PICNIC & POPS, SHAKESPEARE CLOSE OUT FANFARE WITH WEEK FIVE
      HAMMOND – Nostalgic harmonies, fashions and dramas of yesteryear, and a rich and unheard repertoire will pave the way for the final curtain call of the 2003 Fanfare season.
      During week five, get ready to jump, jive and wail with Swing Set, be immersed in a unique staging of one of William Shakespeare’s most notable dramas, and be transported back to the colorful great cathedrals and royal courts of Europe.
      On Sunday, Oct. 26, the University Center will play host to Fanfare’s traditional Picnic ‘n Pops with Swing Set, three sassy female vocalists who can be called an updated Andrews Sisters act.  Backed by a hot, six-piece band, the swinging combo brings class, elegance, and fun to the stage, with enticing and nostalgic melodies of Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington and rip-roaring tunes of Louis Prima and Louis Jordan. 
      Doors open at 5 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. performance. Arena seating tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students, and free for those under 12 years with an adult.
      On Monday, Oct. 27, Southeastern English professor Wade Heaton will present “Women’s Clothing in the Ancient World” at noon in the Pottle Music Building Auditorium. Heaton has earned the name “Togaman,” as well as wide-spread acclaim for his lively presentations on the attire, customs and culture of ancient Romans. His free lecture is one part fashion show straight out of Ancient Rome and one part lively lecture investigating the meaning and symbolism of clothing and dress of Roman men and women. Heaton’s second appearance in Fanfare 2003 is part of the Southeastern Department of History and Political Science’s “Then and Now” Fanfare lecture series.
      A hotbed of racial hatred, jealousy and mistrust sets the stage for Aquila Theatre Company’s production of Shakespeare’s “Othello,” Tuesday, Oct. 28 at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts. 
      The Shakespearean masterpiece, which explores human nature and the destruction of a noble spirit, is given new life with Aquila’s national reputation for retelling classics in a vibrant and visual way. Aquila’s production finds a unique setting capable of bringing relevance and clarity to the great tragedy with an original musical score that heightens and intensifies the experience. 
      The company’s edge comes from their use of modern dress to play off the story's timelessness and their ever-smoky stage, earning effectiveness through sheer creativity. Watch for the soldiers' off-duty shenanigans to be set in a dance club with throbbing, Middle Eastern music and pulsating lights to give the scene a modern-day resonance; it works well.
      Innovative and dynamic, the Aquila Theatre Company has gained a well-earned international reputation as one of the foremost producers of touring classical theatre. Founded in London in 1991, the company composed of British and American performers has won both critical and academic acclaim for its work worldwide, which includes extensive touring throughout Europe, the United States and Canada. The company has solidified its presence in New York by being named Company in Residence at the Center for Ancient Studies at New York University, and has received the prize for Dramatic Excellence from the Greek government and several prestigious British Council Touring awards. 
      Aquila’s production of “Othello” is a participant in the National Endowment of the Arts' Shakespeare in American Communities Program and part of a current six-company tour that will hit more than 100 small and midsized communities in all 50 states before ending in November 2004.  The program is nationally sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest.
      Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance are $25 for adults; $20 for seniors, and Southeastern faculty, staff and alumni; $18 group rate; and $15 for all students.  
      Wednesday, Oct. 29 is a double feature with Harry Laver’s lecture “Bad History Goes to the Movies, Part 3: Army Green on the Silver Screen” in Pottle Music Building, and the Italian film “Divorce Italian Style” in the Music Recital Hall.
      Laver, a Southeastern history professor, will discuss his examinations of the Hollywood version of American military history as portrayed in “The Patriot,” “Glory,” and “Saving Private Ryan” at 1 p.m. Admission is free.
      At 3 p.m., Pietro Germi’s “Divorce Italian Style” will close out the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures’ Foreign Film Festival. The hilarious and pointed satire of Italian marital conventions is called by many “the prototypical Italian sex comedy.” Ferdinando Cefalu, a handsome Sicilian nobleman, longs to marry his beautiful nubile cousin Angela. There's only one problem: he's already married. Living in a society that frowns on divorce but forgives crimes of passion, Ferdinando devises a plan. He plots to prove his wife an adulteress, after which he can kill her and marry his cousin with impunity. Admission to the subtitled “Divorce Italian Style” is also free.
      Thursday, Oct. 30, brings with it two performances by Fanfare Consort at Pottle Music Building Auditorium. The period instrument ensemble transports audiences to the past, with splendors of the 16th and 17th century music, presenting it just as it would have been heard then, period instruments and all. Presented as a lecture/demonstration performance that is both educational and entertaining, the ensemble is dedicated to the research, publication, performance and recording of literature composed prior to the 19th century. They preserve this rich and unheard repertoire by performing modern-day premieres of manuscripts by composers who have been eclipsed by the great masters of music. 
      Performers are Robert Crowe, male soprano; Thom Freas, clarino (valveless baroque trumpet); Kathleen Duguet, baroque woodwinds (keyless); Richard Kolb, theorbo (fretted bass lute); and Christa Rakich, positiv organ (portable baroque tracker pipe organ). 
      Fanfare Consort will perform for free at 2 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. Admission for the 7:30 p.m. show is $8 for adults; $6  for seniors, and Southeastern faculty, staff and alumni; $5 group rate; and $3 for all students          
      Continuing the tradition of closing out Fanfare Thursday, Oct. 31, is William B. Robison with “Nostradamus: Poet, Prophet, Pharmacist, ‘Phraud.’” Robison, head of the Southeastern Department of History and Political Science, will present a Halloween special of thrills, chills, laughter, cameo appearances -- and possibly even Halloween candy. He will examine the life of the Frenchman Michel de Notredame (1503-66) -- the notorious Nostradamus -- detailing his career as a physician, a prophesying poet and an astrologer to the royal stars of the sixteenth century.
      For a Fanfare brochure and ticket order form or for additional information about Fanfare events, contact Fanfare, 985-543-4366 or fanfare_ctpa@selu.edu. Fanfare information is also available online under the “2003 Season” link at www.selu.edu/fanfare. 
      Fanfare tickets are available at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts box office, 220 East Thomas St., Hammond, 985-543-4371. Box office hours are noon to 5 p.m., weekdays. The box office is open until performance time for events at the Columbia Theatre. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.ti cketweb.com.