Shakespeare's The Tempest

Shakespeare's epic tale of magic, intrigue and romance on a faraway island is being performed with actors and marionettes. Directed by faculty member Tracy Bersley, The Tempest is a senior thesis project of theater student Lily Akerman with marionettes created by senior visual arts student Samantha Ritter. The show will run Friday through Sunday, February 15-17 at 8:00 p.m. in the Marie and Edward Matthews '53 Acting Studio at 185 Nassau Street. Tickets are $12 general admission, $10 students and seniors. View the trailer here.

Author John Kelly Lectures on "How the Irish Famine Invented the Modern World"

Author John Kelly will present a lecture entitled, "How the Irish Famine Invented the Modern World" on Friday, February 15 at 4:30 p.m. at the Lewis Center for the Arts' James M. Stewart Theater at 185 Nassau Street. The lecture is part of a series presented by Princeton University's Fund for Irish Studies. The event is free and open to the public.

Photo by Laura Pedrick

Spring Dance Festival

Students in the Program in Dance will perform works by internationally recognized choreographers Karole Armitage, Zvi Gotheiner, and Mark Morris, and two new works by Raja Kelly and Laura Peterson created with dance students. Princeton alumnus Silas Riener '06, a former member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, returns to campus to stage a special MinEvent for Princeton, a curated compilation of Cunningham choreography with new music created and performed by PLOrk (Princeton Laptop Orchestra) in the Department of Music. Performances will take place on Friday, February 22 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, February 23 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, February 24 at 1:00 p.m. in the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center. Tickets are $15 reserved seating; $10 students and seniors. View the trailer here.

Conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning Poets

U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey and Princeton's Tracy K. Smith, Assistant Professor in Creative Writing, will hold a public conversation at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 28, in the Chancellor Green Rotunda. A book signing and reception will follow the conversation. This event, co-sponsored by the Lewis Center and the Center for African American Studies, is free and open to the public.

not me you but it is me too
A Senior Thesis exhibition by Polly Korbel

The Spring season of Visual Arts senior thesis exhibitions kicks off with a number of performance artworks created by senior certificate student Polly Korbel. She will hold six separate performances over the duration of her exhibition, which runs from February 28 through March 8. On February 28 at 7:00 p.m. she will present Nailed; March 3 at 1:00 p.m., Sledgehammer; March 5 at 1:30 p.m., Class; March 6 at 5:00 p.m., Wrap; March 7 at 1:30 p.m., Class, and March 8 at 12:30 p.m., Come. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, February 28 from 7-9:00 p.m. in the Lucas Gallery at 185 Nassau Street. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Conversation with Award-winning Playwright Amy Herzog: March 5, 2013

Amy Herzog, award-winning playwright of 4,000 Miles, After the Revolution and Belleville will discuss her most recent work, The Great God Pan, which mixes inquiry into American history with issues of family cohesion, memory, and the future. Herzog is the recipient of both the Whiting Writers Award and the Helen Merrill Award, and her family history-inspired drama 4,000 Miles won the 2012 Obie Award for Best New American Play. The conversation will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5 in 106 McCormick Hall. This event, co-sponsored by the Lewis Center, the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies and the Department of History, is free and open to the public.

Photo by Zack DeZon

Princeton Poetry Festival: March 15-16, 2013

Princeton's biennial Poetry Festival is back! The Festival features an international line-up of poets including Gabeba Baderoon (South Africa), Bei Dao (China), Stephen Dunn (U.S.), Sheriff Ghale (Ghana), Jorie Graham (U.S.), Lizzie Hutton '95 (U.S.), Amit Majmudar (U.S.), Bejan Matur (Turkey), Don Paterson (Scotland), Gary Whitehead (U.S.), Xi Chuan (China), and Monica Youn '93 (U.S.). The New Jersey State Finals of the national Poetry Out Loud program will kick-off the Festival on Friday, March 15. Watch for more details to come in future newsletters.

Su Friedrich's Film Gut Renovation at Berlin Film Festival and Film Forum

Gut Renovation, a new film written, directed and shot by Su Friedrich, Professor of Visual Arts in the Lewis Center, will receive its international premiere at this year's Berlin Film Festival as part of the Panorama programme. In the film, Friedrich and co-writer Cathy Quinlan record how Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood has changed from when they arrived in 1989 to the "rich-hipster haven" it has become. Gut Renovation will also run at the Film Forum at 209 West Houston Street in New York City from March 6-12, 2013. Watch the trailer here.

Steven Mackey and Rinde Eckert to Perform at Ecstatic Music Festival ^®

Music Department Chair Steven Mackey will perform along with Rinde Eckert, Lecturer in Theater at the Lewis Center during the Ecstatic Music Festival ^® in New York on Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Mackey and Eckert are longtime collaborators in the band Big Farm and will present songs from their debut album in addition to a newly commissioned work by Eckert. The JACK Quartet will also perform an acclaimed piece by Mackey. To learn more about the festival or to order tickets, click here.

R. N. Sandberg's Comedy Roundelay at Passage Theater

Roundelay: A Comedy, written by Lecturer in Theater R.N. Sandberg and directed by Adam Immerwahr, is a wild, multi-character, globe-hopping tale of people trying to make love happen. Roundelay will run at Passage Theater's Mill Hill Playhouse at 205 East Front Street in Trenton, New Jersey from March 21 through April 7, 2013. Performances will be held Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. as well as on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. For more information or to reserve tickets, click here.

The Lewis Center for the Arts encompasses Princeton University's academic programs in creative writing, dance, theater, and visual arts, as well as the interdisciplinary Princeton Atelier. The Center represents a major initiative of President Shirley M. Tilghman to fully embrace the arts as an essential part of the educational experience for all who study and teach at Princeton. Over 100 diverse public performances, exhibitions, readings, and lectures are offered each year, most of them free. For more information about the Lewis Center for the Arts visit princeton.edu/arts.