Katrina Kittle

Telling a Crucial Story
KATRINA KITTLE was inspired to write her latest novel, The Kindness of Strangers, after getting to know a student in one of her writing workshops who was a survivor of child abuse. In keeping with her mission to bring attention to this shockingly prevalent and often misunderstood issue, Kittle's 7 p.m. Thursday appearance at Joseph-Beth Booksellers is co-hosted by the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

A Dayton native and Ohio University graduate, Kittle has taught middle- and high-school students in English and writing as well as her other passion, theater. She is an active member of the Dayton theater community, acting in local plays as well as directing and writing for children's productions.

Kittle offered her third novel to three different publishers before she found one willing to take on a book with such sensitive subject matter. Set in an affluent Dayton neighborhood, the story centers on Sarah, a recently widowed mother of two who discovers that a friend of her younger son has suffered long-term sexual abuse at the hands of his parents. Even more shocking for Sarah is the fact that the boy's mother is her close friend, a woman she feels indebted to for supporting her after her husband's death. As Sarah struggles to understand how and why this tragedy could occur so close to home, she gathers facts and uncovers misconceptions about the phenomenon of abuse.

In this way, Kittle shares with readers the knowledge she gained herself after crossing paths with a young abuse victim. Sarah's perspective is balanced by those of her two sons, teenager Nate and fifth-grader Danny, and Jordan, the abuse victim. Each chapter is narrated from the point of view of one of these central characters, creating a fast-paced, realistically rendered narrative.

The Lawrence Arms

The Kindness of Strangers demonstrates how one individual's tragic situation can profoundly affect the lives of those connected to him and how caring can overcome helplessness, guilt and fear. 513-396-8960. (See Literary.) -- MANDY CALKINS

THURSDAY 16
In 2002-03 the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival offered a strong production of Dael Orlandersmith's one-woman show, The Gimmick, a piece about how a love of language saves the soul of a young African-American woman growing up in Harlem in the 1960s. Around the time CSF presented The Gimmick, Orlandersmith had a provocative new show onstage in New York City. That work, YELLOWMAN, was a finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, and now it's made its way to the Cincinnati Playhouse, where it opens a four-week run in the Shelterhouse Theatre. The script is a study of contrasts between light and dark, rich and poor, love and hate, free will and destiny. Yellowman's two characters, a dark-skinned black woman and a light-skinned black man, begin as childhood friends but find obstacles when their adult relationship turns to love. The edgy exploration of racial stereotypes and prejudice runs through March 12. 513-421-3888. (See Onstage.) -- RICK PENDER

FRIDAY 17
Some day all cinemas will match the grandiosity of Cincinnati Museum Center's OMNIMAX Theater in order to validate the price of tickets and keep moviegoers happy. Until then, a trip to the OMNIMAX (or a nearby IMAX, for that matter) remains a special treat. Aiming for a slightly older child audience, GREECE: SECRETS OF THE PAST is a lively history lesson about Bronze Age excavations on the Santorini chain of islands and a close look at Athens' Parthenon, the symbol of Greece's Golden Age. Grandfatherly Christos Doumas is a Greek archaeologist who's an expert on Santorini's Bronze Age civilization. He's joined by Georges Vougioukalakis, a volcanologist who zips across the island on his scooter. They're zesty and colorful, perfect guides for a 45-minute trip back in time with more than enough spectacular scenery to fill the OMNIMAX dome. (See Film.) -- STEVE RAMOS

FRIDAY 17
Spawned from the strong Chicago Punk scene in the late '90s and named for the dilapidated building in which the band members once lived, THE LAWRENCE ARMS are back to being a Punk Rock band in the traditional sense, with bratty vocals, neck-snapping rhythms and sweeping power-chord anthems. While the band's last album, The Greatest Story Every Told, flirted with a more dynamic sound, the group's forthcoming full-length, Oh! Calcutta!, strips away the Emo-ness and goes for a more streamlined approach, keeping the pace and snarl on high at all times. The album's hidden last track shows more than a little trace of the band's notorious outspokenness -- the Country-flavored ditty pile-drives the whole Warped Tour operation with pointed vitriol ("These thieves and their flip flops and bro' attitudes/Are the very reason we do what we do"). The Larry Arms, who play Top Cat's Friday, were once regulars on the tour but were booted after expressing their displeasure from the stage. Here's a band that not only bites the hand that feeds it ... they'll rip the hand completely off the arm and shake it around like a wild dog. Now that's Punk Rock. With The Loved Ones, Black Tie Bombers and Lost Hands Found Fingers. 513-281-2005. (See Music.) -- MIKE BREEN

Greece: Secrets of The Past

FRIDAY 17

SATURDAY 18
Everyday reality and higher-plane metaphysics sit side by side for Desert Ghost, the next installment of MOVING ART DANCE COMPANY's second season. Ambulate, a Latin word for walking, explores different ways of doing just that. Perambulating might be humans' basic locomotion, but here it's given thought and purpose. Moving Art's director, Colleen McCarty, combines set patterns and improvisation with the company's signature lifting and shape-making, accompanied by upright bassist Matt Anderson. For the other half of the program, choreographer Michelle Bump presents Mirage of Ghosts, a journey of personal, spiritual transformation. In three sections, three dancers guide the audience through the timeless mystery and mysticism of desert travels. Choreography takes inspiration from ancient desert cultures. Expect diverse music blended with ambient sounds and visual effects. Bring a friend to witness corporeal and spiritual explorations -- admission is two-for-one for the opening weekend at Gabriel's Corner. www.movingartdance.com (See Onstage.) -- JULIE MULLINS

SUNDAY 19
In its continuing role as Mother-to-Cincinnati's-most-independent-cinematic-experience, the Esquire Theater hosts JUSTICE IN BLOOM, the latest work from local independent filmmakers Ryan Lewis and Michael Maney. Justice is the duo's submission to the HD Filmmaker Showdown, an offshoot of the larger 48 Hour Film Festival, wherein competitors are loaned a Panasonic HD camera and required to submit individual short films, which must be shot, sequenced, edited and produced in no more than two days. The film's just your garden-variety love story, really, as it follows young Greg and Heather's budding relationship -- boy meets girl, boy asks girl's father for her hand in marriage, father solicits boy for aid in defeating the evil Dr. Hammer-meister -- one that's sure to pack the smirk and swagger of previous award-winning Lewis/

Manifest Gallery

Maney shorts, Glorious and HereAfter. 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $10. 513-288-0880. -- HANNAH ROBERTS

TUESDAY 21
At Manifest Gallery, an interesting tension plays out between Boris Zakic's paintings of mostly solitary figures in the outer gallery and the pulsing togetherness seen in Sol Kjak's drawings just beyond in the "drawing room." One tells us how alone we are, the other what strength and fears there are in groups. Zakic incorporates his titles into his compositions in tall, handsome letters, while the name of Kjak's show, String of Beads, comes from recurrent appearances of a slender, bright red chain, a visual and symbolic anchor for the drawings. Faultless technique from each artist, in works that keep coming to mind. www.manifestgallery.org (See Art.) -- JANE DURRELL

Michael Maney (left) and Ryan Lewis