(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The Mason Gross Performing Arts Center and Galleries at Rutgers University is set to kick off its fall 2016 season of events on September 6, with a slate of music, dance, and theater performances as well as visual arts exhibitions and a panel discussion. Most events feature student artists, but the schedule also includes work by faculty and visiting artists. Many events are free, and all events feature discounts for Rutgers alumni, employees, and students, as well as senior citizens.
Dance events include Company Stefanie Batten Bland’s evening-length piece, PATIENT(CE) - a physical requiem, on September 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Loree Dance Theater. The interdisciplinary work is inspired by father-daughter conversations between choreographer Stefanie Batten Bland and controversial composer and filmmaker Ed Bland, and features the futuristic jazz ensemble Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber and a visual installation by Alaric Hahn.
Rutgers Symphony Orchestra takes the stage of Nicholas Music Center on September 24 at 7:30 p.m. for the first of three fall performances. In addition, The TranScript Project: Music from Poems, will be held on September 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Shindell Choral Hall inside Mortensen Hall. This ongoing commissioning effort by flutist and poet Wayla J. Chambo invites composers to select one of Chambo’s poems and use it to construct a piece for solo flute or flute with electronics. The Rutgers Kirkpatrick Choir and Rutgers University Glee Club celebrate the university’s 250th anniversary year with music from Rutgers past and present on November 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Kirkpatrick Chapel. Rutgers Baroque Players perform chamber cantatas for voice and instruments from the late 17th and early 18th centuries on December 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Voorhees Chapel.
Rutgers Theater Company presents Fear and Misery in the Third Reich, among four fall performance events, from October 7 to October 15 at Victoria J. Mastrobuono Theater. The play, written by Bertolt Brecht, is an exploration of lives behind Nazi Germany’s closed doors, when public personas are placed under unbearable scrutiny.
On October 25, the Visual Arts Department will hold Mason Gross Presents: Art in a State of Mobility and Exile, a panel discussion examining how artists address the contemporary notion of mobility on a global scale, with a focus on mass movements of people seeking greater economic or social opportunity and forced migration due to conflict or persecution. Sara Raza, Guggenheim Museum UBS MAP Global Art Initiative curator, moderates the panel, which will be followed by a reception.
For ticket prices, location information, and event policies, visit www.masongross.rutgers.edu/events. Tickets may be purchased by phone at 848-932-7511 or in person at the ticket office at 85 George Street, New Brunswick, in the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center. Mason Gross Galleries events are free. More information about gallery events is available by calling 848-932-5211.
PHOTO by Jody Somers.
