Three Lives: Hitchens, Havel, and Kim Jong-il, Remembered by Seattle Artists & Thinkers

Within the space of four days in December, three public figures died. Other than this fact, Christopher Hitchens (d. Dec. 15), Kim Jong-il (d. Dec. 17), and Václav Havel (pictured – d. Dec. 18) have nothing particular in common—except they each lived emphatically larger than life on the global stage. Some curatorial harmonic theory—or perhaps too much holiday candy—made us think we should explore, at once, the ability of a person to affect  his  own day and age. So we invited a few local luminaries to deliver remembrances/assessments of these men and their cultural impact. ACT Theatre’s Kurt Beattie (on Havel),  British-American writer/2011 Stranger Genius Lesley Hazleton (on Hitchens), and Professors Don Hellmann and Clark Sorenson from UW’s Jackson School of International Studies (on Kim Jong-il) will pour out the words, and wine—though not all will be warmly remembered. We’ll enjoy some other work, too, including a short reading of Havel, and then drink a toast to the mortality and vitality that bind us all.