Calendar

Apr
7
Sun
RC Drama: The Bacchae @ Matthaei Botanical Gardens Conservatory
Apr 7 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

By Euripides, in a new translation by Jaclyn Dudek.

The God Dionysus and his followers, the Bacchae, take revenge on the conservative and militaristic ruler of Thebes.
This is the end of term performance of RC Hums 481, the Play Production Seminar course, directed by Kate Mendeloff, and staged environmentally in the Conservatory space.

Apr
9
Tue
Salima Ikram: Darlings, Delicacies and Donations: Ancient Egyptian Animal Mummies as Cultural and Environmental Markers @ Rackham Amphitheatre
Apr 9 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

Animals have played a crucial role in human history, and continue to do so until today. The interaction between humans and animals can affect the environment, and vice versa. In the ancient Egyptian Nile Valley, in addition to providing food, transportation, raw materials, companionship and entertainment, animals played a key role in religion. As such, they inspired divine iconography and language, and served both as manifestations as well as offerings to gods. Ultimately, in the twilight of Egypt’s pharaonic history, animals played a part in defining cultural identity and world-view. This talk will focus on a critical locus of this agency: animal mummies in ancient Egypt, and what they tell us not only about Egyptian culture, economy, and human-animal relationships, but also about Egypt’s changing environment.

Salima Ikram is Distinguished University Professor of Egyptology at The American University in Cairo, and has worked as an archaeologist in Turkey, Sudan, Greece and the United States. After double majoring in history and classical and near eastern archaeology at Bryn Mawr College, she received her MPhil in museology and Egyptian archaeology and PhD in Egyptian archaeology from Cambridge University. She previously directed the Animal Mummy Project, the North Kharga Darb Ain Amur Survey, Valley of the Kings KV10/KV63 Mission co-directed the Predynastic Gallery project and the North Kharga Oasis Survey. She has also participated in several other archaeological missions throughout Egypt. She has lectured on her work internationally, and publishes in both scholarly and popular journals. She also has an active media presence.

Mary Stockwell: Unlikely General: ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America @ 150 Blau Hall
Apr 9 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

With the young republic in crisis, President Washington chose as general an aging brigadier whose private life was mired in scandal. Follow the story of General Anthony Wayne, drawn from his own passionate letters where he vividly confessed his deepest thoughts. Writer and historian Mary Stockwell was an Earhart Foundation Fellow at the Clements Library. Her book “Unlikely General: ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America” was published by Yale University Press in 2018. She has a B.A. in history from Mary Manse College and holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Toledo. Register online.

Apr
10
Wed
RC Hums: Maps and Movements Final Performance @ East Quad Keene Theater
Apr 10 @ 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm

RCHUMS 352 Found Instruments “Maps and Movements” final performance, directed by Mike Gould. Found instruments are everyday objects that are utilized or repurposed as musical instruments. This class identifies not only these everyday objects with which to perform and reconstruct, but also seeks hybrid instruments that combine found objects with instruments of old.

Apr
11
Thu
Catharine MacKinnon: Butterfly Politics: Changing the World for Women @ Rackham Amphitheatre
Apr 11 @ 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Literati is pleased to be partnering with Donia Human Rights Center at the University of Michigan to welcome Catharine MacKinnon at Rackham Amphitheatre. Literati will have copies of Professor MacKinnon’s latest book Butterfly Politics available for purchase.

Professor Catharine A. MacKinnon will address the politics and law of sexual harassment, focusing on its violation of equality rights, in light of the #MeToo movement, exploring those developments in light of the theory of her most recent book, “Butterfly Politics: Changing the World for Women.”

About Butterfly Politics:
Under certain conditions, the right small simple actions can produce large and complex “butterfly effects,” as the #MeToo movement has shown. Thirty years after Catharine A. MacKinnon won the U.S. Supreme Court case establishing sexual harassment in law, this timely collection captures MacKinnon in action: the creative and transformative activism of an icon. Butterfly Politics provides the grounding for #MeToo, explains its momentum, and proposes more legal interventions that could have further butterfly effects on women’s rights.

Catharine A. MacKinnon is Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and the James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law (Long-Term) at Harvard Law School.

RC Studio Arts End of Term Student Invitational Show Reception @ East Quad Keene Theater
Apr 11 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Reception for the artists. The show continues at the RC Art Gallery through the end of Winter term.

Student Poetry Reading @ Foyer
Apr 11 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

In celebration of National Poetry Month and student poets at U-M, an informal, open-mic reading featuring U-M undergraduate students reading their original poetry. All undergraduates invited to read their original poetry. Arrive and leave as necessary.  All welcome to attend and listen. Refreshments will be served

Motor Signal Reading Series: Elizabeth Schmuhl and Kelly Fordon, hosted by Anna Clark @ Signal-Return
Apr 11 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Perfect for this new, fresh, sweet springtime: For the April edition of the Motor Signal Reading Series, two innovative, multi-genre writers are going to crack us open and help us imagine what’s possible.
Motor Signal, now in its sixth season, jolts the typical literary reading out of its traditional form. An activity of co-creation connects the featured writers with the audience in a unique way. In celebration of the beauty of text, an artist at Signal-Return makes a handset, limited-edition broadside of the writers’ work for event attendees. And we proudly pay writers for their time and talent.
Hosted by RC writing alumna Anna Clark.

ELIZABETH SCHMUHL is a multidisciplinary artist–writer, dancer, and painter– and the author of Premonitions (Wayne State University Press). She illustrates essays for The Rumpus, has taught writing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and worked in digital development at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. She is currently Shamel Pitts’ Marketing and Campaign Manager and works at U-M; she is also an RC writing alum.

KELLY FORDON’S work has appeared in The Florida Review, The Kenyon Review (KRO), Rattle and various other journals. Her novel-in-stories, Garden for the Blind, was chosen as a 2016 Michigan Notable Book among other awards. On the Street Where We Live, a one-act play adapted from her poetry was chosen for the 2018 Dream Up Festival in New York. She is the author of three award-winning poetry chapbooks and a full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House (Kattywompus Press 2019). www.kellyfordon.com

Semester in Detroit’s Winter 2019 Detroiters Speaker Series: Imagining New Notions of Security @ Cass Corridor Commons
Apr 11 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Each week will feature different Detroit-based speakers and guests who will explore the given topic and engage the students through a combination of formal remarks, presentations, and public discussion. Light dinner provided; free transportation from Ann Arbor to Detroit; public welcome and encouraged to attend.

Apr
12
Fri
Ann Arbor Women’s Group: Laughing For a Cause Comedy Show @ Piper Hall, Zion Lutheran Church
Apr 12 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Join us for an evening of laughter and fun as the Ann Arbor Women’s Group brings you some of the best comedians from around the country. All proceeds will be used to keep A2WG women’s recovery event’s free, low-cost and/or scholarship based, and provide funding for our free childcare program. So bring your friends and family and join us to Laugh for a Cause!

Performers:

Billy Ray Bauer (Headliner)-

From skewed descriptions of growing up in Detroit in the sixties, to the gory details of raising four boys in the new millennium, Billy Ray will leave you laughing and exhausted from his ordeal.
Add to the mix some off the wall impressions and dialects, and you have an idea of an evening with Billy Ray.

Billy Ray has been a repeat guest on the Bob and Tom Show heard across America. He’s also been heard on the Dick Purtan radio show in Detroit and Billy Ray was named best local comedian of the year by Hour Detroit magazine for 2017. Billy Ray’s jokes have appeared in Reader’s Digest and one was among their top 50 jokes for 2005. Billy Ray has appeared with Drew Carey, Tim Allen, The Smothers Brothers, Lewis Black, Doug Stanhope, and many other great comedians! (website)

Kate Brindle (Opening Act)- 

Described as “smart,” “original,” and “hilarious,” Kate Brindle is a unique breath of fresh air on the comedy scene.

Kate has performed her sarcastic yet upbeat and spunky style of comedy on the Canadian Broadcast Channel, Cox Cable, and Comcast Cable.  She advanced in the California’s Funniest Female Contest, and was featured in the Oddball Comedy Festival and International Great Plains Comedy Festival.  She’s also opened for Louie Anderson, Dave Attell, Bill Burr, Kevin Nealon, Kevin Pollak, and Sarah Silverman.

An audience favorite, Kate brings to the stage her quick wit and impeccable timing.  Whether she’s talking about her family or making quirky observations of everyday life, Kate continues to charm crowds with her witty and sassy brand of humor.

Catch this rising star while you can! (website)

Recovery Speaker:

Elizabeth Reader, Milford, MI (Recovery Speaker)- Liz is a person in long-term recovery. She got sober 10-11-01 working a 12 step program. She describes herself as, “fun, a little insane, friendly, helpful and a great friend.”

Liz is very active in the recovery community, an inspiring speaker, and will open the show by sharing her recovery story with us. 

The Ann Arbor Women’s Group strengthens women’s sobriety through fun and informative events, workshops and retreats. We help women in recovery connect with other recovering women in Washtenaw County, Michigan. We are not a rehab, detox or transitional housing organization. A2WG is unique in our mission.

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