Valerie Hart

With only a month to go, the 12th edition of Latitude Festival once again sets the bar high for summer festivals, with a host of names announced across the stages including the BBC Music Introducing Stage, The SpeakEasy, Music and Film, Solas and many more. Latitude Festival takes place on 13th - 16th July in the stunning grounds of Henham Park, Suffolk.

A novel and cookbook, author Valerie Hart's new book, 'My Best Life: An Autobiography by Sakie' (published by Archway Publishing), follows a cat through her autobiography of all of her lives, each story followed by a historic or modern recipe.

Jefferson Performing Arts Society, a 37 year-old organization, is preparing for its 19th Annual Pasta & Puccini fundraising Gala.

Jefferson Performing Arts Society, a 37 year-old organization, is preparing for its 19th Annual Pasta & Puccini fundraising Gala.

Valerie Hart's, author of 'The New Tradition Cookbook' and 'The Bounty of Central Florida,' new book for children and adults incorporates four delightful Christmas stories with the title, 'CaliClaus and the Christmas Contraption' (published by AuthorHouse).

Valerie Hart, author of 'The New Tradition Cookbook' and 'The Bounty of Central Florida,' has been a community activist and food and travel journalist for 35 years. Her 10-year popular television show, 'The Back of the House,' featured chef-owners of independent restaurants in their kitchens. In her new coloring book, 'CaliClaus and the Christmas Contraption: A magical cat finds homes for strays on Christmas Eve' (published by AuthorHouse), Hart's entertaining story of a magical cat and her team of pedigree felines, brings awareness to the plight facing animals in overcrowded shelters.

For 36 years, JPAS has continued to bring the best in the performing arts to venues from Jefferson Parish, the Metro Area, to the North Shore and beyond. Thanks to loyal patron support we have grown to become Louisiana's largest professional touring company. Our offerings are abundantly varied and our outreach is extensive. This season is no exception!

The Southampton Historical Museum, under the direction of Executive Director Tom Edmonds with the backup of a committed Board of Trustees and a passionate new group of supporters has become a bustling arts center and become a jewel on the Hamptons cultural landscape. This weekend the Museum hosted its annual Late Summer Cocktail Party on the sprawling lawns of the landmark Rogers Mansion on Meeting House Lane in Southampton. Scroll down for photos from the party!

For 36 years, JPAS has continued to bring the best in the performing arts to venues from Jefferson Parish, the Metro Area, to the North Shore and beyond. Thanks to loyal patron support we have grown to become Louisiana's largest professional touring company. Our offerings are abundantly varied and our outreach is extensive. This season is no exception!

Due to recent damages to the Westwego Performing Arts Theatre from Hurricane Isaac, the Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS) has updated its 35th Season schedule. The Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS) announces a revised schedule for the 35th Season. For more information or questions, contact boxoffice@jpas.org or call 504-885-2000.

Due to recent damages to the Westwego Performing Arts Theatre from Hurricane Isaac, the Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS) has updated its 35th Season schedule. The Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS) announces a revised schedule for the 35th Season. For more information or questions, contact boxoffice@jpas.org or call 504-885-2000.

Rhubarb Theater Company will present the final performance of Nashville playwright Valerie Hart's Rising and Falling, August 20, at Darkhorse Theater.

Directed by Trish Crist in a confidently acted and well-paced production from Rhubarb Theater Company at Nashville's Darkhorse Theater, Rising & Falling offers a fictionalized account of a controversy that swirled among members of the public and throughout the tony New York City art world about an artist's attempt to come to terms with the tragedy of 9/11 through the creation of a work of art depicting a woman falling from one of the WTC towers. In Hart's script, the artist is a resident of Nashville who, like so many of us, was privy to the horrors of 9/11 through television coverage of the events as they unfolded on-screen.

Rhubarb Theater Company will present the premiere of Nashville playwright Valerie Hart's Rising and Falling, August 12-20, at Darkhorse Theater.

In the days that followed the 9/11 attacks, Circle leaders and members of the Assassins production team were forced to consider closing the show (included in Sondheim's musical is the character of Samuel Byck, an unsuccessful presidential assassin who talks vividly about flying an airplane into the White House to kill President Richard Nixon in 1968. As Circle leaders discussed whether to shutter the show for a weekend, or to cancel the remaining three weeks of the show's run, the show's cast members debated whether or not they could justify to themselves, their friends and their families their own decision to continue with the show in the days just after the deadliest attack ever on American soil.

Do you remember where you were on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 - the day terror was brought home to us and our world was change irrevocably? Throughout our lives we all experience those events that will remain etched forever in our minds, the ones that will always be in our personal memory banks. As final rehearsals get under way in advance of opening night, members of the cast and crew of Rising & Falling reached into their own memory banks to let us know where they were on that fateful morning, which gives perspective to the play they're working on together to bring to life for a Nashville audience.

As the cast and crew of Rhubarb Theater Company approach final preparations for the production before unveiling Hart's play to the public for the first time, the playwright found the time to answer our questions and to tell us what Rising & Falling is about, how it reflects who she is as a woman and a writer and to talk about the juxtaposition of a great tragedy against a furor in the arts community.

Rhubarb Theater Company will present the premiere of Nashville playwright Valerie Hart's Rising and Falling, August 12-20, at Darkhorse Theater.

Danny Proctor, Helen Shute-Pettaway, Layne Sasser, Pam Atha, Dan Brewer and Gary Hoff were introduced Monday night as the six members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees during the First Night Preview Party, hosted by founder and executive producer Jeffrey Ellis at The Listening Room Cafe in downtown Nashville.

The Ten Minute plays will be presented as staged readings performed and directed by volunteers from the Nashville theater community. Audiences in attendance will not only get to see exciting new plays, but will also be able to give the playwrights feedback following the readings.