From the builders of some of America’s earliest railroads and farms to Civil Rights pioneers to digital technology entrepreneurs, Indian Americans have long been an inextricable part of American life. “Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation” explores the Indian American experience and the community’s vital political, professional, and cultural contributions to American life and history. The exhibition moves past pop-culture stereotypes of Indian Americans to explore the heritage, daily experience, and diverse contributions of Indian immigrants and their descendants in the United States. Weaving together stories of individual achievement and collective struggle, “Beyond Bollywood” uses photography, narrative, multimedia, and interactive stations to tell a uniquely American story, while conveying the texture, vibrancy, and vitality of Indian American communities.

“Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation” was created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. The Mathers Museum’s presentation of the exhibit has been generously funded by Indiana University alumnus Robert N. Johnson, the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program, the Asian American Studies Program, and the Department of American Studies. Gallery is open 9am-4:30 pm Tues-Fri and 1pm-4:30pm Sat/Sun.

Free visitor parking is available by the Indiana Avenue lobby entrance. Metered parking is available at the McCalla School parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue. The parking lot also has spaces designated for Indiana University C and ST permits. During the weekends free parking is available on the surrounding streets.An access ramp is located at the Fess Avenue entrance, on the corner of Ninth Street and Fess Avenue. Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street, between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue. If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Please call 812-855-6873.

Tom Rhea was trained as a painter at Indiana University, where he graduated with a
BFA. After twenty years in the demanding field of medallic arts, his paintings still retain a very sculptural feel, with an emphasis on the unique limestone architecture that distinguishes the IU campus. Besides providing celebrity portraits for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, LA Weekly, and XXL Magazine, he has written extensively on arts topics for local and national publications. He currently teaches drawing and History of Art at Ivy Tech Community College. While most are views of Bloomington, the show also contains two paintings from a recent trip to Italy, including a view of the ancient city of Matera, carved into the limestone cliffs in the southern region of Puglia. These paintings were executed in gouache, an opaque watercolor, over the past five years.

From Tuesday, March 15th through Friday, March 25th, visitors who show a valid school ID will get free admission to the Monroe County History Center.

Vivek Bald will draw from his book Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America (2013), and present material from his ongoing documentary film In Search of Bengali Harlem and web space “The Lost Histories Project,” to explore the stories of South Asian Muslim peddlers and seamen who settled in the U.S. during the Asian Exclusion era, between the 1890s and 1940s. These two groups of men, who were predominantly from regions in present-day Bangladesh and Indian West Bengal, were highly mobile. Most were sojourners who cycled through clandestine networks in the U.S. Northeast, Midwest, and South to sell “Oriental goods” or to work in restaurants or factories, and then returned to their villages and towns on the subcontinent. But a smaller number settled permanently in the U.S. and married within African American and Puerto Rican neighborhoods: in Tremé, New Orleans; Black Bottom and Paradise Valley in Detroit; and Harlem and the Lower East Side in New York City. At at time when the United States sought to criminalize and exclude Asian immigrants, U.S. neighborhoods of color provided South Asian men with homes, home bases, and the possibility to build lives under the shadows of the immigration laws. Bald will relate these stories of early migration and cross-racial community-making, and discuss their presentation across the multiple media of writing, film, and the web.

Free visitor parking is available by the Indiana Avenue lobby entrance. Metered parking is available at the McCalla School parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue. The parking lot also has spaces designated for Indiana University C and ST permits. During the weekends free parking is available on the surrounding streets. An access ramp is located at the Fess Avenue entrance, on the corner of Ninth Street and Fess Avenue. Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street, between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue. If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Please call 812-855-6873.

Led by Elisa Pokral, the class is for all to practice together an ancient art of health maintenance and healing with whatever flexibility level you have. The class welcomes those who exercise regularly, those who don’t, those with limited mobility, and some who may only be able to do the exercises sitting down.

Hear world-class Irish music and help us celebrate a new partnership! For the first time, Lotus is teaming up with American Legion Post 18 to present 2016 Lotus Blossoms artists Seán Cleland (fiddle) and Jackie Moran (bodhrán) for veterans, active-duty members, and their families, as well as for the entire community. Special guests from the Bloomington-based Ryan Academy will join Seán and Jackie with some Irish-dance footwork. Free, suitable for all ages; open to the general public.

Originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, Lysistrata is a comic account of one woman’s extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace—a strategy, however, that inflames the battle between the sexes.

Lysistrata is notable for being an early exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society and for its stance against the idea of perpetual war – themes that still resonate with today’s audience. Our production is based on the 2003 translation by Sarah Ruden, which keeps the spirit of classical theater but uses modern, relatable language that keeps the play as bawdy, naughty and outrageous as Aristophanes intended.

Lysistrata will be performed on March 24, 25, and 26 at Blockhouse Bloomington. Pre-sale tickets will be available on March 16.

Featuring poets JL Kato and Eric Rensberger

JL Kato is a native of Japan whose assimilation into American culture is so complete, he cannot use chopsticks. His first book of poetry, Shadows Set in Concrete, chronicles his life as an immigrant in Indiana. That volume was selected the 2011 Best Book of Indiana for poetry by the Indiana Center for the Book. He is president of Brick Street Poetry Inc., which brings poetry to public places. He is poetry editor of the Flying Island, the literary journal of the Indiana Writers Center.

Eric Rensberger is originally from Elkhart County in northern Indiana, but he has lived in southern Indiana, mainly in Bloomington, since 1974. His work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies. His chapbooks include, amongst other titles, Letters, Standing Where Something Did, and Blank of Blanks, and he has indulged in more fugitive forms of publication such as posting poems anonymously on public kiosks, street lamp poles, and bulletin boards in restaurants. He is a convinced and persistent self-publisher. His collected works can be found at the website www.ericrensbergerpoetry.net, which is home to his major work, the ongoing chronological series Account of My Days, at present consisting of more than 1,000 poems.

Thursday, Mar 24, 7 – 9 p.m.

Bloomingfoods EAST Patio Room
3220 East Third Street

Free and open to the public

Produced by the Writers Guild at Bloomington

Monroe County Civic Theatre (MCCT) is kicking off their 30th year in Bloomington with a raucous, rambunctious comedy straight from ancient Greece.

Lystistrata is the tale of women who are plain fed up with their husbands constantly being gone at war. Sick of it, and sick of being used as object to satisfy their men and little more, the women do the unthinkable – they take a stand. Unique in the cannon of classical literature, Lysistrata was written in a time dominated by men. Writer Aristophanes chose to create a controversial story with women in control, and it rocked the theatre world then just as it does now.

The MCCT production of Lysistrata March 24-26 is staying close to the original, R-rated script. Lysistrata may not be a family show, but it is a show worth watching and celebrating. Led by an established cast and crew from the Bloomington community, Lysistrata exemplifies what community theatre does best – bring great theatre to the community that they might not otherwise see.

• When: March 24-26, 2016
• Time: 7:00pm. Doors open at 6:00pm. Cash bar available.
• Where: The Blockhouse (205 S College Avenue, beneath The Back Door)
• Tickets: Available at the door or online at mcct.org beginning March 14.
• Cost: $10 per ticket

Due to the nature of the production and the content, Lysistrata is rated R. No one under the age of 18 will be admitted.

About MCCT: Monroe County Civic Theater was founded in 1986 by a group of local artists dedicated to the goal of providing positive theater-making experiences for all members of the Bloomington community. Nearly thirty years later, MCCT is now Bloomington’s only all-volunteer, amateur community theater organization. We remain devoted to providing opportunities for individuals — no matter what their experience or background — to know the many challenges and rewards of creating live theater.