Theme Guides to selected programs from the Fall 2008 Visions & Voices program were created in partnership with USC Libraries faculty and staff. Look for recommended books and readings on the people, performances and topics covered by these events. Visit the current season of: USC Visions and Voices; view the 2008-2009 season's brochure. Photo: Holly Burt from Los Angeles, CA, "Campus View", University of Southern California, CC BY 2.0 Eye for Eye: A Dramatic Investigation of Incarceration and Justice in American Society (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) October 2, 2008 The Cornerstone Theater Company presents two events based on Eye for Eye, the newest play in their five-part Justice Cycle. In the afternoon, an open rehearsal will invite audience participation and questions about the play and the company’s process. Following the evening performance, Ruth Wilson Gilmore will moderate a discussion with Cornerstone members and people affected by the California prison system.Additional topics in guide: Retribution, George Sanchez, Imaginingamerica.org; Guide creator: Anthony Anderson, Sue Tyson. Vote Film 2008 (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) October 2, 2008 - November 4, 2008` Join us for a series featuring films and speakers exploring the intersections of politics and media and their impacts on us as filmmakers, film viewers and citizens. Organized by Brenda Goodman (Cinematic Arts)Additional topics in guide: Issues, fraud, elections research, candidates; USC Libraries Contributors: Anthony Anderson, Felicia Palsson, Katharin Peter, and Dace Taube. Madama Butterfly (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) October 5, 2008 LA Opera performs Robert Wilson’s production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Additional topics in guide: Anthony Minghella; Guide creator: Ross Scimeca. Scoring the Past: Exploring the Origins of Musical Imagery (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) October 10, 2008 Following a lecture and video presentation, this concert features the USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia in a performance of programmatic music by Monteverdi, Biber, Farina and Vivaldi, with silent films and their corresponding cinematic scenes. Organized by Adam Gilbert, Peter Mancall, and the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and USC Thornton School of Music.Additional topics in guide: Renaissance, Baroque; Guide creator: Ross Scimeca. What Happens When Art Collides with Its Society: A Lecture by James Conlon (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) October 13, 2008 In this lecture, Conlon will explore how compositions and performances were affected by the rise of Nazism and the events of World War II and identify parallels in societies around the world today. Organized by the USC Thornton School of Music.Additional topics in guide: Nazi censorship, degenerate art; Guide creator: Ross Scimeca. Connecting the Senses: Phantasmagoria: Music of Clouds, Fog, Smoke, Absence, Loss and Death (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) October 21, 2008 First in the USC Fisher Museum Exhibition Concerts: Pianist Victoria Kirsch is joined by fellow USC instrumental and vocal alumni exploring the genre of vocalise (songs without words) in a program of works including compositions by Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Olivier Messiaen and Ottorino Respighi and . Additional topics in guide: Shadow, illusion, Katherine Goar; Guide creator: Judy Truelson. Queer Cabaret: Phranc and My Barbarian (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) October 24, 2008 Phranc and the art/performance troupe My Barbarian present Non-Western, a new “historiographic fantasia about L.A. in the 1840s.” Organized by Richard Meyer and David Román.Additional topics in guide: Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon, Alexandro Segade, John Kelly, Le Chat Noir; Guide creator: Ross Scimeca. Black on Black (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) October 27, 2008 On the 40th anniversary of its premiere after the South Los Angeles riots, Saltzman will screen and discuss his Emmy Award–winning documentary and how conditions have changed for African Americans over the past four decades. Organized by the USC Annenberg School for Communication.Additional topics in guide: Joe Saltzman, Geoffrey Cowan, Félix Gutiérrez, Michael Preston. Millennials, Religion and the 2008 Election: Generation “Next” Votes: Does Faith Matter? (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) October 29, 2008 A panel of student leaders will answer question about how their values, use of technology and worldviews could change the direction of American politics, bcoming a “swing vote” in the election. Organized by Don Miller, Diane Winston and the Center for Religion and Civic Culture.Additional topics in guide: Candidates, social media; Guide creator: Felicia Pallson. The Tokyo String Quartet Residency (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF)November 3, 2008: The Playing Field: Music and Athletics (Workshop with Chris Carlisle)November 5, 2008: The Musical Mind (Workshop with Antonio and Hanna Damasio of the USC College Brain and Creativity Institute)November 5, 2008: Creativity in Arts Reporting (with Tim Page)November 6, 2008: Culminating Seminar and Finale Performance Organized by Midori Goto.Additional topics in guide: Martin Beaver, Kikuei Ikeda, Kazuhide Isomura, Clive Greensmith, symphony; Guide creator: Ross Scimeca. Apollo [Part 3]: Liberation (a work in progress) Written and Directed by Nancy Keystone (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) November 5, 2008 Apollo explores the U.S. space program, its relationship with German rocket scientists and the civil rights movement. Part 3 centers on Huntsville, Alabama, in the 1960s. Organized by the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.Additional topics in guide: Critical Mass Performance Group, Nazi Rocketry; Guide creators: Nancy Keystone, Judy Truelson. Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) November 6-9, 2008 Based on The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally, Our Country’s Good is a portrait of the resilience of the human spirit. Winner of a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Foreign Play, this drama recounts the true story of the prisoners of the first British penal colony in late-1780s Australia who organized into a theater company in the midst of great hardship.Additional topics in guide: Australian history,; Guide creator: Anthony Anderson. Napoli! The System, the Camorra and the Pizza: Breaking the Stereotypes (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) November 14-16, 2008 In 2007, Gomorrah, a true-crime exposé on Napoli, Italy, by Roberto Saviano captured the attention of the whole country. Panel discussions will examine the novel, a recent film adaptation by Matteo Garrone and other recent cinematic representations of the region, alongside receptions featuring traditional Neapolitan cuisine. Organized by the USC School of Cinematic Arts and cosponsored by Fondazione Azzurra and Roma Film Fest.Additional topics in guide: Naples, Camorra, Campania, San Carlo Opera; Guide creator: Ross Scimeca. The MET: Live in HD: La Damnation de Faust (Theme Guide: Research Guide - PDF) / (Theme Guide: Resource Guide - PDF) November 22, 2008 Robert Lepage directs and James Levine conducts Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, starring Marcello Giordani, Susan Graham, and John Relyea. This new production was reconceived in collaboration with Ex Machina for the Met, based on a coproduction of the Saito Kinen Festival and Opéra National de Paris. USC Thornton School of Music hosts a discussion prior to the broadcast.Additional topics in guide: Hector Berlioz; Guide creator: Ross Scimeca.