Arts & Culture

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.

Mosaic Whispers, the University’s award-winning a cappella ensemble, will celebrate its “Super Sweet 16” anniversary with the release of a new CD during its annual Splash of Color concert 7:30 p.m. March 2-3 in Graham Chapel.

Hoal’s firm, H3 Studio Inc., was one of five selected to lead the Unified New Orleans Plan, which will coordinate rebuilding in the city’s 13 planning districts. He’ll discuss his work at 6:30 p.m. March 5 in Whitaker Hall Auditorium.

Cultural geographer Olaf Kuhlke will speak on competing representations of nationhood in post-Wall Germany for the Kemper Art Museum at 6:30 p.m. March 8 in Brown Hall Auditorium.

Violinist Silvian Iticovici, pianist Seth Carlin and violist Stephen Ewer will join with members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra for a recital of works by Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975).

Jo Labanyi, professor of Spanish and Portuguese at New York University, will speak on “Facts and Fictions: Knowledge, Delinquency and Madness in Late 19th-century Spain” at 4 p.m. Feb. 27 in Umrath Hall Lounge. Labanyi is the first speaker in the spring Faculty Fellows Lecture and Workshop Series sponsored by the Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences.