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The School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University and The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House will present “Oil Can Tremolo,” a solo exhibition by Kris Pierce 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.

Pierce investigates the dynamic between virtual and physical identities. He considers how basic emotional aspects of human experience, such as love, fear and sorrow, are presented through modes of communication and interaction through technology. More particularly, he is interested in how individuals identify and position themselves through creative means as a type of reinvention, allowing them to exist as a different person in the digital realm. “Perhaps this is the way they wish to be in real life? Is this an aspirational or dissociated behavior?” the artist asks.

For his exhibition “Oil Can Tremolo,” Pierce presents new multimedia works that explore virtual identity through a real-time gathering of sources from social media platforms including Twitter and TikTok. Concerned with how people project and perceive their own reality, Pierce reflects on the role of avatars in video games and also the trend of main character syndrome – a TikTok phenomenon where people imagine and act out scenarios playing the “main character” in a fictionalized version of their lives. Pierce’s works ask us to consider how aspects of self-assurance and confidence are understood in American culture, and how technology has the potential to transform healthy individualism into a type of harmful narcissism.

Alongside his multimedia works, Pierce presents large paintings employing a retro-cartoon style reminiscent of American comic design from the 1950s and ’60s. Portraying a range of businessmen types, the artist invokes stereotype to draw attention to aspects of interpersonal communication; small signifiers that point to class, aspiration and social mobility. “This glance back serves as a thoughtful reminder that identity is a social construct, regardless of how or when it is mediated,” according to the artist.

Based in Fort Worth, Pierce has exhibited internationally and nationally in museums, galleries and public spaces in solo and group exhibitions including at the Hiroshima Art Center, Japan; CICA Museum, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea; Gallerie Se Konst, Falun, Sweden; Reunion, Zurich, Switzerland; Circuit 12 Contemporary, Dallas; Blue Star Contemporary, San Antonio; The Old Jail Art Center, Albany, Texas; The Dallas Museum of Art; RL Window, Ryan/Lee, New York City; and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art / The Momentary, Bentonville Arkansas. Pierce received a BFA in studio art from the University of North Texas, Denton. Visit www.krispierce.com for more information about the artist.

“Oil Can Tremolo” 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.

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.