6A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2008
ENTERTAINMENT
Students commence rehearsals for Rock Chalk Revue
BY ANDREW WIEBE
awiebe@kansan.com
Tom Belot, Wichita junior, and Devynn Carter, Salina sophomore, practice for Rock Chalk Revue Sunday night at the Dance Gallery, 4940 Legends Drive. The team of Pi Beta Phi and Delta Upsilon members will perform one of five shows in the annual production on March 6, 7 and 8.
Katherine I neck/KANSAN
For the more than 250 fraternity and sorority members involved in producing Rock Chalk Revue, balancing school, work and a social life became even more difficult Friday. Directors and cast members came together for their first rehearsals for the March 6-8 performances.
For the next six weeks, a collection of cast members, directors and organizers from five fraternities and five sororities will work seven days a week to put together the 59th annual musical production at the Lied Center.
"It's kind of the start of a marathon," said Ryan Staub, Wichita senior and Rock Chalk Revue executive producer. "There are 50 new cast members you have to direct in every aspect of your show. You have to start designing your set, start making your costumes and meet outside of regular practices. It's really a balancing act."
STRETCHED FOR TIME
Cast members face an hour of rehearsals every weekday and one-and-a-half hours each day on weekends. Directors put in even more time in order to choreograph and plan costumes and sets for their performances, said Michelle Gates, Omaha, Neb., senior and the show's executive director.
Attendance to rehearsals is mandatory. If groups do not have 90 percent of their members present at a rehearsal, they are fined $200. The proceeds are donated to the United Way.
Gates said the participants' tight schedules, and the fact that rehearsals are everyday, make it difficult to avoid fences for attendance.
"The rehearsals are every day, and you know it's basketball season and people want to go to games and people will have a test one night or homework." Gates said.
Erica Hudson, Prairie Village junior, is one of the directors for Phi Kappa Psi and Kappa Kappa
Gamma's "A Write to Love." She said although the time demands were significant, being able to participate in such a distinctive event made the sacrifices worthwhile.
Hudson said that directors can spend between two and three hours a day working on choreography and other aspects of the performance, in addition to rehearsals.
"For me, Rock Chalk is just a break from school and the crazy life of classes," Hudson said. "It's a time where I can do what I love to do and choregraph and sing. I know it's for a good cause. It is stressful but in the end it pays off."
Chad Everson, Springfield, Mo,
Junior and cast member of Beta
Theta Pi and Chi Omega's "Tune Town," said that despite the time demands, he enjoyed being part of the show and tried to balance school by spending time outside of rehearsals at the library. Even so, Everson said it's tough knowing there will be a rehearsal everyday.
"A lot of the cast members make it fun," Everson said. "We have a really good cast this year. It's fun, but there are some days that you wish you didn't have to go out there."
While the show strives to be as professional as possible, Staub said it is important to remember that all the participants are volunteers. He said although there aren't many days off, the directors and management
try to make sure cast members have occasional breaks to look forward to, such as like Valentine's Day.
"It it gets tough as time wears on," Staub said. "We try to give some days off here and there. Since they are volunteers working on a show, it is important to keep motivation up and keep them working toward one solid goal that everyone can unite under."
BROADENING HORIZONS
Directors try and ensure no cast member is forced to do something they are uncomfortable with, Gates said. However participants, especially male cast members, must be ready to do things they wouldn't normally be at ease doing because the show is made up of musicals.
"The guys particularly have to step outside their comfort zones because they will be putting on costumes with sequins and most casts require them to wear stage makeup," Gates said. "I find that by the end
they learn to laugh at themselves and have a good time with it."
Gates said that it's not usually an issue to make changes when directors choreograph moves that cast members either aren't comfortable with or simply aren't able to do.
END RESULT By the time rehearsals end and
Although there was an initial period of awkwardness, Everson said male awkward members have to remember to enjoy what they are doing even if it isn't necessarily considered manly.
"The choreographers are really careful about choreography dances that maintain the men looking masculine," she said. "They really try and make sure they aren't doing too many spirit fingers or anything like that."
"I just try and have as much fun with it as I can," he said. "I know it's not a traditional guy thing but you just kind of have to get over it."
END RESULT
performances begin in early March, cast members will have put in at least 50 hours in rehearsals and other preparations. The result is a show put on by amateurs but with a distinctively professional feel, Staub said.
"The most important thing about having that much practice time is due to the fact that we are all amateurs," he said. "Therefore we need that much time to work together to really turn it into such a professional looking show where everyone steps at the right time, puts their hands at the right height and sings the right note."
Although cast members and directors will spend thousands of hours combined in preparation and weeks subjecting themselves to the daily grind of rehearsals, Staub said the final performances at the Lied Center make all the effort worthwhile.
"It's really kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity for people that get to perform in the show," Staub said. "To finally step out on the stage in March after working on it everyday for at least an hour is a really gratifying moment."
As a cast member for the last two years, Hudson agreed. She said the combination of working to raise money for the United Way and growing close to your fellow cast
Participants and Show
Alpha Gamma Delta and Pi
Kappa Phi "Snowed Inn"
Beta Theta Pi and Chi Omega-
"Tune Town"
Delta Upsilon and Pi Beta Pi
"Singin' In the City"
Delta Delta Delta and Theta Chi-
"Flight of the Starquest"
Pi Kappa Phi and Kappa Kappa
Gamma-"A Write to Love"
Cast Makeup:
50 people, 25 from each organization
Practice venues:
Burge and Kansas Unions,
Plymouth Church, Robinson and
Dance Gallery
Performance dates:
March 6,7 and 8. Tickets go on sale to the public on or around February 11th.
CAMPUS
Wi-Fi request turned down
Freenet supporters disappointed with lack of consideration
BY CALEB SOMMERVILLE csommerville@kansan.com
Freenet recently made a proposal to the University to provide free wireless Internet access to all students.
To achieve that goal, Freenet promised to give $750,000 to improve on-campus connectivity. $1.3 million for
underground fiber- cabled cables for the University and $4.3 million to help improve Freenet's existing network city-wide. In this proposal, Freenet also promised phone support, tech support and a one-megabit per second (mbps) speed minimum.
"I was saddened to hear that the University had turned down the proposal in such a short time frame."
Joshua Montgomery, a founding member of Freenet, said the ultimate goal is to provide broadband Internet free of charge to everyone in Lawrence including KU students.
wireless. Malott Hall, Murphy Hall. Haworth Hall and Summerfield Hall will have wireless access by the end of January.
Myers said the Freenet proposal did not directly address the priorities of the University, which is to make all classrooms and labs wireless.
J. D. HEANEY Wi-Fi club president
Myers said Student Senate approved
Montgomery and J.D. Heeney, Topeka senior and president of the University's Wi-Fi Club, both said the University turned down their proposal two weeks ago. The group has been working with Freenet on the KU project.
"I was saddened to hear that the University had turned down the proposal in such a short time frame," Heaney said.
Bill Myers, the assessment coordinator for KU information services, emphasized the fact that much of the campus is already wireless. Wesco Hall and Fraser Hall were recently made
"We have very little or no cooperation from KU." Montgomery said.
Heaney and Montgomery said the University turned down the offer without serious consideration. Heaney said the University did not set up a meeting with the Wi-fi Club in order to gauge student reactions.
$1.3 million for a project to equip those academic areas.
He also said that demand for wireless Internet all over campus, including residence halls, was not clear from the student body. Myers said that KU information services are working closely with Student Senate in order to best deliver what students want.
Montgomery, said Sunflower Broadband, the primary Internet provider in Lawrence, hasn't said anything directly to Freenet. Sunflower
Broadband has also recently added a free wireless service for low-income families, and Montgomery said he believes it's because of Freenet's efforts.
Sunflower's Web site said a family of one earning less than $15,315 a year would qualify for the service. That means a student
Patrick Knorr, Sunflower Broadband general manager, said the requirements for students might have some exceptions, but he didn't know. He said that Sunflower Broadband began offering the free wireless service because their company had not found any clients that were benefitting from Freemet's project.
"We're doing this to do the right thing," Knorr said.
would have to earn more than $1,276.25
per month not to qualify for the free
service.
JOSHUA MONTGOMERY Founding member of Freenet
Freenet's Web site said that 10 percent of a paying customer's monthly fee goes to providing free service to a low-income family.
"Do you ask the Humane Society what they get out of placing a puppy in a good home? No. It is their mission, and they win when they accomplish it," Montgomery said.
"Do you ask the Humane Society what they get out of placing a puppy in a good home? No. It is their mission and they win when they complete it.
Knorr said Sunflower's free service was not as fast as their regular service, but it was still better than DSL or dial-up Internet access. Knorr also said Freetown's premise wasn't entirely free. He said the proposal basically asked the University to pay for service.
"We're the only company that truly
"As a project whose goal is to build an Internet that is available to everyone, everywhere, all of the time, we win any time more people in the community get access to the Internet," Montgomery said.
provides this service for free, with no strings attached," said Knorr.
Freenet currently has 1,200 paying customers and hopes to increase that number to four or five thousand in the next two years. Montgomery said although
the goal is to provide free service to everyone in Lawrence, Freenet doesn't have the funding to provide that service yet.
Edited by Sasha Roe