Cultural Events

The Spring 2013 Cultural Season

Welcome to the spring season of arts and ideas on the arboretum campus of Elmhurst College. This spring we’re taking a close look at (among other things) the costs and benefits of science and technology. All cultural events are open to the public. Tickets for lectures are $10, and are available online or at the door, depending on availability. For more information or to check ticket availability, call (630) 617-3390.

Jobs, Education and the Economy
The Honorable John Engler, Moderator

Ten days into a new presidential term, four of the region’s foremost business and civic leaders come together to share ideas for building an economy that works for everyone. Moderated by John Engler, the Business Roundtable president and former governor of Michigan, the panel includes three leading CEOs: Thomas A. Kloet of the Toronto Stock Exchange, Douglas R. Oberhelman of Caterpillar, and Desiree Rogers of Johnson Publishing.

The Sixth Annual Elmhurst College Governmental Forum
Wednesday, January 30, 7:30 a.m.
Drury Lane Conference Center, Oakbrook Terrace
Admission $25 (includes full breakfast)

 

Theatre: I Love a Piano
Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
Conceived and Written by Ray Roderick & Michael Berkeley
Directed by Scott Uddenberg and Amy Lyn McDonald

The name Irving Berlin is synonymous with American music. Few people have become woven into the fabric of American culture like Irving Berlin, from “White Christmas” and “God Bless America” to “Alexander's Ragtime Band” and “There's No Business Like Show Business.” The musical revue I Love a Piano is a celebration of Berlin's impact on the people of America. Come join us on this historical journey through America's past, with Irving Berlin's songs as our musical GPS!

Friday–Sunday, February 1–3
Thursday–Saturday, February 7–9
Thursday–Saturday, 8:00 p.m., Sunday, 2:00 p.m.

For more information and tickets, contact the Mill Theatre Box Office at mill@elmhurst.edu or (630) 617-3005.

 

Sustainable Justice for Marginalized Communities
Sylvia Hood Washington

An interdisciplinary scholar trained in medicine, engineering, technology and the environment, Dr. Washington is the author of Packing Them In: An Archaeology of Environmental Racism in Chicago, 1865-1954. She documents the ways that Chicago’s poor, working class and ethnic minority neighborhoods have been subjected disproportionately over decades to pollution and other harmful environmental effects.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Intercultural Lecture
Tuesday, February 12, 4:00 p.m.
Frick Center, Founders Lounge

Theatre: Finding Claire
By Kim Merrill
Directed by Joy Surber

An adult child searches for her biological family and a place to call home after the sudden death of her adoptive mother. Questions of family, teen parenthood and what it means to be a mother encircle Rachel and the family she’s never met.

Thursday–Saturday, February 14–16, 8:00 p.m.

For more information and tickets, contact the Mill Theatre Box Office at mill@elmhurst.edu or (630) 617-3005.

 

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Susan Cain

American society displays a bias toward the "extrovert ideal" and diminishes the value and talents of the millions of Americans who are natural introverts. The New York Times best-selling author Susan Cain describes how our culture needs to change the way it works, teaches and leads to fully access the abundant strengths of its gifted but less demonstrative citizens.

Sunday, February 17, 7:00 p.m.
Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel
 

The 46th Annual Elmhurst College Jazz Festival

One of the oldest and best college jazz festivals in the United States, Elmhurst’s annual celebration brings together the top names in the industry and the leading college bands from around the nation. This year’s headliners include the Dave Douglas Quintet and the Maria Schneider Orchestra, plus Denis DiBlasio, Bobby Floyd, Dennis Mackrel and Byron Stripling with the Elmhurst College Jazz Band. Chicago Magazine calls the festival “the best buy for your jazz dollar.”

Thursday–Sunday, February 21–24
Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel

The Future and Promise of Interfaith Dialogue
Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A poet, philosopher and prominent scholar of Islamic, religious and comparative studies, Seyyed Hossein Nasr is the author of more than 20 books and a professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University. He was the first Muslim to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh.

The al-Ghazali Lecture
Friday, February 22, 7:30 p.m.
Frick Center, Founders Lounge
 

The Politicization of Justice
Marsha Ternus

The first woman to preside over the Iowa Supreme Court, Marsha Ternus joined her six colleagues in a unanimous ruling in 2009 striking down an Iowa statute banning same-sex marriage. The ruling cost Justice Ternus and two of her colleagues their jobs, and embroiled the court in a political struggle that continued through the 2012 election and beyond.

Thursday, February 28, 7:00 p.m.
Frick Center, Founders Lounge

My Undocumented Life
Jose Antonio Vargas

Over 15 years as a working journalist, Jose Vargas has interviewed some of the most accomplished people in America, worked for The New Yorker and The Washington Post, and shared in a Pulitzer Prize. For 14 of those years, he hid the fact that he is an undocumented immigrant, “living in a different kind of reality, relying on a sort of 21st-century underground railroad of supporters, people who took an interest in my future and took risks for me.”

Sponsored in part by BMO Harris Bank

The Rudolf G. Schade Lecture Series
Thursday, March 7, 7:00 p.m.
Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel
 

Theatre: Pride's Crossing
By Tina Howe
Directed by Christine Cummings

Filled with a collection of delightful characters, Pride’s Crossing is a story of perseverance, unavoidable traces of generations past and the potential magic in seizing the moment. Ninety-year-old Mabel Tidings Bigelow, a character inspired by the first woman to swim the English Channel, relives memories triggered by current events. Scenes from the past 80 years of her life create a portrait of a lady with unquenchable high spirits despite the social confines of the times.

Thursday–Saturday, March 14–16 and March 21–23, 8:00 p.m.

For more information and tickets, contact the Mill Theatre Box Office at mill@elmhurst.edu or (630) 617-3005.

 

Cosmic Perspective
Neil deGrasse Tyson

The astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has spent a distinguished career bringing the universe down to earth in authoritative, innovative and engaging ways. The director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York and the host of the PBS program NOVA ScienceNow, he is a research associate in the department of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History and the author of 10 books, including Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier.

Thursday, April 4, 7:00 p.m.
Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel

SOLD OUT

 

The Eichmann Trial
Deborah E. Lipstadt

The conviction of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann by an Israeli court electrified the world in 1962. The historian Deborah Lipstadt examines the dramatic effect that the courtroom testimony had on a world that until the trial had commemorated the Holocaust without fully understanding the experiences of its victims and survivors.

Service of Remembrance and Holocaust Guestship Lecture
Sunday, April 7, 7:00 p.m.
Frick Center, Founders Lounge

This event is free and open to the public.

 

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection
A.J. Jacobs

On a mission to improve every aspect of his life—from work to love to family—the best-selling humor author A.J. Jacobs immersed himself in a series of radical lifestyle experiments. He sought spiritual enlightenment, sharpened his mind and, most recently, worked to make over his body and become the world's healthiest person. This event is co-sponsored by the Elmhurst Public Library and the Friends of the Elmhurst Public Library, with support from Elmhurst College.

Thursday, April 18, 7:00 p.m.
Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel

Due to flooding, the April 18 event with A.J. Jacobs has been cancelled.

Narcissism: A Defense
Laura Kipnis

Laura Kipnis is a cultural critic and professor at Northwestern University whose wide-ranging, provocative books have been translated into 15 languages. The New York Times says Professor Kipnis combines "sharp analysis with blistering wit to challenge prevailing notions about love and sex, power and desire, hubris and retribution in American life."

The Genevieve Staudt Intercultural Lecture
NEW DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 4:00 p.m.
Schaible Science Center, Illinois Hall

Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at the door. Free for Elmhurst College students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Why Go to the Movies?
Michael Phillips

In an age when any blockbuster or indie film can be summoned up to your computer, TV or smart phone, are we witnessing the end of a favorite American pastime—going to the movies? Michael Phillips, the film critic of the Chicago Tribune, explores industry trends, the impact of technology, and what it all means for Hollywood and the rest of us.

Thursday, April 25, 7:00 p.m.
Frick Center, Founders Lounge
 

The Comedy of Errors
By William Shakespeare

Comedy’s roots are showing in this play of mistaken identities. Shakespeare gives a nod to the Roman play The Menaechmi, a comedy of identical twins separated at birth. Elizabethan theatre tips its hat to Italian commedia, including stock stereotypical characters. The classic comedy isn’t far from contemporary tastes, mixing the clever with the crude. The Comedy of Errors takes no prisoners as it takes pot shots at marriage, friendship, identity, laws and villainy.

Thursday–Sunday, April 25–28
Thursday–Saturday, May 2–4
Thursday–Saturday, 8:00 p.m.; Sunday, 2:00 p.m.

For more information and tickets, contact the Mill Theatre Box Office at mill@elmhurst.edu or (630) 617-3005.

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation
Michael Pollan

The best-selling author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan celebrates the special place that cooking occupies in human life, standing squarely between nature and culture. He examines how cooking involves us in an intricate web of social and ecological relationships—with the soil, plants and animals, history and culture, the farmers who provide our sustenance and the friends and family whom we choose to serve.

Sunday, April 28, 7:00 p.m.
Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel

SOLD OUT

 

Mayor Richard M. Daley: An Appraisal
Keith Koeneman

Keith Koeneman writes about Chicago history, politics and culture. His book First Son: The Biography of Richard M. Daley will be published this spring by the University of Chicago Press. Built on unprecedented access to the key players in the long Daley administration, First Son tells the story of a complicated leader—sensitive and tough, impatient and persistent—who as mayor not only ran but also embodied Chicago.

Wednesday, May 8, 7:00 p.m.
Frick Center, Founders Lounge

 

The Rudolf G. Schade Lecture on History, Ethics and the Law
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O’Connor is an American pioneer: the 91st person and first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Appointed by President Reagan in 1981, she served with distinction for a quarter-century, retiring in January 2006. President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Justice O’Connor continues to speak passionately on the central importance of an independent judiciary in a robust democracy.

Sponsored in part by BMO Harris Bank

Thursday, May 30, 7:00 p.m.
Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel

SOLD OUT