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 casting opportunities for all students regardless of major or minor. Backstage duties are also available. 

Open auditions will be held 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 of 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].

Keith Urban coming to Grand Rapids this October

Keith Urban will be stopping at the Van Andel Arena for his “Graffiti U World Tour 2018” on Friday, Oct. 19. Guest artist Kelsea Ballerini will be his supporting act during the performance.

Tickets went on sale to the general public Friday, March 2. Prices are $39, $65.50 and $96.50, and are available for purchase at the Van Andel Arena and DeVos Place box offices, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at 1-800-745-3000. Only eight tickets can be purchased per customer.

Visiting artist to hold discussions on campus

The Department of Visual and Media Arts, writing department and digital studies department at Grand Valley State University will be hosting James McAnally, a writer, editor, curator and artist from St. Louis, Missouri. McAnally’s art is described as eclectic, including publications, exhibitions, ephemeral actions, site-conditional criticism and theory. 

McAnally will give a basic overview of his work in the visual arts, including his work as an artist, curator, collaborator, organizer, writer, editor and theorist, on Monday, March 26, at 1:40 p.m. in the Calder Arts Center, Room 1718. Following that discussion, he will be leading a round-table discussion about the role of writing and criticism in the development of culture, which will take place at 3 p.m. in Room 1201. 

Finally, on Tuesday, March 27, McAnally will host a discussion off campus in the Avenue for the Arts’ Learning Lab, which is located in Grand Rapids. This talk will focus on the production of art in the Midwest, covering the unique opportunities and challenges for artists in this area. 

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, located on 160 Fountain St. NE.

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.