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There are a lot of things happening in the Theatre Arts department at Daytona State College this semester, including performances of two productions: "Godspell" and "The Arabian Nights".

The College's drama program has already brought the school productions of "The Taming of the Shrew" and "All In The Timing," but the two new performances will begin in March and April.

Since auditions ended at the beginning of the month, students who were selected to be in the performances have been hard at work rehearsing to bring their audience the best performance that they can.

"The Arabian Nights" by Mary Zimmerman is a play based on the stories adapted from "The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night." It is performed by a number of actors and is a collection of comical tales that celebrate the power of storytelling.

"One of the reasons to do 'The Arabian Nights' was because it calls for a multicultural cast and is more reflective of the community," said director Geoffrey Kershner, who is also a drama professor at Daytona State. "It's an ensemble piece and has lots of fun characters and there are opportunities to get a lot of people involved."

At the rehearsals and even during the auditions, the cast of "The Arabian Nights" worked to play out scenes from the production. Instead of having a lead role, the cast will work together to make the performance possible.

"There's a lot of collaboration. The actors are putting a lot of it together themselves," said Lindsey Akins, the stage manager of "The Arabian Nights" and a student at The College. "Theater is one of my favorite things in the world it's one of the best forms of entertainment. It's so much fun to get into it."

The cast of "Godspell" has also been practicing its off- Broadway musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. Every spring the drama program puts on a musical that exhibits the talents of the students and is never something that you want to miss.

"It accurately teaches the parables from the Gospel of Matthew and is ultimately about individuals coming together to form a community after Jesus is crucified," said Robert Rathbun, a student at DSC who plays Jesus in the production. "We're doing things differently. We're setting the play in Ground Zero and the Jesus figure is a New York fireman," said professor, Robert Arcuri, who is the director of the production. "This is our way to pay tribute to those who died in 9-11. We want to show that even out of the bad will come good."

Theater is a form of art that has been around for thousands of years and the shows that are being performed are ones that everyone should see. Every performance is a new experience and since tickets to see these performances are free for students, why not experience it yourself?

"Theatre is one of the oldest forms of art," said Arcuri. "Rather than students getting hooked on one genre, they need to see live theatre."

The performances of "Godspell" are Feb. 23 through Feb. 27 and March 5 though March 7 in the Gillespy Theatre at the News-Journal Center. Production dates for "The Arabian Nights" are April 7 through April 18 in the Gillespy Theatre.

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