MAY PUBLIC PROGRAMS

The City University of New York Graduate Center announces the following public programs to be held during the month of May at the Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street. For further information about the Graduate Center and its public programs, visit www.gc.cuny.edu.

Friday, May 1:

PEN World Voices/German Theatre Director Armin Petras + Fritz Kater's We Are Camera
(reading & discussion) 8:00 PM, Martin E. Segal Theatre
This event as part of the PEN World Voices Festival features excerpted readings of Fritz Kater's We Are Camera, directed by Armin Petras, head of the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin.  We Are Camera is the third play in Kater's "Homeland" trilogy.  At once personal and political, the play is set on December 31, 1969, in a hotel in Finland, which serves as a staging post for a family who is fleeing from West Germany to East.  We Are Camera tells the story of one fateful night and its aftermath in a family's terrible history.  Presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; free, for information call 212-817-1860 or visit www.thesegalcenter.org.
 
Saturday, May 2:

PEN World Voices/Harold Pinter Memorial Celebration
(readinsg, discussions, & screenings) 10:00 AM–9:00 PM, Martin E. Segal Theatre
At this day-long celebration of the late, Nobel Prize-winning dramatist Harold Pinter, participants will include will include Salman Rushdie, John Guare, Emily Mann, Alastair Macaulay, Charles Grimes, Todd Haimes, Susan Hollis Merritt, Henry Woolf, and other literary and theatrical luminaries.  Curated by actor-director and Harry Burton, a close friend and collaborator of Pinter's, the day will feature live readings, discussions, rare audio and video recordings, screenings, and the U.S. premiere of the documentary Working with Pinter.  Presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center as part of the PEN World Voices Festival; free, for information call 212-817-1860 or visit www.thesegalcenter.org
 
Tuesday, May 5:

Gotham Center History Forum -- The Sun and the Moon
(discussion) 6:30 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
Join author Matthew Goodman for a book talk and signing of The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists and Lunar Man-Bats in 19th Century New York (Basic Books). Goodman discusses the New York Sun's 1835 "moon series," an overnight success in its day, which provides a window into a time when a new kind of newspaper was born. 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, May 7:

Blue Note Records at 70: Joe Lovano, Bruce Lundvall, and Gary Giddins
(discussion) 7:00 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
Thelonious Monk, Jimmy Smith, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Betty Carter, Cecil Taylor, Cassandra Wilson, Jason Moran -- the history of Blue Note Records is the history of jazz.  Now, on the 70th anniversary of the label's first recording, Gary Giddins brings together Blue Note's current president, Bruce Lundvall, and one of its brightest talents, world-renowned saxophonist and composer Joe Lovano, for a conversation about jazz history, the label's unparalleled success and legacy, and the state of the recording industry. Presented by the Center for the Humanities; free, for information call 212-817-2005.
 
Monday, May 11:

Science & the Arts -- Between the Folds: The Art and Science of Origami
(film screening & discussion) 6:30 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
This unique Science & the Arts program includes a New York premiere screening of the award-winning documentary Between the Folds and talk by origami researcher Erik Demaine. Filmmaker Vanessa Gould will introduce, and the audience will also create origami.  Erik Demaine received a MacArthur Fellowship for his work in computational origami and was the youngest professor ever hired by MIT.  In his talk, he will discuss the math behind the folds and the real-world applications of origami, which he believes holds the key to understanding major scientific problems, such as the structure of rogue proteins.  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.
 
Does the State Rely on Sacred Violence?
Paul Kahn & Austin Sarat in Conversation
(discussion) 7:00 PM
Join two preeminent legal and political theorists as they examine religious threads running through modern secular philosophy, political theory, and the state itself.  Paul Kahn is Director, Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights, Yale University. Austin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College. Moderated by Jill Stauffer, Resident Mellon Fellow at the Center for the Humanities.  Presented by the Center for the Humanities; free, for information call 212-817-2005.
 
Tuesday, May 12:

Turnstyle Reading Series
(literary reading) 6:30 PM, Martin E. Segal Theatre
Writers and graduating students from the four CUNY MFA Programs in Creative Writing (City College, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, and Queens College) come together for readings of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction at the Graduate Center.  Join faculty readers Marilyn Hacker and Tom Sleigh and MFA readers Jackie Pervizi, John Reid Currie, Christina Hauser, Neal Gartland, Nancy Haiduck, Justin Earle Turner, Nicole Bufanio, Tina Satter, and Jess Barbagallo for an evening of cross-campus, cross-genre readings.  Presented by the Center for the Humanities; free, for information call 212-817-2005.
 
Wednesday, May 13:

50th Anniversary of Pirandello Society of America
(staged reading & discussion) 6:00–9:00 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
This evening celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Pirandello Society of America will feature a talk by Benito Ortolani, about the Italian actress Marta Abba, and a staged reading of Pirandello's 1923 one-act play The Other Son. Ortolani is Professor Emeritus of Theatre at Brooklyn College and editor and translator of Pirandello's Love Letters to Marta Abba.  Excerpts from the letters will be read, followed by a reading by professional actors of Pirandello’s The Other Son, a Sicilian tale of horror, but one not lacking in humor. A panel discussion with Benito Ortolani and the co-organizers Jane House and Janice Capuana, will conclude the evening.  Presented by the Center for the Study of Women and Society; free, for information call 212-817-7176.
 
Thursday, May 14:

Music In Midtown -- Manhattan String Quartet
(concert) 1:00 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
Music In Midtown completes its 2008-2009 season with the acclaimed Manhattan String Quartet performing Beethoven's String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130.  Described by The Boston Globe as "a national treasure," the quarted has appeared throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and South America. After a series of concerts in Moscow and Leningrad in the fall of 1985, the MSQ became the first American classical ensemble to give a full tour of the Soviet Union under that era's new cultural agreement. Members of the quartet are Eric Lewis, violin; Calvin Wiersma, violin; John Dexter, viola; and Chris Finckel, cello. 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.
 
Site-Specific Performance Symposium 2009
(symposium) also on May 15 & 16, schedule varies, Martin E. Segal Theatre
A three-day symposium explores site-specific performance featuring leading artists, funders, and critics. "Site-specific" is a term used to describe artwork that has a relationship with its surroundings, architecture and/or landscape. Its many permutations intersect with land art, performance art, conceptual art, installation art, community-based art, public art, and experimental dance and theatre. MESTC held the first in the US international symposium surrounding the topic of site-specificity in the performing arts in the Fall of 2006.  Symposium 2009: Space, Theatrical Intervention, & Innovation will furthuer continue the dialogue.  Presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; free, for information and full schedule visit www.thesegalcenter.org or call 212-817-1860.
 
City of the World:
Mariachi Real de Mexico and the Mariachi Academy of New York
(concert) 7:30 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
The final concert in the City of the World series follows soon after Cinco de Mayo to celebrate the music of Mexico with one of the finest Mariachi bands in New York City.  Founded in 1991, Mariachi Real de Mexico has been busy ever since, serving the Mexican community and beyond.  They have appeared at major venues in New York City and on national TV.  They have also established the Mariachi Academy of New York, a community-based initiative dedicated to passing on the tradition of mariachi. The concert will also feature some of the next generation of mariachis.  Presented by the Ph.D./D.M.A. Programs in Music; free, for more information call 212-817-8607.
 
Friday, May 15:

CLAGS LGBTQ Performance and Panel -- Let it Rock: Contemporary Voices in Queer Music
7:00 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
This evening of live performances and discussion will explore the intersections of queerness, music and pop and punk cultures. Join innovative performers from the current music scene and leading academics in performance studies to trace a lineage of queer underground music culture.  Participants include Karen Tongson, Assistant Professor of English, USC College; Larry Tee, DJ, producer; Nomi Hercules and Love Affair; and Tavia Nyong'o, Assistant Professor, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. Presented by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies; free, for information call 212-817-1957.
 
Monday, May 18:

Robert Wilson's Watermill Center
(performance & discussion) 6:30 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
The Watermill Center was founded in 1992 by theatre and visual artist Robert Wilson on the site of a former Western Union communication research facility near Southampton, New York.  Watermill fosters research into the arts of the stage to provide young and emerging artists with a unique environment for creation and exploration in theatre and all its related art forms, and to develop a strong global network transcending age, experience, social, religious and cultural backgrounds. The event will feature performance excerpts by artists supported by the center: Reuben Butchart; The H*E*R*D Group, featuring Declan Rooney and Eunhye Hwang; Hsaio Chen and Ama Saru.  Presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; free, for information call 212-817-1860.
 
Tuesday, May 19:

2009 PEN Literary Awards, Hosted by Billy Collins
(awards ceremony) 7:00 PM, Elebash Recital Hall
Poet Billy Collins hosts the 2009 PEN Literary Awards, recognizing the best in fiction, biography, translation, poetry, and more. The evening's highlights will include the conferral of both the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction and the PEN/O. Henry Prize, the product of an exciting new partnership between PEN American Center and Vintage, honoring the art of the short story. Presented by the Center for the Humanities; free, for information call 212-817-2005.