Actor Luke Scaros (pictured above) and director Zoe Crankshaw produced the James McLure play as their senior project for Ohio Wesleyanâs theatre department with freshman Daniel Haygood and sophomore Reggie Hemphill  in supporting roles.
Photo by Alex Gross
âLone Starâ follows brothers Roy (Scaros) and Ray (Haygood, above left) through a night of drunken revelations complicated by uncomfortable acquaintance Cletis (Hemphill).
My brothers and I have been fans of Chance the Rapper since his first mixtape, â10 Day,â dropped in 2011. So when our friend, a sophomore at Ohio State University, got us tickets to Chanceâs OSU performance at the LC Pavilion Monday night, we jumped at them.
When Chance the Rapper came on stage, he reminded me and everyone else why this 21-year old mixtape king is already doing national tours. His first step onstage wasnât so much a step at all; it was a leap. Chance is, apparently, his own hype man. The way the crowd started screaming and chanting âChance the Rapper, Chance the Rapper,â it was obvious that Chance needs no formal introduction. He started with a few tunes from his â10 Dayâ mixtape before moving on to his âAcid Rapâ mixtape songs, a few throwbacks to his early works and a cover of âWonderful Day,â the theme song to the PBS cartoon âArthur.â
âI guess I should properly introduce myself,â he said to the crowd. Taking a brief bow as if he was the conductor of an orchestra, he continued.
âMy name is Chance the Rapper, and Iâm here today to sing you a couple of songs from my new mixtape.â
Chance sounded exactly like I wanted him to; when he began singing, his voice was as clear and as personal as it is while I sit at my computer and blast his full album on YouTube. His voice isnât the only thing that rings clear, though. The political commentary in his songs hit me with a stronger impact than any other rapper Iâve ever seen (a list that includes Nas, Most Def and Lupe Fiasco).
âThey murder kids out here. Get Matt Lauer in here, Katie Couric in here,â he rapped about his hometown of Chicago in his song âParanoia.â
When Chance is performing, he is highly attentive to his audience. He would often stop talking to throw a âwoo hooâ at the audience, to which they would respond with a âwoo hooâ to be returned to him. At one point in the show, Chance called out those on their phones, saying, âItâs cool if you want to film the show, but be part of the show.â
Chance has an incredible ability to entertain. Labeling himself solely as a rapper really doesnât do him justice whatsoever; by doing so, heâs selling himself short.
Students place finishing touches on the mural outside Hamilton-Williams Campus Center. Photo by Karson Stevenson for the Office of Marketing and Communications
The new mural in the amphitheater beside the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center uses symbolism and a painting technique called pointillism to celebrate âthe diversity of people and cultures on this campus,â said senior Kerrigan Boyd, moderator of Citizens of the World House.
The mural was painted the weekend of Oct. 24 and was a collaborative effort between the Student Led Art Movement and Citizens of the World House, who brought in artist and muralist Jacque Fragua to help with the project.
Fragua is a Native American artist who works for Honor The Treaties, which is an organization that uses art and advocacy to amplify the voices of indigenous communities, according to their website.
Boyd said Fragua visited campus last semester to speak about his use of art as a tool for activism. She and her housemates were inspired by his speech, so Boyd reached out to the president of SLAM, senior (not sure about this…)Â Catie Beach.
âCatie actually said she had been wanting to do a mural too, so it was just kind of a series of perfect events that aligned very well,â Boyd said.
Boyd and Beach won Octoberâs You Are OWU award for their work on the mural.
WCSA provided the funds for the project, and Boyd said they were âreally supportive and generous.â
Boyd said there were a lot of administrative levels the project had to be approved on, but the process would have been much more challenging at a bigger school.
âCraig Ullom (Vice President of Student Affairs) and Sally Leber (Director of Service Learning) really championed the project and took it to the proper levels to where it needed to be,â Boyd said.
She said the amphitheater was chosen as the muralâs location because it was unutilized and the subject of the mural was based off Fraguaâs work, which is focused on social justice.
âWe know thatâs broad, but itâs also a theme I think really unites us on campus, so we wanted the mural to be an expression of that,â Boyd said.
Both artistic and non-artistic students were invited to contribute to the mural and Boyd said she was âblown awayâ by how many people participated.
âI went to class on Friday until 1 and I came back and there was already so much on the wall,â Boyd said. âI think it really speaks to the inclusivity of the theme.”
The mural was painted in the style of pointillism, which Boyd said doesnât require extensive knowledge of painting, but makes for beautiful art.
Freshman Ellen Sizer, a member of SLAM, said pointillism is a painting technique that uses small dots of colors in a pattern to create an overall image and is an offshoot of impressionism.
âI think it was genius because people who arenât as artistically gifted can still contribute and the mural can look rad,â Sizer said.
Sizer compared the effect of pointillism to a city landscape, saying the view from far away is very different from the view up close.
âI was afraid that Iâd screw it (the mural) up, but I did contribute a little bit,â Sizer said. âIt was fun to just watch the process more than anything.â
Boyd said she is happy with how the mural turned out and wants to thank everyone who contributed.
One of her favorite aspects of the mural is its symbolism.
âHe (Fragua) based it loosely on indigenous bead work,â Boyd said. âThe metaphor for each bead is that each piece stands alone but comes together to make something beautiful and united as a whole.â
Night Owl consulting editor and OWU director of creative writing Robert Olmstead. Photo: owu.edu
The Night Owl is an online-only literary publication started at Ohio Wesleyan and serves as a place âwhere fellow lovers of reading and writing can converge,â said managing editor Elizabeth Riggio â14.
The publication is a way to maintain connections with OWU writers after they graduate, said professor of creative writing and Night Owl consulting editor Robert Olmstead.
âProfessor Caplan and I have always talked about ways to better keep up with our poets and writers as they move on from OWU,â Olmstead said. âThe idea of a very simple online literary journal seemed appropriate, a place for those people to gather.â
He said the Night Owl âquietly debutedâ on May 1, 2014, and so far the response has been overwhelming. Submissions to the publication have come from all over the world. Many of the Night Owlâs writers and reviewers are OWU alumni, reaching as far back as â99, but many are not even academics.
âWe have a college administrator from Wisconsin, a baseball umpire from Oregon, a painting contractor from Florida, a medical writer from Idaho, a fitness instructor from Pennsylvania,â Olmstead said.
He said the Night Owl has a strong presence with publishers, receiving literature for review almost every day. These works are fiction, poetry, history, biography and culture.
All the books assigned for review are first read by Olmstead, and then he chooses each bookâs reviewer based on who he thinks would most enjoy reading it.
âOver the last ten years, book reviews have really dried up, so we are doing a small part in filling that need,â Olmstead said. âThereâs something about getting your hands on a book six months or a year before it is published. Book writers are the first onto the truth, followed by journals, newspapers and television in that order. Youâd think it might be the other way around, but it isnât. The slowest is first.â
Riggio said she became involved with the Night Owl at Olmstead’s request, and as managing editor she reviews and edits submissions, as well as manages the website.
Riggio, who is currently teaching in South Korea, has recently begun an âoccasional contributionâ called Dispatches.
âThese Dispatches are a type of travel writing, similar to a blog, about my experiences and reflections in South Korea,â Riggio said. âWe would like for the Dispatches to be a section of the Night Owl in which people can submit from anywhere in the world.â
She said she posts weekly, depending on submissions, and dedicates about five or six hours a week to the publication.
âTo me, the spirit of the Night Owl permeates my daily life and so it feels less like a project with set hours and more like a constant process as a writer, thinker, and editorâone that I truly enjoy,â Riggio said.
She said it has been a privilege to learn from the writers who submit to the Night Owl and from Olmstead, a professor and writer she admires and respects.
Senior Marta Del Cid is an IT assistant for Information Services and handles the technical side of the Night Owl website, supporting Riggio and Olmstead with website issues and design layout questions. Riggio said Del Cid has been âextremely instrumentalâ in the process of setting up the site.
âI would recommend students visit the site,â Del Cid said. âIt truly has been a pleasure working alongside Elizabeth (Riggio) and Mr. Olmstead to create a strong website for literary work.â
Newest submissions appear at the top of the website and there are no advertisements, comment sections, or bright colors.
âNight Owl is about focusing on the art of the written word without the unnecessary and distracting bells and whistles,â Riggio said. âYou will be hard-pressed to find a publication like this.â
Liz and Donald Staas, the owners of Staas Brewing. at 31 W. Winter St. Photo by Conor Golden
Craft beer is booming here in central Ohio.
The general characteristics of a craft brewery include being: small, independent, innovative, and distinctive. These criteria fit many local breweries including the only one in Delaware: Staas Brewing Company.
Located at 31 W. Winter St. across from the Andrews House, Staas Brewing Company fits all these criteria as defined by the association. Locally owned and operated by Liz and Donald Staas, their business is known for producing quality craft beers whether they are IPAâs, ales, or classic styles.
âWe wanted a small atmosphere because it keeps the focus on the beer,â Liz Staas noted, â99 percent of the time, Donald or myself serve the beer and people like having that conversation and knowing the person serving you is also the one who made the product. It makes for a totally different experience.â
Staas is different from Barley Hopsterâs in that the latter business is a craft beer retail store. What this means is that whereas Staas makes and sells their own product, Barley Hopsterâs is an aggregator of hundreds of varieties of craft beers. Both represent the continuously growing trend of craft beer culture in the greater Columbus area.
Despite overall beer sales dropping, craft beer actually experienced an increase of 17.6 percent in 2013 nationally according to the national lobbying group: the Brewerâs Association. Sources have told the Columbus Dispatch, Columbus Alive, and Columbus Underground that the industry is booming and, not only booming, but doing well. It seems that the more than 70 craft breweries in this state are struggling to keep up with the demand.
The Brewers Association also counted Ohio as having around 1.1 million barrels of craft beer produced every year, making the state fourth in the nation for craft barrels produced annually. The economic impact is also staggering: almost 1.3 million dollars in 2012 according to the Brewers Association.
The goals now seem to be to expand and to brew more. Eric Bean, owner of Columbus Brewing Companyâthe largest craft brewing company in Columbusâsaid in an interview with Columbus Alive that he cannot supply the city with enough beer.
âIn earlier decades, there was a certain level of âfadâ with craft brewing,â Bean stated in his interview, âBut now itâs a lifestyle brand.â
In an interview with the Dispatch, Bean also said how a few years ago there was a push for controlling the âtap handle,â but now beer seems to be literally âfalling off the trucks.â
Despite no plans to expand anytime soon, Staas also noted the rapidity of the industryâs growth. âThe beer culture is booming, but we started this whole process over two years ago and two years ago, things in Columbus werenât really like they were now,â she said, âA lot of breweries and a lot of new bars have opened up in the past two years. We cannot believe how different Columbus is from how it was two years ago and for the better. Itâs awesome.â
For more information on Delawareâs local microbrewery, visit staasbrewing.com and for more statistics on craft brewing go to http://www.brewersassociation.org/
Photo: Owners Liz and Donald Staas pose inside behind their bar at Staas Brewing Company
From left to right: Juniors Luke Steffen and Maeve Nash, sophomore Gabe Caldwell and senior Luke Scaros lead the cast of William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” running Oct. 9 to 13. Photo: OWU Communications
First photo is publicity photo provided by Cole Hatcher and accompanied with this caption:
Ohio Wesleyan University will present âThe Merchant of Veniceâ from Oct. 9-12. The cast features students Luke Steffen (left) as Antonio, Maeve Nash as Portia, Gabe Caldwell as Shylock, and Luke Scaros as Bassanio. (Photo by Chris MacDonald)
Photo on the top right: Director Elane Denny-Todd talks to sophomore Reggie Hemphill.
Photo on the middle left: The empty stage
Photos on the middle middle and middle right: (left to right) Freshman Charlie Lennon, junior Luke Steffen, and junior Christian Sanford rehearse a scene together.
Photos on the bottom left and right: Junior Luke Steffens and senior Luke Scaros rehearse a scene together.
Photo on bottom middle: Senior Luke Scaros rehearses as Bassanio.
Shakespeareâs âThe Merchant of Veniceâ is a tale of loyalty, love, greed, and justice, and is being brought to life by OWUâs theatre and dance department Oct. 9-12.
âAs the theatre and dance department is a pre-professional department, we try on a regular basis to include Shakespeare in our main season productions,â said director and professor of performance Elane Denny-Todd. âOur students enjoy working with the language and our audiences always enjoy our performances.â
Denny-Todd said âThe Merchant of Veniceâ is one of her favorite Shakespeare plays because of its characters and complexity.
Sophomore Gabe Caldwell is one of the more than fifty students on the productionâs cast and crew. He portrays Shylock, a Jewish moneylender in Venice.
âHeâs very vengeful, but thereâs a human side to him thatâs hurt,â Caldwell said.
He said his biggest challenge has been figuring out âwhat makes Shylock tickâ because the dialogue is âstaticâ but how it is delivered must be âfluid.â
âThe amount of passion in the dialogue and how complex he is, especially considering his motivations, is exciting,â Caldwell said.
Denny-Todd said from time to time OWUâs productions, including âThe Merchant of Veniceâ must run on an extended weekend instead of two weekends because of calendar issues, like the placement of mid-semester break and Thanksgiving break.
âOur biggest difficulty was that our rehearsal period was so short because of the calendar,â Denny-Todd said. âHowever, everyone in the cast and crew has worked extremely hard to make this production happen.â
Junior Margot Reed is the productionâs stage manager, professor D. Glen Vanderbilt Jr. is creating the set and lighting, and part-time costume shop manager Jacqueline Shelley is making the costumes.
âThe Merchant of Veniceâ performances are at 8 p.m. Oct. 9-11 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 12 in the Chappelear Drama Center.
Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for faculty and staff, and free for OWU students with a valid ID. To reserve tickets, contact the theatre office at 740-368-3855.
More than fifty people filled the Jemison Auditorium on Sunday to hear Audra Thompson play french horn and Meg Linebaugh sing during their senior recital.
Thompson was the first to perform, and she played three pieces by Dukas, Gliere, and Mozart, respectively.
âThe first movement (of the Mozart piece) was my audition piece for Ohio Wesleyan,â Thompson said. âThe second movement was my very first solo ever. In 7th grade I went to solo and ensemble with it.â
Thompson has been playing the french horn for ten years. She started when she needed to choose an instrument for band class, and her family owned a 100-year old horn made in Germany that they kept in their basement.
âI was always told âDonât touch that horn. Donât mess with it,â so whenever I thought my mom was gone Iâd go mess with it.â
To prepare for her senior recital, Thompson rehearsed with the accompanist and took lessons with Kim McCann. Thompson said they guided her and taught her to not just play the notes on the paper, but to learn what the notes were intended for.
Thompson said she liked that the french horn is a less common instrument.
âItâs also an instrument that can be not only represented as the hero but also the villain in music, because of its majestic and human voice-like quality.
Freshman Nicole Rozsa attended the recital for a music appreciation class and said it was âreally nice listening to a solo piece.â
Linebaugh, a mezzo-soprano, performed nine songs after the intermission. The first two were in German, followed by two in French, two in Italian and three in English.
Linebaugh said the music was chosen because it was technically challenging and she practiced by studying the translations of her music and âjust getting comfortable with the performance aspect of it.â
âI liked the way she showed emotion when she sang and just everything in general,â said sophomore attendee Spencer Harris.
Linebaugh began singing in the second grade. She said she grew up singing show tunes around the house with her mom and watching musicals.
âI always loved when we sang in music class in grade school, then in second grade I sang at a school Christmas party. After that they were like âWow you can sing,â and it just went from there.â
Linebaugh said she loved to sing because she can take on another character and express herself.
âMusic has this special ability to capture emotions and to really touch people in a unique way,â she said.
Junior Christopher MacDonald is one of seven students directing freshman in short scenes excerpted from longer plays.
MacDonald is directing Kacie Iuvara and Chris Shanley, in âVanna and Sonia and Masha and Spike,â a play written by Christopher Durang. Iuvara is a theatre major, and Shanley said he is thinking about pursuing a theatre minor.
âThe play is about four siblings, two of whom are staying in their dead parentâs house,â MacDonald said. âI chose this play because itâs so over-the-top â there are a lot of heightened emotions, so you can really have a lot of fun with it. Kind of like a soap opera.â
âOne reason I like this piece so much is because I get to break a mug on stage,â Iuvara said.
MacDonald said he was first inspired to direct this piece after seeing it performed in Los Angeles.
Another director, Gabriel Caldwell, is the first sophomore to take the directing class in a long time. Caldwell said he began his directing career in high school at the Columbus School for Girls.
Caldwell grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where he started the theatre department at his high school during his junior year. He is now majoring in theatre and education.
For the Freshman Scenes, Caldwell is directing two freshmen, Matthew Pheneger and Charlie Lennon, in “The History Boys,” written by Alan Bennett. Caldwell said the piece is filled with sexual tension.
âThe piece has very dry, very British humor,â Caldwell said. âItâs like a gin martini your friends are making you drink, but you really donât want to,â Caldwell described of his piece.
Caldwell said the reason he loves the Freshman Scenes idea is because it helps the freshmen learn how to â really delve into the characters,â he said.
The Freshman Scenes will be performed this coming Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Chappellear Drama Center. There is no charge and is open to the public.
The Student Involvement Office (SIO) will be selling artwork to raise money for student programs the week before homecoming weekend.
The artwork being sold has been collected in the office over the years and is now being removed after a recent renovation. Performers and presenters that have visited Ohio Wesleyan University have contributed to the collection, leading to the diversity of content that will be on sale. Framed class year shirts, signed posters and student artwork are just some of the subjects framed in the pieces that will be on sale.
âThe money will go towards getting some kind of special programming for students,” SIO Office manager Mona Spalsbury said. “Some of these are from the 90’s when the building was first builtâŚEverything was professionally framed and mountedâŚnone of it will be more than 50 dollars.”
O.A.R., Bill Cosby, Counting Crows and Ben Folds are just some of the artists and autographs featured in the sale, alongside OWU memorabilia from the ages since. Pieces range from framed posters to larger compilations of signed shirts and other artwork in clean, twenty inch or larger frames.
“If nothing else, the frames are beautiful,” Spalsbury said. “They’re huge, you could frame just about anything in some of them.”
The sale, which is the second of its kind from the SIO this year, will take place the Friday before homecoming weekend in atrium of Hamilton-Williams from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“When I was younger, I was molested, and I was also really badly injured in a car accident, which made me turn to drugs. I was addicted for a long time, but now I’m doing much better.”