One Moment in Time Expanded
Every picture tells a story, and the one hinted at by Diego Velázquez’s famed 1656 painting Las Meninas is among the most provocative. Rather than pose his subjects with the pomp and pageantry expected in royal portraits, the artist depicts a relatively candid scene from the royal household at Alcázar. The painting feels like a causal snapshot that was taken 400 years ago and that happens to include the family of Phillip IV of Spain.

by Kelly Klaasmeyer

Trip the Light Fantastic
Melissa King’s introduction to college theater came in the form of signs, posted around campus, advertising auditions. “I never did theater in high school,” the senior recalls. But the signs caught her eye, and a mere week into her Rice career, she landed the role of Eliza Doolittle, the cockney lead in Hanszen College’s fall 2002 production of My Fair Lady.

by James Sulak

Acting Out
Actors from the London Stage, a touring troupe of five actors from such prestigious companies as the Royal Shakespeare Company, were in-residence here in mid-March, performing Othello three times and sitting in on more than two dozen classes.

by Dana Benson