Arts

The cover of Tracy Coffee Gayle’s second novel gives clues to its content. It’s a collage of pictures and mementos from the lives of her characters as they travel through life and down memory lane, unearthing family stories.

Valerie, Jean & Me tells the story of three sisters, their mother, stepfather and baby brother. But these are not just characters on a page or merely stories in a book. These characters come to life in the text, as they do in Gayle’s creative imagination.

Have you ever seen a film that’s romantic but not sappy, humorous but not slapstick, with religious overtones but not spouting fire and brimstone?

That might be a way to describe Pieces of Easter, a spiritual movie created and filmed in Shelbyville, Simpsonville, Finchville, Oldham and Jefferson counties and in Indiana that hits theaters today.

A Shelby County playwright has a play set to debut in Louisville in April, and auditions will be held there on Sunday.

When Jenny Lind Came To Town, a fact-based musical docu-drama celebrating Jenny Lind’s April 1851 performances in Louisville and Madison, Ind., will make its debut at the Clifton Center in Louisville on April 3-7.

The play is the newest work of playwright and Shelbyville resident Mike Smith, whose hobby of collecting vintage programs and tickets inspired him to write and produce a play about renown 19th century soprano Jenny Lind.

Over the past few years, several Shelby County dancers have earned spots in the holiday performance of Nutcracker in a Nutshell, and this year the county will send its largest contingent ever.

Denise Gillman, the owner and director of Gillman’s Dance Academy, which has studios in Shelbyville and Crestwood, has six dancers that will partake in the show this year. Two dancers from Shelby County participated last year.