John Lamb

Michelle Hand, Greg Johnston and Jonathan Foster in Mustard Seed Theatre's Falling.

​The Professional Theatre Council announced its nominees for the 2012 Kevin Kline Awards last night in person at Tucci & Fresta Trattoria and simultaneously online at its Facebook page. As has been the case since the awards' inception, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, the Muny and Stages dominated the proceedings, with 28, 18 and 17 nominations respectively.

Judges seemed to have some difficulty narrowing down the competition in two categories. The field for Outstanding Lead Actor is seven-deep, and Outstanding Costume Design has eight unique nominees.

Of special note are former Riverfront Times theatre critic Deanna Jent's multiple nominations as both writer and director. Her production of Godspell for Mustard Seed Theatre is up for Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Ensemble in A Musical and Outstanding Supporting Actress in A Musical, as well as Outstanding Director of a Musical. Jent's powerful family drama Falling is up for Outstanding New Play or Musical (an award it should win handily) and Falling's Michelle Hand and Jonathan Foster have been tipped for Outstanding Actress in a Play and Outstanding Supporting Actor in Play.

The full list of nominations follows.
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The cover of A Boy Called Dickens.

​John Hendrix makes a living creating illustrations and covers for periodicals such as the New York Times and Rolling Stone. It's a difficult field to break into, and it's just as difficult to maintain one's standing because you have to keep producing at a steady rate. "Sometimes you get a call at 10 a.m. and you have to have the piece in by 4 p.m. the same day," he explains. "It's the extreme sport of illustration. I take on too much sometimes because I love to do it."

To counter the rapid turnaround times of his day job, the St. Louis-based Hendrix illustrates children's books, a process that can take the better part of a year. Some of them, such as his book about the firebrand abolitionist John Brown, he also writes. His most recently published book, A Boy Called Dickens, is a work of historical fiction that was written by Deborah Hopkinson. This collaboration opens a window on the childhood of currently en vogue author Charles Dickens, which happened to be full of hardship, toil and a family stint in debtor's prison -- clearly the stuff of children's bedtime stories. Wait, what? Why make a children's books out of Dickens' Dickensian childhood?

"A certain level of suffering is necessary for my children's books, and Dickens' life has it," Hendrix says. He is not wrong.

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Comic Kris Wernowsky, founder of "Too Hip for a Comedy Club" nights at Foam

​The first time comic Kris Wernowsky put on a "Too Hip for a Comedy Club" standup event at Foam last October, indie darling St. Vincent played the same night -- rather stiff competition, if you're trying to lure the Cherokee crowd.

His other mistake: Keeping the overhead lights on full blast for the duration.

"That first show suffered a bit," he says. "But it was actually pretty well attended. "

And folks kept coming. Now, "Too Hip for a Comedy Club" is one of a handful of regular standup events that allow newbie comics a shot at some stage time in an open, unconventional venue.

Wernowsky's moving out of town, but he's still in charge of the event; in fact, they're doing a show tonight.

Daily RFT: First of all, where are you off to and why?

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The NonProphet Theatre Company announced yesterday that there will be no encore to their fifth season. The group has officially disbanded effective immediately, putting an end to their long run as both a comedy troupe and as a theatrical company.

The cast of the NonProphet's production of Cabaret.

​The NPTCO began way back in 1995 as a sketch comedy vehicle for a rotating cast of performers, as detailed in Ben Westhoff's 2003 feature, "No More Funny Business." Five years ago the group and its fearless leader, Robert A. Mitchell, decided to expand into fully-staged plays, a move that introduced them to a larger audience. And despite their origins in comedy, NPTCO were as likely to present a serious drama (Neil LaBute's Reasons to Be Pretty was included in their most recent season, for example) as they were to mount something lighter.
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Missouri History Museum

Service Cross of the German Eagle. Presented to Charles A. Lindbergh by Hermann Goering, 1938.

​Charles A. Lindbergh received dozens of medals and accolades for his 1927 transatlantic flight, and immediately upon landing became one of the first international celebrities. The medal pictured, however, is the Service Cross of the German Eagle, and it was presented to him in 1938 by Hermann Goering on behalf of Adolf Hitler. The medal was ostensibly for Lindbergh's contributions to aviation, but it was also granted because the all-American boy from Minnesota had become an ardent proponent of Nazi Germany's military superiority and a vocal advocate for American isolationism.

As you might imagine, this stance, and his acceptance of Nazi awards, gained the aviator quite a few critics among the American public. This particular medal, along with hundreds of other artifacts and records, is currently displayed in the Missouri History Museum's long-term exhibit, Lindbergh, which closes at the end of the month.
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Carrie M. Becker

Not Carrie M. Becker's personal workspace.

​If you've seen St. Louis artist Carrie M. Becker's recent collection "Barbie Trashes Her Dream House" -- and odds are that you have, since the photos have gone viral over the past few days, appearing in, among many other places, Jezebel, the Huffington Post and Time.com -- you may wonder if there's anything, well, autobiographical about Becker's dioramas of tiny rooms strewn with meticulously-crafted filth and photographed so that they appear full-sized.

There's not. Becker's apartment/studio in the Shaw neighborhood is clean and uncluttered. Her art supplies are carefully sorted and stowed and her worktable is bare, except for a laptop and several layers of varnish.

Still, people do wonder. This fall, Becker displayed photos of some of her dioramas in her studio at the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was an artist in residence. "Nobody knew they were small," she laments. "Everyone was like, 'Did you trash your house? Girl, you need help.'" That was when she gave the collection its new title. Barbie has a dark side, too, you know.

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​Riverfront Times' contributor Mark Fischer felt that this Christmas season has been a little light on inspirational specials dedicated to the true meaning of the season -- making sure you get your kids that one item that they've been hounding you about since ten minutes after Thanksgiving dinner.

So, in the spirit of generosity (and toys), Mark shares one of his favorite Christmas memories...



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Crestwood Court is returning to its original function: A space to shop.

​They all knew it was coming -- but now it's finally official. Tenants at ArtSpace at Crestwood Court mall have received notice that their leases will be up at the end of February and that they'll have to leave to make way for the mall's renovations.

Tony Stephens, the general manager of Crestwood Court, tells Daily RFT that about 40 of the 60 ArtSpace tenants were notified on December 2 that they would have to leave the mall. The remaining tenants will receive their notice as soon as the mall finalizes the construction schedule.

"We gave them 90 days notice," Stephens says. "The vast majority of the tenants understand and are thankful for the opportunity to have been part of ArtSpace. We didn't promise them anything beyond a year, and it's now been two-and-a-half, almost three, years."

Stephens adds that once the renovations are complete, there will be 50,000 square feet allotted for a continuation of ArtSpace. The entire mall is approximately one million square feet.

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Jennifer Silverberg

Brea and James McAnally, founders and directors of the Luminary Center for the Arts.

​So many things have been heading south lately -- the temperature, the economy -- and so is the Luminary Center for the Arts. But for the four-year-old gallery, performance space and arts incubator, south is only in terms of geography, from the corner of Reber Place and Kingshighway in the Southwest Garden neighborhood to Cherokee Street. In every other way, the organization plans to expand.

The Luminary has secured an exclusive option to purchase 2700 Cherokee. The building, a former variety store, is 22,500 square feet, more than twice the size of the center's current quarters. Founder and executive director James McAnally estimates he'll need to raise $500,000, a considerable chunk of change, but McAnally and his co-founder and wife Brea have gotten a reputation in the St. Louis arts community for frequently attempting and achieving the impossible. They did, after all, persuade Of Montreal to do a Fourth of July show in the Luminary's relatively tiny performance space, and they've arranged exhibits of art borrowed from the MoMA and the Guggenheim Museum. What's 500 grand?

"We're going to make it happen," says McAnally. "We met with donors and they said that this is an ambitious for a young organization, but they think we're going to do it."

The center has already received seed money from a private donor, and the McAnallys have been in talks for several months with various foundations and potential corporate sponsors. The Luminary also be accepting donations from those with more shallow pockets via a Kickstarter account; the link is on the center's website.

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Photo: Jennifer Silverberg

Branson is great, but America? "What a country!" And Yakov says it's time to see more of it.

​After twenty years, Ukranian comic Yakov Smirnoff is winding down his live performance in Branson. Smirnoff will continue his act at his theatre through 2012. He then plans to take the show on the road.