I just saw the new Little Women film, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Timothée Chalamet and others. It is fantastic. Unlike so many remakes and adaptations of classic and beloved stories (in my experience) this film held all the magic and emotional power as the original Louisa May Alcott novel, first published in 1868. As …
Empires of the Heart
Editor’s Note: Forefront Festival Founder and Director Nate Mancini delivered the following remarks to open our recent Meetup event in Rochester. His articulation of the changing role of the arts in the coming years and Forefront’s part to play within that shift offer a compelling vision of our work. The following is an edited transcript of his talk. An empire …
On Reading Medieval Art
Medieval art often gets a bad rap. Placed between the recognizable Classical art of the Greeks and Romans and the infamous Renaissance art of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Rafael, and Donatello, the artworks of the “Middle” Ages are often simply glossed over as two-dimensional and religious.The art of the Middle Ages is hard to appreciate because it lacks the monumental, realistic, and …
A Peek Behind the Curtain
Certain moments are etched indelibly on my memory. I’ll never forget my first paid performance. I was a professional now, at least according to the printed program and the expectations of the attendees, but I felt like a fraud.I was a fresh recruit to physical theatre, brimming with idealism and raw technique. My strength and stubborn dedication had won a …
Keeping Open: The Spiritual Philosophy of Madeleine L’Engle
Spirit guides, time travel, and theology: seemingly polar concepts and yet they are the pillars of Madeleine L’Engle’s most notable work, A Wrinkle in Time.The story of young Meg Murray, a social misfit who, along with her younger brother Charles Wallace and friend Calvin, embarks on an adventure across time and space in search of her captured father. Though this …
A Liturgy of Song: A Conversation with Ryan Flanigan
Forefront Festival secretary and resident musical connoisseur Zack Osinski interviews Ryan Flanigan of Liturgical Folk about the role of music in the church.
Black Sunday: A Review
Forefront Festival board member Cody Schweickert reviews “Black Sunday,” a book of poetry by Dr. Benjamin Myers.
The Bad Seed: A Look into the Human Condition
“Drama’s not safe and it’s not pretty and it’s not kind. People expect the basic template of television drama where there might be naughty villains, but everyone ends up having a nice cup of tea. You’ve got to do big moral choices and show the terrible things people do in terrible situations. Drama is failing if it doesn’t do that.” …
The Tolkien Film and the Problem of Beauty
As a lover of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, I have waited with wincing anticipation for the release of the new biopic. Honestly, I worried and fussed in all the days leading up to the screening of Tolkien.On the one hand, I really wanted to love this film. I love biopics, where in the warp and weft of great filmmaking, a director …
A Legacy of Long Art
“Ask the questions that have no answers.Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.” —Wendell Berry, Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation FrontIt is one of the more clichéd remarks of our time to decry the distracted age in which we live. Ours is the generation of “instant gratification,” as the saying goes. And so it is. As with most other clichés, this …










