RC Players is thrilled to present Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit as this semester’s full-length production.
Blithe Spirit is a farcical play that follows Charles Condomine, a novelist who invites a medium to his home in order to gather information for his latest novel. However, this quickly backfires: as a result of the encounter, Charles finds himself haunted by his mischievous first wife, Elvira. Throughout the play, Elvira does her best to undermine Charles’s relationship with his current wife Ruth, who cannot see or hear her. Hijinks ensue, and Charles must rely on the eccentric Madame Arcati to help the spirits pass on. The play looks at marriage, gender roles, and dealing with past mistakes, all with a supernatural twist.
Performances will take place in the Keene Theater, located in the basement of East Quadrangle, Friday March 16 and Saturday March 17 at 8 p.m.
Admission is pay what you can, which can mean FREE!
RC Players is thrilled to present Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit as this semester’s full-length production.
Blithe Spirit is a farcical play that follows Charles Condomine, a novelist who invites a medium to his home in order to gather information for his latest novel. However, this quickly backfires: as a result of the encounter, Charles finds himself haunted by his mischievous first wife, Elvira. Throughout the play, Elvira does her best to undermine Charles’s relationship with his current wife Ruth, who cannot see or hear her. Hijinks ensue, and Charles must rely on the eccentric Madame Arcati to help the spirits pass on. The play looks at marriage, gender roles, and dealing with past mistakes, all with a supernatural twist.
Performances will take place in the Keene Theater, located in the basement of East Quadrangle, Friday March 16 and Saturday March 17 at 8 p.m.
Admission is pay what you can, which can mean FREE!
U-M drama students in Kate Mendeloff’s play production seminar direct and perform present several short farces by contemporary playwright David Ives.
8-9 p.m., Keene Theatre, East Quad, 701 East University. Free. 647-4354.
Mar. 6 & 20. Open mike storytelling competition sponsored by The Moth, the NYC-based nonprofit storytelling organization that also produces a weekly public radio show. Each month 10 storytellers are selected at random from among those who sign up to tell a 3-5 minute story on the monthly theme. Mar. themes: “Manners” (Mar. 6) & “Aftermath” (Mar. 20). The 3 teams of judges are recruited from the audience. Monthly winners compete in a semiannual Grand Slam. Space limited, so it’s smart to arrive early.
7:30-9 p.m. (doors open and sign-up begins at 6 p.m.), Greyline, 100 N. Ashley. $8. 764-5118.
Drama students from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina State University present a program of short theatrical pieces, dance, and music as part of a cultural exchange program led by U-M drama professor Ashley Lucas.
8-9 p.m., Keene Theatre, East Quad, 701 East University. Free. 647-4354.
Three authors discuss how their fiction transforms home into character. How do writers use assumptions about familiar places to find the unexpected and surprising? When is a hometown the whole trouble, and also the last, best hope for change? We’ll also talk about how the unique landscape of the upper Midwest inspires our fiction.
Prior to writing fiction and poetry, Kelly Fordon worked at the NPR member station in Detroit and for National Geographic magazine. Her fiction, poetry, and book reviews have appeared in The Boston Review, The Florida Review, Flashquake, The Kenyon Review, and various other journals. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks,On the Street Where We Live, which won the 2011 Standing Rock Chapbook Contest, and Tell Me When It Starts to Hurt, which was published by Kattywompus Press in 2013. She received her MFA in fiction writing from Queens University of Charlotte and works for InsideOut Literary Arts in Detroit as a writer-in-residence.
Born and raised in Detroit, Lolita Hernandez is the author of Autopsy of an Engine and Other Stories from the Cadillac Plant, winner of a 2005 PEN Beyond Margins Award. She is also the author of two chapbooks, Quiet Battles and snakecrossing. She is a 2012 Kresge Literary Arts fellow, and her poetry and fiction have appeared in a wide variety of literary publications. After over thirty-three years as a UAW worker at General Motors, she now teaches in the creative writing department in the University of Michigan Residential College.
Laura Hulthen Thomas’s short fiction and essays have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, including The Cimarron Review, Nimrod International Journal, Epiphany, and Witness. She received her MFA in fiction writing from Warren Wilson College. She currently heads the undergraduate creative writing program at the University of Michigan’s Residential College, where she teaches fiction and creative nonfiction.
Readings by writers featured in the 10th annual edition of Prison Creative Arts Project magazine that features work by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated writers.
4 p.m., Pierpont Commons East Room. Free. 615-3204, 647-6771.
Maya Barzilai (modern Herbrew and Jewish culture) and Kathryn Babayan (Iranian history and culture) discuss Barzilai’s new book Golem: Modern Wars and Their Monsters, a monster tour of the Golem narrative across various cultural and historical landscapes.
About the book:
“In the 1910s and 1920s, a “golem cult” swept across Europe and the U.S., later surfacing in Israel. Why did this story of a powerful clay monster molded and animated by a rabbi to protect his community become so popular and pervasive? The golem has appeared in a remarkable range of popular media: from the Yiddish theater to American comic books, from German silent film to Quentin Tarantino movies. This book showcases how the golem was remolded, throughout the war-torn twentieth century, as a muscular protector, injured combatant, and even murderous avenger. This evolution of the golem narrative is made comprehensible by, and also helps us to better understand, one of the defining aspects of the last one hundred years: mass warfare and its ancillary technologies.
12 former inmates perform their new original play exploring alternatives to mass incarceration.
6:30-8 p.m., Keene Theatre, East Quad, 701 East University. Free. 647-4354.
Toastmasters is an international group devoted to helping each other grow in our abilities to give speeches. The Sweetwaters Toastmasters Club meets twice monthly. We are a fun and friendly group! Toastmasters also helps you develop leadership skills if you wish to do that. Come as many times as you want for free, and decide later if you want to join. In the meantime, come make new friends and have fun!
Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea on Washington Street, 123 West Washington Street. Free. 323-286-3999. https://www.facebook.com/groups/TMSweet/
