German Engineers
Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race
Continues through Sunday, March 31
Arizona Health Sciences Library, Tucson Campus, 1501 N. Campbell Ave.
626-6143; http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/deadlymedicine
An exhibit on display at the Arizona Health Sciences Library aims to illustrate the medical side of the Holocaust, focusing on the attempts by Nazi Germany to genetically sterilize much of Europe's population.
The traveling exhibit, entitled Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, was produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and features scans of artifacts, documents and photos to retell the story of German scientists who turned to eugenics to create what they believed to be the perfect race.
A useful tool in medical ethics education, the exhibit shows how the Holocaust became possible at the time, said Susan Bachrach, the exhibit's curator.
Dr. Ron Grant, director for the University of Arizona's program in medical humanities, said he recognizes the value of the exhibit on a number of levels as someone who has done work in Holocaust education, taking Jewish youth on trips to Israel.
"Holocaust education, I believe, is important just as a reminder of man's worse face of humanity," Grant said. "... More specifically, for physicians, we live by the Hippocratic oath and we're supposed to practice a certain type of medicine, and I think sometimes we become complacent in our own jobs about ethical issues."
The exhibit is currently open at the library, and an opening reception will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 23, at 4 p.m. As an addition to the exhibit, the library is hosting a lecture by Dr. Norman Fost, director for the University of Wisconsin's program in bioethics on Feb. 11 at noon.
The exhibit is open Sunday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
—K.M.
Drawing Your Own Adventure
UApresents annual Children's Festival
Sunday, Jan. 27
Children's Festival: 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.Hubbard Street 2: 4 p.m.
Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd.
621- 3341; www.uapresents.org
Children will be greeted with giant cardboard cutouts of houses waiting to be colored and drawn on at this year's Children's Festival in the patio of Centennial Hall.
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson is the theme of the fifth annual Children's Festival put on by UApresents. The book and the performance later that evening are about a boy who, with his oversized purple crayon, draws himself an adventure.
Families can enjoy various activities, from face painting to making beads with Beads of Courage to interacting with animals at a petting zoo. A Japanese taiko group will exhibit drums and let children play them. The group will also perform at the festival.
Sarah K. Smith who organized the event will be reading Harold and the Purple Crayon live. Smith said she loves the "sea of people" that attend the event every year and loves to watch the children and families interact with local artists.
"That's one of my favorite things is doing the book reading and getting to see all these kids wide-eyed, you know absorbing this awesome story and watching their minds creating these new worlds," Smith said.
After the three-hour festival, Hubbard Street 2 from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago will perform Harold and the Purple Crayon: A Dance Adventure in Centennial Hall.
"They're going to get to see this wonderful children's book come to life through dance and movement," Smith said.
The Children's Festival is free. Tickets to Harold and the Purple Crayon: A Dance Adventure range from $10 to $25.
—S.C.
Sundance Comes to Tucson
Sundance Film Festival USA screening of The Spectacular Now with director James Ponsoldt
7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 31
The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd.
795-7777; loftcinema.com
If you couldn't make the trip up to north to catch this year's Sundance Film Festival, The Loft Cinema is bringing a piece of it to Tucson.
The theater will hold a screening of The Spectacular Now, complete with a question-and-answer session after the show with the film's director James Ponsoldt and actress Brie Larson, who has starred in films such as 21 Jump Street and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
The screening is part of Sundance Film Festival USA, an expansion of the festival that gives local theaters in 10 cities across the nation the chance to screen a film. This will be the Loft's second year participating after screening Goats last year.
The film itself is a comedic drama adapted from Tim Tharp's novel, and was most recently nominated for the festival's Grand Jury Prize in the drama category. The story follows Miles Teller's character Sutter Keely, a senior in high school slipping into alcoholism, as he's drawn to a new girl after experiencing a break up. Writers include Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter, the pair that wrote (500) Days of Summer.
While this isn't The Loft's first time collaborating with Sundance, Jeff Yanc, the theater's program director, said that having the event could lead to bigger things for art in Tucson.
"Our hope is that this will bring recognition to the Tucson arts community," Yanc said. "It indicates that we have a good film exhibition community here."
The screening will likely draw a large crowd, Yanc said, adding that last year's screening completely sold out. Prospective attendees are advised to buy their tickets as early as possible.
Admission to the screening is $15.
—K.M.
Uncovering the Latin Unknown
Fourth International Latin American Music Symposium
Thursday, Jan. 24 through Saturday, Jan. 26
Stevie Eller Dance Theatre, 1713 E. University Blvd.
621-1655; www.music.arizona.edu
A four-day music symposium intends to expose Latin American music to the UA community through a combination of lectures, discussions, workshops and concerts.
The Fourth International Symposium on Latin American Music is intended to answer questions about what it means to perform Latin American music.
"Should composers be writing music that represents their nation? Should it be representing a more cosmopolitan view? When players outside of Latin America play this music should they take into account Latin American identities or should they play it in their own way?" said Janet Sturman, professor at the UA School of Music, referring to some of the questions that will be discussed at the events.
The symposium will feature an opening concert and a special closing ceremony where The Villancicos of Antonio Bartolome Remacha, an Arizona choir, will be performing choral and orchestral music that was once performed in cathedrals in Mexico.
Sturman will also be directing Friday evening's performance by El Duo la Africana en Tucson at the Stevie Eller Theatre. The performance is a zarzuela, a combination of dialogue, music and dance. The zarzuela will combine works from a Spanish composer and from Latin American zarzuelas, responses to the original Spanish music zarzuela.
"There's always something really magical about how the group of performers works together to make the production happen," Sturman said.
Full event tickets are $20, individual evening performances range from $5 to $9.
—S.C.
