Previews

LITERARY LIGHTS

Two longtime lions of the American literary scene, Edward Albee and Amiri Baraka, will be appearing separately in Blackman Auditorium in February.

In a speech on February 5 titled "The Playwright versus the Theater," Albee will talk about the state of American theater. In a word, he's unhappy with it. "Just look at what's playing on Broadway these days-nothing but big, lugubrious, terrible musicals," he says from his home in New York. "I've seen all of them, [and there's] not one musical on Broadway that's worth anybody's time-or money."

In the four decades since he first gained acclaim as a playwright, Albee has amassed fame and three Pulitzer Prizes for drama-for A Delicate Balance (1966), Seascape (1974), and Three Tall Women (1994). Even as his reputation has grown, however, the sixty-nine-year-old Albee believes American theater has eroded. Profit has replaced art as the central aim of most plays, he says, and entertainment value has won out over dramatic catharsis.

Instead of being an escape from reality, the theater should provide audiences with an increased awareness of reality, Albee believes. Playwrights he considers first-rate, like Beckett, Chekhov, and Luigi Pirandello, fulfill that role with interesting, intense works. Yet "they are nowhere near as popular as Les Miserables or Phantom of the Opera or junk like that," says Albee.

Not that the modern stage is entirely a dump (a line from Albee's most famous play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? [1966]). Albee will also discuss American theater's strengths and prospects.

On February 12, Amiri Baraka will perform Black History Music, a "choropoem"-a fusion of music, poetry, and drama-with the Blue Ark ensemble of poets and musicians. Black History Music, portraying African Americans from their arrival in the New World to the present, "offers hope and direction for black people in the 1990s," Baraka has said. Scheduled during Black History Month, the performance is "both a confirmation and denial of the one-month celebration of black history," Baraka says.

The influential and controversial Baraka, who changed his name from LeRoi Jones in 1968, has written poetry, essays, short stories, a novel, plays, and a major study of American jazz. Among his best-known works are the poem "Cuba Libre" (1961) and the play Dutchman (1964). He is considered the father of the Black Arts Movement, an influential strain of cultural criticism that expounds the independence of African-American arts from the broader, white-dominated culture. He is also an outspoken critic and advocate for African-American rights.

Although the sixty-three-year-old Baraka is not a musician, Black History Music isn't really a departure for him. "The first 'formal' verse I loved was in music," he wrote in 1989. "It was poetry (the form and feeling) of blues that first moved me." His aim has been to incorporate "sweet blues" in his written work, he says.

Baraka and Albee are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. appearances. Tickets to each event range from $5 to $10, and can be purchased by calling 617-373-2247.

- Meghan Irons

ART

Open Studio, an exhibit of works by N.U. art and architecture professors Mira Cantor, Ed Andrews, and Neal Rantoul, February 5, 16 p.m., and February 6, 28 p.m., AAMARP Gallery, 76 Atherton Street, Jamaica Plain. 373-4340.

MUSIC

Cherish the Ladies and Clancy, O'Connell, and Clancy, a festival of Irish folk and traditional Celtic music, March 11, Blackman Auditorium, 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $5 to $10. 373-2247.

THEATER

Pterodactyls, a comedy by Nicky Silver, February 1921 and 2628, Studio Theater, Curry Student Center, 8 p.m. $10; $8 N.U. students. 373-2247.

LECTURES

Rosenblatt Lecture Series presents Peter Gill, head of biological research, Forensic Science Service, Great Britain, February 1819, McLeod Suite, Curry Student Center, 3:30 p.m. 373-3877.

Women and the Making of the Modern House, with Alice Friedman, professor of art history, Wellesley College, February 26, 220 Classroom Building, 5:30 p.m. 373-2347.

CONFERENCE

Northeast Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls, February 2728 and March 1, various locations and times. Registration fees range from $90 to $130. 373-8682.

SYMPOSIUM

International Symposium on Particles, Strings, and Cosmology, March 2228, 168 Snell Engineering, various times. Register March 22, 4 p.m. $250 fee. Call 373-2902.

FILM

Gettin' There: The Tobin Scholars' Story, a video premiere by graduate students Erin Callahan and Kevin Moffitt, February 19, Egan Research Center, 5:30 p.m. 373-3700.

ETC.

Forty-fifth Annual Beanpot Hockey Tournament Pregame Receptions, February 2, 5 p.m., location to be determined. 373-3186.

Wellness Week, February 913, various times and locations. 373-3173.

Fifteenth Annual Dean Roland E. Latham Oratory Competition, February 12, Curry Student Center Ballroom, 710 p.m. 373-4919.

Great Centennial Lock-In, February 13, Marino Recreation Center, 10 p.m.6 a.m. 373-2668.

Black History Quiz Bowl, February 24 and 26, African-American Institute, 79 p.m. 373-4919.

National Meeting of the Cooperative Education Association, March 2124, Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, time to be announced. 373-1998.

ALUMNI EVENTS

Call the alumni relations office, 617-373-3186, or e-mail <alumni@nunet.neu.edu>.

February: Physical therapy alumni day, with Herbert Benson, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Meredith Drench, director of Adaptive Health Associates, February 11, Curry Student Center Ballroom, noon ($20 per person for lunch; $35 for dinner; $50 all day). Business Administration, "Family Business: It's More Than a Family Matter," with Paul Karofsky, executive director of Northeastern's Center of Family Business, February 12, 450 Dodge, noon (RSVP by February 6). New Hampshire, reception prior to N.U.New Hampshire hockey game, February 28, time and location to be determined.