This homecoming weekend, Goshen College will be putting on the one-act play “A Comedy Renaissance (Un renacimiento de la comedia).” The show is co-directed by Amy Budd, assistant professor of theater, and Cristóbal Garza González, associate professor of Spanish. It seeks to bring the Spanish language, Spanish speakers and diaspora traditions to GC’s stage. It was important to Budd to make this incorporation as organic as possible.  “There’s not a clear way forward — or an industry best practice — for me as a white woman within an HSI, doing this work,” she said. “I thought: ‘what’s the next step...

By Mackenzie P. Miller • October 5, 2023 • Arts

“We live locked in a golden cage. The cage is made of gold and there is a lot of abundance in this country, but it’s a cage. One is limited. One is locked up.” These words come from the documentary “Vidas in the Golden Cage,” which senior film production major Sarah Lopez Ramirez developed for Maple Scholars this past summer. “My project is about highlighting the stories of Latino immigrants in Goshen and their experiences with a term many Latinos use called ‘the Golden Cage,’” Lopez Ramirez said. “That term describes the feeling of being in a place that offers...

By Lukas Bontrager-Waite • September 28, 2023 • Arts

Janneken Smucker, a Goshen College graduate, spoke on Sept. 16 in the Good Library Gallery about the 17 quilts on display for the exhibit “A Cabinet of Curiosities 3,” which showcases Anabaptist clocks, ceramics and quilts. Her talk brought audience members from in and around the GC community, with roughly 50 people in attendance. Smucker is a fifth-generation quilt maker and currently serves as a professor of history at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. “I began making quilts when I was a teenager,” she said. “I was an artistic kid and loved to have projects going on.” Joe Springer, the...

By Lukas Bontrager-Waite • September 28, 2023 • Arts

I started photography in late high school, taking photos on old film cameras bought from thrift stores. I came to Goshen College interested in taking my photography to the next level, but also in making my photography more pointed and purposeful. Over the last three years, I have been given amazing opportunities by 91.1 The Globe and Jason Samuel to get up close to the action on stage and take some photos. Enjoy these photos taken at local venues and concerts. Bands featured: Lotus, Tumbleweed Jumpers, The Main Squeeze, Potential Novelty and Michigan Rattlers. Seth Smith Kauffman is a junior...

By Seth Smith Kauffman • September 14, 2023 • Arts

Mandazis are a fried dough dessert from Kenya that is usually eaten with Kenyan tea (chai). I was taught this recipe this summer during my research trip in Kenya. The hostess where we were staying taught me several Kenyan recipes, including mandazis. Ingredients: 1 cup of milk 1 egg 1 tablespoon of butter 1 teaspoon baking powder A pinch of salt 2 cups of flour 4 tablespoons sugar Directions: In a bowl, combine the milk, egg, baking powder, sugar and butter until fully incorporated. Then, mix in two cups of flour until fully incorporated and a soft but not sticky...

By Gonzalo Barahona Hernandez • September 14, 2023 • Arts

The 10th annual Arts on the Millrace juried outdoor art show was held on Saturday. It brings fine art vendors together to sell and showcase their work.  Founders Adrienne Nesbitt and Brad Hunsberger are both Goshen College alumni, as are many of the artists. “You can walk amongst the booths and there’s a high percentage of artists who are living and working in Goshen who are Goshen College Alumni,” Nesbitt said. GC’s Music Together program, a childhood music and movement class, also holds their end of summer celebration to open the live music at the event.  This year, GC’s Art...

By Annika Alderfer Fisher • September 14, 2023 • Arts

This past summer, I went on the Southwest Indigenous Perspectives SST and had the privilege of hearing from several Navajo artists during my time out west. One of those artists was Myron Denetclaw, a fifth-year art major at Diné College. In this painting, Denetclaw — meaning “left-handed,” even though he is actually right-handed — depicts four stalks of corn, each of different colors, surrounded by a rainbow. The four colors represent the four sacred mountains of the Navajo, with North being black, blue being South, yellow being West and white being East. The artwork is a recreation of a sandpainting,...

By Lukas Bontrager-Waite • September 8, 2023 • Arts

This year at Sauder Concert Hall, audience members can expect to see a new face take the stage with the symphonic orchestra: Director Richard Brunson. Brunson is a teacher, conductor, hornist and Tolkien enthusiast who was hired earlier this year at Goshen College to fill the roles of symphony orchestra director and associate professor of music. Brunson has a doctoral degree in instrumental conducting from the University of Nevada (Las Vegas), and has taught and conducted for many different ensembles — most recently at the University of Wisconsin (Marshfield), where he has served as conductor for the band, orchestra and...

By Lukas Bontrager-Waite • September 8, 2023 • Arts

On April 27 in the Umble Center, there will be a presentation of two senior capstone films, both written, directed and produced by senior film production and writing major Court Templeton.  The first of the two is titled “Semangat: Into the Unknown,” following the stories of the Indonesia Study Service Term (SST) group that traveled to Philadelphia before traveling abroad in the spring semester of 2022. It is the capstone project for her SST trip.  The second is titled “Sanctuary,” and is a horror film that follows the story of a girl that has been taking shelter in her home...

By Sarah Miller • April 13, 2023 • Arts

This weekend is Earthtones: Songs From Many Cultures — the final choir concert of the year. Earthtones concerts maintain a tradition of celebrating diverse music from many cultures around the world. This particular Earthtones is also coupled with a celebration of Mary Oyer’s 100th birthday, which was on April 5.  Vox Profundi and Chamber Choir director Dr. Scott Hochstetler stated that Oyer, a former Goshen College music and fine arts professor, “influenced a couple generations of Goshen College students, including music majors and many, many non-majors” during her tenure.  The focus Earthtones places on diverse music makes it an apt...

By Grace Hitt • April 13, 2023 • Arts Kate Bodiker • April 13, 2023 • Arts

Goshen College band Lavender Jazz will be putting on their final show of the school year on Wednesday, April 5, in Umble Center under the direction of Greg Smucker.  The show is set to include full group pieces as well as smaller group combos.  Though Umble Center has not been the normal location for most GC ensembles to perform, Smucker said, “we like the connection we experience with the audience when performing in the Umble Center.”  With a more intimate space, the group often gets the chance to interact with members of the audience better. Jazz as a genre is...

By Sarah Miller • March 30, 2023 • Arts

Goshen College’s International Student Club (ISC) will present its annual Coffeehouse show this Saturday in Sauder Concert Hall.  Before the concert, a potluck meal will take place in the College Mennonite Church Fellowship Hall.  A portion of the proceeds from the dinner and show will be used to support Mennonite Central Committee’s earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey. Goshen’s international student population includes 73 people from 32 different countries.  One student, Silas Immanuel, an accounting and film studies double major from India, is part of the ISC leadership team of five who plan the event every year.   “Coffeehouse is...

By Olivia Koop • March 30, 2023 • Arts

This weekend, Goshen College’s theater program will open the spring mainstage musical: Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.” The last time the show was done at GC was in 2003. The show reconsiders who really deserves the title of hero or villain in a fairy tale while involving storylines from “Cinderella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Rapunzel.”  Director Amy Budd described it as being primarily a story about “the importance of caring for your neighbors.” The actors began rehearsals in January to prepare for opening night.  Fatima Rhana, a sophomore music and theater double major playing the...

By Kate Bodiker • March 23, 2023 • Arts

Last Sunday, Rieth Recital Hall welcomed guest artists Noreen and Phillip Silver, better known as The Silver Duo, to share their talents with the Goshen community.  The husband-and-wife, piano-and-cello duo from the music faculty of the University of Maine performed works by J.S. Bach, Camille Saint-Saёns, Paul Ben-Haim and a trio by Vasyl Barvinsky which featured Goshen College’s own Solomia Soroka on violin. The Silver Duo is known around the world for performing chamber music. They became a duo while they were studying together at the New England Conservatory of Music. Both have been on various faculties for prestigious music...

By Sarah Miller • March 23, 2023 • Arts

Lapp Klassen’s show will feature six acrylic paintings. Oskar Sunderland is a graphic design major. Greaser simultaneously prepared for her senior art show and recital. Lee Bergey’s show will feature mixed media collages. Caroline Greaser is a graphic design and music major.   Sunderland will be presenting mock tour posters. Art professor Sarah Method advises Greta Lapp Klassen.

By Julia (Hyeyin) Jun • March 16, 2023 • Arts