Fighting Times (Opening Event, Interdisciplinary Conference on Race)
2022-11-03 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Pollak Theatre
Isaac Knapper & Amy Banks, MD
Co-authors of “Fighting Time” and Justice Reform Advocates
Reading, Discussion, and Book signing
Public Spaces, Private Places: Constructing Race and Liberation
Opening Event

Writing Memoir
2022-11-03 19:30 - 21:00, 2022-11-10 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Class Schedule: Thursdays – Oct. 27, Nov. 3 & Nov. 10 | 7:30 – 9:00 PM
This three-session virtual course provides attendees with an introduction to basic modes for telling the stories of their lives. Working in a supportive workshop setting, students will enjoy engaging, wide-ranging discussion about the joys and challenges of bringing their memories to life. Instructor: Mike Farragher, Monmouth University alumnus and author of numerous works of fiction and memoir.
Whether you have dreams of being a bestselling author or you’re committed to creating your life story as an heirloom for future generations of your family, memoir writing can be a rewarding endeavor to help make sense of your life journey.If you’ve ever said aloud, “I should write a book someday,” but didn’t know where to begin, this course will get you on the road to fulfilling that creative dream.
This course will explore how to get started, tools to overcome lack of confidence and overwhelm, provide creative writing prompts, and instill a disciplined process essential for success that has produced proven results for unknown and known authors alike.
Zoom Link will be provided upon registration.

Interdisciplinary Conference on Race
2022-11-04 08:00 - 2022-11-05 17:00
Cognizant of the current economic and societal climate, the Race Conference committee is waiving registration fees for this year’s event in order to further the goals of open, active, and unhampered engagement.
Monmouth University’s Seventh Biennial Interdisciplinary Conference on Race
Public Spaces, Private Places: Constructing Race and Liberation
Virtual Conference

Delaware Tailgate
2022-11-05 10:00 - 12:30 | University of Delaware
Join fellow alumni and Hawk fans for a pregame tailgate on the University of Delaware campus! The event will take place in the Monmouth Tent inside the Blue Hens Tailgate Village, and will include Monmouth swag, tailgate food, and non-alcoholic beverages. Cash bar will be available.
$25 per person
Children under 12 are free

La Traviata
2022-11-05 13:00 - 17:00 | Pollak Theatre
Soprano Nadine Sierra stars as the self-sacrificing courtesan Violetta—one of opera’s ultimate heroines—in Michael Mayer’s vibrant production of Verdi’s beloved tragedy. Tenor Stephen Costello is her self-centered lover Alfredo, alongside baritone Luca Salsi as his disapproving father and Maestro Daniele Callegari on the podium.

Picnic Breakfast and Hike
2022-11-06 11:00
Join fellow alumni and current members of the Outdoors Club for a picnic breakfast before heading out to the trails for a Fall hike through Holmdel Park. Enjoy the beautiful scenery and a self-guided hike. Bagels, fruit, coffee and juice provided.

A Bronx Tale starring Chazz Palminteri - SOLD OUT
2022-11-06 16:00 - 19:00 | Pollak Theatre
**PLEASE NOTE THIS SHOW IS AT 4 PM**
This is event is SOLD OUT. If you would like to be put on the wait list for tickets please call the box office at 732.263.6889

Bronx-born and raised Chazz Palminteri wrote A Bronx Tale in 1988. The powerful one-man stage play depicted his bruising childhood which included witnessing a gangland killing when he was nine years old. Palminteri played 18 characters and brought them all to life in his autobiographical play. His friends, enemies and family came alive on stage. Hollywood Studios went crazy after seeing it and offered him millions of dollars to turn it into a major movie. There was one catch… They wanted to put a star in the role of Sonny and someone else to write the screenplay. With $200 dollars in the bank…Palminteri said No… he would hold out and wait. He wanted to play Sonny and write the screenplay. Then one night Palminteri walked into his dressing room and siting there was Robert De Niro who just saw the show… He said it was the greatest one-man show he’s ever saw. Robert DeNiro gave Palminteri the chance he was waiting for… And as they say in Hollywood the rest is history.
Palminteri wrote the screenplay for the film A Bronx Tale and then most recently wrote the book for the Broadway Musical. It was the first time in history that the same actor wrote the one-man play, the movie, and the Broadway Musical and starred in each one.
The show you will see now is the exact show Chazz Palminteri did 34 years ago with just a chair that made him a star.
www.chazzpalminteri.net

A Conversation with Robert Pinsky
2022-11-10 19:30 - 21:30 | The Great Hall Auditorium
Join former three-term US Poet Laureate and Long Branch, NJ native Robert Pinsky for an evening of conversation in celebration of the release of his memoir Jersey Breaks. The evening will be moderated by the Dean of The Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences, David Hamilton Golland, Ph.D.
“Truly the voice of the Jersey Shore.” – Bruce Springsteen
The acclaimed poet takes an affectionate look back. The U.S. poet laureate from 1997 to 2000 and “an expert at nothing except the sounds of sentences in the English language,” Pinsky (b. 1940) moves back and forth in time, narrating his life in crisp, self-deprecating prose. “If I have a story to tell,” he writes, “it’s how the failures and aspirations of a certain time and place led to poetry.” That place was Long Branch, New Jersey, where the author grew up in an Orthodox, lower-middle-class family in a neighborhood that was both poor and segregated. In the “sounds of Hebrew,” Pinsky heard Milton, Blake, and Whitman. He recalls reading stories and poems in the glossy magazines in his optician father’s waiting room as well as the “exact moment when I became a writer,” thanks to Through the Looking Glass. As an “ambitious, pseudointellectual freshman” at Rutgers University, he encountered and enjoyed Ulysses and the poetry of William Carlos Williams, T.S. Eliot, and Allen Ginsberg. Pinsky confesses that his way of writing a poem stems from getting a “tune in my head…like noodling at the piano,” and his approach fostered his popular Favorite Poem Project, which combined the “appeal of gossip with the appeal of art.”
Though the author loved playing music, poetry came first in college, and he explains how his “habit of thinking about names was essential to my work as a poet.” He lavishes praise on two cantankerous college teachers—Paul Fussell and “relentless dictator” Yvor Winters—as well as his friend and mentor Thom Gunn. When teaching at Wellesley in 1970, Pinsky attended Robert Lowell’s “erratic writing workshop,” and Lowell gave him a blurb for his first collection, Sadness and Happiness. Throughout, the author sharply dissects a variety of poems, including his own, and he excitedly explains the welcome challenge of translating Dante’s Inferno.
Fans of literature will relish Pinsky’s jocular recollections and infectious love of poetry.

Throws and Prose
2022-11-11 17:00 - 19:00
Can you SPARE a night to write with us? The English M.A./M.F.A. Program will be holding a fun, exciting event on campus on November 11 from 5-7 p.m.
What’s more fun than bowling AND writing? This event is right up your alley. Join us as a bowler or a spectator…we’ll spend time in the alley and then move to the gym for some writing, refreshments, and an open mic. There is a limited amount of bowlers allowed, so please, RSVP to attend. Shoes and ball are included in your registration. RSVP to mmcbride@monmouth.edu.

Fun Home
2022-11-11 20:00 - 22:00, 2022-11-12 20:00 - 22:00, 2022-11-13 15:00 - 17:00, 2022-11-16 20:00 - 22:00, 2022-11-17 20:00 - 22:00, 2022-11-18 20:00 - 22:00, 2022-11-19 20:00 - 22:00, 2022-11-20 15:00 - 17:00 | Lauren K. Woods Theatre
When her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to tell the story of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, Alison relives her unique childhood playing at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her own sexuality, and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father’s hidden desires.
Adapted from Alison Bechdel’s groundbreaking graphic novel, Fun Home is a refreshingly honest, wholly original musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.
Presented by the Department of Music and Theatre Arts, Fun Home features Director Sheri Anderson, Choreographer by Bob Boross, Musical Director of George Wurzbach and Assistant Director Annie Sacks.
Fun Home is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.
“In an effort to make our show accessible to as wide an audience as possible, we’ve decided to make the show free to the public.
Thank you for your ongoing support of the arts at Monmouth University.”

The American Soldier
2022-11-11 20:00 - 22:00 | Pollak Theatre
Douglas Taurel (“Nurse Jackie,” “Blue Bloods”) is the creator and star of the Off-Broadway Award-nominated solo play, “The American Soldier,” based on true events and documentary letters written by veterans and their family members from the American Revolution through current-day Afghanistan. It honors the experiences of veterans and their families and explores the internal struggles they face when returning home from combat. “The American Soldier” has been nominated for the Amnesty International Award for theatre excellence , received 4 stars internationally, and has been featured in The Huffington Post, The Washington Post and Time Out.

Promoting Self-Care for Healthcare Professionals
2022-11-12 10:00 - 13:15
An evidenced based program designed to inspire those who care for others to also take care of themselves. This program will explore the need for self-care and the research supporting it.
The presenters will focus on behaviors that can improve the mental and physical health of both the caregiver and their clients. Join us in exploring simple lifestyle changes and resources that can be shared with your friends and co-workers to improve workplace wellness.
Topics Include

The evidence for self-care: Take good care of your-self: understanding the evidence and applying it to your life.
Mindful meditation: A guided practice and techniques to reduce stress, enhance focus and well-being. Perfect for people who think they can’t meditate.
Tai Chi: Explore the numerous benefits and take part in a brief introduction to the movements.
Self-defense basics: Develop a mindful approach and awareness to your surroundings and observe simple strategies that can be applied in any setting.

Wear comfortable clothes and shoes! Participants will take part in a mindful meditation and participate in the gentle practice of Tai Chi. Self-defense techniques will be demonstrated.
Presenters

Cynthia O’Connell is a recently retired Specialist Professor from the Educational Counseling graduate program at MU. She received her training in teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction at the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Integrative Medicine Center in Philadelphia.
Andrea Garcia, OTD, MSW, OTR/L is a specialist professor and doctoral capstone coordinator for Monmouth University’s occupational therapy program. She specializes in upper extremity rehabilitation. Dr. Garcia is a master teacher in reiki.
Shoshanna Katzman, M.S, L.Ac is the founder of Red Bank Acupuncture & Wellness Center. She has been practicing Tai Chi and Qigong since 1974. She also specializes in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine.
Brianna Wesley, RN, B.S. is a registered nurse in the emergency department and current graduate student at Monmouth University. She has a fourth degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do Chung Do Kwan and has been practicing for 22 years.

Successful Completion: Participants will attend 95% of the program, and complete an online evaluation to receive contact hours. None of the planners for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. There is no commercial support for this activity.

For additional questions, email bpaskewi@monmouth.edu
The Marjorie K. Unterberg School of Nursing and Health Studies at Monmouth University is approved as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by New Jersey State Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation Provider Number: P242-10/21-24

Ian McEwan's Atonement
2022-11-15 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack, each month we’ll explore a different novel. All you have to do is Zoom in and join the discussion!
This month’s novel is Ian McEwan’s Atonement.

This month’s novel is NATIONAL BESTSELLER Ian McEwan’s Atonement.
A symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness that provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative and the provocation we have come to expect from the acclaimed Booker Prize–winning, international bestselling author Ian McEwan.
On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment’s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia’s childhood friend. But Briony’ s incomplete grasp of adult motives—together with her precocious literary gifts—brings about a crime that will change all their lives.
“A beautiful and majestic fictional panorama.” —John Updike, The New Yorker
When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation.

The Seagull
2022-11-17 19:30 - 21:30 | Pollak Theatre
by Anton Chekhov, in a version by Anya Reiss
directed by Jamie Lloyd
Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) makes her West End debut in this 21st century retelling of Anton Chekhov’s tale of love and loneliness.
A young woman is desperate for fame and a way out. A young man is pining after the woman of his dreams. A successful writer longs for a sense of achievement. An actress wants to fight the changing of the times. In an isolated home in the countryside, dreams lie in tatters, hopes are dashed, and hearts broken. With nowhere left to turn, the only option is to turn on each other.
Following his critically acclaimed five-star production of Cyrano de Bergerac, Jamie Lloyd brings Anya Reiss’ adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s classic play to stage. Filmed live in London’s West End with a cast including Tom Rhys Harries (White Lines), Daniel Monks (The Normal Heart), Sophie Wu (Fresh Meat) and Indira Varma (Game of Thrones).

The Woods - A mixed-reality, two-player cooperative game
2022-11-29 16:00 - 19:00 | Various Campus Locations
“The Woods” is a mixed-reality, two-player cooperative game that addresses the perils of social isolation by promoting connections between people and actively engaging them through play. Using Augmented Reality (AR) and 4-channel audio spatialization panning, players choreograph their movement in real-world space while interacting with birds, clouds, and other objects in virtual space. In pursuit of a shared goal, players experience an immersive sonic narrative of rumbling storm clouds and disconnected voices that culminate in stories of hope and reconciliation. The design intent behind “The Woods” is to illuminate human connections to others and to celebrate this through collaborative play.
4pm – 5pm – Experience The Woods (Demo)
Location: IDM (Interactive Digital Media) Research Lab, Plangere Room 135
RSVP Required for the demo session ONLY.
For more info or to RSVP, contact Wobbe F. Koning at wkoning@monmouth.edu

6pm – 7pm – Artist Talk and Q&A | Location: Pollak Theatre | Free and open to the public

Bios:
Kyoung Lee Swearingen is a visual storyteller with over a decade of experience as a Lighting Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios and DNA Productions. Kyoung teaches computer animation at ACCAD/The Ohio State University and specializes in cinematography for games and animation. Her current research focuses on creating games and animation for collaborative play, using various emerging technology, and practicing transdisciplinary collaboration. Her award-winning projects have been shown (inter)nationally at ACM SIGGRAPH, IEEE-GEM, Unite Berlin, GDC, Montreal Independent Game Festival, and Bucheon International Animation Festival, and many more.
Scott Swearingen is an Assistant Professor who teaches game design at ACCAD/The Ohio State University. With a research focus in designing game mechanics that enhance collaborative play, his work cultivates the human experience of connectivity across a variety of physical and social boundaries. His award-winning games and other works have been exhibited at (in)ternational conferences and shows including SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH-ASIA, CURRENTS New Media, GLS, IEEE-GEM, IFIP-ICEC, Montreal Independent Games Festival, and HASTAC. Prior to joining Ohio State, Scott worked in the video game industry for over ten years as a game designer, level designer, and environment artist at multiple video game studios including MAXIS, Electronic Arts, and Gearbox Software. There he worked on numerous award-winning games and franchises including Medal of Honor, Brothers in Arms, The Simpsons, Dead Space, The Godfather and The Sims.
https://kyoungswearingen.com/the-woods

Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art, Words and Wisdom - Conversation and Book Signing with Nora Guthrie and Bob Santelli
2022-12-01 19:30 | The Great Hall Auditorium
Hosted by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University

Roots of Rock ’n’ Roll, Part II
2022-12-01 19:30 - 21:00, 2022-12-08 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Class Schedule: Thursdays – Dec. 1, Dec. 8 & Dec. 15 | 7:30 – 9:00 PM
When the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame nominations occur every year, the debate resumes: just what is rock? Instead of drawing from one genre, rock ’n’ roll draws from several, all combining to create a sumptuous gumbo that rapidly captured the world’s imagination.
Part two of the Roots of Rock ’n’ Roll course – a three-session virtual course taught by Kit O’Toole – continues exploring the foundations of the genre, this time exploring country, folk, and skiffle. How these art forms influenced both American and British artists will be studied in terms of instrumentation, singing style, and composition. In addition to multimedia presentations, class discussion and activities will enable attendees to identify the essential elements of rock.
Zoom Link will be provided upon registration.

Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea
2022-12-02 20:00 - 22:00 | Pollak Theatre
The annual holiday tradition returns with the ever lovable and charismatic Father Alphonse Stevenson conducting the Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea for their 30th concert of carols and seasonal favorites. There’s simply no better way to start the holiday season than to spend a special evening with Father Alphonse, his 42-piece orchestra and distinguished vocalists as he provides humorous and personal anecdotes amidst a program of holiday classics and carols.

Gala at the Great Hall
2022-12-03 18:30 | The Great Hall
Join us for a modern twist on a past event favorite, while helping to ensure that a highly personalized Monmouth education remains accessible to an increasingly diverse student population. Proceeds will benefit the Access Fund, providing scholarships for students with financial need. At this time, we will also recognize Trudy and Charlie Parton ’01HN as this year’s President’s Medal recipients in honor of their lifelong commitment to the University.

Aretha Franklin, Young, Gifted, and Black
2022-12-06 19:30 - 21:00 | Pollak Theatre/Virtual, 400 Cedar Ave, West Long Branch, NJ, 07764, United States
It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will feature Aretha Franklin, Young, Gifted, and Black.
This event will be held in person at Pollak Theatre and will also be available remotely via Zoom. When you register you will be provided the ZOOM meeting link to join the conversation.
Free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Budrus
2022-12-07 19:30 - 21:30 | Pollak Theatre
Join us for a World Cinema Series film screening/discussion illuminating the theme “Wartime Lives: Enduring and Transcending Violence and Occupation” by analyzing the message and impact of the film Budrus (Israeli/Palestinian/American, 2009).
Budrus is an award-winning feature documentary film about Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites Palestinian political factions and invites Israeli supporters to join an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women’s contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today.
In an action-filled documentary chronicling this movement from its infancy, Budrus shines a light on people who choose nonviolent strategies to confront a threat. The movie is directed by award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha (co-writer and editor of Control Room and co-director Encounter Point), and produced by Bacha, Palestinian journalist Rula Salameh, and filmmaker and human rights advocate Ronit Avni (formerly of WITNESS, Director of Encounter Point).
The discussion of the film will be led by Claude Taylor, Director For Academic Transition And Inclusion and Saliba Sarsar, Professor in the department of Political Science and Sociology.
