Summer 2020 Events

• Paul Muldoon

  Poet; Howard G. B. Clark '21 University Professor in the Humanities and Founding Chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University; former Bread Loaf faculty

Virtual Barn: Monday Reading Series

Paul Muldoon presents a reading that is open to the 2020 BLSE Community and BLSE alum community. Introduced by Susan Choi.
 

• Michael Wood

  Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Princeton University; Faculty, Bread Loaf School of English

Middlebury Faculty at Home Series Lecture

Dreams and Deferrals: Listening to Langston Hughes and Toni Morrison

This talk will discuss what we may hear when we listen closely to the work of Langston Hughes and Toni Morrison, paying special attention perhaps to what they don’t say. It will also consider the effect of listening with them, tuning in to some of the unforgettable jazz that gave a title to a Morrison novel, and that was never far away from any of Hughes’ poems. Introduced by Jacques Lezra.
 
Find a recording of this lecture at https://www.middlebury.edu/office/provost/faculty-home.

Trivia Night

My name is Rosie Jayde Uyola and I am ecstatic to host Trivia Night on Saturday, July 11th. In lieu of being under pressure to be the cleverest bear in designing your trivia questions, I thought, “why not open this up to our entire community?” We are creators of knowledge and have collectively read amazing literature and enjoyed special experiences at the Vermont, Oxford, and New Mexico campuses. Let’s use this Trivia Night to celebrate the magic and the people of our community! By us, for us. I am building our trivia game using Kahoot (link to our game will be shared via chat during our Zoom session). Multiple choice, fill in the blank, and true/false questions welcome. 

• Jim Sabin

  Clinical Professor of both Population Medicine and Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Ethics Program

Workshop: Making Ethics Part of High School & Middle School English Class

This workshop will focus on issues of concern to the participants, with special attention to (1) the challenges of teaching on Zoom and (2) teaching in the context of societal concern with systemic racism. Registration is limited to the first 18 participants.

• Cheryl Savageau

  Writer and author; Bread Loaf faculty.

Virtual Barn: Monday Reading Series

Out of the Crazywoods: Cheryl Savageau will be reading from her new memoir, Out of the Crazywoods, about her journey with bipolar/manic-depressive illness. Introduced by Amy Rodgers.
 

• Emma Smith

  Tutorial Fellow in English, Fellow Librarian, and Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford; former faculty and on-site Oxford campus director, Bread Loaf.

Virtual Barn: Elizabeth Drew Memorial Lecture

What Would Shakespeare Do? Plague, Protest and the Plays in 2020

‘What would Shakespeare do?’ is a common reaction to events in the UK and the US: did he write King Lear during quarantine? can Hamlet speak to us about BLM? was Shakespeare a liberal? can male roles be played by women actors in our theatres? to name a few op-eds and tweets from 2020. In this talk I discuss some of the ways in which ‘Shakespeare’ can be mobilised in the present, and identify some features of the plays and their reception that enable these reappropriations. But I also suggest some of the ways in which Shakespeare is the problem, not the answer. We need, in our classrooms, book groups, lecture halls, curricula and theatre programming, to hear and interrogate different voices. Shakespeare’s ‘myriad mindedness’ does not mean his works can effectively ventriloquise all experiences and problems.

Introduced by Emily Bartels.

View the recording at https://vimeo.com/440422250.

• Susan Choi

  Writer; Lecturer in English, Yale University; Bread Loaf faculty.

Virtual Barn: Monday Reading Series

A reading of selections from Susan Choi’s novel Trust Exercise, Winner, National Book Award 2019 for Fiction. Introduced by Michele Stepto.
 

• Amy Hungerford

  Executive Vice President of Arts and Sciences, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University; Bread Loaf faculty.

Virtual Barn: Lecture

Solitude for the Masses: How does solitude become a collective
experience, and what can happen when it does?

Solitude crackles with possibility, though we are tired of it now, perhaps. Crowded solitude is a signal experience of modern life. From visionaries (Sojourner Truth) to ascetics (Thomas Merton) to the depraved (Fleabag) we’ll traverse the crowded world of human solitude.

Introduced by Sara Blair.
 

Forum for Change: Promoting Anti-Racism at Bread Loaf

A conversation on anti-racist action at Bread Loaf; hosted by dean Emily Bartels and associate director Lyndon Dominique.

Participation is limited to the first 20 registrants. Please register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzZWxjUpXbqS72GWn54DvhCRvPleYGhghYSGf8mGojErtOhA/viewform; you will receive confirmation of your registration at a later date, along with a link to participate.

• Craig Maravich

  Program Director of Beyond the Page; Middlebury Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre and company member of the Bread Loaf School of English’s Acting Ensemble.

Middlebury Faculty at Home Series Lecture: Craig Maravich

Beyond the Page: Using Theater to Transform the Classroom

Beyond the Page is a new project at Middlebury College started by The Bread Loaf School of English and led by Craig Maravich. This project partners with professional actors/teaching artists, faculty and students to embed theatre arts practices across the undergraduate and graduate curriculum. This talk will explore how this pedagogy fosters creativity and critical thinking, and has the potential to revolutionize teaching in the liberal arts.

Beyond the Page is the evolution of the Bread Loaf School of English’s Acting Ensemble - a cohort of professional actors that serve as part of the Bread Loaf School of English teaching force. The ensemble collaborates with faculty to bring theater arts practices into educational spaces to catalyze cultural and literary inquiry. Watch a short video documenting the work of the Acting Ensemble by clicking the link above. Beyond the Page is supported by the Office of the Provost and Middlebury’s Performing Arts Council.

Event posted with full details and registration at https://www.middlebury.edu/office/provost/faculty-home.

• Froma Zeitlin

  Charles Ewing Professor of Greek Language and Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, Emerita at Princeton University; Bread Loaf faculty.

Virtual Barn: Lecture

Homer’s Odyssey: A Vicarious Journey in a Time of Home Confinement, introduced by Kate Marshall. 

Please register at https://middlebury.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_p4j2hY6pRS2h48uKukit1g.

• Isobel Armstrong

  Fellow of the British Academy, Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of English Studies and Professor Emeritus of what is now the Geoffrey Tillotson Chair at Birkbeck University of London; Bread Loaf faculty.

Virtual Barn: Lecture

Jane Eyre: Diary of a Teaching Experiment
In 2015, my Bread Loaf class departed from customary ways of reading a text and interpreted Jane Eyre in four ways, through group artwork and installations, through photography (the art form the Victorians invented) and through sound and movement. This lecture is the story of some of our discoveries, our pains and our triumphs.

Introduced by Lyndon Dominique. 

Please register at https://middlebury.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fPST_qiKS4O1KSGWqnMpyg.

• Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble

Virtual Barn: Reading

A reading of Act One of Jane Eyre, adapted by Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble director Brian McEleney, followed by a talkback led by Mary Spence MA ‘12.

Please register at https://middlebury.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wF0qzUkcTX6PWkrIjJB2YQ.

Virtual Barn: Performance

Exploring Poetry through Song with the Moving Star Vocal Ensemble. Introduced by Bob Sullivan.

Please register at https://middlebury.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iuDE0UckQrOoLdmA5dPW8A or watch the livestream at http://www.middlebury.edu/stream3.

Forum for Change: Promoting Anti-Racism at Bread Loaf

A conversation on anti-racist action at Bread Loaf; hosted by dean Emily Bartels and associate director Lyndon Dominique.

Participation is limited to the first 20 registrants. Please register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzZWxjUpXbqS72GWn54DvhCRvPleYGhghYSGf8mGojErtOhA/viewform; you will receive confirmation of your registration at a later date, along with a link to participate.