In its 20th subscription season, the Guilford College Bryan Series will present programs featuring actor-activists LeVar Burton in October 2024 and Ashley Judd in April 2025 at the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts.
Burton, a literacy advocate, iconic television actor and host of “Reading Rainbow,” will appear Thursday, Oct. 24, and Judd, a television and feature-film actress and global humanitarian, Tuesday, April 8. Both programs are at 7:30 pm.
Last season’s subscribers and Legacy Society members are able to renew their season commitments now, with new subscriptions and memberships becoming available in July. More information is available at www.guilford.edu/bryanseries.
In addition to the two programs at Tanger Center in October and April, in the 2024-25 academic year the College will present several lectures by distinguished speakers on campus that will be announced soon.
“We’re excited to present two fascinating evenings with nationally known speakers on topics of literacy and mental health,” said LaToya Marsh, Director of the Bryan Series. “LeVar and Ashley have distinguished themselves as performing artists as well as educational and social justice advocates. We look forward to these inspiring programs.”
Burton is best known for his iconic portrayals of the young Kunta Kinte in the groundbreaking ABC mini-series “Roots,” as Geordi LaForge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and as the longtime host of the public television program “Reading Rainbow.” He’s been honored with Daytime Emmy, Grammy and Peabody Awards.
Judd has had starring roles in a number of popular movies including “Kiss the Girls,” “Where the Heart Is,” “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” and “De-Lovely.” She is a leading advocate for mental health, gender equality and the elimination of poverty and was a 2017 TIME Person of the Year, as part of the “Silence Breakers.”
The Bryan Series is the longest-running and best-known subscription lecture series in the region. After presenting free programs on the Guilford campus beginning in 1996, the series has been presented in city venues as a subscription program since 2005. The upcoming season is the fourth for the series at the Tanger Center.
After presenting five to seven events each season since 2008, the College elected to reduce the number of subscription programs presented off campus in 2024-25 to two and to begin developing additional campus-based programming.