Author: Liam Otten

Sona Haydon, a longtime lecturer in piano for the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, died of complications stemming from leukemia at Barnes-Jewish Hospital on Saturday, October 29. She was 73. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the Richmond Heights Presbyterian Church, 1430 Silverton Pl., 63117. Plans for an on-campus memorial service will be announced.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Services*Escape from Happiness*Drugs and alcohol, anger and insanity, police corruption and (semi-) organized crime. Welcome to Escape from Happiness, a darkly comic portrait of a highly idiosyncratic family by Canadian playwright George F. Walker. In November, the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will present six performances in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

The event will feature Dixieland music by St. Louis’ Bourbon Street Band and a talk by Gerald Early on “The Death of Jazz and the Birth of New Orleans.”

Photo by Kevin LowderThe College of Art’s all-night Drawing Marathon featured free art supplies and two live models as well as still-life sets, live music, yoga and refreshments.

Courtesy photo*Death and the Ploughman*The year is 1401. A bereaved ploughman, maddened by the loss of his young wife in childbirth, demands answers from Death itself. So begins Death and the Ploughman, a powerful meditation on grief, mortality and the meaning of life. In November, New York’s acclaimed SITI Company, led by theatrical pioneer Anne Bogart, will bring the first American stage production of this early German Renaissance classic to Washington University’s Edison Theatre.

Neil GiordanoAnita SilveyAnita Silvey, one of the nation’s leading experts on children’s literature, will speak on “100 Best Books for Children: Our Greatest Children’s Books and the Stories Behind Them,” for The Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9. The illustrated lecture stems from Silvey’s recent book, 100 Best Books for Children (2004), an in-depth survey of children’s literature from 1902 to 2002. In addition, Gerald Early, Ph.D., the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters and director of the Center for the Humanities, will discuss the center’s new Children’s Studies minor, which begins offering classes in spring 2006.

Diavolo will present two evening shows and also an all-ages matinee as part of the ovations! for young people series.

Matthew Coolidge, founder and director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Los Angeles, will be participating.

Both talks are part of The Writing Program’s fall Reading Series and will take place in Hurst Lounge, Duncker Hall, Room 201.

Courtesy photoBrenda Marie OsbeyBrenda Marie Osbey, Poet Laureate of the State of Louisiana, will host a fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina currently staying in the St. Louis area from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, in The Gargoyle. Osbey, a native of New Orleans, will read from her work and discuss Katrina’s effects on the city. In addition, the event will feature Dixieland music by St. Louis’ Bourbon Street Band, while Gerald Early, Ph.D., the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in Arts & Sciences, will speak on “The Death of Jazz and the Birth of New Orleans.”