Happenings

Issue Date: 
April 18, 2011

CONCERTS

Benefit Concert for Earthquake/Tsunami Relief for Japan, featuring Joe Negri and other noted jazz musicians, 2-4 p.m. April 23, Bellefield Hall Auditorium, suggested $5 student donation and $10 general public donation, Pitt Asian Studies Center, Department of Music, Japan American Society of Pennsylvania, Brother’s Brother Foundation, 412-648-7763.

Wynonna Judd With Marvin and the PSO, featuring Grammy Award-winning singer Judd, 7:30 p.m. April 28, Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Ave., Downtown, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, BNY Mellon Grand Classics, 412-392-4900, www.pittsburghsymphony.org, PITT ARTS Cheap Seats, 412-624-4498, www.pittarts.pitt.edu.

Vijay Iyer and Braden-Rapp “Strayhorn Project,” modern arrangements from the Billy Strayhorn songbook, 9:30 p.m. April 29, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild Hall, 1815 Metropolitan St., Manchester, 412-322-1773, PITT ARTS Cheap Seats, 412-624-4498, www.pittarts.pitt.edu.

Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra with Lawrence Loh, director; Eleanor Lee, cello soloist, 2 p.m. May 1, Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Ave., Downtown, concert is free, but tickets required and can be downloaded at www.pyso.us.

EXHIBITIONS

Westmoreland Museum of American Art, American Landscapes: Treasures From the Parrish Art Museum and At the River’s Edge: Paintings by Patrick Ruane, through April 24, 221 N. Main St., Greensburg, 724-837-1500, www.wmuseumaa.org.

University Art Gallery, Studio Arts Student Exhibition, through April 30, Frick Fine Arts Building, 412-648-2430.

Silver Eye Center for Photography, Future Forward, members’ exhibition, through May 7, 1015 E. Carson St., South Side, 412-431-1810, www.silvereye.org.

Carnegie Museum of Art, Paul Thek: Diver, A Retrospective, through May 1; You Are Here: Architecture and Experience, through May 29; Andrey Avinoff: In Pursuit of Beauty, through June 5; Ragnar Kjartansson: Song, through Sept. 25; 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland, 412-622-3131, www.cmoa.org.

August Wilson Center for African American Culture, In My Father’s House, mixed-media exhibition about how African Americans collect and preserve their culture, through June, 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, 412-456-6666, www.pgharts.org.

Heinz History Center, Ben Franklin: In Search of a Better World, explores personal side of one of our founding fathers, April 14-July 31; America’s Best Weekly: A Century of The Pittsburgh Courier, through Oct. 2; 1212 Smallman St., Strip District, 412-454-6000, www.heinzhistorycenter.org.

LECTURES/SEMINARS/READINGS

“Cicero’s De Officiis—Practical Stoicism for Non-Philosophers?” Gisela Striker, Walter C. Klein Professor of Philosophy and of the Classics, Harvard University, 4 p.m. April 29, 244B Cathedral of Learning, Pitt’s Graduate Program in Classics, Philosophy, and Ancient Science, 412-624-4494.

“Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?” John Fea, associate professor of American history, Messiah College, 7 p.m. April 29, Science Stage, First Floor, Carnegie Science Center, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, The Center for Inquiry, 412-384-5893, www.centerforinquiry.net.

“Lymphatics: The Other Vascular System,” Robert E. Ferrell, Pitt professor of human genetics and pharmaceutical sciences, noon April 22, A115 Crabtree Hall, C.C. Li Memorial Lecture, Pitt Department of Human Genetics, Graduate School of Public Health, www.publichealth.pitt.edu.

“The Gene: A Concept in Flux,” Staffan Müller-Wille, professor, University of Exeter’s Department of History, 12:05 p.m. April 26, Center for Philosophy of Science, 817R Cathedral of Learning, pittcnr@pitt.edu.

“Chasing Terrorists,” Adam Goldman, Associated Press investigative reporter; Michael Finnegan, assistant professor in Criminal Justice Program, Point Park University; noon April 27, Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, 337 Fourth Ave., Downtown, Western Pennsylvania Press Association, reservations required at 412-281-7778.

MISCELLANEOUS

CourseWeb Level 2, workshop that focuses on the application of the Blackboard 9.1 Learning Management System’s Web-based instructional technologies to enhance student participation and encourage active and collaborative learning, 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. April 18, B23 Alumni Hall, Pitt CIDDE, register online at www.cidde.pitt.edu.

TIES Informational Luncheon for Researchers and Research Assistants, talk on Text Information Extraction System (TIES) with Rebecca Crowley, director, Department of Biomedical Informatics Graduate Training Program, Pitt School of Medicine, 11 a.m. April 27, William M Cooper Pavilion, Hillman Cancer Center, 412-623-4753, open to Pitt and UPMC faculty, staff, and students, registration required at http://ties.upmc.com/register/index.html.

THEATER

Mamma Mia! smash-hit musical featuring ABBA’s greatest hits, April 19-24, Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Ave., Downtown, PNC Broadway Across America, www.pgharts.org, PITT ARTS Cheap Seats, 412-624-4498, www.pittarts.pitt.edu.

The Marvelous Wonderettes by Roger Bean, a return to the ’50s and ’60s, April 28-Oct. 2, CLO Cabaret, 719 Liberty Ave., Downtown, 412-281-3973, www.pittsburghclo.org, PITT ARTS Cheap Seats, 412-624-4498, www.pittarts.pitt.edu.

Dialogues of the Carmelites by Francis Poulenc, story of 16 Carmelite nuns who defended their faith and were executed during France’s l8th-century Reign of Terror, 8 p.m., April 30 and May 3, 6, and 8, Benedum Center, 803 Liberty Avenue, Downtown, Pittsburgh Opera, 412-456-6666, www.pittsburghopera.org, PITT ARTS Cheap Seats, 412-624-4498, www.pittarts.pitt.edu.

The Amish Project, written by and starring Jessica Dickey, based on the 2006 shooting at an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster, Pa., through May 8, City Theatre, 1300 Bingham St., South Side, 412-431-2489, www.citytheatrecompany.org.

Superior Donuts by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts, Chicago coffee shop serves as the setting for this new comedy, through May 15, Pittsburgh Public Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown, 412-316-1600, www.ppt.org, PITT ARTS Cheap Seats, 412-624-4498, www.pittarts.pitt.edu.

PITT PHD DISSERTATION DEFENSES

Boryana Dobreva, School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of German, 1 p.m. April 18, “Subjectivity Regained? German-Language Writing From Eastern Europe and the Balkans Through an East-West Gaze,” 5400 Posvar Hall.

Rama Rao Damerla, Graduate School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, 10 a.m. April 18, “Mutagenic Potential of Telomeric Repeats and the Role of Werner Syndrome Helicase Protein in Facilitating Telomeric DNA Replication,” 5th-floor conference room, Bridgeside Point Building, 100 Technology Drive, Hazelwood.

Hussein A. Tawbi, School of Medicine’s Clinical and Translational Science Doctoral Program, 3 p.m. April 19, “The Epigenetic Regulation of Chemotherapy Resistance in Melanoma,” 305 Parkvale Building.

Timothy Hughes, Graduate School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology, “Cholesterol Metabolism in the Brain and Dementia,” noon April 21, 5th-floor conference room, Bellefield Professional Building, 130 N Bellefield St., Oakland.

Daniel Wollenberg, School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of English, 9 a.m. April 22, “The Invention of England: Danes and Identity in Medieval Romance,” 527 Cathedral of Learning.

Alejandro Chu, School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Anthropology, 2 p.m. April 25, “Household Organization at Bandurria, a Late Preceramic Temple Center on the Peruvian Coast,” 3106 Posvar Hall.

Kathleen Blake, School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Anthropology, 9:30 a.m. April 26, “Sex Determination From the Subadult Pelvis: A Morphometric Analysis of the Ilium, Pubis, and Ischium,” 3106 Posvar Hall.

Debbie Bensadon, School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, 1:30 p.m. April 26, “Modernity and Crisis: The Writing of ‘the Jew’ in Twentieth Century Transatlantic Literature,” 1528 Cathedral of Learning.

Jennifer McDowell, School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Anthropology, noon April 27, “Kokeshi: Continued and Created Traditions (Motivations for a Japanese Folk Art Doll),” 3106 Posvar Hall.

Kun-Wei Liu, School of Medicine’s Cellular and Molecular Pathology Graduate Program, 2 p.m. April 28, “Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor Alpha Signaling in Gliomas: SHPing the PI3K Pathway to Oncogenesis,” Nimick Conference Room, Hillman Cancer Center.

Ilya Goldin, School of Arts and Sciences’ Intelligent Systems Program, 11 a.m. April 29, “A Focus on Content: The Use of Rubrics in Peer Review to Guide Students and Instructors,” Glaser Auditorium, Learning Research and Development Center.