Film & Theater Appreciation   

Some of the most iconic characters ever dreamed up began as comics or graphic novels and have led the way for modern cinema. Beginning with 1978’s Superman: The Movie, popular comic book characters and storylines have been adapted into successful films, leading to the rise of the superhero genre. Beyond superhero stories, various graphic novels have been adapted into films that explore different genres and themes. Examples include Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Sin City, and 300. We will examine all of these diverse stories and characters.

From the witches and ghosts who torment Macbeth and Hamlet to flying cars in the new Broadway musical Back to the Future, the theater has always been as much about magic and the supernatural as it is about naturalism. There's no better time than Halloween to take a look at the superstitions, witches, ghosts, and goblins who come to life on stage. In this fun and interactive class, we will discuss a range of scary plays, watch clips of plays adapted into movies, and, for those not too frightened, read aloud scenes from a range of contemporary and classic plays that bring to life characters and tales of the macabre. Most importantly, we'll preview this upcoming theater season, where the tormented souls in the new horror thriller Grey House, the haunted characters in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' play Appropriate, and the hoodoo sorcerers in the musical adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil will join the witches and wizards of Wicked and Harry Potter on the Broadway stage. Open to all theater lovers and those who love to be scared!​ Spooky, yet delicious light refreshments will be served.

Director Martin Scorsese has produced some of the most memorable films in cinema history. Through interview clips, as well as clips from classic films, including Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), The Departed (2006), The Irishman (2019), and others, we will examine the career, style, and cinematic techniques, as well as the subjects and motifs of one of the greatest directors of all time. We will also look at his much-anticipated adaptation of David Grann’s non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon, being released on October 6, 2023.