I’ve been running caption contests online and in the print edition now since March 2007, but this is our first contest to be Spoleto-themed and cross-posted on two blogs. Vote for your favorite, and read the rest of the entries here.

Chuck Boyd, better known as SpoJo Chucker, and jazz man Jack McCray are in the studio with Janet for a great podcast about music around town, monkey shenanigans and more.

Hear today’s podcast direct by following this link, or why not subscribe permanently here throughout the duration of the festival and get it fed to your MP3 player automatically. There’s also our guide to podcasting here.

In case you haven’t heard, “Monkey: Journey to the West” has added another performance. This one is set for Sottile Theatre, Thursday, June 5 at 2pm. Tickets are on sale now!

A little insider information from SpoletoToday: If you go to the add-on performance, you might want to think about picking up your tickets a day earlier from the box office at the Gaillard, or plan to get to the show really early. Sources tell us the line at “will call” for Sunday’s noon add-on show was down George Street and up St. Philips. The show was delayed nearly 15 minutes to get everyone in, and even then, some poor souls had to wait until things got under way, then sneak in. The performers had another show at 6 p.m. that night and had to get going.

In the tradition of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead, Paula Vogel’s Desdemona, A Play About a Handkerchief, at the Chapel Theatre, explores a Shakespearean play from a different point of view. In Desdemona, the story of Othello is brought to life by the conversations of the women–Othello’s wife Desdemona, her maid, and Iago’s wife Emily, and Bianca, the local seamstress and courtesan.

The conversations between the women about class, men, marriage, and, of course, the handkerchief, are fast, furious, and funny as well as not safe for work. They would certainly be able to hold their own with the ladies from Sex in the City any time–especially while discussing Desdemona’s shocking clandestine activities.

It’s a delightful and provocative 90 minutes that, in spite of the women’s schemes and dreams, will lead to its tragic conclusion.