2004 Archive
December 30, 2004, 7 PM: Annual Brown Holiday Party
After much scrambling we have secured a location and date for the annual holiday party. This low-key affair is a great chance to meet with current Brown students home for the holidays and those lucky high school seniors who have recently been admitted early decision. One thing for sure is these kids will *not* make you feel old. There will be food and drink and serious discussion about the state of the world and recent ski trips!
- What: Annual Brown Holiday Party
When: Thursday, December 30th — two weeks from today!
Time: 7 – 9 PM
RSVP: YES (to sam@orbrown.org) if you want there to be sufficient food and drink
We hope y’all can come, please RSVP when you get a chance … and happy holidays to all from the Brown Club of Oregon board!
October 19, 2004, 6 PM: Measure This: Initiative Event 2004!
The Brown Club of Oregon improves our democracy with an event for folks to learn about the many initiatives on this year’s Oregon ballot. This should be a truly one-of-a-kind event to create informed votes on these critical measures.
Please see the PDF flyer here for complete details.
We really need RSVPs for this one so email me with numbers (i.e. you and however many friends) if you can make it. It should be an entertaining night. The key stats:
- When: Tuesday, October 19th, 2004
Where: Oregon Public Broadcasting, 7140 SW Macadam Avenue
October 15, 2004, 8 PM: The Stendhal Syndrome Premiere!
This is Terrence McNally’s latest play, making its West Coast debut. For the discounted price of only $10 (thanks to Debi Coleman!) you can get a ticket to the premiere on October 15th. After the play, there will be a catered reception with the director, cast, and crew. This should be a terrific evening so mark your calendar and send me your reservation now. As we only have a limited number of discounted seats, we are limiting tickets to two per alumni. Send your ticket reservation request to sam@orbrown.org as soon as possible.
— More information about the play —
Straight from its successful New York premiere is McNally’s latest: two one-act plays that look at the limitations of mortality and the immortality of art. In “Full Frontal Nudity,” a tour guide and her group blissfully surrender to the charms of Michelangelo’s David. “Prelude and Liebestod” takes us inside the quicksilver psyche of a master conductor as he leads his orchestra through Wagner’s orgasmic Prelude toTristand und Isolde.
Logistics:
- Friday, October 15, 2004 (Opening Night)
8:00 p.m.
Theatre! Theatre!
3430 SE Belmont St.
Portland OR
(On street parking)
Food and wine reception to follow performance catered by Salvador Molly’s
About Profile Theatre:
In just eight years, Profile Theatre Project has grown to be one of the most important theatre companies in Portland, with a reputation for bringing intelligence, excellence and passion to the stage. All productions are mounted in an ultimate 95-seat theatre where you are never more than a few feet from the action.
Profile Theatre Project is unlike any other professional theatre in town. Each year we showcase a single playwright, giving our audiences the opportunity to enter a writer’s world for a full season – to experience each play as part of a flowing dialogue, seeing the important connections that help us to grow, learn and understand.
About the Playwright:
Terrence McNally was most recently represented on Broadway with the revival of his play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune and the book for the musical The Full Monty, and off-Broadway with The Stendhal Syndrome. He is a four-time Tony award winner for: Best Book of a Musical for Ragtime; his play, Master Class; Best book of a musical for Kiss of the Spiderwoman; and his play Love!Valor!Compassion!
May 20, 2004: Professor Beiser visit summary by Gail Mathabane
The Brown Club brought Brown Professor Emeritus Edward Beiser to Portland in late April. Turnout at Dr. Beiser’s presentation in Vey Auditorium at OHSU on the evening of April 20th was excellent. He showed a documentary film he had produced about a fellow Brown professor who had a scrape with death when he was struck by a bus in London. Dr. Beiser led a lively discussion about the ethical, financial, medical and emotional complexities of keeping comatose patients alive. Using his Socratic style of teaching, he tossed out questions that led to an intellectual debate on living wills, advance directives, and how one decides when life is no longer worth living. Several members of the audience were Brown graduates in the medical field who offered fascinating, real-life examples of helping patients and families through end-of-life crises.
Though Dr. Beiser suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, he made light of this fact with self-deprecating jokes, and his vibrant personality, which has made him a big hit with Brown students for decades, still sparkled. Whenever people walked up to Dr. Beiser and introduced themselves as former students, he usually cried out in recognition and exchanged some friendly, nostalgic banter with them.
Debi Coleman (’74) held a well-attended dinner reception in Dr. Beiser’s honor on April 19th in her beautiful home atop the KOIN Tower, and a group of Brown graduates gathered in the lobby of the Benson Hotel to chat with Dr. Beiser after his presentation. Dr. Beiser went away with a positive impression of Portland and our alumni club.
April 20, 2004: Brown Bioethics Professor Ed Beiser
Mark your calendars right now for a visit from esteemed Brown Bioethics Professor Ed Beiser. He will be landing in our fair city (no, not Vancouver) for a presentation on Tuesday, April 20th. The interactive topic for the evening will be “Life-and-Death Decisions: the Ethical, Practical, and Emotional Challenges We Face as Medical Advances Allow Individuals to Live Longer.” Professor Beiser will be showing a thought-provoking video he’s created about fellow Brown Professor Peter Wegner, whom survived a coma after being struck by a bus in London. It should be quite an event! Professor Beiser’s charisma and charm has proven popular with many generations of students. An Adobe Reader document describing the film he will be showing is located here.
- The gritty details:
Who: Professor Ed Beiser
What: Life-and-Death Decisions Event
Where: Vey Auditorium, OHSU
When: Tuesday, April 20th, 2004, 7 PM
Cost: Free (aren’t you glad you aren’t in the Harvard alumni association?)
