Arts & Culture

It’s a madcap weekend of comic mayhem as Chicago sensations 500 Clown target a pair of literary classics with in-your-face improv, commedia dell’arte and physical theater. On Friday, Nov. 5, the company will descend upon Edison Theatre with 500 Clown Macbeth, a boisterous romp through William Shakespeare, followed on Saturday, Nov. 6, by 500 Clown Frankenstein, a similar affront to Mary Shelley. 

Lighting designer Ruth Grauert, who spent 40 years as assistant and stage director to legendary choreographer Alwin Nikolais (1910-93), will discuss “The Path to Post-Modern Dance and the Nikolais Aesthetic” at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3. The talk will explore the evolution of dance since the 1940s, as choreographers increasingly moved away from technique-centered to idea-centered works. 

Influential sculptor Jessica Stockholder, director of graduate studies in sculpture at Yale University, will discuss her work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ fall Public Lecture Series at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 1. The talk, which is co-sponsored by Laumeier Sculpture Park, is free and open to the public and will take place in Steinberg Hall Auditorium.

Celebrated architect Jeanne Gang, principal and founder of Studio Gang Architects in Chicago, will discuss her work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ fall Public Lecture Series at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 25. The talk, titled “High and Low,” is the school’s annual Coral Courts Lecture and will take place in Steinberg Hall Auditorium, located near the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth boulevards. A reception for Gang will precede the lecture, at 6 p.m. 

Poet Timothy Donnelly will ready from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, for Washington University’s Writing Program in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences. Donnelly’s first book, Twenty-seven Props for a Production of Eine Lebensziet, was published in 2003 by the Grove Press Poetry Series. His second collection, The Cloud Corporation, was released by Wave Books earlier this month.  

Architect Eric Cesal, a Washington University alumnus who is now directing design and reconstruction initiatives in Haiti for the group Architecture for Humanity, will return to campus to discuss his work at noon Wednesday, Oct. 20. The talk, titled Starting From Zero: How Haiti Can Save Architecture, is presented by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts as its annual Eugene J. Mackey Jr. Lecture, part of the school’s fall Public Lecture Series.  

Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear/And he shows them pearly white … So is introduced Macheath, the dapper bandit and notorious womanizer more infamously known as “Mack the Knife.” And thus begins The Threepenny Opera, a merciless send-up of operatic conventions, which will be presented by the Performing Arts Department Oct. 22 through 31. 

Salvatore Scibona, whose debut novel The End was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award, will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, for Washington University’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.  

Landscape architect Tom Leader, founder and principal of Tom Leader Studio in Berkeley, Calif., will discuss his work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ fall Public Lecture Series Oct. 11. Formed in 2001, the studio is among today’s most innovative and experimental landscape architecture practices, known for balancing speculative and constructed designs.

Mezzo-soprano Leah Summers and pianist Charis Dimaris will perform an intimate Liederabend for the Washington University Department of Music in Arts & Sciences at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 10, in Holmes Lounge. Literally translated as “evening of song,” Liederabend is a German term referring to a recital given by a singer and pianist, particularly of works by 19th-century Austrian or German composers.