FEBRUARY-MARCH Highlights

Jacqueline Stewart, Assistant Professor in the Committee on Cinema & Media Studies, with the assistance of Stephen Tapert, a student in Stewart’s seminar “A Separte Cinema? Race Films in Context,” moderates a disussion about the films prior to the screenings.

Race film series

7 p.m. Sundays, Feb. 24 and March 3

Max Palevsky Cinema, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St. 702-8575. $4.

Doc Films will conclude its well-attended series of rare “race films” with two films by Spencer Williams.

The Girl in Room 20

In this urban melodrama, a small-town girl named Daisy Mae Walker moves to New York City hoping to become a famous singer. She befriends a number of interesting characters but also encounters the harsh realities of city life and the cutthroat world of show business. Will Daisy become disillusioned and abandon her dreams? Or will she continue her quest for fame and fortune?

Juke Joint

Juke Joint is a fun-filled all-black-cast comedy about a pair of hitchhiking con artists named Bad News Johnson and July Jones. When the two arrive in a small Midwestern town under the assumed names of Vanderbilt Whitney and Cornbread Green, they become entangled in the lives of a local family, agreeing to help train their two teenage daughters for a beauty contest. This wild take on black family life is highlighted by musical scenes featuring the talents of Red Calhoun.

University of Chicago Presents

Brentano String Quartet

Brentano String Quartet and Mark Strand, Professor in the Committee on Social Thought

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22

Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th St. 702-8068. $29 general, $11 students.

Continuing a season highlighted with music and poetry, the Brentano String Quartet will perform Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ with a new text written and read by Poet Laureate Mark Strand, Professor in the Committee on Social Thought.

Henning Kraggerud, violin, and Helge Kjekshus, piano

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26

Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th St. 702-8068. $10 general, $5 students.

This season’s Regents Park Discovery Concert will feature the Chicago debut of two of Norway’s most prominent musicians, violinist Henning Kraggerud and pianist Helge Kjekshus. The duo will perform music by Brahms, Franck and Beethoven.

Court Theatre

Guy Adkins will play the title role in Court’s Hamlet.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Through Sunday, March 31

Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. 753-4472. $24-40. $9 student rush tickets may be available one hour prior to the show.

Court Theatre Artistic Director Charles Newell will stage an emotionally aggressive production of Shakespeare’s most experimental play, Hamlet. Newell’s visceral interpretation will further Court’s venturous exploration of classic theater. Court Theatre Resident Artist Guy Adkins will play the title role. Previews run through Friday, Feb. 22. The production will open at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, and will run through Sunday, March 24.

Oriental Institute Museum

“Cleopatra Goes Hollywood” film festival and seminar series

1:30 p.m. Sundays, Feb. 24 and March 3

Oriental Institute Museum, 1155 E. 58th St. 702-9507.

Encounter ancient Egypt’s legendary queen as a Hollywood star in this film festival and seminar series co-sponsored by the Field Museum. The Oriental Institute will screen the 1963 epic starring Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in two parts, at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24 and Sunday, March 3. Each screening will be followed by a seminar given by Egyptologist Michael Berger at 3:30 p.m. Admission to each film screening is $2. Admission to the seminars is $12 per session for Oriental Institute or Field Museum members, $15 per session for nonmembers.