GLOW Lyric Theatre will host its 6th annual festival season with the help and involvement of two members of the PC community. The festival will take place from July 27-31 at Furman’s McAlister Auditorium and will feature productions of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story and Charles Gounod’s opera Roméo et Juliette.

Glow Lyric Theatre is a 501c3 non-profit, professional vocal arts company producing opera, operetta and musical theatre in Greenville, South Carolina.  Glow’s mission is to produce musical works in direct response to the social and political climate of South Carolina.  Glow Lyric Theatre is South Carolina’s only professional opera company.

Dr. Christian Elser, associate professor of music and director of the PC Opera, co-founded Glow Lyric Theatre and currently serves as its executive director and resident musical director.

“I think professional lyric theater is a wonderful and important medium through which significant and even sometimes uncomfortable subject matter can be addressed,” said Elser. “By combining musical theater, operetta, and opera in one season, it is our goal to bring these wonderful vocal art forms to a broader audience.”

Emlynn Shoemaker, a junior at PC, is also involved in this year’s festival as a performer in the chorus of Roméo et Juliette.

“As a music major, I’m excited because this is an opportunity for me to see what it’s like in real-life theater and performance,” said Shoemaker. “Beyond performances at PC and the individual competitions I have participated in, I haven’t really had much experience in performance, so I’m really excited to be able to have this outside exposure.”

For the fourth year, PC is a contributing season sponsor for GLOW Lyric Theatre, providing scene and costume shop construction space as well as housing Glow’s technical crew.

“The arts teach us ethics and humanity and speak to who we are as a people and who we strive to be. The arts exercise our collective ‘empathy muscle,’ something sorely needed in this day and age,” said Elser. “I am proud that PC sees value in GLOW and the performing arts. As associate professor of music at PC, and as an arts leaders in South Carolina, I only hope that I can bring honor and pride to the College.”

Presbyterian College is located on a striking 240-acre campus in Clinton, between Columbia and Greenville, S.C. Offering challenging academics and a culture of honor, ethics, and service that prepares students to be leaders in communities, PC offers its students the benefit of engaging with an exceptional faculty who take individual interest in their students’ well-being, both personally and in the classroom. The Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy opened in 2010, and is dedicated to the ideals of leadership, honor to the profession, and service to the community. For more information about Presbyterian College, visit www.presby.edu.