Included in this series are The Insanity of Mary Girard by Lanie Robertson, The Couple by Nicholas Walge, Edge of Ross Island by E. M. Lewis, Godspeed by George J. Bryjak, and The Princess: An Urban Fairytale by Helen Wagner. Each one act play portrays different characters who undergo their own unique forms of betrayal, heartache, and drama. The plays collectively hold common themes of relationships and misfortune. As unforeseen problems occur, the audience has the opportunity to observe how each main character responds to the events.

The Insanity of Mary Girard tells the story of a woman put into an insane asylum by her husband because she was unable to fulfill her marital duties according to society. The Couple introduces a husband and wife whose relationship becomes rocky after giving their child up for adoption.  Edge of Ross Island is about a Portland cop that struggles with her own demons after she fails to stop a man from committing suicide. Godspeed depicts a daughter who struggles to tell her religious mother that she has been sexually abused by a reverend. The Princess: An Urban Fairytale is a comedy about an African-American mother who tells her daughter about her childhood though flashbacks.

Mary Baldwin College graduate students, undergraduate students and male actors from the Staunton community collaborate to make this series a success.

Please join us for what promises to be a thrilling production, with five plays for the price of one, all in less than two hours. Show times are 7:30 p.m. May 8–May 11 and 2 p.m. May 12. Tickets are $7 for students and seniors and $12 for general admission. To reserve tickets, call the MBC Box Office at 540-887-7189 or go online to www.mbc.edu/arts/theatre. The Box is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, starting on May 1.

For more information contact Terry Southerington, 540-887-7192.

Proof tells the story of Catherine (played by Tiffany Waters), who has left her own mathematical studies to care for her father Robert (played by Dan Stott), a mathematical genius who has descended into mental illness. His former student Hal (played by Clarence Finn) finds a significant new proof among his otherwise rambling notes. But who is the author? Catherine must deal with a burgeoning relationship, a domineering sister (played Mary Katherine Mahoney), and her own fears of following in her father’s mental and academic footsteps while she tries to stay in control.

The MBC production is directed by Theatre Department Chair Terry Southerington, who describes it as “a very moving  play. It is an ensemble piece, and we have a great cast who is truly involved in the play’s relationships, its moments of laughter, and its moments of tears.”

Performances are 7:30 p.m. April 3–6 and 2 p.m. April 7 in the Fletcher Collins Theatre, Deming Hall, Mary Baldwin College. Tickets are $12 for adults, $7 for students and senior citizens. For reservations call 887-7192, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or visit www.mbc.edu/arts/theatre.

“In the course of my conservation career, I have discovered that conservators have a privileged relationship to art; we can see and touch it and sometimes transform it, in a good way, to what it was originally like,” Weil said.

Scientific advances in examining art have enabled conservators to study how an artist worked on a particular painting. Under high magnification, a painting’s under-drawings, structure, and layers come into view. Conservators are then able to see how the artist changed his mind while working, how he did something other than what he originally planned, Weil explained.

“Technical art history, which is a fairly new field, is the most wonderful way to teach and relate people to art in ways that were previously not possible without current scientific techniques,” she said.

An important part of Weil’s approach is studying materials and, through that study, fostering viewers’ ability to appreciate art. In a class she teaches at Smith College in Massachusetts, students make paint and handle materials to emulate old master’s techniques, so that they understand by doing.

“You see with new eyes if you have an understanding of the materials,” Weil said.

At Mary Baldwin, Lundy Pentz, associate professor of biology, and Sara Nair James, professor of art history, are teaching an honors colloquium this semester on technical art history, based on the seminar they attended in summer 2011 at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. Weil was a presenter at the 2011 seminar, and she will be a guest teacher at Pentz and James’s class next Wednesday.

“Phoebe is coming because courses such as ours are so new and so rare,” James said.

Weil specialized in the technical examination and treatment of large-scale outdoor bronze sculptures. She worked on “Statue of Freedom” atop the United States Capitol, statues on Monument Avenue in Richmond, and sculptures in New York City’s Central Park. She and her colleagues developed new ways to treat outdoor statues — the type of art that the public most often sees — to prevent deterioration and restore beauty.

Weil is internationally renowned in her field and has worked on projects in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy, among other countries. She is co-director of the Northern Light Studio, where she teaches classes in historic painting and drawing techniques and promotes education in technical art history. She was awarded the James Marston Fitch Residency at the American Academy in Rome in 2007 and returned to the academy as a visiting scholar in 2008. In 1973, she became director of the Sculpture Conservation Laboratory of the Center for Archaeometry at Washington University in St. Louis. She received a bachelor of arts from Wellesley College and a master of arts in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. In addition to her work in art conservation, she is also an ordained Episcopal priest.

Weil’s lecture, “The Hidden Life of Art,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. on March 26 in the James D. Francis Auditorium on the third floor of Pearce Science Center at Mary Baldwin. It is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 540-887-7009.

Kilburn is recognized as being among Canada’s most gifted artists and has maintained a successful career spanning the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Europe, and Asia.  Reviewers have been unanimous in praising his outstanding technical abilities and artistic temperament. John Lambert of Spectator Magazine wrote, “Kilburn … is a powerhouse player infused with musicianship and taste. Pianism of this caliber is rare, indeed.”  His more than a dozen tours of Japan have included solo and chamber recitals, along with guest teaching engagements in and around city centers such as Tokyo, Sapporo, Kushiro, Hamamatsu, Koga, Kobe, and Tamba. In addition, he has toured in China, was a visiting professor at Xinghai Conservatory in Guangzhou, recently performed an eight-concert tour of Costa Rica, and has appeared with numerous orchestras throughout the U.S. and Canada. A busy recording artist, he has released several solo CDs, as well as a recording in collaboration with his father, noted cellist Michael Kilburn. He also performs regularly with his wife, soprano Yoko Shimazaki-Kilburn.

The Sunday Recital is at at 3 p.m. on March 24 in Francis Auditorium in the Pearce Science Center on the Mary Baldwin College campus. Tickets may be purchased at the door and are $5 for the general public and $4 for seniors and non-MBC students. (MBC students attend free of charge.) For more information call 540-887-7294 or visit www.mbc.edu/arts/musicatmbc.

“I’m really excited to be performing with Lise Keiter,” said Wilson. “While we worked together several times before when she soloed with the WSO, this will be our first collaboration in a chamber music setting, exploring the great works for piano and violin.”

Their appealing program includes something for everyone, from Beethoven’s delightful “Spring” sonata to the passionate C Minor sonata of Edvard Grieg.  They will also play the Suite from Much Ado About Nothing, a charming work by Erich Korngold, an Austrian composer known for his Oscar-winning film music. Rounding out the program is Fritz Kreisler’s Tempo di Minuetto.

Wilson serves as string section commander for “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, in addition to his work as music director of the Waynesboro Symphony. He also has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and he appeared on HBO as a member of the orchestra that supported the “We Are One” concert, which began the 2009 inaugural week of President Barack Obama. An extremely versatile musicians, he has been a violin soloist with such legendary artists as Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, Renée Fleming, Bernadette Peters, and Randy Travis, and The Washington Post praised his “pristine melodic lines,” “showering virtuosity,” and “impassioned” playing.

Keiter has performed throughout the United States and in Europe, maintaining a very active schedule as both a soloist and chamber musician.  Her most recent appearance with the Waynesboro Symphony was in October of 2011, as the soloist for Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D Minor, and she will join the WSO again in February of 2014.  Her latest concert engagements have taken her to Illinois, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Idaho, West Virginia, Maryland, and throughout Virginia.  She is on the faculty at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, where she currently serves as music department chair. She is also in demand as a guest lecturer and masterclass clinician and maintains a studio of high school students, which has included many competition winners.

All Sunday Recitals are at 3 p.m. in Francis Auditorium on the third floor of Pearce Science Center on the Mary Baldwin College campus.  Tickets may be purchased at the door: $5 for the general public and $4 for seniors and non-MBC students. (MBC students attend free of charge.) For more information call 540-887-7294 or visit Music at MBC.