Day by Day: Music, Theater Combine in ‘Godspell’
Westmont presents “Godspell,” one of the most popular musicals of all time, on Oct. 12-15 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. in Westmont’s Porter Theatre. Music and theater students join together to stage a production for the first time since 2019. Tickets, which cost $20 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors, are available online at westmont.edu/boxoffice.
Director Mitchell Thomas, a theater arts professor at Westmont, decided to perform a chamber musical with a smaller cast replete with strong roles for theater and music students. “We hope to encourage audiences to return to live theater to see a beloved musical that is inspiring, funny, touching and connected to our Christian identity as a college,” he says.
Thomas has recruited a creative production team that includes four talented alums to provide design and dramaturgy. He last directed a musical, the relatively unknown “Animal Farm: The Musical,” in 2012. “It’s such a pleasure to work on ‘Godspell’ — great music, wonderful characters and a profound and playful story,” Thomas says. “There’s a reason ‘Godspell’ endures. Theater is always a collaborative art form, especially so in musicals.”
The students collaborate at the intersection of musical theater, including clown performance, storytelling and theological exploration. “All of it is connected to our own personal journeys as seekers and people of faith in the world,” Thomas says.
Ruth Lin, Westmont director of music, oversees the “Godspell” band of four, while Christina Ramsay directs vocals. John-Michael Tebelak conceived and originally directed “Godspell” in 1971. Stephen Schwartz, the three-time Grammy and Oscar winner who wrote music for Wicked in 2003, provided the music and lyrics for the musical.
“‘Godspell’ isn’t after teaching you how to be like Jesus or teaching you who the historical Jesus of Nazareth was,” says dramaturge Diana Small ’09. ‘Godspell’ aims to show how it takes a thoughtful, graceful and messy community to chase the peace, love and justice that God invites us to nurture.”
Sharing a Wealth of Writing, Film Knowledge
Wendy Jackson brings her many gifts to Westmont's theatre department including her knowledge and experience in documentary filmmaking, screenwriting, and work in television. She is teaching a range of classes including Documentary Filmmaking and Creative Writing and she curated and implemented the new Film Friday series that will run throughout this year. Read below to find out more!
Wendy Eley Jackson brings more than a quarter century of experience in film and television to Westmont as the theater department’s new artist/scholar-in-residence for diversity, equity and inclusion. Jackson, a native of Atlanta, is teaching Documentary Filmmaking, Screenwriting, and Creative Writing this semester for the theater and English departments.
“My hope is to find a happy marriage between the written word, the actors and the production crew that will bring great storytelling to life,” she says. “Story has the ability to build bridges of empathy, understanding and respect, helping to make sense of our lives and the world around us. My goal is to help the students develop their stories as expressed through theater and the written word to inspire social impact.”
Jackson, who graduated from UC Berkeley and earned an MFA in screenwriting from the University of Georgia, is CEO of Auburn Avenue Films, a production company specializing in entertainment that brings social awareness and engages audiences to participate in social change.
“As our world becomes more complex and challenging, scholars, artists, educators and industry leaders are realizing the value of faith-based media and social-impact entertainment,” she says, “not just in terms of moving and changing people’s everyday lives, but also that you can tell powerful stories and do good in life.”
Her experience in the media industry ranges from working in made-for-television movies for Columbia TriStar Television, to advertising and marketing with Turner Entertainment Networks, to developing television pilots for major networks. She won a Producers Guild of America Award for her work on the feature-length documentary “Maynard,” which explores the life and legacy of Atlanta’s first black mayor. She is the executive producer of the documentary “Welcome to Pine Lake” and is in post-production for the documentaries “Her Inescapable Brave Mission” and “Counting the Ballots.”
“I hope to bring my faith into my teaching by leading my students by example,” she says. “This means to always lead their interactions with kindness; to nurture and develop a new generation of diverse artists, industry leaders and executives aligned with teachings of Jesus the Christ, and be united in the pursuit of new creative work and research that makes a difference in the world.”
She has already organized Film Fridays, monthly film screenings and discussions on campus, and she hopes to host a student film festival in April.
“I want to always remain in academia,” she says. “It helps me stay grounded to my purpose, which is to seed. One apple tree gives lots of seeds. I hope to seed the students, encouraging them to tell the stories they want to share and in the process produce other apples and hopefully seed someone else.”
Strengthening global connections and stewarding in a new era of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The Westmont Festival Theater launches the first of three staged readings that explore diversity, equity and inclusion Saturday, September 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Porter Theatre. The series of readings, named, NEXUS: Readings from Black Playwrights, will include a post-reading discussion, and is free and open to the public.
Westmont Theatre Arts
Initiative for Justice and Global Engagement
Strengthening global connections and stewarding in a new era of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The Westmont Theater Arts Department has established a new initiative expanding its focus on diversity, justice, global engagement and intercultural competency.
Beginning in fall 2021, as part of the Justice and Global Engagement in the Theatre Arts Initiative, John Blondell, award-winning director and Westmont professor of theater arts, will become the new global ambassador in the performing arts. The initiative also establishes a new artist/scholar-in-residence for diversity, equity and inclusion in theater arts.
“I am delighted and honored,” Blondell says. “These positions reflect the department's commitment to seek change and transformation relative to local, national and global conversations and movements.”
In his new role, Blondell will teach and direct for one semester at Westmont and spend the remaining semester working in international theater.
“John has developed a stellar and altogether unique professional career directing international theater all over the globe,” says Mitchell Thomas, theater arts professor and chair of the department. “His experiences, connections and professional work directly benefit our theater arts students and provide a distinct lens into global theater-making. Westmont theater has hosted artists and scholars from all over the planet in connection with John’s networks, creating a truly magical artistic and educational environment here in Santa Barbara. I can't think of a more apt and fitting title for John than global ambassador as he truly embodies the global aspiration of the college’s vision.”
Blondell, founding artistic director of the Lit Moon Theatre Company, director of the Lit Moon World Theater Festivals and co-founder of the Bitola (Macedonia) Shakespeare Festival, has directed more than 80 professional productions, and produced another 60 for Lit Moon’s various international festivals.
His Lit Moon productions have been staged in China, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Scotland and Canada. His international credits include productions for the Tampereen Teatteri in Tampere, Finland; the Bitola (Macedonia) National Theatre (four occasions); the Russian Theatre of Karaganda in Kazakhstan; and the National Theatre of Albania.
“Coming up in the winter and spring, I’ll direct three international, networked productions — with actors from Armenia, Greece, North Macedonia, Albania, Russia, Italy and the U.S — ‘Ivanov’ and ‘The Three Sisters’ by Anton Chekhov and Shakespeare’s ‘Cymbeline,” Blondell says. “When things open again, I have been invited to direct in Karaganda (Kazakhstan), Yerevan, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Cetinje (Montenegro), and to co-produce an international festival in China.”
He will also develop a new course about contemporary global theater practice, which will fulfill Westmont’s Thinking Globally General Education Requirement.
Westmont has launched a search for the new artist/scholar-in-residence, who will interact with the larger Santa Barbara community through workshops, productions, guest lectures and artistic collaboration.
“The guest artist/scholar position will infuse new life, energy and perspectives into our community and allow us to offer a greater array of important core courses focused on equity, inclusion and diversity in the theater arts,” Thomas says.