2022-2023 InFocus Events
September 2022
September 16-17: 7:30pm
PERFORMANCE: The Colorism Project
An original play about the colorism epidemic within the Black community. MFA student Krystal Danielle creates a new production, based upon the stories, thoughts, opinions and findings of the Black community from all over the Bethlehem and greater Lehigh Valley community; exploring the positive and negative implications of the many different shades and hues of Black.
Arena Theatre
September 22: 6:30 - 8:30pm
WORKSHOP: Navigating conflict Workshop:
鈥淧erspectives on Conflict鈥
Perspectives on Conflict invites participants to reflect on the meaning of conflict and the factors that shape the ways people move through conflict in their lives.
Registration encouraged:
PPHAC 103
September 24: 8pm
PERFORMANCE: "Bury The Dead" by Irwin Shaw
Directed by student Josiah Dalpezzo, this will be a participatory staged reading of a classic from 1936. This stirring and eloquent anti-war play employs imaginative theatricality to convey its timeless message. In the play, a military burial is disrupted when the dead soldiers rise up, pleading not to be buried, asking to be allowed to rejoin the living. Word of their insurrection spreads rapidly鈥攖o the soldiers in the field, the generals, the news media, with alarming effect. In a series of touching scenes the dead men talk with their loved ones of the days of living, now lost forever. But must the dead yield so easily?
Arena Theatre
October 2022
October 1: 3pm; 7pm
October 2: 3pm
PERFORMANCE: Maafa Commemoration Project of the Lehigh Valley
A special event honoring Black African Ancestors 鈥 the known and the unknown 鈥 and celebrating the strength of spirit and the richness of heritage. Join the community as it gives voice to the enslaved, journies through the middle passage, shines light on the co-conspirators of the institution of slavery, and offers upliftment to our present day, where freedom is still out of reach for many. Our collective liberation is tied together. Written by Nehprii Amenii and directed by Kymbali Craig.
Resurrected Life Community Church, Allentown
Partner: Festival Unbound
Tickets required
October 10: 4-6PM
PRESENTATION & WORKSHOP: Indigenous Activism and Hip Hop in Ecuador: a shared struggle for peace and epistemic justice
A special event for Indigenous People's Day. Our modern world has excluded, devalued and invisibilized non-Western ways of thinking and being. In Ecuador, the hip hop and Indigenous communities have worked together to challenge systemic and symbolic violence through rap, graffiti and marches in the streets. This presentation/workshop explores the relationship between hip hop culture and recent Indigenous uprisings and their shared struggle for peace and social justice. Participants will engage in conversations and activities that ask us to collectively imagine what epistemic justice would look like in our lived realities.
Arena Theatre
October 13: 7pm
FILM: The Breadwinner
With the Taliban again in power in Afghanistan, restricting the education of girls and the employment of women, 鈥淭he Breadwinner鈥 helps us to understand the impact these restrictions have on girls and their families. The film tells the heart-warming and thought-provoking story of Parvana, an 11-year-old girl growing up under the Taliban in Afghanistan. Parvana, with her family struggling to survive when her father is unjustly arrested, dresses as a boy to support them and seek the release of her father.
Attendees will be entered into a lottery to win a copy of the book "The Breadwinner".
Dana Lecture Hall
October 27: 6pm
GUEST SPEAKER: Maria Pi帽eros Lea帽os
According to the United Nations, conflict is on the rise throughout the world. Millions of children have either lost their lives or have been displaced or separated from their families due to these conflicts. The United Nations states that 鈥渃onflict is the greatest threat to children鈥檚 rights鈥 and acknowledges that peace is their best protection. Dr. Marie Pineros-Leanos will share her work focused on children living in regions of conflict and the effects this has on maternal and child health and the well-being of families.
Prosser Auditorium
November 2022
November 1-15
EXHIBIT: Pieces for Peace
The CITYarts Pieces for Peace Traveling Exhibition features selected artworks created by youth from around the world through its Young Minds Build Bridgesprogram. This exhibition travels both nationally and internationally.
HUB Eiffe Gallery
November 4-5
SYMPOSIUM: Race, Slavery and Land: Moravian Legacies in a Global Context `1722-2000鈥
June 2022 marked the 300th anniversary of the founding of Herrnhut by Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf, the 290th of the sending of the first two Moravian missionaries to the Danish West Indies (present U.S. Virgin Islands), and the 281st of the founding of Bethlehem on the land of the Lenape nation. More than ever before institutions, movements, and communities are facing their own histories and the role of racism and slavery therein. This calls for the rethinking and investigation of the interactions of race, slavery, and land in Moravian institutions and communities across global contexts. The symposium has leading historians, anthropologists, and political scientists from South Africa, Germany, Ireland, Jamaica, Australia, Denmark, Switzerland, and the United States discussing the legacies of racism, slavery, and land ownership in Moravian Communities Globally.
Saal 鈥 Moravian Theological Seminary
Prosser Auditorium
PPHAC 101 and 102
Fridays November 4, 11 & 18
WORKSHOP SERIES: Community Clergy Training Program
Building the capacity of congregations to welcome those who have experienced war and military service. Free training, in-person or online, CEUs available for a nominal fee. Clergy and Spiritual Care Providers From All Religious Traditions Welcome
Registration required. Contact:
Chris Antal at christopher.antal@va.gov
November 11: 4pm - 5:30, followed by a reception
SPECIAL EVENT: Veteran鈥檚 Day Community Healing Ceremony
A time of reconciliation for Veterans and non-Veterans led by VA chaplains, community clergy, and Veterans. The ceremony invites U.S. citizens to see themselves as sharing responsibility for various harms perpetrated by, or occurring within, the U.S. military; this is a space to celebrate Veterans' moral sensitivity and moral seriousness, share the truth of their military experience, and accompany them in carrying the moral burdens of war.
Registration required:
Arena Theatre
November 17: 6:30pm 鈥 8:30pm
WORKSHOP: November Navigating conflict Workshop
鈥淎ctive and Reflective Listening鈥
Active and reflective listening, sometimes called empathetic or compassionate listening, is a process of discerning that improves mutual understanding and trust, reduces tensions, and creates conditions more conducive for collaborative problem solving.
Registration encouraged:
HUB UBC
December 2022
December 1 鈥 16
EXHIBIT Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement
This photo exhibit explores the dispersion of war鈥檚 capacity to harm over an elongated time horizon. This is accomplished through attention to the attritional violence of protracted displacement under abject infrastructural conditions. Evidence from a feminist visual ethnography project in the Republic of Georgia amplifies concerns for the right to durable housing for the roughly 40% of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have inhabited collective centers during three decades of intractable conflict. Included in the exhibit are photos taken by IDPs capturing the emotional and intimate effects of decaying infrastructure in the once luxurious, now crumbling sanatoria of the former Soviet balneological resort of Tskaltubo. These photographs seek a critical reimagining of more just spatial futures for displaced populations in Georgia and beyond.
HUB Eiffe Gallery
December 1 7PM
OPENING NIGHT TALK with artist/scholar Ariel Otruba
HUB UBC
December 1 鈥 4
Thurs, Fri, Sat: 6-9pm, Sun: 2-5pm
The public may explore the installation any time during the open hours.
PERFORMANCE: 鈥淰iolent Infrastructure鈥 Immersive Installation
Audiences will see and hear elements that will evoke the experience of displaced persons, as they walk through a space transformed by projections and amplified sound. Created by Christopher Shorr and Ariel Otruba, based on Otruba鈥檚 research in the Republic of Georgia.
December 1 @ 8pm: Opening Performance with reception to follow
Arena Theatre
December 8: 7pm
FILM: Joyeux No毛l
Joyeux No毛l vividly recreates an extraordinary moment during World War I when warring sides united in an unofficial Christmas truce. The unsanctioned truce enabled soldiers on opposing sides to meet one another peacefully and gain an understanding of their lives outside of their roles as combatants. The story provokes thoughts on whether conflicts could be prevented if people had a better understanding of the similarities that unite them rather than the differences that divide.
Dana Lecture Hall
January 2023
January 26: 7pm
FILM: Evening of Shorts about Child Refugees
Animated shorts can have a tremendous impact on viewers鈥 understanding of social issues affecting individuals and their families. The selected animated shorts poignantly tell the emotional stories of child refugees forced from their homes and separated from their families by violence in their communities. Each film depicts the harrowing journey of children seeking safety and asylum, evoking emotions from the viewer, drawing them into the uncertain world of refugees and asylum seekers.
Dana Lecture Hall
February 2023
February 23: 6:30pm 鈥 8:30pm
WORKSHOP: February Navigating conflict Workshop
鈥凄颈补濒辞驳耻别鈥
Dialogue is a communication process and type of learning that seeks to build relationships between people and provide tools for talking about tension-filled topics.
Registration encouraged:
HUB UBC
March 2023
March 17-18
CONFERENCE: Moravian Writers Conference
Through a keynote, a roundtable discussion and several writing workshops, the conference will explore writing about war and will include voices of those who have engaged in combat as well as military spouses. Invited speakers will discuss their work and invite participants to reflect on war from a personal level and within the context of society.
/writersconference
Locations TBA
March 30: 6:30pm 鈥 8:30pm
WORKSHOP: March Navigating conflict Workshop
鈥淎ppreciative Inquiry鈥
Rather than focusing on what is broken or wrong, Appreciative Inquiry offers a systematic and facilitated process that emphasizes the identification of what works and engages stakeholders in self-determined change.
Registration encouraged:
HUB UBC
April 2023
April 13: 7pm
FILM: Invictus
Invictus illustrates how Sport has the power to unite people and cross political and cultural divides. The film tells the story of how Nelson Mandela, as the newly elected president of South Africa, engaged the South Africa rugby team to unite a country torn apart by apartheid. Watching the film as a campus community is an active way to celebrate International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.
Dana Lecture Hall
April 20: 5:30pm
I锘縉FOCUS SPECIAL EVENT: RECONCILING WAR; BUILDING PEACE
The 2022-23 InFocus War and Peace season will culminate in a dinner reception, followed by a series of short presentations reflecting on the realities of war in order to reconcile that trauma and move forward into building a more peaceful future. Student veterans will share personal stories that have grown out of a year-long workshop series with facilitator Jennifer Pacanowski; Author and Professor Kelly Denton-Borhaug will speak about her work on moral injury; and InFocus scholar in residence Ariel Otruba will look at the activities of the 2022-23 season and connect macro level world conflict with navigating micro level issues in our daily lives.
Advance registration required:
Arena Theatre