COFAP

Summer Dance Intensive ended at GCU with a final performance in Thunderground.

Dance students traveled from across the country to attend GCU’s Summer Dance Intensive this week, bringing enthusiasm and a joy of learning that reignites GCU Director of Dance Susannah Keita’s passion for teaching. The students appreciate the challenging yet supportive program.

­ Photos by Slaven Gujic GCU News Bureau Ethington Theatre’s production of “Our Town” runs this weekend and next, closing 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27. But don’t let Thanksgiving weekend stop you from enjoying GCU’s wonderful presentation of Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer-Prize winning drama.The show has has a perfect message for any time of year and shows us a slice of Americana while giving us a powerful message. It reminds us that times and ways of life may change, but what truly matters is just as true now as then.For tickets, click here. Students get tickets free with ID. For a story about the show, click here.      

“Of Thee I Sing,” the musical political satire that opens tonight at Ethington Theatre, gives the audience a delightful reason to laugh out loud at a fictional presidential campaign. The delight comes in all forms, from the visual spectacle of 1930s-era costumes, a stage filled with stars and stripes, humor ranging from subtle to slapstick, singing that is at once beautiful and hummable and cast full of actors who clearly enjoy the art of comedy.

Set designer Bill Symington and director Michael Kary discuss the liberties they took with GCU’s rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Friday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 11 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, February 12 at 2:00 p.m. Friday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, February 19 at 2:00 p.m. To Purchase Tickets Please contact the Ethington Box Office at: 602.639.8880 or ethington@gcu.edu.

Not familiar with A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Let the cast fill you in on this intertwined lovers tale. Grand Canyon University and Ethington Theater are proud to present A Midsummer Nights Dream. “The course of true love never did run smooth.” Never was this truer than in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Follow the hilarious angst of teen love out of Athens and into the forest as four more of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers try to find a safe place to love who and how they please. Add into the mix a fractured fairy kingdom and a group of construction workers turned artists, and you have one of Shakespeare’s best loved plays.

If Shakespeare takes the measure of a serious actor, then perhaps no actor has a better take on the Bard than Drew Swaine. Swaine, a GCU junior, plays Demetrius in the Ethington Theatre production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” one of Shakespeare’s most popular works. The play begins a two-weekend run on campus Friday night. “I like Shakespeare, but I don’t think I’ve ever been intimidated by doing it,” Swaine says. “It’s good theatre, but it’s not inaccessible.”

Grand Canyon University and Ethington Theater are proud to present A Midsummer Nights Dream. “The course of true love never did run smooth.” Never was this truer than in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Follow the hilarious angst of teen love out of Athens and into the forest as four more of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers try to find a safe place to love who and how they please. Add into the mix a fractured fairy kingdom and a group of construction workers turned artists, and you have one of Shakespeare’s best loved plays. Written soon after Romeo and Juliet, the Bard takes a shot at the blindness of love and hits a bull’s eye. Friday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 11 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, February 12 at 2:00 p.m. Friday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, February 19 at 2:00 p.m. To Purchase Tickets Please contact the Ethington Box Office at: 602.639.8880 or ethington@gcu.edu.

The Ethington Dance Ensemble, under the guidance of GCU’s director of dance, Susannah Keita, has come a long way since its start a year ago. This production showcases that evolution, tackling several different styles of dance and combining them — sometimes even within one piece — smoothly and effortlessly. Thanks to the talented choreographers added to Keita’s staff this year and a program that is now 50 students strong, Thursday’s opening-night audience was shown a wide range of techniques and variations inspired by famous dancers and choreographers throughout history.

For a dancer, being onstage is the culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication. It is the end result of countless hours of classes and practice and missed social outings with friends. But as any serious performer knows, sharing your art with others becomes a passion. For two such dancers who will perform Thursday and Friday in “Legacy,” the 2011 Winter Dance Concert at Ethington Theatre, that passion to dance has become their lives.