College of Fine Arts and Production

By Doug Carroll Communications Staff If you don’t know what to expect from an open-mic night, then that’s why you should go to one — and it’s why you will stay glued to your seat. In fact, Jason Lalli would rather call it an open-mind night. Lalli, only 28 but a veteran of the arts scene in Phoenix, will serve as host of GCU’s first-ever Open Mic Night on Thursday, April 28. The event, co-sponsored by Herd on Campus and the Poetry Club, will take place on the Slab behind the Student Union. Registration for performers is at 6:30 p.m., with the show starting at 7. GCU students, faculty and staff are encouraged to turn out and perform. Lalli — it’s pronounced “Lolly,” and he prefers to be known by just that name — recently wrapped up a one-year run with Infuse, a popular open mic at the Phoenix Art Museum. With him as host, Infuse regularly drew more than two dozen performers and a crowd of 250 as part of the monthly First Fridays. Before that, Lalli hosted an outdoor open mic along Mill Avenue in Tempe. He has been a participant in similar gatherings for nearly five years. […]

It’s not just what Susannah Keita knows, it’s who she knows. The teachings of GCU’s director of dance are clearly sinking in, as evidenced by the performance of her students in their spring concert, “Roots of Paradise,” over the weekend at Ethington Theatre. The technical skill and confidence of the 12-member Dance Ensemble have increased noticeably since its winter concert, “Kinetic Dreams,” in December.

Even if you did not grow up reading the “Peanuts” comic strips or watch the annual animations, it is guaranteed you are familiar with Charlie Brown, his beagle Snoopy, know-it-all Lucy and the rest of the gang. Instructors at the GCU College of Liberal Arts, David Hayes and Michael Kary collaborated last semester as playwrights for the production “Dial P for Peanuts,” set to hit Ethington Theater April 21 and 23. The late-night performances begin at 10 p.m. both nights. Admission is free.

There’s a difference between a writer and an author, and with the publication of his first novel GCU sophomore Cooper Nelson has crossed that great divide. “Blume,” which became available this week on Amazon.com, tells the story of an 11-year-old girl and her family, who are forced to move into an underground bunker city after the mushroom cloud created by an atomic bomb blocks out the sun.

Eight presentations were made in a little more than two hours at the Williams Building lecture hall. The colleges of Business, Doctoral Studies, Liberal Arts, Health Sciences and Fine Arts and Production were represented. Dr. Kevin McClean of the Ken Blanchard College of Business served as host.

The silver-spoon life of private dance lessons and elite academies doesn’t describe Antoinette Proctor. Adopted as an infant into a large family in Avondale, Proctor taught herself to dance by watching TV, mimicking what she saw. Eventually, she was dancing for her church, Cornerstone Christian Center, and by the age of 13 she was choreographing her own pieces.

Of all the reasons to see “The Frogs” next weekend before it closes the 2010-11 Ethington Theatre Series, one stands out above the rest: Adam Benavides. The freshman from Queen Creek can do it all, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him heading off to Broadway or to Chicago’s Second City comedy troupe someday. For now, GCU is fortunate to have him, and “The Frogs” wouldn’t work nearly as well without him.

Wondering what The Frogs is all about? Take it from the actors themselves as they break down this Greek Drama modernized with music by Steven Sondheim. The show begins tonight (April 1, no foolin’) and runs weekends through April 10th. [email protected] for tickets and information

After all, the theater students are taking the saying “all the world’s a stage” in a very literal sense. The upcoming play will take the actors out of Ethington Theater and into GCU’s pool. Maish plays five parts in the play The Frogs, including the chorus.

When the school’s newly reconstituted College of Fine Arts and Production announced its theatre series months ago, more than a few people — including Adam Benavides — thought it had gone off the deep end. “The Frogs,” an adaptation of an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, was listed as the last of five productions for the 2010-11 school year. And now Benavides, a GCU freshman from Queen Creek, is playing the lead role of Dionysus, the Greek god of drama, who travels to Hades to bring the playwright George Bernard Shaw back from the dead in an effort to improve the quality of theatre.