1. See Broken Chains8 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. at Risley Theatre on Sunday
If music and theater are what call to you this weekend, your best bet is Broken Chains at Risley Theatre. Much like Risley itself, this production is unusual. The show will include a staged reading of an original musical about the life of St. Peter featuring live gospel a capella. Broken Chains presents a collaboration between a few different forces on campus and in the Ithaca area: the Festival of Black Gospel, Risley Theatre and Chosen Generation, the gospel choir here at Cornell. Developed in part as a project designed to raise awareness of prisoners of conscience in countries such as China and Iran, this show should be an interesting and stimulating collaboration.
2. Have a Brief Encounter at Cinemapolis9 p.m. today at Cinemapolis
Art can get under your skin, and Gregory Crewdson wields this power to uncanny effect. With 50-plus lighting technicians, grips and set decorators under his helm, Crewdson’s modus operandi does not necessarily scream “photography” — cinema comes to mind. But while he cites directors David Lynch and Steven Spielberg as influences on his work, Crewsdon’s medium of choice is the still image. Through exhaustive planning and collaboration, this artist stages intricate, dense and nightmarish visions of American life. Think Norman Rockwell on Valium, or your childhood home fused with The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. Cinematographer Ben Shapiro (Paul Goodman Changed My Life), seeing a fascinating subject in Crewsdon, directed the documentary Gregory Crewsdon: Brief Encounters, an in-depth investigation of the artist that took a decade to make. To witness how Crewsdon painstakingly crafts his photographs, these “brief encounters,” is an experience both exciting and daunting. The 78-minute film plays at 9 p.m. today at Cinemapolis, and you can stare down one of his works, Untitled (Vanity), at the Johnson Museum in the meantime.
3. Watch Tony Bird on the Arts QuadEven if you have never been to southern Africa, you will still be able to feel the warm breeze through your hair as Tony Bird sings you to the Rift Valley through his somewhat eccentric but extremely powerful percussive beats and gritty vocals. His lyrics reflect his intense and complex relationship with Africa — including his struggle with identity as a white African during apartheid and his education in the British colony of Rhodesia. All the while, Bird incorporates bushman clicks and bird calls to return, in a sense, to his native land. So let’s welcome him back to Ithaca for the fourth time in the last 28 years (with a throaty growl) as he empowers us with the power of folk!
4. Hit Up a Dance-Off … For Charity!8 p.m. on Sundayon CBSIts easy to get bogged down during prelims and forget about the community around us. Why not take a vacation from the stacks and shake your booty for suicide prevention at the first Annual Shake, Rattle and Roll Dance Off at the Beverly J. Martin Elementary School Gym? If you’re not in the mood to dance, thats alright too … Get dressed up in your favorite costume and, for $15, enjoy the smooth tunes of The Destination. Most importantly, all proceeds go to keeping the Fingerlakes Region Suicide Prevention Hotline open 24 hours a day. So give a little back to Ithaca before going home for spring break and let loose.
Original Author: Sun Staff