On Monday, Jan. 14, the Messiah College community got its first peek at the nearly finished Calvin and Janet High Center for Worship and Performing Arts. The High Center is the hallmark project of the College’s Centennial Campaign—a fundraising effort that raised more than $46.2 million for the building as well as student-focused initiatives and scholarship endowments.

The High Center is open for classes and will host several public events this spring before the launch of the official inaugural cultural season in fall 2013.

“We are deeply grateful to the many alumni, parents and community friends who supported the Centennial Campaign,” said President Kim S. Phipps. “Their generosity ensures that Messiah continues to provide excellent facilities and competitive scholarship funding to make Messiah College an appealing, viable educational choice for students.”

The High Center contains a new recital hall, blackbox theatre, classroom and office spaces, a recording studio and an 825-seat performance venue—Parmer Hall—that is the public focal point of the building.

Watch a video of the opening of the High Center. Video courtesy of Sherri Hoffman.

See a photo album of pictures of the interior and exterior of the building. Photos courtesy of Robert Getty III `89.

Explore the main lobby, the instrumental rehearsal room and the public space between the High Foundation Recital Hall and Parmer Hall. Photos courtesy of Dan Custer `09.

While dance currently is an accepted form of both recreation and study — a dance minor began in the fall of 2010, and this past fall a dance major was added — for many years Messiah College, as a part of its founding Brethren in Christ denomination, took a firm standpoint against it. “The major source for opposition to dancing over the years basically came from the denomination, which was opposed to a number of ‘worldly’ activities, including dancing, playing cards, attending movies,” said Morris Sider, a member of the College’s faculty from 1963 to 2009. (more…)

When Valerie Rae Smith delivered her first monologue at age 13, she had no idea that she was revealing a special personal gifting that would from that point on direct her vocational steps.

Smith, now associate professor of theatre and co-chair of the theatre department at Messiah, chats with theatre student Bryant Vance about how being a person of Christian faith has shaped and affected her career in theatre in this latest Listen Up! podcast.

Smith sees a clear line between theatre and worship, citing that theatre is just one venue for expressing God-given creative abilities.  She is pleased with the way Messiah College challenges its students, both on stage and off, to deal with difficult and complex issues, and notes how she, like her cast, grows during the process of rehearsing and performing a play.

Listen to the interview between Valerie Smith and Bryant Vance.

Visit the department of theatre website.