Arts & Culture

David MarchantHeather WigmoreThe Performing Arts Department (PAD) will present its biennial Young Choreographers Showcase in the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio March 30 to April 1. The concert will feature more than a dozen dancers performing original, contemporary works — selected by jury — from nine choreographers in the PAD’s Dance Program.

Celebrated fiction writer and essayist William H. Gass will present the John and Penelope Biggs Residency in the Classics Lecture for the Assembly Series at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 30 in Graham Chapel. The lecture, titled “Metaphor,” will explore the true essence of metaphors and their connection to language and creativity.

Joe Angeles/WUSTL Photo ServicesMosaic WhispersMosaic Whispers, Washington University’s award-winning a cappella ensemble, will celebrate its 15th annual Splash of Color concert in Graham Chapel March 31 and April 1. The event will feature a cappella music and comedy as well as several guest groups from the university’s vibrant a cappella community, including The Amateurs, The Greenleafs, The Pikers, After Dark and Mama’s Pot Roast.

Fiction writer Sigrid Nunez, the visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature, will read from her work March 30 and speak on the craft of fiction April 4. Nunez is the author of five novels, including the acclaimed The Last of Her Kind (2006), A Feather on the Breath of God (1995) and Mitz (1998).

Courtesy photoMartha SandweissMartha Sandweiss, Ph.D., professor of history and American studies at Amherst College, will speak on “Western Photographs, National Culture” March 23,for the Faculty Fellows Lecture and Workshop Series, presented by the Center for the Humanities Arts & Sciences. In addition, Sandweiss will lead a graduate student workshop on “American Material Culture: Reading Photographs from Local Collections” March 24.

Olafur EliassonOlafur Eliasson’s *Weather Project*Olafur Eliasson, one of the most challenging and celebrated artists of his generation, will kick-off After the Digital Divide: German Aesthetic Theory in the Age of New Media, a three-day symposium on aesthetics and new media at Washington University March 30 to April 1. The symposium will feature more than 20 artists, art historians, museum professionals and new media experts from across the United States and Germany.

John LaRueSusannahThe Washington University Opera will present Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, which updates the biblical story of Susannah and the Elders to 1940s Appalachia, March 24 and 25. The story centers on an attractive but innocent girl of 19 who is observed bathing by a group of male church elders. The men falsely accuse Susannah of sinfulness and “loose” behavior, ostracizing her from the life of the town.

The series will consist of four feature films and four short films from seven different African nations; all screenings are free and begin at 7 p.m. in Brown Hall.

Phil KnottDoug Varone and DancersEight-time Bessie Award-winner Doug Varone is among the most acclaimed choreographers of his generation, known for creating works of extraordinary physical daring and vivid musicality. This spring, Varone will bring his celebrated company, Doug Varone and Dancers, to Washington University’s Edison Theatre for a trio of performance co-sponsored by Dance St. Louis.

Tiles painted by cancer patients and their familiesPatients undergoing treatment at the Siteman Cancer Center have a new option to pass the time. They can get creative and paint ceramic tiles for a display in the treatment area. Arts as Healing, a program facilitated by the School of Medicine’s Medical Photography, Illustration and Computer Graphics (MedPIC) department, is currently working on “Your Square Matters,” which allows patients and their families to paint a 4-inch square ceramic tile. Already, more than 400 tiles have been completed and are on display in Siteman’s infusion center.