Drexel University - Comprehensive, integrated academics enhanced by co-operative education, technology, and research opportunities. | Drexel University
Drexel University
Search events. View events.

All Categories

Click for help in using calendar displays. Print the contents of the current screen.
Display Format: 
Event Details
Notify me if this event changes.Add this event to my personal calendar.
Go Back
NEA Big Read Events Schedule
Start Date: 10/21/2016Start Time: 10:00 AM
End Date: 10/21/2016End Time: 11:00 AM
This event recurs on a custom schedule.  Click here to see the series dates.

Event Description
Drexel Writers Room will pay tribute Zora Neale Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" with seven weeks of programming and events — all made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read program.

 

Their Eyes Were Watching God: The Making of a Classic
September 22, 2016 @ 5 - 6 p.m.
Mandell Theater, 3201 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

When Zora Neale Hurston died, penniless and forgotten in 1960, her novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" was long out of print. Today it is not only regarded as her masterpiece but as an American classic. This lecture explores how and why Their Eyes has gained "classic" status in the African American, feminist, and American canons. Critics of all persuasions analyze its themes, characters, form, and most of all its language. The struggle to reclaim the legacy of Zora Neale Hurston has not only gained "classic" status for the novel most believe to be her greatest work, it has in the process helped to redefine what "classic" means.

Cheryl A. Wall, Board of Governors Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English at Rutgers University, is the author of Worrying the Line: Black Women Writers, Lineage, and Literary Tradition (2005), Women of the Harlem Renaissance (1995) and A Very Short Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance (2016), and the editor of the Writings of Zora Neale Hurston in two volumes published by the Library of America (1995), and Changing Our Own Words: Essays on Criticism, Theory, and Writing by Black Women (1989), among other books. Currently she is completing a study titled "The African American Essay: On Freedom and the Will to Adorn."

Following the keynote, the West Powelton Drummers will lead a second line procession from Mandell Theater to the Dornsife Center, where they will join forces with Darla, Drexel’s own progressive funk band, for a free, one-time collaborative show outside the center at 6 p.m.

Capturing the Moment: The Art and Science of Field Recording
September 23, 2016 @ 5:30 - 7 p.m.
URBN Annex 3401 Filbert Street Philadelphia, PA

Zora Neale Hurston saw field recording as a vibrant way to give voice to many who would be forgotten in time but offered much to enrich our lives. In this conversation, Nelson Eubanks (Melodius Thunk) and Cyrille Taillandier (Drexel Music Industry Program), discuss the art and science of field recording, as well as the Zora Neale Hurston-inspired project with the West Powelton Drummers and progressive funk band Darla. Attendees will get a first listen of audio recorded by Melodius Thunk and MAD Dragon Community Recording during the NEA Big Read launch parade.

Tania Isaac's Open-Notebook Dance Workshop
 September 27, 2016 @ 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Van Rensselaer Hall, 3320 Powelton Avenue, Philadelphia, PA

A Caribbean-American dancer/choreographer who fuses choreography with personal documentary and social commentary to grapple with identity, post-colonial issues, feminism and juxtapositions of European and African influences, Tania Isaac's exploration of creative method “Open-Notebook” turns a room into a laboratory of performance investigation.

This 4-week workshop offers the opportunity to look at "Their Eyes Were Watching God" as source material and model for creating performance. Participants interweave their narratives with Hurston’s to create small performances of movement, theater and/or voice. The installation space will house notes, questions, interviews, and responses. Participants meet once per week, but the installation is open each day to the public and their comments and responses are folded in. Final presentation will document the passage from the original text to its final re-interpretation in performance.

Poetry Slam at the Pen and Pencil
September 29, 2016 @ 7:30 - 9:00 pm
Pen & Pencil Club, 1522 Latimer Street, Philadelphia, PA

Join us for a special version of "Painted Bride Quarterly's" slam at the legendary Pen & Pencil Club using Hurston’s language as prompts in our no-pressure writing improv game. Established in Philadelphia in 1973, PBQ is one of the country’s longest running literary magazines, with democratic editorial boards running in three major cities.

Zines for Zora: Writing + Drawing Workshop
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
 @ 4 – 6 p.m.
Writers Room, Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships | Lindy House, 3509 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, PA

Stop by Writers Room for this special NEA Big Read version of our monthly first Tuesday workshops. It’s a given that Hurston writes with beautiful imagery. She combines lyric beauty with riveting storytelling. The zine is a form that combines word and image. In this workshop we will examine and talk about zines, create several writings (including a letter) in conversation with Zora Neale Hurston, and then actually create one or more zines (on our own, or collaborating with fellow-writers). Don’t stay away if you haven’t finished "Their Eyes" yet, but it’s great if you have. Offered by poet and Drexel professor Valerie Fox.

Soul Food Culinary Workshop
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
 @ 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Free Library of Philadelphia | Culinary Literacy Center, Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street, Fourth Floor, Philadelphia, PA

This hands-on cooking class explores Southern food and traditions in early 20th-century Florida. Offered by Drexel’s Culinary Arts Program with chef Brian Lofink, ’03 (Sidecar Bar & Grille, Kraftwork, Kermit's Bake Shoppe), Amanda Abene, ’15 (Joe Coffee) and Chanda Rice.

Zora Neale Hurston: Portraying and Modeling the Trickster Figure in the African American Diaspora
Tuesday, October 11, 2016 @ 
7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Free Library of Philadelphia | Parkway Central, Skyview Room, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA

Eva Thury, PhD, (Drexel), Andrea Abrams, PhD, (Centre College), A Yemisi Jimoh, PhD, (UMass Amherst) and Ed Pavlic (University of Georgia) will discuss trickster figures in Zora Neale Hurston’s life, her work as an anthropologist, and her fiction. Hurston was a trickster herself, slipping between various racial, gender and social roles. The panel will highlight her contributions to culture and literature as relevant to contemporary efforts at transforming our society. Enjoy samples from the soul food culinary workshop in the Free Library's Culinary Literacy Center.

To Be There and Hear It All: Audio, Documentary, and Adaptations on Hurston
Friday, October 21, 2016
 @ 10 – 11 a.m.
Drexel University | Hagerty Library, 3300 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA

Join us for coffee and conversation in this salon-style multimedia book discussion with Andre Carrington, PhD, assistant professor of English at Drexel University. carrington is the author of "Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction" (Minnesota, 2016).

Open-Notebook Dance Performance
Saturday, October 29, 2016 @ 7 – 8 p.m.
Drexel University | Van Rensselaer Hall, 3320 Powelton Ave, Philadelphia, PA

This final presentation will document the open-notebook process and the passage of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" from the original text to its final re-interpretation in a performance by Caribbean-American dancer/choreographer Tania Isaac.

NEA Big Read
Location:
Times and locations vary
Audience:
  • Everyone

  • Display Month:

    Advanced Search (New Search)
    Date Range:
    Time Range:
    Category(s):
    Audience: 

    Special Features: 

    Keyword(s):
    Submit
    Select item(s) to Search



    Select item(s) to Search
    Select item(s) to Search
    Select item(s) to Search