The Institute will host an “art opening” with a cash bar Friday, Feb 22 from 6-7:20 pm, prior to the first performance. The art exhibition will continue to be open for sales during intermissions and before and after each program on Feb. 22 and 23.

This event will be a uniquely cooperative blending of art, music, theater, and dance, with a subject as relevant to today’s lifestyles and politics as it was when the list of seven deadly sins first appeared in the 4th century. All 7 sins represent patterns of dysfunction within us that eventually lead to unhappiness or worse.

From Joseph Lieberman, the artist directing this special exhibit: “Rather than being some anachronistic relic, I see the Seven Deadly Sins as a contemporary wake-up call relating to how individual choices, extremism in society, overconsumption, and the seductions of unrestricted excess can move us toward pathways of self-indulgent destruction, for ourselves and others. The Sins were not meant to be top-down commands that must be obeyed, but rather as guides to self-enlightenment through self-restraint. To balance the exhibit, we’re also showing interpretations of The Seven Heavenly Virtues.”

[ Images above are details from pieces from the exhibition. ]