April 4, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Palmer Hartl is our Quarterback.
April 7, Thursday Luncheon Roundtable – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Speaker is Wilma Theater’s co-artistic director Yury Urnov. His topic—Chekhov Here and Now.
What is relevant about Anton Chekhov’s 1903 masterpiece at the time of this unjust war in Ukraine? Finding a way for The Cherry Orchard to speak about today provides “a perfect example of interpretive theater,” in Yury Urnov’s words. Yury will discuss director Dima Krymov’s work on the upcoming Wilma production “where the director and acting company are co-creating [and] rethinking” this play about an aristocratic Russian family facing the loss of property and power.
Yury Urnov is an internationally recognized theater director and currently one of the Wilma Theater’s three co-artistic directors. Born in Moscow, he graduated from the prestigious Russian Academy of Theater Arts in 2000 with an MFA and had extensive directorial credits in Russia, Europe, and Africa before coming to Towson University in Maryland, in 2009, as a Fulbright Scholar in Residence. He still teaches at Towson and, over the past 12 years, has directed theater productions across the United States, from San Francisco to Washington, DC. In a two-decade affiliation with Baltimore’s Center for International Theater Development, where he is now Associate Director, he has participated in US-East European cultural exchange projects. Since 2014, he has been a member and director of the nationally recognized Woolly Mammoth Theater in DC. Yury has also translated the plays of Edward Albee, Martin McDonagh, and Sarah Ruhl into Russian, and several contemporary Russian plays into English.
April 11, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Roberta Kangilaski is our Quarterback.
April 14, Thursday Luncheon Roundtable – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Speaker is Michael Levy. His topic—Cyberlaw: Privacy Rights in Our Digital Age.
Computer technology and the Internet have both improved and disrupted our world. And in disruptions of our privacy, we’re finding a shortage of shared values to set a course toward problem-solving. It’s hard to maintain online privacy today because so much information is available about us—much of it that we surrender unwittingly in our digital communications and transactions. Michael Levy will summarize technological developments and their impact on privacy rights since the late 1950s. You may be surprised to learn that we have better cyberlaw protections of our privacy against the government than against Silicon Valley.
Michael Levy was chief of the computer crimes section in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for 16 years, prosecuting computer intrusion, computer fraud, theft of trade secrets, counterfeit goods, and federal crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. He now teaches a seminar on cyberlaw as an adjunct professor at Penn’s Carey Law School. Michael also served as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District in 2001 and again in 2009-10. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s office, he worked as a prosecutor for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. During his 50 years of practicing law, 40 of them have been spent as a prosecutor. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Video: To see a recording of this presentation, click on Play Event. Click on the play button at the bottom left of the screen that comes up to see the presentation. Put your computer into full screen mode to get the best image.
April 18, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Matthew McGovern is our Quarterback.
April 22, Friday Club Dinner, starting with cocktails at 5:30 p.m.
Speakers are Ann de Forest and Mickey Herr. Their topic—Is Walking a Subversive Act?
Editor Ann de Forest and essayist Mickey Herr consider that question as they discuss Ways of Walking (New Door Books, 2022), a book of essays that brings together 26 writers reflecting on walks they have taken and discoveries made along the way. Some walk across forbidden lines, violating laws to seek freedom. Some walk to bear witness to social injustice. Still others engage in subtler subversion, forgoing rapid transportation to see what fast travelers miss. These writers become more attuned to place and to layered histories as they walk—and more connected to themselves. In subversion, they make unexpected discoveries. (Publication date is May. Limited copies will be available for purchase.)
Former Innmate Mickey Herr promises also to invoke Christopher Morley, another former Innmate, and the patron saint of Philadelphia-based walking writers! Mickey’s writing often considers connections made in sharing streets, centuries apart, with historical figures. As a contributing writer to Hidden City Daily, she aims to elevate the histories of women. She is currently working on a novel and is coauthor of William Lewis, Esquire: Enlightened Statesman, Profound Lawyer, and Useful Citizen (Diane Publishing, 2012).
Ann de Forest, a California native, has been living and writing in Philadelphia for more than three decades, developing expertise on the urban landscape and focusing on themes of place. She is a contributing writer for Hidden City Daily and editor of Extant Magazine. Her poems, short stories, and essays have appeared in Coal Hill Review, Noctua Review, Unbroken, Hotel Amerika, The Journal, PIF, Cleaver Magazine, and The Best Short Stories of Philadelphia (Toho Press, 2021).
Video: To see a recording of this presentation, click on Play Event. Click on the play button at the bottom left of the screen that comes up to see the presentation. Put your computer into full screen mode to get the best image.
April 25, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Gresham Riley is our Quarterback.
April 28, Thursday Luncheon Roundtable – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Speaker is Esther Hornik, president of the Charlotte Cushman Foundation. Her topic—Charlotte Cushman: The Philanthropic Legacy of America’s First Celebrity Actress.
Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876) was America’s Sarah Bernhardt, the country’s first internationally celebrated actress. Esther will unfold the story of this Mayflower descendant who was adored by theatergoers for her gifts on the stage (Abraham Lincoln included), yet scorned by the public for the scandals of her personal life. Charlotte’s support of other female artists and her connections in Philadelphia left a legacy here, inspiring the creation of a unique charitable foundation. Esther will describe the work of the Charlotte Cushman Foundation and touch on how the world of philanthropy evolves to meet societal changes.
Esther Hornik, president of the foundation, has been a lawyer for four decades, specializing in diverse areas of civil litigation that include civil rights and public interest law, and she has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court. Her activities Philadelphia’s philanthropic community have included board membership and pro bono legal work for such charitable organizations as Women in Transition, the Support Center for Child Advocates, and Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.
Video: To see a recording of this presentation, click on Play Event. Click on the play button at the bottom left of the screen that comes up to see the presentation. Put your computer into full screen mode to get the best image.