The Guide

By TAYLOR SMITH
Special to the Guide

The first annual International New Plays Festival of the Lowcountry begins June 17 at the University of South Carolina Beaufort Center for the Arts. The festival, which ends June 19, features 15 performances of plays and monologues authored by 12 different artists.

Nicholas Nicholas, the festival’s director, said the patrons will experience plays that have not been shown in the Lowcountry.

By LIZ FARRELL
lfarrell@islandpacket.com
843-706-8140

Longtime Lowcountry residents Susan Wester and Greg Gresham remember the good old days in Beaufort — back when local bands such as the Melody Makers, Public Library and the Joshua Foxx Band played at teen dances, and every song on the radio came with a happy memory attached.

“We really did have the best music back then,” said Wester, who is coordinating Saturday’s Beaufort Sweetgrass Music Festival.

By LIZ FARRELL
the Guide editor

Well, look what the cattiness dragged in!

It’s two-time Emmy Award-winner, New York Times best-selling author and creator of the miraculous Cake Soup recipe Kathy Griffin — the self-proclaimed D-Lister, who will be very much a part of the Savannah A-List when she performs her dishy standup at 8 p.m. Saturday the Johnny Mercer Theater.

Special to the Guide

You know it’s summertime in the Lowcountry when a. flip-flops become standard footwear; b. everyone is looking for activities in air-conditioning; or c. red, white and blue is the preferred color scheme.

Answer: All of the above.

By TAYLOR SMITH
Special to the Guide

Bern Nadette Stanis is still close with her fellow cast members from the 1970s television hit, “Good Times,” in which she played Thelma Evans, part of a tight-knit family trying to get by in a tough Chicago highrise.

It was this closeness, in fact, that made her the perfect person to be honorary chairwoman of the 2011 Gullah Festival, said Charlotte Pazant Brown, president and co-founder of the festival, which starts today and concludes Sunday evening at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park in Beaufort.

“It’s wonderful that she could come,” said Brown, who remembers avidly watching the show when it was on the air.

By STACEY STUDLEY COLLINS
Special to the Guide

How do you see Beaufort? The Arts Council of Beaufort County posed this question to two local production companies and a host of artists, and their responses have resulted in a double feature event, highlighting the town’s 300th birthday. Combining the performing with the visual arts, ARTworks will present Thorton Wilder’s “Our Town,” along with the organization’s first-ever juried art show.

In taking on “Our Town,” two local production companies, Palmetto Theater Xperiment and Misspent Youth Productions, pooled their talents, giving a fresh interpretation of Wilder’s seminal work.

By HILARY KRAUS
Special to the Guide

Shelter Cove Park is being magically transformed into a Shakespearian theater once again.

Main Street Youth Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park production of the comedy, “Twelfth Night,” opens tonight at the park on Hilton Head Island. The decision to bring back the Bard comes after the youth theater’s well-received performances of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” at Shelter Cove Park last June.

Blake White, who directed the play, returns to direct “Twelfth Night.” White’s association with Shakespeare’s works includes studying with the Royal Shakespeare Co. in England at Stratford-Upon-Avon, when he was a theater student at Hanover College in Indiana. He was hired in 2007 as associate producer for the South Carolina Repertory Company on Hilton Head.

White had suggested to the youth theater board that the organization should consider performing Shakespeare’s plays.

Special to the Guide

As an up-and-coming country music singer and fiddle player, it would behoove Natalie Stovall to stay quiet on the hot topics of the day. After all, no one has ever lost fans by being non-controversial.

Yet, when it comes to the most pressing issuing facing any country-music fiddle player/singer, Stovall is not afraid to speak her mind.

"Recently, a lot of people tell me that (the devil wins)," Stovall said, discussing the Charlie Daniels' classic "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." "I will personally attest to the fact that Johnny's part is much more difficult to play. The devil's part is a little more tricky and flashy, whereas Johnny's is an intense thing. It took me a lot longer to figure out how to play it when I was learning it, very young."

By HILARY KRAUS
Special to the Guide

When the Beaufort Theatre Company was deciding on a spring production, it wanted something powerful, relatable and timeless.

It chose “To Kill A Mockingbird,” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

“It was really a no-brainer. It’s one of the all-time greatest Southern novels,” said Bonnie Hargrove, director of the University of South Carolina Beaufort Center for the Arts and producer of the play.

The four performances will be Thursday through May 21 at the Center for the Arts in Beaufort. The play features 18 actors under the direction of Ian Sprague and Jeff Evans. The two also co-directed “Arsenic and Old Lace” for the Beaufort Theatre Company.

Special to the Guide

Albert Suttle is the drummer of Perpetual Groove, which many would describe as a jam band — the title given to groups that play extended songs, often with improvisational-like riffs in between choruses that can extend for minutes on end. Jam bands — originating with the Grateful Dead — usually have dedicated fans who are encouraged to record live shows.