Arts & Culture

Ms. Beatrice Hempel, teacher of seventh grade, is new—new to teaching, new to the school, newly engaged, and newly bereft of her idiosyncratic father. Grappling awkwardly with her newness, she struggles to figure out what is expected of her in life and at work. So begins Ms. Hempel Chronicles, the acclaimed second novel by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum. On April 8 and 10, Bynum will present a pair of events for The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.

A fuse burns, a tire rolls free. A lit candle, mounted on wheels, ignites a small explosion. In “The Way Things Go” (1987), conceptual artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss play with the idea of chain reaction. This summer, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present the groundbreaking film in “Moving Parts: Time and Motion in Contemporary Art.”

Heather Corcoran, chair of the design program in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, has been named director of the school’s College & Graduate School of Art.

Cindy Kahn in the Performing Arts Department recommends the St. Louis Actors’ Studio presentation of Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening,” at the Missouri History Museum through March 23.

​More than a dozen dancers will debut nine original works by WUSTL student choreographers April 4-6 as part of “Young Choreographers Showcase.” The biennial concert takes place in the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio.

What’s a long-awaited threat, born of outer space and a danger to life as we know it? Why, it’s “The Intergalactic Nemesis,” of course. Part old-time radio play and part multimedia graphic novel, this unique science fiction serial returns to St. Louis with the first two parts of a planned “Nemesis” trilogy.

Albert wanders Europe in a fugue state, across the French countryside to Prague, Vienna and Moscow. In “The Man Who Walked Away,” acclaimed novelist Maud Casey explores both Albert’s journeys and his relationship with the doctor who sought to reassemble his life.

Emma sits at a corner table. Jerry arrives with wine and bitters. It’s the end of the affair and the start of the play. In “Betrayal,” Harold Pinter traces a years-long adulterous relationship in reverse chronological order — a clever structural device that begs a profound question. Knowing the height of the fall, would you still jump?

Acclaimed violinist Cecilia Belcher and pianist Patti Wolf will launch KWUR Week 2014 with a free performance of works by Mozart, Fauré and Ravel March 18. The four-concert series, which continues through March 23, will range from rock and funk to classical percussion.

Growing up in rural Alaska, Chukwuma is caught between American friends and traditional Nigerian parents. So begins “Alaskaland,” one of eight films to be screened March 28-30 as part of Washington University’s annual African Film Festival. Other highlights will include “Tey,” an impressionistic celebration of life and death, and “Aya of Yop City,” adapted from the graphic novels of Marguerite Abouet.