Marywood University to Present Mad Forest by Caryl Churchill Show Dates Are October 3-6 The Marywood University Music, Theatre, and Dance department will present Mad Forest by Caryl Churchill as its major fall theatre production. Performances will run from Thursday, October 3, through Sunday, October 6. Mad Forest is an exciting and compelling play about the events prior to, during, and after the Romanian revolution in 1989 that overthrew the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. Please note that Mad Forest contains mature content and adult language and is not suitable for all audiences. Performances, which will be held at the Munley Theater in the Sette LaVerghetta Center for Performing Arts, have showtimes from October 3-5 at 7:30 p.m. each evening and a matinee-only performance on October 6 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for non-Marywood students. Marywood students, faculty, staff, and IHM sisters are free. Tickets can be purchased in advance by credit card online at https://marywood.universitytickets.com or with cash at the door. For more information about Marywood University’s Music, Theatre, and Dance department, visit marywood.edu/mtd.
Marywood Features New Art Exhibit “Expand: Concepts of Space in the Maslow Collection” exhibit runs through October 18th. The Maslow Study Gallery for Contemporary Art is currently featuring an art exhibit, “Expand Concepts of Space in the Maslow Collection,” which will run through October 18. In partnership with the School of Architecture’s Foundation Design course, this exhibition invites the viewer to explore the question, “What is space in artmaking?” Featuring a diverse selection of artists working primarily in abstraction, the exhibition examines how space is defined through techniques such as shaping, screening, layering, wrapping, and twisting. These works challenge and blur the boundaries between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional, and encourage a deeper investigation into the nature of spatial perception itself. Featured artists include: Jurgen Albrecht, Alice Aycock, Robert Cumming, Aaron Fink, Peter Halley, Clint Jukkala, Denny Moers, Ad Reinhardt, Joel Shapiro, Anthony Sorce, Frank Stella, Ryan Ward, and Terry Winters. For more information on Marywood art galleries, visit marywood.edu/galleries.
Marywood Univeristy and NEPA Philharmonic Collaborate on Concert Marywood University’s music, theatre, and dance (MTD) department is part of a unique performance collaboration between its music faculty and the Northeast PA Philharmonic. A concert, titled “Quartet for the End of Time by Olivier Messiaen,” will take place on Saturday, September 28, at 7 p.m. in the Marian Chapel at the Swartz Center for Spiritual Life on Marywood University’s campus. Featured musicians include Sophie Till–violin; Christiane Vaida–cello; Ron Stabinsky–piano, and Pascal Archer–clarinet. To secure tickets prior to the performance, go to: https://marywood.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=1580&p=1. Tickets are $15 for the general public or free with a Marywood ID. To learn about other Marywood University MTD events, go to marywood.edu/mtd and scroll to the bottom of the page to view upcoming performances.
Marywood University “Nuns on the Bus & Friends” Event Nuns on the Bus & Friends to Visit Marywood University/Scranton community for a Town Hall as part of “Vote Our Future” Tour The Nuns and the Bus & Friends will visit Marywood University as part of their 2024 nonpartisan “Vote Our Future” tour on Tuesday, October 1, at the Liguori Center in Regina Hall. Doors open at 5 p.m., and the event begins at 6 p.m. Space for the indoor portion of the town hall is limited, so advanced registration is required at: mobilize.us/network/event/677730. The famous bus will be located outdoors, behind the Marywood University Arch on Adams Avenue, rain or shine, and there are no space limitations to see and sign the bus. Marywood University and the Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM Sisters) are co-sponsoring the town hall, which is free and open to the public. On their two-and-a-half-week, nationwide “Vote Our Future Tour,” Nuns on the Bus & Friends will call on Catholics and all people of goodwill to be multi-issue voters. At the Town Hall, they will engage people from across Northeastern Pennsylvania in envisioning a community where everyone—no matter what they look like or how much money they have—is able to thrive. According to representatives of NETWORK, the national Catholic advocacy organization that operates the tour, “The Nuns on the Bus & Friends will explore with the Scranton community our visions for our community, share dreams and stories, and look to the ways that people can take action during this election season, to ensure that they are moving on a pathway toward that shared tomorrow.” This nationwide, two-and-a-half-week tour is NETWORK’s first in-person bus tour in six years and a cornerstone of NETWORK’s 2024 nonpartisan voter education campaign, “Vote Our Future: Everyone Thrives, No Exceptions!” Traveling from Philadelphia to San Francisco, Nuns on the Bus & Friends will urge people to protect the freedoms that promote a future of flourishing for everyone. From September 30 to October 18, bus riders will meet with communities across the country to lift up the vision of an inclusive, multiracial, multi-faith democracy and equip everyone to vote.
U.K. Architect Addresses Tangible Spirituality/Sustainable Architecture at Marywood Dr. Iliona Outram Khalili, a U.K licensed architect, spoke on “Tangible Spirituality: The Mason’s Methods, Analogy, and Sustainable Architecture” on Tuesday, September 10, at 7 p.m., in the Center for Architectural Studies at Marywood University. The event, which was an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Center for the Living City and Marywood University’s School of Architecture, School of Humanities, and Centers of Excellence (Center for Urban Studies, Mother Theresa Maxis IHM Center for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, and Center for Law, Justice, and Policy), was free and open to the public. In her presentation, Dr. Khalili proposes a sustainable 21st century architecture that inherits methods and figures developed by masons thousands of years ago. Using these ancient practical analogies, a theological meditation emerges that is not limited by cultural or religious symbolism, but brings perennial archetypes together in conscious combinations during design and construction. Dr. Iliona Outram Khalili is a U.K licensed architect and graduate of the Architectural Association School in London. She has been a recent lecturer and course lead at Manchester Metropolitan University and currently teaches “Advanced Earth Architecture Design” with New Earth UK. Her childhood was filled with the architecture of her renowned father, John Outram, and with the diaspora Greek culture of her mother Rima’s family. Later, she learned “earth and ceramic architecture” from humanitarian architect Nader Khalili, who designated her a “Master Builder in Earth Architecture.” She trained by designing and building hands-on to develop Khalili’s innovations on traditional earth architecture, which were inspired by the Sufi mystical poetry of Rumi in his native Persian language. As a widow, she continued her spiritual education with Sufi healers Murshid Shaykh Taner Ansari and Shaykha Muzeyyen Ansari, designing and building for their sustainable living project in New York State, and, most recently, the memorial vault of Shaykh Taner.For details on Marywood’s School of Architecture, visit: marywood.edu/architecture. To learn more about Marywood University’s School of Humanities, go to: marywood.edu/humanities. For information about the Center for the Living City, visit: centerforthelivingcity.org
Marywood University Receives Support from the Robert H. Spitz Foundation Marywood University received a 2023 Robert H. Spitz Foundation Grant for $8,000, which further strengthens the foundation’s longstanding, generous support of the STARS (Students Together Achieving Remarkable Success) program. To date, the Robert H. Spitz Foundation has been a significant source of funding, awarding $68,000 to STARS since its inception in 2018. Marywood’s S.T.A.R.S. program offers Latino/a/x youth in grades 7–12 the opportunity to explore their long-term career goals through one-on-one academic assistance and exposure to diversified post-secondary educational paths, trades, and careers. Marywood students serve as tutors and mentors to the youth participants. In addition, monthly workshops, held in English and Spanish, provide parents with similar information about potential opportunities for their children and families. Additionally, Marywood University, as well as other local institutions’ academic departments host students on campus 4-5 times a year, providing information and experiential activities that are focused on various majors and careers. This includes small-group and individual mentorship for students using a college and career readiness curriculum, as well as individual tutoring/mentoring sessions via zoom or in-person with a Marywood student. The Robert H. Spitz Foundation is a registered non-profit organization that supports initiatives and programs serving the residents of Lackawanna County and Northeastern Pennsylvania. Robert H. Spitz was born in Scranton and was a 1955 graduate of Scranton Central High School and the University of Miami, Florida. Prior to retirement, Spitz had been employed by the U.S. Department of Labor and was also the owner of several local Arby’s restaurants. The Robert H. Spitz Foundation was established from his estate in 2015. To date, the Foundation has provided more than $4.6 million in funding to the community. The Scranton Area Community Foundation serves as the administrator of the Robert H. Spitz Foundation. For additional information about Marywood University’s S.T.A.R.S. program, please visit marywood.edu/community/youth-programs/stars/, or call (570) 961-4559. For additional information about The Robert H. Spitz Foundation, please visit https://safdn.org/foundation/robert-spitz-foundation or call (570) 347-6203.
Marywood University Graduate Student Creates Humor Therapy Fund As a graduate student at Marywood University working toward a Master of Arts degree in Communication Arts in 2005, Jeannine Luby worked with the Scranton Area Community Foundation (SAF) to create the Humor Therapy Fund…a donor-advised fund to disperse annual grants to area nonprofits with a plan to promote therapeutic laughter and humor in the community. The recipient of this year’s Humor Therapy Fund grant–the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeastern Pennsylvania–used the funding to bring the Pittsburgh duo of Josh Verbanets and Gab Bonesso from Pittsburgh to perform their “Josh and Gab Show” in July. About 50 summer camp participants at the Club enjoyed the interactive musical comedy show. Kids danced to the original songs written and performed by Josh and Gab that highlighted common situations that kids encounter in which they can choose kindness and stand up to bullies. They also listened to Gab’s stories from childhood highlighting the importance of standing up for one another and shared their own ideas on kindness as well. Josh and Gab share their musical comedy program at school assemblies and community programs throughout Pennsylvania year-round. While in Scranton, Gab Bonesso took the opportunity to give back to the Fund that helped support her and Josh Verbanets. She presented Jeannine with a $100 check for the Humor Therapy Fund. The money donated came from a portion of the sales of her recent stand-up comedy album “Tragicomedian.” (For more information on Josh and Gab: https://www.joshandgab.com/ )
Marywood Students Nominated for Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmy A group of students in Marywood University’s Multimedia Communication program have been nominated for a student Emmy Award in the Mid-Atlantic Region’s College/University Student Production Live Sporting Event/Game category. The student awards program is conducted by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The students were nominated for their work in sports media production, and the entry being considered is “Marywood University Pacers Basketball.” The team of students involved includes: Vincent Goldschmidt, Announcer; Felix Lettini, Technical Director; Soren Svanson, Camera; Corey Iyoob, Reporter; Cameron Gorman, Audio; Bernard Roedel, Videographer/Editor; Benjamin Galko, Camera, and John Downey, Sportscaster. The students are advised by Jim Donnelly, Assistant Coordinator of Broadcast Operations. Winners will be announced on September 21 at the Wyndham Grand in Pittsburgh, PA.
Marywood to Host 2nd Annual Cruisin’ for a Cause Car Show Marywood University will host its second annual Cruisin’ for a Cause Car Show on Sunday, September 22, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., in the Nazareth Student Center parking lot on Adams Avenue on the university’s campus. If needed, a rain date has been set for Sunday, September 29, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Various student and alumni groups, spearheaded by Marywood’s SOUL (Students Organized to Uphold Life), are collaborating with both the Pharoahs Car Club and the Coal Crackers Car Club, two of the largest in NEPA, for the event. All proceeds from the car show will benefit St. Joseph’s Center in Scranton. Last year’s inaugural event successfully raised $1,050 for St. Joseph’s. More than 75 cars and unique hot rods from all different generations will be featured at the family-friendly event, which also will feature a bake sale, music, raffles, and more. For more details, contact Kevin Farrell, Associate Vice President for the Student Experience, at kfarrell@marywood.edu or 570-340-6016.
Marywood University Sets Fall Open Houses Marywood University will hold two undergraduate open house events this fall for high school students and their parents. The October Open House is scheduled for Saturday, October 26, and the November Open House is set for Saturday, November 16. Both events will be held from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Registration for each open house begins at 8:30 a.m. in the Fireplace Lounge at the Nazareth Student Center on the University’s campus, and the last campus tour departs at 1:45 p.m. A complimentary continental breakfast and lunch are included in the fall open houses. The open houses will give prospective students the opportunity to walk through a student services & organizations fair to find out how Marywood students fit in and have fun on campus. In addition, students will be able to explore various majors at an academic fair, learn more about the admissions process, visit an academic department of their choice and spend some time with faculty, as well as chat with varsity coaches and tour Marywood’s campus. For more information and to register for Marywood University’s fall open houses, visit marywood.edu/openhouse, email YourFuture@marywood.edu, or call Marywood’s admissions office at (570) 348-6234.
