NJCU Announces March 2018 Arts Events

Rich Variety of Arts Events to Be Presented During Women's History Month; Many Programs Celebrate the Creativity of Women

New Jersey City University (NJCU) Center for the Arts, the creative umbrella for the University’s performing, visual, film, and literary arts activities, announces its arts and cultural programming for March 2018. Most events, performances, readings, and exhibitions this month are the creative works of women and celebrate Women’s History Month.

World-renowned singer and NJCU faculty member Sofia Rei joins the NJCU Jazz Ensemble for a swinging tribute to jazz legends Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan in Three Divas of Song (Thursday, March 1 - Friday, March 2) – a fitting beginning for Women’s History Month. Later in the month, the Music, Dance, and Theatre Department presents a main stage production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Tony Award-winning musical, In the Heights (Friday, March16 - Sunday, March 25).

The Writers on Campus series hosts a reading with NJCU alumna and guest author Krystal Sital on her new memoir, Secrets We Kept (Tuesday, March 13), and an evening with journalist and Jersey City native Helene Stapinski, author of Five Finger Discount, on her newest book, Murder in Matera (Thursday, March 29).

In NJCU’s galleries, _gaia, the Jersey City based artist collective, presents Wonder Woman 11, an all-female group show that speaks to our rapidly changing Earth (Wednesday, March 21 – Wednesday, May 9).

For the full Spring 2018 Calendar of Events for NJCU performing, visual, and literary arts, visit www.njcu.edu/arts. For additional information call 201-200-3426.

Most of NJCU’s performances and events in March are free, and reservations may be made in advance online. For group sales and reservations, please contact the box office directly: boxoffice@njcu.edu.

MARCH 2018 EVENTS & PERFORMANCES

PERFORMING ARTS | DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC, DANCE & THEATRE

NJCU Jazz Ensemble: Three Divas of Song

Featuring Sofia Rei, vocalist

Dr. Gabriel Alegria, artistic director

Thursday – Friday, March 1 – 2, 7:00 p.m.

West Side Theatre

Free with RSVP

The NJCU Jazz Ensemble paints contemporary portraits of jazz legends Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan. A moving evening of song, swinging big band arrangements, and joy to go around, with world-renowned singer and NJCU faculty member Sofia Rei.

In the Heights

Friday - Saturday, March 16, 17, 23, 24, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 18, 25, 3:00 p.m.

Margaret Williams Theatre

$15 general / $5 student & senior

Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights launched the career of composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, who went on to make his name with Hamilton on Broadway. The tuneful score, spiked with Latin hip hop and dance rhythms, creates a panoramic mural of Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, while telling an authentic story of hope, change, and self-discovery.

Music@One: Craig Ketter, piano

Wednesday, March 21, 1:00 p.m.

Ingalls Recital Hall

Rossey Hall

Free

Critically acclaimed for “transporting the listeners to extraordinary heights” and “into a world beyond time and space,” pianist Craig Ketter performs music by Ludwig von Beethoven, Frederic Chopin and George Gershwin.

GUEST SPEAKERS

Social Media Bootcamp with Jamie Benson

Wednesday, March 7, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

NJCU School of Business

200 Hudson Street

Free with RSVP

Dive into an intensive, hands-on workshop on effectively using social media, geared specifically towards individual artists and small arts organizations, with marketing expert Jamie Benson.

LITERARY EVENTS | ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

WRITERS ON CAMPUS

Krystal Sital: Secrets We Kept

Tuesday, March 13, 5:00 p.m. 

Gilligan Student Union, Room 129

NJCU alumna Krystal Sital reads from and discusses her new memoir, Secrets We Kept (W.W. Norton & Company), an exploration of the lives of three generations of women from Trinidad.

Co-sponsored by the Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies Program and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies.

Annie Lanzillotto presents Hard Candy: Caregiving, Mourning, and Stage Light and Pitch Roll Yaw

Tuesday, March 27, 6:00 p.m.

Gilligan Student Union, Room 129

Annie Lanzillotto’s new double book of poetry and memoir offers advice from beyond the grave on surviving -- how to eat, cook, clean, heal, mourn, and sing the blues.

Helene Stapinski: Murder in Matera

Thursday, March 29, 5:30 p.m.

Gilligan Student Union, Room 129

An evening with journalist and Jersey City native Helene Stapinski, author of Five Finger Discount, on her newest book, Murder in Matera. Stapinski recounts her travels to Southern Italy to investigate a mysterious murder that involved her great-great-grandmother, and uncovers a story of struggle and survival.

EXHIBITIONS | ART DEPARTMENT

The Otherness of Strangefruit: Shoshanna Weinberger

On view through Thursday, March 15

Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery

Hepburn Hall

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Shoshanna Weinberger mines the complexity of her Caribbean-American heritage to investigate the female archetype. Her Strangefruit series is a collection of collages that reference the ambiguity of her mixed-race identity and pointedly distill cultural stereotypes around beauty, race, and gender. Weinberger, who has exhibited internationally as well as across the United States, has been featured in the Jamaican and Martinique Biennials, and was most recently recognized with a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and a 2017 Artist-in-Residence at the Gateway Project in Newark.

Wonder Women 11: Eye of the Storm

Wednesday, March 21 – Wednesday, May 9

Opening reception: Wednesday, March 21, 4:00 P.M. – 7:00 p.m.

Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery

Hepburn Hall

Organized by _gaia, the Jersey City based artist collective, and curated by Doris Cacoilo and Eileen Ferara, Wonder Women 11 urgently speaks to our changing Earth: drastic shifts in temperature, disappearing islands, glacial melt, huge super storms, fires, and flooding. Voicing concern and a call for action, this all-female group of artists uses various media and processes to explore the science, story, and future of environmental policy and life on the planet.

State of the DysUnion: Joyce Yu-Jean Lee

On view through Wednesday, March 28

Visual Arts Gallery

Visual Arts Building

In the Trump era of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” Lee presents a snapshot of current journalism, advertising, and the Internet. Through animated video installations, State of the DysUnion examines contemporary mass media -- its documentation, distribution, and role in shaping culture and history.