The King and I (1956)

Tuesday, November 3rd, 7:00 PM

Slayter Auditorium

Based on the actual diaries of Anna Leonowens, an English teacher in the royal court of Thailand in the 19th century, this Rogers and Hammerstein musical narrates the arrival of Anna and her son Louis in Bangkok, adventures in setting up a school for the king’s many children (and wives), her growing affection for the king, and a subplot in which the daughter of a Burmese king is offered to the Thai king as an addition to his harem.  In a key episode, the Burmese concubine, under the direction of Anna’s teaching, translates “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” a production of which is staged for an English dinner party intended to impress the encroaching colonial British.  Numerous other Orientalist elements abound in this mid-century film based on its already popular stage production.

Anna and the King (1999)

Tuesday, November 17th, 7:00 PM

Slayter Auditorium

A modernized remake of the film, Anna and the King of Siam, and stage-production-based The King and I, this 1999 version starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat was produced by Andy Tennant and was nominated in 2000 for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. The story of Anna Leonowens, the English schoolteacher who came to Siam in the 1860s to teach the 58 children of King Mongkut, is here retold with greater focus on the attempts to forge an alliance with Britain and a seething war with Burma orchestrated by Britain. The king simultaneously struggles to modernize his country, throw off the threat of colonialism, and protect many of the ancient traditions of Siam.

U Win Maung, Visiting World Dance Professor and Students

Thursday, November 19th, 8 PM

Doane Dance Performance Space, Fine Arts Quad

U Win Maung, visiting Assistant Professor of World Dance (Fall 2009), will join his students to perform seven Burmese dances including The Exile in the Forest based on a 5000-year-old Hindu story that originated in India. The performance will also include the Pagan Dance, which gives glimpses of Burmese life during the ancient Pagan era (1044-1287).

GALLERY TALK:

“When Bibles Meet Buddhas: 
The British Raj and American Baptists in Burma”

Natalie Marsh, Director, The Denison Museum

Thursday, December 3rd, 4:30 PM

The Denison Museum, Burke Hall

This talk explores the relationship of political power and cultural prestige to relationship the amassing of collections by focusing on key objects on display in the Denison Museum curated exhibition, “Baptists in Burma.”