Sister Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun and death penalty opponent who authored "Dead Man Walking," will visit the University of Colorado at Boulder campus on Friday, Oct. 26, to participate in a panel discussion about her work.
The panel will feature Prejean, "Dead Man Walking" opera composer Jake Heggie and CU-Boulder sociology chair and Professor Michael Radelet. The panel will begin at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, in Grusin Music Hall at the College of Music's Imig Building on the CU-Boulder campus.
The discussion, which is being sponsored by the CU-Boulder Center for Humanities and the Arts, is one of several activities that are free and open to the public this week leading up to CU Opera's staging of "Dead Man Walking." All events are open to the print, broadcast and electronic media.
The production will be the Rocky Mountain debut of the opera based on Prejean's powerful Pulitzer Prize-nominated book. Opera performances will be in Macky Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 28. For ticket prices and other information, go the Web site at or call (303) 492-8008.
Related events this week that are free of charge and open to the public include:
o A brown-bag preview of "Dead Man Walking" at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 24, in the Music Theatre in the College of Music's Imig Music Building.
o A screening of the film "Dead Man Walking," directed by Tim Robbins and starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 24, in Muenzinger Auditorium at CU-Boulder. The screening is part of the campus' International Film Series.
o A death penalty lecture and discussion featuring the participation of some of Colorado's top legal experts. CU-Boulder Law School Professor H. Patrick Furman will moderate the discussion. Panelists will include Colorado Public Defender Doug Wilson, former Adams County District Attorney Bob Grant and Howard Morton, a founding member of Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons.
The event, co-presented by the CU-Boulder Law School and the Boulder County Bar Association, will be at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25, in the Duane Physics building, Room G1B30, on the CU-Boulder campus.
For more information about the events, contact Laima Gaigalas at (303) 492-4247 or Deborah Méndez-Wilson at (303) 492-3117.