NOVEMBER PUBLIC PROGRAMS

The City University of New York Graduate Center announces the following public programs to be held during the month of November at the Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street.

Through Saturday, February 28, 2009

People "Weekly"
(art exhibition) Tues.–Fri., 12–8 pm; Sat. & Sun., 12–6 pm, James Gallery
The inaugural show of the Amie and Tony James Gallery comprises seven installations that respond to the Graduate Center as site and context.  The projects include a small group show and a specially commissioned project for the building's lobby display windows.  Visit www.gc.cuny.edu/events/art_gallery.htm for full details.  Free, for more information call 212-817-7138

People “Weekly” November Schedule:
         
Linda Pollack, Habeas Lounge, October 29–November 6
Extended hours October 29–November 4 (Election Day), 12–11 PM
(Rachel Mason, My Cabinet continues)
 
Lucien Castaing Taylor, with Lisa Barbash and Ernst Karel, Sheep Rushes, November 15–November 30  

Yunhee Min, For instance, through November 30
 
Barbara Kruger Untitled, through February 28
 
Monday, November 3

Nouveau Cirque in Contemporary Performance
(discussion) 6:30–8:30 PM, Martin E. Segal Theatre
Aurelien Bory and Phil Soltanoff will discuss their collaborations, in which task-based performance, including acrobatics, geometry, and virtuoso juggling are used as the main theatrical language; moderated by Bertie Ferdman. Nouveau Cirque is a growing international phenomenon, especially in France, blending theatre, dance, music, and traditional circus skills. Bory lives and works in Toulouse, France, where he is Artistic Director of compagny 111.  Soltanoff is the director of mad dog experimental; his latest work, "i/o," premieres at Theatre Garonne in November. Bory and Soltanoff have created two works in collaboration: "Plan B" and "More or Less, Infinity." Their next, "Les sept planches de la ruse," will be at BAM on November 5, 7 & 8.  Presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; free, for more information call 212-817-1860.
 
Wednesday, November 5

Stacy Schiff: First Annual Lecture on Biography
(discussion) 7:00 PM, Skylight Room
This Leon Levy Center for Biography's First Annual lecture will be given by Pulitzer Prize winner Stacy Schiff, whose work in progress takes Cleopatra as its subject. Each year, the center will select a biographer of note to give its annual lecture to speak on the process of researching and writing a biography, with a focus on their current work in progress. Schiff is the author of A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America (2005); Vera (about Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), for which she received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize; and Saint-Exupery (1994). Free, for information call 212-817-2005.
 
Thursday, November 6

Reading Old York
(reading & discussion) 6:30 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
This evening will feature readings from the Old York collection by five noted New Yorkers who care deeply about the city's history and culture. Readers include:  Jimmy Breslin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and columnist; Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, playwright, and cartoonist; William P. Kelly, President, the Graduate Center; David Nasaw, acclaimed biographer and Distinguished Professor of History, the Graduate Center; and Benno C. Schmidt, former President, Yale University.  Each guest will read and talk about a selection from a favorite New York City writer of the past.  Free, but seating is limited and reservations are required.  Reservations can be made at www.gc.cuny.edu/events, or by calling 212-817-8215.
 
Saturday, November 8

Remembering the Manhattan Project
(discussion) 10:15–11:30 AM
Reminiscences of the Manhattan Project, the top-secret WW II atom bomb program, will be offered by scientists who participated in the research and Cynthia Kelly, President, Atomic Heritage Foundation.  Presented by the Science & the Arts series; free, for more information call 212-817-7522.
 
Monday, November 10

Uranium + Peaches
(play reading) 6:30 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
Break A Leg Productions present a staged reading of a one-act play by Peter Cook & William Lanouette about science and politics in conflict.  The scientist behind the bomb wants to stop it.  The politician behind the president wants to drop it.  In the dramatic and fateful confrontation between Einstein's protege, Leo Szilard, and Truman's mentor, Jimmy Byrnes, science battles politics in the timeless struggle against the corruption of human ingenuity.  Presented by the Science & the Arts series; free, for information call 212-817-7522.
 
PAJ Publications: Maria Irene Fornes, What of the Night?
(discussion) 6:30 PM–8:30 PM, Martin E. Segal Theatre
Celebrating the publication of a new collection of plays by Maria Irene Fornes, What of the Night?, this discussion highlights the dramaturgical and publishing aspects of bringing together the author’s texts for publication. With Bonnie Marranca, co-founder and publisher of PAJ Publications’ PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art.  Presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; free, for information call 212-817-1860.
 
Great Issues Forum: A Conversation about Cultural Power
With Tom Stoppard and Derek Walcott
(discussion) 7:00–8:30 PM, Proshansky Auditorium
How does art affect consciousness, bridge political, ideological, religious, and geographic distances, and contribute to physical and political change? Tom Stoppard and Derek Walcott, two international literary luminaries, examine the power of culture and art in a globalizing world. David Nasaw, Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate Center, will moderate. Tom Stoppard is the Academy Award-winning screenwriter and Tony Award-winning playwright of The Coast of Utopia and Rock & Roll. Derek Walcott, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, has written numerous plays and collections of poetry, including Omeros and The Prodigal.  Free, but seating is limited and reservations are required.  Reservations can be made at www.gc.cuny.edu/events, or by calling 212-817-8215.
 
Tuesday, November 11

The Irving Howe Memorial Lecture:
What Shakespeare's Heroes Learn
(discussion) 6:30 PM, Proshansky Auditorium
Is there a "tragic knowledge" that Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth acquire as their stories close? David Bromwich discusses the final scenes of some of Shakespeare's tragedies, and the possible relations between dramatic recognition, self-knowledge, and self-deception.  Bromwich is Sterling Professor of English at Yale University, and the author of notable books on Wordsworth, Hazlitt, and modern poetry.  His reviews and essays have appeared in Dissent, The New Republic, The Nation, and The New York Review of Books.  Presented by the Center for the Humanities; free, for information call 212-817-2005.
 
Wednesday, November 12

Rosenthal Institute Speaker Series: Robert Cherry
(dicussion) 6:15 PM, Martin E. Segal Theatre
Robert Cherry, a professor at Brooklyn College, will give a talk, “Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future.”  Presented by the Rosenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies; free, for information call 212-817-1950.
 
The Stanley Burnshaw Memorial Lecture: Who Reads Poetry?
(discussion) 6:45 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
Who are today's poetry readers, and how did they acquire the habit of poetry? Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky examines the changing landscape of American poetry and its audiences. Robert Pinsky is a Professor in the English Department of Boston University, and the author of, most recently, Gulf Music: Poems. During his time as Poet Laureate, he founded the Favorite Poem Project, a program dedicated to celebrating, documenting, and encouraging poetry's role in Americans' lives. Presented by the Center for the Humanities; free, for more information call 212-817-2005.
 
Thursday, November 13

Music in Midtown: Mendelssohn String Quartet
(concert) 1:00–2:00 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
The Music in Midtown series contiues with a program of Quartet in D major, op. 20 no. 4, by Franz Josef Haydn and Quartet in F minor, op. 80, by Felix Mendelssohn, performed by the Mendelssohn String Quartet—one of the most imaginative, vital, and exciting quartets of its generation. Appearing in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Mendelssohn maintains a strong commitment to contemporary music. Members are Miriam Fried, violin; Nicholas Mann, violin; Daniel Panner, viola; and Marcy Rosen, cello (a member of the Graduate Center’s music faculty).  Free, but seating is limited and reservations are required.  Reservations can be made at www.gc.cuny.edu/events, or by calling 212-817-8215.
 
Friday, November 14

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Fifty Years On
(conference) 9:30 AM–8:45 PM
A conference in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of the composer Ralph Vaughan Wiliams, with papers by eight leading scholars of his work. The morning and afternoon conference will be followed by an all-Ralph Vaughn Williams concert in the evening. Presented by the Ph.D./D.M.A. Program in Music; free, for information call 212-817-8607.

The Spectre of Wageless Life: Michael Denning
(discussion) 4:00 PM
Michael Denning analyzes contemporary and 20th-century representations of workers, the unemployed, and the imaginative crisis of the figure of "global labor." Michael Denning is a professor of American studies at Yale University, and director of the Initiative on Labor and Culture. Among his publications are Culture in the Age of Three Worlds and The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century. Presented by the Center for the Humanities; free, for information call 212-817-2005.
 
Monday, November 17

Russian Theatre Director Kama Ginkas
(play readings & discussion) 6:30–8:30 PM
Renowned Russian director Kama Ginkas, along with John Freedman and Daniel Gerould, will discuss his theatrical adaptations of prose works by Anton Chekhov.  Ginka’s Chekhov trilogy -- Lady with a Lapdog, The Black Monk, and Rothschild’s Fiddle -- emerged as one of the most celebrated achievements in recent Russian theatre. By breaking up the text and distributing it among actors in unexpected ways, translating description into action, and bringing out concealed character motivations in performance, Ginkas reveals the highly dramatic nature of non-dramatic works. Excerpts of some of his Chekhov dramatizations will be presented in readings prepared especially for this evening. Sponsored by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; free, for information call 212-817-1860.

Power & Sex: America's War on Sexual Rights
(discussion) 7:00 PM, Proshansky Auditorium
How has the conservative agenda come to dominate the national and international conversation on sexual practices and reproductive rights? Why have American liberals become so intimidated?  Faye Wattleton, director of the Center for the Advancement of Women, speaks with Nation columnist Katha Pollitt and historian Dagmar Herzog, author of Sex in Crisis: The New Sexual Revolution and the Future of American Politics, about the powerful influence of the religious right and other conservative forces on today's sexual politics. Presented by the Great Issues Forum; free, for more information call 212-817-2005.
 
Tuesday, November 18

Viewing Old York
(discussion) 6:30–8:00 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
Acclaimed art historian Bonnie Yochelson will give an illustrated talk on the hidden photographic treasures in the Old York Library. Yochelson is the author of numerous books on the history of photography, including books about Berenice Abbott and Jacob Riis. She is also a columnist for The City section of The New York Times.  Free, but seating is limited and reservations are required.  Reservations can be made at www.gc.cuny.edu/events, or by calling 212-817-8215.
 
Thursday, November 20

Roman Alis Piano Music
(concert & discussion) 7:00–8:30 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
A concert and symposium, moderated by Antoni Piza, dedicated to the the great Spanish composer. Presented by the Foundation for Iberian Music; free, for information and reservations, please call 212-817-1819.
 
An Evening with Mark Doty
(reading & discussion) 7:00 PM
Join the award-winning poet and memoirist Mark Doty for an evening of poetry. Mark Doty is the John and Rebecca Moores Professor in the Department of English at the University of Houston and the author of seven books of poems, most recently School of the Arts, and three volumes of nonfiction prose. Presented by the Center for the Humanities; co-sponsored by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Ph. D. Program in English; free, for information call, 212-817-2005.
 
Monday, November 24

The Caribbean Playwright Exchange
(play readings & discussion) 6:30–8:30 PM, Martin E. Segal Theatre
The Caribbean Playwright Exchange will feature readings of excerpts from new plays by Pascale Anin, Arielle Bloesch, and Curtis Clarendon, three emerging writers from the Caribbean. The three writers will be joined for a week in New York with their American translator, three directors, and a cast of American actors for a staged reading at the Segal Center.  Presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; free, for information call 212-817-1860.
 
Gotham Center History Forum -- The City's End: Two Centuries of Fantasies, Fears, and Premonitions of New York's Destruction
(discussion) 6:30–8:00 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
At each stage of New York's development over the past century, visions of how the city would be demolished, blown up, swallowed by the sea, or toppled by monsters have proliferated in films and science fiction novels, photography, painting, graphic arts, television advertisements, postcards, cartoons, and computer software. In a project begun well before September 11, but given a new importance in its wake, Max Page, Professor of Art History, University of Massachusetts–Amherst, seeks to offer a critical historical perspective to our understanding of the recent disaster. Free, but seating is limited and reservations are required.  Reservations can be made at www.gc.cuny.edu/events, or by calling 212-817-8215.