'Collected Stories' opens Theatre Hopkins' 80th season

Theatre Hopkins will open its 80th season this week with the area premiere of Collected Stories by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies. Set in the Greenwich Village apartment of an accomplished short story writer, Margulies' drama examines the relationship of the writer and her talented protegée and also explores the ethical bounds of authorship.

The production will open at 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 19, and run five weekends through Sunday, Nov. 18, at the Merrick Barn on the Homewood campus.

Three more productions are planned for the season. Laura, a classic murder mystery by Vera Caspary and George Sklar, premieres on Feb. 15, followed by George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, opening April 19. Assassins, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, is scheduled to open on June 21. In view of current events, however, this production may be changed.

For reservations, subscriptions or other information, call 410-516-7159 or e-mail thehop@jhu.edu.

Terrorism discussion planned for local college students

The Baltimore Collegetown Network will host a panel discussion of the recent terrorist attacks at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 15, in Goucher College's Kraushaar Auditorium. The event is designed to help students of the 13-member Colltown colleges and universities place the terrorist attacks in a historical context and examine the potential consequences of an American response. The discussion is free and open to the public.

Panelists include specialists in Afghanistan and its neighbors, the Taliban, terrorism, civil liberties, human rights and military affairs.

The event will be moderated by Goucher President Sanford J. Ungar, who previously was director of Voice of America, dean of the School of Communication at American University and co-host of NPR's All Things Considered.

Speakers include Bill Royce, chief of Voice of America's Dari Service, which broadcasts daily to Afghanistan; Michael Greenberger, the University of Maryland School of Law and former adviser to Janet Reno on counterterrorism; Michael O'Hanlon, Brookings Institution, a specialist in military affairs and terrorism; and Steven David, associate dean at Hopkins and an expert in the Middle East, international relations and security studies.

Former presidential adviser David Gergen to speak at SAIS

David Gergen, former adviser to five presidents, will speak at an event co-hosted by SAIS and the Washington Center for the Study of American Government on Thursday, Oct. 18.

His topic will be "Presidential Leadership: Eyewitness to Power."

Gergen is a professor of public service at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, editor-at-large for U.S. News & World Report and author of the book Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton.

The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Kenney Auditorium of the Nitze Building. All non-SAIS people who would like to attend should reserve a space by calling 202-663-5648 or e-mailing fneuringer@jhu.edu.

Upcoming gala to benefit Hopkins' Ciccarone Center

Wendy Post and Roger Blumenthal, husband-and-wife heart team from the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, will be the honorees at this year's Sweats & Sneakers Gala sponsored by the Maryland Athletic Club and Wellness Center. All proceeds will benefit the center.

MAC co-owners Liz and Tim Rhode say they decided three years ago to make the prevention of heart disease their No. 1 priority and have set a goal of raising $1 million over the next several years.

Dress is casual for the evening, which includes dancing, food from area restaurants and caterers and an opportunity to sample the fitness equipment.

The event begins at 8 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 3, at the MAC in Timonium. Tickets are $65 until Oct. 16, $75 until the day of the event and $85 at the door. For details, call 410-453-9111.

APL signs license agreement for power amplifiers

The Applied Physics Laboratory has signed an option to license its solid-state power amplifier technology, originally designed for NASA space missions, to EMS Technologies Inc. of Atlanta.

"Making this technology commerically available will help lower the government's cost for future deep space missions," says Joseph Suter, director of Technology Programs in APL's Technology Transfer Office.

Engineers in APL's Space Department have developed solid-state amplifier technology over 15 years for use in several space applications. The amplifier is now being adapted to fly in MESSENGER, NASA's latest Discovery mission, managed by APL. MESSENGER is scheduled for launch in March 2004 and to begin orbiting Mercury in April 2009.