Book of Days, a drama by one of America’s premier playwrights that features a cast of current and former UT Dallas students, headlines this week’s UT Dallas arts schedule.

A gallery lecture and a trio of exhibits round out the offerings.

Book of Days by Lanford Wilson

Book of Days, by Lanford Wilson runs  April 4-6 and 11-13. General admission is $15. The play is free to UT Dallas students, faculty and staff who present their Comet Cards at the venue box office the night of the event. Discounts are available to UT Dallas alumni and retirees as well as non-UT Dallas students.

Book of Days opens Thursday, April 4, at 8 p.m. in the University Theatre. The play, written by Lanford Wilson, follows Ruth Hoch, an accountant at the local cheese factory, who has just been cast as the lead in Shaw’s Joan of Arc. When murder roars through her small Missouri town, Ruth embodies the spirit of Saint Joan and begins her own quest to find truth and honesty amid small-town jealousies, religion, greed and lies.

“Wilson examines larger socio-political issues at the micro level. He studies individual relationships, family relationships and community relationships,” said Brad Hennigan, who is directing the show.

Hennigan is a recent graduate of UT Dallas, having received a bachelor’s degree in art and performance in 2008 and a master's degree in art and technology in 2012.

Book of Days runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and April 11-13.

Art Lecture

Also on Thursday, CentralTrak, UT Dallas’ artist residency and gallery, will continue its Next Topic lecture series with a talk from artist Rebecca Carter.

Carter’s holds an master's degree in fiber and material studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in studio/art history and women's studies from Oberlin College. 

Ivin Ballen's work: Failing Flat: Sculptural Tendencies in Painting

Work from Ivin Ballen is on display in the CentralTrak gallery until the end of April.

“My work explores states of intimacy and alienation as they shift through reading, touch, and other states of reception,” said Carter.

Next Topic is a biweekly lecture series that aims to foster critical discussions on contemporary art issues among artists, thinkers, critics and educators across the Dallas and Fort Worth area.

Exhibits

Currently on display in the CentralTrak gallery is Failing Flat: Sculptural Tendencies in Painting,  featuring the paintings of Ivin Ballen, T.J. Donovan, Faith Gay and Shane Tolbert. The show is curated by former CentralTrak resident Nathan Green.

“The artists included in Failing Flat expand and explode painting into three dimensions,” said Heyd Fontenot, the director of CentralTrak.  “By depicting graphic images with sculptural form, these artists create works that exist in a dual state.”

CentralTrak is located at 800 Exposition Ave. in the historic Deep Ellum neighborhood near downtown Dallas. For more information, check the CentralTrak website or call (214) 824-9302. All events are free and open to the public.

Two art exhibits are currently on display on the UT Dallas Campus through April.

Photoworks, a selection of creative work completed by UT Dallas students, is on view in the Mezzanine Gallery in the Visual Arts Building.

The exhibition, curated by Professor Marilyn Waligore, features the work of 13 undergraduate photography students.

Maximum Overdrive curated by Kevin Todora

Nathan Green’s Light-frame construction is up in the main gallery of the Visual Arts Building in conjunction with the exhibition “Maximum Overdrive.”

“Students have explored a variety of themes, such as tableaux imagery that explores human relationships, the connections between memory, landscape, and identity,” said Waligore.

Also on display in the Visual Arts Building is Maximum Overdrive, curated by alumni Kevin Todora BA ’05.

“Maximum Overdrive relies on disembodied forces – an all-out revolt of the machines,” said Todorra of the exhibit, which includes collage, montage and unconventional mediums.

Both art exhibits are free and open to the public.

For information about any event, email utdarts@utdallas.edu or call the UT Dallas Box Office at 972-883-2552 between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Monday–Friday.