Lots of these this weekend

Screw midterms. Arts editor Madysen Luebke tells you what to do instead/how to learn things that actually matter.

All Weekend:

• Cu Players presents Mother Courage and Her Children this weekend in the Minor Latham Playhouse.  This play takes on the epic tale of “a traveling canteen woman trying to negotiate the demands of wartime capitalism and family.”  The play will run Thursday at 6:30 pm and Friday-Saturday at 8pm for $5 with CUID.
• CUPAL’s special project this semester is a completely improvised play.  Therefore, there is really nothing much to say about it other than that you should go, because it’s going to be an one-time only show!  See it in the Lerner Black Box Friday or Saturday at 8 pm or Friday at 11 pm.  Free with CUID.
• CU Ballroom is hosting the 7th Annual Big Apple Dancesport Challenge this weekend in Roone!  It’s going to be a large event this year, expecting nearly 800 competitors, including many from our own Columbia Ballroom team.  As if that weren’t enough, the top Latin couple in the world will be presenting at the event!  So stop by between Saturday at 8 am and Sunday at 4:30 pm, just make sure you grab a ticket for only $15 with CUID.
• Barnard Theatre Department presents its first production of the semester, Blown Youth.  Co-commissioned by Barnard along with a downtown theater company, this play takes an original look at Shakespeare’s classic  work, Hamlet.  Be sure to catch it in the Glicker-Milstein Theatre Thursday-Saturday at 8 pm, or Saturday at 3 pm for only $5 with CUID.

Wednesday:

• Here’s the event you’ve been hoping for since you saw the movie for the third time… A Frozen Singalong!  The newly formed Columbia Piano Club is dedicating their second event to Disney’s newest beloved princesses TONIGHT at 9 pm in the John Jay Lounge.  There will be great pianists, so don’t worry about staying on key; just come, have fun, and sing away all your troubles!  Sheet music will be provided and all instruments are welcome.  Plus it’s a free event with food, so there is simply no reason not to be there.
• Pizmon and CU Gospel Choir are pairing up for an Interfaith Musical Experience Wednesday at 8 pm in Rennert Hall at the Kraft Center – 606 W. 115 St.  Tickets are free and midterms haven’t really hit yet, so what’s your excuse not to go?
• The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies starts of their Spring 2014 concert with a performance by pioneering cellist Frances-Marie Uitti.  The recital will feature a U.S. premiere of Giacinto Scelsi’s “Il Funerale di Carlo Magno for two-bowed cello” and a world premiere of Uitti’s own composition.  The concert will be held at The Italian Academy at 7pm, and will be free and open to the public.
• Columbia’s MEI, MESAAS, AND SOA Film Program will hold a screening and round table discussion of Iranian filmmakers Kamran Shirdel, Amir Naderi, and Hamid Dabashi.  If you’re interested in film or just want to broaden your cinematic horizons after watching the Oscars and not knowing a single movie from the foreign film category, check it out at 7:15 pm in Schermerhorn 501 for free.

Thursday:

•  Catch the 14th Annual CUPAL showcase this Thursday in Roone!  Don’t know what the CUPAL showcase is?  It’s essentially where you can catch performances, eat food, and dance the night away with all the groups who are part of the Columbia Performing Arts League!  It starts at 10, and it’s only $5 with CUID so check it out!

Friday:

•  Want to get off of campus?  Need to write that music hum concert paper before spring break?  Well then, run down to Lincoln Center (specifically Alice Tully Hall) this Friday at 7:30 pm to catch a concert dedicated to the music of the Romantic Period. Student rush tickets are available for $10, with your CUID of course.

Saturday:

• The Columbia Bach Society is changing things up this semester and taking on the enormous task of performing the entirety of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.  You know, like the book you were supposed to read over winter break for Lit Hum that you ended up finishing on the plane?  Head on over to St. Paul’s Chapel Saturday at 6 pm to see a student run opera in one of campus’s most beautiful buildings all for free!  It’s a one night only show, so don’t miss it!

Yummerz donuts via Shutterstock