March 10, 2015
Southern Illinois University Arts and Cultural Events
March 17-31
This weekly email brings together all the arts and cultural events happening in a two-week period at SIU Carbondale. From music to art, film to dance, guest lectures to workshops and theater, you will find the information here. In addition, event information is subject to change.
SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK
Playwrights are alive and well at SIU. That’s easy to see at the Third Annual Big Muddy New Play Festival 2015 playing March 26-28 in the C.H. Moe Theater, under the guidance of Jacob Juntunen, head of playwriting.
The festival has two components: a fully produced play and a series of staged readings.
This year’s fully produced work is “Last Seen Alice” by Jaclyn Grogan. It tells the story of Alice, living in a magical RV park, who plans to return to her former self at the Red Rock River. Her plans are aided or impeded by an ever-changing environment, her big-haired landlady and the arrival of two park newbies. The play is whimsical and charming and asks the question, “Can you?”
This production performs March 26-29, Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $16 for adults, $6 for students. Get them in advance at the box office, weekdays, noon-5 p.m., by phone at 618/453-600 or online at theater.siu.edu. All tickets are general admission and seating is limited in this intimate space.
The festival includes three new plays that will have free staged readings:
• “Lewis and the House of Cards” by Rebekah Durig, directed by Marla Schultz, March 27 at 4 p.m. This play tells the story of a polite, mild-mannered man sent to a mysterious island where he must find his inner Casanova to survive.
• “Response Scenario” by Rory Leahy, directed by Patrick McGregor, March 28 at 1 p.m. This play centers on a charismatic, progressive president who must confront an unfolding biblical apocalypse and try to save the world.
• “Girls with Bodies” by Kirsten Easton, directed by Bobbi Masters, March 28, at 4 p.m. In this coming-of-age play, six women explore their experiences and relationships with their bodies.
The readings are free and open to the public. They are all presented in the C. H. Moe Theater.
Upcoming Events:
MARCH
18 -- Women’s History Month event: Kelly Sartorius, director of Development, Arts and Sciences at Washington University and the author of “Deans of Women and the Feminist Movement,” presents a guest lecture at 2 p.m. in Morris Library, Room 752.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Melinda Yeomans, myeomans1@siu.edu or 453-3740.
18 -- Women’s History Month event: Literary reading. The SIU creative writing program presents “Women’s Words” poetry/fiction/creative non-fiction reading at 7 p.m., Faner Hall, second floor, humanities lounge.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Allison Joseph, aljoseph@siu.edu or 453-6854; or Melinda Yeomans, myeomans1@siu.edu or 453-3740.
19 -- Women’s History Month event: Literary reading. The SIU creative writing program presents “Guys Love Gals” poetry/fiction/creative non-fiction reading at 7 p.m., Faner Hall, second floor, humanities lounge.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Allison Joseph, aljoseph@siu.edu or 453-6854; or Melinda Yeomans, myeomans1@siu.edu or 453-3740.
19-21 -- Illinois Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, various times and locations. This competitive event brings high school students from around the state to present their research projects in classical sciences, social sciences, engineering and mathematics. They compete for cash awards and scholarships. Students also have the opportunity to visit laboratories, meet SIU faculty, and attend lectures and workshops as well as participate in social events.
FOR THE MEDIA: For a detailed schedule and more information, contact Stephanie Eichholz, eichh@siu.edu or 536-6666.
20 -- Women’s History Month event: Third annual Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies Cross-Disciplinary Conference: TransForming: Crossing Experiences, Creating Knowledges. This campus-wide conference offers $1,400 in awards for “Best Student Paper Presentation” and “Best Student Creative Presentation.” This event is 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Student Center Mississippi Room.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Rachel Smith, rachel.smith@siu.edu; or Melinda Yeomans, myeomans1@siu.edu or 453-3740.
23 -- Women’s History Month event: Presentation and book signing. Wendy Davis talks about her professional experiences in politics and talks about her book, “Forgetting to Be Afraid: A Memoir.” She is available for a book signing. The event is from 6 to 8 p.m., Student Center Ballroom D.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Melinda Yeomans, myeomans1@siu.edu or 453-3740.
23 – Visiting Artist: Alma Levia, a photographer and video artist represented by Balzar Art Projects in Basel, Switzerland, visits SIU from her home in Miami, Fla., where she is currently the subject of a solo art show at The Museum of Art and Design at the Freedom Tower. Her artistic practice calls upon magical realism and the “aesthetics of violence.” The latter, she said, is a reaction to the violence in her native country of Honduras and Central America generally. Her method is to create a stage during a residency, and then to photograph it as her final product. She delivers an arts lecture 6-8 p.m. in Morris Library’s John C. Guyon Auditorium.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Jennida Chase, chasej@siu.edu or 453-2365.
24 – Women’s History Month event: Film screening. “Sisters of Selma: Bearing Witness to Change,” 6 p.m. in Morris Library’s Hall of Presidents. Light refreshments, no admission. The one-hour documentary film features, among others, Sister Mary Antona Ebo and the group of St. Louis area nuns who protested the violence in Selma.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Christina Bleyer, cgould@siu.edu or 453-1499.
25 – Guest speaker. Sister Mary Antona Ebo, a Franciscan Sisters of Mary Catholic nun famous for her civil rights work, visits SIU to talk about her life experiences. The image of her marching in 1965 in Selma has become an icon for voting rights. She is featured in the film “Sisters of Selma: Bearing Witness to Change.” Her address begins at 2 p.m. in Morris Library’s third floor rotunda. The event is free, and light refreshments are available.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Christina Bleyer, cgould@siu.edu or 453-1499.
25 – Soldiers Among Us: Panel discussion. Paul Copeland, coordinator of Veterans Services at SIU, will facilitate a panel and audience discussion of two readings. One is an op-ed that appeared in the New York Times, “After War, A Failure of the Imagination,” by Phil Klay. The other is “The Veteran,” by Stephen Crane, available here. The event is scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. at the Carbondale Public Library.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Paul Copeland, paul.copeland@siu.edu
26 – Guest speaker: The Center for Ecology hosts Wim Kimmerer from San Francisco State University. Kimmerer is a research professor of biological oceanography specializing in the aquatic ecosystem of the San Francisco Estuary. The event begins at 4 p.m. in Morris Library’s first floor rotunda.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Lim Lovvorn, lovvorn@siu.edu.
26 – Jeanne Hurley Simon Lecture: Guest Speaker Felicia Norwood, director of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, via appointment by Gov. Bruce Rauner. Norwood brings years of experience with Aetna Insurance, where she was president of the mid-America region. A Yale Law School graduate, Norwood formerly served as a senior policy adviser on Health and Human Services for two Illinois governors. Her address begins at 7 p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium. A reception with refreshments precedes her address, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Student Center International Lounge adjacent to the auditorium.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Carol Greenlee, cgreenlee@siu.edu or 453-4009.
26-28 – Big Muddy New Play Festival – for the schedule, see the Spotlight, above.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Vincent Rhomberg, mcldpub@siu.edu or 453-7589.
27 – Foreign Language Day, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Student Center Ballrooms and Corker Lounge. This event brings hundreds of area high school students for a day of cultural exploration and learning, and foreign language competition. A hot new event this year is the T-shirt concert.
FOR THE MEDIA: For a schedule of this all day event, contact Karen Sweiger-Viel, kveil@siu.edu or 536-5571.
27 – Soldiers Among Us event: Chris Parr, a former Army Reserve mental health counselor and staff member in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, leads a panel discussion on “Redeployment: Performances and Reflections by SIU Student-Vet-Artist-Scholars.” Participants will include Jonathan Mabee, a veteran and master of fine arts student in the college, who will screen “Missing Silence” (available here) and read a selected portion of the script for a film now in production; and Carlye Schweske, a doctoral student in communication and performance studies, who will share performance pieces emerging from her research on the experiences of student-veterans at SIU. 4:30-6 p.m. in Communications Building Room 1032.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Peter Lemish, peterlemish@siu.edu or 534-3989.
28-29 – Southern Illinois Home and Garden Exposition, hosted by the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce and River Radio, in the SIU Arena, featuring hundreds of area contractors, retailers and service providers and more. Hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Les O’Dell, 549-2146.
28 – Southern Illinois History Fair, 8 a.m.-3 p.m., Student Center Ballrooms and Corker Lounge. This all day event brings hundreds of area junior high and high school students to campus to showcase their grasp of Illinois history. They have the option of presenting a traditional paper, a research poster or, in a group, a dramatic presentation. Winning projects advance to the statewide Illinois History Expo held in Springfield in May. From there, winning projects go on to the national history fair in Maryland in mid-June. Projects follow the theme from National History Day: Leadership and Legacy in History.
FOR THE MEDIA: For a schedule of the day’s events, contact Jonathan Wiesen, jwiesen@siu.edu, or 453-7873.
30 – Paul Simon Public Policy Institute event: “Reflecting on the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act,” guest speaker Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), Assistant Democratic Leader, Clyburn is a leader in Congress, serving on the Appropriations Committee, and chair of the recently formed House Democrats’ Outreach and Engagement Task Force. He has distinguished himself in his support for increased Pell grants, for promotion of science and math programs, and fighting to preserve historically black college and universities. His address begins at 7 p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium. A reception with refreshments precedes his address, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Student Center International Lounge adjacent to the auditorium.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Carol Greenlee, cgreenlee@siu.edu or 453-4009.
30 – Soldiers Among Us event: Film screening of “The Invisible War,” followed by a panel and open discussion on “Sexual Assault in the Military.” A winner of Peabody and Emmy awards, the Oscar-nominated documentary focuses on how the military handles sexual assault within its ranks. Participants will include Lt. Col. Matt Gooding, professor of military science for the Army ROTC detachment at SIU; doctoral student Carlye Schweske, and a staff member from the VA Medical Center in Marion. The event is 4-5:30 p.m. in Communications Building Room 1032.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Peter Lemish, peterlemish@siu.edu or 534-3989.
31 – Women’s History Month event: Literary Reading: Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest awards ceremony and reading. Lauren K. Alleyne, poet and author of “Difficult Fruit,” presents a reading of her work at 4 p.m., location to be announced. This event includes an announcement of the winners of the annual Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest.
FOR THE MEDIA: Contact Allison Joseph, aljoseph@siu.edu or 453-6854; or Melinda Yeomans, myeomans1@siu.edu or 453-3740.
CURRENT EXHIBITS:
Art Exhibit: Expressions of Freedom, Morris Library First Floor Rotunda Exhibit Space. The exhibit runs through March 31.
Art Exhibit: Buckminster Fuller and the Sacred Geometry of Nature, Morris Library Hall of Presidents. The exhibit runs through April 30.
University Museum exhibits: Six exhibits currently open, including “Celebrities and Scintillations: Andy Warhol’s Party.” There is no admission to University Museum.