March-April Highlights

The University of Chicago Presents
Ahmad Jamal, Jazz Piano
Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th St. 702-8068. http://chicagopresents.uchicago.edu. $30 and $15 general, $11 students.
7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 10

The influential jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal will return to the South Side of Chicago, where his career took off in the late 1950s. In the second annual jazz concert in Mandel Hall, Jamal will be joined by Idris Muhammad on the drums and James Cammack on bass. Jamal is known for his innovative style and has been praised for his ability to make a trio sound like an orchestra.

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave. 702-7059. http://rockefeller.uchicago.edu. $20 general, $15 seniors and students.
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel will serve as the setting for a staged reading of T.S. Eliot’s Nobel prize-winning play Murder in the Cathedral, about the murder and martyrdom of Thomas à Becket, Bishop of Canterbury in 1170, in the Canterbury cathedral. The reading will be directed by Second City founding member Bernie Sahlins (A.B.,’43) and will feature D. Nicholas Rudall, Professor in Classical Languages & Literatures and the College, as Becket.

PanAsia Festival
Various campus locations. See http://panasia.uchicago.edu for details.
Friday, April 8 through Sunday, April 17

Through a variety of programs, the University’s annual PanAsia festival seeks to explore the cultural, socioeconomic and political circumstances of Asia and Asian America. The festival focuses on creating unity among Asian Americans, while preserving the uniqueness of individual ethnicities within the Asian group. The Friday, April 8 opening ceremony will feature Haydn Schlossberg (A.B.,’00) and Jon Hurwitz, who wrote the screenplay of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Schlossberg and Hurwitz will discuss the film in depth and take questions from the audience. There also will be panels addressing various topics, from Buddhism and the Burmese government to Asian and African-American race relations. In addition, “coffeehouse” nights on Friday, April 15, and Saturday, April 16, will feature poetry readings organized by MOIM at the Kilmok, Chicago’s journal of Korean-American perspectives, as well as performances and workshops in Korean drumming with Loose Roots, a recognized student organization.

Doc Films
Chicago International Documentary Festival
Friday, April 1 through Tuesday, April 5
Max Palevsky Cinema, 1212 E. 59th St. 702-8575. http://docfilms.uchicago.edu.
Opening night reception and screening: $50. Other screenings: $8.50 general, $7 students and seniors.
Tickets are available online at http://www.chicagodocfestival.org/tickets.htm or by phone at (773) 486-9612.

Doc Films, the longest continuously running student film society in the nation, will screen many films and hold talks with film directors in conjunction with the Chicago International Documentary Festival. The festival’s opening night screening will be held at Doc, where the film The Real Dirt on Farmer John will be screened at 8 p.m. Friday, April 1, and a talk with director Taggart Siegel will follow. Other festival screenings at Doc include Mad Hot Ballroom at 9 p.m. Saturday, April 2; Martin’s Passion at 9 p.m. Sunday, April 3; Shape of the Moon at 9 p.m. Monday, April 4, with director Leonard Retel Helmrich in person; and Darwin’s Nightmare at 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, with director Hubert Sauper in person. For film details, visit http://www.chicagodocfestival.org.