January Highlights

    January Highlights

      Cast of Fences
    Cast members from from August Wilson's Fences at Court Theatre
      

    Court Theatre
    Fences
    Thursday, Jan. 12 – Sunday Feb. 12
    5535 S. Ellis Ave

    Fences is part of August Wilson’s cycle of plays chronicling the African-American experience in the 20th century. The play is centered on Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro Baseball Leagues, who now is an embittered and resentful garbage collector coming to terms with his own lost dreams while struggling to hold on to pride and keep his family together. He spends the better part of the play building a picket fence around his yard, at his wife’s request – one of those household projects that never seems to end – but the hero of Fences has faced far more daunting barriers in his lifetime. Fences explores boundaries, both actual and figurative, within society, personal relationships and ourselves. Tickets range from $10 -$50 and are available by calling the box office at (773) 753-4472. For show times and more information visit http://www.courttheatre.org.

     

      Crash
    The Office of Minority Student Affairs will screen the movie Crash.
      

    Office of Minority Student Affairs Screening of Crash
    Wednesday, Jan. 11, 7 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
    Biological Sciences Learning Center at 924 E. 57th St.

    The University of Chicago will honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. by hosting a week of special programs and events from Monday, Jan. 9 through Monday, Jan. 16. On Wednesday, Jan. 11, the Office of Minority Student Affairs will host a screening of the film Crash. The movie, which dramatizes the way race defines and influences perceptions, will be followed by a moderated discussion and a light reception. For more information on this or other events related to Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Week, contact the Office of Minority Student Affairs by calling (773) 834-4672, by e-mail at omsa@uchicago.edu or by visiting http://omsa.uchicago.edu.

      Smart Museum
    Carol Summers, Kill for Peace, 1967, Smart Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. Joseph Benson.
      

    Smart Museum of Art - “Collecting for the Cause: Activist Art in the 1960s and ’70s.”
    Through March 12
    5550 S. Greenwood Ave. 702-0200 http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu
    Free

    In the 1960s and early ’70s, many American artists actively questioned the artist’s role and responsibility in the public sphere. As they sought political relevance for their work, the relatively easy duplication and dissemination of works on paper made printmaking a choice medium. Selections from two portfolios of prints – one created as a protest to the Vietnam War and one as a philanthropic endeavor for the Museet Moderna in Stockholm – reveal how individual artists such as Louise Nevelson, Robert Rauschenberg and Mark di Suvero came together for common causes. Each print collected for these portfolios has its own aesthetic integrity, but collectively these images represent the will and agency of artists who sought to influence the art world and the socio-political spheres that lay beyond it.

      Cliff Colnot
    Conductor Cliff Colnot will lead the Contemporary Chamber Players in their performance.
      

    Contempo and Patricia Barber
    7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7
    The Museum of Contemporary Art
    220 E. Chicago Ave. (312) 397-4010 http://contempo.uchicago.edu

    In its second annual double bill and first appearance at the MCA, Contempo continues to seek the common ground between some of today's finest music, regardless of genre. Complementing a performance of recent favorites by Contempo's celebrated resident ensembles eighth blackbird and the Pacifica Quartet, jazz pianist, singer and songwriter Patricia Barber will preview her highly-anticipated new song cycle Mythologies, inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses. Also featured on the program will be a rare Chicago appearance by vibraphonist Joe Locke and participation by the gospel choir Choral Thunder. $30 General Admission, $24 for MCA members, Student Discounts available. For tickets, call (312) 397-4010.