lifestyles
'THE PLAY'S THE THING'
Playwrights and performances lead the University of Kansas to national theater competition.
Douglas Dezzani, Honolulu sophomore, expresses his emotions to Caran Snitz Overland Park senior. In a scene from "Canvass."
Douglas Dezzani, in the role of Jacob Lake, consoles June Simon, played by Caran Snitz, in the play "Canvass."
Stories by Jake Arnold Photos by Matt Flickner
n the
theater world's
equivalent of the National Football League, the University of
Kansas is in the Super Bowl. The big contest also is known as Region V of the American College Theatre Festival, which is Jan. 26-29 at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb.
Eight plays reached the festival out of 142 entries. Three of those plays are from the KU.
KU's representatives are Moliere's "Tartuffe", presented by University Theatre and performed by students, and "Cavass" and "The Beadsman," original plays written and performed by KU students and presented by English Alternative Theatre.
The event is one of 13 regional festivals in the country. A panel of judges will travel the circuit and choose six to eight plays to perform at the
Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in April. Kansas competes in Region V, which also includes Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Colorado.
"I am really told we are the envy of the region," said Paul Lim, associate professor of English and founder of EAT.
Lim, who taught the authors of the original plays, is thankful for the chance to showcase their talent.
"If we don't encourage our young writers, then theater will simply die," he said. "It would be wonderful if KU produced the next Arthur Miller or Tennessee Williams, but we can't do that if we don't try them."
Lim said this was a wonderful chance to get exposure for KI the
ater and to recruit prospective
talent. "It is a good
way of showing the KU flag," he said. "The more press we get, the more likely we are to attract good students."
"Tartuffe," a French play, is the story of a religious impostor, Tartuffe, who ingratiates himself with the family of Orgon with the
intention of fleeing Orgon. It will be per formed at 1:30 and 8 p.m. Friday in Lincoln. Although the play is a
classic, the director, Ron Popenhagen, has taken it and made it his own.
"We haven't changed the text," said Popenhagen, assistant professor of theater and film. "But I have added a number of new characters that are nonverbal. We made it highly pleasurable visually. We've brought a farcical viewpoint."
Because the play is well known, the
competitive element is in the interpretation and invention. "The production is going, not the play," Popenhagen said. The cast consists of 14 KU undergraduates and about 20 support personnel.
"It is a very lively ensemble of actors that work well together," he said. "We've felt a real creative energy from the beginning."
Popenhagen said the greatest pleasure was having the opportunity to go back to the play and make subtle changes and add more playful elements.
Louise Flory, who plays Orgon's wife, Elmire, feels the same way about the play's second chance.
"It is quite an opportunity to fix a play after you have done it," said Flory,
Lawrence
"Performing in the ACTF regionals is different from anything you do at the University," she said. "You perform in a very different environment."
senior.
"Canvass," created in Lim's Playwriting I class, is a one-act play about an idealist fresh out of college who joins an environmental organization. His supervisor shows him that the environment is just a busiiness
Sarah Zercher, the author, drew from her own experiences with an environmental organization and her moral problems with the business. This is the first play she has written.
Zercher, who graduated and is living in Oklahoma, is a little surprised by her success.
"I hate the students who say 'I failed' and get an 'A' on a test, but that is what I did." she said
She wrote the play as a comedy. When the play was turned over to director Lance Gharavi, Kansas City, Kan., graduate student, he changed it to a drama for its first performance last October.
"I tried to let the text speak for itself," Gharai said. "What it said was disturbing. The way the play ends, it could not be a comedy."
Zercher was not disturbed by the change in tone.
change in tone.
"I felt my job was done once I wrote it. It was interesting to see the director's interpretation."
Gharavi held open auditions for the two roles in the play.
Gharavi said Doug Dezzani, Honolulu sophomore, was made for the role of the idealist youth.
"I looked
"Looked
at him and said
'God, I hope he can act,' " said Ghar-
avi.
Dezziani could, and he found an affinity for his character.
rie is like me in so many ways it is scary, " said Dezzani of his character.
"The Beadman" was a product of Lim's Playwriting II class. It is the story of Pasty Lyman, a mysterious and odd prostitute. Four characters
come to his room for sex or to tell him their stories, which gives them an emotional
release. He then sells the stories as he perceives them to a TV producer.
Brian Boies, who graduated in May, said he thought about the concept for over a year before he wrote it.
The actual writing process was a constant struggle with his teacher, Lim.
"It was frustrating for Lim because I was really stubborn."
Boies. "I remember long hours in his office debating. Nobody won, we found a middle ground." Once the middle ground was found, Lim turned the script over to Gharavi.
Boires refused to interpret the play for Gharavi.
"I tried to interweave many things, so there is no clear-cut meaning and each can interpret it for themselves," said Boies.
Ghavari has difficulty describing the play.
"There is a good deal of comedy and a good deal of pathos," he said.
"Canvass" and "The Beadsman" will be performed at 1 and 8 p.m. Thursday in Lincoln.
Freshmen make it to festival
The festival is in Lincoln, Neb., and she is excited about her rare opportunity to be in a college-level traveling play. "I feel really lucky," she said. "I just try to follow the lead of the upperclassmen. It is going to be a really good experience."
and sexyly winny.
Leff, Overland Park freshman, auditioned for Moliere's "Tartuffe," a regional winner in the prestigious American College Theatre Festival, and managed to get two parts. She will be playing M. Loyal and a female lackey.
That is the word around KU's theatre department, but apparently somebody forgot to impress that fact on Brenda Leff and Jeremy Wilhm.
ence:
Wilhm, Roeiel Park freshman, departed even farther from conventional wisdom by striving for a role in a play presented by English Alternative Theatre.
Hudson and Hassinger says 'University Theatre'
on play. That play is also competing in an event.
"This is better then I really hoped," Wilmiln said. "I never imagined it would go so far."
His friend at Healeys.
They taught them and is now playing the part of Mark Cappes in EAT's presentation of "The Beadsman," a student written play. That play is also competing in the ACTF.
and her friends at Hastings?
"Ummie they have changed their story," he said.
"Everybody around Hashinger says 'University Theatre,' he said. "They think it is the only theater for KU."
Eric Leonard, Flossmoor, Ill., sophomore, and Brian Paulette, Lenexa sophomore, receive acting tips from director Lance Gharavi on "The Beadsman."
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
People and places at the University of Kansas.
COURTROOM ANTICS
In November and December, three judges in Fiji came under fire from women's groups for decisions in rape cases. In one case, Fiji's chief justice said that a teen-age girl would not suffer from her rape at knifepoint because, after all, she was sexually experienced. In another case, a
In a St. Louis courtroom on Oct. 19, accused rapist Anthony Minor had his spirits temporarily lifted when the victim, on the witness stand and confidently assuring her attorney that her assault was in the courtroom and that she could identify him, mistakenly pointed to a stranger seated close to the jury box. Minor was not helped by the error in that he had already admitted he had sex with the accuser but said that it was consensual.
judge freed six men who admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old girl, saying that the girl was "well-built" and looked older.
In September, Pulaski, Tenn., juvenile court, judge Robert E. Lee, Jr., annoyed at defendant Heather Adams, 16, honored the girl's parents' request and ushered them into a private office, supplied a 6-foot-long bamboo reed, and permitted each parent to smack the girl eight times on her clothed bottom. Judge Lee said the parents had planned to spank Adams anyway and that he supervised them so there would be no question of child abuse.
In June in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Christine Walker, 23, and Jeremy Buckels, 24, were found by police in a city park after its 10 p.m. closing and, after negotiating with prosecutors, decided to plead guilty and pay a fine. However, Walker feared a trespassing conviction on her record. The prosecutor arranged for the conviction to be listed as violation of a 1975 ordinance making it illegal "to worry" black squirrels, which are the city's mascot.
COMPELLING EXPLANATIONS
According to a Durham, N.C., police officer's testimony, Caron Magwood, 23, was insistent when arrested that everybody know he is a seller of cocaine. He was arrested in October and accused of selling fake crack cocaine but wanted to set the record straight because he feared more being killed by a customer who thought Magwood cheated him than being convicted of selling real drugs.
Leroy Byrd, 48, was convicted in November in Gloucester, Va., of illegally wristwapping his ex-girlfriend's phone. Byrd's defense was that the wiretap was necessary because he thought that a Richmond, Va., watch doctor, "Mr. Emmanuel," and the ex-girlfriend were preparing a hex against him and that he needed evidence so that police could take action.
MISCELLANEOUS ELOQUENCE
Memphis, Tern., confessed murderer Willie Lee Davidson, 21, apologizing in court in September for his crime and telling everyone he and his accomplice were sorry for beating a woman to death and running over her with a car: "We aren't criminals. If we had gotten away with it, it would never have happened again."