Inside Iowa State

August 27, 2004

Concerts, plays, lectures and more on tap fall semester

by Linda Charles

Whether you're looking for music, laughs or drama, fall semester at Iowa State will have it.

Things kick off this Friday (Aug. 27) with an outdoor Welcome Back Concert, featuring the Nadas. Bring your own lawn chair or blanket for this 7 p.m. concert at Reiman Gardens. Cost is $8 ($3 for children 4-17 and free for ISU students).

Other concerts this semester will include a faculty chamber music recital (Sept. 12), featuring music faculty, the annual Collage of Choirs (Sept. 19), "A Tribute to John Philip Sousa" (Oct. 17) by the ISU Wind Ensemble, and the Organists of Iowa series (Oct. 29). And don't forget the ISU Holiday Choral Festival (Dec. 5).

If comedy is more to your taste, check out Michael Ian Black at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3, at Stephens. He's been on Ed, Spin City and NYPD Blue, as well as a commentator on VH-1 I Love the 70's and 80's series. He co-created and starred in an MTV sketch comedy show, The State, and appeared in the film Wet Hot American Summer. And the best part is the show is free.

Black

Morgan Spurlock, whose documentary Supersize Me explores the effect of fast food on people's health, will give a talk at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30, at the Memorial Union Great Hall. Spurlock spent 30 days on a "McDonald's only" diet to document the impact on his health. He received the Best Director award in documentary competition at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Other lectures fall semester will include "A Matter of Choice" (Oct. 7), by Sarah Weddington, who argued the winning side of the landmark case Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court; "Business Ethics after Enron: Looking Good Versus Being Good" (Oct. 27), the fall Presidential University Lecture, by Brad Shrader, professor of management; and "Chain of Command" (Nov. 10), by Seymour Hersh, the award-winning investigative reporter who broke the story of the Iraqi prison scandal in the New Yorker.

If the arts are more your style, there'll be "Race, Gender and Spirit: Reclaiming Lost Histories through Art" (Nov. 4), by Alison Saar, a Los Angeles visual artist who works in a variety of media, including sculpture, painting and printmaking.

Author Jesse Lee Kercheval will read from her poetry in Dog Angel (Dec. 1), and Gary Snyder, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his collection Turtle Island, will read from his works (Feb. 22, 2005).

And don't forget the stage. ISU Theatre will present three vastly different productions this semester.

First up will be Bleacher Bums, about a group of die-hard Chicago Cubs fans. The show will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24-25 and Oct. 1-2, and at 2 p.m. Sept. 26 and Oct. 3. Tickets are $13 and all performances are at Fisher Theater.

The group also will present True West (Nov. 5, 6, 7, 14 and Dec. 4), about two young men who clash over a film script; and Dearly Departed (Nov. 12, 14, Dec. 3, 5), a comedy about burying the patriarch of a southern home.

Watch for these and other events in the Inside calendar or online at http://event.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/searchit.

Morgan Spurlock will talk about the effect 30 days of a "McDonald's only" diet had on his health during a campus lecture on Sept. 30.