June-July Highlights

Allen Gilmore as Cyrano and Chaon Cross as Roxane in Cyrano

Court Theatre
Cyrano
Through Sunday, June 27
Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. For tickets and information, call (773) 753-4472 or visit http://www.courttheatre.org. $35-50. Senior and student discounts available.
Through puppets and surprising mechanics, vigorous physical performance, and the beauty of the play’s lyrical language, Court Theatre and Redmoon Theater tell the romantic, heart-warming and often funny story of the swordsman and poet, Cyrano de Bergerac. Co-directed by Court’s Artistic Director Charles Newell and Redmoon’s Jim Lasko, Cyrano retains the humor and the heart of Edmond Rostand’s theatrical masterpiece, Cyrano de Bergerac, while revealing the plot in an unconventional fashion. The famous swordsman and aspiring poet-lover, Cyrano is cursed with a blossoming beak of a nose and desperately loves the beautiful Roxane. Believing she will never love him, he agrees to help his rival Christian win her heart. In conjunction with the production, there will be a series of free symposiums throughout June. At noon Tuesday, June 15, a panel will explore Cyrano’s role as a hero. The panel, titled “Is Cyrano a Hero?” will feature Newell, lead actor Allen Gilmore, and Thomas Pavel, Chair and the Helen B. and Frank L. Sulzberger Professor in Romance Languages & Literatures and the College. The discussion will take place at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. The final symposium, “The Languages of Words and Images: Conceiving & Creating Cyrano,” will explore the relationship forged between Court’s rigorous work with the text and Redmoon’s unique sense of spectacle in storytelling. The symposium will take place at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 27, at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Jung Eun Lee, video still from “Untitled.”

The Master of Fine Arts Program
MFA Thesis Exhibition: “pitch”
Through Saturday, June 26
Gallery hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
Gallery 312, 312 N. May St. (312) 942-2500. Free.
The University’s Master of Fine Arts group thesis exhibition will feature video, painting, sculpture, photography, drawing and installations by Mary Burns, Laura Davis, Paula Henderson, Stacy Karzen, Jung Eun Lee, Fiona McLaren, Lynn Retson and Atsushi Tameda. All artists have completed the two-year interdisciplinary program in fine arts that focuses on intensive critical dialogue. The exhibition was produced with support from the Visiting Committee on Visual Arts, the Division of the Humanities, and the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art. There will be an opening reception for the exhibition from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 11.

The Smart Museum of Art
Art Afternoons
Noon to 3 p.m. Wednesdays, June 16 through July 14
5550 S. Greenwood Ave. 702-0200. http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/. Free.
The Art Afternoons series will offer opportunities for children of all ages to engage in hands-on art activities during the summer. All young guests must be accompanied by an adult, and large groups must call ahead as space is limited.

Bells for the Rockefeller Carillon arrive, July 26, 1932

The Special Collections Research Center
“Life of the Spirit, Life of the Mind: Rockefeller Chapel at 75”
Through Friday, June 18
8:30 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Saturday. Closed Saturdays, June 12 and June 19. Regenstein Library, 1100 E. 57th St. 702-8705. http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/LibInfo/Libraries/SpCl/. Free.
Drawing on photographs and documents from the University Archives, this exhibition explores how the planners of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, chapel deans, the student body and the broader community have interpreted the chapel’s mission to shape its architecture as well as the programs it supports.