Pitt-Bradford Arts offers variety of free and affordable programs

The Pitt-Bradford Arts 2016-17 season will feature comedy, music, drama and social justice.

Events are open to the public and free unless otherwise noted. For more information or tickets, contact the Bromeley Family Theater box office at 814-362-5113 or www.upb.pitt.edu/TheArts.

The first event of the season will be an art exhibition celebrating America's National Parks Centennial by local artist Denise Drummond. The show will take place from Aug. 29 through Oct. 2 in the KOA Gallery in Blaisdell Hall. Gallery hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. A reception will take place at noon Sept. 9.

Drummond will share a collection of drawings and paintings inspired by years of travel to the National Parks across the United States, from Acadia to the Redwoods to Florida's Everglades.

The first musical offering of the year will be a piano trio of Susan Waterbury, violin, Elizabeth Simkin, cello, and Miri Yampolsky, piano, at noon Sept. 23 in the Studio Theater in Blaisdell Hall. The program will showcase favorites from the heart of the classical repertoire.

October will begin with a visit from unjustly imprisoned former death row exoneree Anthony Ray Hinton, who is one of the subjects of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson's book “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.”

“Just Mercy” will be read by students in freshman seminar, writing, criminal justice and economics classes at Pitt-Bradford. The book is the Bradford Area Public Library's One Book Bradford selection as well. Hinton will speak at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Bromeley Family Theater in Blaisdell Hall.

Western artist Rebecca G. Weed will open an art exhibition, “No Over Night Parking: A Field Guide,” with a reception at noon Oct. 7 in the KOA Art Gallery and KOA Speer Electronics Lobby in Blaisdell Hall. The exhibition will continue through Nov. 4.

On Oct. 14, Family FUNKtion and the Sitar Jams, a trio of brothers on sitar, bass and drums, will bring a psychedelic musical experience to the studio theater at noon as the second installment in the Noon Tunes series.

Fun will continue with “Broadway's Next Hit Musical,” an improvised, unscripted musical awards show. It is the first offering in Pitt-Bradford's Prism series, its premiere arts series. This evening of musical fun will take place at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 in the Bromeley Family Theater. The cost for the public is $22. Students are $10 and Pitt-Bradford students are $5.

During the Halloween season, Dr. Kevin Ewert, professor of theater, will direct “Apparition,” a play of the horror genre by Anne Washburn. The student production will have four showings - three at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27-29, and a special late-night 10:30 p.m. performance Oct. 28, all in the Studio Theater. The cost for the public is $6. The cost for all students is $2.

Writer Crystal Wilkinson, the author of “The Birds of Opulence,” “Blackberries, Blackberries” and “Water Street” will read from her work at noon Nov. 1 in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons. Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including most recently in the Oxford American and the Appalachian anthology “Walk Till the Dogs Get Mean.”

The Boston Brass will ring in the holiday season with the second offering in the Prism series, a concert at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30 in the Bromeley Family Theater. Also featured with the group will be the Pitt-Bradford Student Vocal Ensemble. Tickets are $22 for the public, $10 for students and $5 for Pitt-Bradford students.

The final event of the semester will be a Noon Tunes holiday concert by the Vocal Arts ensemble at noon Dec. 6 in the KOA Speer Electronics Lobby.

The holiday festivities will continue with an Advent organ recital by Dr. Ann Labounsky at noon Dec. 9 in the Harriett B. Wick Chapel.

January will begin the new year with an annual crowdsourced photography exhibit by faculty, staff, students and community members. This year's theme will be “Power of Creativity,” and the exhibit will be up in the KOA Art Gallery from Jan. 13 through Jan. 27. An opening reception will be held at noon Jan. 13.

The Hot Sardines will heat up January with New Orleans jazz and blues when they play at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 14 in the Bromeley Family Theater as the final offering of the Prism series. The group combines covers and originals, channeling New York speakeasies, Parisian cabarets and New Orleans jazz halls. Tickets for public are $22 and for students $10. Pitt-Bradford students are $5.

The award-winning literary magazine Baily's Beads will unveil its 2017 edition with a reading by contributors, refreshments and prizes at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in the Mukaiyama University Room.

February opens with an art exhibition by Chanda Zea from Feb. 3-March 3 in the KOA Art Gallery. An opening reception will be held at noon Feb. 3 in the KOA Speer Electronics Lobby.

Playwright and theater producer Charles Schulman will be the final visiting writer of the Spectrum season at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9 in the Mukaiyama University Room. Schulman writes for film and television; performs in his one-act, quick-change comedy; and teaches in Spalding University's low residence Master of Fine Arts program and at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

From March 17-April 14, student artists will display their talents in “Affairs of the Art,” the 14th annual Pitt-Bradford student art exhibition. The juried exhibition will feature distinguished student work, including paintings, drawings, digital graphic designs and ceramics. An opening reception will be held at noon March 17 in the KOA Speer Lobby.

Flutist Michael Matsuno will perform at noon March 23 in the KOA Speer Electronics Lobby as the final offering in the Noon Tunes series. Matsuno is a San Diego-based flutist dedicated to performing contemporary repertoire.

The spring student drama production, “The Secret in the Wings,” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. April 6-8 and 2 p.m. April 9 in the studio theater. Tickets are $6 for the public and $2 for all students.

On April 11, Dr. Marvin Thomas, professor of history, will give his annual multimedia lecture at 7 p.m. in Rice Auditorium in Fisher Hall. The topic will be “No End of a Lesson: The Boer War.”

The Vocal Arts Ensemble will cap off the spring semester with a concert at noon, April 13, in the KOA Speer Electronics Lobby.

Finally, Dinosaur fans age 5 and older will enjoy a special evening performance of the Kaleidoscope series' Erth's Dinosaur Zoo Live. Dinosaur-inspired activities begin at 6 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. show May 2 in the Bromeley Family Theater. Observe, meet and interact with an eye-popping collection of life-like dinosaurs and other creatures. Tickets are $10.

For disability needs related to Pitt-Bradford Arts events, contact the Office of Disability Resources at 814-362-7609 or clh71@pitt.edu.