The Center for the Arts, fondly known as the CFA to Wesleyan alums, students, professors, friends, and family, has a calendar full of events for Fall 2006. Known for its innovative and thought-provoking shows, dance performances, plays, and exhibits, the CFA is ready for the class of 2010 to start taking advantage of all it has to offer.
On Sept. 8, the Zilkha Main Gallery will open for the semester with its first show of the year, “Up Against the Wall”. Using the Zilkha Gallery as its inspiration, the exhibit will showcase wall-supported art created exclusively for the gallery. Many notable artists have pieces in show, including Shoshana Dentz, Elana Herzog, Mary Lum, William McCarthy, Sol Lewitt and Alvin Lucier, and Mary Temple. The exhibition will run through Oct. 8 and will commence with a gallery talk by curator Nina Felshin and some of the artists.
Also opening on Sept. 8, “Melissa Stern: Loose Lips” will be showing in the South Gallery of the Zilkha. The show tells thirteen different stories about relationships by utilizing all sorts of mixed media, including collage, paint, charcoal, and pastel. Stern ’80 invites all viewers to pick their favorite ending from three different options offered at the end of every story. At the end of the exhibit, Stern will compile the stories and their winning endings in a book that will be added to the permanent collection of the Davison Art Center (DAC).
Most of the other galleries around campus will also be full of new and exciting exhibits. The Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies will show “Beijingren (Beijing People)” starting Sept. 12. In the show, photographer Derek Dudek documents two years spent in Beijing through the faces of its people. The DAC will be home to “Multiple Fascinations: Dutch and Flemish Prints from Bruegel to Rembrandt” starting on Sept. 15. The entire exhibit was designed by University students and will have student curators.
The CFA Cinema will be home to the Actual Music Series this coming semester. Dedicated to highlighting and showcasing live electronic music, the first of two events will take place on Sept. 12 and is entitled “Actual Music 1: Process.” It will consist of Composers of Wesleyan (COW) performing various pieces, including Robert Ashley’s String Quartet Describing the Motion of Large, Real Bodies.
Second Stage, the University’s student-run theatre company, will open its first play of the year on Sept. 21. “Heart Play(s),” organized by Jess Chayes ’07, is a small festival of different renditions of a two-person dialogue comprised of only four line interactions. This coming semester will be a busy one for Second Stage, with close to twelve plays scheduled, more than ever before.
“It will be one of the best semesters of theatre Wesleyan has ever seen,” said Nick Beneceraff ’08. “Frosh are encouraged to audition […] It is a nice way to get involved early on.”
Theatre will also come to campus in the form of the OUTSIDE THE BOX theatre series, dedicated to “groundbreaking theatre performances and demonstrations.” This semester, the series will include “Stories from the Field: How to Sustain and Start an Ensemble Theatre Company” on Sept. 20 and Pig Iron Theatre Company’s “Hell Meets Henry Half Way” on Sept. 21 and 22.
Crowell’s Concert Series, in its 23rd year at Wesleyan, will kick-off Sept. 29 with San Jose Taiko, a fusion of Japanese drumming and more contemporary music.
Crowell will also be full of dance in the BREAKING GROUND Dance series. Notable choreographer Bill T. Jones will start the series on Sept. 14 by giving a lecture in Memorial Chapel and later performing with his troupe, the Arnie Zane Dance Company, in “Another Evening.”
Later in the semester, the CFA will house many special events, such as the NAVARATRI festival in October. The festival will include an inDANCE performance and Bharata Natyam dance workshop by artist-in-residence Hari Krishnan.
Along with all of these upcoming events, the CFA has some new improvements this year, with online ticketing, links to audio and visual samples of visiting artists, and the Need to Question Common Reading Program of First Year Matters.
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