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Newsies Tickets Available

Newsies Tickets Available

Join us for CU Theatre Arts’ production of Newsies! Tickets available now! 

Ticket Information

Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for students/seniors for all performances except the $10 matinee on Thursday, March 7.

Performance Times

Thursday, March 7 at 11:00am
Friday, March 8 at 7:30pm
Saturday, March 9 at 7:30
Sunday, March 10 at 2:00pm
Friday, March 15 at 7:30pm
Saturday, March 16 at 7:30
Sunday, March 17 at 2:00pm

Location

Liberty Chapel
15790 Elmwood
Kansas City, MO 64147 

CU Theatre Arts production of Disney’s Newsies. A musical based on the Disney film. Music by Alan Menken. Lyrics by Jack Feldman. Book by Harvey Fierstein. Based on the Disney film written by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White. Newsies is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.MTIShows.com

Students Perform in All My Sons

Students Perform in All My Sons

Weekly Portraits of Calvary Life

Last weekend Calvary’s Theatre Arts Department presented Arthur Miller’s All My Sons.

Ann Deever (Mallory Pihl) and Chris Keller (Vincent Matteson)

The story of the play takes place a few years after the end of World War II, so our student body supported the cast and crew by dressing in ‘40s fashion on Friday.  We are thankful for all of the time and effort put in to producing this show by many students and faculty members.

Ann Deever (Mallory Pihl) and Kate Keller (Christy Stone)

George Deever (Zeb Johnson) and Joe Keller (Corey Ruehling)

The play is a tragedy and centers on the Keller family.  It presents thought-provoking themes of family relationships and suicide, and the actors sought to really understand what the world was like during that time period.

‘40s Fashion Day

Sara Klaassen

Alumni Relations Coordinator

 

Upcoming Calvary Events

Clay Shoot                               October 20

Cycle 3 begins                         October 22

Charles C. Ryrie Lecture Series          October 23-26

Theatre Arts Silent Auction     November 2

Masterworks Chorus Performance    November 9

Upcoming Soccer Games

October 25-27, MCCC Tournament at Haviland, KS

Upcoming Volleyball Games

October 26-27, MCCC Tournament at Joplin, MO

Upcoming lux voces Performances

October 28, 10:45 a.m. at Belvidere Heights Baptist Church in Grandview, MO

 

Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons:” the Trajectory of Tragedy

Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons:” the Trajectory of Tragedy

All My Sons is an American tragedy. It’s the story of a post-world War II family caught in a cycle of greed and deception; it’s the story of a terribly flawed patriarch who hides a terrible choice that holds devastating consequences for the family he desperately loves.

From Sophocles to Shakespeare, tragedies have been events for the masses who watch them collectively and process them experientially, perhaps even cathartically. The target market of the Greek tragedy was the aristocracy, but the groundlings of the Elizabethan Age paid a hard-earned penny to arrive in eager droves to see Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear. The unified experience involved a tragic hero with a tragic flaw who left on an epic journey, often begun with an invocation to the gods. At the end there was personal revelation with terrible consequences. And there was death. So what is the appeal of a tragedy?

First Corinthians 10 may shed some light:

10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.

Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. (New American Standard Bible)

 These things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved…these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. The apostle Paul is very specific: Old Testament stories, tragedies in literature older than the Golden Age of Greece, are poignant signposts pointing us to the narrow way; Achan’s horde under the floor, the Golden Calf, David and Bathsheba, Joseph and eleven jealous brothers, Jacob and his deceptions, Lot’s wife and her over-the-shoulder farewell to Sodom and Gomorrah are some of the more dramatic among them.

Joe Keller, the protagonist of All My Sons, could have been a character pulled right off the pages of Genesis and plopped into a 20th century script. He was laid low in his own wilderness, very much as the Children of Israel were laid low in theirs. The original travelers never made it to the Promised Land. We know from Scripture the nation of Israel learned the hard way at every turn of their journey; so did Joe Keller. Joe Keller could have learned by taking the narrow way, which is in the end, the easy way of choosing the easy yoke of the One who wrote the story.

So, we circle back to the original question: what is the appeal of tragedy? At the end of any tragedy, I find myself left with two reactions. First is the stark revelation of senseless waste; a different moral choice would have sent the characters on a vastly different trajectory involving far less pain and far more nobility. Then, the collective sigh of relief: there but for the grace of God go I.

This is exactly the choice Joe’s son Chris is presented with at the end of the play. Chris and Kate, Joe’s wife, hear an offstage gunshot after Joe understands for the first time the consequences his actions have had. The result? No spoiler: a terrible tragedy. Kate is all too aware of the dilemma her son now finds himself in:

CHRIS: Mother, I didn’t mean to…

KATE: Don’t dear. Don’t take it on yourself. Forget now. Live.

Chris is in danger of making exactly the choice his brother and father did. Kate, in the rarefied air of the final moments of the play, understands this completely, and her love and imperative to her son ultimately pull him from the edge of the abyss.

How this moment is staged is completely up to the director, and it has everything to do with whether this play is merely the audience’s observation of senseless waste or something that challenges us to higher moral ground. As a director, I would, of course, choose the high ground; what my eye already sees is hope. The end result of a well-crafted tragedy has to offer hope for a better world inhabited by people whose trajectory moves us closer down the path toward our Maker.

All My Sons is far more than a cautionary tale. Any piece of literature with a universally true thematic statement is timeless. It tells us our choices matter, and we owe our integrity not only to God, but to the brotherhood of all humanity. That truth speaks to us perhaps even more strongly now than it did to the first audiences of post-war 1947.  We find woven in the pages of All My Sons an object lesson of “instruction to us on whom the ends of the ages have come.”

 

All My Sons is CU Theatre Arts upcoming production, October 11-14. For more details: https://archive.calvary.edu/theatre-arts/

“Traveler in the Dark”

“Traveler in the Dark”

Weekly Portraits of Calvary Life

The cast of Traveler in the Dark: (l to r) Christy Stone, Corey Ruehling, Jon Van Pelt, and Aaron Clabough

Calvary University Theatre presented four performances of Traveler in the Dark last weekend.  With only four characters in the cast, each one had many lines to learn, and they did a terrific job!  Of course, there were many people who had a part behind the scenes, and they each contributed to the success of the show.  Corey Ruehling played Dr. Sam Carter, the play’s titular “traveler in the dark.”  The other characters were his wife, son, and father, and the play is all about their relationships.  Mrs. Pat Miller, our Biblical Counseling Department Chair, had this to say about the show, “What I like most about this play is the title! We are all travelers in the dark without the Light of the World – Jesus. We often lose our way and stumble in the dark. Only in the truth of God will we ever be set free.”

The Carter family: (l to r) Everett, Sam, Glory, and Stephen

Sara Klaassen

Alumni Relations Coordinator

 

Upcoming Soccer Games

October 20, 4:00 p.m. vs. Alumni at Practice Field (More info.)

October 26-28, Midwest Christian College Conference Tournament at Joplin, MO

Upcoming Volleyball Games

October 20, 6:30 p.m. vs. Alumni at Home  (More info.)

October 27-28, Midwest Christian College Conference Tournament at Dubuque, IA

Upcoming Calvary Events

Ryrie Lecture Series featuring Grant Hawley   October 24-27

Masterworks Chorus presents Elijah                November 10

Charis Schneeberger’s Senior Recital              November 18

Upcoming Basketball Games

October 30, 6:00 p.m. Men vs. Union at Home

 

Final Weekend of “Beauty and the Beast”

Final Weekend of “Beauty and the Beast”

Weekly Portraits of Calvary Life

I attended Calvary’s production of Beauty and the Beast last Saturday with high expectations, and I was not disappointed.  What a delightful show!  I have, of course, seen the animated Disney version, and I’ve even seen the stage version at a community theatre.  However, there is something special about seeing students you know completely transform into characters from a beloved story.  The cast and crew did a marvelous job and entertained large crowds for each performance of the first weekend.  If you haven’t seen it yet, there are still a few tickets remaining for some shows on this, the final, weekend.  As of this writing, Friday is sold out, but tickets will be available at the door for Saturday and Sunday’s performances.

Belle (Ana Sharp) reads to the Beast (Corey Ruehling) in the library.

Sara Klaassen

Alumni Relations Coordinator

 

Upcoming Calvary Events

March 10-12             Beauty and the Beast

March 15-25             Chorale Tour

Mar 31-April 1          Athletic Alumni Reunion

Upcoming Evidence Performances

April 2, 10:45 a.m. at Shawnee Bible Church in Shawnee, KS

April 2, Evening Service at Westbrooke Church in Overland Park, KS