FILM | One Tru loved
While you try to see all of the great films of 2008 before the Oscars, don’t forget to catch Tru Loved, an independent film about the challenges of discovering your sexuality in high school. Tru, a teenager raised by lesbian parents, is forced to move from liberal San Francisco to a conservative southern California community. Her only friend is Lodell, the closeted varsity quarterback. Their relationship becomes strained when Tru tries to start a Gay-Straight Alliance group at their school. Over the course of the film, their friendship blossoms and questions about their sexuality are answered. According to the press release, “Tru Loved is a fresh, groundbreaking film that offers unique opportunities for discovery and light-hearted entertainment.” Writer and director Stewart Wade was named one of “Five in Focus” at Outfest 2006 for being considered “the next wave of hot talent.” Like a few of Wade’s other films, Tru Loved was featured at Newfest in New York, Outfest in Los Angeles, the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and the Breckenridge Festival of Film. Take advantage of this free screening, and who knows — you may find your one true love. —Emma Hart Fri., Feb. 6, 8 p.m. Free, (843) 953-5680. Room 309, Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. Philip St., (Downtown).
LECTURE | There goes history repeating itself again
Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama. They’re like bookends in history. One saved the nation and set a people free. The other now leads the only nation in which his presidency could be. Now we have a lecture series focusing on the legacy that was Lincoln’s, including the inauguration of the first African-American president of the United States. Nine scholars will gather at the Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston to talk about the past and its still-firm grip on the present. The lecture series is called Lincoln and the Civil War in Contemporary America, and it starts off with a look at the two presidents by Drew University professor Wyatt Evans. Other speakers plan to address the observance of Juneteenth, southern fiction about the war, photography of the time, including images of Honest Abe, tourism at battlefield parks, and war reenactments. The series foreshadows the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, which of course took place in Charleston Harbor with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and a monumental exhibition by the college’s Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art called Present Tense: Vestiges of the Civil War. The Halsey has asked four major artists to attend the conference in order to get inspiration for works of art that will be on display in 2011. —John Stoehr Feb. 6-7. Free, (803) 777-2341, Lincoln and the Civil War in Contemporary America. Avery Research Center, 125 Bull St., (Downtown), (843) 953-7609, www.cofc.edu/avery.
THEATER | She’s got the joy joy joy joy
Charleston’s own Joy Vandervort-Cobb teams up with The Company Company for a one-woman show in honor of Black History Month. Written and performed by Vandervort-Cobb, the aptly named Moments of Joy recreates the characters from Joy’s own life who have shaped her into the irreverent comic she is today. A monologue in storyteller fashion, Moments takes you right back to the most important times of a woman’s life — birth, motherhood, success, and failure. Don’t let the serious tone fool you, though — Vandervort-Cobb knows how to tell a story like no other, and you’ll be laughing along the way as she opens up her life to humor and music. A professor at the College of Charleston with 30 years under her belt as an actress, Vandervort-Cobb also narrated the Emmy-winning documentary, Where Do We Go From Here?: The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Pay What You Will Night is Thurs. Feb. 5. —Candice Summers Through Feb. 8 and Through Feb. 15. $20, $15/seniors, students, (800) 838-3006, www.thecompanycompany.com. Circular Congregational Church, 150 Meeting St., (Downtown), (843) 577-6400, www.circularchurch.org.
ART | An indulgent art walk
Just in time for V-day, the Broad Street Merchant’s Association hosts a chocolatey, champagne-infused event, with plenty of art to boot. February’s First Fridays on Gallery Row features numerous Broad Street merchants staying open late to allow plenty of time for browsing and gift-buying for that special someone. Several of the galleries — like Mary Martin, Coco Vivo, and Hamlet Fine Art — will feature bling from jewelry artists from around the country. Coco Vivo also presents new romantic realist paintings from Richard Hasenfus, a member of Who’s Who in American Art. But First Fridays aren’t all about art — the Edward Dare Gallery will have a preview party and book signing, Utopia will give a sneak preview of spring fashions, and even Oak Steakhouse is getting in on the action with complimentary rose champagne and decadent brownies. Other participating galleries include Ellis-Nicholson Gallery, John Carrol Doyle, Spencer Galleries, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art, and Martin Gallery. Some nearby galleries are also having openings on Friday night. A block away on Queen Street, Corrigan Gallery is opening a new show from 5-8 p.m. featuring images of the always-romantic France. Allons Y, (“let’s go”) includes drawings paintings, and linocuts from Gordon Nicholson, John Moore, and Lese Corrigan. And on Church Street, John M. Dunnan Galleries presents Infrared Travel, prints on canvas by Stewart Young. —Erica Jackson Fri., Feb. 6, 4-7 p.m. (843) 722-1944, www.charlestongalleryrow.com
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