Stage set for fall arts

From clay to plays, rock to talks, Sacramento State will present an eclectic lineup of events throughout the fall semester, and many events are free. The mix includes groundbreaking ceramic works by California artists, dance by the region’s premier ethnic troupe, films with a female focus, modern and world music, lectures both serious and silly, and an on-stage examination of the state of theater.

“CA Clay” is the University Library Gallery’s fall season opener running from Sept. 2 through Nov. 12. The show features works by contemporary California ceramicists including Peter Voulkos, Henry Takemoto and local Robert Arneson. The show is designed to highlight the period when ceramics was elevated from craft to fine art five decades ago. All the works on display come from the collection of Sacramento State emeritus professor Robert Aichele. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. A reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m., Sept. 2 in the gallery.

Exhibits scheduled for fall in the University’s six other galleries, museums and collections include pots, prints and sculptures by Doug Casebeer from Sept. 19 to 30 in the Roberts Else Gallery in Kadema Hall along with an accompanying daylong workshop led by Casebeer Sept. 21 in Kadema Hall 131 (workshop registration information is available from the art department at 278-6166). The first of a three-part series of photographs, “Velha Goa” by Benoy K. Behl, on loan from the Government of India will be on display Sept. 23 to Dec. 9 in the Anthropology Museum in Mendocino Hall 1000. And a show of recent paintings by Omar Thor Arason is in the Raymond Witt Gallery in Kadema Hall from Sept. 19 to 30. A series of student shows are set throughout the semester as well.

Sacramento Black Art of Dance or S/BAD, Sac State’s headline dance group directed by professor Linda Goodrich, will open its fall show Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. in Dancespace (Solano Hall 1010). Tickets are $15 general, $13 students and seniors, $12 Sac State students and $9 for youth. Performances continue Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 and again Oct. 5 to 9.

Film events on campus are highlighted by the four documentaries that make up the Sacramento State Women’s Resource Center Film Series including Escuela about a 13-year-old migrant girl’s efforts to get an education and Freedom to Marry detailing the brief period gay and lesbian couples were allowed to marry in San Francisco last year. All screenings are at noon in the center at Library 1010. Sacramento State professor emeritus Satsuki Ina takes a personal look at the internment of Japanese Americans in her docudrama From a Silk Cocoon. The film, her second documentary about the incarceration of thousands of Japanese American citizens during World War II, traces how discrimination and the humiliation of being imprisoned left her parents torn between two countries, and led to the their denouncing their U.S. citizenship. It shows at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 28 in the University Union Ballroom.

The University continues to be a regional center for world music performance this fall, with North Indian sounds from Kathakgunjan at 8 p.m., Sept. 10, Turkish classical music by Ahenk Duo at 3 p.m., Sept. 11 and a Chinese Moon Festival concert by Melody of China at 3 p.m., Sept. 18. All three shows are in the Music Recital Hall in Capistrano Hall and are $15 general admission, $8 for students. At 8 p.m. on Oct. 8, renowned Greek and Cretian composer and performer Ross Daly will fill the Music Recital Hall in Capistrano Hall with his haunting melodies, both traditional and new. Tickets are $15 general and $10 for students.

The Festival of New American Music returns to Sacramento State Nov. 3 to 13 for its 28th year, making it one of the nation’s longest running annual events dedicated to contemporary music. A gala featuring guitarist David Starobin starts the festivities, and performances by the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S., the Center for New Music and Audio Technology, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players continue the theme along with shows by Sacramento State’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Percussion Group, Festival and Jazz Ensembles.

Fall lectures at the University will run the gamut beginning with Max Weinburg, leader of the Max Weinburg 7 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and drummer for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, talks at 8 p.m., Oct. 27, in the University Union Ballroom. Tickets are $10 general and $5 Sacramento State students. Princeton professor and author Cornel West is set to speak at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 1 in the University Union Ballroom. Tickets are $15 general and $10 for Sac State students. The International Dialogue on Violence Against Women, a two-day, annual event, will focus this year on human trafficking. Conference tickets range from $50 general admission for both days to $10 for single-day admission for Sac State students. Moving from the contemplative to the comedic, entertainer Pauly Shore will bring his brand of humor to campus in a show at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 19 in the University Union Ballroom. Tickets are $15 general and $10 for Sac State Students.

Anton in Show Business, a play by Jane Martin and directed by Sacramento State professor Nick Avdienko kicks off the fall theater season at 8 p.m., Oct. 14 in Playwrights’ Theatre in Shasta Hall. Life behind the curtain of a small theater during a Chekhov production is the focus of the witty work that explores the reasons productions must be “interpretations” rather than story-telling. Performances continue Oct. 15 and 16 and 19 to 23. This year’s musical is Company by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, directed by professor Ed Brazo and opening at 8 p.m., Oct. 28 in the University Theatre in Shasta Hall. The Broadway hit with Bobby the perennial bachelor, Amy the reluctant bride, and their cynical circle of crazy married friends, presents a sarcastic wistful look at marriage. Performances continue Oct. 29, 30, Nov. 2 to 6 and 11 to 13. Blues for an Alabama Sky, by Pearl Cleage and directed by professor Melinda Wilson, rounds out fall’s stage offerings with its story of tough times near the end of the Harlem Renaissance.

A complete schedule of events is available at www.csus.edu/events. Tickets are available from the Sacramento State Ticket Office at 278-4323 or from Tickets.com.