Center Stage

"The Green Bird" opens Nov. 7

Brown University Theatre will present Carlo Gozzi's "The Green Bird" Nov. 7-10 and 14-17 in Leeds Theatre. Translated by Albert Bermel and Ted Emery, "The Green Bird" is a comedy about the rites of passage – a fable in which the supernatural, the demonic and the Machiavellian harmoniously intertwine in a land where apples sing and statues speak.

Gozzi tells the story of a pair of philosopher twins on the eve of their initiation to adulthood; the pair learns the truth of their origin and decides to search for their roots – guided by a talking green bird. After a series of ordeals, the twins find themselves in a world of luxurious commodities, quickly forgetting the lessons of Rousseau and Voltaire. The fable ends with a series of transformations that lead to surprising conclusions.

Under the direction of Yann-Pierre Montelle, the cast includes Alison Bodenstab, Rachel Bonds, Lucy Boyle, Austin Campion, Blanche Case, Ellen Darling, Deborah Friedman, Zach Fuller, Elan Gepner, Sarah Goldstein, Nate Goralnik, Jaime Green, Dierdre Ilkson, Adam Lewis, Joseph Miller, Juliana Moreno, Ryan O'Grady, Aaron Prosnitz, Jessica Schwartzberg, Anika Schwarzwald, Liz Sklar, Annabelle Stubblefield, Benjamin Sugar, Annabel Topham and Sarah Waldman.

The stage manager is Ezra Flam. Set design is by Michael McGarty and costume design is by Julie Heneghan. Lighting design is by student Adam Griska and technical direction is by Tim Hett. Production manager is Laura E. Smith.

All performances are at 8 p.m., with the exception of Nov. 17, when there will be a 3 p.m. matinee only. Tickets are available at the Leeds Theatre Box Office and are $14 for general admission, $10 for senior citizens and Brown employees and $5 for students. The box office is open from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and one hour before each performance. For more information or to make reservations, call 863-2838.

Physician who led charge in wake of anthrax attack will speak about bioterrorism Nov. 7

Walks will speak from firsthand experience. When the U.S. Postal Service in Washington, D.C., was exposed to anthrax in the fall of 2001, Walks, who was the chief health officer of the District of Columbia at the time, led what became one of the nation’s largest public health interventions. Walks also led response teams after terrorists crashed a jet plane into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

Since the attack, Walks' expertise in preparing for and responding to a bioterror attack has been nationally recognized. He has become a national resource on bioterrorism and other public health threats at numerous conferences and official meetings on homeland security.

Walks, now the CEO of Ivan Walks and Associates, will speak in Room 117 of MacMillan Hall.

Two other lectures remain in the series, titled “Found Objects: Discovering Common Threads Running Through Environmental Theory and Practice.” Each will be at 4 p.m. in Room 117 of MacMillan Hall:

• Linda Greer, senior scientist and director at the Natural Resources Defense Council’s public health program, will speak on “Science for Sale: Industry Influence on Science at the EPA” on Nov. 14. Greer specializes in issues related to industrial pollution and currently focuses on the science behind toxic chemical regulation.

• Author and journalist Andrew Revkin will speak on Dec. 5 on “Improving Science News: How Scientists and Journalists Can Bridge a Communications Gap.” Rivkin, currently an environment reporter for the New York Times, has spent 20 years covering subjects ranging from murder in the Amazon to the crash of TWA flight 800.

The lecture series is sponsored by the C.V. Starr Lectureships Fund.