Arts & Culture

Two modern American masterpieces will be offered by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 4, at May Auditorium in Simon Hall on the Washington University Danforth campus. The concert is free and open to the public. Both are considered ground-breaking works in contemporary music by composers who are at the forefront of experimental American music.

Beginning February 8, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present “On the Margins,” an exhibition exploring the impact of war and disaster through the work of a diverse range of contemporary artists. Curated by Dean Carmon Colangelo, the exhibition will showcase more than a dozen works, ranging from prints and photographs to video and large-scale installations, by ten artists from around the world.

Since the late 1980s, Los Angeles-based painter Thaddeus Strode has created wild, vibrantly colored mash-ups in which California surf and skateboard culture collide with Zen philosophy, rock music, literature, film, comic books and other popular motifs, all mixing freely with the artist’s own inventions. Beginning Feb. 8, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present […]

Jane Maienschein, Ph.D., the Regents’ Professor and Chair of the Program for Science and Society at Arizona State University, will speak on “From Transplantation to Translation: Why History Matters in Stem Cell Research” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, in Rebstock Hall, Room 322. Maienschein is the first of six speakers appearing this spring as […]

Erin BelieuAcclaimed poet Erin Belieu will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24, for the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences. Belieu is the author of three collectionss: Infanta (1995), One Above & One Below (2000) and, most recently, Black Box (2006).

Courtesy photoJanet KauffmanAuthor, environmentalist and multimedia artist Janet Kauffman will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, for the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences. Kauffman, who lives on a farm in Hudson, MI, is the author of the forthcoming book Trespassing: Dirt Stories & Field Notes, which combines stories and nonfiction pieces to illustrate the impact of modern factory farms—confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs — on her rural community.

Joseph Roach, former chair of Washington University’s Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences, will present the 2008 Helen Clanton Morrin Lecture at 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28. Roach, now the Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Theater and English at Yale University, studies the history and theory of theater and dramatic literature and has been a major force in developing the field of performance studies.

Jane Hammond, detail from *Fallen,* 2004-ongoing.War and disaster have profoundly shaped the opening years of the 21st century. In the United States and abroad, acts of violence and terrorism have resulted in large-scale destruction and displacement affecting the lives of millions. This spring, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis will present On the Margins, an exhibition exploring the impact of war and disaster through the work of a diverse range of contemporary artists.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Services*The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek*The 7:10 train rattles through a small rural town battered by the Great Depression. Two teenagers play a dangerous game of “chicken,” racing the 153-ton engine across a narrow railroad bridge. Welcome to The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, a poignant and erotically charged coming-of-age tale by playwright Naomi Wallace, winner of a 1999 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, or “genius grant.” In January the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

Courtesy photoJohn HeardPoliticians versus journalists, the public’s right to know versus the government’s desire for secrecy. Just in time for election season, L.A. Theatre Works — the nation’s foremost radio theater company — will present a rare live performance of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers as part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series at Washington University. The all-star cast is led by award-winning actor John Heard as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.