Center for the Arts

Gallery Exhibitions

Guajiros Retratos de Otoño, an exhibition of work by Lázaro Niebla

Lázaro Niebla, a resident of Trinidad de Cuba, documents the connection to the past through reverse woodcut portraits of those that understand it best: his elders. His process begins by collecting discarded colonial window panels that were used to protect the homes in Trinidad de Cuba during the Spanish colonization. He then photographs his subjects, capturing them in a spontaneous moment. Working off of his photograph, Lázaro meticulously carves layer after layer from the repurposed panel, exposing the perfectly preserved wood under the surface. Using acrylic paint, Lázaro adds touches of color to the piece, choosing to leave the skin of the subject wood tone — connecting the person he has chosen to portray to the material that he has chosen to work with. The life of the tree, the window shutter, the home it protected, the subject portrayed, and the artist are all represented in each piece of art.

Artist Demonstration: September 27 from 6pm - 8pm |Great Hall Auditorium Opening Reception: September 29 from 6pm - 8 pm | Pollak Gallery

Gallery Exhibitions

PAT CRESSON – Taking a Leap –The Power of the Natural World – 45 Years of Creative Work

This retrospective show, PAT CRESSON Taking a Leap –The Power of the Natural World 45 Years of Creative Work is a combined visual statement of over 45 years of artmaking. It covers 21 different categories ranging from painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, and digital imaging to sculpture. CRESSON have always been interested in a broad range of art topics, styles and techniques and has followed her heart and not limited herself to just one or two topics, series or styles.

Opening reception at DiMattio Gallery on Friday, September 22 from 5-8 pm.

Performing Arts Series

Willie Nile

Join us for our Performing Arts season opening concert with Willie Nile and opening act James Maddock. The New York Times called Buffalo, NY born Willie Nile “one of the most gifted singer-songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in years.” Uncut Magazine called him “A one-man Clash.” His album Streets Of New York was hailed as “a platter for the ages” by Uncut. Rolling Stone listed The Innocent Ones as one of the “Top Ten Best Under-The-Radar Albums of 2011” and BBC Radio called it “THE rock ‘n’ roll album of the year.” His single from that album, “One Guitar,” was the “Top Pick of the Week” in USA Today.

Special Event

Special Advance Screening – Miranda’s Victim

It’s 1963, when Trish, 18, walks home at night from her job at a Phoenix theater. Suddenly, a stranger brandishing a knife ties Trish up and forces her into the back seat of his 1953 Packard. He then takes her to a deserted road and brutally sexually assaults her. Determined to have her assailant jailed, Trish reports the sexual assault to the skeptical police. It’s only after Trish undergoes a polygraph test and an extremely humiliating physical exam, that the detectives discover other women have been similarly attacked.  But no one could know that Trish’s commitment to finding justice would trigger a law that would transform a Nation.

Tickets on sale to the general public 9/15 at 10 AM.

Performing Arts Series

Step Afrika

Enjoy the company’s self-titled work Step Afrika!. This show introduces audiences to stepping through both a traditional and contemporary lens.

Step Afrika! blends percussive dance styles practiced by historically African American fraternities and sororities; traditional African dances; and an array of contemporary dance and art forms into a cohesive, compelling artistic experience. Performances are much more than dance shows; they integrate songs, storytelling, humor, and audience participation. The blend of technique, agility, and pure energy makes each performance unique and leaves the audience with their hearts pounding.

Tuesday Night Record Club

Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

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 Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

World Cinema Series

Spider Thieves

Inspired by actual events, this teenage thriller is a unique social commentary on dreams, class, and unfulfilled expectations in contemporary Chile. Three teenage girls from a Santiago shanty town set in motion a plan to climb buildings and plunder expensive apartments. All they want is to have all the cool and trendy stuff they see advertised in TV commercials and department stores. Word spreads and soon enough they became the notorious “spider thieves.” There will be a post screening Q&A hosted by Professor Manuel Chavez with special guest speakers Prof. Priscilla & Gustavo Gac-Artigas

Visiting Writers

Benjamin Nugent

Benjamin Nugent is the author of Fraternity: Stories (FSG, 2020). He was awarded The Paris Review’s 2019 Terry Southern Prize for his fiction, which has been published in The Best American Short Stories and other anthologies. He’s written for Harper’s, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications. He grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, and is currently Director of the Mountainview Low-Residency MFA at Southern New Hampshire University.

Tuesday Night Book Club

Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood

Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack. This month’s novel is Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. A poignant story of one college student’s romantic coming-of-age, Norwegian Wood takes us to that distant place of a young man’s first, hopeless, and heroic love.

Performing Arts Series

Ballet Hispánico

Ballet Hispánico is the nation’s renowned Latino dance organization and one of America’s Cultural Treasures. For 50 years Ballet Hispánico has been bringing communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through innovative dance performances, transformative dance training, and enduring community engagement experiences. The organization’s founder, National Medal of Arts recipient Tina Ramirez, sought to give voice to the Hispanic experience and break through stereotypes. Today, Ballet Hispánico is led by Eduardo Vilaro, an acclaimed choreographer and former member of the Company, whose vision of social equity, cultural identity, and quality arts education for all drives its programs.

Adult Education Series

Writing Memoir

This two-session virtual course taught by Mike Farragher 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.

Class Schedule: Tuesday Oct. 17 & Thursday Oct. 19 | 7:30 - 9:00 PM

The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD

Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking

Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Conductor), Latonia Moore (Sister Rose), Joyce DiDonato (Sister Helen Prejean), Susan Graham (Mrs. Patrick De Rocher), Ryan McKinny (Joseph De Rocher) Jake Heggie’s powerful work has its highly anticipated Met premiere in a new production by Ivo van Hove. Based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir about her fight for the soul of a condemned murderer, Dead Man Walking matches the high drama of its subject with Heggie’s poignant music and a libretto by Tony and Emmy Award–winner Terrence McNally. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium, with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato starring as Sister Helen. The cast also features bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as the death-row inmate Joseph De Rocher, soprano Latonia Moore as Sister Rose, and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham—who sang Helen Prejean in the opera’s 2000 premiere—as De Rocher’s mother.

Great Art on Screen

TITIAN: THE EMPIRE OF COLOR

From Ferrara to Urbino, from Mantua to Rome, up to the Spain of Carlos V and his son Felipe II, Titian crossed his century illuminating it with his works of art, inspiring future generations of artists. Perfect interpreter of religion and mythology, portrayer of immediate expressive strength, he dominated his time outshining his contemporaries, always abiding by his motto: ‘Art is more powerful than Nature’.

Tickets on sale August 2 at noon

Tuesday Night Record Club

Bruce Springsteen’s Tracks

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 Bruce Springsteen’s Tracks.

Visiting Writers

Kaitlyn Greenidge

Kaitlyn Greenidge’s debut novel is We Love You, Charlie Freeman (Algonquin Books), one of the New York Times Critics’ Top 10 Books of 2016. Her writing has appeared in the Vogue, Glamour, the Wall Street Journal, Elle, Buzzfeed, Transition Magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, American Short Fiction and other places. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University and the Guggenheim Foundation. She is currently Features Director at Harper’s Bazaar as well as a contributing writer for The New York Times. Her second novel, Libertie, is published by Algonquin Books and out now.

Adult Education Series

Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Was he actually Irish?

The Gothic horror novel Dracula has never been out of print since its publication in 1897; yet, the book’s Dublin-born author, Bram Stoker, is virtually unknown. This course unearths clues in the life and experiences of Stoker, as well as in Irish history, mythology, folklore and language, to answer the question in the course title. This two-session virtual course taught by Maureen D. Brady is a unique investigation of the novel focused on the Irish influences that inspired the classic tale and shaped its enduring legacy. Note: Reading the novel is not a prerequisite for the course.

Class Schedule: Tuesday Oct. 31 & Thursday November. 2 | 7:30 - 9:00 PM

Performing Arts Series

The Mind and Music of George Gershwin – Live Concert Lecture by Dr. Richard Kogan

Dr. Richard Kogan joins us to discuss the life, psyche and music of one of America’s greatest composers during an evening that integrates masterful piano playing, humor and insight into the close links between music, healing and genius. Trained in piano at Juilliard and in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Kogan is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Co-Director of the Human Sexuality Program at Weill Cornell Medical Center and Artistic Director of the Music and Medicine program. He also maintains a private practice in New York City.

World Cinema Series

We are the Best

We Are the Best! is a story of three young misfit girls growing up in the early ‘80s Stockholm. Pixieish, mohawk-sporting Klara and her best friend Bobo are 13-year-old rebels looking for a cause. Despite having no instruments—or discernible musical talent—the two put all their energy into forming an all-girl punk band, recruiting their shy, classical guitar-playing schoolmate Hedwig as a third wheel. With tender affection for its young characters, We Are the Best! paints a joyous and sharply observant portrait of the rebellious spirit of youth and growing up different. There will be a post screening Q&A hosted by Professor Mihaela Moscaliuc with special guest speaker Prof. Joe Rapolla.

Tuesday Night Record Club

Fleetwood Mac (Self-titled)

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 Fleetwood Mac (Self-titled).

Performing Arts Series

Paul Mecurio’s Permission to Speak

“Permission to Speak” was met with rave reviews and been nominated for the prestigious “Most Unique Show” Broadway Alliance Award. In this exciting one man comedy show with a twist, starring the audience and Mecurio, Mecurio improvises with audience members by randomly bringing them on stage and talking with them about who they are, their lives, interests, personal experiences and what they honestly think without feeling boxed in by the confines of contrived political correctness or fear of offending. A breath of fresh air, PERMISSION TO SPEAK is first and foremost, funny and entertaining, but also a truly freeing experience.