Arts & Culture

The African Film Festival, which begins Friday, April 1, offers a lineup of award-winning films that provide a nuanced look at Africa’s cultures and concerns. The festival, which is free and open to the public, runs through Sunday, April 3.

With more than 50 scenes and 100 characters, “Love and Information” (2012) is arguably the most audacious work to date by acclaimed English playwright Caryl Churchill. From April 1-10, Washington University’s Performing Arts Department will present Churchill’s kaleidoscopic tour de force in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

Washington University will pay homage to former student Tennessee Williams with a “Tennessee Williams Birthday Bash” at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 26. The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature a screening, in 35mm, of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

Resident dance company The Slaughter Project will present “Caravan,” its 2016 showcase concert, March 25 and 26 in Edison Theatre.

Jazz legends Gary Peacock and Marc Copland, along with drummer Mark Ferber, will return to Washington University Thursday, March 3, as part of the Jazz at Holmes Series.

In a unique material investigation, architecture students from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts have constructed a prototype watercraft that incorporates expanding polyurethane spray foam — a commercial product typically used for home insulation.

Tumbleweeds drift past clapboard buildings. A lone rider crosses dusty mountains. A woman waits by a cabin door. In “American Night” (2009), which opens March 4 at the Kemper Art Museum, German artist Julian Rosefeldt turns an amused yet critical eye to the motifs and conventions of the Western film.

When tragedy strikes a traveling circus, the desire for justice goes terribly awry. “Elephant’s Graveyard” is a shocking tale, based on historical events, of spectacle, retribution and what we choose to remember. Presented by the Performing Arts Department, the show opens Feb. 26 in Edison Theatre.

More than 100 musicians from the Washington University Symphony Orchestra and the Washington University Choirs will join forces March 4 to perform Poulenc’s celebrated “Gloria” (1961) as part of the 2016 Chancellor’s Concert.

Akeda Hosten, a senior in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University, talks about why the annual Black Anthology matters and how songwriting is a little bit like engineering. The Black Anthology production “woke” is Feb. 12-13 at Edison Theatre on the Danforth Campus.