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L-R: Naomi Klein, Mark Morris Dance Group, Mu Sochua, Bill Viola's Ancient of Days, Joe Goode, Bang on a Can All Stars

Coming attractions: A shortlist of this fall's heady happenings

By Wendy Edelstein and Sara Leavitt, NewsCenter | 26 August 2009

Mark Morris Dance Group, (Robbie Jack photo), Sept. 17-20 Want to be reminded about an event? Click the event title to set up a reminder sent from the event calendar. Signup to receive the coming week's event highlights emailed to you each Monday morning.

BERKELEY — Many riches are in store on campus this semester for the culturally voracious and intellectually curious. Fall events run the gamut, including a rare U.S. appearance by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Company, acclaimed purveyors of the Bard of Avon's work, and visits from an array of thinkers, artists, filmmakers, and performers. This short-list is the tip of the iceberg; events may change, and new events will be added daily. Visit Critic's Choice website for a full listing and to learn the latest.

On the Dance Card

Choreographer and professor of dance, Joe Goode calls Dead Boys, his multidisciplinary work that melds dance, music, and theater, "a freak folk musical about trust, gay activism, gender identity, talking to the dead, and the privileged culture's pursuit of happiness" (Friday-Saturday, Oct. 9, 10, 16, and 17, 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 11 and 18, 2 p.m., Zellerbach Playhouse).

That surefire harbinger of September, Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG), will kick off Cal Performances' 2009-10 season. The program includes two West Coast premiers, Visitation, performed to Beethoven's sonata no. 4 for cello and piano, op. 102, and Empire Garden, set to Charles Ives' trio for piano, violin, and cello. MMDG Ensemble will perform all the music Thursday and Saturday, Sept. 17 and 19, 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 20, 3 p.m., Zellerbach Hall.

High Notes

A House in Bali, a multimedia performance dance-opera, combines traditional Balinese dance with Eastern and Western music and features Bang on a Can All Stars and a 16-piece Balinese gamelan. Composer Evan Ziporyn and librettist Paul Schick based their work on the true story of three Westerners — composer Colin McPhee, anthropologist Margaret Mead, and artist Walter Spies — during their 1930s sojourn in Bali (Saturday, Sept. 26, 8 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m., Zellerbach Hall).

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Love's Labour's Lost, (John Haynes photo), Nov. 4-8

Also: A composer colloquium with Ziporyn, Friday, Sept. 18, 3 p.m., 125 Morrison. Crossing Cultures: Behind the Scenes Artist Talk (Friday, Sept. 25, 4 p.m., Zellerbach Hall).

Video-art pioneer Bill Viola will deliver the Townsend Center's Una Lecture, The Movement in Moving Image. Monday, Sept. 28, 7 p.m., Sibley Auditorium. Follow-up panel discussion with Viola, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 4 p.m., Morrison Library. A three-evening film series, Metaphysical Medium: The Video Works of Bill Viola complements his appearance (Sept. 16, 23, and 30, 7 p.m., Pacific Film Archive). Viola will be in person at the Sept. 30 screening of The Passing and Déserts.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre begins the Cal Performances theater season with Love's Labour's Lost, "mixing bare-faced cheek with bared-cheeked bottoms" (The Guardian, London) (Wednesday-Friday, Nov. 4-6, 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 7, 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 8, 3 p.m., Zellerbach Hall).

Musical Interludes

Davitt Moroney, The Well-Tempered Clavier, (photo courtesy of Davitt Moroney), Oct. 24-25

The Department of Music marks the 50th anniversary of Berkeley composer and professor Ernest Bloch's death (1880-1959) with a symposium and concert of Bloch compositions, including the Second Piano Quintet and the Piano Sonata (Symposium, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2 p.m., 125 Morrison; Concert, Saturday, Oct. 10, 8 p.m., Hertz Hall).

Professor of music and harpsichordist Davitt Moroney performs Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier in two parts (Book 1, Saturday, Oct. 24, 8 p.m. Book 2, Oct. 25, 3 p.m., Hertz Hall).

Joined by cellist and former member Joan Jeanrenaud, the Kronos Quartet performs the world premiere of a new quintet composed for the artists by Vladimir Martynov (Sunday, Dec. 13, 7 p.m., Hertz Hall).

The Write Stuff

Story Hour hosts a handful of heavy hitters this fall: Daniel Handler, author of The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, and, most recently, Adverbs, is even better known for his sequence of books for the younger set, "A Series of Unfortunate Events," published under his pseudonym, Lemony Snicket (Thursday, Sept. 10, 5 p.m., Morrison Library, Doe). Annie Barrows co-authored with her aunt Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a New York Times bestseller (Thursday, Oct. 8, 5 p.m., 190 Doe). Peruvian writer and Bay Area denizen Daniel Alarcón, author of Lost City Radio, which won the PEN USA Award in 2008, was named one of the Best Young American Novelists by Granta in 2007 (Thursday, Nov. 12, 5 p.m., Morrison Library, Doe). Mary Roach has written three New York Times bestsellers: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (Thursday, Dec. 3, 5 p.m., Morrison Library, Doe).

Lunch Poems presents Irish-born Eavan Boland, whose 10 poetic works includes Against Love Poetry, a New York Times notable book (Thursday, Oct. 1, 12:10 p.m., Morrison Library, Doe Library). Richard Moore, the last of his generation of San Francisco Renaissance poets, made his poetic mark with his debut collection, Writing the Silences (Thursday, Dec. 3, 12:10 p.m., Morrison Library, Doe).

Eye Catchers

Within Arm's Reach, (Ari Marcopoulos photo), Sept. 23-Feb. 7

Berkeley Art Museum opens two new shows Sept. 23. Sonoma-based photographer Ari Marcopoulos, who has documented contemporary culture since the 1980s, gets his first mid-career exhibit, Within Arm's Reach (Wednesday-Sunday, Sept. 23-Feb. 7, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.). Marcopoulos has become known for his photographs of skateboarders, snowboarders, and rap artists. Marcopoulos will lead a walkthrough of the exhibition (Thursday, Oct. 1, noon, Galleries 4 and 5, Berkeley Art Museum). A conversation featuring leading figures of skate-boarding, rap music, and graffiti — including artist Barry McGee and skate-boarding legend Keith Hufnagle — will be followed by an illustrated presentation by Marcopoulos (Sunday, Nov. 8, 3 p.m., Museum Theater, Berkeley Art Museum).

Colombian painter Fernando Botero's controversial Abu Ghraib Series depicts graphic images of the American military's torture of Iraqi prisoners. Botero will be in conversation with BAM/PFA Director Lawrence Rinder (Wednesday, Sept. 23, 6 p.m., Museum Theater, Berkeley Art Museum). Colombian artist Carlos Motta and author Daniel Alarcón will discuss the Botero exhibit in Presente! Next Generation Latin-American Art and Literature (Saturday, Oct. 10, 3 p.m., Museum Theater, Berkeley Art Museum).

To commemorate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species, the Bancroft Library presents Darwin and the Evolution of a Theory, an exhibition of rare books, manuscripts, images, scientific specimens, and other materials drawing on the collections of eight of the campus's libraries and museums (Monday-Friday, through Dec. 23, Bancroft Library Gallery, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.). The Bancroft Library and the Townsend Center present a panel discussion, Darwin's Enduring Legacy, with Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology, and Kevin Padian, professor of paleontology and co-curator of the accompanying exhibition (Wednesday, Nov. 4, 7 p.m., Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler).

American Landscape

The College of Environmental Design will celebrate its 50th anniversary during the 2009-10 academic year with a series of events that pay tribute to its history and engage the campus community in a discussion about its future. The fall program, Traditions of Design Activism and Their Consequences, includes lectures by Dell Upton and Sir Peter Hall, a panel discussion with emeritus professors and distinguished alumni, and a day of site visits to innovative and historic buildings and landscapes around the Bay Area (Friday-Saturday, Sept. 25-27, 112 Wurster).

"Jackrabbit Homestead: Tracing the Small Tract Act in the Southern California Landscape," (Kim Stringfellow photo), through Jan. 10

The Graduate School of Journalism will showcase the work of two photojournalists this fall. On the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attack local photographer Richard Gordon will sign and discuss his new book American Surveillance. Gordon's photos graphically explore the USA Patriot Act, which allows law-enforcement agencies unprecedented access to citizens' private communications and records (Friday, Sept. 11, 6 p.m., 105 North Gate Hall).

Kim Stringfellow's show, Jackrabbit Homestead: Tracing the Small Tract Act in the Southern California Landscape, depicts the remaining derelict structures along California Highway 62 once inhabited by people who paid Uncle Sam a nominal fee for land in 1938 (Monday-Friday, through Jan. 10, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., North Gate Hall). Stringfellow will sign her book (Thursday, Oct. 22, 6 p.m., North Gate Hall).

Human Rights

Mu Sochua, Cambodian Democracy and Human Rights Under Siege: One Woman's Fight, (Lucia de Giovanni photo), Sept.14

The School of Social Welfare presents alumna Mu Sochua — opposition leader, social worker, and women's rights advocate — for the Walter Friedlander Memorial Lecture Cambodian Democracy and Human Rights Under Siege: One Woman's Fight. Sochua will discuss her years battling sex trafficking, domestic violence against women, government corruption and land grabs in Cambodia, and the court case that has now attracted the attention of the U.N. High Commission on Human Rights (Monday, Sept.14, 4 p.m., The Goldberg Room, Boalt Hall).

Writing Now and Then

Highlights from the School of Journalism's speaker series include Novella Carpenter, journalist and author of Farm City: Education of an Urban Farmer, discussing Book Writing in a Futuristic Age (Wednesday, Sept. 16, 6 p.m., North Gate Hall).

Scott Rosenberg, co-founder of Salon Media Group and Salon.com, will talk about his new book: Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why it Matters (Wednesday, Nov. 4, 6 p.m., North Gate Hall).

Mohamed Zakariya, a well known practitioner of Islamic calligraphy in the United States, presents an illustrated lecture The Living Art of Islamic Calligraphy, in which he will explore the history, development, and practice of this time-honored art, from its earliest roots, to its flowering under the Ottomans, to its growing presence in the Muslim world today (Thursday, Oct. 22, 5 p.m., Sultan Room, 340 Stephens).

A Healthy Focus

Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Solution: Fixing Food From Farm to Fork, (Ken Light photo), Sept. 30

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, will discuss The Omnivore's Solution: Fixing Food From Farm to Fork as part of Cal Performances' Strictly Speaking series (Wednesday, Sept. 30, 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall). Pollan's presentation is the featured event in the College of Letters & Sciences' On the Same Page program, in which all new L&S students read the same book and discuss it in their first semester. Also part of On the Same Page's slate is a panel discussion with Pollan; Robert Kenner, director of Food, Inc.; and Troy Roush, a farmer featured in Kenner's documentary (Tuesday, Sept. 29, 7 p.m., Wheeler Auditorium).

The Bancroft Library's roundtable series includes a discussion on Disrupting the Status Quo: The Story of Dr. Sidney Garfield presented by Tom Debley, author of The Story of Dr. Sidney R. Garfield: The Visionary Who Turned Sick Care Into Health Care and director of Heritage Resources at Kaiser Permanente (Thursday, Nov. 19, noon, Lewis-Latimer Room, Faculty Club). The innovations of Garfield, co-founder of Kaiser Permanente, have been raising the eyebrows of traditionalists since the 1930s. Less known than co-founder, Henry J. Kaiser, this son of Russian immigrants became a major leader of 20th-century American medicine.

California Dreamin'

 

Naomi Klein, Shock Doctrine California Style, (Ed Kashi photo), Oct. 27

Getting to Reform: Avenues to Constitutional Change in California, an out-of-town conference co-sponsored by the campus's Institute of Governmental Studies, the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the West at Stanford University, and the Center for California Studies at Sacramento State University, will examine the pros and cons of various approaches of constitutional reform in California (Wednesday, Oct. 14, 9 a.m., Sacramento Convention Center, Sacramento).

The following week, a campus conference, What Ails California, brings together scholars, politicos, and journalists to explore the underlying causes of dysfunction in the Golden State — and what can be done to fix its problems (Friday, Oct. 23, 9 a.m., Lipman Room, Barrows).

Naomi Klein, author of the international bestsellers The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, will present the 13th annual Mario Savio Memorial Lecture. Her topic: Shock Doctrine California Style: How the Poor Are Paying the Price for Wall Street's Greed — and How to Fight Back! (Tuesday, Oct. 27, 8 p.m., Pauley Ballroom, Martin Luther King Jr.