The University’s arts scene is a thriving one with student-run theater productions and a cappella concerts, coupled with film screenings, gallery shows, comedy nights and literary journals. This is, in no small part, a result of the passionate student artists on and around Grounds who bring it to life — not just as performers or creators, but as writers, editors and commentators.
Don’t worry if you’re unsure about the three-ton limestone sculpture in the lower garden of Pavilion VI, why it’s there remains a mystery. The sculpture is the Merton Spire, a really big gift from Merton College, Oxford, that originally perched atop a chapel buttress. A plaque on the piece reads “A pinnacle of Merton College Chapel Tower, erected 1451, presented to the University of Virginia, 1927, by Merton College, Oxford.”
In the first episode of the Apple TV series, “The Studio,” Seth Rogen plays a Hollywood studio boss tasked with making a box-office hit and prestige film about the Kool-Aid Man. He recruits director Martin Scorsese to make the movie, only for the Oscar-winning director to become intent on making a movie about Jonestown, the cult settlement in Guyana where followers took their own lives drinking poisoned Kool-Aid.
As the academic year winds to a close, students begin to reap the fruits of their labors from the previous two semesters. Some students have particularly tangible, triumphant final projects — namely those who debuted their short films Monday night to a crowd of around one hundred attendees at the Ruth Caplin Theater during the Overcranked Student Film Festival.
Shakespeare's classic tragedy "Hamlet" is getting a fresh, funny, and modern twist with "Fat Ham," now playing at Austin Playhouse. This unique adaptation brings a queer perspective to the timeless tale, promising audiences a theatrical experience like no other. Cast members Marc and Yunina shared their excitement about the production, highlighting its innovative approach. "It's Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' but with a funny, modern, queer twist," they said, inviting theatergoers to witness this bold reimagining.
What does it mean to bring the world to UVA? In recent years, “curating” has become a hot-topic everywhere from museums and universities to fine-dining and social network influencers. As consumers, we can now select from a global array of options in every domain of life. While this has made us more attuned to the diversity of “world” experiences, it has also resulted in the inequalities that curator Geraldo Mosquero has identified, between “curated” and “curating” cultures. Bridging this divide has been a central question for Profs. Noel Lobley (music) and Henry Skerrritt (art history) as they developed the Co-Present Art Initiative with Xhosa artist Xolile ‘X’ Madinda in both Makhanda, South Africa and Charlottesville, Virginia.
he Virginia Theatre Festival has announced the cast and creative team for its upcoming production of playwright Lloyd Suh’s The Heart Sellers. The Heart Sellers will run from July 11-July 20 and will be directed by Desdemona Chiang, who returns to VTF, where she directed Harvey in 2018. Pulitzer Prize-finalist Lloyd Suh’s sweet, funny, and deeply moving play highlights the experiences of two 20-something immigrant women, one from the Philippines and one from South Korea, who meet, by chance, in a grocery store on Thanksgiving night. Set in 1973, eight years after the passing of the Hart-Celler Act, which abolished immigration quotas in America, the play finds Luna and Jane bonding over their common longing for the homes they left behind and the excitement for what lies ahead in a new land.
The Virginia Theatre Festival has announced the creative team for its season-ending production of Get Happy! A Celebration of the World’s Greatest Entertainer with Jenna Pastuszek. The show lives up to its name by taking audiences on a joy-filled journey powered by the songs of the legendary Judy Garland.
An internationally acclaimed composer, sound artist and ecoacoustician, Music professor Matthew Burtner has performed his work in concerts around the world and has had his music featured by organizations ranging from NASA, the U.S. State Department and National Geographic to the BBC and PBS NewsHour. Burtner is spending part of this summer teaching at UVA's Morven Farm as part of a sustainability-focused teaching, research and engagement program. This video offers a glimpse of a day with the Alaskan-born Burtner and his "Sound and Sustainability" students as they take their sound field kits to Morven's Japanese Garden and surrounding landscapes to record the musical sounds of nature.
The Ruffin Art Gallery graduation exhibition is open until June 6th. The exhibition is a collection of student works curated by two of the department’s graduate students. For Arts This Week, we spoke with Elena Yu Ganiyu Jimoh and Elnaz Latifpour.
David J. Getsy, the Eleanor Shea Professor of Art History at the University of Virginia, has been awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. The honor recognizes his groundbreaking research at the intersection of art history, queer studies, trans studies and performance studies. Getsy's work has significantly contributed to understanding how non-normative genders and sexualities have shaped art and cultural history.
The University of Virginia’s longstanding relationship with The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation can be traced back to 1950s New York City and the storied law firm Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst. Until it ceased operations in 1982, the firm was known for its work representing high-profile literary and artistic clients, such as Tennessee Williams, Carl Sandburg, and Truman Capote. As an estate lawyer with the firm, Joe Erdman (Col ’56) represented novelists and playwrights, including Edna Ferber and Morris West, and the actor Peter Falk. He drew up the wills for Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. One of Erdman’s partners, a tax lawyer named Richard Ader, represented the acclaimed artist and filmmaker Joseph Cornell.
