Doubt playwright, former NEA chair to appear at Christian Scholars' Conference

Janel Shoun | 

  

Coverage of Christian Scholars Conference, June 3-5

Review of Doubt by the Lipscomb Theater Department
June 5-6, June 11-13
 
Doubt playwright and director John Patrick Shanley, Dana Gioia, the immediate past chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and James Elkins, a leading national art critic, will keynote the 30th annual Christian Scholars’ Conference at Lipscomb University, June 3-5.
 
These three national artistic leaders will be joined by Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist, members of the Ohio-based pop duo Over the Rhine, as the conference’s four keynote speakers, each speaking in Collins Alumni Auditorium. Cost to attend the entire series is $40. To attend two lectures costs $25 and to attend one lecture costs $15. Tickets can be purchased at www.lipscomb.edu/csc/public-events/or by calling 615.966.7609.
 
To purchase tickets for any of the four keynote speakers click here.
 
 
Additional Christian Scholars’ Conference events that are open to the public include a production of Doubt, through June 13; the quarterly Tokens broadcast featuring a performance by Over the Rhine and an interview with Shanley; and a pre-conference viewing and panel discussion of Burma VJ, an Oscar-nominated documentary on repression in Burma.
 
To purchase tickets for Doubt, Tokens or Burma VJ see details in the Schedule of Events below.
 
“Beauty in the Academy: Faith, Scholarship & the Arts” is the 2010 theme for this annual interdisciplinary lecture series exploring the intersection between faith and various academic disciplines. Past speakers have included authors Marilynne Robinson, Barbara Brown Taylor and Jim Wallis, poet Billy Collins and former Sen. Bill Frist.

 

For more details and to register for the Christian Scholars’ Conference as a participant click here.
 
 
 

Schedule of Events Open to the Public

 
Wednesday, June 2, 7 p.m.
Ward Hall
Cost: Free
Registration: Not required
 
As a pre-conference event, the 2010 Oscar-nominated documentary Burma VJ will be screened and the discussion to follow will focus on social justice and peacemaking in the world. The film offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching.
 
 
Hubert Locke
On Religion and its Malcontents
Wednesday, June 2, 7 p.m.
Swang Chapel, Ezell Center
Cost: Free
Registration: Not required

Locke, a moral leader, author, Holocaust scholar, and authority on police and urban affairs, will speak on the current anti-religious sentiment evident in recent popular books, noting that believers themselves struggle with the failures of religious institutions. He argues that the biblical tradition is surprisingly uninterested in "religion." Locke is the retired professor and dean emeritus of the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. His research and publications on the role of the churches during the Holocaust have earned him national as well as international acclaim. His writings on the criminal justice system have been published widely, and his essays have appeared in The New York Times.

 

Ongoing Issues between Religious Art and the Art World
Thursday, June 3, 9:30 a.m.
Ward Hall
Cost: $15 or $40 for all four lecturers
 

James Elkins is the E.C. Chadbourne Professor in the Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His recent books include On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art, Visual Studies: A Skeptical Introduction and What Happened to Art Criticism?. His writings focus on the history and theory of images in art: some on fine art, others on scientific and non-art images, writing systems, and archaeology.

Thursday, June 3

Elkins, Gioia say spirituality in the arts would benefit all
 
 
Thursday, June 3, 12:30 p.m.
Acuff Chapel
Cost: $15 or $40 for all four lecturers
 
Award-winning poet and critic Dana Gioia served as the ninth chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and was praised for his innovative community-focused programs. He created programs such as Shakespeare in American Communities, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, NEA Jazz Masters and Poetry Out Loud. Gioia’s book of poems, Interrogations at Noon, won the American Book Award, and his 1991 volume, Can Poetry Matter?, was a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award. This month, Gioia was awarded the University of Notre Dame’s 2010 Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics.
 
Thursday, June 3
 

 

John Patrick Shanley
Thursday, June 3, 4:00 p.m.
Collins Alumni Auditorium
Cost: $15 or $40 for all four lecturers
Register here

John Patrick Shanley was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play for his stage play Doubt. In 2008, Shanley premiered the movie version of Doubt, starring Meryl Streep, which went on to garner four Oscar acting nominations and a nomination for best adapted screenplay. Shanley also wrote the screenplay for Moonstruck, which earned him both an Academy Award and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. Other stage plays by Shanley include Defiance, Savage in Limbo, Welcome to the Moon, and Four Dogs and a Bone.

Thursday, June 3

Shanley reflects on life, dreams and disquiet

 

Friday, June 4-Sunday, June 13
Friday and Saturdays, 7 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.
Shamblin Theatre
615.966.7111
 
The public is also invited to attend a performance of Doubt, A Parable, starring Nan Gurley and Steven Pounders and directed by Lipscomb’s Mike Fernandez. The play will be held in Lipscomb’s Shamblin Theatre. This play is produced in collaboration with Tennessee Repertory Theater, Actors Bridge Ensemble, Amun Ra Theatre and the Nashville Shakespeare Festival and will feature professional Nashville actors and designers.

John Patrick Shanley’s award-winning play Doubt, A Parable, explores issues of faith, trust and moral certainty as a conservative nun sheds doubt on the integrity of a young priest amidst the backdrop of political change in a New York community.

Review of Doubt by the Lipscomb Theater Department

Friday, June 4, 7:30 p.m.
Collins Alumni Auditorium
615.966.7075 or Ticketmaster
Cost: $17.50 to $29.50
www.tokensshow.com
http://www.ticketmaster.com/
 
An arts-themed episode of “Tokens,” Nashville’s own “Prairie Home Companion”-style live broadcast exploring themes of faith and social justice, will feature a performance by Over the Rhine and an interview with John Patrick Shanley. Combining hilarious skits, interviews with authors, a dash of historical perspective, and top-notch gospel and Christian performers, Tokens has become a quarterly must-see in Nashville.
 
 
Saturday, June 5, 10:45 a.m.
Collins Alumni Auditorium
615.966.7609
Cost: $15 or $40 for all four lecturers
 
In a dialogue facilitated by Christian editor and author Rodney Clapp, the songwriting couple will discuss the power of music and intersections with faith. Over the Rhine has spent 15 years making music, starting in Cincinnati (the city that boasts their namesake neighborhood) and eventually opening for performers such as Adrian Belew and Bob Dylan. Their latest album is “The Trumpet Child,” which mixes horn, woodwind and string players with Over the Rhine’s trademark simplicity to create an informally epic pop album.