For the first time in its history, the Goshen College theater department will be producing a show with a lead who speaks only in sign language. Tuc, a young man who is deaf and mute, is one of three main characters in the Depression-era play “Mother Hicks,” written by Susan Zeder. Tuc will be portrayed by Kailey Rice, a freshman American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreting major. The cast will be consulting with Nourie Marrakchi, an ASL teacher at Elkhart Memorial High School Marrakchi has a background in professional theater at The Rocky Mountain Deaf Theater in Aurora, Colorado. Marrakchi said...

By Laura Miller • September 21, 2017 • News

Goshen College’s music and theater programs have long been part of the school, but now a new minor will combine them both. The musical theater minor, introduced to the campus this year, will give students the opportunity to participate in musical theater more than ever before. “This was a missing piece to the already very strong theater and music departments,” said Tom Myers, new dance instructor in the theater department. “By including this minor, Goshen College becomes even stronger in attracting students into their music and theater programs, as this will…help them prepare for a career in performing or teaching...

By Cristina Jantz • September 21, 2017 • Arts

Goshen College students were in “the room where it happens” on Wednesday as the campus recognized Constitution Day with a Hamilton-themed convocation. Hamilton: An American Musical, is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda inspired by the biography Alexander Hamilton, by historian Ron Chernow. The show debuted in 2015 and has been gaining popularity and garnering praise, awards and fans ever since. The convocation was facilitated by Jan Bender Shetler, professor of history, and organized by the History department as a whole, as part of a federal requirement that requires any institution that receives federal funding to...

By Katie Hurst • September 14, 2017 • News

After months of preparation, the Goshen College theater department will once more grace the stage of the Umble Center this weekend to present “Kindertransport” by Diane Samuels. The play tells the powerful tale of a Holocaust survivor and her relationship with her daughter. The show, which may be intense for younger audiences, tells the tale of an initiative established shortly after the outbreak of World War II that saved over 10,000 Jewish children. Known as the Kindertransport, children left their homes and families to be sent by train and boat to England in an effort to flee Nazi Germany. The...

By Siana Emery • March 30, 2017 • Arts

Riley Woods is a senior theater major with a focus in light design. Even though Goshen is a smaller school, he feels that he has gotten a similar amount of experience as students who attend larger schools. He has been able to be a part of every single production in the Umble Center since his freshman year, mostly working with light design. “Just the sheer amount of experience is incredible and very valuable,” he said. He has had the opportunity to do a lot of one-on-one work with Andrew Moeggenborg, the technical director for the Umble Center. Woods points out...

By Emily Stoltzfus • March 23, 2017 • Arts

Even though it may not feel like winter, this weekend is the debut of the Winter One Acts. The One Acts start at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17 and Saturday, Feb. 18 in the Umble Center. On Sunday, the performance is an early afternoon show starting at 3 p.m., with additional ASL interpreting. The shorter plays allow a mixture of students from diverse disciplines to have experience performing on stage, doing technical work and directing. “It’s a great opportunity for people who want to do theater but who don’t want to commit to a semester-long project,” said Doug Liechty...

By Ellen Conrad • February 16, 2017 • Arts

For Karl Eigsti, a visit to Goshen College is a chance to look at all of his work from over the years. It’s also an opportunity to connect with people. Eigsti spent over 50 years as a set designer in theater and was involved in 20 Broadway shows, as well as Off-Broadway shows. This week, Eigsti is on campus, speaking in various classes about his work throughout his career. The Hershberger Gallery is featuring Eigsti’s design concepts from Jan. 22 to Feb. 26. People are invited to browse through his designs, but the gallery is featuring work that Eigsti himself...

By Jordan Waidelich • February 2, 2017 • News

You may have noticed during the first week of school that some of your fellow theater classmates were absent from classes. This is because they were attending the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Doug Caskey and Anna Kurtz Kuk, professors of theater, along with Andrew Moeggenborg, Umble Center technical director, led Nick Peebles and Riley Woods, seniors, Rachel Buckley, Claire Mitchel, Ben Meyer Reimer, Lukas Thompson, and Jonah Yoder, sophomores, and Brianna Herndon, Cristina Jantz, Olivia Smucker and Kelsey Winters, first-years, to this event. Goshen College alum Martin Flowers ‘16 was also in attendance. Theater departments and around...

By Riley Woods • January 26, 2017 • Arts

The visual art and theater departments of Goshen College have teamed up to bring notable theater designer Karl Eigsti to campus. Eigsti has worked in American theater for over 50 years, and has been involved in 20 Broadway productions. The designer has worked with costume and lights, but his primary focus is set design. Just after finishing his master’s degree in theater from the University of Bristol, England, Eigsti became the resident designer at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. The Arena Stage features a tiered theater designed in the round, meaning the audience surrounds the actors on all sides....

By Andrew Pauls • January 19, 2017 • Arts

In January, Jesse Bontreger, a senior theater and film major, will be finishing up his degree at film school in Los Angeles. Before he leaves, he will be giving Goshen College one last taste of his artistic talents. His senior theater show, “Tape,” will be performed on Saturday, Dec. 10 in Umble Center. Bontreger describes “Tape” as a serious drama that centers on the reunion of two men who were high school friends. The story escalates as the friends begin to argue about an incident of sexual assault that happened in the past, and it reaches its climax when another...

By Katie Yoder • December 8, 2016 • Arts

In the midst of a tumultuous week, Goshen College’s theater department is presenting the play “Red Herring” by Michael Hollinger in hopes of giving the community something to laugh about. Nick Peebles, a senior member of the cast, states that, “We, as a society, need distraction and laughter pretty badly right now, and I hope this show provides that.” “Red Herring,” which is based in Boston during the 1950’s Red Scare, follows the intertwined stories of three different couples in search of happiness in the midst of conflict. Although it tackles a murder mystery, nuclear bombs, and lovers with differing...

By Sadie Gustafson-Zook • November 17, 2016 • Arts

This past weekend, Homecoming Weekend visitors had the chance to enjoy this year’s Peace Play Contest winner, “Party Favors” written by Cary Pepper, at Umble Center on Friday-Sunday, Oct. 7-9. “Party Favors” centers around an independent candidate, Malcolm Wilkes, played by Jonah Yoder, a sophomore business major, as he attempts to run a clean campaign amidst the pressures of the foul play that naturally accompanies modern politics. The head of his independent party sends Stuart Severet, played by junior theater major James Lang, to encourage Malcolm to take whatever path it is that ensures him victory, whether or not that...

By Josh Stoltzfus • October 13, 2016 • News

Anna Kurtz Kuk, the new assistant professor of theater, is a self-proclaimed “one trick pony.” “Theater is my thing!” Kurtz Kuk claims. A good thing too, considering there will be no slow, dipping-her-toes-in-the-water of Goshen College. Rather, Kurtz Kuk is diving head first into the deep end. She is not only teaching full time, but also directing the annual Peace Play and this year’s Main Stage.  Kurtz Kuk is from a small, Midwest town called Sterling, Ill. She graduated from Creighton University with a BA in theater performance and received her MA from Virginia Commonwealth University in theater pedagogy. Since...

By Maddie Gerig • September 8, 2016 • Arts

Martin Flowers, Christina Hofer, Paul Zehr and Adrienne Schmucker, all senior acting majors, will put on “Dinner with Friends,” this weekend, a full-length play and their joint senior show. While senior shows in the theater department often include one-act plays put on by an individual, Hofer said that this year’s four seniors believed they could do stronger work together. She said, “We’re all close friends who felt like we could trust each other and work on this crazy project together.” The seniors play two couples, the show’s entire cast. Hofer plays Beth, a messy, spacey artist who is married to...

By Jenae Longenecker • April 7, 2016 • Arts

The Goshen College theater department has taken on the classic Shakespeare play “JuliusCaesar” as this year’s spring mainstage. The show will open this weekend, and anyone who has been in Umble Center recently has noticed a striking difference between the setup for this show and prior Goshen mainstage performances: this spring, Julius Caesar will be performed in the round. According to Jesse Bontreger, a junior and the show’s assistant director, “Audience members can watch from traditional seating or our new seating onstage.” Lukas Thompson, a first-year who plays Cassius, says that this way, “audience members will be up close to...

By Jenae Longenecker • March 3, 2016 • Arts