Next week, UCSB will launch a multifaceted combination of performances, literary display, and scholarly analyses to celebrate the centennial of the birth of French writer/philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. The activities, all of which are free and open to the public, will be spread over six days.

Director Irwin Appel, associate professor of dramatic art, will produce two staged readings of Sartre’s play “No Exit,” on Nov. 29 and 30 at 8 p.m. The dramatic readings will take place in the Studio Theatre, Snidecor Hall 1101. Seating is limited.

Both a manuscript exhibit and an international colloquium will open on Dec. 1 and run through Dec. 3. The Sartre manuscript and book exhibit is at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum, 21 West Anapamu in Santa Barbara, and opens at 10 a.m.

Beginning with UCSB Professor Dominique Jullien’s “How Alive Is Sartre Today?” on Dec. 1, the colloquium will run from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the McCune Conference Room (HSSB 6020). A reception will follow at the College of Creative Studies (CCS).

The next day, Chancellor Henry T. Yang initiates more sessions with a 9 a.m. welcome in the McCune Conference Room, followed by a keynote speech on “Sartre’s USA Adventures” by Annie Cohen-Solal of the University of Caen-Basse Normandie.

Over the next day and a half, other sessions will cover Sartre’s explorations of depression, anti-Semitism, gender, ethics, and literary expression, among various topics. The Dec. 3 keynote address is on “Sartre’s Outlandish Vision of the Venetian Painter Tintoretto” by Michel Sicard of the University of Paris. A program is available at <www.french-ital.ucsb.edu/events/Sartre.htm>.

Organized by Ernest Sturm, professor of French and Italian, and Catherine Nesci, professor and chair of French and Italian, the Dec. 3 events conclude with a presentation of Sartre manuscripts at the Karpeles and a screening of the 1959 film “Orfeo Negro.”

On Dec. 4, the centennial celebration ends with a musical flourish as two jazz bands perform at 7 p.m. in the CCS Old Little Theater.