Pitt-Bradford Announces Spectrum Series Offerings

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s fall Spectrum arts series will offer area residents fine arts, funk and even horror. Spectrum is the university’s oldest art series. Artists are selected by Pitt-Bradford faculty to enhance the arts curriculum.

Events are open to the public and free unless otherwise noted. For more information or tickets, contact the Bromeley Family Theater box office at 814-362-5113 or www.upb.pitt.edu/TheArts.

 The first event of the season will be an art exhibition celebrating America’s National Parks Centennial by local artist Denise Drummond. The show will take place from Sept. 6 through Oct. 2 in the KOA Gallery in Blaisdell Hall. Gallery hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. A reception will take place at noon Sept. 9. Drummond will share a collection of drawings and paintings inspired by years of travel to the National Parks across the United States, from Acadia to the Redwoods to Florida’s Everglades. Drummond works in graphite and watercolor to create nature scenes and has a special love for national parks and wilderness areas.

 The first musical offering of the year will be a piano trio of Susan Waterbury, violin, Elizabeth Simkin, cello, and Miri Yampolsky, piano, at noon Sept. 23 in the Studio Theater in Blaisdell Hall. The program will showcase favorites from the heart of the classical repertoire.

  October will begin with a visit from unjustly imprisoned former death row exoneree Anthony Ray Hinton, who is one of the subjects of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson’s book “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.” Hinton’s story was also featured on the television show “60 Minutes.” “Just Mercy” will be read by students in freshman seminar, writing, criminal justice and economics classes at Pitt-Bradford. The book is the Bradford Area Public Library’s One Book Bradford selection as well. Hinton will speak at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Bromeley Family Theater in Blaisdell Hall. 

Wyoming artist Rebecca G. Weed will open an art exhibition, “No Over Night Parking: A Field Guide,” with a reception at noon Oct. 7 in the KOA Art Gallery and KOA Speer Electronics Lobby in Blaisdell Hall. The exhibition will continue through Nov. 4. On Oct. 14, Family FUNKtion and the Sitar Jams, a trio of brothers on sitar, bass and drums, will bring a psychedelic musical experience to the studio theater at noon as the second installment in the Noon Tunes series. The Padmanabha brothers play a fusion of rock, funk and Indian classical and folk styles.

 During the Halloween season, Dr. Kevin Ewert, professor of theater, will direct “Apparition: An Uneasy Play of the Underknown,” a play of the horror genre by Anne Washburn. The student production will have four showings – three at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27-29, and a special late-night 10:30 p.m. performance Oct. 28, all in the Studio Theater. The cost for the public is $6. The cost for all students is $2.

Writer Crystal Wilkinson (pictured), the author of “The Birds of Opulence,” “Blackberries, Blackberries” and “Water Street” will read from her work at noon Nov. 1 in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons. Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including most recently in the Oxford American and the Appalachian anthology “Walk Till the Dogs Get Mean.” She currently teaches at Berea College, where she is the Appalachian Writer in Residence.

 The final event of the semester will be a Noon Tunes holiday concert by the Vocal Arts ensemble at noon Dec. 6 in the KOA Speer Electronics Lobby. For disability needs related to Pitt-Bradford Arts events, contact the Office of Disability Resources at 814-362-7609 or clh71@pitt.edu.

Opening Chapter of One Book Bradford Season Set for Saturday

The One Book Bradford season is right on track with its first event. The Community Book Review will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in the Community Room at the Bradford Area Public Library.

Gannon, a member of the OBB committee, will lead the discussion on this year's selection, "Orphan Train" by Christine Baker Kline. "This is a remarkable book about a time in American history that not too many people know about," said Sandy Rhodes, a member of the OBB committee. "The lives of these children and the experiences they endured should not be forgotten." The book is a historical novel which tells the story of an orphaned girl who was put on an "orphan train" with many other homeless children. They traveled westward to join new families, but also many were chosen to provide labor for farmers in the Midwest. "Although this literary journey starts in the 1920s, it is very intriguing how the author ties in the trials and tribulations of orphans then with present-day people and events," Rhodes said. Gannon will show footage from the PBS "American Experience" and talk about how Americans are faring today with the plight of homeless and parentless children. Saturday's event is free and open to the public. OBB is a community-wide reading initiative where one book is selected each season. There are events which promote the themes of the book and the season ends with a visit to Bradford by the author. Kline will be in Bradford in November. Her visit is funded by the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford's Spectrum Arts Series and freshman seminar. “Orphan Train” spent more than 90 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, including five weeks at No. 1, and has been chosen as a common reader by more than 50 communities and colleges. The next OBB event will be A Place at the Table luncheon on Oct. 17 at Pitt-Bradford. Tickets for the luncheon will go on sale at Saturday's event and will be available at the BAPL. The cost of the luncheon is $15. In addition to lunch, presentations will be made by members of Bradford Little Theatre and an employee of Beacon Light Behavioral Health Systems. BLT members will read letters from children who rode the orphan trains.

'Orphan Train' Author Coming to Bradford

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and One Book Bradford are teaming up to bring “Orphan Train” author Christina Baker Kline to Bradford this fall.

Kline will visit Pitt-Bradford at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5, when she will give a talk that will be open to the public in the Bromeley Family Theater of Blaisdell Hall. Her best-selling novel “Orphan Train” will be used as a common reader in freshman seminar and creative writing classes on campus.

Community members are encouraged to read the book and attend as well. One Book Bradford is a collaborative venture under the auspices of the Bradford Area Public Library that annually chooses a book for the community to read together. Its annual events culminate with a visit to Bradford from the author.

Pat Shinaberger, chairwoman of One Book Bradford, said, “Our committee is very excited to join Pitt-Bradford in bringing an author of Kline’s caliber to Bradford. We are hopeful this is just the beginning of something great between our two groups.”

“Orphan Train” deals with orphaned, abandoned or homeless children who were sent from the East Coast to the rural Midwest to be raised by foster families between 1854 and 1929. Irish immigrant Vivian Daly is one of those children, and many years later, young Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer stumbles upon her story.

Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, “Orphan Train” has been described as “a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship.”

“Orphan Train” has spent more than 90 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, including five weeks at No. 1, and has been chosen as a common reader by more than 50 communities and colleges.

Dr. Nancy McCabe, director of the writing program at Pitt-Bradford and author of two books on the adoption of her daughter from China, said that what first made her want to bring Kline to Bradford is that “Orphan Train” is “a good read and very engaging.”

She was also intrigued by the historical tie-in of the orphan trains and, from a writer’s perspective, the shifting points of view in the story between Vivian, the Depression-era orphan, and Molly, a modern foster child who meets Vivian as part of a community service project.

Those who are interested in the orphan trains and orphanages of the early 20th century will also have a chance to view the PBS series American Experience’s documentary on the orphan trains on Oct. 19. Details of the showing will be announced later this summer.

One Book Bradford will also hold a community discussion of the book on Sept. 19 and is planning a talk on the history of orphanages in the Bradford area.

Funding for Kline’s visit will be provided by the Pitt-Bradford Spectrum Arts Series and freshman seminar.

For more information on Kline or the book, visit www.christinabakerkline.com, which provides book group discussion guides and historical background on orphan trains, including the itinerary for Vivian Daly’s train, which traveled through Buffalo, N.Y., and Erie.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at The Panther Shop at Pitt-Bradford after July 1.

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Melanie Benjamin Visits Bradford

"The Aviator's Wife" author Melanie Benjamin visited Bradford on Tuesday as the culmination of this year's One Book Bradford season. She gave an interesting talk on how and why she became a novelist and the road to becoming published. She was very engaging, funny and insightful and thoroughly entertaining.

Congratulations to the One Book Bradford committee on another successful year.