Open auditions for Shakespeare Festival 2018

Plans for the 2018 season of the Grand Valley State University Shakespeare Festival are already underway. This year’s performances will be “King Lear” and “Bard to Go.” There are openings for males and females and casting opportunities for all students, regardless of major or minor, and backstage duties are also available. Open auditions will be held on Monday, April 9, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Tuesday, April 10, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Room 1721 in the Haas Center for Performing Arts.

To attend an audition, please sign up at the Louis Armstrong Theatre box office, call 616-331-2300 or email Jack Lane at [email protected]. 

GRCC to present the play ‘Dead Man’s Cell Phone’ 

From Thursday, March 29, to Saturday, March 31, Grand Rapids Community College will be presenting the play “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl. Ruhl, who is a MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prize finalist, set the comedy in a quiet cafe, where a constantly-ringing cell phone forces a woman to confront her assumptions about mortality, redemption and technology. 

GRCC theater faculty member Tom Kaechele will be directing the play, which will begin at 8 p.m. at GRCC Spectrum Theater.

Tickets are $5 for GRCC students, $8 for students in the Grand Rapids area as well as GRCC faculty and staff, and $12 for the public. In addition to these performances, there will be a dress rehearsal on Wednesday, March 28, at 8 p.m., where tickets will be sold at the door. 

Roots of Creation to perform in Grand Rapids

The Reggae band Roots of Creation will be stopping in The Stache in Grand Rapids on their tour, featuring their reggae-influenced cover album “Grateful Dub,” which was released worldwide on Friday, March 9. The show is scheduled for Tuesday, April 17, at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $12 and available for purchase at www.etix.com. 

Auditions open for choral ensemble for fall semester

Ellen Pool, Grand Valley State University music professor and conductor, is holding auditions for the choral ensemble for the fall semester. The Music, Theatre and Dance Department at GVSU offers five different choral ensembles for students to choose from, with the more advanced ensembles requiring an audition.

For those interested, contact Pool at 616-331-2572 or [email protected]. She will be holding auditions from now until Sunday, April 15. 

Choral concert to be held April 16

On Friday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m., the University Arts Chorale and the Cantate Chamber Ensemble will be performing in the Cook-DeWitt Center under the direction of Ellen Pool, Grand Valley State University music professor. 

The University Arts Chorale is a group of 35 auditioned students who performs choral pieces from a variety of periods. The Cantate Chamber Ensemble is a small group that performs a cappella choral music, with a goal is to perform a variety of both sacred and secular music through vocal jazz.