Ah, urination. A basic human need. Imagine living in a place where one must pay to do this. Well, folks, that place is Urinetown. This April 24-26, Johnson State College will experience it under the direction Assistant Professor of Performing Arts F. Reed Brown.

The play is a musical satire, Brown said. The premise is that all of the world’s water has dried up, and life as it was goes down the toilet, so to speak. Urine must be recycled to hydrate the world, and people are taxed to relieve themselves.

In a world of Lily Allens and Amy Winehouses, it seems as though the British-pop-chick-singer genre is too gimmick- and bouffant-driven to produce anything original. Fortunately, Kate Nash proves that all hope is not lost.

On her debut album, “Made of Bricks” (Interscope), Nash manages to speak her angsty little mind and make a point while still providing danceable music with clever lyrics. In addition, she plays piano and guitar.

By Katie Crown

The current show in the Julian Scott Memorial Gallery in Dibden hosts 10 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, artists who trained together at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

The show includes realistic paintings and drawings from Victoria Barnes, Logan Blanco, Dave Campbell, Tim Conte, Elana Hagler, Jon Laidacker, Aaron Lubrick, JSC’s graduate professor Andrew Patterson-Tutschka, Brian Rego, and Thomas Walton.

Betty Bright, art historian and author, provided a fascinating glimpse into the world of artist books on Thursday, March 20, at JSC. Bright, author of “No Longer Innocent: the Book Arts in America 1960-1980,” also presented a number of artist books to Neil Shepard’s Poetry Workshop and Ken Leslie’s Advanced Drawing class in addition to her afternoon lecture in the Multimedia room.

Bright explained to a packed room that an artist book is visual and written art fused in book form. Beginning in the 1960s, artist books pushed the basic attributes of regular books: structure, tangibility, control, rhythm, and sensuality are experimented upon. Bright, as an art historian, embraces the diverse field of artist books where all forms of material, and often the use of pop-ups as in children’s books, are used.

Anthology, with a forward by Isaac Asimov

It’s hard to say what, exactly, you would get out of reading this ancient collection of mediocre stories, the highlights of which are Asimov’s intriguing forward and the delightful cover illustration.

“The Little Book of Pandemics”

Dr. Peter Moore

Nothing says “fun” like a paperback book full of diseases described with pictures and diagrams in black, white, and lurid green. However, despite the book’s putrid color scheme and sardonic title, it’s actually an entirely straightforward look at some of the most horrible things that could happen to you when you least expect them.