Fall 2018
September
Poetry, Tyranny & Memory: A Conversation with Meryl Natchez
Sept. 6, 2018 at 7 p.m.
The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities will launch its year-long focus on memory by exploring the ways in which art and poetry resist even the most oppressive tyranny by preserving our fundamental connection to the past. Join us for reading and conversation with Professor Jake Howland from the University of Tulsa and poet Meryl Natchez as they explore the power of poetry not just to describe a world gone wrong but to carve out new space for human freedom and possibility.
Star Connect Lucie Arnaz, Laurence Luckinbill Performance
Sept. 17, 2018
Join us for the inauguration of the Star Connect Mentor Program at TU. Lucie Arnaz and Laurence Luckinbill, 2018-2019 Star Connect Mentors, will present a short performance of some of their work followed by a reception. Hosted by the Department of Theatre and Musical Theatre and sponsored by the Feagin Guest Artist grant and the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities.
James Frey: Life and Fiction
Sept. 19, 2018, Living Arts of Tulsa
In partnership with the Oklahoma Center for Humanities yearlong exploration of MEMORY, we’ll explore fiction, memoir, the meaning of truth, and more with writer, James Frey. Don’t miss a wide ranging conversation about his past, his new novel “Katerina”, and what’s to come.
Undocumented: Pulitzer Prize Winner Jose Antonio Vargas
Spet. 23, 2018 at 7 p.m., Gilcrease Museum
Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has been called “the most famous undocumented immigrant in America,” tackles one of the defining issues of our time. He joins us to share his explosive and deeply personal memoir “Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.” All guests will also enjoy free admission to the new Gilcrease show, AMERICANS ALL!, which will be open prior to and following the talk.
October
On Trauma and Literature: A Night with Novelist Aminatta Forna
Oct. 4, 2018 at 7 p.m.
J. Donald Feagin Visiting Artist Aminatta Forna will give a reading
from her latest novel, HAPPINESS, recently selected as a Best Book of 2018 by the Washington Post.
Star Wars as the Wild West
Oct. 11, 2018 at 5:30 p.m., TCC Center for Creativity
What does Star Wars have to do with Oklahoma? Kenneth Cohen, Curator of American Culture at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, will explore how the Star Wars story – right down to its marketing and memorabilia — builds on a long history of rebel alliances that date back to the nineteenth-century Wild West Shows and dime novels rooted in a galaxy not so far away.
Memory, the Self and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Oct. 25, 2018 at 7 p.m.
Dr. Jennifer J. Vasterling gives a talk on her research which has centered on furthering understanding of the neurocognitive and emotional changes that accompany war-zone deployment and posttraumatic stress responses.
November
Classics II: Britten’s War Requiem
Nov. 11, 2018 at 2:30 p.m.
Guest conductor James Bagwell passionately interprets one of the great defining masterworks of the 20th century, Benjamin Britten’s powerful War Requiem. This performance features the artistic collaborations of the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus, The University of Tulsa Chorale and Symphony Orchestra with support from the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities.
A Conversation with Mackenzi Lee
Nov. 29, 2018 at 7 p.m.
Mackenzi Lee holds a BA in history and an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Simmons College. She is the New York Times best-selling author of the historical fantasy novels This Monstrous Thing and The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (HarperCollins), as well as the forthcoming The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy and Semper Augustus (coming in 2019 from Flatiron/Macmillan).
December
Anna Badkhen: Making Memoirs
Dec. 4, 2018 at 7 p.m.
Anna Badkhen, Tulsa Artist Fellow and author of six books of literary nonfiction, will read excerpts from her works. The evening will also feature readings from students enrolled in her undergraduate memoir-writing class at The University of Tulsa.
Spring 2019
January
Young Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Memoir by Alex Halberstadt
Jan. 17, 2019 at 7 p.m.
A reading and discussion of Alex Halberstadt’s new family memoir, Young Heroes of the Soviet Union.
TU 2019 Cadenhead – Settle Memorial Lecture featuring Scott Wong
Jan. 24, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
Wong is the author of “Americans First: Chinese Americans and the Second World War.” His talk will address the politics of Asian Americans serving in the American military from World War II through the war in Iraq. The lecture will examine the power of the memory from the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team to the efforts of Dan Choi to challenge Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
February
White Rabbit Red Rabbit
Feb. 1-3, 2019
THE PLAY YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE IS SEALED INSIDE AN ENVELOPE. The actor about to perform has never seen it. In fact, there is a new actor every performance, and they’ve only been told what is absolutely necessary. Featuring the local talents fo David Blakely, Machele Miller Dill and Jessica Davenport.
Poetry & Dementia: A Reading with Lauren Camp
Feb. 7, 2019 at 7 p.m.
Lauren will be reading from her original works and talking about learning to deal with Alzheimer’s and dementia through poetry.
Mending Masculinity: Spoken Word Tour
Feb. 8, 2019 at 7 p.m.
Mending Masculinity is a collaborative spoken word tour featuring Kavi Ade & Vision. Through performance poetry, generative writing workshops, and critical dialogue the duo utilizes their separate lenses (as a Transgender Queer person and as a Cisgender Heterosexual person) to cultivate a conversation that encompasses all forms of masculinity, the performance of gender, and the inherent toxicity of gendered binaries in a patriarchal world.
Paths of Glory: Screening & Discussion
Feb. 19, 2019 at 6 p.m.
A free screening of Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, one of the most powerful antiwar films ever made, followed by a discussion with Professor David A. Davis.
Sea Breeze Academy: The Concert Reading
Feb. 26, 2019 at 7 p.m.
Concert reading, by TU Theatre students, of the beginning to the satiric script/novel hybrid Sea Breeze Academy by TU senior Bryant Loney. Featuring an opening reading by student Alex Isaak.
Reenactments: A Night of Poetry with Hai-Dang Phan
Feb. 28, 2019 at 7 p.m.
Join Phan on his visit to Tulsa to celebrate a new collection of poetry titled Reenactments about the legacy of the Vietnam War and his own experience as a refugee. Writer and Tulsa Artist Fellow Mark de Silva will host this evening of discussion and poetry with Phan.
March
Bruce Adolphe: “Memories of a Possible Future”
March 1, 2019 at 6 p.m., Philbrook Museum of Art
Composer Bruce Adolphe lectures on music and memory, followed by a performance of his piano quintet “Memories of a Possible Future”, which features the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra.
Alternative Archives
March 8 – 9, 2019
From fashion and found photos to recipes and oral histories, what is worth remembering? How do we choose what we save? This event will explore the ways we remember, create meaning, and tell stories through the ephemera we keep and leave behind.
An Evening with the Tulsa Artist Fellows
March 14, 2019, 7 p.m.
Join us on Thursday, March 14th at 7pm in Adelson Auditorium (Tyrrell Hall, TU Campus) as graphic novelist Melanie Gillman and writer and filmmaker Laurie Thomas present their work. Thomas will screen and discuss her short documentary, “Black Girl Magic,” about the life of a young Black female artist. She will also discuss issues of visual/film representation of and by Black women, what draws her to her work, and her ongoing projects in Tulsa working with women’s stories. Both Gillman and Thomas are currently serving as TU Creative Writing instructors. Free and open to the public.
The Politics of Popular Culture in the Digital Age
March 28, 2019 at 5:30 p.m.
This talk draws from Anne Helen Peterson’s most recent book, Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman (Plume, 2017), making connections to her recent writing on pertinent issues like Millennial burnout, the student debt crisis, and the politics of popular culture and celebrity in the digital age.
Memory, Memorials and Community
March 29-30, 2019
As part of its year-long focus on the theme of memory, the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities in partnership with Gilcrease Museum and the University of Tulsa History Department will explore the energizing, solemn and often contentious roles that memorials play in the civic and social life of our city.
April
Jean Rhys: The Biographer as Literary Detective
April 4, 2019 at 4 p.m.
Join author and biographer Miranda Seymour while she’s at the University of Tulsa visiting the Jean Rhys archive. Seymour will chat about her work on Rhys as well as more generally about the art of researching and writing biographies.
Big Ideas at TU Book Discussion: The Girl Who Smiled Beads
April 10, 2019 at 12 p.m.
A group discussion of Clemantine Wamariya’s New York Times Bestseller, The Girl Who Smiled Beads. Moderated by Layla Mortadha from TU Global Studies.
Big Ideas at TU: The GIrl Who Smiled Beads
April 11, 2019 at 7 p.m.
Join us for a talk by Clemantine Wamariya: storyteller, human rights advocate, and author of The Girl Who Smiled Beads, her memoir about the human side of war.
Reimagining the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
April 18, 2019 at 7 p.m.
Join songwriter and playwright Ronvé O’Daniel and novelist Jen Latham (author of Dreamland Burning) as they discuss the role that art, fiction, and music play in helping us remember the past–in particular the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
Workshop: The Art of Visual Storytelling
April 27, 2019 at 3 p.m., AHHA Tulsa
Join us for a three hour, multi-facilitator workshop on the art of storytelling. After listening to the artist-facilitators explain how they use their unique medium to tell stories, participants will then choose which specialized workshop they would like to attend. Participants will have about 2 hours of assisted creation time. During the final 30 minutes, participants will come back together to talk and share as a group.
June
Bloomsday Tulsa 2019
June 16, 2016 at 2 p.m., Duet Restaurant
oin us for our annual celebration of James Joyce and all things Irish in the heart of Tulsa’s Arts District. Irish music by Cairde na Gael, readings by local actors, drinks, and all kinds of giveaways! It’s all free and takes place downstairs in the jazz club at Duet Restaurant.
Co-sponsored by the GKFF, James Joyce Quarterly, Theatre Tulsa, and Magic City Books.
