By TUTT STAPP-HARRIS

By TUTT STAPP-HARRIS

and

LAURIE MARSHALL

forRAAC

From now on, when a group Oi Rappahannock students reads a poem by Emily Dickenson, they will have more to go on .than the words of an anonymous person who lived in a remote time and place — they will have a set of experiences about a real human being to which to refer. During her stay in the county, actress Diane Couves spent an afternoon at the high school, performing Act I of “The Belle of Amherst” for the juniors and seniors and talking afterwards with interested students. Many were so intrigued with Emily and the play about her life that they attended the evening performance as well.

A reviewer of Ms. Couves original performance of “The Belle of Amherst” at Source Theatre commented that while other one-person shows had been done, this one happened to work particularly well; he cited as the reason that other shows of the type had attempted to condense the events of an individual’s life. “The Belle of Amherst” instead captured the spirit of the poet and her interior world — the physical events of her life were few, but her mind was a rich resource. The stage had therefore proved to be an awkward medium for biography but the ideal place to recreate the magic of a specific temperament.

This is the reason that “The Belle of Amherst” is so ideally suited to students — it allows them to understand not only the real life person who wrote the words but also the way in which art is an extension of life, not a thing apart. The presentation at the schools was a part of RAAC’s ongoing efforts to bring further cultural opportunities to young people.

Wakefield Talent Show

Three highlights from the Wakefield Talent Show chosen from among excellent singing, piano playing and comedy acts: Roesana Lo and Sherry Chan performing a skit on the Corsican Twins, well-timed and including expressive mime; Chris Angell displaying very fluid break-dancing technique; and Jason Schultz returning this year with more of his original jokes and impressions, this time of Rodney Dangerfield, Humphrey Bogart and JFK.

Opening at Middle Street

An exhibit of the sculpture of Huntly artist Natalie Lewis will open at Middle Street on Sunday, November 25. A former pupil at the Arts Students League in New York and one of the contributors to the RAAC Artists Calendar, Ms. Lewis works in a variety of types and textures of stone. Her forma are at once strong and graceful, and are charged with emotion.

Of her initiation to sculpture as a medium, Ms. Lewis says, “One day I wandered down to the cellar of the League and found 30 people carving