ARTS & LIVE PERFORMANCES
BREAKING POINT by Elliot Wegman - World Premiere
Monday, March 18, 8:00 PM, PBK Hall Studio Theatre, $16
CANCELED DUE TO CAST ILLNESS
ABOUT THE PLAY
The doubles tennis championship and a college scholarship are on the line. When playing hard clearly won't work, what will the public school team need to do to knock off the private school nine-time champions? Beg, cheat, employ an ancient cursed artifact?
ABOUT ELLIOT WEGMAN
Elliot Wegman (W&M ‘12) is an actor, writer, and director living in Richmond, Virginia where he is the Operations Manager and Marketing Director of the Coalition Theater. He starred in the TV pilot The Magic Shed and has performed in many Coalition productions including Improvised Office, The Rehappening and Da Vinci. He has been a tennis coach at Deep Run High School in Glen Allen Virginia since 2015, where he has won three consecutive state titles (2021-2023) and won the Virginia coach of the year award in 2023. Elliot is also a lapsed licensed barber.
VOICE OF THE ARTIST: DELITA MARTIN
Tuesday, March 19, 5:00 PM, Sadler Center Commonwealth Auditorium, Free with requested registration
Presented by the Muscarelle Museum of Art
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ABOUT DELITA MARTIN
This spring, the Muscarelle Museum of Art is thrilled to welcome the multi-disciplinary artist Delita Martin to William & Mary for a week-long residency. First introduced to the William & Mary community through her mixed-media work entitled “Carry This In Remembrance of Me,” Martin’s work addressing slavery and ancestral memory was a focal point in the Muscarelle’s exhibition “1619/2019.” Martin’s art addresses issues of identity and representation, using a rich vocabulary of recent and historic signs, symbols, and language focusing on the stories of Black women. On campus, Martin will work with the Muscarelle and the Lemon Project to create an imaginative portrait of one of the documented enslaved women at William & Mary, using historic resources and recent research to guide her artistic interpretation. Over the course of the residency, Martin will engage various audiences in conversations about the work, providing opportunities for students, faculty, staff, alumni and the wider community to explore issues of representation and legacy together.
In this Voice of the Artist lecture, Martin will discuss her journey as an artist, the people and stories that inspire her, and the questions and issues that drive her work. A reception will follow her talk.
MUSIC TALKS by Koryn Wicks - World Premiere
Wednesday, March 20 - 6:00 PM & 8:00 PM, PBK Hall Studio Theatre, $16
PURCHASE TICKETS
ABOUT THE SHOW
Music Talks, the show where we talk about music and the music talks back. Built on the spot with audience input, Music Talks explores the songs that make us smile, laugh, cry and remember. Each performance becomes a new show, because we’re interested in the music that matters to you. Music Talks combines theater, dance and interactive sound installations to examine the ways music influences our day-to-day and how we carry certain songs with us throughout our lives.
ABOUT KORYN WICKS
Koryn Wicks is an immersive creator and choreographer. Her work integrates dance, theater and interactive media. In 2019, she won the Grand Prize at the LA Immersive Invitational. Her immersive work has also been featured in Slamdance, the Denver Film Festival, and FIVARS (Festival of International Virtual & Augmented Reality Stories). Koryn’s work has been presented throughout the U.S., Canada and internationally. She also choreographs for film, television and music videos, recently including an ABC pilot and a music video for the billboard topping artist SHAED. Koryn has taught dance and immersive performance at CalArts and other institutions throughout Southern California. Koryn recently began working in themed entertainment starting with a contract at The Bezark Company.
THE FINAL SEANCE
Thursday, March 21 - 8:00 PM & 9:30 PM, Friday, March 22 - 9:00 PM, Saturday, March 23 - 10:00 PM
PURCHASE TICKETS
ABOUT THE SHOW
Dear guest… you are cordially invited to join the illustrious Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for one final attempt to reach the great beyond. For the last 10 years, Sir Doyle has been trying to contact the illustrious and passed Mr. Harry Houdini to try and reconnect with his dear friend and prove that there is an afterlife. However, each year has proven futile. After years of disappointment, Doyle has decided to end his search with one final journey into the unknown. Tonight's festivities will be that attempt and will require the strongest mediums and psychics to join. Will you heed the invitation and try to reach the other side?
The Final Seance is an immersive theatre performance by The Exposure Project. This 45-minute experience will make you part of the show as one of the attendees to try and conjure a spirit from the great beyond. The seance is a seated experience that includes flashing lights, fire, and light interaction. The show is for 10 people. Dress to impress.
ABOUT JAMES LOPEZ
James Lopez is the founder of the Exposure Project. Coming from the world of Magic, James originally started his career as a stage actor and magician and has since moved to producing and creating original shows and concepts. James applies magic thinking to immersive theater and installation performances. Through continuing education in various tools and technologies, James explores how to create better audience buy-in and lead people down what magicians call The Magic Way. By focusing on storytelling and sensory awareness, James aims to create magical realism in all projects he works on. James is based in Colorado and consults on various projects for theaters and organizations nationwide.
SWEM LIBRARY PRESENTS LIVING LIBRARY
Friday, March 22, 3:00-7:00 PM, Swem Library, Free
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Living Library concept borrows from traditions like NPR's The Moth Radio Hour, TEDx Talks, and the Human Library Organization's events sharing "human books." The goal of the Living Library at W&M is to foster connections, celebrate diversity, and allow attendees to find unity through the power of conversation and active listening.
During the event, Storytellers are stationed throughout the space, ready to share their stories with a small group of attendees within a 20-minute time slot. Attendees are able to select which Storyteller they'd like to listen to based on the Storyteller-provided title and description of their story. On the hour and half-hour marks, Storytellers launch into their tales, while also allowing time for reflection, questions, and conversation within the given time period.
Then, Storytellers get a quick chance to rest before the process begins all over again.
GOING UP WITH SARA SCHAEFER
Friday, March 22, 7:00 PM, PBK Hall Studio Theatre, $16
PURCHASE TICKETS
ABOUT THE SHOW
In her new solo show, Sara Schaefer teaches you how to unlock your potential in this fake (?) seminar about defeating your hecklers, developing your TS (thick skin) and achieving total perfect comedy success. No matter your walk of life, you can make your dreams come true simply by Going Up!
Going Up is, on its surface, a hilarious recruitment into the cult of comedy. But at its heart, the show is a bold confrontation of a toxic system, an examination of what it means to be a creative person in today’s world, and Sara’s own reckoning with the tiny voice in her head that tells her she’s not good enough. Combining sharp joke writing, scathing satire, original music and incredibly detailed handmade miniatures, Sara takes the audience on a wholly original journey through the darkness and into the light.
In 2023, Sara performed the show in cities all over the world including the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and more. She will be touring it again throughout 2024.
ABOUT SARA SCHAEFER
Sara Schaefer (W&M ‘00) is a critically acclaimed stand up comedian, writer, and artist. Her Comedy Central Stand Up Presents half hour special debuted in November 2019 and she was the co-host of MTV’s late night show Nikki & Sara Live. Sara published her first book, Grand, in 2020 with Simon & Schuster. She has written for numerous television programs including Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Would I Lie To You, and The History of Swear Words. She won two Emmy awards for her work at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. In recent years, Sara’s satirical sketches have been viral hits, including Comedy Ad, Quarantine Barbie, How To Sell a TV Show in 3 Easy Steps, and MeResearch. The New York Times called her new solo show Going Up "ambitious and nimble” and “a feat of comedy.”
HARRIS SIMON IN CONCERT - Ewell Concert Series
Saturday, March 23, 7:00 PM, W&M Music Arts Center Concert Hall, Free
ABOUT HARRIS SIMON
Pianist Harris Simon has performed with many well-known jazz musicians including Jane Ira Bloom, Tom Browne, Sonny Fortune, Dexter Gordon, Clifford Jordan, Red Mitchell, and Claudio Roditi. He has played at jazz festivals in New York, Montreal, Montreux, Edinburgh, Tokyo, Helsinki, and Stockholm among others. In 1983, Mr. Simon won First Prize at the Kalisz International Jazz Piano Competition in Poland.
He has presented lectures and given performances at the Kimball Theater, the DeWitt Wallace Gallery, and the Williamsburg Regional Library. He has been a regular at the Williamsburg Winter Blues Jazz Fest and has performed as a jazz pianist/accompanist with the Williamsburg Symphony. In 2013, he performed at Carnegie Recital Hall in a program of Poetry and Music sponsored by the Muscarelle Museum. He has been a member of the performing artist faculty of William & Mary since 1994. His recording “The Mastery of Passion” on Resonance Records featuring Michael Brecker is available online. His music is published by Second Floor Music and is available at jazzleadsheets.com.
ONE AND THE SAME by Ella Jo Nguyen
Saturday, March 23 & Sunday, March 24. 7:30PM, PBK Hall Laboratory Theater, Free
ABOUT THE SHOW
A queer reimagining, or maybe just gay fanfiction of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Poetic and romantic, witty and vulgar, new and old. Viola is stranded on the coast of Illyria without her beloved twin, Sebastian, but she is taken in by the beautiful Countess Olivia; as ladies often do with their rescuers, she falls in love. Meanwhile, her “brother” is disguising himself as the wife of his own rescuer in order to reach the Duke Orsino. Identities are mistaken, highs are jinxed, and love strikes all.
ABOUT ELLA JO NGUYEN
Ella Jo Nguyen (W&M ‘24) is a senior Theatre and English major at the College. Their main area of study is marginalized Shakespeare. One and the Same is their honors thesis which aims to explore an alternative look at sexuality and gender in Twelfth Night. They have poetry published in The Gallery magazine and was a semifinalist in the NFSPS Undergraduate Poetry Competition.
THE BARBERSHOP AND BEAUTY CONFESSIONS by Dr. Kimberly L. Weatherly
Ongoing, Monday March 18 though Friday March 22, W&M Entrepreneurial Hub, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM, Free
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
The Barbershop and Beauty Confessions exhibit delves into the rich cultural significance of beauty salons and barber shops within the African American community. From the early 20th century to the present day, these establishments have served not only as places for grooming and self-care but also as sanctuaries where individuals could freely express themselves and engage in laughter, meaningful conversations about issues affecting their lives, and a sense of unspoken community.
Curated by Dr. Kimberly L. Weatherly, the exhibit sheds light on the pivotal role of these spaces in fostering community dialogue and empowerment. Inspired by her initiative at Columbia College Chicago and continued at her present institution, the "Barbershop for Black Males” is a continuation of the tradition of creating safe spaces that provide communal energy. The exhibit showcases the transformative power of such gatherings among students.
Through photographs capturing candid moments of camaraderie and discussions, the exhibit highlights the diverse topics discussed within these hallowed halls. From politics and relationships to sports, academics, and community affairs, the Barbershop and Beauty Confessions exhibit offers a glimpse into the vibrant tapestry of conversations that have unfolded within these cherished spaces.
ABOUT DR. KIMBERLY L. WEATHERLY
Dr. Kimberly L. Weatherly is the Assistant Dean and Director for W&M’s Center for Student Diversity. In her role, she oversees all things interconnected to the retention, graduation, and the well-rounded experience of students from diverse backgrounds including students of color, first generation students, students from varying religious backgrounds, socio-economic circumstances, or students who identify on the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
Dr. Weatherly’s career in higher education spans 25 years. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree at Eastern Michigan University, earned her Master’s Degree from Hampton University, and obtained her Doctorate from Benedictine University.
She is also a photographer, capturing stories of community, mentorship, and support.