Fringe Fest Erie presents amazing opportunities for Gannon students and community members to engage in theatre in new and unique ways. This year, the first choral piece ever performed in the festival will take place– and it’s in 12 different languages.

“Calling All Dawns” is a song cycle focused around the themes of day, night and dawn, or life, death and rebirth. The songs, which are sung in languages including Farsi, Sanskrit, French and Swahili, come from a variety of sources, many of them religious. The show has been a challenging and rewarding experience for both the directors and performers alike.

“I think Fringe is a golden opportunity for students, and ‘Calling All Dawns’ is new and challenging and needs to be heard,” says Roberta Stoughton, choral director of the Gannon University mixed chorus and “Calling All Dawns” as well as. “My favorite part of working on ‘Calling All Dawns’ is to enjoy the growth of the people who have been chosen to be soloists,” Stoughton said.

Junior history major Corielle Stickles is one of those soloists. “I love the Polish hymn [Hymn do Trójcy Swietej, the eighth song in the piece] because it’s my first solo I will ever sing in a performance,” Stickles said.

The theatre experience is not just for those performing, but for the audience too, of course.

“[Calling All Dawns] is a moment of inspiration for each person’s belief system, or lack thereof. It’s a moment in your day where you can meditate and enjoy beautiful messages in a phenomenal setting,” Stoughton said. Stickles added, “It’s an awesome piece. It’s beautiful and something that’s very different than music people would normally be exposed to, even in other theatre productions.”

Performances of “Calling All Dawns” will take place Friday, March 28 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 30 at 2:00 p.m. at Mary, Seat of Wisdom Chapel located on the corner of Fifth and Peach Streets.