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On April 26 and 27, the Arellano Theater came alive with more than the wafting smells of vegan sesame chicken and taco meat from the neighboring Levering Kitchen. It was the site for the Witness Theater’s 2025 Spring Showcase: a performance of student-written, student-run plays rejuvenating a campus of otherwise finals-weary Blue Jays.
As someone who has been (embarrassingly) chronically online since the ripe age of 12, Addison Rae’s influence on pop culture has always been apparent to me, be it positively or negatively. (See: “Hi, drated!”) However, one thing I never saw coming was her foray into pop music — not to mention how successful it has been. Even self-proclaimed skeptics of mainstream TikTokers like myself have found themselves surprisingly on board with Rae’s latest ventures. In my opinion, all four of her recent singles have helped carve out a unique identity for her as a young artist on the rise and, even more importantly, helped breathe fresh life into a monotonous landscape of pop music.
The concert only cost $21.50. The opener had an album peak at No. 19 on the 2023 Billboard Top 200, the main act won Group of the Year and Rock Album of the Year at the 2024 JUNO awards, and yet, only 122 people registered.
Why do we keep returning to Greek tragedy? These ancient texts and the way we study them in classrooms can often feel rigid, distant and disconnected from the present. The Department of Classics’ Medea on Trial, held on April 24, offered a compelling answer. It was a student production that was as comedic as it was thoughtful, re-examining the stories of ancient women in what director and Professor Maria Gerolemou described as “a kind of scientific experiment grounded in the humanities.”
It’s unfortunate that the most beautiful period of spring coincides with the most demanding stretch of the academic year. Regardless, as the days become longer, the air grows warmer and everything bursts into motion at once, now is the perfect time to allow a little more art and entertainment into your life. If you're looking for a reminder of what makes life worth the grind, this week’s “To watch and watch for” will have you covered.
On March 4, more than a decade after her previous novel Americanah, Hopkins alum Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave the people what they wanted: Dream Count. This recent addition to her body of works is a nebulous story following the lives of four African women navigating the U.S., pinned together in the middle with a disconcertingly familiar case of sexual assault perpetrated against one of the women.
For their spring 2025 musical, the Barnstormers are putting on a production of Heathers: the cult classic musical based on the 1989 film with the same name. I attended the April 12 evening performance, and the theater was packed to the brim with excited audience members, although I was able to claim a coveted front row seat.
On March 28, Netflix’s latest rom-com endeavor was released: The Life List. I’ll admit, I had low expectations. The alliterated title did not inspire high hopes. I love Sofia Carson — the lead actress — but mostly because I watched and loved the Descendants movies as a kid. I was not actually aware that she continued to act after those films. But mainly, my reservations stemmed from how much the plot sounded like it could belong to a made-for-TV Hallmark movie.
On April 4, Djo (also known as actor Joe Keery) released his highly-anticipated third album The Crux. Produced in collaboration with Adam Thein, the album blends styles from a wide range of alternative artists.
As the end of the school year approaches, I’m betting that we’re all in some purgatory state where we dangle tenuously between midterms, more midterms and finals. While caught in this limbo, I hope you look to the Arts & Entertainment’s weekly section: “To watch and watch for,” in search of rescue. With these weekly recommendations for enriching experiences to do with the arts, we can almost guarantee a shelter from the onslaught of tests, projects, papers and more.
This past weekend, the Hopkins Theatre Company performed Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a three-act whirlwind of a play about two academic couples from opposing generations, each catching and delivering snide, passive aggressive comments across a countless number of liquor-filled glasses.
On Friday, April 4, a faculty panel titled “Arts and the Hopkins Student Experience” discussed what the arts mean at Hopkins. The event space was open to alumni as part of Alumni Weekend, while other members of the Hopkins community were able to attend virtually through a livestream. As audiences both in-person and online began to settle in, they prepared to hear about vital questions such as: What makes the arts valuable? Why should we pursue them, and how? Is Hopkins committed to the arts?
There’s this thing that happens every April. The desert shifts. Time becomes a suggestion. Sequins become currency. And the world turns its eyes toward a stretch of sun-bleached land in Indio, Calif., where suddenly nothing else matters.
In a world plagued with political turmoil and at a time when dystopian fiction feels less like an escape and more like a reflection of reality, Suzanne Collins returns to Panem with Sunrise on the Reaping. Released on March 18, this 400-page novel follows beloved character Haymitch Abernathy through the deadly ordeals of the 50th Hunger Games.
There’s good reason to distrust any use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in creative spaces. The trend of AI art has become a refuge for those who overlook the fundamental human nature of artistic creation, and the irony of outsourcing a uniquely human pursuit to machine automation.
Hello and welcome to another week of upcoming arts news! This edition of “To watch and watch for” has it all: whether you’re looking for an animated adaptation of Charles Dickens (see: The King of Kings), a book about the dark history of Johnson & Johnson (see: No More Tears), a compelling folk album (see: SABLE, fABLE) or a glassblowing workshop you can attend yourself (see: Glassblowing at Evergreen), the Arts & Entertainment section has something for you. So scroll through, take a look and see what excites you!
Spring is a time of confession. As the winds grow warmer and the sun shines brighter, the changing tides of life seem to nudge our heart to the surface of our palms. Sometimes these tides are soft, glassy waves folding on each other; other times, they push and shove, breaking at sharp edges. We seem to chase new beginnings, confront harsh endings and, after it all, watch the flowers bloom at our feet.
Hello one and all, and welcome to the Arts & Entertainment section’s weekly To watch and watch for, where we give you a comprehensive list of new releases in the art world. We hope you had a nice, relaxing spring break and that your first week back wasn’t too much of a buzzkill. If you’re feeling an end-of-the-semester apprehension, or if you’re still in the vacation mindset, then you’ve come to the right place. Let us recommend some things to watch, to read and to listen to.
When it comes to albums, I unfortunately almost always judge them by their covers. And when it came to Japanese-Canadian star Saya Gray’s debut album SAYA, my judgment did not steer me away. I strongly believe a good album cover should reflect the nature of a record while being visually appealing, and SAYA checks both these boxes. The primary focus of the cover is Gray herself, painted in a traditional Japanese portrait style. However, masterfully woven into this classic aesthetic are striking modern details, like heavy metallic jewelry and a tattoo. Likewise, the album’s tracklist fuses the old (traditional pop-rock acoustic riffs and soft vocals) with the new (electric beats and unconventional instruments).
Across literary circles, Oprah Winfrey’s most recent book club selection Dream State by Hopkins Professor Eric Puchner is abducting fans from the real world, making them miss their subway stops. For me, returning to my dorm from Hodson Hall past midnight, I missed the man in a sandy suit with blonde hair and round glasses waving me down for a lighter. This was perhaps an odd occurrence for the backside of Gilman past midnight, but these things don’t matter when Dream State is on the mind.