News Archive - October-November 2007



Arena Theater Presents Godspell

“Prepare Ye.” Casting new lights on an ancient story, Arena Theater’s fall production of Godspell challenges the rut into which the parables of Christ have fallen in the modern age. By “jazzing up” the 1970’s musical account of Matthew and adding a “21st Century resonance,” the cast grapples with the question, “What could Jesus have meant by that?” The live band, professional lighting and set design all combine to weave the compelling moral lessons with musical highlights such as “Oh My Soul” and “The Light of the World” driving the show.

The show opens November 2 at 8:00 PM in Arena Theater and runs through November 10. Tickets are $10-12 and go on sale at the box office on October 24. Visit the official Arena Theater web site for more information.


Congratulations Debate Team!

The Wheaton College Debate Team started out the season with a bang. After breaking into the Octofinals at Purdue’s Debate Tournament and placing third in the overall debate sweeps, two Wheaton teams (Jon Klanderman and Abigail Perl, and Ryan June and Talia Staen) traveled to William Jewell the following weekend for the prestigous Round Robin and Invitational. At William Jewell, Ryan and Talia thorougly beat Texas Tech OP, who went on to win the tournament. Texas Tech OP only lost to two teams the entire weekend, and has won three prestigious tournaments in a row. In addition, two Junior teams, Amy Mashburn and Ben Johnson, along with Juliana Wilhout and Grant Diamond, made it to the quarter-finals of the William Jewel Tournament. Grant Diamond received 9th speaker in the Junior division.

At Northern Illinois University (NIU), Wheaton continued its dominance with a stellar performance. Juniors Alli Morris and Stephen Kinde won the open division, and Juliana and Grant won the novice division, both teams beating Loyola-Chicago in the finals. In Open, Stephen captured first speaker, Abigail Perl won 3rd speaker, Alli received 8th speaker, and Camille Barnett was awarded 10th speaker. In the novice competition, Grant captured first speaker while Juliana came in at 9th speaker.

On the weekend of October 13th, three teams traveled to participate in a large tournament at Berea College in Kentucky. There, Ryan and Talia broke into Octofinals in Open, losing in a close 2-1 decision to one of the best teams at the tournament. Juliana and Grant, dominated in their first Open appearance, beating Purdue in their Octofinals round then losing to Cedarville, eventual tournament finalists.

The Wheaton Debate Team looks forward to the elite University of the Pacific Round Robin in California. Ryan and Talia will compete against 14 of the best teams in the nation, along with the regular UOP invitational. Three teams will represent Wheaton Parliamentary Debate in Open. That same weekend, the rest of the squad will compete at Washburn, Kansas. The team already has three teams well on their way to qualifying for the prestigious National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence, and expects to pick up a fourth in the Spring.

The team is coached by Ammon Simon, Nicole Liberto and Tiffany Olson.


Michael Gerson Visits Campus

Michael Gerson, former presidential advisor and speechwriter under the Bush Administration, held a lecture and question/answer session–"Communicating Political Ideals to a Global Audience"–on October 10 on Wheaton's campus. Besides his involvement with the Bush Administration, Mr. Gerson is a senior fellow of the Council of Foreign Relations, a Washington Post columnist and was named the ninth "Most Influential Evangelical in America" by Time in 2005. In his talk, Mr. Gerson spoke about the challenges of integrating faith with communication and politics in the context of global society. This event was co-sponsored by the Communication and Political Science/International Relations Departments.