September 11 – September 17
The Originals!
Mason School of Theater
Friday, September 15 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, September 16 at 2 and 8 p.m.
TheaterSpace, Fairfax Campus
Tune in for an evening of original new works featuring Mason School of Theater’s talented student playwrights and students. The Originals! offers Mason’s creative artists the chance to share their work in a variety of forms. Whether it’s a musical or the traditional ten-minute play structure, explore the brilliant imaginations of our students as they present this year’s Originals!
Ukulele Workshop: Hum and Strum
Veterans and the Arts Initiative
Saturday, September 16 at 11 a.m.
Central Library in Manassas, VA
Have you always wanted to try the ukulele, or do you want to refresh your skills? You’ll strum along to well-known songs while learning basic chords. Designed for adult beginners (but enjoyable for musicians of all skill levels!), bring your own ukulele or try one of ours for a one-hour workshop with Glen McCarthy, guitar and ukulele instructor for the Veterans and the Arts Initiative at George Mason University. Open and FREE to Veterans, Servicemembers, military family members, and military caregivers.
September 18 – September 24
Visual Voices with Jen White-Johnson
Mason School of Art
Thursday, September 21 at 4:45 p.m.
Virtual via Zoom
Jen White-Johnson is an Afro-Latina disabled and neurodivergent art activist, designer and educator whose visual work explores the intersection of content and caregiving with an emphasis on redesigning ableist visual culture. As an artist-educator with Graves disease and ADHD, her heart-centered and electric approach to disability advocacy bolsters these movements with invaluable currencies: powerful, dynamic art and media that all at once educates, bridges divergent worlds, and builds a future that mirrors her Autistic son’s experience.
Ukulele Workshop: Hum and Strum
Veterans and the Arts Initiative
Saturday, September 23 at 11 a.m.
Potomac Library in Woodbridge, VA
Have you always wanted to try the ukulele, or do you want to refresh your skills? You’ll strum along to well-known songs while learning basic chords. Designed for adult beginners (but enjoyable for musicians of all skill levels!), bring your own ukulele or try one of ours for a one-hour workshop with Glen McCarthy, guitar and ukulele instructor for the Veterans and the Arts Initiative at George Mason University. Open and FREE to Veterans, Servicemembers, military family members, and military caregivers.
Voctave
Saturday, September 23 at 8 p.m.
Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall
Voctave invites you to experience the delightful harmonizing of musical arrangements from some of your favorite hit Broadway musicals, Disney films, and jazz standards. By cultivating an enormous following of loyal devotees, this swoon-worthy ensemble has amassed 150 million views of their videos and garnered multiple chart-topping songs and albums on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify. Boasting an impressive five-octave range and nine chart-topping albums, Voctave’s 11 members possess a wealth of diverse musical experiences from musical theater, contemporary Christian music, barbershop, pop, and choral music.
September 25 – October 1
Mason Wind Symphony & Symphonic Band Concert #1: “FUSION”
Dewberry School of Music
Tuesday, September 26 at 8 p.m.
Center for the Arts
The Mason Wind Symphony opens the 2023-24 performance season with its first concert titled FUSION, celebrating the unique ways artists draw inspiration from different sources to create a masterpiece that goes beyond its parts. Featured works in this concert include Scott McAllister’s Black Dog featuring Reva and Sid Dewberry School of Music Director of Woodwinds and Professor of Clarinet, Dr. Kathleen Mulcahy inspired by the music of Led Zeppelin and Yasuhide Ito’s Gloriosa, a symphonic poem fusing Gregorian chant and Japanese folk music. The Mason Wind Symphony is excited to welcome the Fairfax Wind Symphony, a Fairfax, VA-based community band directed by Stan Schoonover, to share the Center for the Arts stage for this season opener.
Kritikos Anti-Racist Reading Group
Mason School of Art
Fridays, September 29–November 10 from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Online
Inspired by mass actions and worldwide protests demanding racial justice, CVPA’s Arts in Context continues the Kritikos Anti-Racist Reading Group this semester, moderated by Mason faculty members Jessica Kallista and Kristin Johnsen-Neshati, with help from co-organizers, Cynthia Fuchs, Jordan McRae, and Sang Nam. Members of the community meet for a 90-minute session once a week with a goal of long-term commitment to relationship building, awareness, reimagining, transformation, and action, around anti-racist practices, racial justice, and the creation of conversations as well as systems of compassion and healing. We continue to focus on anti-Black racism and its effects on society. Grounded in the knowledge that it is not a question of whether we are racist, but rather, how racism is expressed and experienced in ourselves, our lives, our behaviors, and our institutions, we explore books, music, art, essays, podcasts, and documentaries that allow us to critically question and consider our roles as artists, thinkers, citizens, and creatives in a society founded on racist values and practices. (Open and free to the public)
2023 ARTS by George!
Saturday, September 30 at 5 p.m.
Fairfax Campus
This annual benefit event supports student scholarships at George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, Mason Community Arts Academy, Green Machine Ensembles, and the Great Performances at Mason season at the Center for the Arts. ARTS by George! has raised more than $2 million since it began in 2006. The evening begins by showcasing the remarkable talents of Mason students alongside a delicious buffet dinner and drinks and culminates with a performance by Renée Elise Goldsberry in the Center for the Arts.
Renée Elise Goldsberry in Concert
Saturday, September 30 at 8:30 p.m.
Center for the Arts
Tony-, GRAMMY-, and Emmy Award-winning star of stage and screen Renée Elise Goldsberry takes centerstage as the 2023 ARTS by George! headliner in a dazzling concert featuring Broadway hits and American songbook classics. “A sparkplug of musical wit and vitality” (The New York Times), Goldsberry is best known for her award-winning portrayal of Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton. In addition to her Broadway appearances, audiences will also recognize her for many television roles on shows including One Life to Live, The Good Wife, Girls5eva, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Eco-Graphic Arts Workshops
Veterans and the Arts Initiative
Sunday, October 1 from 1 to 3 p.m.
Sunday, October 8 from 1 to 3 p.m.
Hylton Performing Arts Center, UVA Health Rehearsal Room
Eco-Graphic Arts uses portable art-making as a catalyst for creating shared understanding. Objectives are to use tools and materials to create artwork through which participants can process their personal experiences. Techniques include: silk screen printing, eco-printing from plant materials and natural ink making. Patrick Sargent, a USAF Veteran, artist, and adjunct faculty in George Mason University’s School of Art guides participants through these practices. Locally sourced natural materials such as plants and organic matter are used in this workshop. Plant materials will be bound together with various handmade and commercial papers, then cooked to transfer the pigments and shapes to the paper. The second workshop includes creating artwork and drawings on the paper using inks also made from local materials. The handmade paper that will be provided is made by cutting donated clothes then processing it into paper pulp from which hand-formed sheets are produced. This workshop series is FREE and open to Veterans, Servicemembers, and military family members; children ages 12 and up may participate alongside their parents. Space is limited.
Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel: Glorious Impromptus of Chopin and Schubert
Sunday, October 1 at 2 p.m.
Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall
Welcome back Jeffrey Siegel for the return of Keyboard Conversations® with a program featuring Impromptus that are among the most beloved in the piano repertoire. In Glorious Impromptus of Chopin and Schubert, Siegel invites you into the 19th century to discover these compositions. Hear the backstory to the featured pieces and then enjoy Siegel’s performance of the full works including Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66 and his Impromptu in A-flat major, Op. 29, as well as Schubert’s Impromptu in F minor and his Impromptu in A-flat major, both from Op. 142.
October 2 – 8
Veterans Virtual Guitar Workshops, Level I
Veterans and the Arts Initiative
Tuesdays*, October 3–December 12 from 7 to 7:50 p.m.
*Note: the Tuesday, November 28 workshop has been moved to December 12.
Online via Zoom; registration required
Have you always wanted to try the guitar, or do you want to refresh your skills? Musicians of all skill levels are invited to participate in a 10-week series of virtual lessons with Glen McCarthy, guitar instructor for the Veterans and the Arts Initiative at George Mason University. If you have played guitar before, see the requirements for Level II to determine which level is best for you — you are also welcome to participate in both Level I and Level II. If you plan to attend both levels, please indicate this on the registration form. These virtual workshops take place Tuesday evenings and are FREE to Veterans, Servicemembers, military family members, and military caregivers.
Veterans Virtual Guitar Workshops, Level II
Veterans and the Arts Initiative
Tuesdays*, October 3–December 12 from 8 to 8:50 p.m.
*Note: the Tuesday, November 28 workshop has been moved to December 12.
Online via Zoom; registration required
Do you play the guitar and are looking for tips to improve your technique? Musicians of all skill levels are invited to participate in a 10-week series of virtual lessons with Glen McCarthy, guitar instructor for the Veterans and the Arts Initiative at George Mason University. If you are proficient with the four skills listed on the website, (or are almost there) join us for Level II! You are also welcome to participate in both Level I and Level II. If you plan to attend both levels, please indicate this on the registration form. These virtual workshops take place Tuesday evenings and are FREE to Veterans, Servicemembers, military family members, and military caregivers.
Virginia Opera: Siegfried
Saturday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 8 at 2 p.m.
Center for the Arts
Reenter the fantasy realm of gods, heroes, and an epic quest for true love in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (the “Ring” cycle) with Virginia Opera’s production of Siegfried. The most lighthearted of the four epic operas tells of Siegfried’s journey into adulthood with remarkable orchestral scene painting sprinkled with moments of humor. Infused with Wagner’s ingenious short musical themes (leitmotifs) to weave together the tale, this is a must-see event in Virginia Opera’s grand multi-year experience. Sung in German with English surtitles.
October 9 – 15
Mason Symphony Orchestra Concert: Fall 2023
Dewberry School of Music
Wednesday, October 11 at 8 p.m.
Center for the Arts
The Mason Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Soo Han, is comprised of outstanding string, wind, and percussion players from throughout the School of Music.
Visual Voices with Aimee Beaubien
Mason School of Art
Thursday, October 12 at 4:45 p.m.
Virtual via Zoom
Aimée Beaubien is an artist living and working in Chicago. Beaubien reorganizes photographic experience while exploring networks of meaning and association between the real and the ideal in collages, artists books and immersive installations. Her work has been exhibited widely, including SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX; Gallery UNO Projektraum, Berlin, Germany; Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY; Virus Art Gallery, Rome, Italy; Demo Projects, Springfield, IL; The Pitch Project, Milwaukee, WI. Aimée Beaubien is an Associate Professor of Photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL where she has taught since 1997.
Coco in Concert
Friday, October 13 at 7 p.m.
Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall
Disney and Pixar’s award-winning film, Coco, thrills the whole family when shown with a 20-piece Latin music ensemble performing the soundtrack live in Coco in Concert. The movie follows 12-year-old Miguel, an aspiring musician who wants to take the stage and astonish crowds like his musical idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. The music from the film includes the 2018 Oscar-winning Best Original Song “Remember Me” by Frozen songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and make new family memories this year with Coco in Concert.
Best of Film at Mason Showcase at Washington West Film Festival
Film at Mason
Saturday, October 14 at 11 a.m.
Off-Campus Location: ShowPlace ICON Theatre at 1667 Silver Hill Dr., McLean, VA 22102
This year’s Best of Film at Mason Showcase will be included in the Washington West Film Festival lineup on Saturday, October 14th from 11:00am-1:00pm at the ShowPlace ICON Theatre (1667 Silver Hill Dr., McLean, VA 22102). This event is open to the public but tickets are required. Best of Film at Mason is a showcase of recent notable and award-winning films. This year’s program captures student work ranging from documentary filmmaking, fiction film directing, and senior thesis films.
JAZZ4JUSTICE: Celebrating the Legacy of Anthony Maiello
Dewberry School of Music
Saturday, October 14 at 8 p.m.
Center for the Arts
In our 22nd annual Jazz4Justice we will team up with Legal Services of Northern Virginia to continue our mutual mission to do good in the community. We are honored to have Distinguished Professor of Music Anthony Maiello as our special guest conductor. We will also perform several of Professor Maiello’s arrangements for Jazz Ensemble including “The George Mason Shuffle.” Established in 2001 by Fairfax, VA attorney Edward L. Weiner, Esq. and Founder of Mason Jazz Studies, Jim Carroll, Jazz4Justice™ is an award-winning annual concert presented by Legal Services of Northern Virginia (LSNV) and Mason Jazz Studies. Jazz4Justice™ is a truly unique event where attorneys, judges, students, and members of the Northern Virginia community gather to celebrate their love of jazz. Proceeds from the evening benefit LSNV to continue its mission of service to the Northern Virginia community as well as providing financial support for the Mason Jazz Studies department for scholarships, trips, recordings and student projects.
Improv for Military Kids
Veterans and the Arts Initiative
Sundays, October 15 –November 5 from 1 to 3 p.m.
Online via Zoom; registration required
Join us for a four-week virtual series designed for military kids and teenagers to learn improv skills in a virtual, collaborative environment led by Mason Community Arts Academy and the Veterans and the Arts Initiative at George Mason University. Participants will create short scenes, situations, and characters, while focusing on listening, teamwork, and thinking on their feet! Taking inspiration from classic improvisation, these theater games and activities are great fun for experienced students – or those who might like to explore acting without a script! Improvisation classes are a great opportunity for getting up and moving, thinking strategically, and creating a community among fellow classmates. Students may need to use simple household objects for some activities and should have a quiet room for class with space to move. Cordless headphones/earbuds are preferable if used, whenever possible.
This workshop series is FREE and open to military kids between the ages of 9 and 12. Space is limited.
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood LIVE: King for a Day!
Family Series
Sunday, October 15 at 2:30 and 5:30 p.m.
Center for the Arts
The hugely popular Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood LIVE!, based on the #1 PBS Kids TV series, has delighted live audiences on stages across the country. Now, in its fourth year of touring, your favorite characters are hopping back on board Trolley and coming to Fairfax with Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood LIVE: King for a Day! The beloved characters come alive on stage to captivate you with new songs to sing along to, magical moments, and surprise guests along the way! (Recommended for all ages)