Andrew Chatfield

Playwright, actor, and educator Anna Deavere Smith Hon. '97 launched her yearlong residency at Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts (CFA) on Oct. 27 with the first public staged reading of her new work This Ghost of Slavery. The cast featured 15 actors, including Associate Professor of Theater, African American Studies, and English Rashida McMahon, along with students Connor Wrubel ’25 and Raimi Bagwell ’26. First published in The Atlantic, the work blends contemporary interviews with activists and social justice workers with her research into the archives of American slavery, revealing how historical trauma shapes present-day behavior. The play depicts events…

Artist Glenn Ligon '82, Hon. '12 spoke with Associate Professor and Program Director for Art History and Associate Professor of American Studies Claire Grace on Nov. 1 in the Frank Center for Public Affairs during Homecoming and Family Weekend 2024. The exhibition, Reading Signs: Jasper Johns and Glenn Ligon in Print, which features etchings and lithographs by both artists as well as screenprints by Johns from the Davison Art Collection, is on display at the Pruzan Art Center in the Goldrach Gallery through Dec. 11. In her introduction to the conversation, Grace noted that Ligon’s work has been at the…

Wesleyan students  Akhil Joondeph '26 and Tanvi Navile '25 performed during the Indian Dance Showcase as part of the 48th anniversary Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan on Oct. 12. Each dancer demonstrated a different classical dance style. The students were invited to perform at the festival by Hari Krishnan, professor of Dance, Global South Asian Studies, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. They were joined by Connecticut-based choreographers Sarada Nori Akella, who performed South Indian Kuchipudi dance, and Rachna Agrawal, performing North Indian Kathak dance. Navile and Joondeph had previously taken Krishnan’s South Indian Bharatanatyam dance class together. “At Wesleyan, there's such a rich cultural history of the Indian…

“What is Political About Art?” was the question posed at the Theater Department’s fall Talk It Out and Long Table conversation on October 10. The event was organized by Assistant Professor of Theater Katie Pearl, Associate Professor of Theater and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Katie Brewer Ball, and included the student cast of Of Government in the Theater Studios. Pearl will be directing four performances of Agnes Borinsky’s play Of Government in the CFA Theater Nov. 7 to Nov. 9. The work deals with the connected processes of making theater and making society. “Every time we do a play, we…

On October 2, Saidiya Hartman ’83, Hon. ’19 joined Kaneza Schaal ’06 in a conversation about their collaborative process of creating the new performance work Litany for Grieving Sisters. Moderated by Kiara Benn ’20, the event was hosted by Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts and convened in the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism. Based on Hartman’s essay of the same name, which was originally published in the journal Representations in 2022, the work explores themes of collective grief, love, and resilience. The three Wesleyan alumnae discussed the evolution of the project as they collaborate in a democratic process…

The Wesleyan Javanese Gamelan Ensemble and guest artists, including Indonesian vocalist Peni Candra Rini, will perform a free retrospective concert of compositions by University Professor of Music I.M. Harjito on Friday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. They will perform under the direction of the composer and Sumarsam MA ’76, Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music. Since 1983, Wesleyan has owned a set of gamelan instruments from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, a donation to the University from Louise Ansberry. The use of some of the instruments in the gamelan date back to the 12th century. Today, the magnificent orchestra includes colorful…

Patricia Beaman didn’t always know that she could be successful as a professional dancer. But after four decades, she’s made her mark reviving a lesser-known form of art: French Baroque dance. A University Professor of Dance at Wesleyan, Beaman has made a name for herself in the Baroque dance world, specializing in French dances from that era, which spans the years 1600 to 1750. In addition to dancing professionally for 40 years, she has also been teaching dance for more than three decades. “It's nice to have that balance,” Beaman says of working in academia and on creative projects. Commuting…

The Class of 2028 gathered on Andrus Field for a joyful celebration on Aug. 30. More than 600 first-year students took part in the 17th annual “Common Moment” as part of new student orientation. The celebration also included new transfer students from both the Class of 2027 and the Class of 2026. Joshua Lubin-Levy 06, director of the Center for the Arts, said the “Common Moment” is an opportunity during orientation for new students to get out of their heads and into their bodies, feeling and sensing the world around them through dance as they reflect on the kind of…

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA) opens the 2024-25 season with a wide range of special exhibitions and performances that encourage interactions and exchanges between visiting artists and the campus community. The CFA’s season also features artists in residence who integrate themselves into campus life as they incubate new work. CFA Director Joshua Lubin-Levy ‘06 and his curatorial team create opportunities for audiences to explore the way art can build new points of connection between otherwise discrete aspects of life and learning. “I invite students, faculty, and visitors to consider the CFA as more than a space, but rather…

Wesleyan University’s Pruzan Art Center, the new venue in the center of campus, will highlight prints from the Davison Art Collection by Jasper Johns and Glenn Ligon ’82, Hon. ’12. The exhibition “Reading Signs: Jasper Johns and Glenn Ligon in Print” will open at the Pruzan Art Center in the Goldrach Gallery on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 4:30 p.m. and will be on display through Wednesday, Dec. 11. The Pruzan Art Center, located at 238 Church Street in Middletown, between Wesleyan’s Olin Memorial Library and the Frank Center for Public Affairs, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12:30 to 4:30…

During its 50th anniversary season, the Center for the Arts (CFA) brought to campus visiting artists who encouraged audience interaction in their live performances. The dance company Scapegoat Garden, directed by Deborah Goffe MA ’19, was among them. The company presented the latest iteration of Goffe’s work “Liturgy|Order|Bridge” last February in three, sold-out CFA Theater performances. “The very first seeds of the project, the first ideas I had, were really about the relationship with an audience — how one cares for an audience,” Goffe said. “Wesleyan is pretty well-practiced at holding things that are not easily categorizable.” In October 2022,…

The exhibition “Dürer and His Time,” on display at the new Pruzan Art Center, is an example of a Wesleyan art education at work. Students in the course “Curatorial Workshop: The Northern Renaissance Print” examined prints in the Davison Art Collection from a pivotal moment in Western tradition in order to pull together the exhibition. It’s a curation of works by renowned German painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) and select artists from the collection. Assistant Professor of Art History and Medieval Studies Joseph Salvatore Ackley, who teaches the course, guided the student’s research, while Miya Tokumitsu, the Donald T.…

Anna Deavere Smith Starts Yearlong Artist Residency

Glenn Ligon ’82, Hon. ’12 Talks Career, Work at Pruzan Art Center

Students Perform During Annual Celebration of Indian Music and Dance

Students, Faculty Explore Intersection of Art and Politics

Democracy in Action: Three Alumnae Discuss Collaboration on New Performance Work

Javanese Gamelan Ensemble to premiere works by I.M. Harjito

Faculty Member Revives French Baroque Dance Style in New Choreography

‘Common Moment’ Tradition Connects New Students Across Difference

Center for the Arts ’24-’25 Season Examines Art as a Way of Knowing the World

Pruzan Art Center to Feature Works by Jasper Johns, Glenn Ligon ’82, Hon. ’12 from Davison Art Collection

Performance by Scapegoat Garden at Center for the Arts Influences Student Capstone Project

Students Research Works in Davison Art Collection for New Print Exhibition