Watch for posters and electronic announcements for the many Co-curricular and Diversity events in each semester that concern women and/or reflect issues of special interest to women. In addition, each year Women's Studies supports and/or sponsors speakers and events of particular interest to women.
Spring 2012
March 16, 2012 – George Sand and Frederic Chopin: : Lecture by Jean Moon and Piano Performance by Anne Koscielny
Both Jean Moon, who offered the first-ever Women’s Studies course in Howard County, through HCC’s Continuing Education Division, and Anne Koscielny, who dazzled us last year with her performances of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas, are well known to the College. They are collaborating in this event to honor the pathbreaking author George Sand, who shocked her fellow Parisians by wearing men’s clothes and smoking cigars, and Frederic Chopin, whose lyrical music transported her and linked their hearts – at least for a time.
February 8-February 26, “Yellowman” by Dael Orlandersmith, Directed by Helen Hayes Award-winner Kasi Campbell
Described as an “unsparing…hard and piercing drama,” this play details the relationship between Eugene, a fair-skinned black man, and Alma, a dark-skinned black woman, as they navigate intraracial prejudice, domestic violence, and young love. The actors play multiple roles, as the audience ponders: Has this female playwright showed us woman-as-object or woman-as-subject … or bits of both?
April 18 to May 6, “Las Meninas,” by Lynn Nottage, Directed by Eve Muson
Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage’s “Las Meninas” peeks behind the scenes in the court of France’s Louis XIV, the so-called Sun King. His Spanish-born Queen, Marie-Therese, is desperately lonely -- barely noticed by her husband and dismissed by the court as a “vulgar outsider.” Into her loneliness comes a gift -- Nabo Sensugali, a diminutive African man. A unique relationship ensues. Again, we have a female playwright. And, again, the question is whether the Queen is depicted as woman-as-object or woman-as-subject, or perhaps a blend.
Don't forget
In October 2002, Judy Chicago spoke in Smith Theater. After many years in storage, her masterwork The Dinner Party was purchased by the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation and donated to the Brooklyn Museum in New York City where it debuted as a permanent exhibit in March 2007. Thirty-nine women, who have been lost to history, have place settings at a massive equilateral triangle. Each has a unique porcelain dinner plate and an embroidered runner depicting the key features of her life and work. Why not take one of the New York bus trips, sponsored by Student Activities, and see this incredible art installation for yourself?
Through October 2011, the traffic island outside The National Museum of Women in the Arts on New York Avenue in Washington, D.C. will continue to host Niki de Saint Phalle’s larger-than-life women/goddesses. Don't miss visiting this unique, national repository of the work of women artists when you next visit Washington, D.C.
