Eli Keel
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Articles by Eli Keel
Letter to the Editor: Christians need to take the midterm elections seriously
We are less than a month away from the midterm elections. The last midterm election was in 2022, when barely half of eligible voters nationwide exercised their voting rights. With one-third of the U.S. Senate and the entire U.S. House of Representatives up for election, plus a plethora of state and local officials, midterm voter turnout is not promising.
Laura Ellis defines the all-around cool girl
Take a look at any single facet of the multi-talented Laura Ellis: She’s an excellent producer for the radio show Strange Fruit; she’s a talented reporter in her own right; she’s a gifted performer, with onstage roles for companies like Pandora Productions, Looking for Lilith, and Theatre [502]; she also designs sound for theatre, working for all those previously mentioned folks as well as The Kentucky Shakespeare Festival; and to top it off she fronts one of the most delightful bands in...
Can Actors Theatre’s ‘Hype Man’ Kick It? Yes, It Can
Sure, “it’s hard to talk about race.” More pertinent for Idris Goodwin’s “Hype Man: A Break Beat Play,” now on the Actors Theatre stage, race is hard to talk about in live drama. Subjects like how to treat trauma and grieving, the generational poverty caused by the effects of fiscal policy, and the violence stemming from unconscious bias slips right by us because didactics don’t work onstage.
Actors Theatre's Perennial 'Dracula' Continues Its Fascinating Evolution
This year’s production of “Dracula” at Actors Theatre is good. It is possibly even better than it was last year, and last year it was highly superior to the year before. In 2018, Dramaturg Hannah Rae Montgomery provided some needed trimming to the over-long script, and a few textual changes as well.
In 'The Exceptionals,' Liminal Mines Dicey Philosophical Territory
The Liminal Playhouse’s “The Exceptionals” sees Liminal diving once again into very dicey philosophical territory, mining that territory for whatever humanity can be found there, and then emerging without ever taking a side on any moral quandaries contained in the plot or story.
Musical Meets Carnival In Acting Against Cancer's 'Pippin'
“Pippin,” currently on offer from Acting Against Cancer (AAC), has a delicious contradiction at its core; it’s full of outrageous spectacle, but the central message is that outrageous spectacle is empty and pointless. With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (“Wicked,” “Frozen,” lots of other classics), and a book by Roger O. Hirson, “Pippin” is nevertheless unmistakably a creation of the original production’s choreographer and director, Bob Fosse.
Slavery’s History Explored: Slave Dwelling Project Visits Locust Grove
Earlier this month, author and former congressional candidate Saira Row tweeted a picture of a two star review of the McLeod Plantation Historic Site in Charleston, South Carolina. It read: “My husband and I were extremely disappointed in this tour.
In New Solo Exhibition, Letitia Quesenberry Combines Past Techniques
Louisville-based artist Letitia Quesenberry’s spacious studio in Portland is packed full of various artifacts that testify to the countless hours Quesenberry puts into her work. There are large table saws, an assortment of tools for cutting a variety of substances, plywood shaped into white frames, colored gel transparencies, and previous works of all sizes.
Library’s Collider Residency Features Indian Classical Dancer Shyama Iyer
Polyrhythmic beats and the sounds of a variety of languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Sanskrit may echo through the South Central Regional library this month, as Indian classical dancer Shyama Iyer participates in the Louisville Free Public Library’s COLLIDER Residency program. This program, which has already hosted a couple of dozen Louisville-based artists since 2017, offers artists a dedicated space to create.
Best-Selling Author Karen Abbott Brings Bootlegging History To Life
Louisville loves to read news about bourbon, and Louisville loves to throw prohibition-themed parties. And Wednesday at Carmichael’s Books, New York Times bestselling author Karen Abbott is bringing the city some of the hottest and juiciest bourbon news… from the prohibition era.
CTC's 'Bowling For Beginners' Is Flat Out Enjoyable
Productions by the Alumni Company at the Commonwealth Theatre Center remain the most criminally unrecognized part of Louisville’s performing arts community. Consisting of Commonwealth Theatre Center teaching artists, Walden Theatre Conservatory alumni, and other Louisville-based theater practitioners, the shows feature professional quality actors, who are supported by a decent sized budget, but don’t have to sweat ticket sales quite as much as other companies.
Louisville Ballet's ‘Cleopatra’ Moves Beyond Adaptation
At Wednesday night’s world premiere of the Louisville Ballet’s new Shakespeare-adjacent work, dancer and choreographer Roger Creel addressed the sizable audience: “Shakespeare didn’t write Cleopatra: Queen of Kings,” he said. Creel, who is credited with “Creative Production,” on “Cleopatra,” has been the mastermind behind the last three years worth of original works that the ballet has brought to Kentucky Shakespeare’s summer season in the park.
Erica De La O to choreograph the Louisville Ballet's take on 'Cleopatra'
Erica De La O in rehearsal | Photo by Sam English The Louisville Ballet’s premiere of a new Shakespeare-inspired work as part of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival’s season in Central Park has become one of Insider Louisville’s most anticipated events of the year. Choreographer Roger Creel and Composer Scott Moore have given audiences original full-length ballets based on “The Tempest” and “King Lear,” as well as a ballet about Shakespeare’s sonnets.
The Creature Feature Christmas in July event is Saturday
The Goat Man seems excited about Saturday’s Creature Feature. | Courtesy of Louisville Halloween Halloween people don’t stop being Halloween people just because their favorite holiday was months ago — or is still months away. Haunted houses, or “haunts,” often offer their dedicated fans offseason programming, and on Saturday, July 20, The Legend at Pope Lick Haunted Woods is mixing that special haunted feeling with the excellent summer tradition of outdoor movies on a big screen.
Revelry's 'ALT' exhibit challenges artists to use something different
Tatiana Rathke’s work in progress for “ALT” Revelry Boutique Gallery is a great place to see a wide variety of artists working in diverse mediums. Group shows like “Cuteopia” and “The Future is Unwritten” have emerged as one of the best ways to see some of the greatest new and established artists in Louisville. On Saturday, “ALT,” another group show at Revelry, is getting its chance to become of fixture of the art scene.
Louisville punk pioneers show off their visual art side at Surface Noise
Tara Key and Tara Jane O’Neil | Courtesy of the artists Louisville’s music scene has been lauded in nationwide music press for decades. And starting Friday, July 12, two of Louisville’s punk pioneers from the ’80s and ’90s will show off a completely different side of their creative spirits.
John Brooks' 'A Map of Scents' integrates the artist's many disciplines
Detail of “You Were a Night Owl but It Doesn’t Matter” by John Brooks If the name John Brooks rings a bell for Insider readers, it’s probably because we’ve profiled several artists who have been featured at Quappi Projects, the Portland gallery Brooks opened in 2017. Though he helps other artists from Louisville and beyond exhibit their work and connect with art lovers, Brooks has his own artistic practice that has been transforming in the last year.
Kentucky Shakespeare's 'King Lear' Doesn't Disappoint
Since the beginning of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival’s current leadership under Artistic Director Matt Wallace, Louisville audiences have had the yearly treat of seeing Jon Huffman on stage. He’s played characters that run the gamut of humanity, imbuing roles large and small with palpable life.
New Ebony G. Patterson exhibit at the Speed must be experienced
A shot of “Ebony G. Patterson” exhibit, now at the Speed Art Museum | Courtesy of Speed Art Museum Step out of the elevator on the second floor of the Speed Art Museum, and you’ll see a fairly normal sight. One large wall has been transformed into an artfully displayed title written in over-sized letters: “Ebony G.
REVIEW: Ky. Shakespeare Takes On 'Henry IV Part 2' And Once Again Falstaff Steals The Show
There’s a story that I have not verified, but I like it so much I refuse to sully my mind with the truth. When William Shakespeare’s Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 first premiered in the English court, the play’s name was mistakenly written down by some scribe as “Falstaff and Hotspur.” It would be an easy mistake to make. While Hotspur dies at the end of Henry IV Part 1, he is central to the story, and in a lot of ways more interesting than King Henry IV.
TV and film exec Deb Spera on writing her first novel
Deb Spera | Courtesy of Grettel Cortes Deb Spera has a pretty exciting life story, but when she stops by Carmichael’s Bookstore on Thursday, she won’t be telling it. Instead, she’ll focus on three women — Gertrude, Annie and Greta, the three protagonists of her first novel, “Call Your Daughter Home.” Spera, a Louisville native, spoke with Insider in advance of her visit. The author entered the world of the arts as an actor before jumping to producing plays and then switching to films and later TV.
Hannah Drake's 'Finding Me' opens Sunday
The Saint-Louis Catholic Cathedral in Senegal | Photo by Hannah Drake National attention has focused on the poetry of Hannah Drake several times, including that time Colin Kaepernick retweeted her, and then when Michelle Obama did the same. Now, Louisvillians are getting the chance to see another side of Drake’s talent and discover that her eye for rhyme is just as useful for finding poetry with a photograph.
Filmmaker Stu Pollard comes home with rom-com 'Plus One'
Jack Quaid as Ben and Maya Erskine as Alice in the romantic comedy “Plus One” | Courtesy of RLJE Films On Thursday, Stu Pollard will be at Baxter Avenue Theatres for a Q&A and a special screening of “Plus One,” a film that won the coveted Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival with help from Pollard and his company, Lunacy Productions. Pair that with the release of “Rust Creek” — another Lunacy film — in January, and it’s been a big year for Pollard.
A look at Dudley Zopp's 'Landscapes, Vessels and Jars'
“East Creek” by Dudley Zopp Many artists are rootless, while others travel far from their roots to find images and places and even objects that catch their eye for creation. Dudley Zopp, whose solo show “Landscapes, Vessels and Jars” opens at Moremen Gallery this weekend, is one of the latter. Maybe it would be appropriate to say she has multiple root systems. A creator from a young age, Zopp initially studied language in college.
Louisville will 'Step Forward' for Mental Health Day on Saturday
NAMI Walk 2018 | Courtesy of NAMI This Saturday, June 8, is — by official proclamation — Mental Health Day in Louisville. The Louisville chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is celebrating the occasion with Step Forward for Mental Health, a fundraising walk (or run), complete with food trucks, live music, vendors and other attractions at Waterfront Park.
Liminal's 'The Goat' offers plenty of laughs
Tony Prince, Matt Street and Susan Linville in “The Goat” | Courtesy of The Liminal Playhouse My wife and I have a longstanding congenial argument about whether or not bestiality jokes are funny. I wish she would have come with me to see The Liminal Playhouse’s current production of Edward Albee’s “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” It wouldn’t have necessarily ended our argument, but it would have added several layers to the discussion. “The Goat” is a weird play.
'As You Like It' opens Kentucky Shakespeare's 59th summer season
Hallie Dizdarevic and Jon Becraft in Kentucky Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” | Photo by Bill Brymer All the right pieces are in the right place with “As You Like It,” the season opener for the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival’s 59th season. We have familiar faces — the somewhat de facto resident company. We have a few new faces, too.
Commonwealth Theatre Center receives 225K grant to create programming aimed at Louisville's Muslim population
The Commonwealth Theatre Center formerly was Walden Theatre. | Courtesy of CTC The Commonwealth Theatre Center (CTC) shared exciting news Thursday, along with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF), which is awarding CTC a whopping $225,000 to implement an ambitious three-year project aimed at serving youth and teens from Muslim communities in Louisville.
The Chicken Coop Theatre Co. makes its Louisville debut with 'The Coop Cabaret'
Some of the ensemble cast of “The Coop Cabaret” | Courtesy of The Chicken Coop Theatre Co. On Friday, May 31, Louisville will get its first taste of The Chicken Coop Theatre Company. Headed by frequent Pandora Productions and CenterStage Theatre actor-director Jason Cooper, the company is serving up “The Coop Cabaret,” an evening aimed at “announcing they are here,” according to Cooper. The 43-year-old performer was born and raised in Louisville and started tinkering with theater at an early age.
Review: Web series 'Hench Hunt' establishes new benchmark for Louisville's onscreen comedy
The cast of “Hench Hunt” | Courtesy The new local web series “Hench Hunt” is ostensibly a reality TV show wherein Doctor Professor Corrupto, D.D.S. (Nathan Woodard), is looking for a new hench person. It’s basically “The Bachelor,” but purposefully evil. The first webisode starts with a “Previously on Hench Hunt” recap. Don’t get confused, the rest of the fictitious reality TV show doesn’t exist.
Suki Anderson draws dreams and alphabet themes at Surface Noise
Detail from “Slipping Through with Mounds of Pimento & Wig” by Suki Anderson Everyone knows the feeling: You wake up and, maybe over breakfast, try to explain a dream you had. “There was this panda! On an airplane. It was also my mom. Then I was going through a train tunnel …” It rarely makes any sense. Suki Anderson has the same problem, but instead of trying to tell someone her dream, she shows them.
Gilda Wabbit talks opera, humor, drag and accidental memedom
Gilda Wabbit | Courtesy Quick, say Gilda Wabbit out loud. (We’ll wait.) If you’re over the age of 30 or so, you probably just conjured up an image of Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny performing a seven-minute version ofWagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” set with lyrics based around Fudd singing Kill da wabbit.
Short Film Slam brings the Louisville Ballet to the silver screen on Thursday
Sanjay Saverimuttu working with Emily Reinking O’Dell and Trevor Williams in “Amid Exes and Whys” | Photo by Shelby Shenkman Every four months, the Louisville Film Society and Speed Cinema partner to bring short films to the big screen, many by Louisville-based filmmakers. On Thursday, May 9, they’ll have a third partner, albeit a somewhat unofficial one, when Sanjay Saverimuttu of the Louisville Ballet brings the film “Amid Exes and Whys” to the Short Film Slam.
'The hair of the dog that justifiably bit you,' i.e. a Hangover Roundup of Sunday events
Like the old saying goes, if you dance to the music, you got to pay to the piper. Whether you spent the day in a $1,000 suit in a $5,000 suite at Churchill Downs or chilling in a friend’s backyard sporting more cost effecting — and in our opinion more iconic — threads from The Nitty Gritty, there is a better than average chance you had a few drinks on Derby Day and possibly even waaaay too many drinks Derby night.
Geometry inspires the aesthetics of Kate Mattingly's 3-D creations
Kate Mattingly at work in her studio | Courtesy of Kate Mattingly Geometric explosions of color will mark the opening of Kate Mattingly’s solo show, “Fracture,” on Friday at Art Sanctuary. Those explosions of color are Mattingly’s work, which mixes paint, bristol board, sintra board, acrylic paint and study of the atomic structures and microscopic shapes of nature.
Brandon Ragland's Emerging Leader award and 'Dance Out Loud' performance cap an exciting Louisville Ballet season
Brandon Ragland | Courtesy of Brandon Ragland When the 2019-20 season of the Louisville Ballet got moving, Brandon Ragland’s original work, “Force Flux,” debuted amid an exciting mixed program at the Brown Theatre. Then he was chosen as a member of the 2019 Hadley Creatives.
Art and design in tandem from Natalie O Design
Natalie O Design studio| Photo by Luke Metzinger While some people like to argue about where the line between art and design blurs, the Louisville-based designer Natalie Officer has found a simple way to slice that Gordian knot; put an art gallery in your new design studio.
Bike Sense data project will make sweet sounds
Todd Smith’s Bike Sense project aims to make Louisville a better biking city. | Courtesy of Bike Sense Louisville In his time as an artist, Louisvillian Todd C. Smith has painted representational pictures, moved on to conceptual tree work and played with sound, sensation and experience. Now, Smith is on a unique artistic journey he needs help finishing, and only Louisville bike enthusiasts can help him.
Louisville Ballet brings a classic back to the stage and an old friend back to the studio
Helen Daigle as the Fairy Godmother | Photo by Sam English Few things are more synonymous with ballet than grand fairy tales and stories of magic, mischief and love. And few things are more synonymous with the Louisville Ballet than Alun Jones, who served the company as artistic director from 1978 until 2002 — a whopping 24 years — leading them straight through a period of time in America that saw a lot of ballet companies shutter.
In 'Unbounded Domains,' Iraqi artist Vian Sora moves beyond being a child of war
Detail of “Venus Over Baghdad” by Vian Sora Moremen Gallery’s next show features the prolific artist and Iraqi native Vian Sora, whose fascinating past and life story is so engaging you’d be tempted to think it came from an Oscar-nominated drama. But with “Vian Sora: Unbounded Domains,” opening Friday, April 5, Sora isn’t interested in focusing on that story.
History, safety and swords: Kentucky Shakespeare's adult stage combat classes
Kyle Ware disarms Zachary Burrell. | Photo by Bill Brymer Most people still think of summer shows in Central Park when you say “Kentucky Shakespeare,” but the nonprofit operates year-round and in 2018 served more than 100,000 Kentuckians. That service includes education for adults. Some classes break down and discuss scripts for Bard-ophiles who love words. But for those who like swords, Kentucky Shakespeare offers stage combat.
Review: Satire stacked on stacks in 'Everybody Black'
The cast of “Everybody Black” | Photo by Jonathan Roberts The plays will continue until April 7, but there is always a moment of sadness that comes when one sees the year’s last world premiere at Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival of New American Plays.
Review: Humana Festival's 'How to Defend Yourself' isn’t content with easy-to-spot monsters
Molly Adea and David Ball in “How To Defend Yourself” | Photo by Crystal Ludwick (Warning: this review contains a frank discussion of sexual violence.) The Humana Festival of New American Plays often presents audiences with the opportunity to do difficult work. Sure, the audiences also see difficult work, but with pretty solid regularity, this collection of plays has one or two offerings that basically stand up, stare the audience down and say: “You.
'Just Like Us' uses a bilingual script to put immigration issues on stage
The cast of “Just Like Us” | Courtesy of Brenda Marie Moran Recently, stories of immigration troubles dominate the news, including undocumented students and workers as well as people being removed from their homes and torn from their loved ones.
Review: Humana Festival's 'The Thin Place' hides ghosts behind ghosts
Emily Cass McDonnell in “The Thin Place” | Photo by Jonathan Roberts The Humana Festival of New American Plays continues with the premiere of Lucas Hnath’s “The Thin Place.” Hnath is a frequent visitor to Louisville, having premiered plays at a couple of Humana Fests.
Review: Humana Festival's 'The Corpse Washer' explores toll of Iraq wars
J. Paul Nicholas, Arash Mokhtar and Hassan Nazari-Robati in “The Corpse Washer” | Photo by Jonathan Roberts Humans are wired to ignore tragedy and death. Americans specifically, it seems, are able to spend the majority of their lives not thinking about the overseas violence in which our military is involved.
Review: Archetypes create cohesive characters in Humana Fest anthology 'We've Come to Believe'
Cast of “We’ve Come to Believe” | Photo by Jonathan Roberts Tuesday night, “We’ve Come to Believe” jump-started the 43rd annual Humana Festival of New American Plays. It is this year’s iteration of the partially devised/partially commissioned/loosely connected anthology that gives the Professional Training Company (PTC) the chance to show up and show off for Louisville and the national industry leaders who may have jobs for them.
The characters in 'Afterloves' are famous, dead and in love again
Betsy Reisz and Ron Hanks as Cleopatra and Nikola Tesla. | Photo by Joshua H. Nelson Most people know the feeling — you meet someone and being with them immediately feels perfect. But the timing is off. Maybe in a couple of years … but what if your time was way off, like by 1,000 years?
Real dating stories meet classic movie monsters in 'Dating Horror Stories'
Spencer Korcz and Megg Ward star in “Medusa and Invisible Man” | Photo by Jessica Mathis Basically, everybody has had a date so bad that they said: “Uh! It was a horror show!” But on Wednesday, Feb.
Kentucky Shakespeare offers up new season, collaborations and much more
Kentucky Shakespeare presents its 59th season. | Courtesy Saturday night at 21c Museum Hotel, amidst Kentucky Shakespeare’s annual fundraiser “Shakespeare in Love,” Artistic Director Matt Wallace, with help from Associate Artistic Director Amy Attaway, announced an exciting slate of shows for Kentucky Shakespeare Festival’s 59th summer season at the C. Douglas Ramey Amphitheatre in Central Park.
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