by Anna Rogers | Apr 11, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, Galleries
Monday evening, Lipscomb’s SGA hosted a concert, featuring Your Neighbors, a band comprised of mostly Lipscomb students. Your neighbors opened for the country/Americana band Dorado. SGA served Whitt’s Barbecue and Maggie Moo’s ice cream. Photos by Ellen Butterfield « ‹ of 2 ›...
by Becca Risley | Apr 9, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
After collecting the previous three awards presented at Singarama this weekend, “Totally Awesome” took home a third-consecutive win after Saturday night’s performance at “A Blast From The Past.” Thursday night the group took home the award for Best Theme; Friday evening the group won for Best Music and won Saturday afternoon for Best Staging. Saturday night at the last showing of Singarama, the show collected the fourth and final award available: Sweepstakes. “Winning all four like that hasn’t happened in five years,” assistant director of “Totally Awesome” senior Reese Lusk said. “We knew our show was good. We just didn’t know it was that good.” One unique thing about “Totally Awesome” is that 70 percent of the show’s composition featured new actors, students that have never been a part of Singarama before this year. “Training this bunch of newbies was a challenge at times,” Lusk said. “There were late nights, hard nights. But we really worked hard to break down a lot of those barriers and eventually became a team. “The other shows were amazing. We were stunned with what we saw. I’m just honored to have been an assistant director of this.” “Totally Awesome” was directed by junior Bethany Rowland, a directing major at Lipscomb. According to Lusk, no matter how late or hard a rehearsal was, Rowland never lost sight of her vision and the direction of the show. “Bethany is probably one of the best directors Singarama has ever seen,” he said. According to Rowland, a Singarama show originally made her want to attend Lipscomb after she visited during her junior year of high school. Now having directed “Totally Awesome,”...
by Ellen Butterfield | Apr 6, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Lipscomb’s Theatre department is combining with the Nashville Shakespeare Company to cast an all female cast for a production of Richard II. As a male and self-proclaimed feminist, director Sean Martin finds the dialogue the play creates around the women valuable. “In the past though, at least for me, productions were always overshadowed by a desire to portray Richard as effeminate or inherently weak,” Martin said. “My desire was to get rid of all the imposed stereotypes and to simply let us see the human beings at the story’s core. By doing the play with a female cast, I felt I would be able to achieve that effect. If everyone is feminine then no one could be effeminate.” For those unfamiliar with this rarely referenced Shakespeare play, Richard II is the story of a capricious king, far too concerned with his own finances and arbitrary decisions to consider the emotions of his people. Richard slowly alienates his own subjects, until the common folk welcome a rebellion. “As humans we are all inherently fallible or flawed,” Martin said. “No one is perfect. Richard personifies that in his struggle to know who and what he is. He is a character that we can all relate to.” Martin added that the story of Richard II still provides valuable commentary and lessons for society today, despite its composition in the latter part of the 16th century. “As we explored the script during table work, it actually surprised most of us how relevant this play is today — the overall political themes that it touches on, the power plays, the role of government, taxation, the...
by Anna Rogers | Apr 6, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, Galleries
This Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Lipscomb’s social clubs will host the annual musical performance, Singarama, in Collins Alumni Auditorium. All performances except Saturday’s will be at 7 p.m. Saturday’s will be at 2 p.m. This year’s theme is “A Blast from the Past,” and will feature performances reminiscent of the 70s, 80s and 90s. Each performance will be judged on a variety of categories, and the winner will be announced following the final performance. Photos by Anna Rogers « ‹ of 5 ›...
by Savannah Stewart | Apr 6, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Choreographers for this year’s Singarama show shared their inspiration and efforts towards each dance they have created. “Blast from the Past,” this year’s theme, showcases three groups’ acting, singing and specifically dancing abilities. The groups, “Far Out,” “Totally Awesome” and “Party On,” are lead by a choreography team that creates their dances and then leads them in performances. Each group’s routine is based on a different decade: the 70s, 80s and 90s, respectively. Caitlyn Lloyd, choreographer for “Party On,” was inspired by 90s music videos and tried to emulate those dance moves as best as she could. Lloyd said she was so excited to see her dances come to life. “For them to go from our imagination to being performed on stage is so rewarding,” Lloyd said. “This show is truly a collaborative effort. So many incredible, funny, talented and creative people worked long hours putting this show together.” Choreographer of “Far Out,” Ciara McKinney, said she began the process by getting some help along the way and asking an alumna choreographer of Singarama for some general tips. McKinney feels that her inspiration comes from the music itself. “We try to take one dance at a time,” she said, adding, “collecting as much information about our storyline and incorporate that mood into the dance.” McKinney’s favorite part of this process was bonding with the director of “Far Out,” Meg Mortenson, and her co-choreographer, Katie Markham. “The work that goes into this is way more than I ever could have imagined, and I hope people take advantage of the time they have remaining to enjoy the people and creativity they’re...
by Anna Rogers | Apr 2, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
The annual Five-Minute Film Festival was held Friday night in Shamblin Theatre and was hosted by Lipscomb’s own film and theater departments. The festival was an attempted black-tie event, complete with a red carpet. Many wore suits or dresses and high-heels, but some didn’t get the memo. “I was supposed to come and give out awards, but I didn’t have a suit with me,” said sophomore film major Clay Mortenson, donning his pink sweatshirt. “I was told not to worry about presenting.” The event began with an introduction; then the first act of short films followed. After the intermission, the second act began and awards were given. Professor of film and creative media Steve Taylor hosted the event and introduced other award-presenters while former student David Moomey used various percussion equipment on stage to create suspense with drumrolls. “We have an esteemed panel of judges,” Taylor said, “and they are all film professionals.” The judges decided on the winners of most awards, but they left a handful of awards to the discretion of the audience. One of the highest award-winning short films was “A Crack in the Robin’s Egg,” directed by junior Kwame Marah. “It started out as a short story,” Marah said. “It’s something that has been sitting on my mind for a long time.” Marah says he felt the calling to make it a film. “It’s more of a passion project than anything else,” he said. The film, Marah says, is about our priorities, and “being here now.” The film tied for first with “Revival,” as the 2017 Best Narrative, and both will be screened at the 2017 Nashville Film Festival....
