As February comes to a close, Bucknell’s campus and Lewisburg will have numerous arts events available to the campus community.
Black Arts Fest
Commemorating 150 years since the first Black student, Edward McKnight Brawley, earned a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell, the theme of the Black Student Union’s annual Black Arts Fest this year is “Black to the Future.” As shared in a BSU Instagram post, “‘Black to the Future’ is more than a theme, it’s a journey through the heart and soul of our community, where every moment is a chance to create, inspire, and be inspired.” While some events such as the Duval High School Marching Band performance have already passed, two staples of Black Arts Fest weekend are still upcoming. Fashion Show–which gives students an opportunity to style and model themed looks and “scenes”–is set for Friday, Feb. 21 from 8-10 p.m. in Larison Dining (formal attire encouraged) and Stomp Out–a step show and contest–will be held Saturday, Feb. 22 from 7-9 p.m. in the Weis Center for Performing Arts.
“A Wrinkle in Time” at RiverStage Community Theatre
This Friday-Sunday is the second weekend of showings of “A Wrinkle in Time,” a faithful stage-adaptation by Morgan Gould of the beloved Madeleine L’Engle novel by the same name, at the RiverStage Community Theatre. This production was directed by Virginia Zimmerman, Bucknell Presidential Professor of English. Upcoming shows will take place on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21 and 22 at 7:30 p.m. as well as Sunday, Feb. 23 at 2:30 p.m.
Published in 1962, L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” follows Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry and Calvin O’Keefe, three young characters who embark on a journey through space and time endeavoring to rescue the Murrys’ father and fight an unspeakable evil intruding on multiple worlds. The novel has won the Newbery Medal, the Sequoyah Book Award and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.
Tickets are available at the RiverStage Community Theatre website, and all performances are held in the Greenspace Center Auditorium.
Concert by Bucknell Symphonic Band and Lycoming College Concert Band
The Bucknell Symphonic Band will welcome special guests from the Lycoming College Concert Band for a free, public 90-minute concert in the Weis Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2:30 p.m. This performance will be the first-ever concert collaboration presented by the two bands. Numbering about 80 players, the combined bands will be led by Lycoming College Associate Professor of Music William Ciabattari and Bucknell Professor of Music William Kenny. The ensemble will include classic repertoire for bands such as Malcolm Arnold’s “Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo” and John Philip Sousa’s “Manhattan Beach March,” and also new compositions by Carol Brittin Chambers and Adrian Sims.
Drew Darrow Memorial Poetry Reading
The Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts will present author Leslie Sainz to present the free, public Drew Darrow Memorial Poetry Reading in Bucknell Hall on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.
Leslie Sainz is the author of “Have You Been Long Enough at Table” (Tin House, 2023), winner of the 2024 Audre Lorde Award and a finalist for the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award and the Vermont Book Award. The daughter of Cuban exiles, her work has appeared in the “Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day,” “Yale Review,” “Kenyon Review,” “American Poetry Review” and elsewhere. Originally from Miami, she lives in Vermont and works as the managing editor of “New England Review.” She is a former Stadler Fellow at Bucknell.
The annual Drew Darrow Memorial Reading is organized by the Bucknell Writing Center and co-sponsored by the Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts. The reading honors the memory of Drew Darrow, a 1986 graduate of Bucknell and Writing Center student-employee who died in 1997. His parents, Carl and Mimi Darrow, along with family and friends, established the fund that supports the reading in Drew’s memory.
