The Creative, the Excellent, the Enlightening! The Lenfest Center for the Arts 2017-2018 Schedule

THE CREATIVE: Find artistic pleasure in Concert Guild's Roomful of Teeth, a Grammy-winning vocal project dedicated to mining the expressive potential of the human voice. Be captivated by Lenfest's presentation of L.A. Theatre Works' acclaimed play, The Mountaintop, as playwright Katori Hall fantasizes what may have transpired in the overnight hours between the legendary civil rights leader and a seemingly inconsequential hotel maid. Be entertained by Theater, Dance, and Film Studies' The Addams Family, A New Musical-a modern Broadway score, with imaginative special effects and our favorite mysterious and spooky characters.

THE EXCELLENT: Be amazed by Lenfest and Concert Guild's joint presentation of Che Malambo as you experience the fast-paced footwork (Zapeteo), fiery malambo featuring the drumming of traditional Argentine bombos, and whirling boleadoras on the stage. Find brilliance in SonoKlect's Trio ZBR's as they present a program that expands the definition of virtuosity in music-even the deceptively simple pieces can be fiendishly difficult to play and require incredible concentration by musicians and audiences alike. Also, enjoy a superb evening of a cappella mastery with the University Singers Tour Home Concert.

THE ENLIGHTENING: Be entranced by Theater, Dance, and Film Studies' new multimedia adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, proving to be more poignant and relevant in our contemporary world of fake news and the invasion of surveillance. Savor the music recitals and concerts featuring faculty and students, University Singers, Wind, University Orchestra, Jazz and Electronic Music Ensembles. Revel in the impressive artists' collections slated for the Staniar Gallery: works by Susan Worsham's Bittersweet on Bostwick Lane; Anna Helpler's Hard-Wired; Borderland Collective: Northern Triangle.

The Lenfest Center 2017-2018 calendar of events and brochure can be found in its entirety online at wlu.edu/lenfest-center and season brochures are available for pick-up at the Lenfest Center box office. Online ticket sales will be available Wednesday, August 23, 2017 at 8 a.m., on a first-come, first-served basis. To place an online order, click on the Buy Tickets Now tab on the Lenfest home page. University Swipe is now available to purchase tickets online. Mail-in orders accepted from August 23-September 9. There will be a $3 postage fee per COMPLETE ORDER applied to tickets purchased through the mail. The $3 postage fee can be waived by choosing to pick-up tickets at WILL CALL. The Lenfest Center box office opens for in-person and telephone sales on Monday, September 11, on a first-come, first-served basis. The box office hours are Monday-Friday, 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m., for cash, check or credit card purchases.

The Lenfest Season opens on Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. in the Keller Theatre with BODYTRAFFIC-a virtuosic, stylized, and confident contemporary dance company with a diverse repertoire. Named Best of Culture by the Los Angeles Times, and "Dubbed one of Dance Magazine's '25 to Watch'..." by The Boston Globe, BODYTRAFFIC has been instrumental in establishing Los Angeles as a center for contemporary dance. Their growing repertory is vibrant, inspiring, accessible and challenging to both new audiences and experienced dance enthusiasts with some of the world's most sought-after choreographers.

L.A. Theatre Works returns by popular demand with The Mountaintop, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., on Monday, April 23, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. LATW, America's premiere radio theater company, brings great theater to audiences nationwide and beyond through live radio performance. Winner of the prestigious Olivier Award for Best New Play, The Mountaintop is rife with humor and political jabs, while giving us a glimpse at the human side of Martin Luther King Jr. hours after his famed final speech, punctuated by the immortal line, "I've been to the mountaintop." The celebrated reverend reveals his hopes, regrets, and fears, creating a masterful bridge between mortality and immortality.

On Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 7:30 p.m., in a joint presentation with Concert Guild, Lenfest concludes its season with the powerhouse all-male Argentinian dance company Che Malambo. Che Malambo brings fiery South American malambo traditions and virtuosic dancing to the stage for an exhilarating and entertaining show perfect for the entire family, exciting audiences around the world with percussive dance, whirling lasso boleadoras, and music spectacle. Malambo is a dynamic blend of precision footwork, rhythmic stomping, drumming and song at the heart of the gaucho (South American cowboy) tradition.

All Lenfest performances will be on the Keller stage. Lenfest events are sponsored in part by the W&L Class of 1964 Arts Fund. Tickets are required for all Lenfest events. Visit wlu.edu/lenfest-center for more information.

The Department of Theater, Dance, and Film Studies initiates the 2017 season with the Robert O. and Elizabeth M. Bentley Musical, The Addams Family, A New Musical. Performances run October 26-29 at 7:30 p.m. with additional 2 p.m. matinees on October 28-29 in the Johnson Theatre. Charles Addams' creepy, kooky and often demented characters made their debut in the New Yorker magazine in 1938. From the printed page to television to motion pictures this inversion of the typical American family has found its way to the musical stage with a modern Broadway score, imaginative special effects and our favorite mysterious and spooky characters. The Addams Family, A New Musical is also sponsored in part by the Music Department.

Opening November 9-11, at 7:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on November 12 in the Keller Theatre, brings an innovative new multimedia adaptation of George Orwell's classic 1984-reminding the dystopian world of Oceania where Winston Smith rebels against surveillance and the totalitarian state simply by writing a diary. This is a crime that could lead to his immediate execution, and he has no way of knowing when and where he's being watched. The novel 1984 changed the world, perhaps one of the most important ever written, and it is ever more poignant and relevant in our contemporary world of fake news and the invasion of surveillance. 1984-Copyright, 1949 by permission of Bill Hamilton as the Literary Executor of the Estate f the late Sonia Brownell Orwell.

The National Honor Society for Dance Fund-raiser, Dancing with the Professors, will be November 16 at 6 p.m. in the Keller Theatre. Professors, deans, and administrators pair off with members of the W&L dance company and show their talents through song, dance, and a whole lot of silliness. Under the artistic direction of Jenefer Davies, W&L Dancers Create...is dedicated to works performed and composed by students and showcases the diversity and talent within the W&L dance program. Works are presented December 6-8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Keller Theatre.

Opening the 2018 season is Roald Dahl's James and The Giant Peach. This lively adaptation brings Dahl's classic tale to the stage for children and the young at heart. Follow one little boy as he searches for a home and finds adventure on the way. James journeys across the ocean with the help of his newfound friends: Miss Spider, Old-Green-Grasshopper, Centipede, Ladybug and Earthworm. This work of one of the most imaginative storytellers is brought to life through video projection, puppetry, and live action. Performances are February 8-10 at 7:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on February 11 in the Keller Theatre.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare opens March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Johnson Theatre and continues March 2-6 at 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on March 3 and March 4. The greatest love story in the English language isn't really a love story. It's a play about conflict-between families, between generations, and between ideals. It is a story about a poet and a pragmatist trying to make sense of a world so full of contradictions that it defies explanation. It is a story of death and life, of hope and despair, of missed opportunities and miraculous coincidences. It is a story of what could be and what is. And that is why it is a story for all time.

Concluding the Theater, Dance, and Film Studies' season is the the award-winning W&L Repertory Dance Company. They will present an evening of multifaceted dance works performed and created by internationally renowned choreographers, W&L faculty and guest artists on March 15-March 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Keller Theatre.

Tickets are required for all Theater, Dance, and Film Studies' performances. Visit wlu.edu/theater-dance-and-film for more information.

Concert Guild's Season, featured in Wilson Concert Hall, begins on Friday, January 19 at 8 p.m. with the Garth Newel Piano Quartet. Repertoire for this concert includes Louise Hérritte-Viardot's Quartet No. 1 in A Major, Op. 9 Im Sommer, Mark Carlson's Piano Quartet, and the Quartet No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 45 by Gabriel Fauré.  Featured on Friday, March 9 at 8 p.m., is the Russian String Orchestra. The Orchestra performs an impressive variety of works from the early Baroque to new pieces commissioned by music director Misha Rachlevsky. This concert will give the audience a voice by allowing it to vote on repertoire for the second half of the concert. Roomful of Teeth, performing on Friday, March 23 at 8 p.m., is a Grammy-winning vocal group that has studied Tuvan throat singing, yodeling, belting, Inuit throat singing, Korean P'ansori, Gregorian singing, Sardinian cantu a tenore, Hindustani music and Persian classical singing. Concluding the Concert Guild's Season on Thursday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the Keller Theatre is a joint Lenfest presentation of Che Malambo. Danced solely by 14 gauchos, the malambo began in the 17th century as competitive duels that would challenge skills of agility, strength, and dexterity. Zapeteo, their fast-paced footwork, is inspired by the rhythm of galloping horses in their native Argentina. Tickets are required for all Concert Guild events. Visit wlu.edu/lenfest-center or wlu.edu/music for more information.

SonoKlect's Season, featured in Wilson Concert Hall, opens on Saturday, October 21 at 8 p.m. with trombonist Tom Lundberg. Lundberg is teaming with bassist David Slack and an ensemble of top Knoxville musicians to explore the unforgettable television music of the 70s and 80s. Talented composers such as Johnny Mandel, Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones, Bob James, Isaac Hayes, and Mike Post created some of the most memorable TV themes in history. Lundberg and crew will add their unique twists to these familiar melodies for some daring 'reruns' that will engage listeners, whether one is a veteran of the era or a newbie. On Saturday, February 10, 2018, at 8 p.m., Trio ZBR will present a program that expands the definition of virtuosity in music-three works written specifically for the trio and, although all the pieces are deeply versed in the classical tradition, each resists categorization and is quite novel in terms of formal structure, without losing an ever-present direct emotional impact. No tickets are required for SonoKlect performances. Visit wlu.edu/lenfest-center or more information and a complete listing of W&L Music fall, winter and spring performances.

A Passion for Art: The Collection of Eugene M. and Judith F. Kramer will be hung in the Kamen Gallery, Lenfest Hall, November 6-June 30. Organized by the University Collections of Art & Art History, the exhibition is generously loaned by the collectors' son, Richard E. Kramer, a 1969 W&L alumnus with a long career in theater.

Staniar Gallery boasts a full array of exhibitions including Susan Worsham's Bittersweet on Bostwick Lane; Anna Helpler's Hard-Wired; Borderland Collective: Northern Triangle; Chloë Bass' The Book of Everyday Instruction; Gonkar Gyatso's Buddah's Picnic. For a complete listing of exhibit openings, lectures and receptions, visit go.wlu.edu/staniar.