Volume 124 Issue 119
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Friday, March 16, 2012
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ENTERTAINMENT
EMU Theatre-For the love of performance
This local theater troupe gears up for its annual performance of one-act plays entitled "Paint Your Dragon." // RACHEL SCHULTZ
cast members prepare for 10-minute play festival debuting March 30 at 7:30 PM. The festival is 18 and up because it is for mature audiences only. PHOTOS BY ASHLEIGH LEE
Whispers of "are you off the book?" followed by giggles and the sound of someone cracking an energy drink fill the makeshift practice space of these EMU Theatre actors. As the actors trickle in to what was a conference room, it becomes clear that whether or not they've memorized their lines, these people are an array of KU students and Lawrence locals. The biggest thing they all have in common? A love of theater.
Since 1998, EMU Theatre, a Lawrence theater troupe, has performed more than 35 shows all over the state, from Lawrence to Kansas City to Wichita. Now, the group gears up for its next performance, a series of 10-minute single-act plays called "Paint Your Dragon," scheduled for the last weekend in March and the first weekend in April.
Dan Spurgin, writer and director of "Online Education," one of the one-act plays for the upcoming show, says he cannot remember when exactly he first got involved with EMU, but he had previously been involved in another local group called "The Hypothetical Seven" and attributes his familiarity with EMU to a sort of "cross-pollination" of local actors in Lawrence. When he first heard about the annual 10-minute play festival a few years ago, he and a friend decided to write one
A diverse collection of short plays involves a wide range of actors.
together. Spurgin has been participating in EMU and writing one-acts ever since.
"It's a trial group, where you come to learn all different parts of theatre," Spurgin says of the local troupe. "You're not coming here as a pro. You're coming here to get a chance."
Tonight, the group of actors practice "Online Education." Spurgin's most recent one-act about the ironies and hilariities of getting a master's degree online. The idea is especially ironic because, when he's not doing EMU, Spurgin is a computer programmer for the E-Learning Design Lab who has actually written web coding for online education.
"Writing plays has a lot of similarities to writing code, because code is a lot more artistic than people realize and plays are a lot more structured than people realize." Spurgin says.
"EMU gives you the opportunity to be in plays. If you audition for the University ones and don't make it, then you have to wait till next semester to do it." Farinosi says. "These, they have a lot of parts for different people so you get more experience."
As practice continues, the importance of the craft becomes prominent among the actors. Spurgin prompts the actors with their lines and encourages them with specific emotions to channel to their characters. The main character is played by Paul Farinosi, a sophomore KU theater student that tried out for the 10-minute play festival as extra credit for a class. His character, David Leaky, is a graduate student that thinks he has found a way to skip undergraduate work and instead begin work on his master's.
It's clear that the members of EMU Theatre are a diverse bunch. Although Farinosi is just beginning his experience with EMU, Andy Stowers, a Lawrence resident that plays Farinosi's counterpart in the one-act, was actually one of the founding members of EMU. As Stowers explains it, the group simply began because he and a friend were offered a free performance space and they decided to do a show. After an enthusiastic audience and performer reaction, they wanted to keep it up. When he's not doing EMU,
Stowers says he works about four jobs, but found time to write a one-act that's also being featured in the 10-minute play festival.
"It's an all-volunteer company. Most of the people are doing it because they love doing it," Stowers says of the troupe. "It decreases the weird ego-thing that sometimes sours theater for me."
Jeff Sorrels, the production manager for this year's 10-minute play festival, emphasizes that the focus of EMU is to get local artists work like Stowers' on stage. It's then Sorrels' job to piece all of the one-acts together like a jigsaw puzzle. He says that because they are all different and not necessarily connected, it seems to get a wider range of people involved.
"We succeed with EMU's core mission of bringing people's visions to life with the resources we can allocate," Sorrels says. "I love 10-minute plays. If you don't like one, just wait 10 minutes."
EMU upholds numerous traditions that make the theatre one that is focused on originality and variation. Each year, Sorrels says the 10-minute play festival is named for the Chinese zodiac symbol of the year — this year it's the dragon, but in years past the collection of one-acts has been called anything from "Junkyard Dogma" to "Cat-Scratch Theatre." Similarly, although the group was originally named after the large native Australian
bird, each year troupe members come up with something that the letters stand for, like "electro-magnetic underwear," Sorrels says.
As practice comes to a close, Spurgin admits to the group that it's a little bit behind schedule. Because it's an all-volunteer group, sometimes it's a challenge to require people to be at practice. One member of the one-act is missing tonight, making it difficult for the group to get a feel for some of the scenes. Still two weeks out, Spurgin says that group must focus on structure and technique to improve the one-act.
"To get to write lines and see them show up on stage is a very valuable thing for me as a writer," Spurgin says. "I love that there just happen to be a group of people who basically are still 7 years old and want to put on puppet shows for their mom and dad."
G/KANSAN
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A serial rapist's attacks in Lawrence and Manhattan during university breaks have prompted safety warnings to students in the past, but none have been issued this year.
Warnings told students to exercise caution and remain aware of sexual assaults. The city of Lawrence, University officials and the Kansas Attorney General issued the warnings after the attorney general announced in March 2009 that six Lawrence rapes, seven Manhattan rapes and an attempted rape in Manhattan may be related, with the last known rape occurring in Lawrence in December 2008.
Captain Paul Fellers of the Lawrence police department said the
The last warning issued to students about sexual assault was before the University's spring break last year.
1075 worth participant Wednesday Union. The Iged by a stylist and
The rapist is known to stalk his victims and is described as a white male between the age of 25 and 40. He is said to be between 5-foot-9 and six-feet tall and between 160 to 175 pounds. He covered his face during many of the attacks and had some sort of weapon at some of the attacks.
during break periods but at all times of the year.
"Sexual assault is very serious. It can and does happen at many different times during the year," Fellers said. "We do want people to be aware, but we don't want people to let their guard down just because spring break is over."
The first known rape occurred during the fall of 2000 in Manhattan, and the first attack in Lawrence was July 2004. All of the victims in Lawrence were University students at the time of the attacks.
No public suspects have been
Edited by Bre Roach
"A lot of times I will call a friend when I walk alone, and I always lock all my doors," Tran said. "My parents have always taught me safety but being alone on campus and at home has definitely made me more aware of my surroundings."
The Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center cautions students to trust their instincts and to always alert someone if they are uncomfortable, even a building manager.
Theresa Tran, a junior from Liberty, Mo. said she heard about the case previously and always tried to follow safety tips.
"The investigation remains open and law enforcement will follow up on all leads," Jeff Wagaman said, Deputy Chief of Staff for the attorney general.
is still under investigation.
e
Dec. 29, 2004 - a man entered an apartment inside Highpointe Apartments at 2001 W. Sixth Street and raped two female University students, ages 19 and 20.
apartment in 3800 block of Clinton Parkway and raped a sleeping University student. She was in her twenties.
June 13, 2006 - a 21-year-old sleeping University student was sexually assaulted in her apartment in Southwest Lawrence.
March 22, 2008 - a man entered an apartment in Lorinar Townhouses at 3801 Clinton Parkway and raped a 20-year-old female University student
Dec. 1, 2008 — a 19-year-old University student was raped in her home near Holcom Park.
TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN
James Lamsdell, a graduate student from Iver, United Kingdom, said he was struggling to transition his look from grad school comfort to business casual. Taja Loren, a senior from Kansas City, Kan, who styled Lamsdell, said finding clothing for her client was a challenge because of the limited selection of men's clothing in Lawrence's stores. He walked the runway in basics he could wear several different ways.
CLASSIFIEDS 11
CROSSWORD 4
CRYPTOQUIPS 4
OPINION 5
SPORTS 12
SUDOKU 4
all contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
Don't forget
Today's Weather
The KU School of Music presents Imani Winds "Informance" in Murphy Hall from 9 to 10:30 a.m.
Overcast skies, light south wind with a 20 percent chance of precipitation.
Hot and ready for spring break