Scranton’s Collaborative Programs Explore Art, Theater and Public Policy

Scranton’s Collaborative Programs Explore Art, Theater and Public Policy

This fall, The University of Scranton’s Schemel Forums present three Collaborative Programs that delve into centuries-old Asian art, celebrate Scranton’s own Tony Award-winning playwright, and reflect on three decades of experience in politics and government.

On Thursday, Sept. 22, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Nancy Steinhardt, Ph.D., professor of East Asian art, chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and curator of Chinese art at the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, will explore “Art along the Silk Roads.” Her talk will cover the major sites and monuments of the Silk Roads, the cultural highways that linked East and West Asia by way of oases and some of the most hazardous terrain on earth for more than 1500 years dating back to the first century BC. Presented in collaboration with the Asian Studies Program at The University of Scranton, the program will take place in the Pearn Auditorium of Brennan Hall, followed by a reception. The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to Emily Brees, Schemel Forum assistant, at 570-941-6206 or emily.brees@scranton.edu.

On Saturday, Oct. 29, at 5 p.m., Stephen Karam, who won the 2016 Tony Award for his Broadway play, “The Humans,” will be honored with the Royden B. Davis, S.J., Distinguished Author Award from The University of Scranton’s Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library. Karam’s play “Sons of the Prophet” won several awards and was a 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist, and he has written screenplay adaptations of Chekhov’ “The Seagull” and his own “Speech & Debate,” which was performed on campus in 2011. Karam received the inaugural Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Drama Desk Award and the Horton Foote Playwriting Award. Born and raised in Scranton and a graduate of Brown University, Karam teaches graduate playwriting at The New School in New York City. Ticket prices vary for the event, which will take place in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center. For reservations or more information, visit www.scranton.edu/authaward or contact Kym Fetsko at 570-941-7816 or kym.fetsko@scranton.edu.

On Monday, Dec. 5, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Tamera Luzzatto, senior vice president of government relations at The Pew Charitable Trusts, will present “Reflections on a Career in the Policy Change Business.” Luzzatto, who ensures that Pew’s wide range of nonpartisan policy work at the state, federal and international levels is effectively and accurately communicated to policy makers, will lead us on a personal tour of a career devoted to making and changing public policy in the public and private non-profit sectors. She served as then-Senator Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff from 2001 to 2009, following her 15 years of service as legislative director and chief of staff for West Virginia Senator John D. Rockefeller IV. Presented in collaboration with the Scranton Area Foundation, the program will take place in the Pearn Auditorium of Brennan Hall, followed by a reception. The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to Emily Brees, Schemel Forum assistant, at 570-941-6206 or emily.brees@scranton.edu.

For more information on Schemel Forum programs and memberships, contact Sondra Myers, Schemel Forum director, at 570-941-4089 or sondra.myers@scranton.edu.