Aurora University Sets 2007-08 Celebrating Arts and Ideas Series

AURORA, Ill, August 22, 2007—Aurora University has announced its second annual Celebrating Arts and Ideas series for 2007-2008. 

The public is invited. Programs are free at the Aurora campus, 347 S. Gladstone Ave.  

The schedule is:

• Sept. 13-Nov. 8: “Evidence of Human Habitation,” an art display, will be at the Downstairs Dunham Gallery in Dunham Hall at 1400 Marseillaise Place in Aurora. Works by Tom Berenz and Mike Knierim will provide a unique perspective on the aesthetic effect of human habitation on the planet.
• Sept. 17: “Nickel and Dimed,” with author Barbara Ehrenreich, is at 7:30 p.m. in Crimi Auditorium at the Institute for Collaboration, 407 S. Calumet Ave. in Aurora. Ehrenreich, author of “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America,” will provide comments and context from her career as an observer of society and its impact on the American worker.
• Oct. 20: The John Jorgenson Quintet performs at 8 p.m. in Crimi Auditorium at the Institute for Collaboration, 407 S. Calumet Ave. in Aurora. Jorgenson, one of the pioneers of the American gypsy jazz movement, is a member of The Desert Rose Band and six-year member of Elton John’s band.
• Nov. 9, 10, 14-17: “The Real Inspector Hound,” an AU theatre production, will be staged at 7:30 p.m. in Perry Theatre at The Aurora Foundation Center, 1305 Kenilworth Place in Aurora. After the curtain rises on what appears to be a harmless 1930s British murder mystery, theatre critics crash the scene and the actors may choose to murder someone for real! Directed by Kelly Hilliard Rousch, guest artist.
• Nov. 14-Jan. 4: “Field Sketches Inspired by AU’s Schingoethe Center,” will feature The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, Great Lakes Chapter, in the Schingoethe Center at Dunham Hall, 1400 Marseillaise Place in Aurora. Paintings and drawings featuring Native American plants and artifacts in the Schingoethe Center collection will be showcased.
• Dec. 9: “Christmas Concert: Gloria in Excelsis!” a holiday choral concert, is at 7 p.m. in Crimi Auditorium at the Institute for Collaboration, 405 S. Calumet Ave. in Aurora. Under the direction of Christine Flasch, the University Chorale presents a delightful program of classical and popular holiday selections. This event is made possible in part by the Wadsworth Family Cultural Arts Endowment Fund.
• Jan. 10-Feb. 28: “Movement and Metaphor,” an art show, is at the Downstairs Dunham Gallery in Dunham Hall, 1400 Marseillaise Place in Aurora. Work by Dominic Moore and Karen Lange will be presented.
• Jan. 31-April 25: “Weapons of Mass Media,” an art display, is at the Schingoethe Center in Dunham Hall, 1400 Marseillaise Place in Aurora. Paintings by Bunky Echo-Hawk will be featured.
• Feb. 5: The Bach Babes will perform at 7 p.m. in Perry Theatre at The Aurora Foundation Center at 1305 Kenilworth Place in Aurora. The Bach Babes’ performances make Baroque composers, social issues and musical forms relevant to audiences of all ages.
• Feb. 27: “Abraham Lincoln of Illinois,” a lecture by Douglas L. Wilson, is at 7:30 p.m. in Perry Theatre at The Aurora Foundation Center, 1305 Kenilworth Place in Aurora. Wilson is a George A. Lawrence Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of English and co-director of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College, and author of “Lincoln’s Sword.”
• Mar. 18, 19, 26-29: “Anna in the Tropics,” a theater production, is at 7:30 p.m. in
  Perry Theatre at The Aurora Foundation Center, 1305 Kenilworth Place in Aurora. At a Cuban cigar factory in 1929, everything is changing. While some fight to keep the old ways, a new machine is threatening. When a debonair stranger comes to read Tolstoy to the workers, a storm erupts beyond anyone’s dreams. Directed by AU Assistant Professor of Theatre Denise Blank.
• April 3-Sept. 5: The Eighth Annual Aurora University Student Art Show is hosted by the Downstairs Dunham Gallery in Dunham Hall, 1400 Marseillaise Place in Aurora.
• April 25: “American Sampler II,” a concert by the University Chorale, is at 7:30 p.m. in Crimi Auditorium at the Institute for Collaboration, 407 S. Calumet Ave. in Aurora. Under the direction of Christine Flasch, the Chorale presents a program of post Civil War era choral music.

Arts and Ideas Series sponsors are: MetLife and Nicor, Gold sponsors; Harris Aurora and Human Resource Management Systems, LLC, Silver sponsors; City of Aurora and Sikich, Bronze sponsors. Media support is provided by The Beacon News and Comcast.

For information, call (630) 844-5486 or e-mail artsandideas@aurora.edu.

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