performing arts
February 10, 2011
Charlotte “Stonewallop” Barnett experiences life on wheels
On a Saturday night, Charlotte Barnett is likely to be found getting down and dirty on a pair of skates. Barnett, a senior psychology major, is part of a newly formed roller derby league. The skating happens at USA Roller Skate in Mishawaka, where Barnett spins wheels three days a week, but before this summer, she had barely touched a pair of skates. “I’d been on roller skates once in my life,” said Barnett. “But once I put pads on, I felt invincible.” Barnett was introduced to derby this past summer in Charlottesville, Va., where she had an internship. “I...
December 2, 2010
GC Theater Department awaits regional competition invitation
Goshen College student playwrights, actors and designers are taking a risk. This fall, Goshen College’s theater department entered this year's Main Stage production, “Hindsight is 20/Something” into the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (ACTF). This is the first time original student work has been entered into the competition. In his office, Doug Caskey, professor of theater, had his eyes the calendar with anticipation. If the production was accepted, an invitation to the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival will appear in his office by Monday, Dec. 4. If chosen, the students’ work will be critiqued by theater professionals...
December 2, 2010
Festival of Carols to usher in Christmas season
The Goshen College Music Department will conclude the semester this weekend with the traditional Festival of Carols concert in Sauder Concert Hall. The concert, now a highly anticipated event, starts the holiday season with a massive program incorporating all aspects of the music department; it features traditional Christmas carols and creative renditions of popular songs. Dustin George Miller, office coordinator for the Music Center, says that the Festival of Carols began in 2004 as “a way to create something new.” To add to the holiday spirit, lights, wreaths and Christmas trees line Sauder Hall and selected songs are performed in...
December 2, 2010
Embracing dancing, embracing Zumba
Zumba, the heart pumping, music infused, cardio workout dance class has entered the doors of the RFC. On Wednesday and Friday evenings from 8 to 9 p.m., college students and community members gather for one hour to tone and sculpt their bodies with Latin rhythms and choreographed dance moves. “I think a large number of the female population on campus has experienced Zumba now,” said Josh Keister, director of the Recreation and Fitness Center. Keister counted 100 plus participants in the first Zumba class several weeks ago, eighty-five percent of which he estimated as college female college students. Prior to...
November 17, 2010
Curtain ready to draw for two theatre seniors
Though the fall semester is drawing to an end, for two seniors, Kristina Mast and Meg Kennell, the show is just getting started. This Sunday the curtain opens for “Mary Rose,” Mast's senior theater recital. Kennell's play, “Twilight: Los Angeles 92,” will be performed in December. Both Mast and Kennell began thinking about which play to choose last summer. The process has been collaborative; Mast acts in Kennell's play, and Kennell is directing for Mast. Mast's play, “Mary Rose,” is by J.M. Barrie, who is best known for writing “Peter Pan.” The play, set in the 1870s, is about an...
November 10, 2010
GoProv comedy troupe entertains GC crowd
On Saturday, November 6th, Campus Activities Council (CAC) invited local comedy troupe GoProv to present an evening full of jokes and laughs for Goshen College students in Newcomer Center. Using a style similar to the popular improvisation show “Who’s Line is it Anyway?,” the four-member comedy troupe led a variety of improv activities that encouraged audience participation. Afterward, students were free to tell jokes, perform skits, sing songs and share other comedic talents. GoProv is an improv group that was formed a few years ago as an off-shoot of a comedy performed at the New World Arts theater in...
November 3, 2010
Fall mainstage to feature two student-written works
Patrick Maxwell and Patrick Ressler have a lot in common. They share a first name, for starters. They’re both seniors who have been heavily involved in the Goshen College theater department. They both wrote a play this summer while studying abroad. And both of their plays are being performed as the mainstage theater production this year. The fall mainstage, “Hindsight is 20/Something,” consists of “Here Lies Hope,” a play by Maxwell, and “Home of the Trojans,” a musical by Ressler. As far as Doug Caskey, chair of the theater department and director of “Hindsight is 20/Something” knows, a fully student-written...
September 30, 2010
“A Gentler Place” Peace Play premieres on Umble stage
An evening of discovery, reconciliation and deeply buried secrets are in store for audience members who attend the world premiere of “A Gentler Place,” this Friday, Oct. 1 in the Umble Center at 8 p.m. The winning play of the 2010 Goshen College Peace Play Contest, “A Gentler Place” is also the Goshen College directorial debut of Tamera Izlar, who joined GC this fall as assistant professor of theater. “A Gentler Place” will also run Saturday, Oct. 2 at 4 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 3 at 2 p.m. The playwright, Jeff Carter, will be in attendance for all three performances,...
March 5, 2010
Michiana Monologues come to Goshen campus
A few years after “The Vagina Monologues” were barred from campus, a community written, directed and organized version, “The Michiana Monologues,” is coming to the Goshen College campus. The Indiana University-South Bend (IUSB) club, Voices Against Violence, has organized the event the three years it has been performed, collecting monologues from the community as early as a year before the performance, leading workshops for area women to write their stories and coordinating the performances on IUSB’s campus, along with the advertising and fund-raising off campus. This year’s performance, “The Michiana Monologues: Love, Joy and Pain,” contains 28 Michiana women’s stories,...
November 11, 2009
A Portrait of Goshen’s People
The following is an excerpt from “A Violin Professor Going on 17,” a profile of Solomia Soroka written by Alysha Landis. Solomia Soroka, an assistant professor of music at Goshen College, knew her career path when she was only 6 years old. Despite her childhood dream to become a biologist, her mother enrolled her in music school. Ever since then, it has always been about music – and the violin – for Soroka. For a child growing up in L’viv, a large city in western Ukraine, learning an instrument at age 6 was considered a late start. Soroka...
October 28, 2009
Big weekend for Big Love
When was the last time you attended a Greek wedding in a swimming pool involving fifty cousins? Big Love, written by Charles Mee and directed by Michelle Milne, opens this weekend: a fast-moving, contemporary show based on an ancient Greek play that includes themes of gender, power, refugees and revenge. The play follows a group of sisters as they flee to Italy seeking refuge with Italian hosts in order to escape a marriage contract betrothing them to their cousins. A variety of opinions are expressed regarding how to deal with the marriage contract; the women argue that they were not...
October 14, 2009
Ted & Company return to Goshen for November show
Ted Swartz, of Ted & Company TheaterWorks, will be coming to Goshen on Saturday, Nov. 7 for the first time in 11 years. Swartz, father of current student Derek Swartz, a senior, will be performing with Trent Wagler of Harrisonburg, Virginia along with Jay Lapp, a Goshen alumnus and native, and a choir of local singers. Rachel Lapp, assistant professor of communication and sister of Jay Lapp, said, “Ted does something so unique with his shows…it’s a great model for those in the arts who can think creatively about how to be entrepreneurial [and] to have a relevant voice in...
September 23, 2009
Goshen students salsa to Valparaiso
The 12 members of the Goshen College salsa team danced on the University of Valparaiso’s ballroom floor last Friday night for their first ever paid performance. The salsa team, a group of experienced dancers from the salsa club, danced as entertainment for Valparaiso’s Hispanic heritage dinner. Remembering how talented Goshen’s salsa club was, former Goshen student Ciara Reyes—who now attends Valparaiso—suggested that Valparaiso invite them to perform for this event. Goshen’s salsa club draws mostly from the rueda Cubana style of salsa—a group circle dance in which dancers continually swap partners. Joel Gonzalez, a recent Goshen graduate who actually founded...
September 16, 2009
Puerto Rican telenovela actor a student at GC
Rosario played the role of Omar, a drug dealer whose bad influence led the wealthy main characters’ children into a world of drugs. In his last scene, the show shut down the stores and stopped traffic at a shopping district to film him robbing a store with his friends. “We got out of the car and everybody was watching–the best part was when everybody cheered,” said Rosario. He does not let the fans get to his head, though, because although people do recognize him on the street, he made sure to point out that, “It’s not like they recognize me...
April 15, 2009
Voices-n-Harmony concert to benefit past conductor
On Friday, Voices-n-Harmony, Goshen College's gospel choir, will present a benefit concert, the debut of their new director, Ron Bishop. The performance will be in Sauder Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m on Friday. A portion of the benefit proceeds will go to the Patrice Penny-Henderson Medical Fund. Penny-Henderson, the former director of Voices-n-Harmony, is currently experiencing medical troubles that have prevented her from leading the choir. Voices-n-Harmony is not only made up of Goshen students, but also faculty, staff and community members who sing to pronounce their love for God. Bishop, the new director, is an ordained minister and member...