Suffolk University Announces Modern Theatre's Inaugural Season

The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University today announced the programming lineup for its inaugural season, featuring award-winning films, innovative performances and  provocative conversations, all of which fulfill the theatre's mission to engage the community through cultural, social, and civic programming. The following offerings will be part of the Winter-Spring Season of 2011:
 
 
Cinema Series
 
Cinema series during the month of February featuring screenings and conversation with major filmmakers and writers. All events begin at 7pm and are free and open to the public.
 
February 2-4 - A Michael Cimino Retrospective
The Modern will welcome Academy Award winner Michael Cimino and screen the following films:
February 2 - Heaven's Gate
February 3 - The Deer Hunter
February 4 - Year of the Dragon, followed by an audience discussion with Michael Cimino.
 
February 8 - Russian Shorts
The Modern will screen four award-winning films that were recently shown at special events in New York and Washington. Following the screenings, the audience will have the opportunity to talk, via Skype, with the filmmakers in Russia. The films include:
 
The Last Day of Bulkin, directed by Aleksey Andrianov (Open World, 2009)
Phantom of Europe, directed by Igor Morozov (Open World, 2008)
Tag, directed by Natalia Uglitskikh (Best Short Film - 2009 Boulder International Film Festival)
Kolyan, directed by Konstantin Smirnov (2010 Kinotavr Festival, 2010 Kustendorf Film and Music Festival).
 
February 14-17 - A Dennis Lehane Retrospective
The Modern will welcome Boston-based novelist and screenwriter Dennis Lehane and screen the following award-winning films based on his work:
February 14 - Gone Baby Gone
February 15 - Mystic River
February 16 - Shutter Island
February 17 - Dennis Lehane will discuss his films, his involvement in award-winning HBO series The Wire and Boston crime drama.
 
February 24 -  Digital Medium: New Aesthetics of the Moving Image 
Vlada Petric, founding curator of the Harvard Film Archive will present a lecture discussing montage and special effects in Hollywood films, including excerpts from The Wall of Memories, Petric's video essay about his own life in film.  
Performance Series
 
Car Talk: The Musical!March 31 - April 3
The Modern Theatre will present the World Premiere of Car Talk: The Musical! written and directed by Suffolk University Professor Wesley Savick. Inspired by NPR's hit radio show, Car Talk: The Musical! brings love and joy to Boston drivers. Russell D. Fenders, a hapless middle aged owner of a terminally ill '93 KIA, falls in love with Miata C. La Chassis who convinces him to go to the Emerald Garage to beg the explosive Wizard of Cahs for help.
 
Shakespeare at the Modern
April 9 - A reading of Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women, a tale of political decadence and violence, directed by Sarah Newhouse and presented by Actors' Shakespeare Project, guests at Suffolk University during April and May.
 
April 11 - A reading of Robert Brustein's play The Last Will, directed by Daniella Varon.  Academy-Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham will join the cast in the third play of Brustein's lively trilogy about the life and work of William Shakespeare. Robert Brustein, a celebrated playwright, critic, author and artistic director, is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University.
 
April 27-May 22 - Antony and Cleopatra
The Actors' Shakespeare Project present a four-week run of Antony and Cleopatra.  Shakespeare's romantic tragedy about the powerful leaders whose love and loss created an empire will be directed by Adrianne Krstansky and will feature Elliot-Norton-Award-winner Paula Plum as Cleopatra.
 
 
Conversation Series
 
February 10 - Maxine Hong Kingston at the ModernThe Modern will present an evening of poetry and discussion with Maxine Hong Kingston, National Book Award-winning poet, memoirist, and novelist. She will speak about her latest book of poems and personal essays, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life with Fred Marchant, distinguished poet and Director of Suffolk's Creative Writing Program and Poetry Center. 
 
February 28 - James Carroll at the Modern
Noted  author, novelist, filmmaker, columnist for the Boston Globe, and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Suffolk University, James Carroll will discuss his latest book Jerusalem Jerusalem: The Ancient City that Ignited the Modern World with Robert Jay Lifton, eminent psychiatrist and National Book Award-winning author.
 
March 3 - Peter Beinart at the Modern
The series will continue on with Peter Beinart, one of the nation's leading political writers. Beinart will discuss a topic related to President Obama and American foreign policy.
 
April 7 -David Hoberman at the Modern
David Hoberman is a leading producer in the entertainment industry and has made his mark on more than 100 movies for Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone, and Hollywood Pictures. His latest film, acclaimed award-winner The Fighter, featured Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams and Christian Bale. David is currently in pre-production for The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made.