Springfield College Announces 2019 William Simpson Fine Arts Series Fall Schedule

The 2019 Springfield College William Simpson Fine Arts Series fall schedule features a variety of art exhibitions, theater performances, concerts, readings, and dance performances. Most events are free of charge.

ART EXHIBITION - SEPTEMBER 23-NOVEMBER 15

Material World

Dawn Ertl, Gisela Insuaste, and Coe Lapossy

 William Blizard Gallery

Through materials, we make ideas tangible. Themes such as memory, inheritance, trauma, myth, romantic love, queer narrative, and cultural history are embodied in the material explorations by the artists in this exhibit.

Gallery closing reception for artists and the public: Friday, November 8, 4-6 p.m.

SEPTEMBER 27

Layaali Arabic Music Ensemble

Marsh Memorial Chapel
7:30 p.m. 
 


Layaali is an ensemble committed to performing the traditional music of the Arab world and to preserving the rich legacy of Arabic culture through soulful vocals, hypnotic instrumental improvisations, electrifying percussion, and faithful renditions and recordings of master works.

POETRY READING - OCTOBER 3

Reading by Javier Zamora

Flynn Campus Union, Cleveland E. and Phyllis B. Dodge Room

7:30 p.m.

Javier Zamora was born in El Salvador and migrated to the U.S. when he was 9. He is a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University and holds fellowships from CantoMundo, Colgate University, the Lannan Foundation, MacDowell, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, Stanford University, and Yaddo. Zamora’s poems appear in Granta, The Kenyon Review, Poetry, The New York Times, and elsewhere. Unaccompanied (Copper Canyon, 2017) is his first collection.

A book signing will follow the reading.

DANCE RESIDENCY – NOVEMBER 1-3
Monica Bill Barnes & Company

Members of the internationally recognized Monica Bill Barnes & Company will visit campus to create a fun and exciting new piece of choreography for the Springfield College dancers, who will premiere the work at the December dance concert (Dec. 6-8). As part of the residency, there also will be classes taught by Barnes open to both the campus and community. More information on the time and place coming soon.
 
Monica Bill Barnes & Company is a contemporary American dance company that brings dance where it does not belong. Members create and produce each work entirely from its own rulebook—dancing to radio interviews on the biggest stages in the world, hosting a weekly show in a crowded office party, or leading a choreographed exercise routine in an art museum. Within each of these new contexts and borrowed environments, the dancers constantly find humor in their awkward, everyday triumphs and failures.  

The company consists of Monica Bill Barnes (artistic director/choreographer/performer), Robbie Saenz de Viteri (creative producing director/performer), and designers Kelly Hanson (set/costume) and Jane Cox (lighting). 

Monica Bill Barnes is a choreographer, performer, and the artistic director of Monica Bill Barnes & Company. Barnes founded the company in 1997 with a collection of solos that could be performed anywhere. In 2013, members gave themselves the challenge to “bring dance where it doesn't belong” and has been striving to follow this self-imposed motto ever since. The company has performed in venues ranging from Upright Citizen’s Brigade to The Sydney Opera House, and has been presented in more than 100 cities throughout the U.S. and internationally. Barnes has worked in film, theater, and set over 30 different works with college students all over the country. Recent company projects include The Museum Workout, a guided exercise tour of art museums made in collaboration with the author/visual artist Maira Kalman; Happy Hour, an immersive office party dance show; Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host, a show that combines radio and dance in collaboration with Ira Glass; and The Running Show, a new touring show inspired by the company’s award-winning off-Broadway production that turns dance into a live sporting event. Within each of these new contexts and borrowed environments, the company members’ work constantly find humor in their awkward, everyday triumphs and failures.

Robert Saenz de Viteri began working in theater as an audio script assistant to Anna Deavere Smith.  He has created performances and toured productions throughout the world with the Obie Award-winning Nature Theater of Oklahoma. He has created, produced, and performed in Happy Hour, The Museum Workout, and One Night Only with Monica Bill Barnes & Company. Some of his other favorite projects include producing This American Life Episode 528, “The Radio Drama Episode” live on stage at BAM; directing Rachel Bonds’ Michael & Edie; and creating and performing The Spiritual Life of Modern America, a collaboration in Norway based on the experiences of foreigners traveling in America today.

Flannery Gregg (rehearsal director) first met Monica Bill Barnes as a student at the American Dance Festival in 2011 and began working with the company shortly after. She began as an intern and since has worked as a production assistant and as an assistant choreographer for the company. Flannery assisted Barnes in the choreography for the Atlantic Theater Company productions of FOUND: A New Musical (2014) and Dying For it (2015).  In 2015, she traveled to Baldwin Wallace University to set the choreography from FOUND on the graduating class of musical theater students. Last fall, Flannery was the associate choreographer for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming feature film Little Women (2019) in addition to dancing in the film. She is currently the rehearsal director for The Running Show and Performance Series for Arts Brookfield. Her other projects include assisting choreographer Sam Pinkleton on Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway and choreographing the New York University Reality Show performed at the Barlcays Center in Brooklyn. She is originally from San Diego, Calif., and holds a Bachelor of Arts in world arts and cultures from the University of California, Los Angeles. Flannery lives in Hell’s Kitchen with her husband, John.

THEATER PERFORMANCE - NOVEMBER 14-17

The Illusion

A comedy by Pierre Corneille and freely adapted by Tony Kushner
Presented by Springfield College Theater
Director: Martin Shell

Appleton Auditorium, Fuller Arts Center
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m.


In the dead of night, a father, desperate to find the son he drove away years before, creeps into a dark cave to engage the services of the mysterious magician there. The sorcerer conjures up strange and unsettling visions of the life the son has been living, full of wild passions, betrayals, adventures, and the perils of love. Tony Kushner’s lively adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s 17th-century comedy explores the concept of reality and questions whether everything or anything is as it seems.


Suggested general admission: $5; Students, senior citizens: $2

ART EXHIBITION - DECEMBER 2-13
Student Art Exhibition

The student exhibition will showcase the work of students in studio arts classes. Work will include painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, printmaking, graphic design, computer graphics, mixed media, and ceramics. 

William Blizard Gallery


Gallery reception for artists and public: Thursday, December 5, 4-6 p.m.

DANCE PERFORMANCE - DECEMBER 6-8
Everybody Dance!

Appleton Auditorium, Fuller Arts Center

Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.

Be a part of an evening to remember at Springfield College as current dance students and alumni combine to perform a new dance work by acclaimed choreographer Monica Bill Barnes and collaborator Robbie Saenz de Viteri. Barnes founded Monica Bill Barnes & Company with a goal to “bring dance where it doesn’t belong.” Company members have performed in venues ranging from Upright Citizen’s Brigade to The Sydney Opera House. Performances have been presented in more than 100 cities throughout the U.S. and internationally. Barnes has worked in film, theater, and set more than 30 different works with college students all over the country. Saenz de Viteri began working in theater as an audio script assistant to Anna Deavere Smith.  He has created performances and toured productions throughout the world with the Obie Award-winning Nature Theater of Oklahoma. He has created, produced, and performed in Happy Hour, The Museum Workout, and One Night Only with Monica Bill Barnes & Company. Within each of these new contexts and borrowed environments, the company members’ work constantly finds humor in their awkward, everyday triumphs and failures.

In addition, Springfield College nationally recognized dance faculty member and director, Sarah Zehnder, will also premiere exciting new works. 

General admission: $5; students: $4; senior citizens and children: $2
Tickets may be purchased at the door or reserved by calling (413) 748-3930.

CONCERT - DECEMBER 10
Annual Winter Concert

Annual Winter Concert
Springfield College Department of Music

Marsh Memorial Chapel, 7:30 p.m.

Join members of the Springfield College Department of Music for their annual winter concert featuring the Springfield College Community Chorus, the Springfield College Band, and soloists. Seasonal music and other popular favorites will get you moving and singing along.

If you have a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to fully participate in this event, please contact the Office of Visual and Performing Arts as soon as possible, at (413) 748-3930 to discuss your accessibility needs. Springfield College is a smoke-free/tobacco-free campus.

Springfield College is an independent, nonprofit, coeducational institution founded in 1885. Approximately 4,100 students, including 2,500 full-time undergraduate students, study at its main campus in Springfield, Mass., and at its regional campuses across the country. Springfield College inspires students through the guiding principles of its Humanics philosophy – educating in spirit, mind, and body for leadership in service to others.