KU graduate premieres first independent film

Kansas University graduate Nathan Hof will premier his first independent film, “Booze and Bullets,” Tuesday in Kansas City.

The premiere is a private screening.

“Booze and Bullets” is an action-adventure comedy about liquor store clerks striking back against the homeless community. It stars Hof, Chris Joseph and David Pina, all KU graduates; and Joseph Knipp, a current KU student.

The movie was shot in Lawrence during the summer of 2002.

The film and premiere are independently funded. The screening will be at the Villa, 4120 Baltimore, Kansas City, Mo.

Hof, 23, Leawood, graduated from KU in May 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing. He has appeared in commercials for Sprint, Anderson Erickson Dairy and Lucky Town Missouri Lottery.

Lied Center receives national grant dollars

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded the Lied Center $15,000 to support major performances during its 10th anniversary season.

The grant money also will help the Lied enhance its community residency activities and expand its mentoring program.

The award is part of nearly $26 million offered through 908 grants in the endowment’s first round of grantmaking in fiscal year 2003.

The Lied grant was in the creativity category.

The only other Kansas organization to receive a grant was the International Association of Jazz Education in Manhattan, which received $40,000 to support workshops, master classes, panel sessions, artists’ fees and production costs during the 30th annual International Association of Jazz Education Conference and Music Festival.

Civic choir to perform annual holiday concert

The 110-voice Lawrence Civic Choir will present its annual holiday concert today at First United Methodist Church.

“A Magnificent Christmas” is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the church, 10th and Vermont streets.

Under the direction of Steve Eubank, the choir will perform John Rutter’s “Magnificat,” featuring Leah Koesten as soprano soloist and Geoff Wilcken, organist. A Kansas University percussion ensemble will accompany the work.

Christmas selections for the second half of the concert include: “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day;” “El Rorro, a Mexican carol;” “La Nana,” a traditional Spanish carol; “Gloria A Dios;” “Shepherds, Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep,” “Silent Night” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Also featured will be an arrangement of e.e. cummings’ “little tree.” Harpist Elaine Brewer, who received her master’s degree from KU, will accompany several pieces.

Tickets are $8 for the public, $6 for seniors and student, and $4 for children under 12.

Christmas ‘Mystery’ set to Tchaikovsky

Overland Park – An Overland Park church will present a Nutcracker that tells the story of Christmas set to the music of Tchaikovsky.

“The Mystery of Christmas” opened Friday and continues at 2 p.m. today, Saturday, Dec. 22. An evening performance will be Sunday at First Family Church, 7700 W. 143rd St.

In “Mystery,” Clara’s grandpa, who dresses up as Santa, mimes the Bible’s account of the eve of Jesus’ birth to help the children understand why Christians celebrate Christmas. As Clara sleeps, instead of dreaming about sugar plum fairies, she travels back in time to see the birth of Christ.

All proceeds go to the nonprofit Dramatic Truth School of Arts. Its founder, Liz Dimmel, is directing the show.

Reserve sponsor tickets are $10 and may be purchased by calling (913) 691-3341 or (800) 492-2067. All other seats will be available on a donation basis.

Unicorn stages humbug Christmas production

Kansas City, Mo. – For the third year in a row, the Unicorn will stage what has become an “anti-holiday” tradition, “The Santaland Diaries.”

The alternative to the merriment of the season tells the story of David, a young writer struggling to pay rent in New York City who takes a job as an elf named Krumpet at Macy’s Santaland.

Throughout the show, David describes his experiences, expounding on the pains of elf training, the horrors of obnoxious customers and the varying, often weird, techniques of different Santas.

Directed by Sidonie Garret, producing artistic director of The Heart of American Shakespeare Festival, the production opened Saturday and continues today, Monday, Saturday, Dec. 22, Dec. 23 and Dec. 24. Monday performances are at 8 p.m.. Saturday performances are at 11 p.m. Sunday performances are at 6 p.m.

The special Christmas Eve performance is at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $15 and may be purchased at the Unicorn Box Office or by calling (816) 531-PLAY, ext. 10. The theater is at 3828 Main St., Kansas City, Mo.

KCPT to air documentary on Thomas Hart Benton

Kansas City, Mo. – Missouri-born artist Thomas Hart Benton has been called the best-known American muralist of the 1930s.

Epic storyteller Ken Burns chronicles Benton’s life on KCPT Public Television Channel 19/Digital 18 in “Thomas Hart Benton: A Film by Ken Burns.” The show will play at 8 p.m. Monday.

Benton’s home and studio in Kansas City, Mo., have gone virtually untouched since his death in 1975. Today, it is a historic site and contains several of his paintings and sculptures.

Benton’s works can be viewed today in museums and government buildings across the country, including the Missouri statehouse and the Truman Library. During his life, Benton preferred to hang his paintings in saloons, where ordinary people could appreciate them in congenial settings.

Burns uses long-lost footage, interviews and Benton’s art to tell the bittersweet story of an American artist who became a symbol of the price all artists must pay to remain true to themselves and their talents.

Kemper Museum displays artist’s fabric ‘homes’

Kansas City, Mo. – A Korean artist will examine his ideas of home with an exhibit that opens Friday at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

“Do-Ho Suh: The Perfect Home” includes “homes” created from suspended silk and nylon. They are life-sized replicas of a part of Suh’s childhood home in Seoul, Korea; his New York City apartment; and a corridor in that building.

Museum-goers are encouraged to walk through Suh’s fabric homes and explore ideas of space, displacement and cultural identity.

The exhibit, on display through March 2, is Suh’s first solo museum exhibition in the Midwest.

Admission and parking are free. An opening reception is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Suh will speak about his work at 6:30 p.m. that evening in the museum’s meeting room.

The installation includes everything from bathroom fixtures and old-fashioned radiators to light switches and the kitchen sink.