2015–2016 Lecture Series & Performing Arts Series Announced!

The Sun Valley Center for the Arts is proud to announce the line-up for the 2015–2016 Lecture Series and Performing Arts Series.

“This year the Lecture Series includes an extraordinary lineup of authors, artists and activists,” said Katelyn Foley, Director of Education and Humanities. “With humor and charisma, these accomplished individuals push us to engage and consider our history, current trends in our society and a vision for the future,” she explained. Foley added that this year’s guests include new visitors to Sun Valley as well returning favorite and master of satire, David Sedaris.

This year’s Winter Performing Arts Series brings an amazingly wide variety to our community—from a hip-hop violin group to a return of a favorite from a few years back, Dala,” said Kristine Bretall, Director of Performing Arts. “What links all these performances together is their depth of feeling and their commitment to their craft – whether it be blending Ethiopian roots with the American folk tradition or pushing the boundaries of storytelling through secrets.”

2015-2016 LECTURE SERIES

ERIK LARSON
Thursday, October 8, 2015, 6:30pm
Church of the Big Wood, Ketchum

Bestselling and award-winning writer Erik Larson will kick off the 2015–2016 Lecture Series on October 8, 2015. His lecture is also part of The Center’s BIG IDEA project Sleight of Hand (September 25–November 27), which will explore the line between illusion and truth in the history of art and beyond. As master of narrative non-fiction, Larson will contribute to this BIG IDEA conversation that touches on our society’s fascination with the past and with retelling and reinterpreting history. His popular books, which chronicle historic events, include Devil in the White City, In the Garden of Beasts, and his most recent Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania.

Marcia & Don Liebich and Jennifer & Peter Roberts are generously sponsoring Larson’s appearance.

ROZ CHAST
Thursday, January 21, 2016, 6:30pm
Church of the Big Wood, Ketchum

The Lecture Series continues on Thursday, January 21, at the Church of the Big Wood with New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. Chast is a brilliant interpreter of the everyday. Her cartoons depict neuroses, hilarity, angst and domesticity and are loaded with words, objects and patterns. A contributor to the New Yorker since 1978, the magazine has printed more than 1,000 of her cartoons. She has also written and illustrated books for both children and adults. Her newest book for adults, Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?, is a graphic memoir that chronicles her relationship with her aging parents as they shift from independence to dependence.

LAVERNE COX
Thursday, February 4, 2016, 6:30pm
Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater, Hailey

Critically acclaimed actress and outspoken transgender advocate Laverne Cox joins the Lecture Series on Thursday, February 4, at the Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater in Hailey. Cox is the first trans-woman to produce and star in her own television show, TRANSForm Me, appear on the cover of TIME Magazine and be nominated for an EMMY. She is also the first trans-woman of color to have a leading role on a mainstream scripted television show, Orange Is the New Black. In 2013 TIME named Cox’s character on Orange Is the New Black, “Sophia Burset,” the fourth most influential fictional character of the year. She also received an Emmy nomination for the role. As a renowned speaker, Cox has taken her empowering message of moving beyond gender expectations to live more authentically all over the country. He appearance with The Center is also part of the BIG IDEA project Role Play: Changing Ideas about Gender (December 11, 2015–February 20, 2016), which will consider our shifting understanding of gender as we move away from strict categories of male and female toward looser definitions.

GEORGE SAUNDERS
Thursday, March 3, 2016, 6:30pm
Church of the Big Wood, Ketchum

The series resumes Thursday, March 3, at the Church of the Big Wood with award-winning writer George Saunders. His work includes four collections of short stories, a novella, and a book of essays. In 2014, Saunders collection Tenth of December earned him the year’s Story Prize for short fiction and the Folio Prize, which celebrates the best fiction of our time. Tenth of December was also a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award in Fiction and named one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review. In 200, Saunders was selected by Entertainment Weekly as one of the one hundred top most creative people in entertainment, and by The New Yorker in 2002 as one of the best writers 40 and under.

DAVID SEDARIS
Monday, April 25, 2016, 8:00pm – A pre-show book signing will start at 7 pm and Mr. Sedaris will resume signing books following the event.
Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater, Hailey

David Sedaris will appear for the Lecture Series grand finale on Monday, April 25, at Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater. Renowned for his sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. He is the author of Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, as well as collections of personal essays, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and his most recent book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. Sedaris’ pieces appear regularly in The New Yorker and have twice been included in The Best American Essays. Sedaris and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen plays, which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. His original radio pieces can often be heard on the public radio show This American Life.

The 2015–2016 Lecture Series is sponsored by Jane P. Watkins. Wood River High School student lecture series tickets have been made possible with support from Robin Leavitt and Terry Friedlander.

CLICK HERE for the 2015-2016 Series Tickets and Individual Tickets pricing sheet.

2015-2016 WINTER PERFORMING ARTS SERIES

THE BROS. LANDRETH
Friday, September 26, 2015, 7pm (NOTE: Date change from Sept 18!)
Sun Valley Opera House, Sun Valley

The Performing Arts Series starts on Friday, September 18, with The Bros. Landreth. These natives of Winnipeg, Manitoba, will take the stage at the Sun Valley Opera House with their blend of folk, roots, and alt-country. While it’s tempting to describe The Bros. Landreth’s music as Americana, they in fact put a unique north of the border spin on their folksy counterparts from the lower 48. The audience will pick up on their notable musical influences—such as Bonnie Raitt, Lyle Lovett, Little Feat and Derek Trucks.

BLACK VIOLIN
Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 7pm
Sun Valley Opera House, Sun Valley

Black Violin comes to the Sun Valley Opera House on Wednesday, October 21. This truly unique act blends classical, hip-hop, rock, R&B and bluegrass music. Black Violin was named one of the hottest bands at SXSW in 2013 and invited to perform at the Bonnaroo music festival. They’ve since returned to SXSW, where they played to standing-room-only crowds. Black Violin will be doing an all-school performance at the Wood River Middle School while they are here and their residency is supported by Gayle Marie and, in part, with funds provided by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), the Idaho Commission on the Arts (ICA), and the National Endowment for the Arts.

DALA
Thursday, November 12, 2015, 7pm
Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater, Hailey

The Toronto-based duo Dala is one of The Center’s most requested repeat performances. They’ll return to the valley on Thursday, November 12, with a concert at the Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater in Hailey. Local audiences fell hard a few years back for Dala’s inspired songwriting, gorgeous harmonies and engaging stage presences. They count The Beatles, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan as their key treasured influences. The pair was drawn together by their shared love of the absurd—a quirky, irreverent and occasionally self-critical humor that comes out in their music and in their often hilarious onstage banter. Like Black Violin, Dala will be in residency as part of their time here and will be working with Wood River High School students. This residency is also supported by Gayle Marie and, in part, with funds provided by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), the Idaho Commission on the Arts (ICA), and the National Endowment for the Arts.

MARTHA REDBONE ROOTS PROJECT
Saturday, February 20, 2016, 7pm
Sun Valley Opera House, Sun Valley

On Saturday, February 20, The Center presents the Martha Redbone Roots Project at the Sun Valley Opera House. Considered a “charismatic indie-soul diva” (Time Out New York), Martha Redbone is an Independent Music Award-winning musician of Cherokee, Choctaw, Shawnee and African-American descent. She explores traditional and modern variations of folk, roots, blues, tribal and soul that showcase her magnificent voice.

POSTSECRET: THE SHOW
Tuesday, March 29, 2016, 7pm
Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater, Hailey

The Performing Arts Series takes a turn from live music to live theatre with PostSecret: The Show on Tuesday, March 29, at Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater. This production is a breakthrough in storytelling, with material sourced from over a million anonymous and artful secrets mailed on postcards. The result is a visual, auditory and emotional journey through the beauty and complication of our deepest fears, ambitions and confessions. Three actors guide the audience through a narrative with the bravery of RENT and the surprising honesty of The Vagina Monologues. PostSecret: The Show is best suited for mature audiences.

MEKLIT
Friday, April 8, 2016, 7pm
Liberty Theatre, Hailey

The Performing Arts Series concludes on Friday, April 8, Ethiopian-born and Brooklyn-raised Meklit at the Liberty Theatre, Hailey. A Yale graduate, Meklit is now based in San Francisco. Her music is an intoxicating blend of jazz, the American folk and singer-songwriter tradition and Ethiopia’s unique melodies and rhythms. Seattle Times has called her, “soulful, tremulous and strangely cinematic” and said that her performance will transport listeners to “a softly lit supper club, a Brooklyn stoop, a sunbaked road.”

The 2015–2016 Winter Performing Arts Series is sponsored by Wood River Inn.

CLICK HERE for the 2015-2016 Series Tickets and Individual Tickets pricing sheet.

SERIES ON SALE DATES

Tickets will go on sale the following dates:

• Friday, August 28, 10am: Series tickets on sale to members only
• Friday, September 4, 10am: Individual tickets on sale to members only
• Friday, September 11, 10am: Any remaining tickets on sale to the general public. Pricing for individual concerts is available on The Center’s website.
  

Tickets can be purchased online at sunvalleycenter.org, by calling 208.726.9491, or at The Center box office at 191 Fifth Street East in Ketchum.

To learn about membership or more information, please visit sunvalleycenter.org or call 208.726.9491.