Events

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University Theater’s first production of 2012, “Spinning into Butter,” explores the dangers of both racism and political correctness in America today. The play runs Feb. 16-18 and 23-25, at 7:30 p.m., and Feb. 19, at 2 p.m. in the Lucille C. Little Theater. Transylvania senior Annie Barbera directs the regional premiere of this play, written by American playwright Rebecca Gilman. When an African American student at fictional Belmont College begins receiving hate mail, the campus erupts, first with shock, then with mutual recrimination as faculty and students alike try to prove their own tolerance by condemning one another. At the center of his maelstrom is Dean of Students Sarah Daniels. As the administration sponsors public “race forums” and students start their own activist groups, Sarah is forced to explore her own feels of racism, leading to some surprising discoveries. Tickets are $10 and may be reserved by calling the box office at (859) 281-3621. For more information, contact Transylvania’s fine arts office at (859) 233-8141. Poster design by Hunter Kissel ’13.

UPDATE: The concert has been postponed due to inclement weather. We will reschedule for a later date. LEXINGTON, Ky.—Grammy-nominated fiddler Liz Carroll will give a concert Friday, March 2, at 7:30 p.m. in Transylvania University’s Carrick Theater. Accompanying Carroll will be Cork-born composer and pianist Cormac McCarthy. Tickets for the World Voices Series Concert are $10. (One free ticket with a Transylvania ID). Carroll began composing music as a child and has performed with artists ranging from violinist Yehudi Menuhin to rocker Don Henley. “Liz Carroll has amazed audiences around the world and we are thrilled to have her perform at Transylvania,” said Larry Barnes, professor of music and director of the World Voices Series. “She is a recognized master of the Celtic fiddle and all who come to hear her are in for a real treat.” In April 2011, Carroll was awarded the Cumadóir TG4, becoming the first American-born composer to be honored with Ireland’s most significant traditional music prize. Irish Echo, the largest circulation Irish American weekly newspaper, calls Carroll’s playing “nothing less than breathtaking,” and a concert review from The New York Times declares Carroll “Brilliant…She does more than run through her finger twisting reels and sustained slow airs. She—and her listeners—continually rediscover each melody.” McCarthy, originally from Cork, Ireland, lives in Chicago. A composer and pianist, he began studying piano at age four and continued his studies at the Cork School of Music as a teenager.

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s vocal ensembles will present “An Evening at the Cabaret: Outer Space,” Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27 and 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center. All tickets are $5. The box office next to Carrick Theater will be open for ticket reservations Monday, Jan. 23-Friday, Jan. 27, from 12-3 p.m. The phone number is (859) 233-8601. “An Evening at the Cabaret,” featuring the Transylvania Choir, the Transylvania Singers, the Pioneer Voices, a capella groups TBA and Grace Notes and several soloists, will include a variety of songs including “Moon River,” “Space Jam,” “Star Wards—John Williams is the Man,” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120 or the fine arts office at (859) 233-8141.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Bob Zellner, civil rights activist and author of “The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement,” will speak at Transylvania University on Wednesday, February 1, at 7:30 p.m. The talk, in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center’s Carrick Theater, is free and open to the public. Zellner was born in Alabama in 1939, the son and grandson of Klansmen. After graduating from the Huntingdon College in 1961, Zellner became the first white southerner to serve as field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Zellner’s father rejected his past Klan associations and supported his son in his civil rights efforts. Arrested 18 times in seven states, Zellner organized in McComb, Miss.; Albany, Ga.; Danville, Va.; Talladega, Montgomery and Birmingham, Ala.; New Haven, Conn.; and Boston. From 1963-65, Zellner studied race relations in the Graduate School of Sociology at Brandeis University. During Mississippi’s Freedom Summer of 1964, he traveled with Rita Schwerner while taking part in SNCC’s and CORE’s investigation of the disappearance of her husband Mickey, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman. When SNCC became an all-black organization in 1967, Bob and his wife, Dottie, joined the Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF) to organize an anti-racism project for black and white workers in the Deep South called GROW, Grass Roots Organizing Work. In the early 1990s, studying at Tulane University for a Ph.D. in history, Zellner wrote a dissertation on the southern civil rights movement.

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“Give It Up For The Boys” Gissette Padilla LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s Morlan Gallery opens 2012 with “The Millennials,” a juried exhibition that  offers a visual entrée into the minds of America’s largest age group, the millennial generation. The Pew Research Center has defined this group, ages 18 to 29, as “the American teens and 20-somethings currently making the passage into adulthood.” They tend to be  confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living. The exhibit opens  Tuesday, January 17, and runs through Friday, February 10. The 12 artists chosen for the exhibition represent nine states and every  region of the U. S. They are primarily in their mid-20s and submitted work in a variety of two- and three-dimensional media. The artists’ reception on Tuesday, January 17, from 5-7 p.m., is free and open to the public. The artists  are John Talbott Allen, Ky.; Jeanette Bonds, Calif.; Benjamin Cook, Ky.; Ryan Foley, Penn.; Natasha Giles, Ky.; Carl Glasemeyer, Mo.; John Haverty, Mass.; Andrea Hutchinson, Ind.; Gissette Padilla, Texas; Patrick Smith ’08, Va.; Nelson Wei Tan, Ind.; and Jordi Williams, Fla. Pieces for the exhibit were selected from an application pool of 45 national artists by Andrea Fisher, director of the Morlan Gallery, and Transylvania studio art faculty, Jack Girard, Kurt Gohde and Zoé Strecker. The Morlan Gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from noon-5 p.m. For more information, contact Fisher at (859) 233-8142

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