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Review — Last Thursday night was a busy one for the arts at Brandeis, with Adagio’s “Throwback Thursday DanceFest,” “Once Upon a Mattress” and “Turkapalooza” all taking place in one night. For those of us who chose to see Adagio, the evening was full of awkward but amusing emceeing, some throwback (and not so throwback) jams and dancing of all forms.
This article has been updated for publication in the Nov. 21 issue of the Justice.
When Brandeis is in the national news, the University has invariably succumbed to one of two extremes: either great pride, like Professors Michael Rosbash and Jeffrey Hall winning a Nobel Prize, or great shame, like the Ayaan Hirsi Ali fiasco a few years ago.
Critics are nobody’s favorite people in the arts community. Artists work hard for months or even years at a time only to be criticized in a few hundred words written by a third-party audience member with their own subjective preferences and interpretations. This, however, is what makes the critic’s circle so diverse. It’s not made up of generous opinions. We are all a part of a varied community. We muddle each others’ voices, thinking ours is more important and correct than our friends’. We are all alike in this way. This is the nature of criticism. Positive criticism prompts thought-provoking discussion and enjoyment. Negative criticism is fun to read and discuss because we all have a little schadenfreude in us. It is all an inescapable part of life.
Throughout history, immigrants have traveled the world in search of a safe haven and a place to call home where they could live better lives. Abraham “AB” Troen’s ’14 film “Finding Home” showcased that by following the stories of three LGBT refugees who had immigrated to Los Angeles in search of a more accepting environment. The film screened in the Wasserman Cinematheque on Tuesday night, followed by a conversation between Troen and Prof. Alice Kelikian (FTIM) and a Q&A.
Free speech watchdog the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education posted an open letter addressed to President Ron Liebowitz on Monday, calling upon the University to re-examine its principles of “freedom of expression, inquiry, and debate” in the wake of the “Buyer Beware” controversy.
The editors of Blacklist Magazine hosted a coffee house at Cholmondeley's on Saturday to celebrate the publication of their first issue of the semester. Blacklist, formerly Where the Children Play, is the University's longest-running literary and arts magazine. Bad Grammer warmed up the growing crowd with a combination of slapstick humor, raunchy jokes and laughably bad puns. They were followed by Sarah Lavin ’21, who sang two original songs, “Who Am I” and “How Can I Write a Love Song,” accompanied by her ukelele. Next was a stand-up bit by Max Everson ’19, who shared his heartwarming, hilarious experience of seeing “The Longest Ride” in theaters with his best friend. In addition to making the audience members laugh, he left them with a message: try to share your friends’ interests rather than be critical. Everson later explained, “If my material isn’t funny, at least it has a moral.” Then Jordan Mudd ’20, playing his guitar, performed a mashup of “Autumn Leaves” and “My Funny Valentine,” as well as Amos Lee’s “Learned a Lot.”
“My dad says that ‘Every rabbi has only one sermon, and they spend their entire lives trying to perfect it.’ So, this is my effort … to try and continue to perfect that sermon,” said Dr. David Mandell in his presentation titled “The Broken Links Between Policy and Practice in Autism Care.”
Combining their musical and visual artistries, artists Kinan Azmeh and Kevork Mourad brought the hope and despair of the Syrian humanitarian crisis to Brandeis students and visitors with their performance piece “Home Within” on Nov. 4.
The University recently opted to cancel a production of Michael Weller’s ’65 controversial play “Buyer Beware,” a decision administrators said was reached following discussions between faculty and the playwright himself. Contrary to that narrative, however, Weller claimed in a Nov. 2 WBUR interview that he has not heard from the Theater Department since delivering the play.
This past week was class registration for the Spring 2018 semester. Every semester brings with it the issue of certain classes garnering a disproportionate amount of interest, resulting in more students seeking to take the class than there are available spots. This bars some students from enrolling in those classes. The second semester carries with it a unique burden for the majority of graduating seniors. Many still have requirements to complete, such as creative arts, science or even major requirements, and seniors need to get into classes that fulfill these University and major requirements in order to graduate in May. For these students, not getting into one class can be the difference between graduating on time and being forced to take a summer class — or even an additional semester — and this board urges the University to explore ways to avoid this.
To Dr. Elan Ezrachi, the question of Jerusalem is as personal as it is political. In his Thursday lecture about the reunification of the city in 1967, he drew on both historical fact and his own memory.
With swipe access to the Linsey Sports Center available only to a limited number of individuals, Adagio Dance Company members must often walk through active sports games in the Red Auerbach Arena. A new petition from the Company asserts that this leaves them vulnerable to injury.
In an Oct. 30 email to Brandeis students faculty and staff, University President Ron Liebowitz announced the forthcoming research leave of Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel. This leave will begin after Thanksgiving. “My research fellowship begins in the coming weeks and continues through the end of June 2018,” Flagel said in an email to the Justice.
Following private conversations with playwright Michael Weller ’65, the University’s Theater Department and Division of Creative Arts have chosen to run a course on controversial works of art next semester rather than premiere Weller’s contentious play “Buyer Beware.”
Two years ago, the University revived its interdepartmental Creative Arts Award after a two-decade hiatus, naming soprano vocalist Tony Arnold the 2015 recipient. The award is given out every two years, and this year, the University selected playwright Michael Weller ’65 — whose credits include his 1971 play “Moonchildren” and the 1979 film “Hair” — as the 2017 recipient. As part of his resulting yearlong residency at Brandeis, Weller wrote “Buyer Beware,” a play about a fictional Brandeis student’s attempt to perform a comedy show in the style of Lenny Bruce.
Review —
Prof. John Lisman (BIOL) may have been a scientist by trade, but by all accounts he was an ardent supporter of the arts, a talented lecturer and a dedicated researcher.
The University’s faculty convened for their monthly assembly on Friday afternoon and passed both a resolution to divest from fossil fuels and the first of two votes on the general curriculum changes.
Review — Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is well known for his groundbreaking, colorful and graphic body of work. However, a new exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, “Takashi Murakami: Lineage of Eccentrics,” aims to highlight the connections between Murakami’s own unique body of work and the impressive, expansive collection of Japanese art at the MFA — giving context to Murakami’s famed works. This exhibition was curated by Murakami, his artistic and philosophical mentor Nobuo Tsuji and MFA curator Anne Nishimura Morse. The melding of these three minds results in an exhibit that succeeds in tracing the eccentric history of Japanese art through Murakami’s own repertoire.