Vashon Center for the Arts will present the first talk of its 2018-19 Arts & Humanities series at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21, featuring a discussion about the award-winning documentary, “Big Sonia,” with the film’s co-directors Leah Warshawski and Todd Soliday, along with Eric Frith, a Vashon resident who served as the story producer for the film.
In connection to the talk, VCA will also host three upcoming free screenings of the film, at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 21 and Monday, Oct. 22, with an additional screening Monday at 7 p.m.
The 2016 film is a portrait of Sonia Warshawski, a 91-year-old business owner, great-grandmother and Holocaust survivor. The film has been called a “poignant story of generational trauma and healing” as well as a “laugh-out-loud funny portrait of the power of love to triumph over bigotry, and the power of truth-telling to heal us all.”
Two years after its release, the film continues to win audiences at screenings in theatres and classrooms across the country.
At the talk, the filmmakers will reveal how they developed the story arc of Sonia’s life journey and the powerful messages and universal themes contained in the film.
Other talks coming up in the series will also be centered on the theme of “legacy.”
At 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, David Armstrong, the artistic director emeritus of The 5th Avenue Theatre, will discuss the significant role that the Broadway musical has played out in American society. His talk will center on the contributions of three groundbreaking theater artists — Oscar Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim and Lin-Manual Miranda.
The next talk, scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, will be presented by Rick Barot, who directs The Rainier Writing Workshop for Pacific Lutheran University and also is the poetry editor for New England Review. His presentation will focus on the work of poets who pivot between the personal and the political as well as the private and the historical.
The final talk of the series will be “Story Catcher: The Life and Writing of Brian Doyle,” presented by Arts & Humanities series co-founder Mike Feinstein at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17. Doyle, a prolific writer of stories, essays, and novels, died in 2017. In 2015, he was a speaker at the Arts & Humanities series on Vashon, an occasion that impressed Feinstein and his wife (and Arts & Humanies series co-founder), Gerry Feinstein.
“We got to know Brian as a modest, fun-loving guy who had an enormous appetite for stories and for life itself,” Feinstein said. “His memory lives on in his work, which continues to inspire and delight us.”
Season tickets to the Arts & Humanities Series are $60 for VCA members, $70 for seniors and students, and $80 for general audiences. Individual lecture tickets are $18 for VCA members, $20 for seniors and students, $22 general audience, or $26 at the door. To purchase, visit www.vashoncenterforthearts.org.
