Brasilian drummer and composer Fernando Saci presents an exciting evening of percussion, including original compositions.

The Wheaton Chamber Singers present a program of jazz standards and more, joined by the Wheaton Chorale and Haas Visiting Artist Dominique Eade, two-time winner of the Boston Music Award for best Jazz Vocalist.

In his latest solo work, ‘El border brujo’ internationally acclaimed MacArthur fellow Guillermo Gómez-Peña draws from his 30-year-old living archive and combines new and classic performance material to present a unique perspective on the immediate future of the Americas. His self-styled “imaginary activism” invokes performance art as a form of radical democracy and citizenship. This spoken word performance includes multiple cameos by collaborator, Balitronica Gomez. Free tickets can be reserved through the Watson Box Office.

Missy Hairston, who at different points in her life, could be described as a woman of majestic proportions, plays 30 characters in this solo comedy in which we follow her progress as she grows up in the South, migrates to New York where she finds remarkable success on the comedy club circuit, then pursues a career in Hollywood. Awkwardly Fabulous will resonate especially with women who have had to confront body issues and issues of esteem regarding their love and work lives (which is to say, lots of women). Plenty of men will identify with it too. Free tickets can be reserved through the Watson Box Office (508-286-3575 or [email protected]).

In this talk, Jer Thorp shares his beautiful and moving data visualization projects, helping audiences put abstract data into a human context. From graphing an entire year’s news cycle, to mapping the way people share articles across the internet, to the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan, Thorp’s cutting-edge visualizations use technology and data to help us learn about the way we use digital technologies, become more empathetic in the data age, and ultimately, tell the story of our lives. How can understanding the human side of data lead to innovation and effective change? What value is there in the novel and interactive approaches to data visualization? And what are the business applications of creative data-focused research? Thorp teaches audiences how adding meaning and narrative to huge amounts of data can help people take control of the information that surrounds them, and revolutionize the way we utilize data.