ARTSVIEW Fall 2019

Center for Creative and Performing Arts 352 Lafayette Street Salem, MA 01970-5353 salemstate.edu/arts

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 130 Salem, MA

DARE TO DISCOVER! November 14: Castle of our Skins A publication of the Center for Creative and Performing Arts at Salem State University

FALL 2019

DARE TO DISCOVER! Salem State’s Center for Creative and Performing Arts provides the arts explorer a singular destination to experience world-class guest artists and award-winning student and faculty performances in dance, music and theatre as well as art exhibitions and spoken word events. Diverse and affordable arts experiences presented in state-of-the-art venues on Boston’s north shore.

SEPTEMBER

September 4 – October 2

Art + Design Faculty Showcase Winfisky Gallery, Ellison Campus Center This annual event features the work of faculty from within Salem State University’s nationally accredited art + design department.

Works by both full-time and adjunct studio faculty in printmaking, painting, design, sculpture, photography, and various other media are exhibited.

September 11 Artists Reception: 6-8 pm Reception co-sponsored by the Center for Research and Creative Activities

Gallery Talks: September 18 and 25, 12:30 – 1:30 pm Secondary Crossing, Benjamin Gross

2

ARTSVIEW Center for Creative and Performing Arts

Soundings East Volume 40 Spring 2018

NFICTION

gia Park k Scozzari ue Seigel

September 10

Soundings East

Soundings East Release Party 7-8:30 pm, Viking 123

Volume 41

Join the contributors and editors of Salem State University’s literary magazine Soundings East as they celebrate the release of Volume 41. Good conversation, a public reading by select contributors and cake are included!

September 14

An Evening of Dance Featuring Salem State Dance Faculty Betsy Miller and Meghan McLyman with guest artist Ali Kenner Brodsky 7:30 pm | Sophia Gordon Center $20 general / $15 senior / under 18 free Salem State dance faculty Betsy Miller and Meghan McLyman are joined by guest artist Ali Kenner Brodsky for an evening featuring repertory favorites and new works.

Brodsky, artistic director of ali kenner brodsky & co., makes gesturally rich and emotionally driven dance-theater works.

She has had residencies at The Croft: Ground for Art, was a 2018-19 Catalysts artist at the Dance Complex, 2016 Emerging Choreographer at Bates Dance Festival and 2014 recipient of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Choreography Fellowship.

She has received New England States Touring and Dance Fund grants from New England Foundation for the Arts.

Betsy Miller

Meghan McLyman

Nikki Carrara

Spring 2019

TION

neth Gulotta Niqua Lee ence Levey

September 19, 20 and 21

Veterans 10-Minute Play Festival

Ali Kenner Brodsky

September 26

Writers Series: Helena Maria Viramontes 7:30 pm | Viking 123

This inaugural festival features the work of nine writers from across the United States. The goal of this festival is to cultivate a supportive environment for creative exploration in and around the varied experiences that surround the military. Theatre is used to begin a community conversation that builds bridges between the civilian and military worlds. Each evening includes performances of all nine 10-minute plays and post-show conversation about the work.

Helena María Viramontes is the author of Their Dogs Came with Them, a novel, and two previous works of fiction, The Moths and Other Stories and Under the Feet of Jesus, a novel.

Named a Ford Fellow in Literature for 2007 by United States Artists, she has also received the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, a Sundance Institute Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship and a Spirit Award from the California Helena Maria Viramontes Latino Legislative Caucus. Viramontes is Goldwin Smith Professor of English at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, where she is at work on a new novel.

Co-sponsored by Salem State’s Veterans’ Affairs office.

This event is part of Salem State’s Latinx Heritage Month celebration.

7:30 pm | Callan Studio Theatre

salemstate.edu/arts

3

OCTOBER October 9 – 31

ULTRA MEGA Printmaking by Haig Demarjian Artist Talk – October 16, 12:30 pm Reception: October 16, 2-4 pm Gallery Talks: October 2, 23 and 30 – 12:30-1:30 pm Winfisky Gallery, Ellison Campus Center Haig Demarjian, professor of art + design at Salem State, works in media ranging from fine art to commercial illustration to motion picture film. This ULTRA MEGA print series is the first time that he has allowed the many disparate aspects of his work to collide.

A main goal of this body of work was to make prints that would be “too big for your phone”. This artwork doesn’t read effectively in reproduction, can’t be seen all at once and can’t comfortably be swiped-and-scrolled through in the routine Details from “Are We Not Drawn Onward / The Grand Emanation of the way that we now digest images. For example, “Are We Not Golden Braid”, multiple block relief print, Haig Demarjian.

Drawn Onward / The Grand Emanation of the Golden Braid” is a 15-foot long scroll that utilizes more than 30 relief blocks designed as interconnected elements of a sprawling quasinarrative design. It gathers imagery referencing the artist’s lifelong obsessions and is loaded with metaphors and symbols that unlock a baffling world wavering between grave seriousness and utter absurdity. Also on view will be blacklight-reactive screen prints and giant woodcut comic book pages that, upon closer inspection, have their own surprises to reveal.

October 15

Writers Series: Alexandria Peary and Alfred Nicol 4:30-6 pm | MLK Room, Ellison Campus Center

Deborah Schillbach

Alexandria Peary

Alexandria Peary is the author of six books, including The Water Draft (Spuyten Duyvil 2019), Prolific Moment: Theory and Practice of Mindfulness for Writing (Routledge 2018), and Control Bird Alt Delete (University of Iowa Press). Her work has received the Iowa Poetry Prize, the Slope Editions Book Prize, and the Joseph Langland Award from the Academy of American Poets.

Maintaining a dual career in creative writing and composition-rhetoric, she has published over 150 shorter pieces in places including New American Writing, Gettysburg Review, Poetry Daily, the Poetry Foundation, Yale Review, North American Review, Boston Review, and Crazyhorse (literary) as well as College Composition and Communication, Rhetoric Review, and New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing, and Pedagogy (scholarly). She is the history editor for the Journal of Creative Writing Studies and the Head Poetry Reader for Baltic.

Alfred Nicol’s most recent collection of poetry, Animal Psalms, was published in 2016 by Able Muse Press. He has published two other collections, Elegy for Everyone (2009), and Winter Light, which received the 2004 Richard Wilbur Award. His poems have appeared in Poetry, The New England Review, Dark Horse, First Things, Commonweal, The Formalist, The Hopkins Review, Measure and many other literary journals and anthologies. Nicol’s poem “Addendum” was included in the 2018 edition of The Best American Poetry.

4

ARTSVIEW Center for Creative and Performing Arts

Alfred Nicol

Directed by Benny Sato Ambush Sophia Gordon Center $20 general / $15 seniors / under 18 free

GUNPLAY: A Play About America

by Frank Higgins

October 17-19, 7:30 October 20, 2 October 24-26, 7:30 October 27, 2

pm pm pm pm

Through dramatic vignettes—historical, humorous, informative, and poignant—Gunplay’s kaleidoscope of views explores the mystique, the mythologies and the power of guns in American society without taking sides or supporting any particular perspective. It is a play that should catalyze rich discussion on the constellation of issues around guns, gun safety, and gun violence Post-show conversation, Sunday, October 20.

Guest artist Benny Sato Ambush is an SDC* freelance director, educator, consultant, former artistic director of two professional theatres, and published commentator. He recently served nine years as Senior Distinguished Producing Director in Residence of Emerson Stage and holds numerous directing credits at professional regional theaters and universities throughout the U.S. and the Boston region. He is a member of the National Theatre Conference and an Emeritus Trustee of Theatre Communications Group (TCG). *Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Benny Sato Ambush

Contains mature themes. May be inappropriate for audience members under the age of 13.

October 30 – November 2

White Witch: A One-Act Monodrama for Contralto and Percussion Music by Brian Schober Libretto by Joan Ross Sorkin Directed by Jerry L. Johnson Featuring Holly Zagaria and Abe Finch 7:30 pm | Callan Studio Theatre $20 general / $15 senior / under 18 free The White Witch is based on the 19th century Jamaican legend of Annie Palmer, a woman notoriously known as “The White Witch of Rose Hall.” It is a tale of voodoo, murder, and revenge, but above all, hubris that ultimately receives its just reward. Salem State theatre professor Jerry L. Johnson directs. Salem State music department voice faculty Holly Zagaria plays the title role, accompanied by music department percussion faculty Abe Finch.

Contains mature themes. May be inappropriate for audience members under the age of 13.

October 28 conversation with the composer at 11 am, Recital Hall. salemstate.edu/arts

5

NOVEMBER November 6 – 27

Morgan Petitpas Honors in Art: Sculpture Artist Talk – November 13, 12:30 pm Reception: November 13, 2-4 pm Gallery Talk: November 20, 12:30-1:30 pm Winfisky Gallery, Ellison Campus Center “My art-making process is fueled by trains of thought, shifting tracks frequently and taking me in unexpected directions.

Themes I gravitate towards include balance, the unconscious mind, mathematics, dependence, sensuality, isolation, spirituality, consumerism, and a sense of wonder. I try to maintain a level of ambiguity to allow the viewer to bring their own associations and experiences to the work.

Born in New Orleans and raised in Ipswich, MA, I have been actively making art for five years.

A childhood spent in the woods and at antique stores led me to develop a strong fascination with strange and beautiful objects. When I’m not making art I’m memorizing pi, studying mycology, leaving notes in books, and finding four-leafed clovers.”

The Magnet, Morgan Petitpas

November 7

Writers Series: Diane Les Becquets Diane Les Becquets is the award winning author of five novels, including the national bestselling Breaking Wild (Penguin Random House, 2016) which was selected as one of the ten most addictive books of the year by Kirkus, was the recipient of the New Hampshire Outstanding Fiction Award, the Colorado Book Award in Fiction, and was a finalist for the Reading the West Literary Award in Fiction.

Publisher’s Weekly calls her newest novel, The Last Woman in the Forest, released in March, “an elegantly written Diane Les Becquets thriller.” And Booklist calls it “…an intricately woven, atmospheric story that will keep readers wondering until the end.” Les Becquets, a former professor of English and MFA director, and is a frequent speaker and lecturer across the country.

6

ARTSVIEW Center for Creative and Performing Arts

Nathaniel Boesch

7:30 pm | MLK Room, Ellison Campus Center

November 14

Castle of our Skins Lecture: Fostering Cultural Curiosity: Arts + YOU + Community 3 pm | Recital Hall

Robert Torres Photography

Ashleigh Gordon, Castle of our Skins’s artistic and executive director, will present a lecture on cultural inclusion in arts programming. She will share her insights from the field and discuss issues of cultural representation, diversity and inclusion, creating new platforms that challenge cultural perceptions, and the need for us ALL to do the same.

Concert:

Romantic by Nature 7:30 pm | Recital Hall $20 general/$15 senior/under 18 free

Castle of our Skins

Castle of our Skins, a concert and educational series dedicated to celebrating Black artistry through music, makes its Salem State debut with “Romantic By Nature.” Richly indulgent and thoroughly romantic, this program includes a newly unearthed string quartet by Florence Price and the Neo-Romantic flare of Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in his monstrous Clarinet Quintet. Post-concert reception with artists.

November 21

University Chamber Orchestra 7:30 pm | Recital Hall | Free The University Chamber Orchestra is a full symphonic ensemble comprised of both student and community musicians.

Under the direction of Salem State Professor Mary-Jo Grenfell the ensemble performs a wide-ranging repertoire.

Top Girls

by Caryl Churchill Directed by Julie Kiernan

November November December December

21-23, 7:30 pm 24, 2 pm 5-7, 7:30 pm 8, 2 pm

When Top Girls first debuted it was a ground-breaking feminist play, winning an Obie Award in 1983. Thirty seven years later playwright Caryl Churchill’s work still resonates relevance as gender stereotypes and inequities have not vanished. Society still expects females to be selfless caretakers who sacrifice their own goals, desires and ambitions for the greater good of others. The public square is filled with voices clamoring to regulate a women’s personal choices about her body, motherhood, relationships, and vocation.

The play opens as Marlene, having just received a promotion at work, throws herself a surreal and celebratory dinner party.

In attendance are a cacophony of deceased female heroines come to wish her well, sharing their own stories of success and sacrifice. When Marlene returns to her reality in acts 2 and 3, her co-workers, family and acquaintances are all reminiscent of these dinner guests. Churchill’s witty dialogue leaves the audience simultaneously laughing and gasping at the ridiculous horror of Marlene’s reality as a “Top Girl.”

Sophia Gordon Center $20 general / $15 seniors / under 18 free

salemstate.edu/arts

7

DECEMBER December 2

Undergraduate Student Reading 11 am | MLK Room, ECC What are Salem State students writing in their creative and professional writing courses? Come find out at this annual reading that spotlights the work of our student writers. Readers will include editors from Salem State’s national literary magazine, Soundings East and its e-zine, Red Skies. This year’s reading will also include excerpts from the winning essays from the 2019 First Year Reading Experience (FYRE), The Book of Unknown Americans.

December 4 – 18

Art + Design Open Call Exhibition and Sale Closing Reception: December 18, 2-4 pm with music provided by DJ Zachary Schoettle Winfisky Gallery, ECC

Personalize your digs!!

Why settle for a mass-produced poster or tchotchke (nick-nack), when, for a few dollars more, you can own an ORIGINAL artwork (made by someone you may know)! Please stop in and view the amazing work (all reasonably priced to take home) by students from across the university community.

December 14, 7:30 pm December 15, 2 pm

Salem Dance Ensemble Sophia Gordon Center $20 general / 15 senior / under 18 free The Salem Dance Ensemble fall concert features a broad array of original work by student choreographers, faculty and guest artists. This concert will feature the premiere of a new work choreographed by fall choreographer-inresidence Jeannette Neil.

8

ARTSVIEW Center for Creative and Performing Arts

STUDENT MUSIC ENSEMBLE CONCERTS Jazz, choral music, world music, contemporary, classical, and more — there is something for everyone at our end of semester music ensemble concerts!

December 3

Altavoce Treble Chorus and World Music Ensemble December 5

Small Music Ensembles December 9

University Band December 10

University Chorus and Chamber Singers December 11

Jazz Bands All concerts are at 7:30 pm | Recital Hall, CC Free

SPRING 2019 HIGHLIGHTS DANCE January 16, 7:30 pm – Ian Berg/Subject: Matter

MUSIC January 30, 7:30 pm – Chameleon Arts Ensemble presents “Quartet for the End of Time”

THEATRE February 13-23 – Bedroom Farce by Alan Ayckbourn April 9-19 – Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare salemstate.edu/arts

9

FOR YOUR INFORMATION TICKETS Ticketed events include: dance concerts, music guest artists and theatre productions.

Tickets: $20 general/$15 seniors and non-Salem State students 18 and above/under 18 admitted free.

Admission is free to writers series events, student concerts, the Winfisky Gallery, and the 2019 Veterans’ Play Festival.

Salem State students are admitted free with their ID to all arts events.

Group rates are available for groups of 10 or more.

SALEM NIGHTS! Salem residents admitted free with ID Fall 2019 Salem nights are: October 18, 7:30 pm (Gunplay) November 22, 7:30 pm (Top Girls) December 14, 7:30 pm (Salem Dance Ensemble) Advance reservations may be made by calling the box office.

BOX OFFICE

PARKING

Online: salemstatetickets.com

Visit salemstate.edu/community/ campus-map

Phone: 978.542.6365

VENUES Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts 356 Lafayette Street North Campus

Callan Studio Theatre 356 Lafayette Street North Campus

Winfisky Gallery Hours: Monday through Friday from 10 am – 4 pm Ellison Campus Center (ECC) 352 Lafayette Street North Campus

Recital Hall 71 Loring Avenue Central Campus (CC)

O’Keefe Complex 225 Canal Street

10

ARTSVIEW Center for Creative and Performing Arts

WANT TO KNOW MORE? Prelude Conversations Join us for conversations with members of the creative team, Salem State faculty and other guests who will lead patrons in an enriching discussion about the event you are about to see.

Benjamin Rose Photography

Fall 2019 Preludes September 14 – An Evening of Dance October 24 – Gunplay: A Play About America October 30 – The White Witch December 5 – Top Girls Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts Rehearsal Room, 6:30 pm

Gallery Talks Talks take place on selected Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30 pm in the Winfisky Gallery.

Fall 2019 Gallery Talks with Gallery Director Ken Reker September 18 and 25 October 2, 23 and 30 November 20

COMMUNITY Community Chorus The Salem State Community Chorus is open to anyone over age 18 who loves to sing.

No audition and no experience necessary.

Rehearsals begin Tuesday, September 10.

Visit salemstate.edu/community-chorus for additional information.

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST! Subject line Arts Email at arts@salemstate.edu

SUPPORT THE ARTS! We do our best work with the support of alumni and friends. Your donation helps us educate the artists of tomorrow as well as presenting world-class visual and performing arts events.

Visit participate.salemstate.edu/give. salemstate.edu/arts 11

FALL 2019 ART

CREATIVE WRITING

September 4 – October 2 Art + Design Faculty Showcase M- F, 10 am – 4 pm Winfisky Gallery, ECC

Spring 2019

Soundings East CLAIRE KEYES POETRY AWARD WINNER Threa Almontaser CLAIRE KEYES UNDERGRADUATE POETRY AWARD WINNER

Justin Allain

Brooke Delp Angelica Starling FLASH NONFICTION AWARD WINNER

FICTION

Gale Acuff O-Jeremiah Agbaakin Carl Boon Yu-Han Chao Harley Anastasia Chapman Barbara Daniels Holly Day R. H. Desai Mariya Deykute Sean Thomas Dougherty Jessica Goodfellow Emily Hockaday Susan Johnson Mary Kasimor Patrick Kurth Kate LaDew Rustin Larson Kevin McCarthy Erika Meitner Qi’ang Meng Sarah Morris Marta Palandri Varsha Saraiyah-Shah Caitlin Thomson Erin Wilson Joe Woodward

Kenneth Gulotta Ra’Niqua Lee Laurence Levey

Volume 40 Spring 2018

Georgia Park Frank Scozzari Shizue Seigel

Volume 41

salemstate.edu/soundingseast

$10

October 16 Artist Talk: ULTRA MEGA Printmaking 12:30 pm Reception: 2-4 pm Winfisky Gallery, ECC November 6 – 27 Morgan Petitpas/ Honors in Art: Sculpture M- F, 10 am – 4 pm Winfisky Gallery, ECC November 13 Artist Talk: Morgan Petitpas 12:30 pm Reception: 2-4 pm Winfisky Gallery, ECC December 4 – 18 Art + Design Exhibition and Sale M- F, 10 am – 4 pm Winfisky Gallery, ECC

September 26 Helena Maria Viramontes 7:30 pm Viking 123 Free

November 7 Alexandra Bellar: Modern Master Class 12:15-1:30 pm Dance Studio 303 O’Keefe Complex

October 15 Alexandria Peary and Alfred Nicol 4:30 pm MLK Room, ECC

November 25 Dances in the Raw 7 pm Dance Studio 303 O’Keefe Complex

November 7 Diane Les Becquets 7:30 pm MLK Room, ECC

December 14 Salem Dance Ensemble Concert 7:30 pm Sophia Gordon Center $20 general/$15 senior/ under 18 free

The Recital Hall is located on Central Campus (CC).

ECC is the Ellison Campus Center which is located on North Campus.

12

September 14 An Evening of Dance: Betsy Miller, Meghan McLyman and Ali Kenner Brodsky 7:30 pm Sophia Gordon Center $20 general/$15 senior/ under 18 free

November 14 Romantic by Nature Concert by Castle of our Skins 7:30 pm Recital Hall, CC $20 general/$15 senior/ under 18 free November 21 Chamber Orchestra 7:30 pm Recital Hall, CC December 3, 7:30 pm Altavoce Treble Chorus and World Music Ensemble 7:30 pm Recital Hall, CC December 5, 7:30 pm Small Music Ensembles 7:30 pm Recital Hall, CC

December 2 Undergraduate Student Reading 11 am MLK Room, ECC Free

THEATRE September 19, 20 and 21 Veterans 10 Minute Play Festival 7:30 pm Callan Studio Theatre Free October 17-19, 7:30 pm October 20, 2 pm Gunplay: A Play About America

by Frank Higgins Sophia Gordon Center $20 general/$15 senior/ under 18 free

NONFICTION

October 9 – October 31 ULTRA MEGA: Printmaking

by Haig Demarjian M- F, 10 am – 4 pm Winfisky Gallery, ECC

December 18 Closing Reception 2-4 pm Winfisky Gallery, ECC

November 14 Lecture: Fostering Cultural Curiosity: Arts + YOU + Community 3 pm Recital Hall, CC

Soundings East

September 11 Artist Reception 6 – 8 pm Winfisky Gallery, ECC Robbie Gamble

September 13 Ali Kenner Brodsky Masterclass Dance Composition 1:40-2:55 pm Dance Studio 303 O’Keefe Complex

MUSIC

Soundings East

CLAIRE KEYES UNDERGRADUATE POETRY AWARD RUNNERS-UP

POETRY

September 10 Soundings East Release Party 7 pm Viking 123 Free

DANCE

December 15 Salem Dance Ensemble Concert 2 pm Sophia Gordon Center $20 general/$15 senior/ under 18 free

December 9, 7:30 pm University Band 7:30 pm Recital Hall, CC December 11, 7:30 pm Jazz Band 7:30 pm Recital Hall, CC December 13 Salem State Community Chorus 7:30 pm Recital Hall, CC

October 30 – November 2, 7:30 pm White Witch

by Brian Schober and Joan Ross Sorkin Callan Studio Theatre $20 general/$15 senior/ under 18 free November 21- 23, 7:30 pm November 24, 2 pm Top Girls

by Caryl Churchill Sophia Gordon Center $20 general/$15 senior/ under 18 free December 5-7, 7:30 pm December 8, 2 pm Top Girls

by Caryl Churchill Sophia Gordon Center $20 general/$15 senior/ under 18 free ARTSVIEW is a publication of Salem State University’s Center for Creative and Performing Arts (CCPA)

Salem State University is committed to equal access for students, staff and visitors, and encourages all to participate in its programs and activities. People who anticipate needing accommodations due to a disability, or who have questions about access, may contact disability services at access@salemstate.edu.

ARTSVIEW Center for Creative and Performing Arts

October 24-26, 7:30 pm October 27, 2 pm Gunplay: A Play About America

by Frank Higgins Sophia Gordon Center $20 general/$15 senior/ under 18 free

352 Lafayette Street, Salem, MA 01970 978.542.7890 salemstate.edu/arts Karen Gahagan, Director

salemstatetickets.com 978.542.6365