February 2023

Seventeen Sterling College Theatre students and two professors attended the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival last week in Des Moines, IA. The regional festival attracted over 1300 participants from colleges/universities from seven midwestern states.

Poet Jason Ryberg of Kansas City, MO, will return for the month of February as Artist-in Residence at the Red Barn Studio Museum, 212 S. Main St., Lindsborg. Ryberg is the author of eighteen books of poetry, six screenplays, a few short stories, a box full of folders, notebooks, and scraps of paper that could one day be (loosely) construed as a novel, and a couple of angry letters to various magazine and newspaper editors. His latest collection of poems is The Great American Pyramid Scheme (co-authored with W.E. Leathem, Tim Tarkelly, and Mack Thorn, OAC Books, 2022).

On Jan. 26, 2023, the Real Men Sing vocal workshop at Bethany College brought over 400 young men, grades 5-12, from 34 schools across Kansas. These young men spent the day working with music professionals in one of three groups. The High School Choir, conducted by Paul Neal, Associate Professor of Music at Berry College performed “Leave Her Johnny”, arranged by Daniel Lynch, and “Tuba”, arranged by Michael Marrett. The Changing Voices Choir, conducted by Greg Bontrager, Buhler High School vocal music teacher, and Nicholas Griggs, McPherson High School vocal teacher performed “Vive L’Amour” arranged by Bobby Siltman, and “Wade in the Water” arranged by Dan Davidson. The Unchanged Voice Choir, conducted by Alex Underwood, Hays High School choir teacher, performed “Pie Jesu” by Mary Lynn Lightfoot and “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers arranged by Robert T. Gibson. The final performance was “God Bless America” performed by all choirs combined.