Arts & Culture

Tennessee Williams’ ‘blue’ bookA piece of literary history has returned to Washington University in St. Louis, thanks to a fortuitous find in a New Orleans bookstore. In 2004, Henry I. Schvey, Ph.D., professor and chair of the university’s Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences, co-directed the world premiere of “Me, Vashya,” a one-act play written in 1937 by then-student Tennessee Williams. Only weeks later, Schvey happened upon another important Williams-related artifact from 1937: a small blue Washington University test booklet containing what appears to be Williams’ Greek final, which he had worried about passing, as well as a previously unknown poem. It is assumed Williams wrote the 17-line poem, which he appropriately titled “Blue Song,” in the back of the booklet while taking his exam.

The Concert Choir of Washington University — under the direction of John Stewart, director of vocal activities in the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences — will perform a concert of music about animals at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 16.

Eric Wright*Hiroshima Maiden*Washington University’s Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series and Center for the Study of Ethics and Human Values will present a panel discussion titled “Examining the Hiroshima Maiden: Exploring the Historical, Cultural and Ethical Issues” from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, April 20, at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

Dancer and choreographer Darwin Prioleau, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Dance at the State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport, will present a “Movement Lab for Teachers” from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 16, in Washington University’s Annelise Mertz Dance Studio.

Eric Wright*Hiroshima Maiden*In 1955, a group of 25 women disfigured by the nuclear blast at Hiroshima visited the United States to undergo reconstructive surgery. Their bizarre odyssey climaxed on the television program “This Is Your Life” in a live, face-to-face meeting with Enola Gay pilot Robert Lewis. In Hiroshima Maiden, performance artist Dan Hurlin recreates this stranger-than-fiction tale though a combination of Japanese Bunraku-style puppetry and dance. The show makes its St. Louis debut Friday and Saturday, April 22 and 23, as part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series.

Acclaimed writer and physician Rafael Campo will read from his work at 7 p.m., Friday, April 15, at Washington University’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. The talk is free and open to the public and is sponsored by The Center for the Humanities and The Writing Program, both in Arts & Sciences, in conjunction with the Kemper Art Museum’s Inside Out Loud: Women’s Health in Contemporary Art (through April 24).

Anita Diamant, author of the bestselling novel, The Red Tent, will deliver the Women’s Society of Washington University Adele Starbird Lecture for the Assembly Series at 11 a.m., Wednesday, April 20th in Graham Chapel. Her talk is entitled “Imagining the Past: A Conversation with Anita Diamant.”

Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present A Concert on Women’s Mental Health at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. The performance, which will feature compositions based on poems by Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath, is free and open to the public and held in conjunction with the exhibition Inside Out Loud: Visualizing Women’s Health in Contemporary Art.

LightmanAlan Lightman, popular novelist and MIT physicist, will deliver the ArtSci Council, Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi Lecture for Washington University’s Assembly Series. His talk, “The Physicist as Novelist,” will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 13, in Graham Chapel.

MacFarlaneThe animated adult series, “Family Guy,” broke the mold for its genre, created a large cult fan base, and made its creator, 33-year-old Seth MacFarlane, famous. MacFarlane will talk about his controversial series for the Assembly Series at 11 a.m. Wed., March 30, in Graham Chapel.