Author: Liam Otten

Chiura Obata, *Silent Moonlight at Tanforan Relocation Center,* 1942.In the 1930s photographer Ansel Adams struck up a friendship with California painter Chiura Obata. Yet the arrival of World War II would set these two celebrated artists on radically divergent paths — paths that would, in very different ways, lead both to the now-infamous “war relocation centers” at which the U.S. government forcibly interred approximately 120,000 Japanese-Americans. On Oct. 2 their sons, Michael Adams and Gyo Obata, will explore the impact of internment on their respective families in a public dialog at Washington University in St. Louis.

*Night Watch #3* (2007) by Roger ShimomuraCelebrated artist Roger Shimomura, whose paintings and performances wittily explore issues of culture, discrimination and ethnic stereotypes, will discuss his work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ fall Public Lecture Series at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12. Shimomura’s lecture is held in conjunction with the semester-long series “Ethnic Profiling: A Challenge to Democracy,” organized by the Center for the Study of Ethics & Human Values.

Photo by Whitney CurtisVisiting dramaturg Liz Engelman (left) and sophomore Film & Media Studies in Arts & Sciences major Max Rissman discuss Rissman’s one-act play “Razor Love” Sept. 25 in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

The acclaimed indie troubadours GrooveLily return to St. Louis for a pair of performances of “Sleeping Beauty Wakes” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2 and 3, as part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS Series.

Author Rikki Ducornet, the Visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in The Writing Program in Arts & Science, will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1. In addition, she will lead a talk on the craft of fiction at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8. Ducornet, the is the author of seven novels, including The Fan Maker’s Inquisition (2004) — a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year—and The Jade Cabinet (1993), a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award.

Since the early 20th century, avant-garde writers, artists and composers have championed the creative possibilities of the arbitrary and the accidental. Next week, the Department of Music and the Dance Program in the Performing Arts Department (PAD), both in Arts & Sciences, and the Mil-dred Lane Kemper Art Museum will host a concert exploring the […]

John CageSince the early 20th century avant-garde writers, artists and composers have championed the creative possibilities of the arbitrary and the accidental. Next week the Department of Music and the Dance Program in the Performing Arts Department, both in Arts & Sciences, along with the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will host a concert exploring the use of chance in modern and contemporary music. The performance — held in conjunction with the exhibition Chance Aesthetics, now on view at the Kemper Art Museum — is free and open to the public and begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, in the 560 Music Center’s E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall.

 Joe Angeles/WUSTL Photo ServicesShaun Hudson as Coalhouse Walker, Jr., and Renae Adams as Mother  Ragtime, Terrence McNally’s acclaimed adaptation of the 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow, is a sweeping and ambitious tale of race, class and the promise of America at the dawn of the 20th century. It is also a tremendously demanding theatrical production, requiring almost 50 actors and at least a dozen musicians. Indeed, Ragtime is so logistically challenging — more than 150 different costumes must be designed and sewn — that it virtually precludes staging by all but the largest of regional theaters. Yet next month, The Black Rep will join forces with the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences to present this Tony Award-winning musical as the fall Mainstage production.

In 1994, dancer Liz Claire, Ph.D., then a junior in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences, won the Bemis Summer Travel Scholarship. The award allowed her to travel to Paris as an intern with alumnus David Dorfman. Today, both Claire and Dorfman continue to make their mark on Washington University.

Four aspiring playwrights will present staged readings of their works Friday and Saturday, Sept. 25 and 26, as part of the 2009 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival, sponsored by the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences.