Choral group celebrates Shakespeare at museum

Octarium, a choral octet with members from Lawrence and Kansas City, will give a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Central Court of the Spencer Museum of Art, 1301 Miss.

The concert will feature choral works based on the texts of Shakespeare, including works by Thomas Morley, Henry Purcell, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Amy Beach, John Rutter and more.

Octarium has joined The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Coterie Theatre, Kansas City Symphony, the Lied Center, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City to celebrate William Shakespeare during the Shakespeare All Year festival.

Octarium will repeat the concert at 2 p.m. May 9 at Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission, Prairie Village. Tickets to that performance are $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors.

Kansas Public Radio (FM 91.5) will broadcast selections from the upcoming Shakespeare concerts at 11:10 a.m. Wednesday.

New theater troupe to stage first show

Rough Draft Theater will present its first show, “Holy Ship,” beginning Thursday at Ad Astra Gallery, 205 W. Eighth St.

The play is a spoof of reality TV series and is based on the idea that for the second time the earth is being flooded, though this time FOX has bought an ark and plans to broadcast life on board to those who still have televisions.

An untraditional theater project, Rough Draft Theater was conceived by Joe Griffin and Chris McNulty, who plan to stage various fast-paced productions on a monthly basis.

Doors open at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, and the show starts at 9 p.m. The show repeats Saturday and May 9.

Tickets are $4 at the gallery and Good Earth Mother, 803 Vt.

Artist to show portraits of Haitian women at KU

Tequila Minsky, a photographer, writer and videographer whose work focuses on Haiti, will visit Kansas University Wednesday and Thursday.

An exhibition of Minsky’s work, “Haitian Women: Portraits of Courage,” will be on display Monday through May 14 in the Kansas Union Gallery.

Minksy’s coverage of Haitian women began in 1993, when she traveled to Haiti to observe the impact of the 1991 military takeover of Haiti’s government. She returned from another trip to Haiti last month and will talk with KU Haitian studies students about her experience.

A reception for Minsky will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the gallery. Normal gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For more information, call 842-1193.

KU visiting professor to give public lecture

Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Madison Davis Lacy will present a public lecture at 7 p.m. May 9 in the Spencer Museum of Art Auditorium at Kansas University.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Lacy, KU’s Langston Hughes Visiting Professor this semester, has been teaching both theory and production courses in documentary filmmaking. He was a consulting producer for Ken Burns’ “Jazz” and has won four Emmys, including an award for his 2002 film about Wichita native and “Gone With The Wind” actress Hattie McDaniel.

Lacy’s lecture is titled “The Blues Impulse in Film and Video.” A reception will follow immediately in the museum’s courtyard.

Seabury students to stage ‘Zombie Prom’

Students at Bishop Seabury Academy will perform the musical “Zombie Prom” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Academy’s Dillon Gymnasium Auditorium.

The musical, a teenage-flavored montage of ’50s musicals and campy B-movie horror films, is a doo-wop ode to high-school hierarchies everywhere.

Admission is free, but donations are welcome.

Lawrence artist named photographer of year

Master photographer John Gladman has been named 2004 Kansas Photographer of the Year.

Gladman also received a Kodak Gallery Award and his first American Society of Photographers Award. Only one is given per state each year.

Gladman owns two studios, one in downtown Lawrence and the other in Olathe. He has been a professional photographer for more than 18 years and specializes in child and family portraiture.

Early-start music method focus of public meeting

The Suzuki method of learning music, which encourages 3- and 4-year-old children to begin playing an instrument, will be the subject of an informational meeting open to the public at 7 p.m. today at West Side Presbyterian Church, 1024 Kasold Drive.

For more information, call 550-1608.

Baldwin plays host to K.C. jazz ensemble

Baldwin — Baker University’s Jazz Ensemble will be host to the Kansas City Slide Show, a unique eight-member jazz combo, for the annual Chris Grubb Memorial Scholarship Concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Rice Auditorium.

The Kansas City Slide Show is fronted by five of Kansas City’s premier jazz trombonists, as well as a veteran rhythm section. The group’s recent album, “Out Front and Blowin,'” was greeted with critical acclaim across the Midwest, and the group is a favorite among Kansas City jazz fans.

The Baker University Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of J.D. Parr, will open the concert with a variety of big band jazz, including swing, Latin and ballad arrangements of popular tunes by Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Don Ellis, Fats Waller, Frank Mantooth and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Admission is free, though donations will be accepted for the Chris Grubb Memorial Jazz Saxophone Scholarship Fund. The scholarship is awarded annually to a returning member of the ensemble.

Entries sought for literary awards

“New Letters,” the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s international quarterly of new writings, is accepting entries for its 19th annual Literary Awards.

Writers may submit unpublished work in the poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction categories.

The reading fee for the first entry is $15 and includes a one-year subscription to the magazine. Each additional entry is $10.

Winners in each category will receive $1,000 and publication of the winning works in “New Letters.”

All entries must be received by May 19.

For more information call (816) 235-1168 or visit www.newletters.org.