Fans of the McPherson College Theatre Department will have one more opportunity to see a show this season when it presents a “bonus” production on Friday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Mingenback Theatre.

Tickets for the one-night only production are free to First Nighters and McPherson College students, faculty, and staff. There will be no First Nighters meal prior to this production. A talk-back session will follow the short performance.

Two spring semester acting classes are joining forces to present Caryl Churchill’s “Far Away,” a script that is studied as part of the modern theatre canon. Churchill explores modern storytelling with her short play about binary language. Written in response to 9/11, “Far Away” imagines a world where everyone is forced to take sides. Most recently, her work was produced at the college in last season’s “love & information.”

“Far Away” features a cast of Liz Thornton, Bailey Short, J.Tanner Trigg and Erin Fralick with support from Brevin Baessler, Grant Barrett, Kristina Battle, Camile Baugh, Calon Bibbs, Ayla Cassidente, Brooklyn Coe, Amanda Connell, Seamus Hnat, Alex Hopkins, Florine Ibale, Destiny Johnson, Gracia Kasereka, Skylar Lane, Alexis Lynn, Jarrod Manick, Brent Masters, Tabitha Maumau, Peyton Morris, Ivanna Moyer, Joyce Muhizi, Isaac Murphy, DeShaun Ruiz, Myles Sample, Ashton Serpas, Robert Shaw, Mark Sizemore, Antonio Snyder, Xavier Taylor and Alanna Wren.

For reservations, contact the theatre box office at (620) 242-0444 or email at [email protected].

The McPherson College student newspaper, The Spectator, will host its first ever Journalism and Writing Series Lecture featuring David Radcliff, director of New Community Project. The lecture will be presented on Tuesday, March 6 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Melhorn Lecture Room, 112.

In his lecture titled, “Passionately Neutral,” Radcliff will talk about what it means for a writer to be neutral – neither for nor against; how to shed cultural and worldwide views; and how to find critical and credible sources. Radcliff, who writes extensively and travels presenting these same topics, works with New Community Project, which focuses on topics relating to social justice and environmental activism.

The lecture is free and available to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

The McPherson College Performing Arts Department will celebrate the 40^th anniversary of its First Nighters organization with a production of “Another Antigone,” on March 8-10 at 7:30 p.m. at Mingenback Theatre. An anniversary meal for First Nighters will be served prior to the Friday and Saturday performances at 6:15 p.m.

First Nighters, the name of the supportive season-ticket holders, was established 40 years ago by Professor and Chair of the McPherson College Performing Arts Department Rick Tyler as a way to help supplement the new theater program’s budget at the time by offering a dinner theatre experience for its members.

The first event, which was hosted prior to the college’s production of “Antigone,” began with an hors d’oeuvres buffet served in Friendship Hall to a selected group that he hoped would become patrons of the theatre department. There was a great response and the organization began collecting memberships the next fall.

When it began, a meal was served only before the first performance of each production. However, over time the organization grew and more meals were added and more space was available after Mingenback Theatre was built. At one point, the organization had 250 members and some years earned enough to double the theatre’s budget. Today a meal is served to First Nighter members prior to every performance.

“Another Antigone,” a modern retelling of Sophocles’ “Antigone” adapted by A.R. Gurney, will close out the McPherson College Performing Arts season. It will also be the final production for Dr. Tyler who has been designing sets for the McPherson College Performing Arts Department for 41 years. He will retire at the end of the 2017-2018 academic year.

Reservations for the final production of this season can be made by calling the Mingenback Theatre box office at (620) 242-0444 or emailing [email protected]. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3.50 for seniors and students.

A high energy musical featuring beloved characters from children’s literature will be performed by the McPherson College theatre department on February 9 and 10 in Brown Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. “Elephant & Piggie’s: We Are In A Play!” will also continue the college’s long-standing tradition of offering weekday matinee performances for local elementary school audiences.

After 25 books featuring best friends Elephant and Piggie, author Mo Willems puts his beloved characters into a musical. The quick wit and fun captured in this production will delight audiences of all ages as Elephant and Piggie sing their way through three of their cherished stories.

Every two years, the McPherson College theatre department produces a children’s show and all local elementary schools are brought to campus for the production. This will mark the department’s 20th children’s production.

Reservations for the evening performances can be made by calling the theatre box office at (620) 242-0444 or by email at [email protected]. Tickets are $5 each or $3.50 for seniors and students.

A First- Nighters Ice Cream Social will be held before each performance starting at 6:15 p.m. in MingenbackTheatre. First-Nighters is the season ticket holders’ organization that helps support theatre productions at McPherson College.

Because of the international recognition of their work, Dr. Rebecca Dali and her husband Dr. Samuel Dali have become direct targets of the extremist terrorist group Boko Haram and are no longer able to live in their native Nigeria. Dr. Samuel Dali, who is a graduate of McPherson College, along with his wife, will speak in a public lecture at McPherson College’s Mingenback Theatre on Wednesday, November 29 at noon. Their presentation is titled, “A Peaceful Response to the Boko Haram Terror.”

Dr. Samuel Dali is the former president of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, known locally as Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria, or EYN Church. Many of the families of the more than 200 girls kidnapped in April 2014 in Chibok by the Boko Haram were members of the EYN Church.

Dr. Rebecca Dali is the founder and CEO of the Center for Caring, Empowerment and Peace Initiative, or CCEPI, and received an award from the United Nations in August for her courageous work to reintegrate girls and orphans freed by the Boko Haram back into their local communities.

Boko Haram promotes an extremist version of Islam that forbids Muslims to take part in any aspect of Western society, it initially focused its opposition on Western education. At its height, it fought to overthrow the Nigerian government and create an Islamic state and kidnapped more than 200 girls from their school. The organization was designated a terrorist group by the United States in 2013. After a series of negotiations in 2016, the militants began releasing some of the girls that were kidnapped.

Drs. Samuel and Rebecca Dali’s individual life stories and their work to combat terrorism in Nigeria are testament to the peaceful, nonresistance stance of the Church of the Brethren. They will share their experiences in the free public lecture on November 29 as well as with McPherson College students during classes on November 30. The McPherson College Office of Spiritual Life & Service is hosting this event.