Everything Nac

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins play “Everybody” has something for everybody. It’s classic and contemporary, serious and humorous, approachable and accessible yet full of surprises.

Included in this year’s Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre and Dance’s Mainstage Series, “Everybody” is a “multifaceted opportunity for our students and audience,” said theatre Professor Scott Shattuck, the play’s director.

“It’s part classic play, part up-to-the-minute contemporary experimental theatre,” he said. “It treats serious themes but does so in a humorous tone. It’s approachable and accessible, but it’s full of surprises. It also offers lots of opportunities for a very diverse cast in which almost anyone of any race, ethnicity, gender, size, age, etc. can play almost any role.”

“Everybody” runs Feb. 23 through 26 in Kennedy Auditorium on the SFA campus. Like its source material, the medieval morality play “Everyman,” it’s an “allegorical story in which a representative human faces the prospect of imminent death and tries to find a way to avoid or ameliorate the situation,” according to Shattuck.

“In particular, this person, which could be any of us, tries to find someone – a friend, a family member, even an inanimate object – who will accompany them into the afterlife,” he said. The play’s distinctive twist is that, at any given performance, any one of five different actors could play the title role, based on a lottery which also determines what roles will be played by the other four actors in that group.

“Almost all of the actors play multiple roles, or could be cast in different roles at different performances,” Shattuck said. “Some transform before the audience’s eyes from one kind of character to something entirely different. The play is simultaneously emotionally authentic, completely theatrical, and intellectually abstract, and often downright silly. So the acting style needs to be all things to all people.”

As a result, the directors, cast and crew are “inventing a process as we go along,” Shattuck explained. Scenes need to be rehearsed with five different possible actors in various roles. There’s a lot of sound recording technology involved, and the staging needs to use the entire theatre, including the lobby, the audience seating area, the backstage areas and, of course, the stage itself.

But, “Everybody” is not for everybody. Shattuck describes it as “full of irreverent humor with abundant and extreme profanity, so it’s not appropriate for children or anyone sensitive to such language.” It also questions traditional ideas about God and the afterlife, possibly making it offensive to some people with strong religious beliefs. “Nevertheless, we think it will interest and amuse a broad and diverse audience of open-minded adults.”

Typically based on themes like love and hate and life and death, classical plays, like most classical literature, convey themes that are timeless. Such is the case with “Everybody.”

“No matter how old those stories are, they can be told in ways that are fresh and contemporary,” Shattuck said. “And live theatre will never exhaust its potential to surprise its audiences.”

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 23 through 25, and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 25 and 26. General ticket prices are: adult, $15; senior (62+), $10; youth (high school and younger), $8; SFA faculty/staff, $8; non-SFA student, $8; and SFA student, $5. For ticketing information or to purchase tickets, call the Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS, or visit boxoffice.sfasu.edu. For information about the play, call (936) 468-4003 or visit sfasu.edu/theatre-dance.

The student-led Economics Reading Group in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Rusche College of Business is hosting a speaker event with Paul Oyer, author of “An Economist Goes to the Game: How to Throw Away $580 Million and Other Surprising Insights From the Economics of Sports,” at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 21 in the McGee Business Building, Room 133. Oyer will be joining the event via Zoom.

The Mary and Rankine Van Anda Entrepreneurial Professor, a professor of economics, and the senior associate dean for academic affairs at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Oyer also authored “Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Economics I Learned From Online Dating.” His current projects include studies of the gig economy and how people’s backgrounds determine the decision to become an entrepreneur and the success of ventures that they start.

“Paul is a nationally known economist who is highly sought after for speaking events,” said Dr. Ryan Phelps, associate professor of economics and finance at SFA as well as faculty advisor for the Economics Reading Group. “He was recently featured discussing his work on Bloomberg, and now our local community will get a chance to interact with him.”

“An Economist Goes to the Game” explores the following questions and more: Are ticket scalpers good for teams? Should parents push their kids to excel at sports? Why would Michael Jordan, the greatest player in basketball, pass to Steve Kerr for the game-winning shot?

In-person attendance of this virtual speaker event with Oyer is free and open to the public until the room reaches 100-seat capacity. For more information, email Phelps at phelpsrt@sfasu.edu.

The School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University and The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House will present “Dead Souls,” a solo exhibition by Richie Budd showing Feb. 7 through March 24 at Cole Art Center. The exhibition opens with a reception for the artist from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7.

For his exhibition “Dead Souls,” Budd presents new biomorphic sculptures that suggest meaning through shape and sensation. The forms include multi-sensory devices such as Halloween ghost projectors, sound components, fans that distribute the smell of essential oils, popcorn makers popping, and George Foreman grills that allow the artist to cook hotdogs. Through these sculptures Budd hopes to entice an affective encounter for gallery visitors that cultivates their future memories. The artist’s intention is to “coax a S.E.E. (Significant Emotional Event) in the immediate now, causing a direct link between the reference structure of the memory and the experiences in the future.”

Budd’s new works are part of his continuing study of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a model of communication and psychotherapy that considers patterns of behavior and lived experience – essentially “how we create one’s own subjective reality and how brains have mechanisms in place to help people communicate in particular ways.” Budd is interested in hypnosis as a means to uncover the power of the unconscious mind and how this works with the help of human senses. In this context, he explains, his sculptures function as a type of sensory tool as he investigates how people organize and communicate their thoughts.

“Dead Souls,” Budd’s exhibition title, is a reference to Nikolai Gogol’s Russian novel of the same name – a novel known for its satire and reflection on moral behavior. Gogol describes various social encounters between Chichikov, the social-climbing main protagonist, and a vast array of characters; their interactions navigate the past and present, the living and the dead. “Dead Souls’ is also a title of a song on Joy Division’s 1988 album “Substance.”

Budd lives and works in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and is best known for creating performances, sculptures and installations involving the five senses. He has exhibited nationally and internationally including solo exhibitions “Dumpster Dive,” Chelsea Mini-Storage, New York (2015); and “Performance/Residue: Schläger,” Triangle Arts Association, New York (2012). Group exhibitions include “Julmarknad,” Galleri SE Konst, Falun, Sweden (2015); “Schläger performance” at Hands On An Art Body with Homecoming Committee, Oliver Francis Gallery, Dallas (2012); and “The American performance,” VideoKonstFestival, Magasinet, Falun, Sweden (2011). In 2008, Budd was an artist-in-residence at Artpace, San Antonio, with curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, and received critical acclaim in international press for his collaboration with Will Robison titled “C’mon Guy” at Scope Art Fair in 2011. In addition to exhibiting his work, Budd has also taught studio art including appointments at Texas Christian University, Finnish Academy of Art, Helsinki, Finland, and the Bergen National Academy of Arts, Bergen, Norway. Budd holds a BFA in painting and drawing from the University of North Texas and an MFA in sculpture from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is also a licensed trainer and coach of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. For more information about the artist, visit instagram.com/richie_budd_art.

“Dead Souls” is part of “Persona,” a touring exhibition organized by the Art Galleries at Texas Christian University.

Admission to the exhibition and reception, which is sponsored in part by William Arscott and the Friends of the Visual Arts, is free. The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House, SFA’s downtown art gallery, is located at 329 E. Main St. Gallery hours are from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, call (936) 468-5500.