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Broadway's Mean Girls @ AADL
The stars of the Broadway smash hit Mean Girls discuss their experiences appearing on Broadway in Tina Fey’s Tony-nominated musical.
Ann Arbor native Ashley Park (Gretchen) is joined by her fellow U-M alums Taylor Louderman (Regina) and Erika Henningsen (Cady) for this special evening.
Ashley Park received Tony, Drama League, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, & Chita Rivera nominations for her role as Gretchen in Mean Girls. Her Broadway credits include the roles of Tuptim in Lincoln Center’s The King and I (Grammy nomination), Sunday in the Park With George , and Mamma Mia! Off-Broadway credits include the role of Mwe in KPOP (Lucille Lortel Award Winner; Drama Desk & Drama League nominations). Ashley is also featured in Tales of the City on Netflix. She was the recipient of the Actor Equity Association’s 2018 Clarence Derwent Award.
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"Locomotive/Brilliant Corn" | Miles Okazaki
Miles Okazaki is the first artist to record all of Thelonious Monk's music on a solo instrument. In this concert he will be presenting selections from his 2018 album "WORK," a five-hour performance of the complete compositions of Thelonious Monk for solo guitar, praised by critic Nate Chinen as “an act of immersive scholarship and exhaustive scope. . . a singular achievement,” and selected by the New York Times as one of the best albums of 2018, a “monumental statement of devotion.”
Check out the Pulp interview with Miles Okazaki.
Okazaki has released four albums of original compositions over the last 12 years; he has taught guitar and rhythmic theory at the University of Michigan for five years.
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Author Event | Bryan Thao Worra
Experience "Before We Remember We Dream"—a performance from the new book of Lao American speculative poetry by Bryan Thao Worra, a 2019 Joyce Fellow and a 2009 National Endowment of the Arts Fellow in Literature.
Bryan Thao Worra's latest collection draws on over 30 years of writing in the Midwest and around the world, covering diverse subjects from CIA Secret Wars to growing up Asian American on the outskirts of Ann Arbor, meditations on Southeast Asian ghosts and mythology, Blade Runner, Buddhist monks and modern romance. And an occasional dinosaur or two.
Bryan Thao Worra is a Minnesota-based writer and the author of over 6 books. The President of the international Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, he holds over 20 awards for his writing and represented the nation of Laos as a Cultural Olympian during the 2012 London Summer Games. He was appointed by the Governor of Minnesota to the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans to advise the state legislature and has presented work for the Smithsonian, the Minneapolis Institute for Art, San Diego Comic Con, the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and the national Southeast Asian American Studies Conference, among others.
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Nerd Nite #49 - Living in a Cyberpunk World
Cyberpunk was everywhere in the 1980s. It started in science fiction, but it influenced fashion, movies, comics, games, advertising, and architecture. After a decade of high-tech, neon-colored, future-looking pop culture, cyberpunk just…went away. Or did it? Could cyberpunk stories still be with us, hiding in plain sight?
About Alex: Alex Kourvo loves books. She writes them, reviews them, edits them, and teaches other people how to write them. She is the author of numerous short stories and the forthcoming “Detroit Next” series of near-future thrillers. She edits books for Fifth Avenue Press and helped start the Emerging Writers Workshop at the Ann Arbor District Library, where she teaches monthly classes for new writers. You can find Alex online at AlexKourvo.com or follow her @AlexKourvo.
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Nerd Nite #47 - Solar Eclipse 2017
HEY, DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE ECLIPSE? Oh, you did? But what do you REALLY know about the eclipse that passed through the US in 2017, causing waves of eclipse fever (not an actual disease, more a case of lunacy). Luckily, Nerd Nite brought in Jennifer German, our friendly NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador, to tell us all about how the eclipse works and how everyone can make sure their eyes work after viewing one. Get enlightened on the darkness with this entertaining talk!
About Jennifer German: She is currently a mother of 2, a lead software engineer at a SAAS startup, and a hopeless space geek. She first became interested in 2nd grade while her class learned about the Challenger mission (before the explosion). She remembers being out in a corn field in the wee hours of the night looking for Hailey's comet. She's followed Hubble since it launched when she was 11, despite not having the internet, and followed the construction of the International Space Station since she did her Physics term paper on enclosed eco-systems in High School. She interned at Biosphere 2 for the best Summer of her life during college. She builds every space exploration inspired Lego set she gets. She tells everyone who'll listen about the newest planetary news. She points out constellations and passes on tips for identifying stars, and not stars, to any who ask. She has set up a library telescope on her street a number of times and asked neighbors if they want to see the planets with her. Now she's working on sharing her space hobby with larger, pre-organized, groups.
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A2CAF 2017: Shakeups Dance Party
Your favorite Steven Universe/My Little Pony themed band, The Shake Ups, rocked the Library during the 2017 Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival!
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Nerd Nite #42 - Time Traveling Vikings: Or, the many layered subgenres of romance novels
Within the romance genre there are dozens of subgenres, some well known, some very unknown. Most people can name a few – contemporary, historical, or paranormal for example. Some people have even heard of Amish romance, westerns, or Highlanders. This talk isn’t about any of those. It’s about the subgenres that almost no one’s heard of, the time-traveling Viking romances that we never knew we were missing.
About Celia Mulder: She is a first-year Masters student at the University of Michigan's School of Information. She happens to be a huge romance fan but she honestly can’t tell you what her favorite book is, there are just too many. In addition to reading the smutty stuff, she writes it too.
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Nerd Nite #39 - Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie
Frontier life in the 1870s was hard and the massive prairie held endless dangers – aside from the harsh elements, the grueling work, and the salt pork-heavy diet. This is the sinister side of Little House on the Prairie – the true story of a family of serial killers targeting pioneers on their way out West.
About Sara: Sara Wedell is a production librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library and a Nerd Nite Ann Arbor Co-Boss. She knows it’s not cool to love Laura Ingalls Wilder, BUT SHE DOES IT ANYWAY. #sunbonnetsquad
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Nerd Nite #30 - Twitterbot Says Vote!
There are 90,000 registered voters in Ann Arbor. Most don’t vote. I built a Twitter bot that matched voter names to Twitter accounts, then sent reminders to vote in local elections. Learn more about the problem, the project, and how it worked!
About Sam Firke: Sam is a data analyst at an education nonprofit and a former high school math teacher. He’s active in local politics, makes things, and raises a couple of small nerdlings. He’s involved with the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild (aabg.org) and you can find him on Twitter at @samfirke.
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Kids Read Comics 2015: The Shake Ups in Ponyville Concert
Put your magical horns and wings on for the greatest pony-themed power pop band in all of Equestria!