Author: Liam Otten

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Services*The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek*The 7:10 train rattles through a small rural town battered by the Great Depression. Two teenagers play a dangerous game of “chicken,” racing the 153-ton engine across a narrow railroad bridge. Welcome to The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, a poignant and erotically charged coming-of-age tale by playwright Naomi Wallace, winner of a 1999 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, or “genius grant.” In January the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

Courtesy photoJohn HeardPoliticians versus journalists, the public’s right to know versus the government’s desire for secrecy. Just in time for election season, L.A. Theatre Works — the nation’s foremost radio theater company — will present a rare live performance of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers as part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series at Washington University. The all-star cast is led by award-winning actor John Heard as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.

Photo by Oscar BalducciPablo ZieglerThe marriage between jazz and tango was virtually unheard of 30 years ago — until pianist Pablo Ziegler burst onto the music scene, seamlessly combining the sultry tango rhythms with the energetic spontaneity of jazz. This month the Pablo Ziegler Quintet for New Tango — joined by special guest Claudia Acuña — will present a special one-night-only concert as part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series at Washington University.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo ServicesThe Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present Naomi Wallace’s “The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek,” a poignant and erotically charged coming-of-age tale Jan. 24-27 in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center.

The marriage between jazz and tango was virtually unheard of 30 years ago — until pianist Pablo Ziegler burst onto the music scene, seamlessly combining the sultry tango rhythms with the energetic spontaneity of jazz. At 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, the Pablo Ziegler Quintet for New Tango — joined by special guest Claudia Acuña […]

Robert EtcheverryDynamo Theatre CompanyMontreal’s acclaimed DynamO Théâtre will launch Edison Theatre’s popular ovations! for young people series with me me me, a whirling mix of gymnastics, theater, juggling and mime that tackles perhaps the toughest of all political arenas: grade school.

Thaddeus Strode, *Absolutes and Nothings*Since the late 1980s Los Angeles-based painter Thaddeus Strode has created wild, vibrantly colored mash-ups in which California surf and skateboard culture collide with Zen philosophy, rock music, literature, film, comic books and other popular motifs, all mixing freely with the artist’s own inventions. In February, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present the first major museum exhibition dedicated to Strode’s work as part of its Contemporary Projects series.

Thaddeus Strode, *Absolutes and Nothings*Download high-resolution press images for *Thaddeus Strode: Absolutes and Nothings,* the first solo museum show for the acclaimed Los Angeles painter, on view at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum Feb. 8 to April 21.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at WUSTL has announced the recipients of its first annual Faculty Creative Activity Research Grants. Five faculty members from the College of Art and the College of Architecture will each receive $5,000 to support a variety of projects, from publications and video documentary to large-scale public sculpture.

Montreal’s acclaimed DynamO Théâtre will launch Edison Theatre’s popular ovations! for young people series with “me me me,” a whirling mix of gymnastics, theater, juggling and mime that tackles perhaps the toughest of all political arenas: grade school. The special one-day-only performance begins at 11 a.m. on Jan. 12 in Edison Theatre.