THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
GUEST COMMENTARY
Casting call: one audience ready for great show
PAGE 7A
Does anyone remember what happened to those three people who got snowed in at that cabin in Alabama a few years back? Or do you remember what a nerd the young Hugh Hefner was? Or how about the blind guy who poisoned that stripper and buried her in his back yard? No, probably not.
English Alternative Theatre, known to many as EAT, has been around for fifteen years now. To date, they've performed more than 100 productions and 50 staged readings, focusing primarily on original scripts by KU students. That fact alone is incredible.
The climate for original student-written scripts in American universities is bleak. Most student playwrights consider themselves
lucky to have their script read, while EAT, which is spearheaded by English professor Paul Stephen Lim, not only reads them but actually produces them. The opportunities provided to KU student playwrights are unparalleled.
I should know. I've received two productions already, the second of which, The Holocaust Kid, is playing at the Lawrence Arts Center this weekend.
Money is poured into these original scripts; there's set design, rehearsal space, costumes and countless other details.
All of the elements of a great theatrical experience are present, with one very notable exception, the audience.
Granted, EAT does sell seats
to some loyal patrons, but many students and faculty simply ignore the work being done by the company.
In The Holocaust Kid alone, there is a director, a stage manager, a costume designer, a set designer, a producer; not to mention five actors who have spent every night for months toiling over their scripts, learning their blocking, studying crash courses in boxing and developing their characters, but few will ever know this.
Stop anyone on campus and ask them how far the KU men's basketball team got in the NCAA tournament last year, or the what the football team's current record is, and 95 percent of them will know.
Then ask that same person how many KU playwrights have taken their work to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and watch for a blank stare.
- "The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee
- "The Holocaust Kid" by Tim Macy
SHOWTIMES
♦ 8 - 10 p.m.
Tonight, Saturday
2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Sunday
♦ Lawrence Art Center
940 New Hampshire St.
Well, the answer is five, and it all started with EAT. Stop them next week and ask where Jack (the boxer from my play) disappeared to last fall when he was supposed to start his freshman year at Yale and, well, you get the idea.
Is theatre as exciting as college basketball? No, it isn't. But would the KU vs. Mizzou game be exciting if the stands were empty? The audience makes the difference. The actors feed off of the gasps, the whispers, the laughter.
This weekend, there are two adjudicators coming in to watch our two one-acts, the other being Edward Albee's Zoo Story.
They will decide on the success and future of the shows, whether they will advance to regional competition and then to the national festival. If these two adjudicators hear crickets when they should be hearing enthusiastic applause for the great performances, then it's curtains for us.
I'm not asking people to come for me. My dream, to have a cast and crew make my words come alive on stage, has been realized.
Come for your fellow KU students who make these shows happen. The same students who deserve support, applause and the same chance to advance in competition that the Jayhawks have every year.
- Tim Macy
Graduate student
Writer of The Holocaust Kid
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I hate to rain on The Hawk's parade, but the Germans didn't bomb Pearl Harbor, the Japanese did. Editor's note: It's a quote from Animal House. Are you even in college?
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THE MAGICAL WORLD OF KEVIN
Culture Vs. Agriculture
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Easy to criticize, hard to understand
I begin this editorial by expressing my extreme disappointment in Mr. Stowell and Mr. Soukup for not researching their opinions before publishing them.
I will attempt to correct the erroneous statements that have been made, as well as offer the opinion of someone who was actually in New Orleans.
First, I will address the idea of taxation to fix New Orleans.
The President has stated that he has no plans to increase taxes in order to help rebuild the Gulf Coast, instead, he has proposed spending cuts in areas which include the Army Corps of Engineers and Medicaid, as well as $6.1 million in tax breaks to help Gulf Coast businesses resume their daily work.
I am aware that the increase of taxes is not the president's decision, but that of Congress. I am confident in the accuracy of the opinion of Jeb Hensarling who stated in the Washington Post, "We do not have to raise taxes."
Now that we have that taken care of, I would like to bring notice to the fact that many things Mr. Stowell said in his editorial on Monday, were incorrect. Indeed, a position was taken on the levee system before the disaster. In the late 1960's, after Hurricane Camille devastated New Orleans, the federal government joined up with the state and local governments to form a task force to improve the system.
After a flood in 1995, the local governments also joined the Army Corps of Engineers to form SELA (the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project). Shortly afterward, $430 million was allocated to shoring levees and building pumping stations and another $50 million was given to local aid.
Funding began to dry up in 2003 and $250 million worth of
projects were left unfinished.
In 2004, SELA was given only 10.4 million dollars, down sharply from the 36.5 million it had previously received, this was barely enough to cover contractor's salaries. In 2005, Pres. Bush allocated a mere 3.9 million dollars to complete a project that was designed to strengthen the barriers between Lake Ponchatrain and the city. Twenty million dollars was needed. For the record, the levees themselves never failed.
Levees are earthen walls built up along the banks of the river and the lake, they've been there since the 1700s. The failure was in the canals, floodwalls designed to re-route water around the city. It was common knowledge within the city and within SELA that these canals needed fixing.
I am starting over, but I have what is most important to me,my friends,my family and my city, as decimated as it
may be.
How dare you, Mr. Stowell, suggest that New Orleans have to pay for the creation and repair of our levees when the federal government, specifically the Army Corps of Engineers, was responsible for their construction and maintenance to begin with!
You clearly know nothing of the systems, or the financial plight of the city of New Orleans. twenty-three percent of the city lives below the poverty level, and therefore pays no taxes to the government.
I, personally, would appreciate the end of editorials calling
for the city of New Orleans to save itself, and boldly stating that you refuse to help us, and are angered that your tax dollars might go there. I have a hard time believing that most of you understand what we're going through. This is the greatest natural disaster of our time.
There are 22 people reading this who can relate, who understand the feeling of leaving your home knowing you may have nothing to come back to, sitting in a hotel room watching the city you love, the place you call home, destroyed.
Is the boy that you taught reading at Crocker still there? What about the lady at the drug store that always called you "baby," or the cab driver who, for some reason, was always burning incense? Are they alive? You can't describe the feeling until you've been there.
One day, you get a phone call, and the person on the other side says, "I got into your house, I'm sorry, there's nothing left." I came back to this state with nothing but a duffel bag and my laptop.
There are 22 people reading this who know the feeling of watching your fellow citizens on the riverwalk dying of starvation, thirst and heat exhaustion and wondering how many of them you've come in contact with.
I moved to New Orleans permanently last summer, and everything I had is gone. I am startling over, but I have what is most important to me, my friends, my family and my city, as decimated as it may be.
I am extraordinarily thankful that my family could afford to help me put my life back together.
Laury Pflaum
Tulane University junior
Displaced Gulf Coast
Resident
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