by Katie Bianchini | Feb 22, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Ominous burlap giants loom over the stage and stare facelessly at guests as they enter Shamblin Theater. These statues set the mood for Lipscomb University and Blackbird Theater’s combined performance of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which opened Friday night. The controversial play, set in 1690s Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials, tells the fictional story of the town’s reaction toward a group of teen girls caught participating in an innocent conjuring. The girls soon name other women involved in the “satanic” behavior and the court convicts many for hanging. Producer Beki Baker shared in her director’s note that The Crucible’s dark portrayal of the early American event still provides relevant themes that “continue to reverberate throughout time.” “This play serves more than to point fingers at religious figures and political systems for over 300 years ago,” she said. “On both macro and micro-levels, we all behave like the Puritans did that fateful spring. And the truth is, we all pay the price.” At Sunday’s show, Lipscomb students had their first of three opportunities to earn chapel credit for attending and staying afterward for a post-play discussion. Dr. Randy Spivey, Academic Director for Lipscomb’s Institute of Law, Justice and Society, joined the audience for the question and answer session to shed light on the play’s narrative on current American law and society. “We are always the brink of this hysteria,” he said, relating the chaos in the play to the nation today. “And we almost always condemn, crucify and isolate the things that we are afraid of and the things that we don’t understand.” Just as characters in the play find fault in...
by Becca Risley | Feb 18, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment
At the heart of The Crucible is the power of fear and how mob mentality, religious fundamentalism and broken justice systems propel that fear forward. In conjunction with Blackbird Theatre, Lipscomb’s Department of Theatre will present The Crucible Feb. 19-28 in Shamblin Theatre, with performances at 7 p.m. on Thursdays-Saturdays and at 3 p.m. for both Sunday matinees. “The Crucible has been done many times, but from my research it seems to be done a lot in the same way,” director and department chair Beki Baker said. “We’ve stripped it down more than most productions, allowing for some artistic freedom in design and concept, while keeping it rooted in the Puritan world Miller wrote.” The show follows the Salem witch trials for 1692. Early Puritan settlers created communities in the new English territories of America, and though they faced harsh living conditions, still managed to turn against one another. Nineteen fellow settlers were hanged because they were believed to be in communion with the devil – they were believed to be witches. “This is an incredibly important story to tell at a Christian university — as Christians, this is part of our story, and we can’t deny it,” Baker said. “We must learn from it, question our own actions and beliefs, and endeavor to live our lives worthy of the calling we have received. “My hope is that in some small ways, I hope we won’t judge Miller’s Puritans, but rather see ourselves in The Crucible‘s story.” Showing a true partnership between Blackbird and Lipscomb, the 24-member cast features a mix of respected stage actors and aspiring student actors, with...
by Becca Risley | Feb 18, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
It was during the spring semester of her senior year in high school when sophomore theater acting major Haley Sue Pearson was told she would never sing again. Pearson developed open wounded blisters on her vocal chords that, if not taken care of, would leave her unable to sing in full voice and with a full range. “Thankfully by the grace of God that is not what happened,” Pearson said. After nine years of vocal training with the Brentwood and Franklin Performing Arts Academy, six years of musical theater experience, and having just made the decision to pursue theater as a career, this news devastated and empowered the then 18-year-old. “I came to Lipscomb and I worked for it anyway; I started taking better care of my voice and being intentional with every move I made,” Pearson said. Beki Baker, chair of the department of theatre, recommended Pearson to Bonnie Keen. Keen was a Pop-Christian singer in the 90’s and is a founding member of the acclaimed recording trio “First Call.” She continues to perform as a Nashville artist and mentors young performers like Pearson as well. The two began working together during Pearson’s freshman year. “She has been my saving grace, guardian angel on earth,” Pearson said. “Partially because she’s just a wonderful human being, partially because she breathes Jesus and His love openly, and partially because she gives me a place to just sing, which is more of a gift than most people understand.” Working with Keen and continuing to take care of her voice has helped Pearson land roles in the department, the Nashville community and,...
by Colleen Casner | Feb 7, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
The drumbeats thundered across Collins auditorium as the lion came onstage. He stomped, kicked and sniffed the air before his partner joined him. The two lions danced and bowed to the drums’ rhythmic pounding, finishing to an enthusiastic round of applause. The year of the monkey had begun. On Saturday night Lipscomb played host to the Greater Nashville Chinese Association’s new year celebration for the first time. The event featured a Chinese buffet in the Bison Café and a performance by local Chinese culture organizations in Collins Auditorium. In her opening remarks at the performance, GNCA president Li Weaver discussed a time when she feared that her daughter would not identify as both Chinese and American. After Weaver’s oldest daughter said she did not feel Chinese, the family moved to Beijing for four years. “We came back to the community a few years ago, and I realized the community has grown so much,” Weaver said. “We have so much to offer. We have two Chinese schools right here, and several Chinese culture clubs. And the community has grown so much. “So, at that time I decided, you know, maybe I don’t need to move my family all the way to China for my younger daughter to learn about Chinese culture, and she could do it right here.” The performance featured many local classical Chinese dance troupes of adults and children. Joyce Cheung-Flynn has been coming to the New Year celebration for six years. Cheung-Flynn’s favorite part of the celebration is watching the children’s dances, as her daughter danced in the show this year. “I like to see the little girls...
by Becca Risley | Feb 4, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
It all started with an idea – a dream to give students a place to further their musical education and talent, while growing as an artist and a person as well. Now, years later, Lipscomb students can do just that. With the newly renovated Music Row styled house sitting on the corner of Caldwell Lane and Granny White Pike, music students have a place to write, practice, perform, study and otherwise advance their skillset. “This is a place that creative people show up every day to do meaningful work in the business,” artist-in-residence Charlie Peacock said. Peacock began his career in the music industry back in the ‘70s between the ages of 14 and 15 and has since produced hundreds of albums. Among several other credits, Peacock co-wrote the popular Christian hit “Dare You to Move” alongside Switchfoot, worked on the soundtrack for the Oscar-winning production Twelve Years a Slave, produced two albums for The Civil Wars’ and continues to work in the industry today. “It’s all I’ve ever done and all I’ve ever known,” Peacock said. “A whole trajectory of things involving the music business, all of this experience was sort of brought together with my natural inclination to teach. “For 25 years, I’ve been speaking on university campuses all across America but being brought in for one day. I love students. I love to teach. It was just the right moment for this to happen. I’m just grateful that the dean and the administration thought it was the right time, too.” In addition to Peacock, contemporary music students are under the direction of several other music faculty...
by Erin Turner | Jan 27, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
The audience bid farewell to the Arcadian Wild’s Isaac Horn Tuesday night in Shamblin Theatre. But only for three months. The indie-folk group, composed of junior Sarah Wood, senior Everett Davis, sophomore Horn and Lipscomb graduate Lincoln Mick, put on their last show of the semester just a day before Horn will get on a plane to Vienna to study abroad. Also on the line-up for the evening was Brother Parker and Nordista Freeze. “It hasn’t quite settled in that I’m going to be on the other side of the world in 24 hours,” Horn said. The group welcomed Horn in the fall of 2014, when he moved from Jonesboro, Arkansas to begin his first semester at Lipscomb. “Since I’ve been at Lipscomb I’ve been playing with the Arcadian Wild, so it’s going to be odd to have a significant portion of the year completely absent of that,” Horn said. Wood said that spending a few months not playing together will be something different for the group. “We’ve become like a little family, so to kind of take a break from it for a little period of time is going to be really weird, but I think it will be good,” Wood said. While Horn is studying abroad the group will not play any shows. For music major Davis, he said the break came just in time. As he prepares to graduate in May, he is also getting ready for an audition at Belmont for graduate school, along with his senior music recital. Horn, on the other hand, said he is looking forward to being somewhere completely new. “I anticipate...
