Actor and playwright Jacob Storms says that an extraordinary high-school experience of theater gave him the courage to write a one-man play in which he cast himself as an up-and-coming […]
Arts & Minds
Celebrating the creative and sometimes quirky culture of the Outer Cape.
Browse all Arts & Minds stories below or dive into a topic:
QUEER ‘I’
The Provincetown Beauty Myth
On beauty and my broken brain, from Circuit Week to townie summer
I’ve been finding it difficult to write about Provincetown. This is, in part, because there already exists so much writing about the place. The territory is already charted. This town […]
RETROSPECTIVE
A Forgotten Artist Comes to Life
Hans Hofmann deemed Mary Rogers’s work ‘outstanding’
Provincetown, the 1950s: Billie Holiday and Barbra Streisand are booked at the Atlantic House. Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut are meeting for cocktails. And Abstract Expressionist Hans Hofmann, considered one […]
Arts Briefs
Arts Briefs for September 26, 2024 through October 3, 2024
Rediscovering the Life and Art of Earle Pilgrim A new exhibition at the Truro Public Library sheds light on a mid-century Black American artist whose life and work constitute a […]
CROSSWORD #56
Mini Crossword
TAKING SHAPE
An Artist’s First Language Is a Colorful One
For Barbara Cohen, practice makes imperfect
In Provincetown, the tide’s comings and goings are always in view. But in a small fishing village on Paros Island in Greece, where Barbara Cohen had an artist residency this […]
THEATER
There’s Nothing Statuesque About Lady Liberty
Fermín Rojas’s new play disrobes an icon
Even today, as Donald Trump recklessly exploits the xenophobia of American voters, the Statue of Liberty, rising majestically in New York Harbor, is a powerful symbol of New World freedom […]
LITTLE PEOPLE
Fairies Live Here — Believe It or Not
A new book by Andrew Warburton chronicles stories and sightings from across New England
If you want to see a fairy, says Andrew Warburton, all you have to do is find a four-leaf clover and place it on your forehead. He’s never found a […]
BOOK FESTIVAL
The Way We Teach Ourselves to See
Vinson Cunningham’s novel is set in Obama’s campaign for president
While New Yorker theater critic Vinson Cunningham’s Great Expectations is an autobiographical novel based on his experiences as a young staffer on Barack Obama’s first presidential run, it is not […]
BOOKS
Indie Reads: Back to School Edition
Nonfiction selections that will expand your horizons
For this installment of Indie Reads, we asked members of the Independent staff to offer some book recommendations now that summer is over and the transition from frothy beach reads […]
Arts Briefs
Arts Briefs for September 19, 2024 through September 26, 2024
Immigrants’ Stories at Cape Rep Nina Zoie Lam was drawn to direct Lloyd Suh’s 2023 play The Heart Sellers at the Cape Rep Theatre in part because it reminds her of her […]
RESIDENCY
Free to Frame a Boundless World
In the austerity of the dunes, Lili Chin finds a creative reset
Living for three weeks in a dune shack tucked in a hollow by the Atlantic, Lili Chin found the landscape both daunting and inspiring. “There’s a boundlessness that’s almost intimidating,” […]
PERFORMANCE ART
Creating the Future From Pieces of the Past
Lee and Tennessee spotlights two artists who reconfigured their Provincetown memories
In 1976, artist Lee Krasner took scissors to a pile of still-life charcoal and figure drawings from her late-1930s art classes with Provincetown’s Hans Hofmann. She turned the triangular shards […]
BOOK TALK
Muppets and Murder in Moscow
Natasha Lance Rogoff tells the strange story of a post-Cold War cultural exchange
In 1992, a year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, American television producer and reporter Natasha Lance Rogoff accepted the role of executive producer for a new project: Ulitsa […]
CUMULONIMBUS
It’s Cloud Illusions He Recalls
Layers of color shape Steve Bowersock’s imaginary skies
It’s never a clear day in a Bowersock painting. His clouds — rising over sparkling water or looming over farmland — suggest narratives, but ethereal ones. “My skies aren’t real,” […]