N EWS
PAGE 2
O CTOBER 10, 2008
TU theatre honors its past By Elena Forsythe Staff Writer
Taylor thespians and alumni will gather this homecoming weekend for a celebration of Taylor theatre’s 100th anniversary. After over a year of planning, the theatre department will bring over 130 students and alumni to honor Taylor’s former directors and the legacy they left behind. Friday night will be hosted by student members of Taylor’s chapter of Alpha Psi Omega national theatre society, recognizing former directors like Jim Young and Oliver “Ollie” Hubbard. The weekend will open with an hors d’oeuvres reception and memorial presentation, and close with an on-stage dinner on Saturday followed by a performance of “John, His Story.” The weekend celebration is almost like a mini production, including a set, light plot and a performance. Artistic Director Tracy Manning said it feels
like they are planning a wedding, “between the caterer and the centerpieces and the flowers and all the people and the gifts for the speakers.” “It is a big production, but we’re honored to do it and we wouldn’t want the occasion to go by without celebrating it,” Manning said. The event holds personal significance for Manning, who orchestrated the event in collaboration with Alpha Psi Omega members. “I recognize again in such a real and concrete way the cloud of witnesses that has gone before us. (Directors Hubbard and Young) set before us an ideal and a vision for training theatre craftsmen to make an impact for the cause of Christ in a discipline that needs them so desperately,” Manning said. Technical Director David Phillips echoed Manning’s testimony of how the theatre has impacted students. “It’s a way for us to say ‘thank you’ to people who’ve given so much and sacrificed so much of their time and abili-
ties as worship for God,” Phillips said. “It’s great to watch the progression, how each director, each person involved … has built on the previous directors, continued to improve in excellence for the benefit of the students in the department,” he added. Senior theatre major Kathy St. Cyr has led the planning for Saturday’s activities. “I’m really excited to connect with some alumni, to honor the people who’ve gone before me, and who’ve laid out such a great foundation for this theatre,” St. Cyr said. Phillips described the celebration as “a 100-year reunion,” where students like St. Cyr can meet and interact with former theatre participants. “It’s a beautiful weaving ... of God’s plan and sovereignty and provision, and that’s what we celebrate,” Phillips said. “It’s not anyone in particular, it’s all of them — the ones from 1960 and the ones from 2007 who can all say, “This place impacted my life and has changed who I am.”
Photo by Timmy Huynh
Senior Elisabeth Duncan, junior Jason Griffin and freshman Ryan Maloney lay down a coat of polyurethane in preparation for homecoming weekend.
Boat regatta makes a big splash Battle re-enactments: history close to home By Sam Stevens Staff Writer
Photo by Katy Andres
Freshman Sam Sanchez paddles his makeshift cardboard boat on Saturday at Taylor Lake during the Boat Regatta. Five teams competed in the annual event hosted by SAC.
By Benita Lee News Editor
Airband has become such an integral part of our community that it’s hard to imagine a time when it didn’t exist. The annual tradition many have come to know and love is actually only 23 years old. Taylor graduate and then-senior class president Kerri Dunkelberger (’85) was part of the Inter-Class Council (ICC) team that organized the very first Airband in 1985. ICC wanted to put on a talent show that would be fun for the entire campus to participate in, and the idea of the lip-synching competition came up. Dunkelberger said that the first Airband was “very small-scale.” Students performed in the Dining Commons during Spirit week, with no tryouts, and only about six acts. Spirit Week was a Taylor tradition in the fall. Classes competed against each other in various events like tricycle races, blindfolded pumpkin-carving, and in a fundraising event where classes competed to see who could raise the most money for a mission effort. “(Airband) was just a fun event to have during Spirit week,” Dunkelberger said. “We were just really glad that there were people that wanted to do it.” The winner of the first Airband? A memorable one-man act to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” “He was phenomenal,” Dunkelberger said. “He blew people away with that dancing. Nobody knew who he was, how he’d come … he was that funny and that good.” Dunkelberger attended her second Airband performance about four years ago, and said that Airband has “completely evolved.” “It is nothing like we ever envisioned … it’s fantastic,” Dunkelberger said. “It
News
engages so many students on campus. That’s really what I love about it now … seeing a lot of people try to be involved in it.” For Dunkelberger, her best highlights from college are the friendships that are still going strong after gradu-
ation. “I think the best part of Taylor is that it is surrounded by four cornfields, and that you are in a position where you create and make the fun,” Dunkelberger said. “That is the hallmark of Taylor – community.”
It’s that time of year again - so break out the muskets and bayonets. History will be coming alive this weekend as the community of Marion and Hartford re-enact battles from the 19th century. From Oct. 10 through 12, Marion will be holding its “Living History Weekend.” This will include demonstrations such as artillery firing, musket and rifle drills, battlefield medicine, and of course, a re-enactment of the largest battle in the War of 1812. Participants will come together to live out the Battle of the Mississinewa, in memory of the real battle, which took place on December 17, 1812. Activities for the weekend include a tour of a reconstructed woodland Indian village, complete with Native American storytellers. Merchants will also be demonstrating reproductions of 19th century crafts, yarn goods, silver and tinware, pottery, muskets and candles. Various types of food from that era
will be offered: English trap pies, barbecued chops, bratwurst, stews, baked potatoes, and pastries to “whet” the appetite. Master printers, gunsmiths, tinsmiths, silversmiths, soap makers, and blacksmiths, will also be present at the grounds. Hartford will be celebrating its Civil War Days this weekend. Activities will cover all kinds of ground, including a “meet and greet” with the “generals”— Grant, Custer, and Sherman. There will also be a tribute to the living descendants of Civil War soldiers, as well as a black history presentation. While their men duke it out on the battlefield, ladies can participate in parlor games, afternoon tea, and a fashion show. The weekend will end with a military ball. The official website lists some of the other activities available. “Lincoln will also be on hand to give one of his famous speeches,” it says. “And a mini concert will be performed by lantern light.” For more information and tickets, visit www.angelfire.com/in3/34IN/ and www.mississinewa1812.com.