Heather Powers, Author at Visual and Performing Arts News

Jennings receives grant from Arts Midwest Touring

Published November 13, 2017

Mary Jennings (VPA) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $2,000 public-service grant from the Arts Midwest Touring Fund.

The grant is for the performance of “The Mountaintop.”

PUSH Physical Theatre Brings “Dracula” to Rozsa Saturday

Published October 20, 2017

By Heather Powers

Announcements

Just in time for Halloween, Bram stoker’s “Dracula” comes to the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. The classic tale of seduction, desire and madness from the masters of motion theatre.

PUSH Physical Theatre’s “Dracula” is an acrobatic spectacle like nothing you have ever seen, a groundbreaking, thrilling and unforgettable ride into the warped world of one of literature’s most famous villains. “Dracula” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 21), at the Rozsa Center.

It’s “un-theatre.” Intense athleticism, gravity-defying acrobatics and soulful artistry—award-winning PUSH Physical Theatre, the genre-defining masters of physical storytelling, express what it means to be human: the joy and sorrow, humor and tragedy, the big questions and the simple things.

Experience PUSH Physical Theatre’s all new adaptation of the classic horror story. In his hunt for immortality, Renfield stumbles upon the Amulet of the Vampir, a lost jewel buried in the legend of Dracula, The Master. Caged in a cell and under the watchful eye of The Doctor, Renfield uncovers the secrets of eternal life as a mysterious Maiden arrives at the asylum.

As the ties that bind the living and the dead begin to unravel, the lines between heroes and the devil begin to blur.

And, an added bonus: Come for the show, stay for the party! Keweenaw Young Professionals Present Cocktails After Dark, a Dracula after-party, in the Rozsa lobby, free for anyone with a ticket to Dracula. Enjoy a cash bar with Dracula-themed drinks, snacks, a “Dracula’s Lair” photo booth, and meet the cast of Push Physical Theatre’s Dracula.

Tickets for Dracula at the Rozsa Center are on sale now, $22 for adults, $10 for youth (PG-13), and no charge for Michigan Tech students with the Experience Tech fee. Tickets are available by phone at 7-2073, online, in person at the Central Ticketing Office in the Student Development Complex or at the Rozsa box office the night of the show.

Note: The Rozsa box office opens only two hours before performances.

Michigan Tech Theatre Company performs Picasso at the Lapin Agile

Published October 15, 2017

By Heather Powers

Announcements

The Michigan Tech Theatre Company will perform the Steve Martin comedy “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” again this week. Performance are at 7:30 p.m. Tomorrow (Oct. 18) Thursday and Friday (Oct. 19-20) in the McArdle Theatre in the Walker Art and Humanities Center.

Tickets are $13 for adults, $5 for youth and no charge for Michigan Tech students with the Experience Tech fee. Tickets are available by phone at 7-2073, online, in person at the Central Ticketing Office in the Student Development Complex or on the night of each performance at the McArdle Theatre, beginning one hour prior to showtime.

Concert to Support Italian Hall Victims Memorial Monument

Published October 6, 2017

By Heather Powers

Announcements

There will a benefit concert of American Roots Music at 2 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 8) at the Calumet Theatre. Hosted by Oren Tikkanen, the concert is in support of the Italian Hall Victim’s Memorial Monument.

Retired Michigan Tech History Professor Fredric Quivik is among the performers featured in the show. Quivik is a member of the 1913 Singers.

Additional performers include Keweenaw Brewgrass, the Acoustic Jimmy Hats, Michelle Hawkins, Valerie DePriest, the Thimbleberry Band and more. A reception in the ballroom will follow the concert.

All donations are welcome.

Rozsa Center Architect Dies at 92

Published September 25, 2017

By Heather Powers

News

Latvian-born architect Gunnar Birkerts, known for dramatic expressionist buildings and elegant use of light, died Tuesday (Aug. 22), of congestive heart failure.

The internationally acclaimed architect’s projects include the Museum of Glass in Corning, New York; the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and the US Embassy in Venezuela.

A protégé of Finnish-America architect Eero Saarinen, Michigan Tech’s Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts is his only Upper Peninsula project. Read the full obituary in the Washington Post.

by UMC

“Rise of the Robots” Author to Speak Saturday

Published September 21, 2017

By Heather Powers

Announcements

Do robots want your job? Martin Ford, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author of the New York Times best-selling book, “Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future,” will answer that question when he presents a public lecture at the Rozsa Center at Michigan Technological University on Saturday (Sept. 23).

He will also present a program for students on emerging trends in robotics and artificial intelligence and one for faculty on artificial intelligence and industry trends. The student program, “Pasties and Robots,” is scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday on the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts stage. Space is limited, and students are asked to sign up in advance at the Career Services office, Administration Building 220. Visit the Rozsa Center’s Community Engagement page if you would like to help with student activities.

From 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, faculty from across campus are invited to join Ford on the Rozsa Center stage for a discussion about emerging industry trends in robotics, artificial intelligence, and the future of personalized learning. Coffee and light refreshments will be provided.

Ford will give a public lecture at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Rozsa Center. His topic is “Disruptive Technology: Do Robots Want Your Job?” Admission is free. A Q&A and book-signing will follow.

Work of Katie Hargrave in Rozsa Gallery

Published September 13, 2017

By Heather Powers

Who owns the wind? The leaves on the trees? When a paper company cuts down a 75-year-old tree, or a landowner clears brush for a better view of the lake, how is an entire ecosystem affected? What ethical, cultural and social questions are raised?

Artist Katie Hargrave, a professor of art at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, explores these questions in her exhibition, “It’s nothing personal (space).”

The exhibition opens at the Rozsa Center’s gallery A-Space, on Friday, Sept. 22. “It’s nothing personal (space)” is an exploration of the competing ideas of ownership and stewardship as they relate to public and private land, trees and deserts, and individual and corporate voices.

Inspired by a road trip to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, the site of militia protests during the winter of 2016, the exhibition includes fiber, audio, video and drawings.

A reception which features a discussion of her work by the artist will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. The reception and exhibit are free and open to the public. The show will remain open through Nov. 11. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 8 p.m. Saturdays.

Rozsa Calendars for 2017-18 Season Now Available

Published September 11, 2017

By Heather Powers

Rozsa Center calendars for the 2017-2018 season are now available — both full-size wall calendars and the handy pocket/desk calendars!

Featured this year are 12 Rozsa Presenting Series events, more than 33 Visual and Performing Arts events including music, theater and visual arts and the ever-popular 41 North Film festival.

Season Ticket Packages are on sale now, with the best discounts available on all the season has to offer! There are four Season Ticket Package options this year, offering savings of 18 to 37 percent off single-ticket prices.

Single-ticket sales begin Sept. 1. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Michigan Tech Ticketing Services at the Central Ticket Office (SDC), at 7-2073, or visit our website.

You can pick up one of each or both at the Rozsa Center or at any of the more than 120 local Houghton and Hancock businesses who display and distribute them each year.

For Michigan Tech faculty and staff, we would like to make it easy for you to get your copies of the calendars. If you would like a calendar delivered directly to your campus mailbox, please click on this link and fill out the google form. We will gladly send a calendar to you in inter-campus mail.

Guatemalan Kite Making

Published May 26, 2017

By Heather Powers

Announcements

“Barriletes: Guatemalan Kite Making” will be held from 1-5 p.m. Saturday, June 3 and from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, June 4 at the Copper Country Community Arts Center, in Hancock.

Join Lisa Gordillo and Hugo Gordillo for an introduction into Guatemalan culture and the art of Guatemalan kite making.

Day 1: The class will learn about the cultural traditions of the barrilete, or Guatemalan kite. Each student will build his or her own barrilete in class.

Day 2: The group will meet outside (location TBD) for a picnic and will fly their new kites.

This class will be taught in both English and Spanish. (No knowledge of either language is necessary to participate!). The fee is $60 and there is a materials fee of $25 due to the instructors on the first day of class for kite supplies.

The deadline to register is tomorrow, May 27. Call the Arts Center at 482-2333 for more information or to register.

Cirque Mechanics: Pedal Punk Tomorrow at Rozsa

Published April 21, 2017

By Heather Powers

“Cirque Mechanics: Pedal Punk” is a Steampunk-inspired performance where the audience can experience the excitement, artistry and thrill that occurs when a wacky bike shop mechanic interacts with cyclists and bikes and he repairs more than broken pieces.

He creates wondrous machines and inspires the cyclist in all of us to become a Pedal Punk.

“Cirque Mechanics: Pedal Punk” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow (April 22) in the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts.

Cirque Mechanics was founded in 2004 by Boston native and German wheel artist, Chris Lashua, after the success of his collaborative project with the Circus Center of San Francisco, Birdhouse Factory. Cirque Mechanics quickly established itself as a premiere American circus, with its unique approach to performance, inspiring storytelling and innovative mechanical staging. Spectacle Magazine hailed it as “the greatest contribution to the American circus since Cirque du Soleil”.

Tickets are available online, by calling 7-2073, in person at the Central Ticketing Office or at the Rozsa Center Box Office an hour before show time.

Author: Heather Powers