Astute readers of the new Vermont Mozart Festival brochure may note a few gaps -- not in the programming, but in the corporate-sponsorship department. Four of the 19 concerts in the 31st season, which runs from July 18 to August 8, lack the imprimatur of a big business such as Hydro Quebec or Vermont Tent Company. Corporate cash is an essential component in the festival's $750,000 budget.... Read more

When I mentioned to a friend that I was going to see a production of The Miracle Worker -- William Gibson's well-known play about the early years of Helen Keller -- his first reaction was to tell a Helen Keller joke.

The temptation is difficult to resist. Even Vermont Stage Artistic Director Mark Nash told one in his curtain speech: After making the standard request that audience members turn off their cell phones, he added, "Of course, Helen Keller wouldn't hear them."... Read more

"I saw the ad and thought, 'Burlington, Vermont -- wow," says Evelyn Hankins. She apparently wasn't the only one. According to Fleming Museum Director Janie Cohen, "an exceptionally strong candidate pool" responded to the university's search for a new curator of collections and exhibitions. Hankins, an assistant curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, was Cohen's number-one choice.

Isn't it a bit of a coup to hire away a curator from one of the most famous cultural institutions in the world?... Read more

In more ways than one, White River Junction sits at a crossroads.

Two highways intersect there -- Interstates 89 and 91 -- and two rivers, the Connecticut and the White. Numerous rail and phone lines thread their way through, too.... Read more

Arthur Miller's 1947 play All My Sons is painfully relevant in 2004: A mother dreams of her son dying in battle. A war profiteer rationalizes his profits. A soldier attempts to explain the difficulties of adjusting to civilian life.

One definition of a classic is that it continues to reveal layers of meaning to each new generation that confronts it; All My Sons is unquestionably an important play for audiences to see right now. That's especially true when the production is as strong as the one currently playing its final weekend at Northern Stage.... Read more

Good news for local culture vultures: The Shelburne Museum, which reopens May 1, has cut ticket prices in half for Vermont residents.

Not-so-good news for longtime museum employees: The museum has made a major change in its pension plan that will mean a drop in what some staffers were expecting to receive at retirement.... Read more

Scene 1: A fluorescent-lit meeting room in the Blue Cross Blue Shield headquarters in Berlin. Five smart, confident high school students from around the state are playing a word association game. The word is "teenager." Their responses? "Drunk," "angry," "pain," "hostile," "Ninja Turtles," "cliques," "illegal," "drugs," "choice," "freedom," "bans," "sex" and "alcohol."... Read more

The apparent suicide of monologist Spalding Gray was a wrenching loss. According to Alison Granucci, a friend of Gray and a former Burlingtonian, the loss is made more poignant by the fact that in his final performances -- a work-in-progress presentation of Life, Interrupted at New York's P.S. 122 last December, not long before he disappeared -- Gray was beginning to reveal a side of himself that had never been seen on stage.... Read more

If you're obsessed with digging up answers -- you're a researcher, say, or maybe even a journalist -- Underneath the Lintel will speak to your obsession.... Read more

The University of Vermont production of Tina Howe's culinary comedy The Art of Dining obeys the cardinal rule of restaurants: The customers are the stars. True, the kitchen could use a bit more depth and variety, but there's enough fun to be had in the dining room that you leave feeling quite content. And even if you're not entirely satisfied with your meal, you'll still come away impressed with the decor.... Read more