‘A Cast of Colors’ marks the start of the Festival of the Creative Arts

Helping kick off the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, or “Bernstein Week,” were student performances taking on many innovative and thought-provoking forms in a Departmental project titled “A Cast of Colors.” The exhibition demonstrates the efforts of CAST (Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation) minors as well as all students enrolled in the […]

Two well-known comedians liven the Brandeis community

On Tuesday night, students had the pleasure of seeing well-known comedians H. Jon Benjamin and Eugene Mirman perform stand-up comedy routines. Students crammed outside Sherman Function Hall long before the show began in a gesture of anticipation markedly different from that for Sherman food. The event surely proved that Brandeis is home to many “Bob’s […]

Poetry and computer science collide at BITMAP event

BITMAP (Brandeis Initiative for Technology, Machines, Apps and Programming), Deis3D and the MakerLab have converted the month of March into MakeMonth, a full 31-day schedule of events which celebrate and promote innovation in the sciences at Brandeis and around the world. Tuesday, March 22 marked the event Code Poetry, an event cosponsored by BITMAP and […]

Sneak peek of upcoming event showcases traditional Korean music

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the Brandeis community had the pleasure of a “sneak preview” to our resident musicians’ performance, a group of Korean traditional musicians who travel worldwide promoting cultural exchange. Thanks to the Intercultural Residency Series provided through MusicUnitesUS, Korean “gugak” music will debut this weekend, providing a window into Korean […]

Revival: Open mic poetry night encourages informal creativity

On Thursday night Chum’s Coffee House marked the first open mic night of the semester, co-hosted, sponsored and run by two organizations, Revival and the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance. The event left every trace of rainy, cold weather outside, as performers and audience alike filled the venue with warmth. Per Chums usual style, students slowly filtered […]

Film Collective calls all students of various levels of experience

The Brandeis Film Collective takes full advantage of the creativity and capability of our student body to produce films and videos throughout the school year. The Executive Board recruits scriptwriters, editors, videographers and actors who collaborate on film projects, providing the Brandeis community with the result of student ideas converted into passionate finished works. Throughout […]

Shimmy and sway with Salsa club

Each Tuesday evening in the SCC Multipurpose room, students drop their backpacks, shed their coats, kick off their shoes and join in on salsa warm ups. Some learn new steps while others build upon the instructor’s directions with hand motions or extra flare. Each releases an infectious grin as they master the instructions, with the […]

Up-and-coming artist releases latest album ‘Malibu’

Anderson Paak might not be a familiar name to most, but the release last month of his new album, “Malibu,” has surely piqued interest in the music crowd. Paak emerged to fame most prominently with the release of “Compton” by Dr. Dre, in which Anderson Paak is featured in six out of 16 tracks. Now […]

Eddie Redmayne’s ‘Danish Girl’ a sensitive performance

“The Danish Girl,” directed by Tom Hooper and roughly based on a 2000 novel by David Ebershoff, tells the story of Lili, one of the first transgender women to undergo a sex-change operation. The film, set in the mid-1920s, follows the journey of a marriage between Einar, later Lili, (Eddie Redmayne) and Gerda (Alicia Vikander) […]

MFA’s ‘Class Distinctions’ explores social order through 17th-century paintings

In the basement of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston rests the exhibit “Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer,” which puts a modern spin on 17th-century portraits and still-lifes to entice visitors of all ages. Seen through the lens of class—from high nobility to the dirt poor—each painting speaks […]

Folktale-inspired exhibit invites viewers to look more closely

The Women’s Studies Research Center (WSRC) is now home to “Tea of Oblivion,” a new exhibit based on the Chinese folktale of Meng Po. In the tale, Meng Po brews a tea made with various plants and herbs collected from ponds and streams and serves the tea to souls on the path to reincarnation. The […]

Reflections on art’s place in peace sponsored by CAST

The Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation (CAST) program hosted a lecture by James Thompson titled “In Place of War: Digging Up Stories in Ondaadtje’s Sri Lanka.” Cynthia Cohen, director of the program in Peacebuilding and the Arts and former director of Acting Together on the World Stage, introduced Thompson as a close colleague and […]

Special Collections lifts the curtain to reveal rare gems

The Brandeis Archives and Special Collections department recently acquired materials belonging to dime novel author Ernest A. Young, donated by Victor Berch, Brandeis’ first Special Collections librarian, and Elliot P. King. Berch and King did extensive research to locate the large conglomeration of works, a hunt featured in a 1988 volume of “The Dime Novel […]

The New England Conservatory of Music’s opera delights

The top singers and the Philharmonia of the New England Conservatory of Music performed a moving version of “Iphigénie en Tauride.” First performed in 1779, Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera tells the fate of Agamemnon’s family in the years following the Trojan War. In the usual Greek myth, Agamemnon is murdered by his wife, upon which […]

‘Lazarus Effect’ falls flat

“The Lazarus Effect,” a psychological horror film from the directors of “Insidious” and “Paranormal Activity,” came out this February and just reached DVD this summer. The film documents four scientists and their videographer as they delve into the gray areas of neurological research. Their goal is to create a serum that will prolong the time […]

Award-winning artist Stephanie Pierce speaks on campus

On a tour of the Boston area, artist Stephanie Pierce discussed her work with the Brandeis community on Friday, April 1. Her visiting artist lecture included a preview of her portfolio and all the paintings and drawings she had compiled over the years. Pierce has been the recipient of many awards for her artwork and […]

Earl Sweatshirt releases surprise album

Earl Sweatshirt surprised fans by releasing an album last week titled “I Don’t Like Sh*t, I Don’t Go Outside.” Sweatshirt’s new album has a low-energy feel with dense lyrics and dark beats. This album speaks to his older style and reflects the classic Sweatshirt that his tried and true fans have come to expect. Sweatshirt […]

‘The Way of Water’ shines and retains seriousness

This week, the Brandeis Theater Company launched its first performance of “The Way of Water,” a play that movingly highlights the lasting effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The play focuses on four individuals impacted by the spill and how they try to endure the horrific destruction of […]

JBS and English department collaborate to create new course

The Justice Brandeis Semester program is an academic staple at Brandeis; however, its curriculum is ever-changing to incorporate all ranges of experiential discovery. This year, the English Department has collaborated with JBS programs to offer “Storytelling as Social Practice,” a conglomeration of three courses designed to fuse the social aspects of storytelling with narrative textual […]

Crowd Control wants you to get in bed with their comedy

Crowd Control is easily one of Brandeis’ most popular improv groups. The Brandeis Hoot interviewed co-directors Danielle Balanov ’17 and Nicole Bunis ’16 in addition to business manager Jonny Shakerchi ’16 to find out more about Crowd Control. Brandeis Hoot: Why did you join Crowd Control? Danielle: I had no other option. Don’t write that, […]