Nola Yergen

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.

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.

Anyone who has seen an Ethington Theatre performance in the last 20 years has seen the artistry of Nola Yergen’s costumes, so it should come as no surprise that Yergen and her collaborator have been chosen as two of eight designers from the U.S. in the World of WearableArt international design competition. Yergen, Costume Designer and Assistant Professor in the College of Fine Arts and Production, certainly didn’t expect it, however. “It really was kind of a shock,” she said. Winners will be announced Sept. 27.

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.

You’ll often find Grand Canyon University Costume Designer Nola Yergen and Assistant Costume Designer Sarah Levinson in their rabbit hole — GCU’s Costume Shop on the second floor of the Media Arts Complex. They’re gearing up to start work on “Ring Round the Moon,” the theater department’s first play for the 2018-19 academic year. But they also ventured to Costume-Con this summer, winning two Best in Show awards for their “Alice in Wonderland”-themed costumes and their catacomb saints entry.