Turner on panel discussing filmmaker Marlon Riggs

Professor Pat Turner is due to participate Friday night (Oct. 21) in a panel discussion that will accompany a screening of Marlon Riggs' last film, Black Is … Black Ain’t, in San Francisco. The film and panel program, Signifyin’ Marlon Riggs, is sponsored by Queer Conversations on Culture and the Arts.

Riggs, who died in 1994, was a gay African American filmmaker, educator, poet and gay rights activist. He produced, wrote and directed several television documentaries examining past and present representations of race and sexuality in America.

Turner, vice provost of Undergraduate Studies and a member of the African American and African Studies Program, served as a consulting scholar for Riggs' Ethnic Notions and its sequel, Color Adjustment, conducting research for the documentaries and appearing in them. Ethnic Notions won the 1989 Emmy award for best research in the national news and documentary category, and Color Adjustment won a Peabody Award in 1991.

Journalists frequently turn to Turner for commentary on issues related to folklore and popular culture is frequently sought by print, radio and television journalists. She served as director of UC Davis’ American Studies Program from 1997 to 1998 and as director of African American and African Studies Program from 1998 to 2000.

The organizers of tonight’s program said Cheryl Dunn of the California College of the Arts faculty will moderate the panel discussion on the importance of Riggs’ work and its relevance today for artists and activists who continue to struggle with issues of race and homophobia.

Signifyin' Marlon Riggs is scheduled to begin with the film Black Is … Black Ain’t at 7 p.m., followed by the panel discussion until 9 in Timken Hall, California College of the Arts, 1111 Eighth St., San Francisco. Free and open to the public.

Symphony to accompany Rising Stars of Opera

The UC Davis Symphony Orchestra accompanies Adler Fellows and Eugene Brancoveanu, baritone, in Rising Stars of Opera at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. The free program is set for 8 p.m. Friday (Oct. 21) in Jackson Hall.

The program:

• Verdi — Overture to I vespri siciliani (1838)
• Rossini — "Largo al factotum" from Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816)
• Mahler — "Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht" from Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Song of a Wayfarer) (1884–85)
• Britten — "Within this frail crucible of light" from Act II of The Rape of Lucretia, op. 37
• Mozart — "Hai già vinta la causa" and "Vedrò mentri'io sospiro" from Act III of Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 (1786)

Causeway Youth Band Festival

Concert bands from UC Davis and California State University, Sacramento, join youths from around the region in the Causeway Youth Band Festival, Sunday (Oct. 23) in the Mondavi Center’s Jackson Hall.

Pete Nowlen and Robert Halseth are the festival directors, in addition to leading their own bands from UC Davis and Sacramento State, respectively, in the closing concert.

The program for the 7 p.m. concert also includes two festival bands: one of seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders, and the other for 10th- 11th- and 12th-graders.

Tickets are available online, or by visiting or calling the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787. Box office hours: noon-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and one hour before ticketed events.

More information.

Halloween costumes

For all your costume needs this Halloween, look no further than the Enchanted Cellar at the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Students, faculty, staff and community members may choose from dozens of detailed and whimsical costumes inspired by history, popular culture, fantasy, and more.

New offerings this year include Superman, Catwoman, Spectra from Watchmen, Captain America, Raggedy Anne and Andy, and a variety of costumes in larger sizes.

Click here for the details.

Canceled: 'The scary side of Shakespeare'

The Davis Shakespeare Ensemble announced the cancellation of Halloween Walks in the arboretum. The walks, described as “a theatrical journey through the scary side of Shakespeare,” had been scheduled the nights of Oct. 26 through 31.

Representatives of the ensemble said in an e-mail that the walks had been postponed until next year.

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