performing arts
October 4, 2012
‘Mr. Maurizio’ Peace Play to premiere this weekend
The Goshen College theater department will perform the play “Mr. Maurizio,” written by Mic Weinblatt, the winning play in the 2012 Goshen College Peace Play Contest. The play will run throughout Homecoming weekend with performances on Oct. 5 at 8 p.m., Oct. 6 at 4 p.m. and Oct. 7 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at the door for $3. “Mr. Maurizio” focuses on the relationship between two immigrants, an older male Italian immigrant and a younger female El Salvadoran immigrant named Santina. Caskey explained that the theme of peace might not be immediately obvious to observers, as “some of...
March 21, 2012
ISC holds annual coffeehouse, showcases diversity
After nearly two months of planning, the International Student Club hosted its annual coffeehouse on Saturday, March 17. ISC is made up of Goshen College students from nearly 40 countries. In its humble beginnings, the coffeehouse was hosted in Newcomer Center, but as it gained popularity over the years it was moved to the Umble Center and eventually to Sauder Concert Hall. This year the event required 100 student volunteers who helped with organizing, cooking, performing, ushering and cleaning. ISC kicked off the night at 5 p.m. with a sold-out meal featuring food from Ethiopia, Ukraine, Nepal, India, Mexico and...
February 16, 2012
Vance George to conduct upcoming choir concert
Under the direction of Vance George, award-winning conductor and Goshen College alumnus, the GC choirs will perform a concert with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra at 7 p.m. Sunday in Sauder Concert Hall. George graduated from GC in 1955 with a double major in voice and piano. He studied under the tutelage of Mary Oyer and later continued his education at Indiana University to earn master’s and doctorate degrees in conducting. Most recently, George was honored with a 2011 Culture for Service Award from the Goshen College Alumni Board. Two years after George graduated from Goshen College, he spent three years...
February 9, 2012
Ted & Co. Brings Laughter to Campus
Special guest Ted Swartz from Ted & Company Theaterworks brought mid-week humor to campus in a special chapel Wednesday. Swartz performed an excerpt from a monologue he wrote and also shared a few stories from his upcoming book. Swartz, who addresses topics of faith and social justice, translated biblical text into dramatic storytelling. He captured the audience’s attention through comedy and careful use of vivid detail. Arielle Zerger, a sophomore, who heard Swartz for the first time yesterday, found that his performance “gives meaning and interpretation to biblical stories.” Swartz has done plenty of shows in the area, but said...
February 9, 2012
Lotus returns to Goshen
It’s been eight years since Goshen has been able to hear the instrumental jam band Lotus perform. Finally, they are headed our way. The five-member band, formed at Goshen College, has been hard at work. With the recent release of their self-titled fourth studio album, the band has just come off a fall tour and is preparing to start one for the spring. Special guest The B.E.A.T. will open for Lotus at the Goshen Theater on February 16. Lotus is particularly rooted in electronic and rock music and is predominantly instrumental instead of vocal. The band consists of Mike Greenfield...
February 9, 2012
The Big (and Ted) Q&A
Interview conducted in summer 2011. Swartz is an actor who has been writing and performing live shows for over 20 years. The shows often mix faith and Bible stories with humor. Swartz lives in Virginia with his wife Sue and has three grown sons. Swartz takes the time for a conversation about theater, faith, and life. Q: How did you get into Christian comedy and theater: A: It’s been a big piece of my life for a long time. I was always trying to figure out what was funny about something. When I was in seminary a light bulb went...
February 2, 2012
Goshen campus to welcome Ted & Co.
In a joint community effort to benefit local need, Ted & Co. will bring theater and theology to Goshen from Feb. 8-10. For the past 30 years, Swartz has entertained audiences across the U.S. and internationally with creative storytelling that sheds a new light on biblical stories and social justice issues. His performances have ranged from one-man shows to full score musicals, but within each of his shows Swartz aims to find an intersection between theater and theology, between humor and biblical stories. This is what he calls “comedic exogenesis.” Next week, Goshen will experience the range of abilities in...
February 2, 2012
Winter One Acts hit stage this weekend
This weekend the Winter One Acts will be featured at the Umble Center. The two one act plays performed will be "Haiku" by Katherine Snodgrass and "La Serva Padrona" by G.V. Pergolesi. La Serva Padrona means “The Servant Turned Mistress." It will be performed as a short comic opera for Aaron Kauffman's senior recital. The cast includes Aaron Kauffman, Brook Hostetter and Phil Weaver-Stoesz. The show will be accompanied by a group of strings featuring Elspeth Stalter, Laura Krabill, Philip Bontrager, Hannah Bartel and Ben Breckbill. This short opera is the story of a maid who schemes to marry her...
January 12, 2012
A hot performance at First Fridays
Goshen’s First Fridays event on Jan. 6, themed “fire and ice,” was eventful with food and entertainment. Ice sculptures lined Main Street, featuring themes from local businesses. A chili competition between businesses on Saturday heated up the end of the two-day event. Perhaps the hottest part of the celebration, though, was the Pyrotation Nation fire spinning performance on Washington Blvd. on Friday night. Pyrotation Nation, Inc. (PN) has been in business for less than one year and is comprised of nine fire spinners and five fire safety personnel. Performers use poi, rope dart, nunchucks and flaming staffs to entertain their...
October 5, 2011
Theater season starts with One Acts
Goshen College Theater Department’s theme for 2011-2012, Strangers No More, is inspired by Mennonite hymn with the same title. The fall theater season starts with the Homecoming One Acts this weekend. Producer Doug Caskey said, “We want to give the theme new looks from different angles. The One Acts will open the season with lots of humor.” Three student-directed plays will be performed, including Overtones, by Alice Gerstenberg, directed by Aaron Kaufmann, a senior; Here We Are, by Dorothy Parker, directed by Emily Bowman, a senior; and Time Flies, by David Ives, directed by Josh Hofer, a fifth-year. “What would...
September 21, 2011
Poet speaks on writing, Mennonites, and beauty
Julia Spicher Kasdorf, poet and Goshen College alumnus, grinned as she faced dozens of students and several English department professors in a science classroom. She had just been asked what makes a professional writer. “Well,” she said after a slight pause, “you practice it, and you get paid for it.” Spicher Kasdorf, who visited Goshen on Friday as a stop on her book tour for her latest collection, "Poetry in America," is simultaneously lyrical and blunt, much like her poetry. Prior to her Friday night performance in Reith Hall, the poet spoke to a group of students from several classes,...
September 14, 2011
Award-winning Mennonite poet performing on Friday
Julia Spicher Kasdorf will present a poetry reading from her new collection on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Rieth Recital Hall. Her book, "Poetry in America," is about poetry in the ordinary aspects of our lives and how people interact with it. Kasdorf transforms the mundane into beautiful phrases. According to Goshen English professors Beth Martin Birky and Ann Hostetler, Kasdorf's talents go beyond poetry and stretch into her performances, to which she brings energy and dynamism. "She has a magnetic personality and is a great speaker," said Hostetler. "She writes poetry that inspires others to write." Much of Kasdorf's poetry...
April 21, 2011
Santiago’s last act: aerial dance
What: Adriel Santiago’s senior theater recital When: Wednesday April 27, 2011 8 p.m. Where: Umble Center Why: The show is for the completion of Santiago’s degree as a theater and communication student. “It could be considered something like the theatrical equivalent of a thesis paper,” he said. About the play: “I put together a one-man show, which I have called Hephzibah,” said Santiago. “It is an abridged version of the book of Revelation, involving extreme physicality and aerial artistry. I truly believe this book—the revelation of Jesus—should awe us and reveal the heart of God, who will remove anything and...
April 7, 2011
Spring opera double-bill to open this Friday
The Goshen College theater department’s “Loyalty, Love and Loss” season will draw to a close with the spring opera double-bill of Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” and Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The Old Maid and the Thief,” directed by Deb Brubaker, professor of music, and Scott Hochstetler, assistant professor of music. Both operas are in English, but they were written almost three hundred years apart from each other. “Dido and Aeneas” is one of the earliest English operas to be written. The story comes from Virgil’s “Aeneid,” a Roman first-century epic poem that tells the story of Aeneas, a hero from...
March 17, 2011
Passing on a living tradition between generations
In today’s society, there seems to exist a push to look forward. We are urged to march onward in the name of progress, looking for the next discovery, the next adventure and to never look back at our past—at the things that have enabled us to get to where we are and who we are. Sometimes, despite that urge to move forward and ignore the past, individuals recognize the importance of the past, and work to ensure that traditions are maintained. As a result, cultural heritage is transpired, and people do something we don’t always do well: remember and carry...