Entertainment – Page 8 – The Transcript

The Beat: Gud Vibrations tour comes to Columbus

By John Bonus, Transcript Reporter

Electronic music fans gathered at the Bluestone for a sold-out show put on by NGHTMRE and Slander.

The Bluestone, located in downtown Columbus near Ohio State, welcomed concertgoers on Nov. 6 for a night of dance music and light shows.

NGHTMRE and Slander did a back-to-back show, in which they switched off on the decks to play what turned out to be an exciting show. They are currently on their “Gud Vibrations” tour, which is named after the EP the two artists did together

NGHTMRE and Slander are two different artists. The former is a producer named Tyler Mareny and he is from Los Angeles, California. He has been active in the music scene for a few years and mainly creates dance music like dubstep or trap.

Slander is an electronic music duo consisting of Derek Anderson and Scott Land. They were fraternity brothers in college and created the music group in 2010. They mainly focus on trap music, but have also explored genres like hip-hop and house.

Bluestone, where the event took place, was formerly a Baptist church built in 1898. It has now been converted into a hall for music of every genre, according to the Bluestone website. The church still has its stained glass windows.

Before the main acts began, producers Habstrakt and LDRU opened with some of their music to get the crowd excited. However, the crowd really got going once NGHTMRE and Slander came on stage. Multiple mosh pits formed and people began surfing the crowd.

A large group of Ohio Wesleyan students attended the event, one of them being sophomore Josh Martineau. He said the concert was a fun and intense experience.

“I had really fun time going to the concert with all of my friends,” Martineau said. “The crowd did get really rowdy, though. I saw people pushing and falling in the mosh pits so I had to join in.”

Columbus has been becoming an increasingly popular place for electronic music artists to visit on their tours.

Orchesis 2016 sweeps the stage

By Evan Walsh, Transcript Reporter

Orchesis, presented by Ohio Wesleyan’s department of theatre and dance, excited audiences with modern, interpretive dance choreographed and performed by students.

Three shows were presented from Nov. 11 to Nov. 13 at the Chappelear Drama Center.

The program featured eight separate acts, each of which addressed issues prevalent in today’s society. Included in these acts were issues like bullying, mental stability, body image and race.

Junior Emily Rupp, who choreographed two acts, acknowledged the emotional element of this process. But she said she was also thankful that that same emotional element has challenged her in a more holistic way.

“It’s been important for my development,” Rupp, who participated in her third Orchesis performance, said. “Not just as a dancer but as a person because it gets me out of my comfort zone.”

Rupp was not alone in her reflection. In her note, Artistic Director Rashana Smith wrote specifically about the themes present throughout.

“We are a company of individuals trying to make sense of how we fit in this world,” Smith said. “We grapple with how we can make positive changes and how we can break destructive cycles. We wonder how we can support each other as we respect and honor our differences.”

In senior Jeremy Griffin-Jackson’s original work “Measuring One’s Soul,” Griffin-Jackson read a poem aloud about his African-American heritage while other dancers joined him on stage.

Audience members were impressed that their classmates were willing to tackle conflictual topics with such grace.

Senior John Littlehale said, “Race in America is an issue that’s gotten a lot of publicity lately and it should get a lot of attention. But Jeremy [Griffin-Jackson’s] piece was special because the conversation being had was through dance … I found it awesome.”

Smith added, “True, his piece dealt with race, but it was very much from his perspective and his experience. I feel like that comes across from his words, but also in his choreography.”

Planning for the performance began prior to last summer. Auditions were held shortly after the second week of school and students met three times a week with their companies to rehearse.

Junior Sam Van Dyke also attended Sunday’s matinee. He said he was very impressed with the quality of the performance and could tell a lot of preparation was involved.

Having never attended before, Van Dyke was unsure of what to expect.

“It was very professional,” he said. “Clearly, there were a lot of talented performers but it was how they were able to work together in a team-like way that made it so engaging.”

OWU’s music students wow at senior recital

By Leah Miza, Photo Editor

Ohio Wesleyan seniors Patrick Tang and Melody Smith came together to present their senior recital Oct. 30.

Both performers’ repertoire was mainly chosen by Jennifer Whitehead, assistant professor of music at OWU.

“I trusted Dr. Whitehead’s … judgement on what songs I should sing,” Tang said.

Smith added that her repertoire included pieces she worked on over the past few years, and some selections from the beginning of the semester.

However, the performers were not limited to their professor’s choices. “I trust what she suggests, but we do work together to select songs,” Tang said.

The two decided to perform together after being friends since freshman year. “We thought
it would be great to be able to do one of the highlights of senior year together,” Smith said.

Tang said, “As each year came and went, we knew the senior recital was approaching closer, and so halfway through junior year, we just decided that it would be really cool to share this moment together because it could be one of the last times we perform together.”

Both Smith and Tang said they felt their performances went well. “I think my voice has come a long way and that I’ve made a lot of improvements since I came to OWU. It was so rewarding to be able to showcase all my hard work,” Smith said.

Wesleyan Players produces six plays in 23 hours

By Liz Hardaway, Arts & Entertainment Editor

In the span of 24 hours, six plays were written, directed and performed at the Studio Theater in Chappelear Drama Center Saturday, Oct. 29.

With six playwrights, six directors and 12 actors, six plays were created out of thin air 23 hours before the curtain rose. The only direction the group was given was a specific line, a gesture and a prop they had to include in their performances.

The event was held to preview the work of a possible new Ohio Wesleyan club Wesleyan Players.

“[The Wesleyan Players] are exploring different kinds of alternative forms of theater we don’t get a chance to work with usually,” said junior Hailey LaRoe, the president of Wesleyan Players.

One form of the alternative art form was an impromptu 23-hour play festival called Instant Theatre, suggested by junior Rachel Scherrer.

Directors and playwrights were paired together at 9 p.m.on Friday night, and actors were given their scripts the next morning. The rest of the day included directing, organizing and figuring out the technical aspects of each of six plays.

Even though the playwrights had a little bit of direction, themes ranged from a mutual boyfriend of siblings, millennial aliens, a woman obsessed with gummy bears and even a play about writing a 23-hour play.

For such a short time-frame, overall the event went smoothly, said junior Audrey Castañeda Walker, an officer of the club.

They are hoping to make this event an annual tradition to give even more students the opportunity to enhance their skills outside the classroom, as well as give more and more students performance opportunities.

Wesleyan Players was a performing arts group on cam- pus nine years ago, rebooting this year to give students the opportunity to bring people in the theater department who may not be able to fully commit to the department, while also experimenting with different types of theater in a fun setting, said LaRoe.

The prop used for these instant plays was a blue, light-up handheld gummi bear, which Lennon used as the end of the fairy-godmother’s wand to grant Cinderella’s wishes.

Poet visits Merrick Hall

By Areena Arora, Managing Editor

Thursday, Oct. 20 was a usual day on Ohio Wesleyan’s campus, except the first woman, first Scot and first openly gay British poet laureate recited her poetry to an audience of over a hundred students, faculty and Delaware residents in Merrick Hall.

Carol Ann Duffy became Britain’s Poet Laureate in 2009 and is currently a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. Duffy was invited as part of OWU’s English department’s Katherine Kearney Carpenter Lecture series.

The reading began at 7 p.m., which included her works on the characterization of the fictional character Faust’s wife. After over an hour of poetry, Duffy answered audience members’ questions.

Mr. Faust, Duffy said, was just like Donald Trump. Faust had everything, yet desired more, she said, before narrating her poetry. Nancy Comorau, assistant professor of English, had the idea of inviting Duffy. Duffy was contacted through a speaker’s bureau, according to Comorau.

“I suggested Carol Ann Duffy … for a number of reasons,” Comorau said. “Her poetry is complex and interesting, but it’s also accessible upon first read. I believed that her position as the first woman to hold the role of UK Poet Laureate and first LGBTQ+ per- son in that role would speak to a number of constituencies on campus.”

During her visit, Duffy visited three classes and also spoke at a roundtable on Fri- day, Oct. 21 for invited students, said Comorau. After her talk, Duffy also signed her books for audience members.

Duffy is proud of her identities as the first gay woman to hold the title. “The most important thing is … there hadn’t been a woman for nearly 400 years. It’s just disgraceful … We have now national poets in Wales Island and Scotland … so it seems to be changing.”

She added, “I think it’s important for public figures to be out … they have a responsibil- ity to the society.”

“This is a place I’ve never been to, so I was curious to come here,” she said. “I enjoyed it very much. Often when you read in a different country, the humor doesn’t quite work … you feel reassured when they laugh.”

Duffy said she has been to the U.S. many times as a visiting poet.

Sufi musician shares his talent

By Reilly Wright, Transcript Correspondent

The Benes Rooms celebrated Islamic culture as Ohio Wesleyan students sang and read poetry with a guest Sufi musician Oct. 25.

Sufism is a mystic Islamic belief where followers aim being one with God and following the Sufi path. Sufis focus on philosophy, poetry, music and dance to feel ecstasy and unify with God.

Latif Bolat presented to an audience of 70 people. He played the baglama, a long-necked lute, and sang as the audience recited Sufi poetry and joined in his chorus.

Bolat began his presentation of “The Mirror of the Unseen: Sufi” by discussing the Middle East’s territory and the history of Sufism. From one of the first Sufis, a woman named Rabi’a, to Sufism’s intent on being one with God through music and poetry.

“It took me a long time to gather this knowledge, so I want it out,” Bolat said.

Bolat visited OWU classes during his visit, including Susan Gunasti’s, associate professor of religion, Introduction to Islam, to discuss Sufism and Islam with students.

“It’s one thing to read a primary source … it’s another thing to see an example of what your teacher’s talking about and to experience that,” Gunasti, said.

“That is a different type of learning, so any opportunity I have to expose my students to those interactions, learning opportunities, I mean, that’s just golden.”

Freshman Lauren Mangold, a student in Gunasti’s Islam course, also attended the event hosted by OWU’s comparative literature and religion departments.

“I’m a very visual and also applicational learner, so to be able to learn about [Sufism] in my Islam class and then see a presentation of what I am learning about, it just reinforces my understanding of the subject,” Mangold said.

Bolat, a Turkish native, studied classical opera in college before working in computer coding in California.

Bolat realized his passion for Turkish music presents the 28 years ago and began a career in performing and lecturing Sufism across the globe.

“In Turkey, I cannot do any of this because that is a place that everybody thinks that they know everything,” Bolat said. “But here, there is that openness, the questioning, things like that. There are curious minds.”

“It was such a unique opportunity to have a Sufi musician come,” Gunasti said. “It’s so wonderful to find this way for my students to have this real au- thentic cultural experience. The caliber of the music for the students to experience, it was all top-notch.”

Bolat holds accomplishments such as performing music for the soundtrack of George Lucas Studios’ “Young Indiana Jones” and writing the book “Quarrelling with God: Mystic Rebel Sufi Poems of the Dervishes of Turkey.”

The BEAT: Zeds Dead visits Newport Music Hall

By John Bonus, Transcript Reporter

Electronic music fans gathered at the Newport Music Hall for a sold-out show put on by artist Zeds Dead.

Newport, located right next to the Ohio State campus, welcomed concertgoers Oct. 6 for a night of loud music and intricate light shows.

Zeds Dead is an electronic music duo comprising Dylan Mamid and Zachary Rapp-Rovan, both from Toronto, Canada.

The two producers make music ranging from house to dubstep, with some hip hop as well. They came to Columbus as part of their nationwide “Northern Lights” tour, named after their album that was released on Oct. 14.

Electronic artists Unlike Pluto and Ghastly opened for Zeds Dead. The two acts got the crowd moving, but the party really started when Zeds Dead hit the stage.

Zeds Dead brought its own light system that added elaborate visuals to the entire show. The venue was packed all the way to the wall in the back, but that did not stop anyone from dancing and getting into the music.

A handful of students from Ohio Wesleyan attended the event, one of whom was Caroline Hamlin. She said she went with a group of OWU students and had a memorable night.

“Seeing Zeds Dead was an unforgettable experience,” Hamlin said. “I danced all night with my friends and it was really a bonding experience for all of us.”

Bread & Puppet Theater feeds Gray Chapel

By Courtney Dunne, Editor-in-Chief

The Bread and Puppet Theatre made a stop at Ohio Wesleyan Oct. 17 to do its most recent performance of Underneath the Above Show #1 (inspired by the forthcoming elections in the greatest country in the history of the universe).

The theatre group, started by Peter Schumann in the 1960s to protest the Vietnam War, has been coming to OWU about every other year for the past eight years to perform their shows that make large statements on current events in the U.S.

When asked what people should take away from the political commentary they make, actor Josh Krugman responded that he couldn’t say because like the bread shared after the show, it should be chewed on in order to release the nutrients.

After the show, the company shares the ‘bread’ part of the Bread and Puppet Theatre. Schumann makes bread everyday for the company and he believes that is what should fill people up. At the end of every show, the cast offers the audience some bread to share within the community.

“The show is skeptical of this kind of state power and its capitalist and superficially democratic manifestation and that suspicion of the illusion that everything will change with the next election, it highlights the life in the understory, the life of the people,” Krugman said.

The founder Schumann makes the puppets out of cardboard and according to Krugman, expired latex paint. The company puts on shows with recycled cardboard, wood and uses noisemakers from the dollar store to produce the score for the show.

The Bread and Puppet company is ending the show soon because the king character that represents the current presidential candidates cannot be removed from the story.

The company offers apprenticeships for students of all trades interested in changing the world through a theatrical setting at their sustainable compound in Vermont. Many of the performers who performed at OWU started in the apprenticeship program and were invited to join the fall tour.

Marcus Fioravante, a new member to the company, said, “I had never heard of the Bread and Puppet Theatre and a friend told me about it and I had always had an interest in puppetry and a love [for] social activism and this seemed like the perfect fit, so I applied to the apprenticeship, which is where I started with the Bread and Puppet Theatre.”

Through the combined efforts of the House of Peace and Justice, the English department, Wesleyan Council for Student Affairs, PRIDE and the Chaplain’s Office, the Bread and Puppet Theatre was able to come and showcase their latest show.

Student poetry series hosted at bakery

By Gopika Nair, Chief Copy Editor

Several Ohio Wesleyan writers took a break from studying for midterm exams by sharing poetry and prose at an open mic event.

Speak/Easy, the open mic reading series affiliated with OWU’s English department, was introduced at Fresh Start Cafe and Bakery Oct. 10 and will be a monthly event.

Seniors Alyssa Clark, Curtis Taylor and junior Nicole White organized the event with the help of Amy Butcher, assistant professor of English. Butcher had the idea of arranging a student-run readers’ series on campus, White said.

Fresh Start is normally closed Mondays, but Butcher convinced the bakery’s owners to open that Monday evening to house Speak/Easy’s first open mic event.

“We chose Fresh Start because we wanted a venue that didn’t feel academic and instead felt cozy and welcoming to writers,” Clark said. “Fresh Start was open to working with us, had the room … and was eager to bring in more people to their new bakery.”

Nearly 40 OWU students attended the event, while around 15 shared their work. Some of the students who participated in the event included senior Chase Smith, junior Daniel Haygood, sophomores Em Sutliff, Emily Shpiece and Nash Bonnema. At one point, the manager of Fresh Start also hopped on stage to share a piece he had written.

Speak/Easy contributes to students’ growth as writers by giving them a platform to share their work, Clark said.

“One of the hardest aspects about being a writer is that you essentially need another set of eyes—or ears in the case of poetry and slam poetry—to read or hear your work,” Clark said. “An open mic night specifically for writers gives students a great opportunity to see how their pieces come across to an audience and to feel how their pieces sound out loud.”

White also said the open mic night gave students a chance to support the writers on campus, adding that the event provides something for everyone.

“Sometimes sharing something personal can be daunting, especially with a microphone, but I think we had a pretty open and inviting space for the first event,” White said.

The next Speak/Easy event will be held from 7-9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11 on Veteran’s Day. The theme of the event is ‘War’ and specific topics can range from war of the heart or mind, war around the globe or war at home, White said.

Professor talks film adaptation

By John Bonus, Transcript Reporter

Robert Olmstead, director of OWU’s creative writing program, has attracted the attention of directors and writers for his book “Far Bright Star.”

Damien Ober, a writer who has worked in television and film, adapted the novel into a screenplay.

On Sept. 2, Ober joined Olmstead for a panel discussion in the Bayley Room of Beeghly Library to talk
about the book and the film adaptation currently in the works. The authors covered subjects like Olmstead’s inspi- ration for the book and the process of turning a novel into a screenplay.

The book takes place in 1916 and tells the story of Napoleon Childs, a U.S. cavalryman in the military who leads an expedition into Mexico to hunt down Pancho Villa, a Mexican revolutionary.

Olmstead published the book in 2009 and it caught Ober’s attention when his agent referred it to him. Ober said he was impressed by the book and felt he could easily make it into an exciting screenplay.

The movie will be directed by Casey Affleck, an actor and director known for his roles in movies such as “Good Will Hunting” and “Gone Baby Gone.”

Joaquin Phoenix, known for his performance in “Gladiator,” will be starring in the film. The movie is still in the preproduction stage, but the movie could be released as early as 2017.