Arts
February 2, 2023
BEE! brings a buzz to Goshen
GoDance Studio in downtown Goshen was buzzing last Friday night with people swarming around a show put on by Brides of Neptune and BEE! Both bands are based in Goshen, but BEE! includes Evan Judson on the keyboard and trumpet, GC alumni Evan Krabill (‘21) as lead vocalist and guitarist and current GC seniors Birch Baer on drums and Isaac Fisher on bass guitar. The group got its start in 2021 as a way for some of the members to make music together. “We took the first letter from each of our names [at that point] to create the name...
February 2, 2023
Chris Thile to return to Sauder stage
Mandolinist Chris Thile, a MacArthur Fellow and Grammy winner, will perform at Sauder Concert Hall on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. Thile has performed at Sauder three previous times: as a part of the trio Nickel Creek, which won the International Mountain Bluegrass Award, in 2006; with the quintet The Punch Brothers, which won a Grammy Award, in 2009; and as a solo act in 2015. This will be the first show for the Goshen College Performing Arts Series in 2023, due to the rescheduling of popular public radio host Ira Glass’ “Seven Things I’ve Learned” that was originally...
January 26, 2023
Retired professor featured in art gallery
Former Goshen College art professor Randy Horst presented his new art exhibit in GC’s Hershberger Art Gallery on Sunday, Jan. 22. The opening also included a reception where Horst reflected on his work, which is titled “Inside Voices.” After serving as a professor at GC for 13 years, Horst retired last spring. He graduated from GC after transferring from Hesston College, and received his Master of Fine Arts from Bowling Green University in 1986. Horst remains involved in the local community, and his passion for art extends past the visual — he is currently in two local musical groups: “The...
January 26, 2023
Petrak picks up interim director role
For the first time, the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra (GCSO) is directed by a female conductor: Victoria “Tori” Petrak. After Brian Mast transitioned from orchestra director to director of facilities across the GC campus, the GCSO leadership shifted to interim director Petrak, a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University and Kent State University. Petrak, who has been working with the Youth Honors Orchestra within Goshen College’s Community School of the Arts for three years, explained that Mast and Matthew Hill, chair of GC’s music department, approached her in August about filling the position. Although previous commitments did not allow her to...
January 19, 2023
Students attend Kennedy Center theater festival
On the same day GC students began their classes for the semester, many students, including myself, went to the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival at the University of Michigan-Flint. A five-day event, the festival is a giant celebration of theater with college students, working professionals and casting organizations gathering from across the Midwest. The festival included workshops such as “Acting Through The Microphone” and “Consent In A Knife Fight.” A challenge of the festival was not being able to attend everything, so one had to plan out their day very carefully. We also saw many incredible performances and captivating...
January 19, 2023
Faculty recital highlights African-American voices
Goshen College’s 2023 King Celebration honored the life Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 20 with a faculty recital by H. Roz Woll, associate professor of music, and colleague Roy Jennings, pianist, arranger and founder of Arch Angel Productions. The recital included music from all African-American composers and spoken word from Jakyra Green, a junior English and secondary education major and a song performed by Nakiyah Kilpatrick, a senior sign language interpreting major. Initially slated for October 2022, the recital was postponed to GC’s King Celebration due to Jennings being ill. With the date change, Woll decided to have...
December 2, 2022
Production staff preps for A Festival of Carols
As Goshen College is preparing to host their annual Christmas music concert, Festival of Carols, students and staff are working behind the scenes to prepare for the three highly anticipated performances. This year, the festival will also be recorded by FiveCore Media for a PBS special. Aysia Adkins lights the lobby tree. Tyson Miller//The Record The festival is being produced with the help of students, including Tyson Miller and Sarah Miller. “Festival of Carols is different from our other shows in that it’s cue based,” Tyson Miller said. “So a lot of it is coordinating that with the start of...
November 11, 2022
Students sell art pieces at First Friday
Students had the opportunity to participate in a student art sale for downtown Goshen’s First Friday this past weekend. The theme of the November First Friday was “Art Tour.” The event called for artists of the Goshen area to present their work at the Goshen Farmers Market, Goshen Brewing Company, The Painted Finch and other local businesses. “The November First Fridays were focused on local artists throughout downtown,” said Emma Zuercher, a senior sign language interpreting major with a minor in art. “A few months ago, folks at the Goshen Farmers Market contacted Merrill [Krabill] about featuring Goshen College students...
November 11, 2022
‘Everybody’: 1:5 odds in a Powerball of a play
The fall mainstage, “Everybody” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, will feature something uncommon in theater productions — an onstage lottery to determine which actor plays which character. Among the cast, five out of the ten actors have taken on the task of learning five different parts instead of just one. Daniel Stoltzfus, Kate Bodiker, Meredith Blossom, Fatima Rhana and Jocsan Barahona Rosales will take turns playing the titular character, known as Everybody, as well as a host of other characters named after various virtues. Among all the characters, Everybody has been the most challenging to get comfortable with. “We’re getting to a...
October 13, 2022
Homecoming Gala hosts students, faculty and alumni
Sauder Concert Hall was full of music of the past and present to celebrate Homecoming Weekend on Saturday. Alumni of all ages, backgrounds and identities gathered to watch students and faculty perform music with themes of love and joy at the annual Homecoming Gala. The concert opened with the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra performing the overture from the Broadway musical “West Side Story.” Brian Mast, conductor, led the orchestra in this dynamic opener. “It was better than expected,” said Francisco Behan Morillo, a first-year in orchestra, Vox Profundi and Chamber Choir. “I was just excited to be performing!” Vox Profundi...
October 13, 2022
Students seek solace in ceramics studio
Goshen College hosts a hidden gem in the basement of the Visual Arts Building: the ceramics studio. The studio is covered in a fine layer of clay dust, with shelves lining every corner to display student’s current projects. These include bowls, pots, coffee mugs, busts and more. Students from all backgrounds and majors have found themselves in the ceramics studio creating pottery and sculptures. “I don’t always get as much time as I would like in the studio,” said Emma Zuercher, a senior sign language interpreting major with a minor in art. “But I’m intentional about creating time here. It’s...
October 7, 2022
Lavender Jazz to perform at Goshen Theater
Goshen College’s Lavender Jazz band is set to have their yearly kick-off this Friday at Goshen Theater. The concert will feature the big band, as well as the two bands or “combos” within Lavender Jazz. The band plays classic jazz hits, as well as swing, blues and music typical of New Orleans and Dixieland. “Even though there are over 100 years worth of jazz styles to choose from, the band draws primarily from relatively contemporary styles,” said Greg Smucker, director of Lavender Jazz. “Lavender Jazz will be performing arrangements as a big band, which is 14 to 18 members, and...
October 7, 2022
GC’s annual Peace Play, ‘The Fledgling,’ to debut
“The Fledgling” “centers around two household pets trying to figure out why this fledgling bird is disrupting their peace on their fire escape. Throughout the discussion, the audience is brought to see how easy it is to have empathy for those who aren’t like us.” That’s how Shianne Harrison, a 2020 Goshen graduate of the theater department, describes this year’s Peace Play Contest winner. The biannual Peace Play Contest invites playwrights to submit original one-act plays related to the theme of peace to a selection committee. The winning play is performed by Goshen College’s theater department, and the playwright is...
March 11, 2010
Religion and humor: Tartuffe comes to the Umble stage
This year's Spring mainstage Moliere's "Tartuffe" is filled with 17th century pomp, boasting a translation from the French that keeps the original rhyme scheme, elaborate costuming design complete with wigs and all manner of frills and Baroque-style music freshly composed by Assistant Director Patrick Ressler. As director Doug Caskey noted, however, despite having been written over 300 years ago, "Tartuffe" still retains much of its relevance today. The classic comedy tells the story of the seemingly pious Tartuffe, played by Sophomore Aaron Kaufmann, and his deception of the gentleman Orgon and his mother, Madame Pernelle. Tension both comedic and dramatic...