Posted on May 30, 2003

Ellen
Casper, a senior visual arts and English major from Andover,
Mass., is exhibiting
“Reflections of Italy,
Paintings and Prints” from June 8 through June 15 in the Arts Atrium Gallery.

Opening
reception is June 8 from 2
to 4 p.m.

“Having
spent a term abroad in Florence,
Italy,
I came to understand why Italy
has been inspiring artists for centuries,” she said.

During
her senior year she returned to Italy
on a trip funded by the Internal Education Fund at Union
with the purpose of gathering material for her senior art show. Instead of
painting entire landscapes, she chose to depict what she considers to be
symbols of the Italian culture including cypress trees and terracotta pots.

“In
combining these images with a vibrant use of color, my goal is to communicate
to the viewer the emotions I discovered while living abroad,” she said.

Posted on May 30, 2003

The Union College Jazz
Ensemble, under the direction of Prof. Tim Olsen, will make its fifth
annual appearance at the Discover Jazz Festival in Burlington, Vt. The group will play on
Friday, June 6 from 4:15 to 5:15
p.m.
at the Church Street Marketplace in downtown Burlington. Admission is free.

Posted on May 30, 2003

Union Theater and the Performing Arts Department present Bertolt
Brecht's play, Caucasian Chalk Circle, the love story of a peasant girl
and a soldier told against a backdrop of political insurrection and the quest
for justice.

The play runs through Sunday, June 1, at Yulman Theater.

Guest director, Brad Beckman, in keeping with Brechtian tradition that
challenges audiences to recognize the nature of social constructs and
hypocrisies, will draw important parallels to today's global conflicts.
“Brecht's theatrical world is certainly politically and ideologically driven,”
said Beckman. He believes it is the director's charge to take a classic work
such as this and convey its timeless universal truths to contemporary
audiences.

The cast includes Phil Chorba, Aneesah Dambreville, Allison Drake, Fred
Kountz, Grant Lanterman, Jackie Mason, Jhulian Newell-Little, Chris Preston,
Ben Schwartz, Colleen Sentance, Dana Smullyan, Michael Woodrow, Jane Yoon, and
Kyrie York.

This production also promises to be fun, incorporating original live
music, puppetry, and film in a contemporary version of a legendary tale in
which a governor is beheaded, a child is stolen, a narrow escape is made across
a rickety bridge, a young woman marries a dying man, and a scoundrel becomes a judge.

Caucasian Chalk Circle is Friday, May 30, and Saturday, May 31, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, June 1 at 2 p.m.

For tickets and information, call the box office at (518) 388-6545.

Posted on May 30, 2003

Donald Rodbell,
associate professor of geology, was recently elected a fellow of the Geological
Society of America. He was quoted in an article, “El Niño's future,” in Geotimes about a study which found
evidence of an oscillation between El Niño and La Niña between 55 and 35
million years ago, when the global climate was 10 degrees warmer than now. “The
study fundamentally challenges some of the papers that have suggested that the
future of El Niño is dire in greenhouse-warmed climate,” Rodbell said.

Posted on May 30, 2003

Brenda Wineapple, Doris Zemurray Stone Professor
of Modern Literary and Historical Studies, presented PEN
America Center's
Spiegelvogel/Diamonstein Award for the best collection of essays in 2003 to
William Gass for his book, The Tests of  Time. 
Gass was honored at the Lincoln Center Ceremony along with finalists
Arthur Krystal (Agitations: Essays on
Life and Literature) and Lewis Lapham (Theatre
of War). Besides Wineapple, other jurors were Arthur Danto and David
Quammen.