Arts & Culture

Gerald N. Izenberg, Ph.D., professor of history and co-director of the Literature and History program, both in Arts & Sciences, will examine the complex notions of identity in a series of programs beginning with the Assembly Series lecture at 11 a.m. March 21 in Graham Chapel.

Eric Woolsey*Highness* by Carolyn KrasEngland’s Queen Elizabeth I is among the most mythologized figures in history. But who was Elizabeth before she rose to power? What transformed this precocious yet lonely girl into a leader of steel? Find out in Carolyn Kras’ historical drama Highness, winner of the 2006 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Competition, which receives its world premiere this month.

Poet David Baker, the visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in Washington University’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 22, for The Writing Program Reading Series. Baker is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently Midwest Eclogue (2005), as well as poetry editor for The Kenyon Review.

Courtesy photoUta GrosenickUta Grosenick, managing editor for DuMont publishers in Cologne, Germany, will speak on the development of commercial art galleries worldwide since 1945 for Washington University’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Services*Tartuffe*The Washington University Opera, led by director Jolly Stewart, will present Kirke Mechem’s highly acclaimed setting of Molière’s comedy Tartuffe. The story, first written in 1665, explores the impact of a corrupt and hypocritical “holy man” on a wealthy Parisian family. Mechem’s adaptation, which premiered in 1980, has since become one of the most popular works of contemporary American opera.

Stewart GoldsteinRon Himes in *King Hedley II* (2006)Can African-American theater survive? In recent years, several leading African-American companies have been forced to cut staff, cancel seasons or close their doors entirely. “We’ve lost a half-dozen of the larger companies,” says Ron Himes, founder and producing director of The St. Louis Black Repertory Company and the Henry E. Hampton Jr. Artist-in-Residence in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. “Nobody seems to quite understand why.” More…

Gerald N. Izenberg, Ph.D., professor of history and co-director of the Literature and History Program, both in Arts & Sciences, will examine the complex notions of identity in a series of programs, beginning with the Assembly Series lecture, at 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 21 in Graham Chapel. The Assembly Series talk is free and open to the public. Expanding on this theme, he will give a talk on “The Varieties of ‘We’: Collective Identities and their Conflicts,” for the Center for the Humanities, in which currently is a Faculty Fellow. The event begins at noon, Friday, March 23 in McDonnell Hall, Room 162. The final event, provided for the Century Series of the University’s Alumni & Development Programs, will be on “What, If Anything, Does Democracy Owe Identity?” at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 26, in Lab Sciences 300.

Spalding GraySpalding Gray was one of the most influential solo performers of his generation and his suicide, in January 2004, shocked the theater world. In March, Edison Theatre will present Stories Left to Tell, a tribute to Gray created by his widow, Kathleen Russo, and the director Lucy Sexton. The evening combines excerpts from his famous solo shows with a range of previously unreleased material. Performers include Rockwell Gray, Spalding’s brother, as well as three contemporary monologists — Jonathan Ames, Reno and Carmelita Tropicana — and the musician Calvin Johnson.

Imrat KhanWorld-renowned sitar player Imrat Khan, a distinguished artist-in-residence in the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, will be joined by virtuoso tabla player Samir Chatterjee for a concert of Indian classical music at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 25. Khan, the senior-most member of the famous Etawa Gharana (musical dynasty), is widely recognized as one of the giants of Indian classical music, celebrated for his virtuosity, musicality and inventive wit.

Jeff PikeJeff Pike, dean of the College of Art and the Graduate School of Art, has been named the first Jane Reuter Hitzeman and Herbert F. Hitzeman, Jr., Professor of Art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, according to dean Carmon Colangelo, the E. Desmond Lee Professor for Community Collaboration in the Arts. The professorship was made possible by a gift from Jane Reuter Hitzeman and Herbert F. Hitzeman, Jr., both of whom hold degrees in art from Washington University. A formal installation ceremony took place Feb. 27.