Rebecca Shillenn

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AU Shakespeare troupe shows promise

By Rebecca Shillenn | 12/07/2006

The members of Rude Mechanicals don't mind walking around Anderson Hall in baggy tunics and brightly colored tights. Their swords might make it difficult to sit down while they're doing their homework, though. Rude Mechanicals, American University's student-run Shakespeare theater group, is made up of students who really enjoy Shakespeare and theater but are not necessarily serious actors.

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Middle-Eastern food fares well

By Rebecca Shillenn | 11/30/2006

Skewers 1633 P Street N.W. (202) 387-7400 Metro: Dupont Circle (red line) Price: $7-$20 Grade: A Skewers is halfway between Dupont's hustle and bustle and Adams Morgan's crowds, but it's more than worth the walk. The restaurant has a comfortable atmosphere, prices low enough for the college budget and food that is shockingly good.

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Prof makes students aim high

By Rebecca Shillenn | 11/06/2006

Professor Karen O'Connor's voice has a tart edge and her gaze does not waver when she speaks. She would never let her students sleep in class or get away with not doing the assigned work. Her office is neat, orderly and impressively stocked with books. She does not hesitate to remind students that she once sent failure warning notices to almost an entire class and that she "tears apart" paper drafts.

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All the world's a 'Cirque'

By Rebecca Shillenn | 11/02/2006

For most people, swinging from chandeliers is only a silly fantasy or part of an action film. For the artists in "Corteo," a Cirque du Soleil show currently playing in D.C., it's just another day on the job. Cirque du Soleil has once again gone beyond the ordinary, even for a circus.

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Von Trapp teenagers charm with songs, stories

By Rebecca Shillenn | 10/30/2006

Amanda von Trapp might sing Austrian folk songs wearing traditional folk dress, but she speaks with a braces-induced lisp and fights with her younger brother like any other American teenager. The four von Trapps, great-grandchildren of Captain and Maria von Trapp, whose lives inspired "The Sound of Music," touched the audience at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore on Thursday with their down-to-earth humor, close family bond and talented voices.

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Events to break up long weekend in D.C.

By Rebecca Shillenn | 10/12/2006

Staying in the District for Fall Break? You could use that extra day to catch up on reading and to study for midterms, or you could catch up on your local sightseeing by checking out these cool events that just so happen to coincide with a well-deserved day off.

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AU senior makes professional debut in 'Short Order Stories'

By Rebecca Shillenn | 10/09/2006

Four nights a week Anne Veal drives to Arlington, slathers her eyes in black makeup, pulls a black hoodie over her head so it shades her face and sulks, motionless, in a diner chair for half an hour. Veal, a senior theater major in the College of Arts and Sciences, is playing a girl about to start her freshman year of college in Charter Theatre's "Short Order Stories.

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Acting beyond campus: Anne Veal takes a bow

By Rebecca Shillenn | 10/09/2006

"Short Order Stories" Directed by Joe Calarco Charter Theatre 3700 S. Four Mile Run Arlington, Va. (202) 333-7009 Running through Oct. 21 Grade: B- It's a rough night at the theater when "NOTHING!", "NEVERMIND!" and the granddaddy of four-letter words are the most popular words in the script.

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U.C. program succeeds in 2nd year

By Rebecca Shillenn | 10/02/2006

Twenty-two students sit pinched side-by-side in a room lit only by a projector and dreary 9:30 a.m. sunlight. At the beginning of a freshman biology and chemistry session in only the third week of class, these University College students are animatedly gossiping and joking with each other.

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Raw new look at legendary Smith

By Rebecca Shillenn | 10/02/2006

"Patti Smith: American Artist" Frank Stefanko Govinda Gallery 1227 34th St. N.W. (202) 333-1180 Grade: B+ Patti Smith's shaggy dark hair gently fans out behind her, while her unsmiling face and searching eyes give the impression of an artist who is coming to terms with her pain and problems.