SPRING 2011
Performances |
April 3
Little Red Riding Hood–Chinese Opera with Orchestra
Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera retells the timeless tale of a young girl’s journey to grandma’s house and transforms it into a cross-cultural journey into the heart of China’s centuries old performance traditions. Chinese Theatre Works’ (CTW) adaptation of the beloved European fairytale serves as a window for American audiences to experience the full range of classical Chinese Opera aesthetics and technique. Conceived, written, and directed by Kuang Yu Fong, Little Red Riding Hood: The Chinese Opera draws on eight different masterpieces from the repertoire of the traditional Chinese opera, and seamlessly integrates portions of them together. Co-sponsored by the Confucius Institute.
"The production promises to take Little Red on a journey far more thrilling than the trip to Grandma’s house.”–The New York Times
“A uniquely different interpretation of the classic tale, cleverly handled and excellently performed…”–Philip Jackson, Queens Museum of Art
Reservations required. Call 631-632-4400 or email wangcenter@stonybrook.edu to reserve your tickets.
Tickets:
$35 for VIPs (reserved priority seating), $20 for General, $15 for Seniors and $10 for students. 20% discounts given to groups of 5 or more
Purchase tickets online »
Sunday, April 3, 3:00 pm, Wang Theater
Exhibitions |
April 25 to May 27
Erasing Borders:
Art from the Indian Diaspora
Opening Reception with Performance:
April 26, 6:30 pm, Wang Center
Artists’ Panel:
April 26, 4:30, Lecture Hall 1
Erasing Borders 2011 is a richly provocative exhibition of work by artists of the Indian diaspora who confront issues of sexuality, terror, disease, the environment, racial and sectarian politics and the fluidity of identities in painting, prints, installations, video, and sculpture. With great technical mastery and diversity of theme and style, these works combine traditional Indian aesthetics with Western elements, and speak to the powerful experience of personal and cultural dislocation in the global village. In its 8th year, Erasing Borders is curated by Vijay Kumar and produced by the Indo-American Arts Council. More info on participating artists »
Lectures & Cultural Events |
February 19
Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation Candlelight Blessing Ceremony
Please come join us for the Candlelight Ceremony, Tzu Chi Around the World, Sign Language Performance, Da Ai Technology Fashion Show,
Master Cheng Yen’s New Year Blessing,
Candlelight Prayer, Red Envelop of Blessing and Wisdom, Bamboo Bank Adoptions, Poster Exhibition, Jing Si Books, and more. The world will be blessed when we protect our Mother Earth. The land will be peaceful when our minds are purified. Flier »
February 19, Saturday, 2:00 pm, Wang Center
March 25
Book Talk & Signing with Brad Warner
Brad Warner, an ordained Zen teacher and author of Hardcore Zen, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate and Sit Down and Shut Up! gives public talks and leads retreats all over the world. He maintains his own blog and was interviewed by CNN in 2008. He's also the writer for the Suicide Girls website, bass player for the hardcore punk rock group 0DFx (aka Zero Defex), director of the film Cleveland's Screaming! and
former vice president of the US branch of the company founded by the man who created Godzilla. He went to Japan in 1993 where he began studying the philosophy with Zen Master Gudo Nishijima and became his successor as a Zen teacher of Shikantaza. He has published work in the Buddhist magazines Shambhala Sun, Buddhadharma, and Tricycle. Flier »
Friday, March 25, 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm, Wang Center
March 26
Meditation Workshop led by Zen Priest Brad Warner
Saturday, March 26, 9:30 am to 2:30 pm, Room 301, Wang Center
April 7
30 Stories and Halal Pork:
Feast of Poetry, Tales, and Song by Afghan Americans and their Friends
From the heartfelt experiences of Afghan Americans to postmodern urban Sufi tales from the swirling graffiti of Brooklyn, poets Zohra Saed and Sahar Muradi,video artist and blogger Gazelle Samizay, and comedic novelist Cihan Kaan challenge and expand the borders of Asian American and Muslim American literature. They tackle issues of identity, ethnicity, immigration, politics, history, war, and urban life in a series of readings from their two books: Saed and Muradi’s One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature, and Kaan’s Halal Pork and Other Stories. Musical interludes provided by +Aziz of World Music Parade. Followed by a reception and book signing. Free admission.
Thursday, April 7, 7:00 pm, Wang Center Theater
April 14
Verse, Fiction, and Jazz from the Filipino Diaspora
See life through the prism of award-winning Filipino-American writers living and working across
the United States, with readings from R. Zamora Linmark’s newest book Leche, Fidelito
Cortes (Everyday Things), Sarah Gambito (Delivered), and Lara Stapleton (The Lowest
Blue Flame Before Nothing). Accompanied by innovative jazz saxophonist Jon Irabagon,
this is a night of the poetic and chaotic from the heart of the Filipino diaspora.
Book signing to follow.
Seating is limited.
First come, first served. Flier »
Thursday, April 14, 7:00 pm, Wang Center Theater
Films |
Confucius Institute Film Series at Stony Brook
Three Chinese Modernities
February 23
1. The Goddess (Shennu)
“The epitome of Chinese realist filmmaking in the 1930s, The Goddess features Chinese superstar Ruan Lingyu as a struggling mother in Shanghai who is driven to prostitution. Unfolding silently with ravishing beauty, the film draws its power from Ruan’s subtle performance. Bravely avoiding the clichéd 'prostitute with a heart of gold’ portrayal, The Goddess was a social critique of contemporary China, an environment which could force a woman to such extreme actions in order to survive.” –watershed.co.ukDirector: Wu Yonggang
Screenplay: Wu Yonggang
Cinematographer: Hong Weilie
Producer: Luo Mingyou
Cast: Ruan Lingyu, Li Keng, Zhang Zhizhi
Description: B/W, silent, about 79 minutes
Flier »Free Admission. For larger groups or classes, please call to reserve seats. For more information, call (631) 632-5476 or email: ConfuciusInstitute@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Wednesday, February 23, 4:00 pm, Wang Center Theater
March 17
Vincent Who?
Vincent Chin was a 27 year old Chinese American draftsman and celebrating his upcoming marriage in Detroit when he was attacked with baseball bats in 1982 by Ronald Ebens, a Chrysler supervisor and Michael Nitz, Ebens’ laid-off stepson. The fatal assault, motivated by anti-Japanese sentiment among autoworkers due to Japan’s successful entry into the United States automobile market, ended in Chin’s death and galvanized Asian and Asian Americans around the country to form a real community and movement. This documentary, inspired by a series of town hall meetings organized by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress on the 25th anniversary of the case, features interviews with the key players at the time, as well as a whole new generation of activists. Vincent Who? asks how far Asian Americans have come since then and how far they have yet to go. Flier » Watch trailer »
Discussion with director Curtis Chin. Producer and co-director Curtis Chin »
Thursday, March 17, 7:00 pm, Wang Theater
March 21
Summer Pasture
Winner of the 2010 Full Frame Inspiration Award and nominee for the 2011 Spirit Award, Summer Pasture is a tender universal story of family survival that offers a deeply personal account of a nomadic family in rural Tibet as they face the challenges of a swiftly modernizing world. The special guest speaker for the film will be the director, Nelson Walker. Part of the Port Jefferson Documentary Film Series »
Tickets: $5.00. Free admission for SB students.
Monday, March 21, 7:00 pm, Wang Center Theater
March 28
The Tillman Story
Pat Tillman gave up his professional football career to join the Army Rangers in 2002—and became an instant symbol of patriotic fervor and unflinching duty. But the truth about Pat Tillman is far more complex, and ultimately more heroic, than the caricature created by the media. And when the government tried to turn his death into war propaganda, they took on the wrong family. From her home in the Santa Cruz mountains, Pat’s mother, Dannie Tillman, led the family’s crusade to reveal the truth beneath the mythology of their son’s life and death. Part of the Port Jefferson Documentary Film Series »
Featuring candid and revelatory interviews with Pat's fellow soldiers as well as his family, Amir Bar-Lev’s emotional and insightful film not only shines a light on the shady aftermath of Pat’s death and calls to task the entire chain of command but also examines themes as timeless as the notion of heroism itself. The special guest speaker for the film will be the director, Amir Bar-Lev.
More»
Tickets: $5.00. Free admission for SB students.
Monday, March 28, 7:00 pm, Wang Center Theater
April 5
Video Musics II: Sun Wu-Kong: The Monkey King
A hip-hop, stop-motion animation video opera
Alexis Gideon is a Portland, Oregon-based artist and musician who has toured both nationally and internationally. His one-hour multimedia video opera Video Musics II: Sun Wu-Kong is based on the classic 16th century Chinese novel The Journey to the West and follows the Monkey King through the trials and tribulations of his adventurous quest for spiritual insight. The piece explores and celebrates Chinese mythology and culture as well as hip hop as a narrative form and the balance between abstract narrative and a more traditional linear narrative. Presented by the Confucius Institute. Free admission. Video Clips »
"Visually, Gideon stretches the silly putty of any preconceived art notions and melds, marries and mashes charcoal sketches, paintings, Claymation, animation, flip-book drawings and video footage of forests into a kaleidescopic, psycho-delic merry-go-round. It is the ultimate adult cartoon."–Sara Moskovitz, Willamette Week
Tuesday, April 5 , 7:00 pm, Wang Center Theater
May 3
Fishers of Men
Ranjan Kamath's film examines the forced reconversion of Christians in rural India back to Hinduism. For over a century, a substantial number of Adivasis, or tribal peoples of the Chottanagpur plateau, have been converting to Christianity in order to free themselves from the bonded labour and feudal oppression of the Hindu caste system, despite forced reconversions, threats, violence, and murders of their leaders and missionaries by fundamentalist Hindus. By examining this conflict between fundamentalist Hinduism and Christianity, director Ranjan Kamath exposes and punctures the myth of a single, unified India and creates an important, but neglected, dialogue about inter-religious relations and the urban rural divide in South Asia.
Followed by discussion with director Ranjan Kamath. Free admission.
Tuesday, May 3, 7:00 pm, Wang Center Theater
| Buddhism Study, Meditation Workshops, Yoga, Tai Chi |
Through December
Community Yoga Workshop
Meetings held weekly on Tuesdays in Room 104.
Schedule »
Please join us for multi-level yoga classes (appropriate for beginners to advanced students) designed to bring mind, body, and spirit into alignment. This is a hatha yoga class. Introduced by Yogi Swatmarama, a sage of 15th century India, traditional Hatha Yoga represents opposing energies: hot and cold (fire and water, following similar concept as yin-yang), male and female, positive and negative and attempts to balance mind and body via asana (poses), pranayama (breath control), and the calming of the mind through relaxation and meditation. Please wear comfortable clothing and bring a mat. Flier »
For more information, call 631-632-4400 or e-mail Marianne at marr4p@optonline.net.
Tuesdays, February through May, 6:00 pm, Wang Center Room 104
March 17
Buddhism Study & Practice Group Lecture
Adorning Our Hearts, Transforming Our World:
The Practice of Loving Kindness
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi of Chuang-Yen Monastery, Carmel, New York, will explain how the practice of loving kindness (metta) provides the key both to finding inner happiness and creating a better world. Ven. Bodhi will also speak about his work as the founder of Buddhist Global Relief, an organization dedicated to alleviating poverty and chronic malnutrition around the world. His presentation will include a guided session of loving kindness meditation. Donations for Buddhist Global Relief will gladly be accepted. Flier »
Thursday, March 17, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, Wang Center Lecture Hall 1
April 30
Buddhism Study & Practice Group Living Chan Workshop
by Abbot Guo-Xing and Nancy Bonardi
Workshop Highlights:
Karma
At each present moment we can choose either happiness or suffering. In our actual lives, at each present moment, all the people and all the objects we have contact with in our environment give rise various feelings of happiness or suffering in us. The physical and mental karma produced in each present moment can be chosen through the concepts and practices of living Chan.
Image of Mind
Many people continuously and repeatedly dwell on unhappy memories of the past. Through the concepts and practices of Living Chan, they come to the realization that these memories do not represent the present reality, allowing them to break free of the past and start anew. Flier »
Please wear comfortable clothing and arrive by 9:00 am. Bring a cushion, towel, socks. Free for students. $20 teacher's donation suggested for non-students. To register, email: haideelee@yahoo.com
Saturday, April 30, 9:30 am to 3:30 pm, Wang Center, Room 301
Events Archive
The Wang Center
is open to the public Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Guided
Tours for school groups and groups of 10 or more are available by appointment.
Stony Brook University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity educator and employer. If you need a disability-related accommodation, please call (631) 632-6320.
