Women Around Town

At four years old, Hannah Jane Peterson, aka “the little bucket,” skibbled into her West Virginia kitchen singing, “I dug my key into the side/Of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive…” (Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats.”)  That her daughter had a voice was a revelation to mother, Steffanie. “I realized I had to change the radio station,” Steffanie says. “She just picked up everything she heard.” Hannah would cry out: “It’s mic time!” reaching for

Awa Sal Secka has built up a loyal following in Washington, D.C., after a string of high profile performances in musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar, Into the Woods, The Wiz, Cinderella, and Avenue Q. This month she will appear in Blackbeard at Signature Theatre. She took time out from rehearsals to answer our questions. To purchase tickets for Blackbeard, go to Signature’s website.  Can you point to one event that triggered your interest in your

Diane Tuckman is an eclectic artist, silk painter, photographer, instructor and published author. A silk painting pioneer in America, she teaches in her studio and travels, paints, as well as exhibits her work extensively. Diane’s passion is to awaken latent artistic potential in everyone. Can you point to one event that triggered your interest in your career?Having lived in Paris for many years where modern painting on silk originated, I was aware that this art

Barbara Pasternack has been Artistic Director of TheaterWorksUSA since 2000, assuming that position after the company’s founder, Jay Harnick, retired. TheaterWorksUSA has led the Theater for Young and Family Audiences movement in New York City and across North America for over half a century, creating exceptional, transformative theatrical experiences that are accessible to young and family audiences in diverse communities throughout New York City and North America.  Since 1962, the 501(c)3 not-for-profit has captured the

When, in June 2018, Judge Dana Sabraw of California put a legal chokehold on the Trump administration’s unconscionable child-separation policy, one could sense a collective sigh of relief emanating from our nation’s soul. No matter your stance on immigration, tearing thousands of petrified children from their parents’ arms was a moral violation Americans could not stomach.  But nearly a year after Judge Sabraw’s ruling, the trauma orchestrated by Trump and his band of child-catchers continues,

The world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers, first organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college, shattered racial barriers in the U.S. and abroad, entertaining kings and queens. For centuries, the bold a cappella African American ensemble born on the campus of Fisk University has blended their rich voices together sharing a heritage of suffering, strength and endurance. Now, these well-known uplifting spirituals and hymns including “Wade in the Water,” “Ain’t That Good News,” “Swing

A lot happens in a year, but some years are more memorable than others. 1969 was such a year. Protests against the Vietnam War continued, the first manned space vehicle, Apollo 11, landed on the moon, an upstate New York town became the site for a massive rock concert, the Stonewall uprising ushered in the Gay Rights Movement, and something called the internet was created. Truly, if the sixties had begun quietly, the decade was

Designer Kirstie Wang started her company, A Jar of Pickles, as a small side business in college where she found herself having more of a passion for design work than coursework. It took Kirstie a few more years to establish A Jar of Pickles as an on-going business while she pursued a full-time job as a designer. Today she works as a UX designer for KiwiCo, but that hasn’t stopped Kirstie from growing A Jar of Pickles. This