Words and Ideas

Urban Bush Women: Hair Party (Getting it Done!)

Wednesday, August 28, 1:00–2:00 pm

Don’t miss this informal gathering where renowned dance company Urban Bush Women will perform excerpts of their dance-theater work Hair & Other Stories to ignite dialogue and critical thinking in the room. Organized around the deceptively simple topic of hair—how hair color, length, and varying degrees of curl affect our definitions of “good hair” and “bad hair,” both within and outside of the African American community—Hair Party encourages participants to re-examine closely held beliefs about themselves, society, race, gender, and individual beauty. Political, fun, and sometimes raucous, Urban Bush Women’s Hair Party combines conversation, improvisation, and performance.

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An Evening with Marie Forleo

Everything Is Figureoutable

Friday, September 20, 8:00 pm

$28 + tax (includes ticket plus one book)

Book Soup at the Skirball! Whether one wants to leave a dead end job, break an addiction, learn to dance, heal a relationship, grow a business, or solve world hunger, Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo will train the reader's brain to think more creatively and positively.

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Bari Weiss in Conversation with Matthew Weiner

How to Fight Anti-Semitism

Sunday, September 22, 7:30 pm

$36 (includes ticket plus one book); $20 (includes ticket only)

Writers Bloc Presents^® at the Skirball! Less than a year since the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, author-journalist Bari Weiss argues that the massacre was a catastrophic act waiting to happen, based on the incremental rise of anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence here and abroad.

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James Poniewozik in Conversation with Mary McNamara

Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America

Tuesday, October 22, 8:00 pm

$10 General; FREE to Members

Hear from James Poniewozik, chief television critic for the New York Times, on the rise of Donald J. Trump—a being made of pure “television”—to the nation’s highest office in part through his use of popular media.

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An Evening with Alice Hoffman

The World That We Knew

Sunday, October 27, 7:30 pm

$10 General; FREE to Members

Don’t miss bestselling author Alice Hoffman on her sweeping new novel, which follows three young women in Berlin in 1941 who must act with courage and love to survive. The work poignantly asks: How much can one person sacrifice for love? And in a world where evil can be found at every turn, can we still hope that love will prevail? Hoffman will be in conversation with Mary Hendra (Southern California Program Director for Facing History and Ourselves).

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