On Thursday at 4:45 p.m., Professor of Theater Michael Abbott will deliver the 45^th annual LaFollette Lecture. The talk will take place in Salter Hall of Wabash College’s Fine Arts Center.

Abbott will explore the power of music not just to entertain, but to connect listeners to their own humanity. Structured as a personal “mixtape,” the talk journeys from the vulnerable genius of The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson to the revolutionary soul of Aretha Franklin and the theatrical brilliance of Stephen Sondheim.

“The lecture makes a case that sharing the music we love is a vulnerable, hopeful act that teaches us how to see and understand one another more deeply,” says Abbott, who is also the chair of the music department.

The LaFollette Lecture Series was established by the Wabash College Board of Trustees to honor longtime member Charles D. LaFollette. The lecture is given each year by a Wabash College faculty member who is charged to address the relation of his or her special discipline to the humanities broadly conceived.

The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.