Welcome (or welcome back) to Hopkins! If you’re a seasoned visual artist looking to continue your exploration of the arts, or if you’re just someone curious about what Hopkins and Baltimore have to offer in that regard, here’s what I’ve discovered during the past year.
This week’s installment of To Watch and Watch For comes conveniently before the inevitable onslaught of midterm season. One way to soften the unstoppable march of time is to slow down, immerse yourself in the arts and appreciate what the world has to offer at the moment.
Hopkins does not lack artists, but they are hard to find — even within themselves.
Add some class to your classes, some culture to this school year — you won’t regret it.
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.
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.
Addison Rae’s singles since her rebrand — “Diet Pepsi,” “Aquamarine,” “High Fashion,” and most recently “Headphones On” — are nostalgic, whimsical, and sultry.
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.
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.
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. Yes, I’m talking about the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
It’s unfortunate that the most beautiful period of spring coincides with the most demanding stretch of the academic year. 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 April 4, Djo (also known as the actor Joe Keery) released his highly-anticipated third EP The Crux. Produced in collaboration with Adam Thein, the album blends styles from a wide range of alternative artists.
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.
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 Saturday night performance, and the theater was packed to the brim with excited audience members, although I was able to claim a coveted front row seat.
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. 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?
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.
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.
This edition of “To watch and watch for” has it all: whether you’re looking for an animated adaptation of Charles Dickens, a book about the dark history of Johnson & Johnson, a compelling folk album or a glassblowing workshop you can attend yourself, 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.
