Hancher Auditorium will host two free public events featuring Combat Paper co-founder and Iraq War veteran Drew Cameron in Iowa City on Monday, March 19, leading up to Hancher’s production of the opera My Lai on March 21.
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Little Village - Monday, March 19, 2018
The Daily Iowan - Thursday, March 8, 2018
Charles Swanson attended the UI in 1972 during Hancher’s first season. Now, he continues Hancher’s legacy of providing exquisite artistic performances to audiences, while also creating important connections and sentiments for the organization’s future.
Press Citizen - Friday, February 23, 2018
For this story, an attempt to rank the 45 "greatest" Hancher events, I've sifted through countless old Iowa City Press-Citizen news clippings, dived into the Hancher archives of old programs at UI's Special Collections in the Main Library, interviewed six different Hancher employees and reviewed 45 years of attendance statistics.
Daily Iowan - Thursday, February 22, 2018
The shuffling of shoes down the dimly lit aisles of an auditorium molds feelings of excitement and perhaps a bit of claustrophobia all into four words: It’s almost show time. What wonders from the corners of the world will be on display for the audience today? Hancher has rolled up its sleeves, and from the East, presents the Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan, a dance company from across the Pacific that also has ties to the University of Iowa.
“The company’s founder, Lin Hwai-min, came to the university to take part in the International Writing Program and then enrolled in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop,” said Rob Cline, the Hancher director of marketing communications. “While he was on campus, he took a dance class, and it changed his life. He graduated from the university in 1971 and founded Cloud Gate in 1973. The work the company will dance here, Formosa, is apparently his last performance-length piece of choreography. He plans to retire from Cloud Gate in 2019.”
The Gazette - Thursday, February 22, 2018
Matt Manuel grew up around the corner from Hitsville, Motown’s first headquarters in Detroit, but he was raised on gospel, not the new sound sensation.
He wasn’t even born until eight years after Marvin Gaye’s death in 1984. But every night, Manuel slips into the soul of Gaye’s shoes for the national tour of “Motown The Musical,” coming to Hancher Auditorium from March 1 to 4.
The Gazette - Thursday, February 8, 2018
A trumpeter, santur player, vocalist and composer, Amir ElSaffar is steeped in classical and jazz traditions while also bringing the microtones and ornaments of Arabic music into play. He also is a practitioner of the endangered Iraqi maqam music, which influences both his playing and composing. His band, Rivers of Sound, features 17 musicians who blend Eastern and Western music, using fluid rhythm and pitches to create a transcultural soundscape. Tonight’s concert is part of Hancher’s Embracing Complexity initiative, designed to build understanding of contemporary Islamic cultures and Muslim identity
The Daily Iowan - Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Pianist and composer Billy Childs, and his music’s rhythmic soul with undertones of jazz, will be welcomed at Hancher along with his quartet. They will play in Strauss Hall on twice each on Friday and Saturday.
Childs has been a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and, as of Sunday, is a four-time Grammy winner with his album *Rebirth* winning Best Jazz Instrumental Album. He will play music described by Hancher as grounded in the classical but also innovating rhythmically.
Daily Iowan - Friday, January 26, 2018
Camille A. Brown has dedicated her career to creating choreography and dance exploring culture, social justice, and African-American narratives.
She will talk about her creative process, thoughts, and experience today at 7:30 p.m. in Hancher’s Strauss Hall. The discussion, originally part of the Creative Matters Series, is free and open to the public.
Brown is the lead choreographer of her company, Camille A. Brown and Dancers. She is also a 2016 Guggenheim fellow, Broadway choreographer, and community-based dance instructor.
Little Village Mag - Thursday, January 25, 2018
Dancer and choreographer Camille A. Brown, a 2016 Guggenheim fellow, has had work commissioned by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women and more. This Saturday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m., she presents ink, an original Hancher commission. The piece is the third in a trilogy about identity. The first two parts, Mr. TOL E. RAncE and BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, likewise explored black culture and identity.
Daily Iowan - Thursday, January 25, 2018
Ink uses a blend of everyday movements and traditional African dance to create a powerful display of African-American empowerment. Camille A. Brown, the creator of ink, roams around the stage with a mix of pedestrian-like motions and displays of modern-dance mastery. At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Hancher will welcome Brown and her dance company as they perform Ink, the third and final installment of a dance series focused on African-American identity; the first two being Mr. TOL E. RAncE, which was performed in 2012, and BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, débuted in 2015.