‘La Traviata’ explores vice versus virtue

Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata,” which means “the fallen woman,” created an outrage when it was released in the mid-19th century because of its sympathetic portrayal of Violetta, an ailing courtesan redeemed by love.

On Friday, Teatro Lirico D’Europa will bring the traditional, Italian version with English supertitles to the Lied Center stage.

The company performed Verdi’s “Rigoletto” at the Lied Center in March 2002 and “Aida” in March 2001.

Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance are $18.50-$42 and can be purchased by calling 864-2787.

Community theater offers ‘Proof’

“Proof,” a drama by David Auburn, opens Thursday at Lawrence Community Theatre, 1501 N.H.

The play tells the story of Catherine, a troubled woman, who has spent years caring for her father, a mathematician who slips into early dementia and an untimely death. Hal, a former graduate student mining the father’s notebooks, stumbles on a mathematical proof that has eluded scholars for centuries. But who is the real author?

The show is under the direction of Piet Knetsch.

It plays at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays March 4-7 and 11-14.

A talkback after the March 7 matinee will be led by Ann Schofield, Kansas University professor of American and women’s studies; Harriet Lerner, an author and psychologist; and Ann Cudd, KU philosophy professor and director of women’s studies.

For information and tickets, call 843-7469.

KU theater to stage Dust Bowl play ‘Thirst’

Kansas University Theatre will stage Kevin Mayer’s “Thirst” as part of the William Inge Memorial Theatre Series.

The play, under the direction of Danon Nicholae Park, a Maryland Heights, Mo., graduate student, is set in the 1930s in a small Oklahoma town that has withered into dust after the arrival and departure of Jack Herald.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. March 7 at the Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall.

Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for students and faculty and $11 for seniors. They can be purchased by calling 864-3982.

Colloquium examines ‘Jazz Changes’

The KU Interdisciplinary Jazz Studies Group will present a colloquium called “Jazz Changes” from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and 10:30 a.m. to noon Friday in conjunction with the 27th annual KU Jazz Festival next weekend.

Travis Jackson, associate professor of music at the University of Chicago, will kick off the event at 9 a.m. Thursday at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union with a talk titled “All the Things You Are: The Changing Face(s) of Jazz Studies.”

The afternoon keynote speaker is Ingrid Monson, professor of African American music at Harvard University and author of “Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction.” She will speak “On Sound Stereotypes: Social Construction and Jazz.”

The colloquium is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.ku.edu/~kuijsg.

Hall Center to honor KU faculty authors

The Hall Center for the Humanities at Kansas University will have its Second Annual Celebration of Books in honor of KU humanities faculty authors at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Summerfield Room in the Adams Alumni Center.

The event is free and open to the public.

In the past year, 39 humanities, social sciences and fine arts faculty members published 38 books.

Three faculty authors will read from their books and take audience questions at the event:

• Rita Napier, associate professor of history, “Kansas and the West: New Perspectives.”
• Robert Rowland, professor of communication studies, “Shared Land/Conflicting Identity: Trajectories of Israeli and Palestinian Symbol Use.”
• Giselle Anatol, assistant professor of English, discusses “Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays.”

Lawrence gallery plans Leap Day benefit

Fields Gallery, 712 Mass., will play host to “Lawrence Leap for Choice,” a benefit for Planned Parenthood of Kansas & Mid-Missouri.

The event, scheduled from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. today, will feature a live and silent auction, coctails, hors d’oeuvres and music by the Chuck Berg Group. Celebrity emcees will be Barbara Ballard and Paul Davis, and the Rev. Thad Holcombe will serve as auctioneer.

Admission is $25.

For more information, call 832-0281.

Lawrence author on bill at children’s lit conference

Lawrence artist and children’s book author Stephen Johnson will be a presenter at Reading Reptile’s eighth annual DNA (Directions, New Strategies and Applications) Litfest Friday and Saturday in Kansas City, Mo.

Johnson and six other authors will talk to groups of Kansas City area school children Friday at Rockhurst University and then sign books at 5:30 p.m. at the Reading Reptile, 328 W. 63rd St.

The signing is free and open to the public.

Tickets are still available for the Saturday conference at Community Christian Church, 4501 Main St. The conference is intended for teachers, librarians, parents, writers, artists and children’s literature lovers. Tickets are $60. To register, call (816) 753-0441.

Johnson won a Caldecott in 1996 for “Alphabet City.”

Pilot Club schedules annual antique show

The Pilot Club of Lawrence will have its annual antique show and sale March 5-7 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

Dealers will sell everything from china, glass and silver to furniture and toys. A crystal and glass repair service will be available.

Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. March 7 in Building 21 at the fairgrounds, 21st and Harper streets. Tickets are $2 and are good for all three days. Parking is free.

The “Pilot Cafe” will sell soups, sandwiches, pies and other foods.

For more information, call 843-6219.

KU students flavor ‘Fresh Produce’ show

Kansas City, Mo. — Kansas University art and design students will be part of “Fresh Produce,” an exhibition on view Friday through March 26 at the Farm Gallery, 500 E. 18th St., Kansas City, Mo.

The show will feature work by first- and second-year art and design graduate students at KU, and will include metals, sculpture, clay, fiber, painting, mixed media, printmaking and photography.

An opening reception is scheduled for 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday at the gallery.

Mary Anne Jordan, associate professor of textiles at KU, organized the exhibition with Mindy Goodman, the gallery’s director who got a degree in textile design at KU in 1995.

For more information, call Goodman at (816) 931-2843 or Jordan at 864-3919.

Lecture series to feature ceramic artist

Ceramics artist Arthur Gonzalez will give a talk 6 p.m. March 1 at the Spencer Museum of Art, 1301 Miss.

Gonzalez is chair of the ceramics department at the California College of Arts and Crafts. He incorporates his background in painting and figurative sculpture into his ceramic art, often using oil paint instead of glaze on his sculptures, which he designs to be displayed on the wall. His current series is “The Cadence of Stupidity.”

The lecture is part of the Hallmark Symposium Series, which is free and open to the public.

For more information, call 864-4401.