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On Screen/in Person: Real Boy

Pollak Theatre

REAL BOY is the coming-of-age story of Bennett Wallace, a transgender teenager on a journey to find his voice as a musician, a friend, a son, and a man. Navigating the ups and downs of young adulthood, he works to gain the support of his mother, who has deep misgivings about her child’s transition. As tension mounts at home, Bennett is taken in by his idol, Joe Stevens, the lead singer of the alt-Americana band, Coyote Grace. Exploring how our search for personal identity also involves those closest to us, REAL BOY is a nuanced look at the new American family and the people we turn to when our given families are unavailable. There will be a post screening Q&A with the director Shaleece Haas.

Visiting Writers: Liz Moore

The Great Hall Auditorium

Liz Moore is a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction.
Her first novel, The Words of Every Song (Broadway Books, 2007), centers on a fictional record company in New York City just after the turn of the millennium. It draws partly on Liz’s own experiences as a musician. It was selected for Borders’ Original Voices program and was given a starred review by Kirkus.Roddy Doyle wrote of it, “This is a remarkable novel, elegant, wise, and beautifully constructed. I loved the book.”

After the publication of her debut novel, Liz obtained her MFA in Fiction from Hunter College. In 2009, she was awarded the University of Pennsylvania’s ArtsEdge residency and moved to Philadelphia, where she still lives.

The Mitzvah

The Great Hall Auditorium

The Mitzvah (“The Good Deed”) is a one-person play that dramatically explores one of the most shocking stories of the Second World War. More than a hundred thousand German men — classified as “mischlinge” (the derogatory term the Nazis used to describe those descended from one or two Jewish grandparents) — fought in the German armed forces.
The story of one such mischling is at the center of The Mitzvah and actor (and child of survivor) Roger Grunwald seamlessly transforms himself into an array of characters to tell that story. In addition to Christoph (the “mischling”), other characters include Schmuel, a Polish Jew from Bialystok and the play’s Chorus who offers edgy commentary that probes the boundary between the absurd and the horrific. The Mitzvah is a touching and tragic tale told in a powerful one-act solo performance created by Grunwald and Broadway veteran Annie McGreevey.

Caladh Nua

Pollak Theatre

Caladh Nua is a tightly-knit, vibrant and staggeringly talented band with its origins deeply rooted in the Southern counties of Ireland. Comprised of five versatile musicians and singers playing a wide selection of instruments – from banjo to fiddle, guitar to bodhran and tin whistle to button accordion – the band has captured the essential qualities of traditional Irish music and balanced them finely with an innovative contemporary flair.

Through a series of international tours and festivals across the globe, which saw the band take the stage in cities such as Paris, Vienna, Copenhagen, Berlin, Mumbai and Vancouver, Caladh Nua has cast a uniquely captivating net of Irish music and song over an ever widening worldwide audience.

A long list of TV and radio broadcasts of their performances and two acclaimed recordings includes American Public Radio, the BBC, and RTE. Performing a vast repertoire of haunting songs and evocative Irish tunes, Caladh Nua is a young ensemble on the rise.

$35; $45; $55

Met Opera: La Traviata (Broadcast Live in HD)

Pollak Theatre

Sonya Yoncheva brings her acclaimed interpretation of the doomed courtesan Violetta Valéry to Live in HD audiences for the first time.

$23

SONGWRITERS BY THE SEA

Lauren K. Woods Theatre

Distinguished NJ Songwriters Joe Rapolla and Joe D’Urso are back this year hosting the celebrated Songwriters by the Sea series at the Lauren K. Woods Theatre. What once started in a small coffee shop as an area for local songwriters has now grown into a series that features some of the top songwriters in the country. This year, the show features James Maddock, a fixture on the Folk and Americana scene and expatriate Irish writer and musician Larry Kirwan.

An April 2014 review in Relix Magazine puts it this way: “James Maddock possesses the kind of lived-in craggy voice that would sound authoritative if he were singing the sports pages. Fortunately, he doesn’t need to do that because his compositional skills are a match for his delivery.” After fronting the Columbia Records band Wood, whose debut Songs From Stamford Hill was featured prominently on TV shows such as “Dawson’s Creek,” Maddock moved from England to New York City in 2003. His 2009 album Sunrise On Avenue C won a New York Music Award for Best Americana Album, while follow-up Wake Up And Dream ranked among the top albums of 2011 in WFUV’s (NYC) Listener Poll. He has performed with Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nile, Aaron Comess (Spin Doctors) and David Immergluck (Counting Crows).

Larry Kirwan (born in Wexford, Ireland) is an expatriate Irish writer and musician, most noted as the lead singer for the New York-based Irish rock band, Black 47 Kirwan has also written and produced eleven plays and musicals, some of which have been performed in the United States and Europe. The plays deal mainly with Irish history and politics. Monmouth University Blue Hawk Records’ artists Julia Whary, Nicole Govel, and guest Isabella Rose, will open the show.Sponsored by the Leon Hess Business School and Business Council

$30

TUESDAY NIGHT RECORD CLUB: THE BEATLES’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Lauren K. Woods Theatre

It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights in Woods Theatre to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss…there will be special guest moderators and panelists at each event! This discussion will feature TUESDAY NIGHT RECORD CLUB: THE BEATLES’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This event is free but registration is required.

American-Israeli Relations in the Trump Era: A Lecture by Michael Tuchfeld

Pozycki Hall Auditorium

The positions that president Trump expressed in his campaign regarding Israel and the Middle East conflict were sometimes inconsistent or contradictory. Nevertheless, some characteristics show that he will act to roll back most of former president Obama’s ideas and policies of how to promote peace in the area. It is obvious that new terminologies have been formed and reached the gates of the region. What are they and what do they indicate? Many Israelis feel relieved, others – worried. What are P.M. Netanyahu’s expectations in the new era? What are the Israeli cabinet ministers’ expectations and do they expect the same things? The questions of settlements, annexation of territories conquered in 1967, the two-state solution and the settlement regulation law will be raised as well as the policy towards Iran, Egypt and other players on the political field.
Is the defeat of the American political establishment a positive development for Israel?
What mistakes should both sides avoid?
These questions and others will be raised in the lecture….

World Cinema Series: Timbuktu

Pollak Theatre

A cattle herder and his family who reside in the dunes of Timbuktu find their quiet lives — which are typically free of the Jihadists determined to control their faith — abruptly disturbed.