From our friends at the National Steinbeck Center...
The National Steinbeck Center Partners with NPR and the Smithsonian to Celebrate Steinbeck’s Classic Novel and its Modern Day Relevance
A flurry of national attention has made 2014 the year of the John Steinbeck revival. The National Steinbeck Center continues the nationwide dialogue with two special events in the nation’s capital.
Thursday, April 24 at 7 p.m., the Center, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Associates, presents “Steinbeck on Stage: The Grapes of Wrath at 75.” The program takes place in the Ring Auditorium at the Hirshhorn Museum, 700 Independence Avenue SW, Washington D.C.
A panel discussion will feature writer-director Frank Galati of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, who created the Tony Award-winning stage version of The Grapes of Wrath. He will be joined by actress Lois Smith, who played Ma Joad in the Steppenwolf production, Michael Donald Edwards, artistic director of Florida’s Asolo Repertory Theatre, and National Steinbeck Center scholar-in-residence Susan Shillinglaw. They will discuss the novel’s portraits of human perseverance in the face of injustice. The moderator is Elda Rotor, editorial director of Penguin Classics.
Tickets are $20-$25 and available online at smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing.
On Friday, April 25 at 7 p.m., the National Steinbeck Center will host a program in collaboration with NPR. It features the three artists who participated in The Grapes of Wrath Journey, which retraced the route the Joad family took in the classic American novel. Filmmaker P.J. Palmer, playwright Octavio Solis and writer/artist/historian Patricia Wakida will discuss the novel’s continued relevance and share what they learned from folks they encountered along Route 66.
Tickets are available at events.npr.org. For more information, visit www.Steinbeck.org.
