Arts & Culture

Tax-paying, America-loving political satirist Kate Clinton will offer savvy send-ups of American culture, fads and foibles for the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series Feb. 13.

Nothing’s more attractive than funny. Which means that nothing screams “Romance” quite like Valentine’s Day with The UnCabaret. The off-beat L.A. comedy collective — featuring Andy Dick, Beth Lapides, Tim Bagley and Sherri Shepherd — will make its St. Louis debut Feb. 14 as part of the third annual Antigala fundraiser at Washington University’s Edison Theatre.

Novelist and essayist Joy Williams will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, as part of the Spring Reading Series 2004, offered by The Writing Program and the Department of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

The Washington University Chamber Orchestra will perform a concert of all-time hits from the Baroque era and the 20th century at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2, in Karl Umrath Hall Lounge.

Photo by Andy Marino*Sound Stage*Iconoclastic composer Paul Dresher will join contemporary music ensemble Zeitgeist for Sound Stage, an extraordinarily original work of musical theater centered on a17-foot-tall, 14-foot-wide “musical jungle gym,” as part of Washington University’s Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series Jan. 31.

Washington University’s Eliot Trio, a piano trio made up of three prominent St. Louis musicians, will perform an evening of works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Charles Ives and Felix Mendelssohn Jan. 24.

Photo courtesy of National Eye Institute, National Institutes of HealthVisual perception changes as eyes age.Graphic design can be a matter of life and death. Literally. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, more than 40 percent of Americans aged 65 and over use five or more different medications each week, making unintended drug interactions a major contributor to an estimated annual 180,000 fatal or life-threatening adverse drug reactions. Yet drug labeling is a kind of typographical Wild West, says Ken Botnick, professor of visual communications in the School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis. “Drug companies are required to divulge certain types of information but there are no requirements in terms of how accessible that information is made,” Botnick explains. “Typically, decisions about the way information is organized — the hierarchy of presentation, the size and clarity of type — are simply afterthoughts.” Medical information design is just one of the issues to be explored as part of “Visual Design for an Aging Population,” a national symposium Botnick is organizing in March 2004.

Photo courtesy of Washington University ArchivesA Tennessee Williams play will be staged for the first time.Twenty years after his death, one of Tennessee Williams’ plays is seeing the light of a stage for the first time. “Me Vashya,” an early play by Williams, will receive its world premiere at Washington University in St. Louis in February. Written in 1937 while Williams was a student here and known as Tom, his birth name, the play has remained in Washington University archives for more than 60 years. It has never been published or performed — until now.

The Sam Fox Arts Center at Washington University in St. Louis will break ground for two new buildings — an art museum and a School of Art studio facility — April 14, 2004.

The Sam Fox Arts Center at Washington University in St. Louis will dedicate a new School of Art studio building in honor of St. Louis community leaders Earl E. and Myrtle E. Walker.