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Sept. 21, 2009

Award-winning playwright to visit Morningside as part of women’s studies series

An award-winning playwright who has examined a variety of world events – even working with Mother Teresa – will give a lecture, lead a workshop and discuss her writing at Morningside College Oct. 6-11 as part of the Dr. R. Franklin Terry Women’s Studies Lecture and Faculty Development Series and the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows program.

Lavonne Mueller’s plays have been performed across the country and abroad. She has won fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Education Association and Asian Cultural Council. She was recently a Fulbright Fellow to Jordan.

Mueller will present a lecture, “Do Women Write Differently Than Men? Searching for Mr. Bovary," at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, in the UPS Auditorium in Lincoln Center, 3627 Peters Ave.

“Why is it that all great portraits of women have been written by men?” Mueller asked. “Where are the great portraits of men written by women? I have written a play featuring all men, and critics were not only surprised but wondered how I did it. Can men write about men and women, but women can only write about women? I will explore this and other issues.”

Mueller also will conduct a “Creativity Across the Curriculum” workshop from 3-5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, in the Yockey Family Community Room of the Olsen Student Center, 3609 Peters Ave.

Then she will discuss her writing, as well as her work with Mother Teresa, during a brown-bag lunch meeting at noon Friday, Oct. 9, in the Roadman Formal Lounge, 3600 Peters Ave. Mueller traveled to Calcutta in 1993 and washed babies as part of Mother Teresa’s mission to help the “poorest of the poor.”

All of these events are free and open to the public. Those who plan to attend the “Creativity Across the Curriculum” workshop are asked to register by contacting Marcie Ponder at ponder@morningside.edu.

Mueller has written many plays and also some books and poems. Her play “Letters to a Daughter from Prison” about the letters Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to his daughter while imprisoned for participation in India’s independence movement, was produced at the First International Festival of the Arts in New York City and went on tour in India. Her play “Hotel Splendid” about the comfort women of World War II received an award for outstanding drama opposing war and injustice; it is currently being performed in Seoul, Korea, and Argentina.

Mueller will be the fifth visitor to Morningside College as part of the Dr. R. Franklin Terry Women’s Studies Lecture and Faculty Development Series, an effort to bring a leading women’s studies scholar to campus every semester for three years.

Mueller’s visit is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows program of the Council of Independent Colleges; the former Siouxland Center for Women, the Dr. R. Franklin Terry Women’s Studies Lecture and Faculty Development Series Fund; and Morningside College.

This women’s studies series is named for Dr. R. Franklin Terry, who joined the Morningside faculty in 1967 and served the college for 25 years. As a professor of religious studies and later as academic dean, Terry championed the liberal arts and social justice. For these qualities and his significant support of feminism on campus and in the community, Morningside honors Terry with this women’s studies series.