readings

POETRY AT RADCLIFFE. Twelve renowned women poets will gather on Saturday to celebrate four decades of fellowship at Radcliffe. The poets, all former Bunting Institute or Radcliffe Institute fellows, include such acclaimed writers as Maxine Kumin and Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric Jorie Graham. Readings by these two and Mary Karr intersperse panels on “The Use of Poetry” and “The Fellowship of Poetry.” Saturday, April 12 at 10 a.m. Free. First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden St., Cambridge. For more information call (617) 495-8600. (ABM)

speakers

ZADIE SMITH. Smith, a Radcliffe Institute fellow whose debut novel White Teeth earned her the Whitbread First Novel Award and comparisons to Salman Rushdie, will discuss the morality of the novel. The talk is sponsored by the Radcliffe Institute. Monday, April 14 at 4 p.m. Free. Agassiz Theatre, Radcliffe Yard, 10 Garden St. (BJS)

theater

REAL INSPECTOR HOUND/BLACK COMEDY. This doubleheader of serious comedies offers up Tom Stoppard (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead) and Peter Shaffer (Equus, Amadeus) at their funniest. The plays operate within the conceits of the dramatic and artistic spheres, respectively, in order to highlight the contrasts between illusion and reality, the unseen and the visible. Both plays tinker with theatrical conventions to create an evening of non-stop hysterics. Through Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $8, $5 for students and seniors, $4 for Adams House residents, available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Adams House Pool Theatre, 13 Bow St., Cambridge. (ABM)

STOPOVER. Emily Carmichael ’04 is the writer and director of this new play about young women in Paris in love, set to be performed for the first time this weekened in the Loeb Ex. With just twenty-four hours in which to explore the fabled city, the four protagonists taste absinthe, play paintball, see the sights (both the art in the Louvre and those who have come to watch it), get robbed and undergo emotional upheavals. Through Saturday, April 19 at 8 p.m. Free; tickets available at the Loeb Box Office. Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge. (ABM)

CHESS. In this season’s Mainstage rock musical, two master chess players and a woman caught between them face off in their pursuit to understand the ever-shifting alliances in love, life and politics. With lyrics by Tim Rice and a score by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA, Chess was originally inspired by Cold War politics and its effects on the lives of everyday people, played out through the metaphor of a chess game. The musical also offers a darker glimpse at the realities we avoid and the stories we invent, while “we go on pretending stories like ours have happy endings.” Through Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $12, $8 for seniors and students. Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge. (MC)

THE SORCEROR. The Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players promise to transform the Agassiz Theatre into the parodied Victorian England of The Sorceror. The duo’s first full-length operetta, also known as “The Elixir of Love,” follows “John Wellington Wells, a dealer in magic and spells” as he causes mayhem with his love potions in true Gilbert and Sullivan style. Though the show pokes fun at the outdated Victorian values of its time, the fresh and lighthearted score can still charm and entertain modern audiences. Through Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $12 in advance, $10 at the door, $8/$6 students, seniors and children, $4 with Harvard ID; matinees: tickets are $10 in advance, $8 at the door, $6/$4 students, seniors and children. Patrons making a donation receive two tickets: $40, friend; $70, donor; $100, benefactor; $150, sponsor, available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Agassiz Theatre, 10 Garden St., Cambridge. (MC)

TWELFTH NIGHT. The Quincy House Drama Society presents Shakespeare’s most gender-bending farce this weekend. In this tale of drowning and deception, two twins, Viola and Sebastian, take center stage after a shipwreck leaves them separated from each other on a foreign island. The only work of Shakespeare with an alternate title—Or What You Will—the romance abounds with questions of identity and self-determination. Feste the Clown, among other characters, provide wonderful comic relief in a play that is predominantly concerned with philosophical questions. Through Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m., Sunday, April 13 at ? p.m. Tickets $8, $5 students, available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Quincy House Dining Hall, Plympton St., Cambridge. (ABM)

music

HARVARD-RADCLIFFE COLLEGIUM MUSICUM. The Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, Harvard’s premiere co-ed choir, under conductor Jameson Marvin, will be performing “Gems of American Choral Literature,” a series of secular masterworks of contemporary British and American composers. The evening will also feature guest choir the Columbia Collegium Musicum. Friday, April 11 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18/$14 general; $9/$7 for students (two per ID) and senior citizens. Available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Sanders Theatre. (MC)

BEYOND RECALL: THE PROGRESSIVE TRADITION IN JAZZ. With the support of the Office of the Arts comes the Harvard Jazz Bands with guest artists Dave Douglas on trumpet, Roswell Rudd on trombone, Charles Kohlhas on saxophone, Barry Altschul on drums and Brad Jones on bass. The musicians will be performing works by Herbie Nichols, Mary Lou Williams, Thelonious Monk, Dave Douglas, Roswell Rudd, in addition to original works by Harvard students. Jazz Programs at Harvard were founded in 1971 to recognize significant contributors to jazz and to bring the genre to the general public. Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $15 general; $8 for students and senior citizens. Available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Wheelchair accessible. Sanders Theatre. (MC)

BRATTLE STREET CHAMBER PLAYERS SPRING CONCERT. Harvard’s premiere chamber music group will be performing this Saturday in Paine Hall. Pieces include Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia No. 9 and Britten’s Variations on a theme by Frank Bridge. The players will also be perfoming Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto No. 5, featuring Sonya Chung ’03 and Brian M. Seeve ’03 and Professor of Mathematics Noam D. Elkies. All proceeds from the show will go to the Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment Summer Program. Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets $8 general; $6 for students (two per ID) and senior citizens. Available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Paine Hall. (MC)

THE YING QUARTET. Chosen as the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence for 2001-3, the quartet will play a diverse set of works by Brahms, Barber, Rorem and Yi. Three brothers and a sister, they began playing chamber music in the rural town of Jesup, Iowa in 1992, and since then have won the Naumberg Chamber Music Award and with it international fame. Friday, April 11 at 8 p. m. Free and open to the public with passes available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. Tickets expire at 7:45 p.m. Limit two per person. For tickets on the day of the concert instead call (617) 495-9859. Paine Hall. (JPC)

dance