Arts & Culture

Sabrina Ursaner/PADPictured, left to right: Judith Lesser as Irina, Robin Kacyn as Olga and Merrie Brackin as Masha.The Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will present David Mamet’s adaptation of Anton Chekov’s late masterwork, The Three Sisters (1901/1991) — considered by many critics to be the finest drama of the 20th century — in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre Nov. 14-15 and 21-23.

PatersonAcclaimed children’s author Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terebithia, will host a pair of events for Washington University’s 2003-04 Center for the Humanities’ Writers Series Nov. 17-18.

Ornette Coleman, inspiration for successful judging.Although United States laws attempt to safeguard the rights and interests of minorities, the subordination of socially disfavored groups persists in part because of informal structures and networks that have the effect of perpetuating social inequality. Christopher Bracey, an expert in the fields of American race relations and civil rights and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, says that judges must respond to these destructive patterns of social and economic stratification through their interpretation of the law, or successful judging. In his article, “Adjudication, Antisubordination, and the Jazz Connection” (Alabama Law Review, Vol. 54), Bracey says inspiration on how to realize democracy through judging can be found through the free jazz movement, more specifically, the work of Ornette Coleman.

Photo courtesy of Visual Media Center, Columbia UniversityAmiens CathedralStephen Murray, a leading authority on medieval art and architecture and founder of the Visual Media Center at Columbia University, will speak on Medieval Architecture and the New Media: Representing and Creating Humanistic Content at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18.

The Kingsbury Ensemble, a group specializing in music of the Baroque and Classical periods, will present a concert titled Fête Galante: Love & Nature at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9, in Washington University’s Holmes Lounge.

Novelist, translator and poet Jaimy Gordon will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, for The Writing Program Reading Series at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition, Gordon will give a talk on the craft of fiction at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6.

Sheet music for the 1902 musical “The Wizard of Oz.”Selections from the 1902 stage musical The Wizard of Oz by St. Louis native Paul Tietjens will highlight a concert of 19th- and early 20th-century popular song at the Washington University Gallery of Art Friday, Nov. 7.

Renowned critic Helen Vendler and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jorie Graham will headline Conversations About Poetry, a three-day discussion held Oct. 15-17 as part of Washington University’s Fall Reading Series 2003.

Scrap Arts MusicScrap Arts Music, a Vancouver-based percussion ensemble that performs on instruments built from recycled and salvaged materials, will launch Edison Theatre’s 2003-04 ovations! for young people series Nov. 1.

Photo courtesy Productions Mille-PattesLa Bottine SourianteQuebec’s La Bottine Souriante are living legends of French North American roots music, an explosive ten-member ensemble whose distinctive sound infuses traditional folk with the quickness of jazz, the energy of salsa and the breadth of world music. In November, “the best band in the world!” (according to folk magazine Dirty Linen) comes to Washington University in St. Louis as part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series.