Princeton University's Lewis Center for the Arts is planning another exciting season of theater and dance performances, exhibitions, readings, film screenings, concerts, guest artist visits and lectures for 2018-19.
The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Programs in Theater and Music Theater at Princeton University will present Trailing Rhiannon, a new musical play written by Princeton senior Emma Watkins that interweaves Celtic folk music with storytelling tradition to reimagine one of Welsh mythology's most fiercely outspoken female protagonists. The production is directed by senior Abigail Jean-Baptiste. Performances will be presented May 10 through 13 at 8:00 p.m. with a matinee on May 13 at 2:00 p.m. in the Wallace Theatre at the Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton campus.
Students in Princeton University’s spring course “How to Write a Song,” offered by the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Creative Writing and the Department of Music, will present original songs at a concert on May 1 at 4:30 p.m. at the Frist Film/Performance Theatre at the Frist Campus Center on the Princeton campus. The students will perform selected new work completed over the past semester. The concert is free and open to the public.
The Lewis Center for the Arts announces more than $115,000 in awards to support the summer projects and research of 45 Princeton undergraduates, chosen from 85 applicants. For many recipients, the funding provides the resources to conduct research, undertake training, and pursue other opportunities critical to achieving their senior thesis project goals in the arts.
On March 22, more than 150 Princeton alumni working in the arts and creative professions braved the rain to gather at Fox Studio Commissary for the Lewis Center LA Party.
The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Programs in Theater and Music Theater at Princeton University will present Turning Inward, a song cycle that is an intimate portrayal of the self as mediator between the world outside and the world within, through new songs based in the folk traditions of America and the Old World. Princeton senior Evan Gedrich conceived and wrote the music and lyrics for this song cycle, which will be directed by alumnus Ryan Gedrich, Princeton Class of 2016, and performed by a cast of student actor-musicians. All 12 songs focus on introspection and extroversion with each falling along the spectrum of these personalities. Performances will be held in the Wallace Theater at the Lewis Arts complex on Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, March 30 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.; and Saturday, March 31 at 3:00 and 7:30 p.m.
Composer and lyricist César Alvarez and sound artist and musician Jess Rowland have been named Princeton University Arts Fellows for 2018-20 and will begin two years of teaching and community collaboration in September. Alvarez and Rowland were selected from a large, diverse, and multi-talented pool of 395 applicants in dance, music, creative writing, theater, and the visual arts.
Princeton University has named Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and current U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, Director of Princeton’s Program in Creative Writing, as the new chair of the University’s Lewis Center for the Arts. Smith succeeds theater scholar Michael Cadden, Senior Lecturer in the Program in Theater, who has served as chair of the Center since 2012. Smith will begin her new duties as chair on July 1, 2019.
The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Programs in Theater and Music Theater at Princeton University will present the new musical Picnic at Hanging Rock with book, music and lyrics by Daniel Zaitchik, adapted from the Australian novel by Joan Lindsay, on March 2, 8, 9 and 10 at 8 p.m., and March 3 at 2 p.m. in the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center on the Princeton campus. The production is directed by senior Nico Krell with music direction by Department of Music faculty member Stephanie Tubiolo, and features seniors Jared Brendon Hopper, Meagan Raker, Allison Light, and Emma Watkins.
Acclaimed composer, virtuosic violist, and Princeton Atelier guest artist Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin gives a concert performance with guest artists on Tuesday, February 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Forum at the Lewis Arts complex. Presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Princeton Atelier, the concert is free and open to the public.
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon will present a reading from his recent poetry collections joined by acclaimed singer Iarla Ó Lionáird and composer Dan Trueman, in celebration of Muldoon’s latest volume Lamenations and the three artists’ collaboration with Eighth Blackbird, Olagón: a Cantata in Doublespeak. The reading, presented by Princeton University’s Fund for Irish Studies, will take on place on Friday, February 23 at 4:30 p.m. in the Wallace Theater located at the Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton campus. This event is free and open to the public. Performances of Olagón are being presented on February 22 through 24.
The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Princeton Atelier will present an original, immersive experience that utilizes visual arts, theatrical lighting, scenic and installation design, as well as movement and musical performance, to offer a new perspective on Mozart’s iconic and beloved classic, Symphony #40. This new work was created by Princeton students as the culminating project of a fall Atelier course co-taught by composer/conductor Jayce Ogren and theatrical designer/director Michael Counts. The event, which the organizers make clear is not a concert, will take place on Sunday, December 10 with two 30-minute-long performances at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. in the Matthews Acting Studio at 185 Nassau Street. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited and advance tickets are encouraged.
On Wednesday, September 20, the Visual Arts Program of the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University and Princeton Garden Theatre will present a screening of Spike Lee's Passing Strange: The Movie, a film version of the award-winning rock musical‚ at the Garden Theatre. Starting at 7:30 p.m.‚ the film will be followed with a Q&A with Stew‚ the star and co-writer of the hit Broadway show.
Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts and Department of Music will celebrate the opening of the new Peter B. Lewis Center for the Arts complex with a multi-day Festival of the Arts October 5 through 8 on the Princeton campus. The Festival, which is open to the public, will feature over 100 concerts, plays, readings, dance performances, art exhibitions, multidisciplinary presentations, film screenings, community workshops, and site-specific events at venues across the campus, most of which will be free.
A new work by the internationally acclaimed artist Maya Lin has been commissioned for the grounds adjacent to the new Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University.