Weekly Arts Round-Up: Oct. 7 to Oct. 14
We here at the Nassau Literary Review are dedicated to fostering all of Princeton’s artistic community, not just our literary one. To that end, we’ve decided to give our web readers a special treat: at the beginning of every week, we’re going to put out a list of interesting events you may not otherwise hear about. 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.
This week in the arts at Princeton:
Audition film screening
Wednesday (Oct. 10) at 7:00 PM
Black Box Theater, Wilcox Hall
Free admission
Part of a series on the films of controversial Japanese film-maker Takashi Miike. Miike’s films are infamous for their extreme gore and violence, often with a twist of black humor. In Audition, a wealthy widower who works as a TV producer gets remarried at the suggestion of his son, whereupon he finds he has the perfect wife — only apparently she isn’t so perfect, for the movie poster mentions “scars” and “SOMETHING THAT LIVES IN A HUGE SACK AND ISN’T ALLOWED OUT.” Horror, presumably, ensues. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. Food — perhaps unwisely? — will be served.
Wallace Shawn and Laura Kasischke Reading
Wednesday (Oct. 10) at 4:30 PM
Berlind Theater
Free admission
OBIE Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Wallace Shawn, known for such plays as The Designated Mourner (1997) and Grasses of a Thousand Colors (2008), and Guggenheim Fellow Laura Kasischke, whose poetry collection Space, In Chains won a National Book Critics Circle award in 2011, will both be reading from their work at the Berlind Theater. It’s hard to limit either one to a single medium, though, given that Kasischke is also a novelist whose book The Life Before Her Eyes was made into a film and Shawn is an actor you might recognize from The Princess Bride (1987) and The Incredibles (2004). If that stream of credentials doesn’t convince you to peek your head in, perhaps the free admission will. For that you can thank the Lewis Center, of whose always lovely Althea Ward Clark Reading Series this event is a part.
Music and Poetry of the Earth
Wednesday (Oct. 10) at 7:00 PM
Princeton University Chapel
$15
The description for this event is vague enough, but if you’re intrigued by the title, you may be even more enthralled by the talent involved. Billed as a “unique collaborative performance of world-renowned artists in the magical acoustics of the magnificent Princeton University Chapel,” Music and Poetry of the Earth will feature the talents of the six-time Grammy-winning Paul Winter Consort and Princeton’s own award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield. If you haven’t been lucky enough to attend a show at the Chapel since your freshman year’s opening ceremonies, you may want to make this your first — they really aren’t lying about the acoustics.
Jazz at Café Vivian
Thursday (Oct. 11) at 11:00 PM
Café Vivian, Frist
Free admission
A mysterious event, this — it shows up in the Jazz Ensemble’s calendar with little explanation. It features, apparently, the University Jazztet, which we may assume through the powers of deduction are a quartet which plays jazz. This is an unusual enough event at Frist, so if you’re in the area you may want to stop by for awhile on your way to the Street.
University Concert Jazz Ensemble
Saturday (Oct. 13) at 8:00 PM
Richardson Auditorium
$15 general, $5 for students
Speaking of jazz, the Princeton University Jazz Ensemble will be performing at Richardson on Saturday night, demonstrating that there are in fact shows at Richardson besides classical music ones. The show will be a “Jazz Pot-Luck” featuring arrangements (of standards, presumably) by Neil Slater, Louie Bellson, Clark Terry, Bob Berg, and Scott Whitfield. Jazz saxophonist Ralph Bowen is going to be the guest conductor.
Greek Myths, Art, and Music
Saturday (Oct. 13) from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Chancellor Green Café, East Pyne
Free admission
Sponsored by the USG, this event will be “an opportunity to engage in Greek culture through mythology and dance workshops.” Here’s hoping for somebody starts playing Led Zeppelin on a lyre. A “Greek-themed lunch” will be provided.
Princeton Shakespeare Company’s Othello
Saturday (Oct. 13) at 8:00 PM
Class of 1970 Theater, Whitman
$10 general, $8 for students
Well, this is bold. Director Allie Kolaski has decided to produce an Othello — billed by PSC as “the play of our time” — with an all-female cast. Of course it is usually the race of the titular character which is a matter of controversy, not his gender — referred to variously as an Arab and a Berber, Othello has been played as everything from a turbaned Moor to a proud black general. It will be interesting to see how the lack of a gender divide will affect this racial question, not to mention the copious sexual intrigues of the play.