Kansas University's Murphy Hall Reaches 50 Years

The November 2007 events that kick off the Murphy Hall anniversary celebration include a rededication of Murphy Hall, presentations of The Music Man and a symposium on Broadway musicals of 1957:

* The Department of Music and Dance presents a rededication ceremony of Murphy Hall on November 10, 2007, at 5:00 p.m. in the Murphy Hall Courtyard. This event is free and open to the public.

* The Department of Music & Dance and the Department of Theatre & Film will present The Music Man in Crafton-Preyer Theatre on November 9-11 and 15-17, 2007. This popular musical premiered on Broadway in 1957. Tickets are available by contacting the Murphy Hall Box Office at 785.864.3982.

* The Department of Music & Dance and the Department of Theatre & Film will present a national symposium on Broadway musicals, directed by Paul Laird, professor of musicology, and John Staniunas, associate professor of musical theatre and chair of the Department of Theatre & Film, on November 9-10, 2007. The symposium, entitled Musical Theatre in 1957, will feature presentations, discussions, master classes and performances celebrating musical theatre from a half-century ago. The featured keynote speaker is Professor Carol Oja from Harvard University. Additional support for the symposium is provided by the Hall Center for Humanities and the Office of the Provost. This symposium is free and open to the public and will be held in the Robert Baustian Theatre and in Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall from 8:30am-late afternoon each day.

The Murphy Hall 50th anniversary will continue in the spring of 2008 with various exciting events that include:

A two-week Festival of the Arts celebration, April 13-27, 2008. This festival includes the following activities open to the public:

* Performances of "Picnic," the opera, a new adaptation based on the Pulitizer-Prize winning play by KU alumnus William Inge, on April 3, 5, 8, 10 12, 2008, at the Robert Baustian Theatre in Murphy Hall.

* Lied Center performances by the University Dance Company featuring works by guest choreographers Karole Armitage and Bill Evans and a tap dance solo by dance luminary Bill Evans on April 17-18, 2008, to commemorate Murphy Hall and the Elizabeth Sherbon Dance Centennial.

* Various University Dance Company events on Saturday, April 19, 2008 to commemorate the Elizabeth Sherbon Dance Centennial and Murphy Hall's 50th anniversary, including a rededication of the Elizabeth Sherbon Dance Theatre by Bill Evans, who performed in Sherbon's honor at the dedication in 1985; informal performance by KU faculty, Bill Evans and Beau Hancock in the Elizabeth Sherbon Dance Theatre following the rededication; a panel discussion on Dance in a Global Society with KU faculty and Bill Evans; an Art of Dance exhibit in the Teaching Gallery at the Spencer Museum of Art highlighting the Martha Graham Dance Company and other images of dance and dancers as seen through photographs, prints, and drawings; book display in the KU Music and Dance Library throughout the month of April of Sherbon's On the Count of One and books from her collection signed by Martha Graham and Louis Horst.

* Additional band, jazz, choir, orchestra and alumni activities to be held April 13-27, 2008: choral concert on April 19 at the Lied Center, Jazz concert on April 22 at the Lied Center, Symphony Orchestra concert on April 26 at the Lied Center and Wind Ensemble concert at the Lied Center on April 27. This Wind Ensemble concert will be the final event for the Murphy 50th anniversary, and a reception will follow the concert.

The Department of Theatre & Film and University Theatre present Alums Comes Home, a series of events created to welcome KU theatre and film students back to Murphy Hall, April 24-27. This includes:

* Friday, April 25, 2008, 7:30 p.m. – The Shape of Things by alumnus Neil LaBute, Crafton-Preyer Theatre

* Saturday, April 26, 2008, 7:30 p.m. - Friends of the Theatre Fundraiser, Crafton-Preyer Theatre

* Sunday, April 27, 2008, 2:30 p.m. – The Shape of Things, Crafton-Preyer Theatre -- www2.ku.edu