PREVIEW: Celebrating 20 Years of The Marginalian at SPAC with Maria Popova
10/23 @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center Amphitheater
“Maria has a brilliant, luminous mind that reads deeply into all sorts of genres from literature and poetry to psychology, physics, and history — the whole gambit of the human experience…”
On October 23, 2006, while Maria Popova worked four jobs to pay her way through college, she began sharing her musings on life with seven colleagues via email. In a moment of cinematic serendipity, her friends, in turn, began sharing her marginalia with even more friends. Within just a few years, Popova's writing took shape, and her newsletter called Brain Pickings became the internationally renowned essay platform, The Marginalian.
20 years to the date after Popova shared her first email with her colleagues, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) will present Constellating Wonder: Maria Popova and Friends Celebrate 20 Years of The Marginalian. The one-night-only event on October 23 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. will bring together a ‘constellation’ of artists, writers, musicians, scientists, and performers.
“I love the title that Maria came up with, which is Constellating Wonder, because that’s truly what it is going to be that night: a constellation of incredible minds and hearts sharing that spark of humanity that brings us all together,” says Elizabeth Sobol, Chief Executive Officer of SPAC.
The evening will feature live appearances from Popova’s friends, including Krista Tippett, Marie Howe, Diane Ackerman, James Gleick, Debbie Millman, Sophie Blackall, Stephon Alexander, Natalie Batalha, Willow Defebaugh, Wendy MacNaughton, Zoë Keating, Joan As Police Woman, and The Young People’s Chorus of New York, alongside contributions by Nick Cave, Natascha McElhone, and Paola Prestini.
“Maria will be introducing them; some will be reading poems, some will be performing, and there will be spoken word about the topics of beauty, poetry, and science,” explains Sobol. “There will be video creations and some video contributions from other artists who can’t physically be there that night.”
The event will feature a Museum of Delights, where attendees may enter a raffle to receive one of Popova’s handmade ceramics and other original works. A curated bookstore will feature Popova’s 20 all-time favorite books alongside signed copies of her own works.
“Maria has a brilliant, luminous mind that reads deeply into all sorts of genres from literature and poetry to psychology, physics, and history — the whole gambit of the human experience,” says Sobol, noting how Popova’s works are included in the Library of Congress digital archive of culturally valuable materials. “She sees the world as it is in all its light and dark, joy and pain, but she manages to write these beautiful, inspiring, and hopeful essays.”
A reader of Popova’s work since the beginning, Sobol first met her in New York City at an event like this one, where Popova gathered poets, scientists, musicians, and more to participate. While creating an anniversary event connected to her previous The Universe in Verse events, Popova began looking for a place to host the celebration.
For Sobol, when Popova’s team reached out to SPAC, it was a full-circle moment. “This is the only place where it’s happening,” explains Sobol. “I just celebrated my 10th anniversary at SPAC, and I will say, by far, this is one of the top three things that I’m most excited for that we’ve done at SPAC. I feel utterly privileged that we’re able to host it here.”
Sobol highlights that events like Constellating Wonder fit into SPAC’s overall vision. As the summer home to the New York City Ballet, SPAC is recognized widely as a summertime venue — when the evenings are long and the air is warm, families cluster into the amphitheater or spread out on the lawns to enjoy a night of music or dance.
But SPAC has been actively involved in scheduling arts and culture for all four seasons, with programming including cooking, science, creative arts, and more. Recently, SPAC’s Out Of This World Festival was a look at the nexus of art and cosmos, in keeping with the pathos that Popova will share at Constellating Wonder.
“A lot of people think about SPAC as the amphitheater where the ballet, orchestra, or Dave Matthews performs,” notes Sobol. “But in fact, we speak so much about SPAC as a holistic entity, a place that is a perfect confluence of natural beauty and human-made beauty. [At SPAC] you will see more and more of this look through the dual lens of human-made and natural beauty, science, and art.”
Honoring the spirit of The Marginalian, tickets at SPAC will be based on a pay-what-you-can model, ranging from the event’s basic operating costs to higher levels of support. For those who need them, complimentary tickets are available by request.
Audience members who are unable to attend in person can enjoy a livestream viewing option supported by the venue. For onsite attendees, vegan food options will be available for purchase.
Sobol believes that Constellating Wonder is a sign of hope: a group of people coming together to honor the beauty of the universe, reveling in life’s deep questions, and finding unity with each other in the unknown. As the world feels as if it’s closing in on itself, Constellating Wonder offers a moment of perspective from high above.
“We can all get so pulled down by doomscrolling, the news, and worry about AI,” observes Sobol. “That’s not downplaying any of that, but the truth is that despite all of this, we’re so fortunate to live in this incredible place, and there is so much beauty and wonder in the world. Beauty and wonder can keep us from despair and reconnect us all— to each other and to the planet that we live on.”
For tickets and more information, please visit https://spac.org/events/constellating-wonder/
