Film Director Whit Stillman to Show, Discuss Metropolitan, April 28

Chestertown, MD, April 25, 2006 — Acclaimed American filmmaker, Whit Stillman, will show and discuss his film, Metropolitan, Friday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. at Washington College. The showing will take place in the Casey Academic Center Forum. The event is free and open to the public.

An American independent filmmaker, Whit Stillman established himself in the 1990s as an auteur of distinctively talky and thoughtful comedy-dramas. Though intrigued by film and TV production, he found himself in a training program at Doubleday where he was rotated between various departments before ending up in editorial. Stillman went on to become executive editor of a daily world news summary, while writing freelance fiction and journalism. He entered the film industry in the early 1980s as a foreign sales representative for Spanish films. Stillman often appeared in these features in small comic parts as quirky or obnoxious Americans.

In 1989, Stillman made his first feature, Metropolitan, a low-budgeted yet highly polished portrait of Manhattan's east-side debutante set. Deftly observed and gently satirical, the film was a hit on the festival circuit, earned Stillman a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination, and grossed an impressive $3 million. It also attracted the attention of Hollywood in the form of Castle Rock Pictures. The top brass expressed interest in funding Barcelona (1994) while giving the neophyte filmmaker creative control and final cut. Castle Rock provided $4 million for Barcelona, another droll, dialogue-driven character study. Inspired in part by Stillman's surprise over his Spanish friends' hostile reaction to the 1982 hit An Officer and A Gentleman, the film detailed the personal and political misadventures of a mismatched pair of American cousins in post-Franco Spain.

Whit Stillman's visit is sponsored by Washington College's C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and Rose O'Neill Literary House.

Using Biology Against Bioterrorism: 2006 Sigma Xi Lecture, April 27

Chestertown, MD, April 25, 2006 — Joany Jackman, Ph.D., Senior Scientist at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the 2003 recipient of the Homeland Security Award in the field of Emergency Response, will deliver the 2006 Sigma Xi Lecture, on Thursday, April 27, at 4:30 p.m. in the Litrenta Lecture Hall of the John S. Toll Science Center. In her talk, "Using Biology Against Bioterrorism," Dr. Jackman will focus on the how scientists have come to use the natural enemies of pathogens to combat their effects.

Dr. Jackman, who holds a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Vermont, began working in the area of infectious disease at U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease in 1997. She has become a recognized leader in the development of rapid pathogen identification, including methods to analyze breath for markers of infection. This technology uses proteins and lipids secreted by the host in response to pathogens in the lungs to detect signs of infection prior to the appearance of symptoms. This technology will allow rapid triage of individuals at the scene of a potential bioterrorism attack and emergency medical personnel to focus their resources on the most seriously ill individuals for rapid and early treatment. This technology, once fully developed, will reduce the impact of bioterrorism by improving the outcome and treatment of exposed populations.

The April 27 talk is sponsored by the Washington College Chapter of Sigma Xi and is open to the public. The topic is of general interest and will be delivered at a level that is understandable by non-scientists and scientists alike.

National Trust President Richard Moe to Give Keynote Address at Chestertown History Weekend, April 21

Chestertown, MD, April 17, 2006 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience joins the Historical Society of Kent County, Kent County Heritage Trust, Kent County Arts Council, and Kent County News to welcome Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as the keynote speaker to kick off Chestertown History Weekend, Friday, April 21, at 5:30 p.m. at the Prince Theatre, 210 High Street.

Moe will discuss the importance of preserving the Eastern Shore's rich historic heritage and the region's unique landscape in the face of the formidable threats and challenges presented by development pressures and creeping suburbanization. The event is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

"The Upper Eastern Shore has been called 'America's last great colonial landscape'," says C.V Starr Scholar and historian Adam Goodheart, who helped to organize the History Weekend's events. "But this rich legacy could be squandered before we pass it on to future generations. Historic preservation is about more than just a few fancy colonial houses in Chestertown. It involves protecting the rural landscapes and farms that make the Upper Eastern Shore such a distinctive region with a deep connection to our nation's past."

Since 1993, Moe has led the National Trust for Historic Preservation—the nation's largest preservation advocacy organization—in its mission to save America's diverse historic places and to create more livable communities for all citizens. He is the co-author of Changing Places: Rebuilding Communities in the Age of Sprawl and author of The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers. A graduate of Williams College and the University of Minnesota Law School, as well as the 1998 recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Maryland, Moe has been widely acclaimed as a frontline leader in the nationwide battle against suburban sprawl.

Chestertown History Weekend, a program of lectures, panel discussions, exhibitions, film screenings, and musical performances at various locations in the downtown historic district, will be held Friday, April 21, and Saturday, April 22, to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Chestertown's founding in 1706. For more information about the weekend's events, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu, or contact Kees de Mooy, Program Manager of the C.V. Starr center, at 410-810-7156.

Piano Virtuosa Inna Faliks Closes 2005-2006 Concert Series, April 29

Chestertown, MD, April 13, 2006 — The 2005-2006 Washington College Concert Series will close with a performance by the renowned pianist Inna Faliks, Saturday, April 29, at 8 p.m. in the Tawes Theatre, Daniel Z. Gibson Performing Arts Center. Single tickets can be purchased at the door, $15.00 for adults and $5.00 for youth 18 and under.

Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks gave her debut with the Chicago Symphony at age 15 playing Tchaikovsky's Concerto # 1. Since then she has performed recitals and concerti in the United States, France, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, and Japan, under the batons of Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart, Edward Polochick, Stephen Alltop, Anne Harrigan, Jed Gaylin, Jason Love, Thomas Joiner, Phillip Simmons among others.

Called "a delight to hear" and "warmly poetic" by Baltimore Sun critic Phil Greenfield, Faliks is a top prize winner in many competitions including the 2005 Pro Musicis International Award, Saint Charles International Piano Competition, International Hilton Head Piano Competition, Val Tidone International Piano Competition in Italy, National Federation of Music Clubs Competition, Yale Gordon Competition at Peabody Conservatory, and the Yamaha National Competition. She has also performed chamber music with musicians from the Chicago Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, and the Israel Philharmonic.

Faliks is currently in a doctoral program with Gilbert Kalish at SUNY-Stony Brook and is pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale in Imola, Italy, with Boris Petrushansky She earned a Graduate Performance Diploma and a masters degree at the Peabody Conservatory with Leon Fleisher and Ann Schein.

Baltimore Sun's Michael Sragow Discusses the Film Criticism of Mid-Century American Master, James Agee, April 26

Chestertown, MD, April 12, 2006 — Washington College's Richard Harwood Lecture Series in American Journalism and the Sophie Kerr Committee present "James Agee: The Great American Film Critic," a lecture by Michael Sragow, film critic for The Baltimore Sun,Wednesday, April 26, at 4:30 p.m. in the Hynson Lounge. The event is free and open to the public.

A prolific reviewer and essayist whose work has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, including Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and The San Francisco Examiner, Sragow is the editor of the critically acclaimed two-volume collection of the writings of James Agee. Sragow's talk will examine the boundless energy, lacerating wit, and moral perception that Agee brought to film criticism, reinventing the genre and helping to establish him as one of the most commanding and unique literary voices of America at mid-century. In 1944 W. H. Auden called Agee's film reviews "the most remarkable regular event in American journalism today." Those columns, along with much of the movie criticism that Agee wrote for Time through most of the 1940s, were collected by Sragow for Agee on Film: Reviews and Comments, published by Library of America.

Washington College's Harwood Lecture Series in American Journalism was established to honor the distinguished career of late Washington Post columnist and ombudsman Richard Harwood, who served as a trustee and a lecturer in journalism at the College. Recent speakers in the series have included such political and media figures as Karl Rove, Howard Dean, Robert Novak, David Broder, John McCain, James Carville, Judy Woodruff, Al Hunt, Mark Shields, and Paul Gigot.

In Step with Spring: WC Dance Company in Concert, April 20-22

Chestertown, MD, April 10, 2006 — The Washington College Dance Company presents its annual Spring Dance Concert, April 20-22, in the College's Tawes Theatre. Directed by Professor Karen L. Smith, the Concert will kick off the beginning of International Dance Week and commence with a performance at 1:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 20, with a special matinee for local school children. Following performances are Friday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 22, at 1:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend, and a $1 donation is welcomed. For information, call the Washington College Dance Program at 410-778-7237.

A raffle will also be held for a chance to win a basket of coupons to local businesses and restaurants. Tickets for the raffle cost $1 and can be purchased during all three performances. The winner will be drawn at the end of the final performance.

This year's program will feature a variety of dance styles—ballet, modern, jazz, Nepali, hip hop, lyrical, and tap—performed by more than thirty students. "Since the beginning of the year, we have been practicing two hours a day, five days a week," says senior Mari Takeuchi. "It's so exciting to have the chance to showcase all of our hard work and the talents of such amazing, dedicated dancers."

Ensemble dances include Le Jazz Hott!, It's Raining Men, and Feeling Good, choreographed by Shannon McCully; Starry Night, choreographed by Hilary Sama; Fairytale, Tainted Love, Dream, and1, 2 Step, choreographed by Lindsey Webster;Khutta Tandai Gara, choreographed by Shrijana Puri; Hip Hopping Machines, choreographed by Alicia Moore; The Olde Headboard,choreographed by Amanda Boutwell; Where Is Your Heart?, choreographed by Lauren Thomas;Call On Me, choreographed by Carol Landis and Rachel Loose; and Walk This Way, choreographed by Liz Jenkins. Ten solos and duets will also be performed under the choreography of Jenn German, Barbara Harrington, Carol Landis, Rachel Loose, Shannon McCully, Lindsay Merhige, Shrijana Puri, Hilary Sama, Karen Lynn Smith, Lauren Thomas, and Lindsey Webster.

Performers in the Spring Dance Concert are seniors Shannon McCully, Liz Jenkins, Carol Landis, Mari Takeuchi, and Rachel Stahm; juniors Amanda Boutwell, Justine Hendricks, Rachel Loose, Lindsay Merhige, Carli Mitchell, Alicia Moore, Hilary Sama, and Lindsey Webster; sophomores Carimanda Baynard, Rachel Calhoun, Laura Connelly, Julie Converse, Ashleigh Genevich, Jenn German, Barbara Harrington, Katie Himmelberger, Diane Swenson, Shrijana Puri, Sarah Pierson, and Meredith Weaver; and freshmen Melissa Ackerman, Aubrey Bemis, Gillian Bourassa, Marielle Latrick, and Lauren Thomas.

Search for Lost Tockwogh during Washington College's Summer Field School in Archaeology, May 22-June 30

Chestertown, MD, April 7, 2006 — Washington College's Department of Sociology and Anthropology will again hold a six-week summer archaeological field school from May 22 to June 30, 2006. The eight-credit program—open to both college students and adults—will focus on survey techniques, including survey design, mapping, surface collection techniques, remote sensing, and data management.

In addition, students will search for the site of Tockwogh, a palisaded Indian village visited by Capt. John Smith on his 1608 exploration of the Chesapeake Bay, while participating in all phases of an ongoing survey effort in Kent County, Maryland, to ground-truth and refine a GIS-based predictive model for site locations on the Eastern Shore.

"The field school will give students in-depth, hands-on experience in archaeology," said program director John Seidel, associate professor of anthropology and environmental studies at Washington College and an expert on Maryland archaeology, underwater archaeology, and historic preservation. "The lessons will be practical and applied, not only through our search for Tockwogh, but through other excavations at 17th century sites in Anne Arundel County, through the Lost Towns Project."

The course will be taught by Darrin Lowery, lecturer in anthropology and staff archaeologist, Professor Seidel, and other staff of the Washington College Public Archaeology Laboratory. The course meets five full days a week, Monday through Friday. No previous course work or experience in field archaeology is necessary.

Interested students are encouraged to apply early. Limited housing on the Washington College campus may be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Students must enroll in ANT 296 Sections 10 and 11 Archaeological Field Study. Each section carries four credits. Tuition for the eight-credit program is $2,500, excluding housing costs. For more information and registration forms, contact Professor Seidel at 410-778-7756 or jseidel2@washcoll.edu. Information can be found at Washington College's archaeology web page,http://archaeology.washcoll.edu.

Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts and sciences college located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it is the first college chartered in the new nation.

Living Waters, Still Life: The Chesapeake Photography of Mike Price on Exhibit, April 20-May 7

Chestertown, MD, April 6, 2006 — Washington College's Center for the Environment and Society, the Joseph H. McLain Program in Environmental Studies, and Department of Art present "Chesapeake Bay: Livings Waters, Still Life," a photography exhibition of the works of Mike Price, April 20 through May 7, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at the Custom House, 101 S. Water Street, Chestertown. Opening reception to be held 5-8 p.m. on Thursday, April 20. The event is free and open to the public.

British-born Mike Price traveled the world as a wildlife documentary filmmaker before making Maryland's Eastern Shore his home. Throughout his travels to exotic locales and his close encounters with some of the world's wildest creatures, Price also indulged his passion for the captured moment. His pursuit of the perfect photo has yielded a stunning collection of more than 10,000 still images of the world's richest natural treasures and the flora and fauna of the earth's vanishing wilds. Since his retirement from filmmaking in 1995, he has focused his lens on the Chesapeake Bay in all its subtleties and splendor. "Living Water, Still Life" is his traveling exhibition of the moments and fleeting scenes captured by patience and his camera, evoking the dance of light, water, and wings that reveal the soul of the Chesapeake Bay.

Price's documentary films have appeared worldwide on networks including the BBC, PBS, and locally on Maryland Public Television. A committed environmentalist with a passion for the Chesapeake, Price believes we must bring a greater sense of urgency to all efforts to counter the threats to the Bay's ecosystem. "Our utilization of the Bay as a source of recreation, seafood pantry, transient receiver of sewage and industrial wastes, shipping channel, and settling pond for fertilizers and herbicides has taken its toll. If the legacy to our grandchildren is not to be a lifeless ditch, now is the time for renewed efforts, creative solutions, and realistic funding to clean it up—along with demonstrations of public support that can be parlayed into action by governing bodies." As "Living Waters, Still Life" reveals, Price's "naked agenda of affection for the planet" has become a personal passion to preserve the Bay's unique magnificence.

For more information or directions, contact the Center for the Environment and Society at 410-810-7161.

Lonesome West Closes WC Drama Department's Spring Season, April 7 & 8

Chestertown, MD, April 5, 2006 — Washington College's Drama Department presents "Lonesome West," a senior thesis directed by Joe Gates and written by Martin McDonagh, Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8 at 8 p.m. in the College's Tawes Theatre. No reservations are required and the public is invited to attend. For show information, call 410-778-7835 or e-mail drama_tickets@washcoll.edu.

Set in the remote Irish village, a modern day Cain and Abel—portrayed by students Chris Tinsman and Tim Helmer—share their continuous hatred for their town and each other in this contemporary black comedy. Every petty argument between the two brothers erupts into violence, as Father Welsh, priest of the local parish, tries to tame their tempestuous relationship.

"Despite the violence and tragedy that runs through the town, it is still a community with the possibility for love and hope," Gates says. "McDonagh's play is a striking monument to how sacred life truly is and how humans adapt to deal with the gravity of death."

Aaarrrgh! The Barbary Pirates and American Independence in the Atlantic, Talk April 12

Chestertown, MD, April 4, 2006 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and Sultana Projects, Inc. present, as part of the 2006 Maritime Lecture Series, "The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World," a lecture by historian Frank Lambert, Purdue University, Wednesday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hynson Lounge.

While Europe's privateers and brigands such as Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, and Jean Lafitte garnered more name recognition, the state-sponsored Barbary pirates of Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, and Tripoli proved a real threat to the United States in the early 19th century. For the petty states of North Africa, piracy was all about business, and Lambert will discuss how America's earliest conflict with the Arabic world was always a struggle for economic advantage and free trade in competition with European powers rather than any clash of cultures or religions.

"Pirates who were hired by many countries, especially in times of war, were businessmen and capitalists of every background searching for a profit in the Atlantic Ocean," Lambert notes. "Governments armed pirates' ships and directed the pirates to attack ships of other warring countries. America even hired its own pirates to disrupt British trade ships during the War of Independence."

Lambert specializes in American Colonial and Revolutionary Era history and is the author of numerous books, including The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World(Hill & Wang, 2005), James Habersham: Loyalty, Politics, and Commerce in Colonial Georgia (Georgia, 2005), The Founding Fathers and The Place of Religion in America (Princeton, 2003), Inventing the "Great Awakening" (Princeton, 1999), and 'Pedlar in Divinity': George Whitefield and the Transatlantic Revivals, 1737-1770 (Princeton, 1994).

The talk is sponsored by Washington College's C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and Chestertown's Sultana Projects, Inc., which operates the reproduction 1768 Schooner Sultana and conducts educational cruises and outreach programs to promote a greater appreciation for the Chesapeake Bay's history and environment. The C. V. Starr Center opened in 2001 as an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history. Drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown, the Center is dedicated to exploring the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture.

Visit the C. V. Starr Center online at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.