An Evening of Theatrical Music at the Bing

 On Friday, November 30, at 7:30 p.m., Eastern Washington University's music faculty will present "An Evening of Theatrical Music at the Bing Crosby Theater.

Produced by pianist and impresario Kendall Feeney, this event will feature fourteen members of the EWU music faculty. Performances will include: tango music; songs from Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods," a musical based on the Brother's Grimm fairy tales; and a fully narrated performance of Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale, the story of a fiddle-playing soldier who makes a deal with the devil. Elvis plans to make an appearance during Michael Daugherty's over the top piece, Dead Elvis, and EWU English Professor Anthony Flinn will join vocal faculty members, Randel Wagner and Steven Mortier, in the narration of A Soldier's Tale.

That's quite a line-up. Don't miss out!

What: An Evening of Theatrical Music

Where: The Bing Crosby Theater

When: November 30, 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $15 general admission, $8 for students. 

Tickets are available through TicketsWest.

Upcoming Alexandra Teague Poetry Readings

Alexandra Teague, author of Mortal Geography (2010), will be featured at two upcoming readings!

The Beacon Hill Reading Series

Thursday, October 25^th

The Hagan Foundation Center at SCC

6:30pm

EWU’s Visiting Writers Series

Friday, October 26^th

Riverpoint Campus, Phase 1 Auditorium

7:00pm

 

Alexandra Teague is a former Stegner Fellow and NEA Fellow whose poetry has appeared in Best New Poets 2008 and Best American Poetry 2009, as well as many notable journals, including The Missouri Review, The Iowa Review, and Prairie Schooner.

Her debut collection, Mortal Geography, won both the 2009 Lexi Rudnitsky Prize and the 2010 California Book Award. Drawing from sources as diverse as travelogue, ESL, and Dungeons and Dragons, Mortal Geography keeps readers on their toes with its balancing act of chaos and structure. Poems about the madness of public transportation appear in sonnet form while poems about love take on unexpected forms, as in this mindbender, "Two Drafts Written After a Fight":

I.

Do I love you: yes or no?
The question: Is love a figure of speech?

I do - sometimes. Everyone wonders about our love; still,
there can be no doubt I have been true (almost always).

Happily remembering the start of our romance; it seemed
so promising ...

And is love continual happiness or not?
Is not what matters?

I cannot tell you who I want to spend my life with.
Enough about our love.


II.

Do I love you? Yes or no - the question is, love,
a figure of speech. I do.

(Sometimes everyone wonders.)
About our love, still, there can be no doubt.

I have been true, almost always happily
remembering the start of our romance;

it seemed so promising, and is. Love,
continual happiness or not is not what matters.

I cannot tell you, who I want to spend my life with,
enough about our love.



What else is there to say? This is not a poet to miss.

Spokane Student Competes in National Poetry Out Loud Final

The National Finals of Poetry Out Loud, an annual competition featuring 53 students from all across the country, begin today! Sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowments for the Arts, this competition sees about 365,000 students from more than 2,000 schools put their poetry recitation skills to the test.

That's why it's such an honor to announce that one of the golden 53 is Washington State's very own Langston Ward, a junior from Mead High School in Spokane, Washington. Ward won the Eastern Washington regional competition in February, hosted by Get Lit!, which earned him a berth at the state finals in Tacoma. Ward's winning performance at the state finals, run by the Washington State Arts Commission, showcased Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach", Stephen Spender's "The Truly Great", and Carl Sandburg's "Chicago". His impressive first place recitation won him $200, plus a trip to the National Finals in Washington, D.C., all expenses paid. In addition, he landed his school $500 for the purchase of new poetry books.

Poetry Out Loud is an education program that inspires interest and passion for poetry, and this year saw the participation of about 68 schools and roughly 20,000 students in Washington State. The competition begins at classroom-level, expands to school-wide competitions, and then regionals. This year's regional competition was hosted by Get Lit! Programs.

This is the seventh year that high school students in Washington have participated in Poetry Out Loud, and we're proud of every single one of them for standing up and keeping alive the passion that poetry instills in people. We congratulate and wish the best of luck to Langston Ward. Send good thoughts his way as he competes in the semifinals today, May 14, from 5 p.m.to 8 p.m. The final event will be held May 15, beginning at 7 p.m.

"Comedy as Commentary" with Steve Almond, Jess Walter, and Sharma Shields

Shawn Vestal, a reporter for the Spokesman Review and author of Godforsaken, Idaho will be moderating the "Comedy as Commentary" panel at EWU during this year's Get Lit! Festival.

Steve Almond, author of God Bless America, Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins, and Sharma Shields, author of Favorite Monster, will be discussing how a well-timed joke can reveal more than a reader expects. Humor can illustrate a character's deepest flaw, question a society's standards, or expose a culture's most veiled conflict.

No writer should miss out on this fun and informative panel!

What: Get Lit! Festival University Panel "Comedy as Commentary"

Where: Hargreaves Hall, Reading Room @ Eastern Washington University (Cheney)

When: Friday, April 13 2012 9:30 AM

Cost: FREE!

More Information:

Visit Get Lit!

BlueNote Undergraduate Reading

On February 10th at 6:00 p.m. Northwest Boulevard, EWU's undergraduate literary magazine, will be hosting a reading at Neato Burrito. If you want to hear emerging local talent, come on down to listen. If you're an EWU undergraduate and have a poem, short story, or a creative essay to share with the world, email Erin Ormsby at nwblitmag@gmail.com. This is a great opportunity for students to share their poetry or prose pieces with an audience outside the typical EWU community. (You don't have to be an English major to read - all students are welcome!)

Even if you don't want to read, you should still attend BlueNote and discover the range of Eastern's undergraduate creative writing talent while enjoying some yummy burritos (Neato Burrito has veggie and vegan options).

Event: Northwest Boulevard BlueNote Reading
Where: Neato Burrito, 827 W. 1st Ave
Time: 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Price: Recommended $2 Donation, Northwest Boulevard will also be selling T-Shirts for $5. All the proceeds go to keeping Northwest Boulevard running.

Naked Lunch Break Open Mic

Naked Lunch Break is a new literary open mic event sponsored by Eastern Washington University and the Riverpoint Campus Libraries. Every Thursday from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., poetry, stand-up comedy, stand-up tragedy, fiction, nonfiction, and other such assemblages of words let loose into the air with the aid of a microphone at the rate of three minutes per reader. All are welcome to join in.

Naked Lunch Break will occasionally include a featured reader, and this week's special guest is 2012 Get Lit! Festival headliner Jess Walter, award-winning fiction writer, journalist, and author of six novels including The Financial Lives of the Poets and The Zero. Visit our website to read more about Jess.

What: Naked Lunch Break Open Mic
Where: Riverpoint Campus, Phase I auditorium (SCLS 122)
When: January 19, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Why: A chance to hear a new story by Jess Walter, or if you're a creative and brave writer yourself, a chance to read alongside him
Cost: Free (and there might even be free pizza as well)

Encore Performances of The Things They Carried

Eastern Washington University's Theatre company will take audiences back through the jungles of Vietnam as Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried once again takes center stage December 1st through the 4th, 2011.

Jeff Sander's award-winning adaptation of Tim O'Brien's Vietnam War memoir novel is entering the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, a nationally recognized organization for critiquing theatrical performances.

Tim O'Brien was an honored guest in Get Lit!'s Big Read in Spring 2011. He came to Spokane as part of Get Lit!'s 2011 Festival "Telling the American Story." O'Brien brings to light truths that arise out of a burdening struggle to gain physical and mental peace. His voice resonates as a crucial piece of American history and in the building blocks of discussion for the future. EWU looks forward to continuing the story on stage.

The Things They Carried
December 1st - 3rd at 7:30 p.m.
December 4th at 2:00 p.m.
Adapted by Jeff Sanders
Directed by Sara Goff
Starring Gene Eugene as Tim O'Brien

EWU students and one guest admitted free with EWU student ID. Cost for all others is $10.

BlueNote Undergraduate Reading

Are you an Eastern Washington University undergraduate with some writing to share? Do you like to listen to interesting work? Eastern's undergraduate literary magazine, Northwest Boulevard, is hosting BlueNote, a reading featuring undergraduate students at Neato Burrito (827 W. 1st Avenue) on November 18 at 6:00 p.m.

This is a great opportunity for students to share their poetry or prose pieces with an audience outside the typical EWU community. You don't have to be an English major to read, you just need some original writings to share. Eastern undergraduates who would like more information about how to sign up should contact Erin Ormsby at nwblitmag@gmail.com.

Even if you don't want to read, you should still attend BlueNote and discover the range of Eastern's undergraduate creative writing talent while enjoying some yummy burritos (Neato Burrito has veggie and vegan options). Northwest Boulevard will also be selling t-shirts for $5 and there is also a $2 suggested cover charge. All money goes toward the magazine.

What: BlueNote Undergraduate Reading
Where: Neato Burrito (827 W. 1st Avenue, next to the Davenport)
When: Friday, Nov.18 at 6:00 p.m.
Price: $2 suggested cover charge. Also t-shirts for $5.
Contact Information: Erin Ormsby at nwblitmag@gmail.com