Arts & Culture

Three aspiring playwrights will present staged readings of their works Sept. 26-27 as part of the 2008 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival, sponsored by the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences.

Harold BlumenfeldWithin a month of publishing his notorious collection Les Fleurs du mal (“Flowers of Evil,” 1857), the French poet Charles Baudelaire was charged with insulting public decency and ordered to remove six works from subsequent editions. Yet Baudelaire’s poems, which centered on themes of eroticism and mortality, would influence generations of writers. Now St. Louis composer Harold Blumenfeld has recorded Vers Sataniques (“Satanic Verse”), a major new piece based on Les Fleurs du mal, which will be featured as part of a mixed media concert Oct. 13.

Courtesy photoThe Trey McIntyre ProjectTrey McIntyre is one of today’s most innovative and sought-after choreographers, known for both challenging and expanding the limits of contemporary ballet. On Oct. 10 and 11McIntyre’s company, the Trey McIntyre Project, will make its St. Louis debut as part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series.

Novelist Zachary Lazar, author of Sway (2008), will read from his work at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, for the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences. Set in the 1960s, Sway interweaves three emblematic stories of the period: the early days of the Rolling Stones, the life of filmmaker Kenneth Anger and the rise of Charles Manson and his followers.

Marge BetleyThree aspiring playwrights will present staged readings of their works Sept. 26 and 27 as part of the 2008 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. This year’s workshop is led by Marge Betley, literary manager and resident dramaturg for the Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY.

Chapman”Television and the internet are creating an American Idol-like atmosphere around the 2008 election,” says Richard Chapman, a veteran producer and screenwriter for film and television. “It’s all about personality and narrative and who has the best story, as opposed to who has the best grasp of the issues.” Champman is available to discuss television and the 2008 presidential campaign.

Elizabeth Armstrong, curator of “Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury,” will discuss the exhibition at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

Courtesy PhotoGrammy Award-winning a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock will launch the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series with a special one-night-only performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27.

Celebrated violinist Martin Chalifour, principal concertmaster for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will join musicians from Washington University and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra for a chamber music recital at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 22.

Elizabeth Armstrong, curator of “Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury,” will discuss the exhibition at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.