Your Westmont Talk Explores Bringing Flying A to the Stage

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Calendar of Events

around the mishaps and innovation of the Flying A and how it helped shape more than a century of storytelling. Diamond to Dust will be performed in Westmont’s Porter Theatre February 24-25, March 2-4 at 7:30 pm, and March 4 at 2 pm.

As co-founder and director of the Lit Moon Theatre Company, Blondell will direct Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya later this spring.

Warriors Come Out Swinging

by Scott Craig, photos by Brad Elliott

Westmont’s John Blondell discusses the world premiere play that will bring Santa Barbara’s silent film history to the stage in a Westmont Downtown Lecture Thursday, February 16, at 5:30 pm in the Community Arts Workshop (CAW), 631 Garden Street, in downtown Santa Barbara. “The Film Within a Play: Celebrating Santa Barbara’s Flying A Studios on Stage,” is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are required. Ample free parking is available. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051.

Blondell, director of Diamond to Dust:

A Flying A Fantasy, will be joined by select cast members, who will perform a scene from Diamond to Dust

“The talk promises to be a wide-ranging discussion about an important story in Santa Barbara’s history, the ins and outs of theatrical performance, sneak peeks into theatrical process, and how all these impact our students in the show, and ultimately our audience,” Blondell says.

Santa Barbara was one of the centers of American film from 1912-21 with the American Film Manufacturing Company, known as the Flying A, which made more than 1,000 films.

Blondell and Michael Bernard, who wrote the play, collaborated to produce a revealing, live theater event that centers

In the fall, Blondell will enter his third year as Westmont’s global ambassador in the performing arts. In the meantime, he will direct Richard III for Prague Shakespeare in Prague, Prometheus Bound in the ancient Roman theater of Heraclea in Bitola, Macedonia and Peer Gynt in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. He also helped curate the Verona Shakespeare Festival, which will run August 24-31 in Verona.

Westmont Downtown: Conversations about Things that Matter is a free lecture series sponsored by the Westmont Foundation. The foundation also sponsors the 18th annual Westmont President’s Breakfast with keynote speaker Doris Kearns Goodwin on March 10.

The next Westmont Downtown Lecture will feature Rebecca McNamara, Westmont assistant professor of English, who will speak about “Care in Times of Crisis: Suicide and Emotions in Medieval England” on April 13.

College Hosts Nursing Open House

Westmont hosts an information session for its new accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program on Wednesday, February 15, from 5:30-7 pm at Westmont Downtown | Grotenhuis Nursing, 26 West Anapamu Street. The open house will be an opportunity for prospective students to meet faculty, admissions and financial aid representatives and tour the downtown campus that houses the nursing program. The college is currently accepting applications for the fall 2023 semester with a deadline to apply on March 31. This will be the 16-month program’s third cohort. The first group, which started in spring 2022, will graduate at a pinning ceremony May 6.

Bryan Peck pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and two baserunners against Embry-Riddle

In their first seven games of the young baseball season, the No. 13 Westmont Warriors have been hot at the plate, hitting .314 and scoring 74 runs against Saint Katherine and Embry-Riddle (AZ). The Warriors completed a four-game sweep of Embry-Riddle Feb. 4-5 at Russ Carr Field. Starting pitchers Eric Oseguera (.82 ERA), Chase Goddard (3.60 ERA), and Bryan Peck (3.75 ERA) have also been dominant.

Westmont will take on Oregon Tech (2-1) in a final tune up on Feb. 10-11 before the start of Golden State Athletic Conference play. Doubleheaders are on tap for both Friday and Saturday with the first pitch on both days at 11 am. The Hustlin’ Owls of Oregon Tech come to Montecito after winning two out of three games from Jessup University.