2017 Dionysia Confronts Death and Honors Ancestors

UH Center for Creative Work Presents Performances and Panels April 27-30

The ancient and revered art of honoring the dead is the storyline of the 2017 Dionysia festival hosted by the Center for Creative Work at the University of Houston Honors College.

“The Houston Book of the Dead: How to Live” will feature UH and Texas Southern University (TSU) students reading stories of confronting death and remembering their ancestors. Highlights of the ninth annual Dionysia festival include:

  • Houstonians at New Hope Housing sharing their journeys of joy, struggle and renewal.
  • TSU professor and playwright Thomas Meloncon will present a new play bringing back a 1960’s Third Ward, featuring the Eldorado Ballroom.
  • The Menil Collection will host an afternoon of art and activism looking back at the engagement of John and Dominique de Menil in the Civil Rights movement and forward to current social activism in Houston.

Dionysia celebrates the arrival of spring as once held in Athens, Greece in the 5th century. A complete schedule of 2017 Dionysia events is as follows:

  • Thursday, April 27, 7:00 p.m.- Welcome to the House of the Living: Stories from TSU/UH Students, Honors College Commons- second floor of UH M.D. Anderson Library
  • Friday, April 28, 7:00 p.m. - Performance of “O give to me a hearth and home: Houstonians Share Their Life Journeys”, New Hope Housing, 4415 Perry Street
  • Saturday, April 29, 7:00 p.m. - The Eldorado Ballroom Musical: Eldorado Ballroom, Project Row Houses, 2310 Elgin Street
  • Sunday, April 30, 2:00 p.m. -Recollecting Dogon, The Menil Collection, 1533 Sul Ross
  • Sunday, April 30, 7:00 p.m. -Performance of “Threshold” by composer and singer Misha Penton, SITE Gallery at Silos at Sawyer Yards, 1502 Sawyer Street

 All shows are free and open to the public. Click here for and more information.