Arts Alive SDSU Presents the Best and Brightest

Fall at SDSU will be artfully delightful! Arts Alive SDSU has announced the Fall 2016 season of Signature Events, performing and visual arts events designed to highlight the ‘best and brightest’ artistic ventures that SDSU has to offer. Performances and exhibitions both on-and-off campus by students, faculty, and professional guest artists provide the campus, and the public, with ambitious, entertaining and accessible, high-quality arts programming. Signature Events for Fall 2016 include offerings in Film, Musical Theatre, Jazz, Art, Shakespeare, and Wind Symphony. Information and a ticket link for all SDSU events can be found at artsalive.sdsu.edu.

Signature Events will include:

Wed. Sept. 14 - Thurs. Sept. 15, 7:30 p.m. Film: Best of the Best Film Fest SDSU, Don Powell Theatre This two-evening program features a variety of fiction and documentary short films by SDSU students in acclaimed Television, Film, and New Media Production program. Each evening features 90 minutes of new work and highlights from past festivals.

Thurs. Sept. 15 - Sun. Nov. 6 Gallery: With Abandon: Works by SDSU Alumni 2011 - 2016 SDSU Downtown Gallery 725 W. Broadway, San Diego Hours: Thurs. - Mon., 11am - 4pm (Closed Tues. and Wed.) Free Admission This exhibition features five years of work from alumni of the SDSU School of Art + Design. Each work pays homage to the program and their mentors, while conveying the individual voice of the artist. Surveying approaches from multiple areas of 2-D and 3-D study, the works share a common element of use of familiar, every-day materials or subject matter as a conduit for contemplation and investigation. Artists include Adam John Manley, Lee Lavy, Kaiya Rainbolt, and Marisa Scheinfeld, among others. Guest curated by Ginger Shulick Porcella, Executive Director, San Diego Art Institute.

Fri. Sept. 30 - Sun. Oct. 9 Theatre: Blood at the Root By Dominique Morisseau SDSU, Experimental Theatre Racial tensions escalate in small town Louisiana when rivalry among football team members becomes violent. Inspired by the true events surrounding the “Jena Six,” playwright Dominique Morisseau weaves this powerful, contemporary story with poetry and hip hop. Produced by the SDSU School of Theatre, Television and Film in special arrangement with Pennsylvania State University. Directed by Randy Reinholz.

Sun. Oct. 9, 4:00 p.m. Music: Concert on the Plaza SDSU Wind Symphony SDSU, Performing Arts Plaza Free admission Bring a blanket or a folding chair, a picnic, and even your music-loving pet on leash to enjoy an afternoon of wind band classics by the SDSU Wind Symphony, outdoors on Performing Arts Plaza, just off Campanile Walkway. Suitable for all ages. Conducted by Shannon Kitelinger.

Thurs. Nov. 3, 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (two performances) Jazz: SDSU Jazz Ensemble with Charles McPherson SDSU, Smith Recital Hall The SDSU School of Music and Dance presents the acclaimed SDSU Jazz Ensemble performing in concert with legendary jazz saxophonist, Charles McPherson. Directed by Bill Yeager.

Fri. Nov. 4 - Sun. Nov. 13 Theatre: Julius Caesar By William Shakespeare Directed by special guest director Delicia Turner-Sonnenberg SDSU, Experimental Theatre Et tu, Brute? Julius Caesar is Rome’s revered leader, but is his celebrity a threat to democracy? In the shadow of our presidential election, the School of Theatre, Television and Film stages a modern take on Shakespeare’s classic tale of conspiracy, politics, and betrayal. Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, Executive Artistic Director of MOXIE Theatre.

Thurs. Nov. 17 - Sun. Jan. 29 Gallery: Sandow Birk: Depravities & Monuments SDSU Downtown Gallery 725 W. Broadway, San Diego Hours: Thurs. - Mon., 11am - 4pm (Closed Tues. and Wed.) Free Admission Depravities & Monuments features a selection of artworks from two major series by Los Angeles based visual artist Sandow Birk. The Depravities of War, comprising a suite of monumental woodcuts, proffers a critique of the Iraq war and its aftermath. Imaginary Monuments, consisting of large drawings and etchings, proposes public memorials to agreements, treaties and institutions of our contemporary world. Curated by Tina Yapelli.

Thurs. Dec. 1 - Sun. Dec. 4 Musical Theatre: Jesus Christ Superstar in Concert Music by Andrew Lloyd Weber, Lyrics by Tim Rice SDSU, Don Powell Theatre An explosive, psychedelic concert collaboration between the Schools of Theatre, Television, and Film and Music and Dance. This popular rock musical has wowed audiences for over 40 years and tells a universally-known story of extraordinary events from the unusual perspective of Judas Iscariot. Audiences who loved SDSU’s 2014 production of Les Misérables in Concert will rave about this large-scale, spectacular performance. Directed by Stephen Brotebeck.

ABOUT ARTS ALIVE SDSU Arts Alive SDSU showcases and supports the best and brightest performing and visual arts that SDSU has to offer. As a creative catalyst, this campus-wide initiative infuses art into curriculum and promotes opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and the public, to engage in top-quality exhibitions and performances. artsalive.sdsu.edu

The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.