Jesse McCartney, the voice of Siri and the Human Calculator to visit MVCC

McCartney’s songwriting credits include co-writing the 2008 hit “Bleeding Love” with One Republic’s Ryan Tedder, which was performed by Leona Lewis. The song won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year, reached No. 1 in 35 countries, and was the best-selling single of 2008. With multiple platinum-selling tracks and No. 1 hits like “Beautiful Soul,” “Leavin’,” and “How Do You Sleep,” and a new single, “Wasted,” McCartney is ready to introduce fans to who he is today.

Other series highlights include:

MVCC Drama Club production of “Dead Man’s Cell Phone”: 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, April 11-13, Schafer Theater, Information Technology Building, Utica. An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man with a lot of loose ends. So begins “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” a wildly imaginative comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl. This play has a few things to say about how we memorialize the dead — and how that remembering changes us — morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world. Tickets are $5 general, $2 for MVCC employees.

The Human Calculator® Scott Flansburg: 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, Schafer Theater, Information Technology Building, Utica Campus. Flansburg is an educator, speaker, Guinness World Record holder, bestselling author, and host of “The Human Calculator” on History Channel International. He is dedicated to helping students and adults overcome fears related to numbers and arithmetic. He believes everyone has the ability to do mental math and is on a mission to help people feel comfortable and confident with numbers in everyday life. Tickets are $5 general, $2 for MVCC employees.

Lecture: An Evening with Boston Marathon Bombing Survivor Roseann Sdoia, author of “Perfect Strangers”: 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, Schafer Theater, Information Technology Building, Utica Campus. As Sdoia waited to watch her friend cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013, she had no idea her life was about to change — that in a matter of minutes she would look up from the sidewalk, burned and deaf, staring at a detached foot, screaming for help. In the chaos of the minutes that followed, three people would enter Sdoia’s life and change it forever. Tickets are $5 general, $2 for MVCC employees.

“Accidentally Famous,” with Voice Actor Susan Bennett, original voice of “Siri”: 7 p.m. Thursday, May 2, Schafer Theater, Information Technology Building, Utica Campus. Bennett is the best-known unknown. She is Siri. With a strong personality and a sense of humor, Siri and the voice behind her, Bennett, gives the story of voice acting and how she became the original voice of Siri. She had no idea she would someday be speaking to more than 100 million people worldwide through a not-yet-invented phone that would revolutionize technology, thrusting her into accidental fame. This will be a moderated discussion between Bennett and MVCC President Randall VanWagoner, Ph.D. Tickets are $15 general, $10 for MVCC employees.

Tickets for all Cultural Series events can be purchased at the MVCC Box Office, Information Technology Building room 106, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday, and at the College Stores on the Utica and Rome Campuses; online any time at http://www.mvcc.edu/tickets; or by calling 315-731-5721. The Cultural Series is brought to you by MVCC’s Cultural Events Council, in collaboration with MVCC’s Program Board, with significant support from the Student Activity Fee. For the complete series lineup and ticket sales, visit http://www.mvcc.edu/culture.