1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Transylvania University invites high school sophomores and juniors to Spring Preview Day, March 26

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University invites high school sophomores and juniors and their families to campus for Spring Preview Day, Saturday, March 26, from 9 am.-2 p.m. The event will take place in the Clive M. Beck Athletic Center on the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street. Spring Preview Day includes a welcome with President R. Owen Williams, group meetings with admissions counselors, a session on preparing for admissions interviews, a financial aid session for parents, campus and residence hall tours, discussions with current students and a complimentary lunch. For more information or to register for Spring Preview Day, call Transylvania’s admissions office at (800) 872-6798 or (859) 233-8242, or register online. Founded in 1780, Transylvania is the nation’s sixteenth oldest institution of higher learning and is consistently ranked in national publications as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.

“Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls,” opens Thursday, Feb. 17 at Transylvania University

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Babies, wild dogs, komodo dragons and hula dancers abound in Naomi Iizuka’s “Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls,” which runs Feb. 17-19 and 24-26 at 7:30 p.m., and Feb. 20 at 2 p.m., in Transylvania’s Lucille C. Little Theater.  Presented by Transylvania University Theater and directed by Sullivan Canaday White, visiting assistant professor of drama, the fantastical play is about finding your tribe in a world gone haywire. Winner of the prestigious Whiting Writers’ Award in 1999, Iizuka’s play received its world premiere in the 1999 Humana Festival of Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. “‘Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls’ is a hilarious show with characters who are searching for what they are missing in their lives, something not only the actors, but all of us, can relate to,” said senior Emileigh Burns, assistant director of the play. “Working on this show has been an experience of a lifetime. As a senior, this is my last department show, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.” A post-performance colloquia on the play will begin immediately following the shows on Feb. 17 and 24. Tickets are $10 and may be reserved by calling the box office at (859) 281-3621, Monday-Friday from 1-4 p.m. For more information, contact the fine arts office at (859) 233-8141.

“Can We Talk? Problems in Race and Conversation” is topic of Transylvania’s Kenan Lecture, Tuesday, Feb. 15; free and open to the public

LEXINGTON, KY.—Randall Kennedy, one of the preeminent voices on race in America and a Harvard law professor, will tackle sensitive racial issues in his lecture titled “Can We Talk? Problems in Race and Conversation” on Tuesday, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in Haggin Auditorium in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center. The lecture is free and open to the public. Known for his fearlessness, Kennedy brings the divisive issues that plague black America to the forefront of mass culture. With wit and accessibility, he challenges audiences to confront society’s—and their own—racial prejudices.  Frank conversations include the ongoing linguistic and historical baggage of loaded words like “nigger” and “sellout,” interracial intimacies and adoptions and overt (and covert) racial lines. Kennedy’s bestseller, “Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word,” sparked a firestorm of national debate, including articles in The New York Times, Newsweek and TIME, as well as in the popular consciousness. Kennedy studied at Princeton, Oxford and Yale and served as a law clerk for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. Court of Appeals and for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court. While a faculty member at Harvard Law School, he has written extensively for academic and popular journals and served on the editorial boards of The American Prospect and The Nation. Kennedy is also the author of “Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal and Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity and Adoption.” This lecture is part of Transylvania’s

“An Evening at the Cabaret: As Seen on TV” at Transylvania Jan. 28 and 29.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s vocal ensembles will present “An Evening at the Cabaret: As Seen on TV,” Friday and Saturday, Jan. 28 and 29, at 7:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center. Admission is $10. The box office next to Carrick Theater will be open for ticket reservations Monday, Jan. 24-Friday, Jan. 28, 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, the a capella group Formerly Known As and several soloists, will include a variety of songs from television shows, spanning multiple decades and styles. Selections include songs that have been featured on “Glee,” a medley of Phoebe’s songs from “Friends,” and theme songs from newer shows such as “The Office,” “Smallville,” as well as classic television shows and cartoons. For more information, contact the fine arts office at (859) 233-8141.

Morlan Gallery exhibit “Dropping Stitches” examines the recent knitting resurgence in popular culture

LEXINGTON, Ky.—It’s not just grandmas wielding knitting needles these days. “Dropping Stitches: Knitting Trends in Contemporary Art” examines the recent knitting resurgence in popular culture and the contemporary art world. The exhibition also examines the impetus behind the knitting trend by addressing the topics of materiality, activism through crafting, knitting as guerilla art and knitting as protest model. The exhibit opens January 19 with an opening reception from 5-7 p.m., and runs through March 4. The Lexington Gallery Hop reception is Friday, February 18, from 5-8 p.m. The exhibit features the work of Stacey Chinn, Carol Hummel, Barbara Hunt, Ellen Mollé, Mark Newport, Lacey Jane Roberts and the Transylvania knitters collective “In the Loop.” Roberts’ studio practice primarily consists of large-scale site-specific knitted installations created with children’s toy knitting cranks. Her work has been shown recently in the Bedford Gallery, the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk Art, the Headlands Center for the Arts, Southern Exposure and Naomi Arin Contemporary Art. Roberts also maintains a critical writing practice that bridges craft and queer theory. Her writing can be found in the forthcoming anthology “Extra/Ordinary: Craft Culture in Contemporary Art” published by Duke University Press. Roberts has been recognized with more 10 major prizes, awards and fellowships in the last five years. Newport is an artist and educator living in Michigan and his work has been exhibited throughout the United States, Canada and Europe,