Claude Pensis

The new outdoor stage for Ethington Theatre productions has been constructed in time for the first play of the season, “The Comedy of Errors,” which begins Wednesday night. It turned into an educational project for College of Fine Arts and Production staff and students. “I think we’re uniquely suited for this,” COFAP Assistant Dean William Symington said. “It’s been a challenge, but we create a problem-solving way of thinking of how to do something in a different way and how to make a positive out of it.”

The College of Fine Arts and Production is meeting the effects of the pandemic head-on. Its innovations include outdoor performances, master classes with industry professionals, livestreaming and a little of Disney’s “The Mandalorian” thrown in for good measure. COFAP Dean Claude Pensis calls it a “fun challenge.”

It took GCU’s talented and dedicated staff and faculty one week to make the transition to an online platform when the pandemic struck last semester. For the upcoming academic school year GCU is building on that success to offer an effective and smooth option for students to continue their studies.

GCU’s effort to produce cloth face masks has been joined by College of Fine Arts and Production costume designer Nola Yergen, who has recruited several GCU Hotel employees to add pleating. It makes the coverings fit more like traditional hospital masks, but it’s important for an even bigger reason. “This is about teamwork,” Yergen said.

For some ground classes, the transition to online seemed as though they were a perfect pair. But for others, instructors had to get a little more creative. That’s exactly what Mark Fearey did when he utilized the GCU Recording Studio to create quality audio for students doing their recitals.

The famed works of playwright William Shakespeare make their way into Ethington Theatre every year, but the production of “The Tempest” features a few new wrinkles by the play’s director, College of Fine Arts and Production Dean Claude Pensis. For one thing, it’s a modernized version. For another, it is the first time real water is part of the set. And the lighting features an uncommon method of pixel mapping.

Halloween is right around the corner, which means it’s the perfect time to get in the spirit with “The Addams Family” at the Christian Youth Theater, where a group of GCU alumni are doing the creative and technical work. Alexandra Biggs called CYT “a natural fit” for all the GCU alumni and added, “I think that CYT’s mission aligns really well with GCU, and it’s nice to be working for a company that is kind of a ministry opportunity for alumni as well.”

For fans of Romantic Comedies, than Ethington theatre has the production for you, in it’s second play of the season. “Arms and the Man” is a play written by George Bernard Shaw and showcases a number of central character’s journey to find true love. “I think it’s super interesting sort of the way holds up over time and the way that the meaning shifts,” Alexander Cavanaugh said. “Since the play was originally an anti-war piece, how we’re honing in now on the romanization and the way we present ourselves verses how we actually are as people, it’s cool to see how that translates today and holds up as a piece of art.”

The Theatre Department earned 20 ariZoni Awards nominations for last year’s productions of “Peter and the Starcatcher” and “Ring Round the Moon,” and Christina McSheffrey was selected as one of three winners of the 2019 Zoni Scholarship. “I think it just speaks volumes about the education they’re receiving and how we try to work as much as possible to help them be ready to move on to either grad school or into entertainment as a profession,” said Claude Pensis, College of Fine Arts and Productions Dean and also an ariZoni Nominee. The award ceremony is scheduled for 8 p.m. Monday in Scottsdale.

The College of Fine Arts and Production gives students many opportunities to connect with industry professionals. Students from multiple programs in the college have a chance to engage with guest dance artists and directors, scene designers and a professional drone cinematographer, to name a few. “I think it has to do with our push and our goal of helping our students succeed once they leave here,” said Claude Pensis, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Production. “It’s a matter of really trying to use every tool that we could possibly get to help them make contacts, to help them get to know industry professionals in the Valley and hopefully to be interviewed by them and find jobs.”