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Campus Events: September, 1996 |
Friday, September 6
Aurora, New York - The AIDS Theatre Project will put a human face on the AIDS crisis with the play, This AIDS Thing on Friday, September 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Barler Auditorium on the Wells College campus. The event is free and open to the public.
The company is made up of actors - men and women, black and white, young and old, gay and straight - who are HIV positive or have full-blown AIDS. Together, they are living proof that people don't get AIDS and die, they have AIDS and live. Through the performance they help people understand what living with AIDS is all about.
Artistic Director Bill Partlow explains, "We put a human face on AIDS to show that you can't pick someone with AIDS out of a crowd."
The AIDS Theatre Project offers a unique and personal bridge to an enlightened understanding of the AIDS crisis. In a series of monologues, each cast member tells their own personal story of how he or she contracted the disease. The 40 minute play is followed by a question and answer period.
Partlow says every performance is very personal for the actors. "This is a very intimate performance. We like as much interaction with the audience as possible. We like to discuss things that you don't understand about our lives, to educate you so that you don't wind up in the same situation as we did."
ATP performs 50 to 75 shows a year in high schools, colleges, hospitals, libraries, for religious groups and AIDS organizations. They have been featured on the "Today Show" and "CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kurault."
The group started in 1987 with a play called People With AIDS, written by Seth Glassman. This AIDS Thing was developed and directed by Bill Partlow and premiered in 1993.
Tuesday, September 10
Aurora, New York - Singer Alison Pipitone will perform at Wells College on Tuesday, September 10 at 8:00 p.m. in the Sommer Student Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Pipitone's debut album, "Life in the First Person," has been very successful since it went on sale earlier this year. She naturally captured many diverse styles from country rock to alternative rock.
Pop is the cornerstone of Pipitone's music, but in "Life in the First Person" she easily combines both country rock and alternative rock. She has been called "an original and a pure joy to hear." She has been compared to country rock singer Maria McKee and Sheryl Crow.
A native of Buffalo, she later moved to San Diego where she wrote and sang with the rock group The Monas. Since returning to the Buffalo area two years ago, Pipitone has been a constant presence in the local music scene. In 1995 she won the outstanding female vocalist award from Artvoice, Buffalo's alternative entertainment magazine.
Wednesday, September 18
On Wednesday, September 18 at 8:00 p.m., the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club will perform Shakespeare's As You Like It in Phipps Auditorium at Wells College. The event is free and open to the public.
As You Like It, the last of Shakespeare's comedies to have a happy ending, is about four couples in their hilarious and often confused games of courtship. It is one of Shakespeare's most enduring comedies, and its innocence and charm have been of consistent delight.
"As You Like It represents a communion that all can partake in - a reciprocal exchange between actors, characters, and audience," says the group's director Tom Guard. "It is by involving the spectators in the performance that I hope to extend the stage to the four walls of the theatre."
Since its creation in 1855, the Amateur Dramatic Club (ADC) has provided a unique learning opportunity for those who have gone on to become some of the greatest names in British and international theatre, as well as for those who just wanted to have fun.
The ADC is England's oldest university dramatic society. They are in their third year of touring the United States, and they perform about 60 live shows per year.
In 1993, three ADC shows, including the eventual winner, were shortlisted for the Guardian International Student Drama Award at the Edinburgh Festival. At the National Student Drama Festival their honors included best director and best actor.
Friday, September 20
Johnny Vegas, a roots rock band formed from the remnants of an
acoustical trio at Oswego State College, will perform at 8:00
p.m. on Friday, September 20, at the Athletic Association House
on the Wells College campus. The event is free and open to the
public.
Over the last several years, the group has developed into one of the most popular and sought-after bands. Their riveting show spreads their appeal across musical boundaries. During the last year, Johnny Vegas has played with such diverse groups as 10,000 Maniacs, the Caulfields, and Better Than Ezra.
Johnny Vegas is winning over fans across the country with its debut release, Dog. The album, recorded on a small farm outside of Rochester, New York, was named for the band's dog, Ryan, who travels on the road with them.
The band spends much of its time on the road, having played over
150 shows in 1995. Their second album is scheduled for release
in October.
Wednesday, September 25
Actress Janice Perry a.k.a. Gal will perform her one-woman show, "Devil With a Blue Dress," on Wednesday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m. in Phipps Auditorium inside Macmillan Hall. Tickets are $2 for students and $6 for the general public.
Perry has been touring England, Europe, and the United States with her one-woman theatrical performances since 1982. Her short comedic videos have aired on Public Television in the United States, the BBC in England, and RTL TV in Germany.
Perry has been called everything from bizarre and brainy to a powerful and funny woman. "Devil with a Blue Dress," her latest show, premiered in Germany in 1995. She toured through Germany and Switzerland before bringing the show to the United States.
In addition to her solo performances, Perry has also performed in several Shakespearean productions and has lectured on the art of performance. This versatile performer has sung in several musical groups including an all-women jazz quintet, an a cappella group, and a heavy metal oldies trio.
Perry's performance is sponsored by the Wells College Arts and Lectures Committee.
Thursday, September 26
On Thursday, September 26 at 8:00 pm author Manette Ansay will read from her work in the Art Exhibit Room of Macmillan Hall on the Wells campus. The event is free and open to the public.
Ansay has recently published her second novel entitled Sister, the story of a young Catholic girl's struggle with family demons. The novel takes both character and reader on an emotional journey to find herself and reconcile with her past. Author James McConkey calls Sister "a moving, convincing, and compassionate account of our common humanity in these closing years of a century and a millennium."
Ms. Ansay is a former fellow and lecturer at Cornell University. She is currently teaching English at Vanderbilt University. She is the recipient of the Pushcart Prize, the Nelson Algren Prize, and a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. Her works have appeared in many publications, including The Pushcart Prize XIX: Best of the Small Presses.
The event is sponsored by the Visiting Writers Series with the assistance of a grant from the New York State Council of the Arts.
September 4 through 26
Aurora, New York - "Wake Up Little Susie: Pregnancy and Power Before Roe v. Wade," a three dimensional mixed-media show, and "Warnings," a series of computer photomontages will be on display in the String Room Gallery in Main Building on the Wells College campus September 4 through 26. The event is free and open to the public.
"Wake Up Little Susie" explores pregnancy and race in postwar and pre-Roe v. Wade America. The artists, Cathleen Meadows, Kay Obering, and Kathy Hutton, use the chess game and adaptations of chess pieces to represent the positions occupied by unwed mothers, other unwillingly pregnant women, and those who responded to these women in the decades just before the legalization of abortion.
The installation is based on the books Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe v. Wade and The Abortionist: A Woman Against the Law both by historian Rickie Solinger. Wake Up Little Susie is an award winning study of single pregnancy, race, and the politics of female fertility in the United States in the mid-20th century. The book won the Lerner-Scott Prize from the Organization of American Historians, the Emily Toth Award from the American Popular Culture Association, and was named a "Notable Book of 1992" by the New York Times. The Abortionist was named a Critic's Choice book of 1994 by the Washington Post.
According to Solinger's books, in the post World War II era - 1945-65, unwed mothers - both black and white, were defined as deviants threatening the social order. White girls and black girls were treated very differently by their families, by social agencies, and by the government. A white single mother was diagnosed as psychologically disturbed, banished from her family, and placed in a maternity home where she could be hidden. The "experts" told her she had to give her baby up for adoption, or her life - and her baby's - would be ruined.
A black single mother typically stayed within her family and community and kept her child to raise herself, often with the help of her family. But white politicians and policy-makers went to extreme lengths to portray this mother as maternally irresponsible, only interested in having babies to increase her welfare check. They routinely promoted policies that made it difficult for black unwed mothers to get housing, public assistance, education, and jobs.
"Wake Up Little Susie" puts these experiences into social and political context. It suggests that politicians, the popular media, social service professionals, and the public at large incorporated girls and women into the political arena and assigned them political value by race. It shows how women's bodies and their reproductive capacity have been used to promote political agendas hostile to female autonomy and racial equality.
"Warnings," by Lisa Link was inspired by the Supreme Court's 1989 Webster v. R.H.S. decision, and the acts of violence on women's health clinics over the last several years. Link says her research shows that anti-choice groups have a great deal in common with the early Nazi party in Europe.
"In 1931 Germany had one of the strongest women's movements in the world," Link explains. "Over 500,000 people marched for reproductive freedom in Berlin. The elected Nazi party outlawed abortion, converted health clinics to government propaganda centers, started a national birth drive and supported sterilization of 'undesirable' population groups. In both the 1930's and the 1990's, anti-choice groups display fear of rising minority birthrates, terror at the growing political/economic power of women, and support for increased international military dominance."
Gallery hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Wednesday evenings, and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. An opening reception will be held in honor of the artists on Wednesday, September 4 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
September 21 through November 3
The Wells College Book Arts Center presents "Private Celebrations," a retrospective exhibit of the visual journals, book art, and mail art of Mary Ann McNeil. The show runs from September 21 through November 3 in the Long Library on the Wells College campus. The event is free and open to the public.
The artist's sudden and untimely death in 1994 left a large body of work as yet unseen. McNeil, a native of Ithaca, was a prolific and inventive artist known among many colleagues for her ability to improvise fluidly across any media. This exhibit celebrates her joyous experimentation in the creation of visual journals, artists' books, and mail art.
McNeil's work has appeared in gallery and museum shows throughout the United States, Canada, and Italy. She was a longtime member of the International Society of Copier Artists and her xerographic and book art contributions to the ISCA Quarterly Print Folio, a limited edition publication, appear in the collections of museums throughout this country and Europe. Her work is in the collection of the Museo International De Electrografia in Cuenca, Spain as well as many private collections. Her writing on visual journal keeping was published internationally. She was long recognized as one of her community's best artists and teachers.
McNeil was active in the Ithaca and Finger Lakes area art organizations. She served on many artistic boards and showed in most of the area galleries. Until her death, she taught classes in water colors at the Ithaca Senior Center.
Library hours are 8:15 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 8:15 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on Sunday. A reception will be held on Saturday, September 21 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
For more information on campus events call Wells College Public Relations at (315) 364-3209
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