Weekly Arts Round-Up: Nov. 11 to Nov. 17
The Nassau Literary Review continues to take pride in its Weekly Arts Round-Up, now in its third iteration and running strong. The Round-Up our simple attempt to keep our readers connected to the greater artistic community at Princeton. It’s not a comprehensive list by any means, but it’s a good reference guide if you ever have an evening free and don’t know what to do with it. The storm of artistic events whose clouds first started billowing last week has continued into this one and shows no signs of ceasing — make sure you don’t miss out!
This week in the arts at Princeton:
A Reading with Hodder Fellows
Tuesday (Nov. 13) at 5:00 PM
Class of 1970 Theater, Whitman
Free admission
Each year, the Lewis Center hands out various Hodder Fellowships of $68,000 each to writers and other artists who display “much more than ordinary intellectual and literary gifts” and promise to undertake a project of some sort in return. It’s a significant investment, and this small event Tuesday will allow students to reap its benefits. Two current Hodder Fellows, James Arthur and Melinda Moustakis, will read from their work in Whitman in an event open to the public. Arthur is an award-winning poet whose work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New Republic, and other top magazines — he has also won fellowships at Yaddow and the MacDowell Colony. Moustakis is a Flannery O’Connor Award-winning writer of short stories and essays who is currently working on her first novel, “a full-length book that captures the Alaskan fishing community and its many complicated relationships.”
Glazed and Confused — Painting and Ceramics Class Exhibit
Tuesday (Nov. 13) at 4:00 PM; exhibit open until Nov. 21
Lucas Gallery, 185 Nassau Street
Free admission
This exhibit is composed of work by students in the Lewis Center’s VIS 203 (“Introductory Painting”), VIS 471 (“Painting Without Canvas”), and VIS 331 (“Ceramic Sculpture”) classes. It provides the rare opportunity for student painters to show off their work. The possibilities raised by the title “Painting Without Canvas” seem particularly tantalizing, though one hopes they didn’t make too much of a mess. Tuesday’s event is an opening reception, but the exhibit will be open for the better part of a week afterwards.
Janine Antoni Lecture
Wednesday (Nov. 14) at 12:30 PM
Patricia and Ward Hagan Dance Studio, 185 Nassau Street
Free admission
Janine Antoni won a MacArthur prize, a fact which the Lewis Center is fond of advertising repeatedly on its promotional material, and she is a performance artist who will be doing precisely that at 185 Nassau Street on Wednesday. She is a maker of sculptures and will be discussing “the intersections of artworks and the human body” in a talk entitled “Muscle Memory.” Her works tend to involve a live interaction with one of her sculptures, often with a bizarre and avant-garde edge — in a piece called Gnaw, for instance, she chewed “on two 600-pound cubes, one made of chocolate and the other of lard, from which she then created chocolate boxes and lipstick tubes displayed in a mock store front.” One can only imagine what she has up her sleeve in a lecture about the human body.
The Films of Takashi Miike: Gozu
Wednesday (Nov. 14) at 7:00 PM
Black Box Theater, Wilson
Free admission
Those of our readers who were fascinated by Tony Cheng’s review of the ultra-violent Japanese movie Ichi the Killer will be delighted to hear that it was only one in a series of films by (possibly demented) film-maker Takashi Miike being screened by the Major Choices Program and the Wilson College Film Society. The event description’s summary of the film is a bit short on details — perhaps because they wouldn’t be safe for work — but mentions, among other things, “a Chihuahua’s fatal encounter with a storefront window” and “someone’s face getting licked by a man with the head of a cow.” So, Gozu then. Once again, food will perhaps unadvisedly be served.
Readings by Denis Johnson and Tom Sleigh
Wednesday (Nov. 14) at 4:30 PM
Berlind Theater
Free admission
Another product of the ever-lovely Althea Ward Clark Reading Series, Wednesday’s event will feature readings by Denis Johnson and Tom Sleigh, two major writers of contemporary literature. Both are highly interdisciplinary. Johnson is the National Book Award-winning author of multiple novels, short story collections, and books of poetry dealing with addiction and modern ennui. Sleigh is the Guggenheim-winning author of eight books of poetry, a book of essays, and a translation of Euripides’ Herakles (in which, notably, the titular hero and star of a beloved Disney film goes on a rampage and slaughters his own family) who currently teaches in the MFA program at Hunter College. Two of Princeton’s own literary superstars, Jeffrey Eugenides and C.K. Williams, will be giving the introductions.
Princeton South Asian Theatrics Presents: The Masala Chai Candidate
Thursday (Nov. 15) to Saturday (Nov. 17) at 8:00 PM
Film & Performance Theater, Frist
$10 general, $7 for students
In something of a meta-screwball comedy, the Princeton South Asian Theatrics company is putting on a play about, well, a Princeton South Asian Theatrics company called the Masala Chai Acting Troupe. Admittedly this fictional group is “the coolest South Asian Theatrics group in Princeton” (is that saying much?), and it is currently in the process of choosing between two outrageously over-the-top candidates whose ridiculous campaigning will “push the election into the national spotlight.” Politics, and presumably hilarity, ensues. Written and directed by Tejas Sathe, Nihar Madhaven, and Varun Sharma.
Princeton Producers Incubator Hackathon
Friday (Nov. 16) at 6:00 PM
J Street Library
Free admission
Not to be confused with the recent computer science-based hackathon, the PPI Hackathon is an opportunity for student musicians to jam together, meet each other, and produce “covers, remixes, or sick tracks.” It is sponsored by the Princeton Producers Incubator, a collective of student music producers, singers, and songwriters focused on collaborating and offering mutual support.
Princeton Opera Company Presents: Meanwhile, Back at Cinderella’s
Thursday (Nov. 15) to Saturday (Nov. 17) at 8:00 PM
Class of 1970 Theater, Whitman
$10 general, $7 for students
The woefully underappreciated Princeton Opera Company has finally gotten to put together its first fully-staged production, and it looks it be quite a doozy. Meanwhile, Back at Cinderalla’s is an hour-long “musical romp” in which various fairy tales are reimagined and, it seems, rather confused — “What would happen if Cinderella didn’t want to go to the ball. . .What if her fairy godmother was a confused fairy godfather?” And so on. It promises to be an entertaining farce and an easy point of entry for those less familiar with opera in its commoner, more grandiloquent form.
Theater Intime’s Wait Until Dark
Thursday (Nov. 15) to Saturday (Nov. 17) at 8:00 PM
Hamilton Murray Theater, Murray-Dodge
$10 general, $8 for students
Theater Intime’s production of Wait Until Dark, a thriller by Frederick Knott (best-known as the author of Dial M for Murder) promises to provide an interesting change of pace from the sort of play that Intime usually puts on. Described by promotional material as “hair-raising,” the play deals with various thugs’ attempts to get their hands on a doll filled with heroin which has somehow made its way into the home of a Greenwich Village couple in the early 1960s. “The twist: Susy Hendrix [lady of the house] is blind.” Directed by Michael Pinsky and starring Sarah Cuneo and Mark Watter. Keep an eye out for our review by J.M. Colón!
Der Bourgeois Bigwig
Thursday (Nov. 15) to Saturday (Nov. 17) at 8:00 PM
Berlind Theater
$15 general, $10 for students
An adaptation of Le Bourgeois by Molière by James Magruder, the Berlind Theater’s new show deals with the attempts of one Mr. Jourdain, the middle-aged bourgeois of the title, to become an aristocrat. His antics are social climbing of a different sort to which we’re accustomed here at Princeton, less about studying finance and more about learning how to fence and trying to marry his daughter off to a supposed Turkish prince. In any case he falls for the tricks of a con-man and hilarity ensues. The play is set to the music of Richard Strauss, who wrote incidental music for Moliére’s play in 1912, and it will be performed by the Princeton University Orchestra conducted by Michael Pratt. Directed by Tim Vasen and starring Gary Fox. Keep an eye out for our review by Juan-Jacques Aupiais!
Triangle Club’s Tree’s Company: Forest’s a Crowd!
Friday (Nov. 16) to Saturday (Nov. 17) at 8:00 PM and Sunday (Nov. 18) at 2:00 PM
McCarter Theater
$25–30 general (depending on seating), $10 for students
Well, it’s that time of year again, meaning that Triangle is putting on its customary musical extravaganza. For the benefit of those freshman who for some silly reason may not have gone to their introductory show: Triangle Club is Princeton’s old musical theater group, a producer of frenetic and wacky skits reminiscent of old-fashioned vaudeville acts than coherent musicals. They are much adored on campus and rarely fail to provide a raucous good time. The theme this time seems to be a camping trip; here’s hoping for at least one awkward joke about gay boy scouts and another about forest fires. Word on the street is that Superstorm Sandy threw a spanner into the works of Triangle’s set production, but in a credit to the company’s talent the show is nevertheless being put on without any major delays. Look out for our review by Paul Fanto!
The Nassau Literary Review Presents: The Art in the Mundane
Saturday (Nov. 17) at 1:00 PM
Princeton Art Museum
Free admission
Last but not least, we ourselves will be hosting an event focused on finding inspiration in even the most commonplace of settings. Student artists of any stripe are invited to bring along their notebooks, sketchpads, cameras, and other tools to the front of the Art Museum, where we will meet and distribute lists of “clues” to guide you around campus. After a few hours of freeform creativity, we will meet in the Writers Studio in Blair Tower to discuss, share, and continue our creations. Most notably, art and writing produced at this event will be featured in the centerpiece of the next issue of the Nassau Literary Review– so if you missed deadline or feel that you still have a masterpiece left inside you, come join us for some inspiration and a great time!