Culture

Where the Car Is King

Where the Car Is King

Mar 2, 2026 | , , |

I’ve never been much interested in the inner workings of a car dealership, and since watching the Purple Rose Theatre’s latest play, The Classic King, I can’t say that has changed. The comedy, which runs until March 15, follows four car salesmen on a mission to save their failing dealership. Directed by Jeff Daniels, the show is a world premiere and the first professionally produced play by Richard Johnson. Johnson began playwriting after retiring from a career as an automotive journalist, including serving as editor of Automotive News.

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So You Think You Can’t Dance?

So You Think You Can’t Dance?

Feb 24, 2026 | , , |

Founded by Werderitsch in 2024, Elemental Ecstatic Dance is inspired by his experience of two decades of Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms classes in California, which combine physical workouts with meditation, along with the West Coast ecstatic dance scene. He combines these two approaches with his own free-form dance history that includes everything from disco roller skating to warehouse parties to grass roots festivals.

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Comedian Jacob Barr

Comedian Jacob Barr

Feb 24, 2026 | , , |

“I put my disabilities right out in front,” says Jacob Barr, who, at twenty-eight, has become one of the city’s most distinctive standup comedians. “That was my cheat code when I started. Comedy is mostly straight white guys. Lots of guys have faces like mine, but not bodies like mine. So I use that to my advantage.”

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Liminal

Liminal

Jan 27, 2026 | |

The four-episode horror/science fiction audio drama tells the story of three brothers fighting for their lives inside of a dreamscape. 

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Dimanche

Dec 22, 2025 | , , |

Furniture melts. Walls shake. A shark swims through a flooded home. In a series of vignettes that together run seventy-five minutes, Dimanche imagines the future horrors of the climate crisis using puppetry, mime, acrobatics, clowning, and video.

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The Yellow and Blue

Nov 4, 2025 | , , |

Some years back, I went to the Michigan Union Ticket Office to get tickets for a U-M Men’s Glee Club concert. But when I finally got to the front of a long line, the young clerk politely told me MUTO didn’t sell Glee Club tickets. This surprised me, I told him, because the Glee Club website said this was in fact the only place that sold them. He assured me that no, MUTO did not sell Glee Club tickets. I gently persisted: “Another indicator is the sign behind you that says ‘Glee Club Tickets Sold Here.’” This observation delighted the people in line behind me.

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The School of Yoga’s Uncertain Future

The School of Yoga’s Uncertain Future

Oct 24, 2025 | , , |

There’s a secret room in the basement of the Ann Arbor School of Yoga (AASY). Below the studio space, behind the changing areas, there’s a room where three huge shelves groan under the weight of Blakeney’s collection of yoga books. Her students are allowed to read the books, but not take them home, so many of them peruse the private library before and after class.

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Cluster Museum Is Coming Out Swinging

Cluster Museum Is Coming Out Swinging

Oct 24, 2025 | , |

A former ballet studio on N. Main is ready for a star turn in a new artistic direction. Cluster Museum, a new collaborative of local artists, hosts a small commercial gallery with art supplies for sale in the front section. Behind the wide viewing window is an ample floor for contemporary thematic exhibits, workshops, and author readings.

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The Mighty Fitz

The Mighty Fitz

Sep 24, 2025 | , |

The “Mighty Fitz,” the biggest ship on the Great Lakes when it was launched in 1958, went down with all hands in a storm on Lake Superior in November 1975. Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot immortalized it in “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and now it’s the subject of Bacon’s latest book: The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald. 

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Theatre NOVA

Theatre NOVA

Aug 8, 2025 | |

Theatre NOVA is heading into its eleventh season in 2026 in the face of financial uncertainty. In the summer of 2025, the Trump administration called for a 35 percent cut in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Its grants are vital to many creative organizations, and Theatre NOVA is no exception.

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The Play’s the Thing

The Play’s the Thing

Jul 25, 2025 | |

Eva Rosenwald, the actress who initiated and is developing the series she calls “Acting Out,” told spectators that actors like to get together to read plays when they’re between productions. Why not read them in public? she wondered. Why not take the opportunity to bring the community together for a free theater experience?

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Arking for a Friend

Jun 25, 2025 | , |

When a friend texted that her niece had signed up for open mic night at the Ark and invited me along, I said sure. Despite proofing the Observer’s listings for the event for nearly a decade, I had never checked it out, and I thought it could be an interesting way to spend a rainy spring evening.

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Featured Artists

Featured Artists

Jun 25, 2025 | , |

Wandering the lines of booths that snake through downtown, the Ann Arbor Art Fair feels like a single vast event. But within it are three separate fairs, each with its own governing board, jury, and territory. And every year, each expresses itself with an original poster and merchandise created by one of its artists. This year is no exception, and all three artists, in their own ways, are exceptional.

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Target: The Arts

Target: The Arts

May 24, 2025 | , , |

Without waiting for Congress to act, his appointees cancelled NEA grants that had already been approved—including $30,000 for the Ann Arbor Film Festival. The 2025 festival was in March, and “I had already submitted our final report and payment request,” says executive director Leslie Raymond. 

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