Author: Liam Otten

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo ServicesKaylin Boosalis as Ginger BrooksLive from the fabulous Hotel Astor in New York City, it’s The 1940s Radio Hour! Set against the backdrop of World War II, Walton Jones’ nostalgic ode to the glory days of big band music follows a group of broadcast has-beens and wannabes as they attempt to make it big on the “Mutual Manhattan Variety Cavalcade.” Mimicing an actual radio broadcast, the show features nearly two dozen classic songs, including “Blue Moon,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Old Black Magic,” as well as comedy segments, radio plays and period commercials.

Photo by Whitney CurtisStudents from Umrath House gathered around Vito Acconci’s “Face of the Earth” (1988) at Laumeier Sculpture Park last Saturday afternoon. The 96-acre outdoor museum in Sunset Hills, Mo., contains more than 80 monumental works by internationally known contemporary artists.

Joe Angeles/WUSTL Photo ServicesNoga Landau and Sathya SridharanThree aspiring playwrights will present staged readings of their works Sept. 25 and 26 as part of 2007 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival, sponsored by the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences. Named in honor of alumnus A.E. Hotchner (AB and JD ’40), the festival consists of an intensive two-week workshop that culminates in the staged readings. Each of the participating plays — which are selected by jury — will also be eligible for a full production as part of the PAD’s 2008-09 season.

Swenson will launch the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ fall Visiting Artist Lecture Series on Wednesday, Sept. 26, with a 7 p.m. talk about his work.

Pianist Carolbeth True and trumpeter Randy Holmes will perform for the Jazz at Holmes Series from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.

Joe Angeles/WUSTL Photo ServicesNoga Landau and Sathya SridharanThree aspiring playwrights will present staged readings of their works Sept. 25 and 26 as part of 2007 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival, sponsored by the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences. Named in honor of alumnus A.E. Hotchner (AB and JD ’40), the festival consists of an intensive two-week workshop that culminates in the staged readings. Each of the participating plays — which are selected by jury — will also be eligible for a full production as part of the PAD’s 2008-09 season.

Novelist Peter Orner, the visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in Washington University’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, will read from his fiction at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13. In addition, Orner will lead a talk on the craft of fiction at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.

The proliferation of new and digital media — from computers and Web sites to television screens, cell phones and other handheld devices — has profoundly impacted the ways we see and interact with the world around us. It also has provided tremendous new possibilities for the creation and experience of art. This fall, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will launch several new outreach programs designed to highlight the aesthetics and expanding role of new media and digital art.

Photo by David KilperOver the last two-and-a-half weeks, 16 master’s candidates — seven from the Graduate School of Art and nine from the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design — have worked with museum staff to construct and install new sculptures, drawings and installations by Maya Lin.

Photo by Stewart GoldstenThe St. Louis Black Rep will open its 31st season with “Boesman and Lena” at Edison Theatre Sept. 12-23.