Event Overview:

Arts Club of Washington Book Group

          Wednesday, September 8, 2021,  at 4:00 pm 

OPEN TO MEMBERS & GUESTS - FREE

Stay for dinner after the meeting!

In September we will travel to Russia to compare and contrast two books, both are "coming of age" novels in different centuries. Everything is Normal:  The Life and Times of a Soviet Kid by Sergey Grechishkin, and On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev.

Grechishkin's novel is well-reviewed and described by Goodreads: "This book is both a memoir and a social history". On one hand, it is a light-hearted worm’s-eye-view of the USSR through one middle-class Soviet childhood in the 1970s - 1980s. On the other hand, it is a reflection on the mundane deprivations and existential terrors of day-to-day life in Leningrad in the decades preceding the collapse of the USSR.

Vanity Fair describes Turgenev's novel thus:  This 1860 novel about educated youth coming of age in Russia just before the Crimean War is about global and personal politics as well as love and society—and it’s also very funny. Criticized at the time for not going far enough (read: being heavy-handed) in its leftist politics, it now comes off as more audacious (and honest in its limitations) than more celebrated political novels. 

Copies of the book are available at DC Public Library.

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Event Overview:

ANNUAL BRISTOR DINNER

OPEN TO MEMBERS & GUESTS

The 2021 to 2022 Season opening event honoring the late William "Bill" Bristor, friend and benefactor to the Club.

Dress code: Black Tie Optional

A reservation is required for dinner by 5 pm the day before.

RSVP online or call (202) 331-7282 ext. 3

Complimentary parking after 6 pm at 2001 Pennsylvania Ave.

6:00 pm Cocktails

7:00 pm Program

8:00 pm Dinner

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Event Overview:

VISIONARY EVENINGS

Harris D. Smith

Monday, October 4, 2021 at  6:00 pm

Members & Guests $10

Non-Members $20

Club member Dana Tai Soon Burgess and UNM dance alumnus interviews Harris D. Smith, Dean at the University of New Mexico College of Fine Arts.

Harris D. Smith comes to UNM from the University of Utah as the chair for the Department of Theatre at the University of Utah, a position he held since July 2018. Prior to that, he served as Director of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

His research efforts have been divided between interdisciplinary collaborations serving as a Communications Coach for the New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA) and performance where he is exploring incorporating “Afrofuturism” values into stage combat, a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical contact enabling actors to safely perform basic maneuvers they may be asked to perform in a production. Smith is a Certified Teacher of stage combat through the Society of American Fight Directors.

Smith received the Meritorious Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival for Fight Choreography, and has several film and television credits including the Oscar-nominated Runaway Train. He produced and served as the stunt coordinator and fight director for the award-winning short film, The Healing of Harmon (2018).

Smith is a product of the nationally ranked MFA Acting program at the University of Washington. He earned his B.A. in Theatre Arts at Montana State University where he also played football for the national champion Bobcats football team.

Burgess is the Smithsonian's choreographer in residence and director of Washington's premiere modern dance company dtsbdc.org. His popular podcast, slantpodcast.com is available on all platforms.

Complimentary parking after 6 pm at 2001 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.

For more information please call (202) 331-7282 ext 120

Online payments are non-refundable. Paid tickets can be canceled online for an account credit up to 48 hours before the event. Members can canceled their reservation without a penalty until the day before the event.

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