Author: Liam Otten

<img src="/news/PublishingImages/5531_t.gif" alt="Renaissance students This spring, 37 art and architecture students from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts are soaking in history by living and working in Florence and pursuing a curriculum that includes studios, art history seminars and Italian language classes.” height=”255″ width=”175″ />Courtesy Photo/Sketch by Alla AgafonovRenaissance students This spring, 37 art and architecture students from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts are soaking in history by living and working in Florence and pursuing a curriculum that includes studios, art history seminars and Italian language classes.

Eric Woolsey*Highness* by Carolyn KrasEngland’s Queen Elizabeth I is among the most mythologized figures in history. But who was Elizabeth before she rose to power? What transformed this precocious yet lonely girl into a leader of steel? Find out in Carolyn Kras’ historical drama Highness, winner of the 2006 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Competition, which receives its world premiere this month.

Poet David Baker, the visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in Washington University’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 22, for The Writing Program Reading Series. Baker is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently Midwest Eclogue (2005), as well as poetry editor for The Kenyon Review.

Courtesy photoUta GrosenickUta Grosenick, managing editor for DuMont publishers in Cologne, Germany, will speak on the development of commercial art galleries worldwide since 1945 for Washington University’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Services*Tartuffe*The Washington University Opera, led by director Jolly Stewart, will present Kirke Mechem’s highly acclaimed setting of Molière’s comedy Tartuffe. The story, first written in 1665, explores the impact of a corrupt and hypocritical “holy man” on a wealthy Parisian family. Mechem’s adaptation, which premiered in 1980, has since become one of the most popular works of contemporary American opera.

Stewart GoldsteinRon Himes in *King Hedley II* (2006)Can African-American theater survive? In recent years, several leading African-American companies have been forced to cut staff, cancel seasons or close their doors entirely. “We’ve lost a half-dozen of the larger companies,” says Ron Himes, founder and producing director of The St. Louis Black Repertory Company and the Henry E. Hampton Jr. Artist-in-Residence in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. “Nobody seems to quite understand why.” More…

Spalding GraySpalding Gray was one of the most influential solo performers of his generation and his suicide, in January 2004, shocked the theater world. In March, Edison Theatre will present Stories Left to Tell, a tribute to Gray created by his widow, Kathleen Russo, and the director Lucy Sexton. The evening combines excerpts from his famous solo shows with a range of previously unreleased material. Performers include Rockwell Gray, Spalding’s brother, as well as three contemporary monologists — Jonathan Ames, Reno and Carmelita Tropicana — and the musician Calvin Johnson.

Imrat KhanWorld-renowned sitar player Imrat Khan, a distinguished artist-in-residence in the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, will be joined by virtuoso tabla player Samir Chatterjee for a concert of Indian classical music at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 25. Khan, the senior-most member of the famous Etawa Gharana (musical dynasty), is widely recognized as one of the giants of Indian classical music, celebrated for his virtuosity, musicality and inventive wit.

Photo by Kevin LowderSara Gruenwald, a sophomore in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, models a dress designed by junior Alissa Landorf as part of “Gowns in the Gallery.” The annual event — held Feb. 22 at the Des Lee Gallery on Washington Avenue — showcased Christian Dior- and Valentino-inspired gowns and evening wear by junior and senior fashion majors, who were on hand to discuss the finer points of color, construction and couture.

Paul J. Donnelly, the Rebecca and John Voyles Chair in Architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, has received the Distinguished Professor Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. Donnelly is one of only five professors to receive the annual honor, which recognizes sustained creative achievement in architectural education through teaching, design, scholarship, research and service.