complicite, he helmed and penned the play A Disappearing Number. His addition directorial credits include The Elephant Vanishes, The Master and Margarita and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. On screen, he’s appeared in Rev, The Borgias, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation and The Conjuring 2.The limited engagement will run through January 8, 2017. Richard Katz will perform the role at certain performances. The production features design by Michael Levine, sound design by Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin, lighting design by Paul Anderson and projection design by Will Duke. The Encounter Simon McBurney
Best Actress winner Amina Faye, Zachary Levi & Best Actor winner Josh Strobl(Photo: Emilio Madrid-Kuser) The Jimmy Awards celebrate the talent and love for the theater that can develop during a student’s time in high school. Sixty-two students from across America competed for the National High School Musical Theatre Awards for Best Performance by an Actor and Actress at the eighth annual presentation of the Jimmy Awards, with the talent showcase featuring both ensemble and solo performances. Amina Faye from Charlotte, North Carolina took home the award for Best Actress; her performance as Sarah in Ragtime made her stand out as a finalist for the competition. Los Angeles native Josh Strobl, who played Link Larkin in his high school’s production of Hairspray, received the Best Actor Award. She Loves Me Tony nominee Zachary Levi hosted the ceremony on June 27 at the Minskoff Theatre. As you can tell below, the Jimmy Awards are a very serious occasion. Congratulations to all the up-and-coming performers who remind audiences where enthusiasm for the arts begins! View Comments
William Ivey Long(Photo: Emilio Madrid-Kuser) View Comments The date is now set for the 32nd annual Lucille Lortel Awards. The ceremony, which honors the best of off-Broadway, will be held on May 7 at the NYU Skirball Center. Nominations will be announced for the 19 competitive categories—including, for the first time, Outstanding Projection Design—on April 4.The Off-Broadway League will also honor three theater luminaries at this year’s ceremony. Tony-winning costume designer William Ivey Long will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Pulitzer Prize-winning Lynn Nottage will be inducted onto the Playwrights’ Sidewalk outside the Lucille Lortel Theatre and Roundabout veteran Harold Wolpert will receive the Edith Oliver Service to Off-Broadway Award.Long has won Tonys for his costume work on Nine, Crazy For You, The Producers, Hairspray, Grey Gardens and Cinderella. His designs can currently be seen in A Bronx Tale. Nottage won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Ruined; she will make her Broadway playwriting debut this spring with Sweat. Wolpert recently concluded his 11-year tenure as Managing Director of the Roundabout Theatre Company.
Turn the pile over about once a month and make sure it stays moist. The material decays intorich, black compost in five to six months. “You don’t have to turn it,” McLaurin said. “But itwill compost more slowly if you don’t.” The dying and dead leaves and plants can provide insulation this winter and valuable organicmaterial for next year’s plants. McLaurin said he uses as much yard clippings and trimmings as he can as mulch first. Then hecomposts any remaining material. Mulches keep the soil moist and insulate plant roots. Ah, fall! The crisp air. The cooler days. The mounds of leaves in your yard and dead plants inyour garden. Using yard waste as mulch is also like composting in place. “The mulch decays right there,”he said. “Then next spring, a quick cultivating adds rich organic matter into the soil.” McLaurin said landfills don’t take yard or garden waste anymore. New laws ban leaves, yardtrimmings and other organic material. And those city and county landfills that have specialorganic-matter disposal sites are increasing their fees for pickup and disposal nearly everyyear. “When you think about it, it’s kind of silly to pay someone else to cart away yard trash andleaves this fall and then turn around and buy mulches and compost next spring,” McLaurinsaid. It’s important to clean gardens and flower beds every year. “The dead plants can harbordisease organisms and insects,” McLaurin said, “that may damage or destroy plants nextyear.” The county extension office has more information about using mulches and composting yardwaste. Some people prefer the look of pine straw as mulch, he said. “So use two and a half inches ofyard waste,” he said, “and cover it with enough pine straw for the look you want.”
“Be grateful for what you’ve got and use it,” said Wayne McLaurin, a horticulturist with theUniversity of Georgia Extension Service. “There’s so much usable ‘trash’ in your yard andgarden that’s free.” During composting, the rotting process makes the pile heat up. That heat kills most diseaseorganisms and insects. Most seeds die during the process, too. “The only two I’ve seen come back are very seedyweeds and morning glory,” McLaurin said. “But I think morning glory comes back no matterwhat!” You can compost and make it a lot of work, McLaurin said. Or you can leave the trash in apile and it will rot and make compost by itself. Pile dead plants, yard trimmings and leaves in one out-of-the-way, but easy-to-get-to, place.For every three big bags’ worth of leaves, add one cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer. Then spread the ground-up trimmings two to three inches deep around ornamental bushes,trees and in flower beds. McLaurin said it’s safe to use any animal manure, too, except pet waste. Grind leaves and dead plants by running over them with a lawn mower. Grinding the materialmakes the pieces smaller and keeps them from blowing away. “Using yard waste is smart on a lot of counts,” McLaurin said. “It saves money and time andhelps the environment. There’s certainly no point in going out to buy mulch and compostedmaterial when you’ve already got it right there in your yard.”
Volume XXXNumber 1Page 15 By Gary WadeUniversity of GeorgiaGiven Georgia’s unpredictable climate, most gardeners are lookingfor tough, drought-tolerant, heat-tolerant, low-maintenanceplants with outstanding seasonal qualities. Georgia Blue veronica (Veronica peduncularis ‘GeorgiaBlue’) has all these qualities and more. It’s an easy choice fora prestigious Georgia Gold Medal in 2005.Georgia Blue veronica isn’t a University of Georgia introduction.It doesn’t hail from the state of Georgia at all. It was found inthe Republic of Georgia (formerly part of the Soviet Union) byEnglish plantsman Roy Lancaster, who introduced and named itafter the country of origin.Georgia Blue veronica is a herbaceous perennial that grows like aground cover and has beautiful, sky-blue flowers in early spring.Planted over bulbs such as daffodils, it provides a dramaticcolor contrast and spectacular floral display as it blooms inconcert with the bulbs. Yellow, white and cream-colored daffodilslook particularly nice when blanketed by the carpet of blue.Other usesIt’s an excellent choice for container plantings and rockgardens, too. It provides the visual appeal of a woodland streamspilling over the sides of containers or cascading over rocks.Growing just 4 to 6 inches tall and 2 feet wide, Georgia Blueveronica tends to hug the ground and remain compact. Theevergreen leaves are only about 1 inch long, elliptical-shapedand finely toothed. They’re dark green in summer and turn aburgundy-bronze in winter.Gardeners who like plants that bloom a long time will loveGeorgia Blue veronica. From February to April, it bears anabundance of tiny, true-blue flowers with white centers. At timesduring the bloom cycle, the foliage is masked by all the flowers.The flowers are highly attractive to bees and butterflies.Grows anywhereGeorgia Blue veronica is hardy in zones 5 to 8 and thrives infull sun and partial shade. Although it grows vigorously andspreads by creeping rootstocks, it’s not aggressive or invasive.When it reaches the limits of its growing area, it can be shearedback and easily maintained within a bed.Well-drained soils and good nutrition are essential for successwith Georgia Blue veronica. A light application of 10-10-10fertilizer every two months and watered in during the firstseason will get it off to a good start.Once it’s established, a light application of a completefertilizer such as 16-4-8 in early spring and late summer will itkeep it looking its best. New plants can be grown from seed orpropagated by dividing established plants in spring or fall.(Gary Wade is an Extension Service horticulturist with theUniversity of Georgia College of Agricultural and EnvironmentalSciences.)
By Stephanie SchupskaUniversity ofGeorgiaGeorgia isn’t immune to agroterrorism or natural disasters. People across the state are readying for emergencies from hurricanes to the Asian bird flu to intentional threats. Preparations are starting at agrosecurity trainings.Presented by the Georgia Committee on Agriculture and Food Defense and University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, agrosecurity awareness trainings began last July and are slated to continue into early 2006. About 1,500 people have been trained so far, with slots ready for about 2,000 more applicants. The next session will be Wednesday, Jan. 25 in Gainesville, Ga., and on Thursday, Jan. 26 in Fayetteville, Ga.“Agriculture and food affect every single county in the state,” said Don Hamilton, homeland security coordinator for the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “Food is distributed in every county through grocery stores, and it’s transported through every county. Agricultural and food security should span the continuum from farm to fork.”The committee is hoping to have 3,500 people trained when the classes wrap up in the spring. The training is free and open to potential agriculture emergency responders.“The purpose of these trainings is to get various groups – like farmers and emergency workers – to share information and become aware of each other’s role in an agrosecurity emergency,” Hamilton said.The class teaches those in emergency management and agriculture-related businesses how to recognize an agricultural incident and minimize potential problems through proper training. It is also geared toward responders from local and state governments and volunteer organizations who respond to all types of emergencies.“People generally know their own jobs and do them well,” Hamilton said, “but they don’t necessarily know what others will be doing in the same situation.”Participants can also earn continuing education units. The training is sponsored by the U.S. Office of Domestic Preparedness in cooperation with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, Georgia Department of Agriculture, UGA and the USDA.For more information or to register, go to www.agrosecurity.uga.edu.(Stephanie Schupska is a news editor with the University ofGeorgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
Human breast milk is the best source of food for infants, but University of Georgia researchers have found what may be a new second best — formula made from hazelnut oil. Even though breast milk and infant formulas both have saturated and unsaturated fats, the chemical makeup of a molecule of human milk is more digestible than a molecule found in formula. The molecular structure of breast milk fat has saturated fats surrounded by unsaturated fats. Formula has the opposite structure. Casimir Akoh, a UGA distinguished research professor of food science and technology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, developed a nutrient based on hazelnut oil that better mimics the structure of mother’s milk, which makes it better suited to nourish infants. The results of his study were published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry on May 23. For the full article, see http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/jf3012272. “The fatty acid profile of human milk is the gold standard when designing the fat composition of infant formulas,” he said. “The unique structure of human milk fat increases digestion and absorption of the fatty acids and improves calcium absorption.” “Metabolism is different for physically blended vegetable oils in infant formula,” he said. “When you digest these molecules, it is not the same. That is why we try to put these fatty acids together on the same molecule.” “If you add DHA oil with vegetable oil, then the fatty acid (palmitic) shows up at the ends of the molecule, and this is different (reversed) from how it is in the mother,” he said. Digests better Mothers naturally provide the healthful omega-3 fatty acid DHA, docosahexaenoic acid, and omega-6 fatty acid ARA, arachidonic acid, which are important for the development of the brain and other organs. Akoh’s development of fats from hazelnut oil contains DHA and ARA at the same molecular positions found on fats in human milk. When nutrients are digested, the molecules are broken down starting at the ends. “As saturated fatty acids, such as palmitic acid, are cut from the top and bottom, they combine with calcium to form calcium soap of the acid,” Akoh said, “and you don’t want soap in your body.”All ages will benefit
Adults and infants can benefit from the improved product. “Human milk is the most valuable source of nutrients for infants, but it is not always possible to feed infants with human milk, and supplements and formula are needed,” he said.Contains DHA and ARA UGA is currently working to develop an infant formula using the modified molecule. “In general, American diets are very low in fish oils,” he said. “We are not like the Eskimos who eat a lot of salmon or fatty fish and have DHA in their diets. So, even if we are breast-feeding, it might be advantageous for the mother to take a capsule as a supplement if they are not eating the fish so they can pass it on to the infant.” Akoh’s design using hazelnuts includes all the components in one molecule. The new molecule also includes palmitic acid in the middle, which is found naturally in human milk fat and in the oleic acid in hazelnut oils. “Other people use a blend of vegetable oil. With the palmitic acid at the top or bottom of the structure instead of the middle, they lose the energy they could get from the palmitic acid metabolism, and they also lose nutrients like calcium,” he said. Traditionally, infant formulas are made using vegetable oils combined with algae-derived DHA and ARA fatty acids. But infants may not digest algae-derived fatty acids efficiently as a physical mixture of two oils.
Backyard gardeners with limited space may want to try gardening in raised beds.“Many gardeners choose raised-bed container gardens because they are easier to access and there’s less soil compaction,” said David Berle, a horticulturist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Raised beds, or “giant flower pots” as he calls them, are ideal for gardeners who have a “tough, urban site” where the soil conditions are not ideal, Berle said.“They are perfect for school gardens because they can go where there isn’t any soil. In theory you could put a box on top of asphalt. And, the kids can’t trample the plants,” Berle said.Raised beds are ideal for gardeners with physical ailments, like back or knee issues, and wheelchair users who garden. A raised bed built for accessibility by the disabled should be at least 36 inches away from another raised bed and should be raised to a height of at least 24 inches so a wheelchair can be rolled underneath the garden, Berle said.When building a wheelchair-accessible raised garden, the surface must be firm and stable. Do not build on a slope. Berle recommends consulting a horticulture therapy organization for more detailed information. When constructing any raised bed, Berle recommends not building the bed wider than arm’s reach from either side — 24-36 inches. “Three or 4 feet wide is a good overall width, depending on the gardener’s size,” he said.Along with the advantages of a raised bed garden come several disadvantages. The soil dries out quicker, which causes the plants to require water more often. Raised bed gardens are also much harder to till.“It’s hard to use a tiller (plow) in a box. You have to lift it up and put it in there and then it’s hard to operate. So it’s going to be a little bit harder to mix the soil in a raised-bed garden,” he said. Soil has to be added to a raised-bed garden, and that costs money. “A garden that’s 4 feet wide and 8 feet long will need 5 cubic yards of soil, which has to come from somewhere,” he said. “If you buy bulk topsoil, you’ll likely get soil that was scrapped away from a poor site. If you’re not careful, you could buy the same soil you didn’t want to plant in to begin with.” Topsoil purchased in bags is usually a mix of bark compost and sand, not real topsoil at all, he said. Plain soil, amended with a little compost, is the best choice for raised beds. If local soil is not available, a mix of potting soil and compost is the best material with which to fill a raised bed.The cost of building and filling a raised bed is a big disadvantage over just gardening in the ground. Raised-bed gardens can be ordered as prefabricated or preassembled kits or built from a wide variety of materials. To save money, Berle recommends building with less costly materials.“A raised bed can be made of pallets lined with landscape fabric. It won’t be as attractive as others, but it will work,” he said.Raised beds can be built from metal objects, like old cattle troughs. “Just drill holes in the bottom and you are done,” he said. “Or a garden can be made from baby pools and plastic barrels cut in half,” he said. Cement blocks can be used, but they are not cheap. The average cost is $1.50 to $2 each. “And, if the ground’s not level, you are going to spend a lot of time scrapping the earth,” Berle said. Recycled concrete pieces can be used to build a wall around a raised bed, just remember that concrete contains calcium and will likely affect the soil’s pH.Avoid rubber tires. “I would be concerned about chemicals in the tire getting into the soil,” Berle said.Before building a wooden raised bed, read these tips from Berle and UGA Extension:Use at least 2-inch-thick lumber. One-inch-thick lumber isn’t sturdy enough.Keep in mind that lumber is sold in 8-, 10-, and 12-foot lengths. Plan the garden size so as not to waste lumber. Southern untreated pine is inexpensive, but it will only last a few years. And railroad ties and telephone poles are known to release creosote into the soil. “Gardeners following USDA Organic growing guidelines cannot use common treated wood to build a raised bed. Telephone poles and railroad ties are also off the list for organic standards,” he said. “Remember, whatever is in the wood can leach into your soil.”For more on raised-bed gardening, search the subject on the UGA Extension publications website at extension.uga.edu/publications/.
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources are teaming up to host a Southeast Georgia Forestry Field Day and Workshop.The daylong event will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 9 a.m to 3 p.m. at the Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center in Lyons, Georgia.Georgia landowners, timber managers and forestry industry personnel are encouraged to attend the free event.“The forestry and timber industry in our county and in southeast Georgia is a big part of our local economies. This meeting will keep our landowners and timber managers up to date on the latest research and management practices,” said Chris Tyson, UGA Extension Agricultural and Natural Resources agent in Tattnall County. “This is also a great opportunity to showcase the forestry research that UGA specialists have been conducting right here in our neck of the woods for years. Folks will be able to see firsthand what they have been working on and, hopefully, take some of that knowledge to their own farms.”Space is limited, and those interested must pre-register by Thursday, Oct. 1, to reserve a seat and meal. You can register by calling the Tattnall County UGA Extension office at 912-557-6724 or by emailing tysonc@uga.edu.The agenda for the meeting will include development of a forest management plan, a forestry herbicide update, and pine straw and timber production yields at longleaf pine sites. The tour of the research plots will include a look at the longleaf seed source study, slash and loblolly plots, as well as some hybrid poplar and cottonwood plots.
Dennis Hollingsworth was fresh out of college the first time he tried running a farm. It was the early 1980s in south Georgia, and he stuck with it for four years in some of the toughest economic conditions since the Great Depression.Then he left for an IT job.“I went to Atlanta and I thought I would never look back, and I didn’t for years and years,” Hollingsworth said. “But it’s time for me to do some things that I’ve always wanted to do. “Over the next five years, Hollingsworth and his wife plan to leave their 4,300 square-foot home in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and move to a manufactured home on a farm in Banks County.They’ll raise goats and calves and the crops needed to feed them.And they’ll have the University of Georgia to provide support and guidance.For the past three years, UGA Cooperative Extension has partnered with the UGA Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and other business educators across the state to equip new farmers with the business acumen they need to succeed.The Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program, offered at locations across the state, brings together UGA outreach units and outside groups to provide multifaceted training for beginning and young farmers.The program focuses on developing mentorships for beginning farmers, providing nuts-and-bolts training in either small ruminant or vegetable production and, maybe most importantly, focuses on financial and business training.Hollingsworth enrolled in the program in Gainesville, Georgia, and worked with Extension County Coordinator Bob Waldorf and SBDC Area Director Bruce Cutler to refine his business plan before launching his farm.“I don’t want to lose money in retirement,” Hollingsworth said. “And that’s why I wanted to put together a business plan. As I did, it became a thing where I could look at it and say, ‘Yeah, you know I could do this for the next 25 years and enjoy it.’”The journeyman program has helped more than 500 young and beginning farmers since it was launched in 2015.Some are young entrepreneurs looking to make the most of the market’s desire for more locally grown food. Some are traditional farmers who are looking to improve an inherited farming business. And many, like Hollingsworth, are second-career farmers looking to make the most of farming in their retirement.Often those who go into farming have big dreams, a passion for hard work and a vision of the simplicity and peace of pastoral life. What they don’t have, in many cases, is a workable business plan.“I know you’ve heard it before, but if you fail to plan, you’re really planning to fail,” Waldorf said.“We have a lot of people who are coming into the area and buying a small farm, and they’re calling me and asking me how they can make that farm work,” he added. “Their very first step should be having a plan down on paper to see if they can make it.”The partnership between UGA Extension and SBDC makes sense because both groups deal with critical, but specialized, programming, Cutler said. Agriculture businesses need this collaborative approach because, while they share a lot of similarities with other small businesses, they’re also plagued by climate-related uncertainty, which makes planning and technical advising even more important. “They have challenges related to nature that are over and above the challenges faced by other businesses,” Cutler said.A big part of the planning is helping people realize when an idea won’t work or that an idea needs major changes before it will work.Having a community of like-minded entrepreneurs and advisors from both the business and agricultural fields can make that process easier.“Bob is discussing what will grow and what won’t grow here from the Extension side,” Cutler said, “and I’m talking about it from the business side: How are you going to sell it?”For more information about training through the Journeyman Farmer Certificate program, visit sustainagga.caes.uga.edu. For more information about the UGA Small Business Development Center, visit www.georgiasbdc.org.