Year of the Arts events shine spotlight all over campus

The Year of the Arts will roll through spring semester with enticing performances and events that showcase the breadth, depth, power and purpose of the arts on campus. Dance, theater, music, visual arts, film and writing are all part of the mix. Three marquee and more than a dozen featured events are added to some 300 performances, exhibits and lectures that regularly take place every year.

The first marquee event is a collaboration between Jin-Wen Yu from the UW–Madison Dance Department and David Maraniss, author of “They Marched Into Sunlight.” Three days of events, including a dance concert, an exhibition, lectures and panel presentations will explore issues surrounding the Vietnam War. The lectures and panelists will include UW–Madison faculty, community members and journalists. Items in the exhibit will show what the campus was like in that period of political conflict.

It’s a ticketed event on March 24–26 at the Union Theater and other locations.

A free, staged reading of “Foreplay,” written by Carl Djerassi and presented by UW–Madison’s Patrick Sims and theater and drama students, will take place at 5 p.m. on March 29 at the Town Center in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. The play builds on the known facts about the lives of four intellectuals to create a witty, spirited, tangled, emotional drama. In addition to being a novelist and playwright, Djerassi is a Wisconsin alumnus and chemist known for his work in developing the first oral contraceptive pill.

The Year of the Arts will wrap up the semester on April 30 with a campus arts homecoming and open house. Attendees can explore studios, backstage areas and galleries, and meet the faculty and students who make up the campus arts community.

Calendar of featured events

Feb. 17: Hilary Hahn, violin, with Valentina Lisitsa, piano, 7:30 p.m., Wisconsin Union Theater, ticketed event.

Feb. 24–26: Spring Student Dance Concert, 8 p.m., Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space, Lathrop Hall, ticketed event.

Feb. 25: UW Symphony Orchestra with concerto and composition winners, 8 p.m., Mills Hall, Mosse Humanities Building, free and unticketed.

Feb. 25–26: Tad Gloeckler residency, “Rethinking the Everyday,” Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St. Free and unticketed.

March 3–5: “The Rocky Horror Show,” a University Theatre production. March 3 at 7:30 p.m.; March 4–5 7:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m., Wisconsin Union Theater, ticketed event.

March 24–26: The Combat Paper Project (www.combatpaper.org).

April 3: Abbie Furmansky, soprano, and Daniel Sutton, piano, 4 p.m., Mills Hall, Mosse Humanities Building, free and unticketed.

April 14–16: Dance Department Concert: Dance and Community, 8 p.m., Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space, Lathrop Hall, ticketed event.

April 15, 17, 19: University Opera, “The Consul” April 15 and 19 at 7:30 p.m., April 17 at 3 p.m., Music Hall, ticketed event.

April 30: Tad Gloeckler residency installations, all day, UW–Madison campus and downtown Madison locations, free and unticketed.

For information, visit Year of the Arts.