Expect a slightly lighter but equally delicious brunch at the Jewish Theatre Workshop on Friday

New York City is packed with amazing culture and inspiring art, but sometimes it’s difficult to break the Morningside-bubble and experience them first-hand. “This Week in the Arts” is a weekly guide to interesting and notable lectures, events, and performances for the literary/musically/theatrically-inclined on campus.

Monday, February 22

• Material Encounters: Surface Tension, Screen Space, 6:15 PM, Common Room in the Heyman Center –  “What is the place of materiality in our visual age of rapidly changing materials and media? How is it fashioned in the arts or manifested in virtual forms?” Professor Giuliana Bruno of Harvard University will discuss these questions as she generally addresses the connection between material and the creation of media.

Wednesday, February 24

• Mid-Day Music featuring Joseph Morag and Yong Murray, 12:00 PM, Garden Room at the Faculty House – Violin and piano duo Joseph Morag and Yong Murray will be performing I, II, and III of Brahms Sonata No. 2 in A Major for Piano and Violin, Op. 100 and I, II, III, and IV of Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 1 in F minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 80 as part of the Mid-Day Music recital series.
• Yuyi Morales: Award-winning Author/Illustrator, 5:00 PM, Milbank Chapel in Teachers College – “The Bilingual/Bicultural Education Program invites you to enjoy Yuyi Morales’ unique and diverse perspective on children’s books. Come and join and interactive discussion and learn about her most recent work.”
• Donoma, 6:00 PM, East Gallery in Maison Française – An original concept French film (show with English subtitles) that was produced on a budget of 150 euros. “It weaves together three story lines: a teacher has a relationship with a student; a young woman disappointed in love decides to re-examine her beliefs; an agnostic girl questioning the Christian religion meets a religious man. All three stories are symbolic of the sunrise that gives the movie its name: Donoma (the day is here).”
• Creative Writing Lecture: Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, 7:00 PM, Dodge Hall in Room 501 – The author of Brief Encounters with the Enemy, which was shortlisted for the 2014 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Fiction Prize, and work that has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Granta, McSweeney’s, The New York Times, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading will be speaking on the process of creative writing.

Thursday, February 25

• Composer Portraits: Alex Mincek, 8:00 PM, Miller Theatre – “Heralded as the “new garde of the New York avant-garde” by the New York Times, Alex Mincek draws on diverse textures, sources, and traditions; listeners might encounter echoes of anything from Morton Feldman to Stravinsky to jazz. With two world premieres—including a Miller Theatre commissioned octet for the piano and percussion quartet Yarn/Wire and the Mivos Quartet—this Portrait presents the freshest sounds from New York’s cutting-edge musicians.” (Tickets are $7 with CUID/BCID)
• The MaMa Project 2016 present: only glass stands, 8:00 PM, Glicker-Milstein Theatre in the Diana Center – “The MaMa Project is sponsored by Orchesis, Columbia’s largest performing arts group. This year, Catherine Haber (BC’16) has created a show that examines the concept of home. Combining film and dance, “only glass stands” interrogates traditional notions of perspective and explores the many connections we have to our homes, both permanent and impermanent.” (Tickets are $5 with CUID/BCID; performances are also on the 26th and 27th)
• 16th Annual CUPAL Showcase, 8:30 PM, Roone Arledge Auditorium – “Each spring, the Columbia University Performing Arts League hosts an event to showcase the talents of our nineteen member groups. Please join us for dessert, performances, and dancing. Attire is semi-formal.” (Tickets are $5 with CUID)

Friday, February 26

• A Jewish Theater Workshop, 11:30 AM, The Kraft Center – Actor and educator Jon Adam Ross will lead a theater workshop “inspired by stories from the greatest selling book of all time. . . the Torah.” Light brunch included; no theater or Jewish background needed. Free, but RSVP to ya2310@columbia.edu

Medium brunch via Wikimedia Commons