InCite in the Big City

Richard Ryan judges artists successful if they persevere, against all odds, to make good work.

Twenty-three contemporary artists, all alumni from the College of Fine Arts school of visual arts, get the chance to prove their success in Reunited: BU Alumni Exhibition, part of the InCite Arts Festival.

“Young visual artists have to assume that it’s constantly going to be hard work,” says Ryan, a CFA associate professor of art, who along with Dana Frankfort, a CFA assistant professor of art, will give a gallery talk on the exhibition in Manhattan on Friday, March 5.

“It’s an adventure for heroes only,” he says. “They learn how to steel themselves to the vagaries of life. What’s important is that BU recognizes that and is trying to get them some attention and celebrate their resolve.”

CFA returns to New York for its third annual InCite Arts Festival, themed What’s Past Is Prologue. The festival features performances, exhibitions, film screenings, and events from March 4 through 10 at venues around Manhattan.

Ellie Heyman (CFA’11) and Jenny Rachel Weiner (CFA’09) create a vibrant experience with the play diventare. Written by Weiner and directed by Heyman, the production focuses on a mother who escapes loss by retreating into an underwater fantasy world.

“There’s a point where the play stops being about something on the page and starts being a living, breathing organism,” says Weiner, who credits the school of theatre’s New Play Initiative, as well as festivals like CFA’s Fringe Festival and InCite, with pushing the school’s grads into the world.

The InCite festival also features the one-act opera Antigone, a contemporary adaptation of the Sophocles play; a performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 by the Grammy-nominated Boston Baroque, a period-instrument orchestra and resident professional ensemble for BU’s Historical Performance Program; and a showcase and exhibit of graduating performance and design majors from the school of theatre.

“All the artistic events conspire to create a unique, multidisciplinary InCite Arts Festival,” says festival artistic director Jim Petosa, director of the school of theatre. “Refractions and reflections of images of the past are indeed a prologue to the future.”

This year, InCite branches out beyond CFA to feature satellite events from the larger BU community. I Remember Better When I Paint, a documentary about the positive impact of art and creative therapies on people with Alzheimer’s, will screen, presented by the School of Medicine Alzheimer’s Disease Center. The College of Communication presents The Redstones NYC, an annual festival of short films by graduate and undergraduate film and television students, sponsored by Sumner Redstone (Hon.’94).

Schedule of Events

I Remember Better When I Paint
InCite satellite event
Presented by the BU School of Medicine Alzheimer’s Disease Center
Thursday, March 4, 6 p.m.
Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick St., New York

Reunited: Boston University Alumni Exhibition
Thursday, February 18 to Saturday, March 13
Friday, March 5, 5-6 p.m., Gallery Talk with Richard Ryan and Dana Frankfort
Friday, March 5, 6-8 p.m., Artist Reception
Denise Bibro Fine Art
529 West 20th St., 4W, New York
Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

BU School of Theology Presents the Seminary Singers Spring Concert
InCite satellite event
Part of the seven-city East Coast spring tour of the 78-year-old Seminary Singers, a choral group with a cutting-edge, globally inspired musical repertoire.
Friday, March 5, 7 p.m.
Bethany United Methodist Church
1208 St. John’s Place, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Monteverdi, Vespers of 1610
Boston Baroque, the historical performance ensemble in residence at Boston University, Martin Pearlman, music director
Saturday, March 6, 8 p.m.
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Ave. (at 112th Street), New York

diventare
Written by Jenny Rachel Weiner (CFA’09); directed by Ellie Heyman (CFA’11)
Sunday, March 7, 3 p.m.
Postshow discussion with the playwright
New World Stages
340 West 50th St. (between 8th and 9th Avenues), New York

Antigone
Marjorie Merryman, composer and librettist
William Lumpkin, conductor; Jim Petosa, stage director
Featuring the Boston University Opera Institute and Chamber Orchestra
Sunday, March 7, 7 p.m.
Postshow discussion with the composer
New World Stages
340 West 50th St. (between 8th and 9th avenues), New York

Design & Production Exhibit
Monday, March 8, 2-7 p.m.
New World Stages
340 West 50th St. (between 8th and 9th Avenues), New York

Performance Showcase
Monday, March 8, 3 and 7 p.m.
New World Stages
340 West 50th St. (between 8th and 9th Avenues), New York

InCite Festival Reception
Monday, March 8, 6-7 p.m.
New World Stages
340 West 50th St. (between 8th and 9th Avenues), New York

The Redstones NYC
InCite satellite event
Presented by the BU College of Communication and sponsored by Sumner Redstone (Hon.’94)
Wednesday, March 10, 7 p.m.
Viacom Inc., 1515 Broadway, 3rd floor, New York

BU Alumni Network of Greater New York Presents BU Night at Paul Taylor Dance Company
InCite satellite event
Program features three of Taylor’s dances: “Spindrift,” set to Schoenberg’s version of a Handel Concerto Grosso; “Syzygy,” where dancers hurtle across the stage like celestial bodies orbiting and eclipsing one another; and “Brief Encounters,” one of this season’s premieres, about people more interested in momentary connections than ongoing relationships. Discount ticket prices include a preperformance reception (6:15-7:45 p.m.) catered by Gente Ristorante, owned by Jay Mitchell (SMG’62).
Friday, March 12, 8 p.m.
New York City Center, 55th St. (between 6th and 7th), New York

Ticket Information

I Remember Better When I Paint
$15
www.bu.edu/cfa/incite

Reunited; Design & Production Exhibit; Performance Showcase
Complimentary admission; make reservations online here

diventare and Antigone
$32 general public; $22 BU alumni and seniors; $17 students (with ID) and groups (10+)
www.telecharge.com, 212-239-6200, New World Stages Box Office (open daily noon-7 p.m.)

Monteverdi, Vespers of 1610
$55, $35, $20
www.BostonBaroque.org, www.stjohndivine.org, 617-484-9200

The Redstones NYC
Complimentary admission
www.bu.edu/cfa/incite

Kimberly Cornuelle can be reached at kcornuel@bu.edu; follow her on Twitter @kcornuel.