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Please join us for the 2009-2010 Celebrating Arts and Ideas series at Aurora University. This diverse collection of events represents the creative collaboration between community members, businesses and organizations, students, faculty and staff. The series offers something for everyone — art, film, theatre, music and lectures.

Each event is free and is presented on the Aurora University campus. Seating is limited and reservations are required. For more information, please call 630-844-4924 or e-mail artsandideas@aurora.edu. You can register for one or multiple events using this secure online form.

Find the 2009-2010 calendar below or download a printable PDF version.

You can find video clips from select events on the Arts and Ideas video gallery page.

2009-2010 Arts and Ideas Calendar

Ongoing

"Peoples of the Plateau" Art Exhibit
Work by Thomas Leander "Lee" Moorhouse, 1898-1915
September 22, 2009-January 3, 2010
Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures • Dunham Hall
Black and white photography featuring the interior Pacific Northwest as it transitioned from frontier life to the modern era.

"Aurora, Apollo and Others: Narrative Paintings by J.M. Mesplé" Art Exhibit
November 3, 2009-January 2, 2010
Schingoethe Gallery • Dunham Hall
Mythological imagery within a contemporary context is explored in paintings, drawings and prints by J.M. Mesplé. An opening reception will be held November 10, 2009 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., followed immediately with a lecture by the artist.

November

AU Theatre Department presents "The Clean House" by Sarah Ruhl
November 13-14, 18-21, 2009 • 7:30 p.m.
Perry Theatre • Aurora Foundation Center
A successful physician requires an ordered, pristine world, but when her obsessively maternal sister usurps the Brazilian comedienne maid, and her oncologist husband runs off with a patient with breast cancer, the dirt starts flying. Pulitzer runner-up Sarah Ruhl approaches the mess of mortality with a search for humor and compassion. Directed by Kelly Roush, guest artist and adjunct faculty member.
Register for this event.

"All Gershwin Recital" with American pianist Thomas Pandolfi
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 • 7:00 p.m.
Crimi Auditorium • Institute for Collaboration
Considered a leading interpreter of the works of George Gershwin, Thomas Pandolfi has been praised by The Washington Post as "an artist who is master of both the grand gesture and the sensual line."
Register for this event.

December

University Chorale and Women's Ensemble Christmas Concerts
Sunday, December 6, 2009 • 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Crimi Auditorium • Institute for Collaboration
Join the University Chorale and Women's Ensemble as they present a delightful program of classical and popular holiday selections.
Register for this event.

January

AU Film Series presents "The Visitor"
Thursday, January 28, 2010 • 7:00 p.m.
Perry Theatre • Aurora Foundation Center
This poignant and often-funny movie features a disillusioned professor and how his life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City. Film showing with an introduction and discussion led by Martin Forward, Professor of Religion and Executive Director of the Wackerlin Center for Faith and Action, and Gerald Butters, Professor of History.
Register for this event.

Chicago a cappella
Saturday, January 30, 2010 • 7:00 p.m.
Crimi Auditorium • Institute for Collaboration
As part of its touring performances this year, Chicago a cappella has brought back two kinds of classics: Baroque and Beatles. In this updated program, the passionate Baroque music teams up with hard-driving and contemplative Beatles hits.
Register for this event.

February

"Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray" Art Exhibit
Work by Nickolas Muray
February 2-March 28, 2010
Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures • Dunham Hall
Muray captures famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) in an exhibit of more than 40 color photographs. He began photographing Kahlo in color in the winter of 1939 and continued to do so until 1948 — photographing her more than anyone else.

A presentation by David Alexander
Deputy Director of SciTech Hands-On Museum and author of "Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry"
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 • 7:00 p.m
Crimi Auditorium • Institute for Collaboration
Based on his well-received biography of Gene Roddenberry, Alexander will offer insights to the "Star Trek" creator's life.
Register for this event.

AU Theatre Department presents "Trip's Cinch" by Phyllis Nagy
February 5-6, 10-13, 2010 • 7:30 p.m.
Perry Theatre • Aurora Foundation Center
Our tabloid-TV obsession, with scandal and "knowing the whole truth," gets a run for its money when a pop-anthropologist professor interviews a millionaire tycoon accused of sexual assault and the hick crossing guard who lost the case ... sort of. Their attitudes and accounts surprise and contradict, and even after replaying "the actual event," the truth still isn't clear. American-Brit playwright Phyllis Nagy balances, but lets the audience debate. Directed by AU alumnus Ian Klink, B.A. '07.
Register for this event.

"Autism, Animals and Design"
A presentation by author Temple Grandin, Ph.D., Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 • 7:00 p.m.
Crimi Auditorium • Institute for Collaboration
A noted scientist and engineer, Temple Grandin will discuss the parallels between autism and animal cognition, and the role of design in identifying and improving conditions.
Register for this event.

March

"Tecumseh, Native America and the Other American Dream"
A presentation by documentary filmmaker Ric Burns
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 • 7:00 p.m.
Crimi Auditorium • Institute for Collaboration
Burns will discuss his 90-minute documentary film that is included in "We Shall Remain," a five-part PBS series about the history of Native America. His segment chronicles the life and times of Tecumseh, the great Shawnee warrior and politician.
Register for this event.

AU Film Series presents "The Third Man"
Monday, March 22, 2010 • 7:00 p.m.
Perry Theatre • Aurora Foundation Center
This 1949 thriller is the paranoid story of social, economic and moral corruption in a depressed, rotting and crumbling 20th Century Vienna following World War II. Film showing with an introduction and discussion led by Richard Westphal, Professor of English.
Register for this event.

April

"Intrigue and Novelty" Art Exhibit
April 1-June 30, 2010
Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures • Dunham Hall
Contemporary Native American female artists interpret their world and their place in it through painting, drawing and photography.

Aurora University Senior Art Exhibit
April 7-September 7, 2010
Schingoethe Gallery • Dunham Hall
Aurora University seniors showcase their paintings, drawings and photographs as part of their educational experience.

AU Theatre Department presents "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
April 9-10, 14-17, 2010 • 7:30 p.m.
Perry Theatre • Aurora Foundation Center
Exercising his right to civil disobedience, Henry David Thoreau doesn't pay his taxes while living quietly at Walden Pond ... so he's thrown in jail. Over the course of a long night of introspection, the young Thoreau examines what he's learned, what he's done, who he's met ... whether he prefers "Henry David" or "David Henry" ... and realizes it's time to make his own journey into the world. Directed by Denise Blank, Assistant Professor of Theatre.
Register for this event.

University Chorale and Women's Ensemble Concert
Friday, April 30, 2010 • 7:30 p.m.
Crimi Auditorium • Institute for Collaboration
Join the University Chorale and Women's Ensemble as they present a special program of music.
Register for this event.

Thank you to our 2009-2010 sponsors: