Arts & Culture

The Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present a two-weekend run of “Measure for Measure,” one of Shakespeare’s most confounding “problem plays” that explores the nature of power, the relationships between men and women and the battle between justice and mercy. Performances begin at 8 p.m. Nov. 9 and 10, and at 2 p.m. Nov. 11 in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center. Performances continue the following weekend at 8 p.m. Nov. 16 and 17, and at 2 p.m. Nov. 18.

Poet Thomas Sayers Ellis will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, for the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences. The event, part of the Writing Program’s Fall Reading Series, is free and open to the public and takes place in Duncker Hall, Rm. 201, Hurst Lounge.

Jon SpaihtsGrooveLilyRock band? Musical theatre? Indie-pop trio GrooveLily combines the best of both worlds with Striking 12, a refreshingly alternative holiday show based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale “The Little Match Girl.” The New York Times praises the show as “Thoroughly winning! More artfully crafted and engaging than virtually all the standard-mold musicals these days. Alive with wit and humor.”

Mildred Lane Kemper Art MuseumRoy Lichtenstein,*Crying Girl,* 1963.The blonde has been an iconic and highly influential ideal of feminine beauty in American culture since the mid-20th century. Yet beginning with American Pop Art in the early 1960s, the blonde has also become a touchstone for artistic representation and critical inquiry. In November, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis will present Beauty and the Blonde: An Exploration of American Art and Popular Culture, the first museum show to investigate the strategic use of the blonde in contemporary art. Organized by Catharina Manchanda, Ph.D., curator of the Kemper Art Museum, the exhibition will survey how artists have interpreted the blonde in a wide range of visual media, from prints, painting and sculpture to collage, film, video, photography and interactive web projects. Also featured will be a selection of advertisements, magazines, cartoons, film posters, album covers, Barbie imagery and other materials — mainly from the 1950s and 60s — that have helped to shape popular notions about the blonde.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo ServicesRosie Mandel as IsabellaOne of Shakespeare’s most confounding “problem plays,” Measure for Measure explores the nature of power, the relationships between men and women and the battle between justice and mercy. In November the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will present a two-weekend run of Measure for Measure in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

Courtesy PhotoUtah’s acclaimed Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company will present “Nikolais Dance Theatre,” an evening-length collection of visionary multimedia works that transform dance into a visual and kinetic art. The show, a homage to innovative dancer Alwin Nikolais, begins at 8 p.m. Nov. 2 and 3 as part of Edison Theatre’s OVATIONS! Series.

Poet Thomas Sayers Ellis will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, for the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences. Ellis, a native of Washington, D.C., is the author of The Maverick Room (2005), a collection exploring the city’s social, geographical and historical neighborhoods. His Breakfast and Blackfist: Notes for Black Poets, is forthcoming from the University of Michigan Press’ Poets on Poetry Series.

Utah’s acclaimed Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company will present “Nikolais Dance Theatre,” an evening-length collection of visionary multimedia works that transform dance into a visual and kinetic art. The show, an homage to innovative dancer Alwin Nikolais, begins at 8 p.m. Nov. 2 and 3 as part of Edison Theatre’s OVATIONS! Series.

Poet and author Susan Wheeler, the visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, will read from her work Thursday, Oct. 25, and speak on the craft of poetry Tuesday, Oct. 30.

Photo by David KilperAcclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin — music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and conductor laureate of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra — will return to St. Louis as guest conductor for WUSTL’s “Piano Extravaganza” at 7 p.m. Oct. 28. Presented by the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, “Piano Extravaganza” will mark the formal opening of the University’s newly renovated 560 Music Center, located at 560 Trinity Ave. in University City.