Lighting up the Schwartz

Students in the Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA) showcase music, dance, lighting and comedy in end-of-semester events this weekend at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, 430 College Ave. All events are free and open to the public.

“(Nos)otros” (“Us/Others”), a dance show exploring themes of duality, identity and transformation, is May 10 at 6 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre. Students will perform nine original dance pieces in styles from jazz to ballet to salsa. The show is directed by Elise Smith ’19, produced by Sabrina Liu ’20 and choreographed by Smith and Serena Lotreck ’19. Lighting design is by Lyra Liu ’20.

“I’m Honored (I Think),” a standup comedy show written and performed by Julia Shebek ’19 as her PMA honors thesis, is May 10 from 8-9 p.m. in the Class of ’56 Dance Theatre (and May 11 at 8 p.m. in Risley Theatre). The show also features Cameron Hass ’18. Tickets are free; seats can be reserved by email.

Students from the Automated Lighting and Control course will present a 90-minute live concert light show as their final project presentation, May 10 at 9:30 p.m. in Kiplinger Theatre.

Finally, PMA and Department of Music students come together for “Catching the Stars,” May 11 at 9 p.m.in the Schwartz Center Courtyard. Attendees can stargaze with telescopes and meet representatives from the Carl Sagan Institute and Cornell Astronomical Society. Rain date for the lighting, music and dance extravaganza is May 12 at 9 p.m.

MFA Graduation Reading

Graduate students bidding farewell to Cornell’s Creative Writing Program will share thesis work and works-in-progress at the 2019 MFA in Creative Writing Graduation Reading, May 11 at 3 p.m. in Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium, Klarman Hall.

Free and open to the public, the reading features poets Chris Hewitt, Frances Revel, Sasha Smith and Alice Turski, and fiction writers Remy Barnes, Nneoma Ike-Njoku, Alice Mercier and Charlotte Pattison.

A reception will follow in the English Department Lounge, 258 Goldwin Smith Hall.

Big Red Food Drive

The eighth annual Big Red Food Drive will be held May 11-19 on campus. Cornell Hunger Relief encourages students to use any leftover Big Red Bucks at the end of the year to buy nonperishable food items, to be collected at on-campus convenience stores.

Students are also asked to donate excess food items from their dorms and apartments before leaving campus for the summer. Nonperishable food donations can be brought to collection bins in the Robert Purcell Community Center lobby and Noyes Community Center through May 19. All collected food will go to the Friendship Donations Network to redistribute to community members in need.

Volunteers can sign up online; email cornellhungerrelief@cornell.edu for more information. The drive is sponsored by the Cornell Public Service Center.

Ending soon: “Past Time”

“Past Time: Geology in European and American Art” closes May 12 at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.

An interdisciplinary examination merging art with science, the exhibition was organized by the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College. It features watercolors, drawings, oil sketches and sketchbooks from the 1770s to the 1890s, reflecting the then-new scientific investigation of the Earth’s crust.

Artists including Frederic Edwin Church, William Trost Richards, John Ruskin, J.M.W. Turner and Asher Brown Durand explored these new ideas in a variety of media and took note of surreal and exquisite landforms. Works from the Johnson’s permanent collection accompany the exhibition to explore how this inquiry continued into the 20th century, particularly in America.

The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Feminist book club

The Future is Feminist Book Club at Cornell discusses its last selection of the spring semester, “Do Muslim Women Need Saving?” by Lila Abu-Lughod, May 12 at 3 p.m. at Buffalo Street Books, Ithaca. The meeting is open to the public.

The Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program and Buffalo Street Books are offering 25 free copies of the book to participants, first-come, first-served. Reserve by signing up online.

Spring garden tours

To celebrate National Public Gardens Week (May 13-19), Cornell Botanic Gardens is hosting spring garden tours, May 14 and 16 from noon to 1 p.m. Participants will meet at the Nevin Welcome Center.

Staff and volunteer guides will lead visitors to spring highlights including the Rhododendron Collection, Bioswale Garden, Martha Young Flower Garden, groundcovers and more.

Tours are free; donations are welcome. For more information, call 607-255-2400 or email botanicgardens@cornell.edu.