America's Largest Catholic Newspaper
The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture’s fall and winter programming for the 2016-2017 season will feature a thought-provoking lineup of theater, film, music, poetry, art and discourse that will look to build on the center’s successful debut season this past year.
The Sheen Center, located at 18 Bleecker St. in Lower Manhattan, will host evening panels and discussions including “Saints of New York,” a discussion with Cardinal Dolan and others on the many Catholic saints who have lived in New York City, on Saturday, Oct. 8; and Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as he talks about and screens an episode from his upcoming new series, “Catholicism: The Pivotal Figures,” on Dec. 3.
Author Robert Ellsberg will speak about his newest book, “Blessed Among Us: Day by Day With Saintly Witnesses,” on Wednesday, Sept. 28. Ellsberg returns for “A Few of My Favorite Saints: Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Today Part 1.” The first event in the series, on Wednesday, Nov. 30, will introduce audience members to St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Blessed Charles de Foucauld, Flannery O’Connor, Servant of God Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.
Other events will include the inaugural Albacete Lecture on Faith and Culture, honoring the late theologian Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete, by Dr. Remi Brague of The Sorbonne, on Saturday, Oct. 22; and Father George Drance, S.J., on his new play, on Tuesday, Dec. 6.
A special 50th anniversary screening of the Academy Award-winning film “A Man for All Seasons” will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 9, as well as advance screenings of the National Geographic Channel’s documentary “Pope vs. Hitler” on Thursday, Sept. 1, and The World’s Smallest Army: The Swiss Guards in the Time of Pope Francis, on Wednesday, Oct. 19.
Special events include a memorial celebration for Father Rick Curry, S.J., the founder of the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped, on Wednesday, Oct. 5, and the first Fulton Sheen Day to celebrate the life and work of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on the 37th anniversary of his death, Friday, Dec. 9.
Other highlights include “Brian Dennehy on Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller and Samuel Beckett,” an evening of performance and conversation moderated by Anne Cattaneo, on Friday, Sept. 16; special advance film screenings featuring conversations with stars and creative team members, including 2016 Sundance Award-winning “The Birth of a Nation,” with Nate Parker, who wrote, produced and directed the film, on Monday, Oct. 3, and “Capital Punishment in the Year of Mercy: A Talk with Sister Helen Prejean,” author of “Dead Man Walking,” which was later developed into a major motion picture, on Tuesday, Nov. 15; “All Falls Down: An Evening of Poetry” with poetry sensation Sarah Kay, Anis Mojgani and others on Saturday, Sept. 10; a stage production of “Gorey: The Secret Lives of Edward Gorey,” in which three actors simultaneously play the enigmatic artist and writer, Dec. 14-23 and Jan. 3-14, 2017; multiple concerts with “Broadway Inspirational Voices,” curated by Michael McElroy and featuring Marva Hicks and Clarke Thorell, on Mondays, Jan. 23 and 30, 2017; and “Is Anybody Listening? Gospel and Pop to Rock the Soul,” a series of inspirational musical events about “the big issues” facing the planet, featuring Angela Robinson, Angela Grovey, The Jenny Burton Experience, Julia Wade and the music of Tony Award nominee Peter Link, from Sept. 22 to Oct 4.
Many of the most popular series and artists of the inaugural season will return. The next installment of “Kate Baldwin and Friends,” a concert series curated by the Tony-nominated actress, will be “The Music of Georgia Stitt,” featuring Tony Award winner Annaleigh Ashford and Emmy Award nominee Tituss Burgess on Sunday, Sept. 18. Irish fiddler Eileen Ivers will present a Christmas concert on Wednesday, Dec. 14, and pianist Anthony DeMare will perform on Tuesday, Dec. 13.
The Sheen Center’s second season will also feature new series, including “Storyented: Raymond Arroyo in Conversation with Amazing Storytellers,” featuring the EWTN host and New York Times bestselling author along with successful and creative storytellers, beginning on Sunday, Oct. 2; and a series of free public readings of new plays such as “Daylight,” a one-woman play about Dorothy Day by Father Bill Cain, S.J., and the much anticipated first full reading of Martyna Majok’s “Queens.”
The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, named after Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who was best known for his popular radio and TV ministry in the 1950s and 60s, is a project of the Archdiocese of New York. Its mission is to showcase works in the performing and visual arts, lectures and symposia that highlight the true, the good and the beautiful as they have been expressed throughout the ages.
The full listing of the center’s 2016-2017 fall and winter season events can be found at www.sheencenter.org/events
