Arts & Culture

Courtesy Photo*Corpus,* by Ann HamiltonAnn Hamilton, one of the most challenging and provocative installation artists working today, will lecture on “The Practice of Work: From Silence to Speech” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26. Hamilton — a 1993 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, popularly nicknamed the “genius grant” — creates site-specific environments that combine new technologies with unusual, often playful materials and an almost theatrical sense of staging.

Eric Woolsey*Fiddler on the Roof*The Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will present Fiddler on the Roof, one of Broadway’s most beloved musicals, in Edison Theatre Oct. 27 to Nov. 5. Set in pre-revolutionary Russia, the play tells the story of Tevye, a hardworking milkman who must find suitable husbands for his three eldest daughters. Yet the girls are strong-willed and, breaking with custom, prefer to make their own matches…

A free play that uses a life-sized gelatin cadaver to explore the art and science of anatomy will take place Oct. 24 and 25 at the School of Medicine. “Corpus Delicti: Just Desserts,” which recently had a sold-out run at the University of Chicago, takes place in Holland during the Age of Enlightenment and is loosely based on Rembrandt’s 1632 painting, “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp.”

The fourth week of October features three diverse and exciting speakers in the Assembly Series: Tony award-winner B.D. Wong will speak on breaking down cultural barriers in “All the World’s a Stage: From Exclusion to Inclusion” at 4 p.m., Monday, October 23 in Graham Chapel. Iranian born graphic novelist, Marjane Satrapi will discuss her work at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, October 25 in Graham Chapel. Cornell mathematician Steven Strogatz will speak on “Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order” at 4 p.m., Thursday, October 26 in Rebstock Hall, Room 215.

The popular Travel Lecture Film Series, brought to campus each year courtesy of the Washington University Alumni Association, returns this season with eight travelogues that cover the world. The films are marked by gorgeous scenery and great storytelling, created by some of the most esteemed artists in the industry.

The program includes several of his most popular chamber works, including “Cello Sonata in D minor, op. 40”; “Piano Quintet in G minor, op. 57”; and two scenes from the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.

Millhauser is the author of 10 novels and story collections, including Martin Dressler, The Tale of an American Dreamer, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1997.

William Jay Smith is writing a book about his friendship with classmate Tennessee Williams, the great playwright.

Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer Steven Millhauser, 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, Oct. 12. In addition, Millhauser will speak on the craft of fiction at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19.

Courtesy photoWilliam Jay SmithWilliam Jay Smith, a Washington University alumnus and former Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress (the position now known as the U.S. Poet Laureate), will read from his work at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17, in Olin Library’s Ginkgo Reading Room. In addition, Smith will speak on “My Friend, Tom: Tennessee Williams in St. Louis” — recounting his time as a classmate of the great playwright and fellow Washington University alumnus — at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18, in Hurst Lounge, Room 201, Duncker Hall.