Theater | Music | Exhibits | Lectures

Edgar Allan Poe: Out of His Mind
The 24th Street Theatre and its resident Glorious Repertory Co. present Edward Mast’s adaptations of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” Suitable for ages 10 and up. It’s directed by Debbie Devine and produced by Jay McAdams, with music by Richard Allen. (323-667-0417)
Sept. 17-Oct. 31, 24th Street Theatre, $15 general, $9 seniors.

Tony Kushner’s Angels in America Part I: Millennium Approaches
Winner of multiple awards – several Tonys, a Critics’ Circle and a Pulitzer, among them – Angels in America evolved from a poem Tony Kushner wrote into two 3-1/2-hour plays. Combining humor with tragedy, magical realism with an indictment of mid-’80s indifference to AIDS, Millennium Approaches deals with a gay couple (one of whom has HIV), a married Mormon man coming to terms with his sexuality and a fictional rendering of Roy Cohn, the conservative ideologue who died of AIDS in 1986. Lora Zane directs. (213-740-7111)
Oct. 6-10, Scene Dock Theatre, $7.

Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind
“It’s a real thing, double nature. I think we’re split in a much more devastating way than psychology can ever reveal,” says Sam Shepard in reference to his A Lie of the Mind. The stage literally split in two, the play takes a typically – for Shepard – disturbing look at two families joined by
violence. Shepard’s other family tragedies include Curse of the Starving Class, True West and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child. The USC production of A Lie of the Mind is directed by Steve Tietsort. (213-740-7111)
Oct. 14-17, Bing Theatre, $7.

Tony Kushner’s Angels in America Part II: Perestroika
Subtitled, like Part I, “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes,” Perestroika picks up where Millennium Approaches left off: with an angel crashing in on Prior Walter, the frail and dying queen at the center of both plays, and declaring him a prophet. Jack Rowe directs. (213-740-7111)
Oct. 20-24, Scene Dock Theatre, $7.

Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro
No, not the opera, rather the 1785 play
by Beaumarchais that inspired Mozart’s 1786 opera. Directed by Paul Backer. (213-740-7111)
Nov. 11-14, Scene Dock Theatre, $7.

Arthur Miller’s The American Clock
Born in 1915, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller was shaped by the Great Depression, which financially ruined his father, a small manufacturer. Ironically, The American Clock (1980), a series of Depression-era vignettes based on Studs Terkel’s Hard Times, failed in New York as well. Pressured by directors and producers who were not – as he wrote in his memoir, Timebends – “sufficiently at ease with psychopolitical themes,” Miller had tinkered with the script. When a London production restored his original concept, the play was a hit. (213-740-7111)
Nov. 18-21, Bing Theatre, $7.

Elroyce D. Jones’s A Thimble of Smoke
In 1950s Mississippi, an African-American mother struggles to preserve the dream she has for her 13-year-old daughter. The 24th Street Theatre is co-co-producing this play’s world premiere with the Echo Theatre Company. Gregg Daniel directs. (323-667-0417)
Nov. 13-Dec. 20, 24th Street Theatre, $15 general, $9 seniors.

Chee-Yun and Yolanda Kondonassis
They’re both young. Both have been featured on NPR more than once. And both are seen – on their respective instruments – as talents to be reckoned with. Violinist Chee-Yun and harpist Yolanda Kondonassis join forces for a concert at USC. (213-740-7111)
Sept. 8, 7 p.m., Newman Recital Hall, $15 general, $7 seniors.

USC Thornton Jazz and World Music
Thursday evenings at USC feature a variety of jazz combos and ensembles. This season’s highlights include a performance by the jazz faculty on Sept. 9, and acoustic and electric jazz by Shelly Berg’s 11-piece Elf Ensemble on Nov. 18. (213-740-3233)
Sept. 9 and Nov. 18, 8 p.m., Ground Zero Coffee House, free.

Music Master Series:
USC Faculty and Friends in Recital
This premier recital series features concerts by USC faculty virtuosos and friends, including Dennis Thurmond, Stewart Gordon, Youn Chung Lee and Sung Hwa Park in a program of works for piano and synthesizer; violinist Peter Marsh in Bach’s three Partitas for Solo Violin; pianist Daniel Pollack in an all-Chopin program commemorating the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death; and soprano Elizabeth Hynes, mezzo-soprano Cynthia Munzer and pianist Antoinette Perry in a program of opera and songs by Handel, Wolf, Verdi and Sibelius. (213-740-3229)
Sept. 12 through Oct. 26, various times, Newman Recital Hall, $7.

USC Thornton Symphony
Larry J. Livingston, dean of the USC Thornton School of Music, conducts the season-opener. (213-740-3233)
Sept. 24, 8 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, $10.

In the USC Thornton Symphony’s second concert, guest conductor Anshel Brushelaw will lead the orchestra in Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto. (213-740-3233)
Nov. 19, 8 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, $10.

USC Thornton Wind Symphony
American composers are featured in “The American Spectator”: Surprise, Pattern Illusion (Prehistoric Cave Ceremonies for Flute and Winds) by Daniel Bukvich, Short Ride on a Fast Machine by John Adams, Jug Blues and Fat Pickin’ by Donald Freund, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Jerome Kern, Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion by Peter Schickele and two pieces by Alec Wilder. Directed by Douglas Lowry and featuring Jane Wei on flute. (213-740-3233)
Sept. 29, 8 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, free.

Guest conductor Howard Yermish leads the premiere of his Dimension for horn, percussion and winds, featuring horn soloist Andrew Pelletier; and Douglas Lowry conducts Gustav Holst’s First Suite, Modest Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain, Norman Dell Joio’s Variants on a Medieval Folk Tune, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Prelude and Richard Bennett’s Suite of Old American Dances. (213-740-3233)
Nov. 17, 8 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, free.

USC Thornton Chamber Orchestra
The newly-named school has a new chamber group. Directed by Yehuda Gilad, the ensemble presents the West Coast premiere of Frederick Lesemann’s Abiquiu Sketches, plus a concerto by Mozart and a symphony by Beethoven. (213-740-3233)
Oct. 1, 8 p.m., Newman Recital Hall, $7.

Seamus Blake Quartet and Burhan Öçal
New York-based tenor sax player Seamus Blake and virtuoso Turkish musician Bur-han Öçal combine genres and cultural traditions when they perform together at USC. Öçal, who divides his time between Istanbul and Zurich, performs traditional Gypsy and Turkish folk music as well
as jazz. He plays many instruments, sings and regularly seeks out collaborators. The British-born and British Columbia-raised Blake is a regular contributor to the Mingus Big Band with several recordings to his credit. (213-740-7111)
Oct. 5, 7 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, $15 general, $7 seniors.

Koldofsky Memorial Scholarship Benefit Recital
The concert comprises Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Linden Tea, Frederick Delius’ Twilight Fancies, Herbert Howells’ Madrigal, Peter Warlock’s Sleep, Roger Quilter’s Love’s Philosophy, Johannes Brahms’ Zwei Gesänge für Alto, Bratsche und Klavier as well as “Song Transcriptions in Celebration of Gwendolyn Koldofsky,” by various composers. The performers: mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, soprano Ruth Golden, violist Donald McInnes and pianists Jean Barr and Martin Katz. (213-740-3233)
Oct. 10, 2 p.m., Newman Recital Hall.

USC Thornton Contemporary Music Ensemble
Vicki Ray on piano and Laura Stevenson on clarinet in Gnarly Buttons by John Adams; Circle With Four Trios, Conductor and Audience by Tan Dun; Le théâtre du soliel by Veronika Krausas; and Bad Times Coming by Shaun Naidoo. Frank Ticheli directs. (213-740-3233)
Oct. 12, 8 p.m., Newman Recital Hall, $7.

USC Thornton Early Music Ensemble
James Tyler directs “Italia Mia,” music for solo voices and instruments from the Italian Renaissance and Baroque eras. (213-740-3233)
Oct. 13, 8 p.m., Newman Recital Hall, $7.
USC Thornton Scholarship Woodwind
and Brass Quintets
Mitchell Lurie leads a program of chamber masterpieces. (213-740-3233)
Oct. 20, 8 p.m., Newman Recital Hall, free.

USC Choirs
The USC Thornton Chamber Choir (directed by William Dehning) and USC Thornton Concert Choir (directed by Lynn Bielefelt) perform in Palos Verdes. (213-740-3233)
Oct. 24, 4 p.m., St. Francis Episcopal Church, Palos Verdes Estates, $18.

The Oriana Choir (directed by David Wilson) and Men’s Chorus (directed by Ethan Sperry) present Concierto de Navidad by Paul Csonka, O frondens virga by Hildegard von Bingen, How Excellent Thy Name by Howard Hanson, and Holiday Motets by Ernest Krenek, as well as works by Bach, Thompson, Richie and Lauridsen. (213) 740-3233
Nov. 23, 7:30 p.m., Newman Recital Hall, $7.

USC Thornton Percussion Ensemble
Erik Forrester, director, presents “From the Rims of the World: International Percussion Ensemble Music at the Close of Its First Century”: Bad Times Coming by Shaun Naidoo (South Africa), I Riti by G. Scelsi (Italy), Ritnicas 5 and 6 by Amadeo Roldan (Cuba), Dimorphe by Y. Taira (Japan), Ostinato Pianissimo by Henry Cowell (USA) and Stonewave by Rolf Wallin (Norway). Featuring Vicki Ray on piano. (213-740-3233)
Nov. 1, 8 p.m., Newman Recital Hall, free.

USC Studio/Jazz Guitar Faculty
With Richard Smith, Frank Potenza, Joe Diorio, Pat Kelley, Steve Trovato and David Oakes. (213-740-3233)
Nov. 21, 4 p.m., Newman Recital Hall, free.

Grande Dame of USC
Take a close look at the life of USC’s “Grande Dame,” the Doheny Memorial Library, before she closes her bronze doors at the end of 1999 for earthquake retrofitting. This comprehensive exhibit chronicles the library’s nearly 70-year history – through blueprints, photographs, letters and objects such as the original key to the front doors – and takes a peek at her future. Curated by Stephanie Davis. (213-740-3270)
Through December, Doheny Memorial Library Treasure Room, free.

Trajectories
MFA thesis exhibition by USC School of Fine Arts graduate students. (213-740-2787)
Aug. 21-Sept. 11, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Bergamont Station, Santa Monica, free.

USC School of Architecture Faculty Exhibit
An exhibit of work by architecture faculty. (213-740-2097)
Aug. 30-Sept. 10 , Helen Lindhurst Gallery, Watt Hall, free.

Treasures of USC: The Collecting Continues
The second half of USC Fisher Gallery’s 60th-anniversary celebration, this show features various collections that have been instrumental in the gallery’s growth. Included are old master paintings from the Armand Hammer collection, photographs from the Andrew Schwartz collection, California landscape paintings from the Rufus B. von KleinSmid collection and selections from purchases made by USC Museum Studies Program students over the past two decades. Curated by Jennifer Jaskowiak. (213-740-4561)
Aug. 31-Oct.23, Fisher Gallery, free.

Maynard Dixon: The “Jinks Room” Mural
Commissioned in 1912 by Anita Baldwin for the “Jinks Room” (family room) in her Arcadia mansion, this large mural – featuring old English yuletide scenes and whimsical processions of elves, fairies and friars – is unlike anything else California artist Maynard Dixon ever painted. The mural is a gift of the McCaslin Family Trust. (213-740-4561)
Aug. 31-May 12, Hertha and Walter Klinger Gallery, free.

USC School of Architecture Alumni Exhibit
This year’s alumni exhibit coincides with Homecoming. (213-740-2097)
Nov. 1-13, Verle Annis Gallery, Harris Hall, free.

David Brin
Scientist and science fiction writer David Brin is the winner of both the Nebula and Hugo awards. He is perhaps most familiar to sci fi fans through his New Uplift Trilogy – Brightness Reef, Infinity’s Shore and, most recently, Heaven’s Reach – and to readers of mainstream fiction through his post-apocalyptic The Postman. (213-740-7111)
Sept. 14, 7 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, $15 general, $7 seniors.

Roger Herman
The USC School of Fine Arts welcomes Roger Herman, UCLA professor of painting and drawing, who presents an overview of his work. (213-740-2787)
Sept. 22, 11:30 a.m., Watt Hall 105, free.

Jack Horner
John “Jack” Horner – recipient of a 1986 MacArthur Fellowship and curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana – has an uncanny knack for dinosauria. Horner discovered the first dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere, the first evidence of dinosaur colonial nesting, the first evidence of parental care among dinosaurs and the first dinosaur embryos. He was technical advisor on Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (he is said to be the inspiration for the movie’s scientist) and its sequel, The Lost World. When the latter film was released, he publicly criticized it for depicting dinosaurs as malevolent monsters. (213-740-7111)
Oct. 12, 7 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, $15 general, $7 seniors.

Evelyn Fox Keller
Author of Refiguring Life: Metaphors of Twentieth-Century Biology and A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock (the 1983 recipient of the Nobel Prize for medicine), Evelyn Fox Keller is a feminist historian and a philosopher of science. She has taught physics, biology, mathematics and humanities. Keller comes to USC for a talk on her recent work. (213-740-7111)
Nov. 9, 7 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, $15 general, $7 seniors.

August-
November 1999