Arts & Entertainment

Dr. Rachel Velarde, associate professor of voice, grew up with world influences, considering her mom was a Chinese scholar and dad and Arabic scholar. Her recital with pianist Dr. Luis Rodriguez-Morales, whose “Love Songs Around the World” is included in the program, pays homage to the world influences that helped shape both performers. The recital is coming up Sunday at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Tempe and Tuesday at GCU.

GCU Costume Designer and professor Nola Yergen just wanted to make a video about Renaissance dress to show to her students. But that idea turned into something more — a 9-minute documentary called “Dressing a Renaissance Queen,” which is an official selection in the Lady Filmmakers Festival, coming up Sept. 27-30 in Beverly Hills.

When Zach Williams’ wife asked him to get involved in prison ministry, he told her it wasn’t his thing. But after his first visit to a prison, where he and his wife shared their story, he felt a shift in his life, and he started to write the songs he knew he was meant to write. The Grammy-winner recently released his six-song EP, “Survivor,” which he recorded live in Nashville’s Harding Prison, and will share some of those songs at GCU Arena, where he will perform on Wednesday as part of the Air1 Positive Hits Tour.

If you stick to just Mozart, you’re missing out on a lot, said GCU clarinet professor Tim Haas. So for his bass clarinet recital Sept. 27 in the GCU Recording Studio, he’s turning to new compositions, the oldest of which dates back to 2006. The concert will spotlight works inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, a beast, the Lydian scale, and even the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

The College of Fine Arts and Production has been spread across campus for some time, with faculty offices and classes dotting the Colter business complex, Media Arts Center, Ethington Theatre and more. But now much of the college is consolidated into the former Colangelo College of Business building. “This is going to be a great growth opportunity for all our degrees,” COFAP Dean Claude Pensis said.

GCU’s production of “Tartuffe,” the Moliere comedy about a house divided by a manipulative houseguest, appears to have brought down the house. It landed multiple ariZoni Award nominations, including for acting, direction, hair and makeup, and scenic and costume design, to name a few.

GCU theatre department’s “Ring Round the Moon” rings true with sumptuous excess. Set in the Belle Epoque, with its the aristocratic French chateau setting and dazzling haute couture gowns, the fairy tale romance easily conveys one of its themes: beauty. But the play is more than that. It’s also a parody, and it deals with different societal classes and how cruel they can be. For some of those reasons, director Michael Kary said this is one of his favorite plays. Eighteen years ago, he said, “I saw it and I thought, that was wonderful.”

Miguel Perez has worked as a dancer for Celine Dion, Donnie and Marie Osmond, and Cirque de Soleil. But he recently turned his attention to working with GCU’s dance students during a guest artist residency. Dance students arrived on campus two weeks early for the first time and got in some important work with Perez and their GCU instructors.

Not every theatre kid sees the stage as something that could be more than a hobby. A new College of Fine Arts and Production theatre group called Parables wants to change that. “It’s actually showing a kid in a Christian high school that, ‘Oh, this theatre thing that I love to do is something viable to actually study and make a part of my life,'” said COFAP instructor and director Michael Kary, who is writing the material for the new troupe’s first production.

GCU’s Theatre Department is in rehearsals for its first play of the season, the dreamy, fairy tale-like comedy “Ring Round the Moon.” The department will change pace for its other submissions for the 2018-19 season: the Shakespeare tragedy “Macbeth,” Peter Pan origin story “Peter and the Starcatcher,” Holocaust drama “Who Will Carry the Word” and bright, shiny musical “Godspell.”