performing arts
February 18, 2016
GC Players host Miscast Cabaret
This Friday, GC Players held their third Miscast Cabaret, in which the participants performed a song or a scene intended for a gender other than their own. Audience members were also invited to dress up. The show began with a public service announcement from GC Players and emcees for the event Lea Ramer, a junior, and Martin Flowers, a senior, who said that the point of a Miscast Cabaret is not to mock those who are transgender, but to have fun and embrace a character for the audience to see. GC Players is a club that began about three years...
February 4, 2016
GSWA hosts annual Chocolate House
With Newcomer 19 packed full, women, non-binary students and allies joined together for a night of performance and chocolate on Saturday. Chocolate House, the informal talent show hosted by the Goshen Student Women’s Association, provided a way for students to celebrate and support the talents of the women and non-binary students on campus, while allies brought snacks to share. “This year in particular, Chocolate House was an incredibly loving and supportive environment for all of our talented women and non-binary students, both those who performed and those who have talents outside of what was on stage,” said Elizabeth Franks-North, a...
February 4, 2016
Students to perform with orchestra
Seven students will be performing individual arias and concertos with the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra in the 56th annual Concerto Aria concert. The concert will take place on Saturday, February 6 in Sauder Concert Hall. The Concerto Aria is an opportunity to showcase the musical talent at Goshen College. In the fall, the music department auditioned students in front of a panel of faculty, who then chose the winners based on the quality of their performances. Vince Kurtz, a junior music and physics double major, said, “Audition situations are always a bit odd, because you only play for a few...
January 28, 2016
Spring kickoff features a variety of acts
Saturday night saw a flashback to the 1920’s for the annual spring Kickoff event, and like the decade in U.S. history, it was extravagant. The student population turned out in droves to support the thirty students who competed. Acts ranged in content, including multiple bands, tap and pop dance, solo voice performances, original rap piece and a poem recitation. The theme for the evening was “The Great Gatsby.” The Campus Activities Council supported the theme with hosts dressed in flapper dresses and feather boas, and the appearance of Charlie Chaplin, both in a video skit and as represented by Kevin...
January 28, 2016
Martin Flowers: not another ‘starving artist’
At the age of nine, Martin Flowers landed his first role as the lead in his church’s Easter program. Acting out a script created from a sermon, a small number of children gathered to perform in front of the entire church. He didn’t know this first experience with performing would later catapult him into being a prominent figure in both the theater and music departments at Goshen College 10 years later. While Flowers has had a part in every Goshen College mainstage, he is also a vocalist with the Men’s Chorus and Chamber Choir, and is currently preparing for his...
December 3, 2015
Stewart hosts slam night
“My name say I can’t be impossible, because I be in existence: Ebony.” This line is from a poem written by Ebony Stewart, a spoken-word artist from Texas, performed as her self-introduction at the Nov. 20 Hour After performance. Stewart is a three-time Slam Champion in Austin, has coached several slam teams and has been featured in publications like the “Texas Observer” and “For Harriet.” In the biography on her website, Stewart writes that she “writes because she has to and eats cupcakes for fun.” Stewart is also a former sexual health educator, which influences much of the subject matter...
December 3, 2015
Wagner named poet laureate
The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) recently named Shari Wagner the new Indiana state poet laureate. During her two-year term as poet laureate beginning in January, the 1980 Goshen College graduate will seek to promote a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry. “As Indiana’s new poet laureate,” said Wagner, “I want to do on a state level what I’ve been doing in Indianapolis for a number of years—promoting the writing and reading of poetry in a variety of settings.” Wagner will present in libraries, schools, senior centers and many other settings. “I’m extremely excited that my term coincides...
November 19, 2015
GC theater presents ‘Godspell’
Thirteen GC theater and music students are performing this fall in “Godspell,” a musical that brings the narrative of Jesus to life through song and dance. Jacob Zehr, a sophomore music education major who played the leading role of Jesus, enjoyed building relationships with the rest of the cast, his 12 disciples, as well as the crew throughout the rehearsal and performance process. “I think one of the biggest joys was being able to experience a very real sense of community and love with the cast and crew,” he said. “They are the single reason I will cherish this experience...
October 8, 2015
Audience faced with raw themes in ‘Bombers’
“Bombers” opened this past weekend as the One Act play, critiquing societal prejudices of people different from ourselves and the seemingly routine violence we’ve come to accept on college campuses. The play was performed by first-years Jonah Yoder and Ben Meyer Reimer and sophomores Morgan Yordy and A’Sean Street. The story takes place on a university campus in the present time. A young, white, lacrosse player is killed when his car is blown up in a parking lot, and the search to find the bomber ensues. The audience follows along as four students are questioned because they are stereotyped. Street...
October 1, 2015
Kicking it off: Redefining entertainment
[caption id="attachment_31976" align="alignright" width="299"] Sophomore Achieng Agutu performs the co-written poem “Light Another Candle, Say Another Prayer” with Ammon Allen-Ducot, a senior.Photo by Hannah Sauder.[/caption] Abandoning the usual camp t-shirts and sweatpants, Goshen College students en masse, headed over to Sauder Music Center at 10:00 p.m. on Sept. 26 for Kick Off. Prior to the event, students hustle out and about the dorms, run back and forth from the bathroom to add finishing touches on their faces and clothes. There is almost an air of competition even amongst the spectators, as fellow students eye over their shoulder to see...
April 16, 2015
GC women share stories
This past Tuesday, April 14, Goshen Monologues held its second performance. 65 women performed stories about bodies, relationships, sexual assault, womanhood and sexuality. The stories were collected from anonymous submissions from Goshen College women and then turned into a script for the performance. The pieces, though performed by actors, focused on the stories that were being told. Performers wore black and grey clothing and did not bow after the performance. In an interview with Ariel Ropp, communication specialist for Goshen College, Anna Van der Zwaag, a senior molecular biology/biochemistry major from Worthington, Ohio and a member of the Goshen Monologues...
March 26, 2015
April Fool’s day concert
On March 31, Dr. Solomia Soroka and her students will be giving an April Fool’s Concert in Reith Recital Hall. This concert will feature pieces specifically for violin that have been deemed a little bit “crazy.” Rumor has it that the performers plan to dress wildly to accentuate the theme. The idea for the concert came from a first-year student, Monica Miller. “It was all inspired by Monica and her piece,” said Dr. Solomia Soroka, a professor of music at Goshen College. “It is a piece by Henri Vieuxtemps, a Belgian composer.” The piece is a reflection of Vieuxtemps’ love...
March 19, 2015
International Student Coffeehouse
This year’s ISC Coffeehouse started out personally when third-year Jon Kaasa, emcee of the evening, invited everyone to say hello in Norwegian to his mother, who he predicted was watching the livestream. From there, with the audience excited, energized and ready to engage other cultures, performers hailing from over 35 countries entertained nearly 800 patrons with their dancing, singing and country presentations. For the country presentations, Vinicius Campus, a sophomore, represented Brazil; Emma Koop Liechty, also a sophomore, shared information about Canada; and Philip Chan, a first year, taught everyone about “his” China. Before the presentations came singing, dancing and...
February 19, 2015
Lyrical Hip-Hop club
The Lyrical Hip-Hop Club is a new student club on campus where students can learn and practice dance. Olivia Ginn, a junior psychology and ASL double major, started the club this past fall semester. Ginn has participated in numerous Kick-Off dance acts in the past, even winning second place in the fall of 2014 with junior dance partner Jose Mendoza. Following her success in Kick-Off, Ginn was approached by several students about learning dance. “I realized that there wasn’t a club on campus directed towards hip-hop dance,” said Ginn, who then took the opportunity to start the Lyrical Hip-Hop Club....
February 5, 2015
A Goshen graduate’s journey to American Idol
Puerto Rico native and Goshen College graduate Samuel Rosario, now more commonly referred to as Sammy Prince, has certainly made moves since his graduation in 2013. “I’ve been working really hard!” said Rosario. “I moved to San Francisco to pursue a master’s degree in acting. I’ve had a small appearance in an HBO series and done some commercials.” The broadcasting and theater double-major has certainly made it on the big screen since he departed Goshen. Rosario has been chasing his life-long dreams. When asked at one what point he realized he wanted to pursue acting as a career, he answered,...