Chinese art comes to life with puppets
By Liz Klinger Special to the Kansan
discover the image of his beloved wife
n 121 B.C., a Chinese emperor's wife died. In an attempt to comfort the grieving emperor, a courtier designed a glorious cutout of his deceased wife. When the cutout was projected on a screen, the emperor was pleased to
discover the image of his beloved wife.
Andrew Tsubaki, director of the International Theatre Studies Center at KU, said that shadow puppetry originat-
China with the courtier's efforts.
People can experience the art of shadow puppet theatre tomorrow when the Paranoix Puppie Theatre performs its traditional Greek shadow theatre in Dyche Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
Turkey introduced the eastern art form of shadow theatre to Greece between 1890 and 1910 when Turkey occupied the country.
The show is being presented by the International Performing Arts Committee the International Theatre Studies Center and the classics department.
The Paranoxi Shadow Puppet Theatre, based in Berea, Ky., uses intricate, hand-crafted shadow figures made of recycled materials. The figures are projected on a large screen with one light source. A puppet master, known as a "dalem," operates a wide variety of puppets while telling a story accompanied by music.
There are more than 25 regular characters in the puppet collection. The leading character is Karaghizoi, a fool hero who is preoccupied with thoughts of food, money and fighting.
For Wednesday's performance, the company will present two works.
The first piece is "The Metamorphosis," a 500 year-old Turkish story about a haunted tree which controls an evil monster. Whoever walks by the tree is turned into a creature by the monster.
Tsubaki said he encouraged parents to take children to the "The Metamorphosis" which runs 45 minutes and is suitable for all ages.
After an intermission, a tragic-comedy for adults titled "The Seven Monsters," will be performed. In the play, seven evil monsters terrorize King Pasha's land. The stepmother Pasha orders that whoever kills the monsters will inherit the kingdom and will marry the beautiful princess, Fatme. Alexander the Great's kills the monsters and wins the hand of Fatme. But Pasha has the princess killed. Grieffstricken, Alexander kills himself. Karaghouzi, the fool hero, finds the two dead lovers and vows revenge on Pasha.
Tickets are available at Murphy Hall Box Office and at the door. Reservations may be made by calling 643-3982. Tickets are $6 for the general public, $2 for children, $3 for KU students and $4 for non-KU students.
Shadow puppets are intricately carved figures that are projected against a screen. Shadow theatre is believed to have originated in ancient China.
GYPSY
Herbie, David Prentiss, Lawrence senior, kisses the hand of Rose, Jeannene Bonjour, Pranie Village graduate student, during a dress rehearsal of "Gypsy" in Crafton-Preyer Theatre.
University Theatre's largest spring show sings of vaudevillian struggles of the
past
By James J. Reece Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
W
ith lot of talent and a little luck, the massive KU musical production of "Gypsy" is ready to open on Thursday. The director is Renv Coal.
The director is Rena Cook, a visiting professor of professor
from the University of Oklahoma. This will be her third musical production at KU.
The musical is presented by University Theatre and the department of music and dance.
Jeanneette Bonjour, a Prinie Village graduate student in education, plays Rose, a character Cook called "the monster stage mother of all time."
AndBonjour is up to playing the part,
Cook said,
"She's amazing," Cook said. "Her vocal power is remarkable for someone her age. Obviously, since she has more scenes and more songs, the weight of the show is going to be on her shoulders."
Rose dedicates her life to making her daughters vaudevillian stars.
"She's enormous, emotionally," Bonjour said of her character. "It's certainly the biggest role I've ever had."
Bonjour said that to prepare for the part, she wrote in a journal as the strong-willed character.
She said the role did not reflect her own, more politic personality.
"I cannot worry about whether people like me or not as Rose," she said.
The musical spans 10 years of vaudeville in the 1920s and 1930s. It follows Rose's struggle to promote her two daughters, Louise and June, and shows the effects of the Depression and the strip tease on the vaudeville circuit and those that depended on it for their livelihood.
"Gypsy" premiered on Broadway in 1959 with the late Ethel Merman setting a strong musical precedent for the part of Rose. One of the songs from the musical, "There's No Business Like Show Business," became a staple in Merman's repertory.
Other songs include the cheery "Together, Wherever We Go," "Let Me Entertain You" and a wishful "If Momma Were Married."
Continued on Page 6.
KU whistle sounds for 62 years
Kansan staff writer
By James J. Reece
Deep in this year's second semester, it may be safe to say that most KU students are familiar with the jarring-steam blast that surprises the entire campus at the end of each class.
The steam whistle is a KU tradition that has josited silence and stomachs on campus since 1899 when whistle blasts echoed only twice daily around eight campus buildings. One blast was a 7:45 a.m. camp alarm, the other a dusk curfew bell.
Today, the whistle blows a seven-second blast 11 times a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with the first at 7:20 a.m. and the last at 5:20 p.m. It blows an additional 2 times on Tuesday and Thursday at 10:50 a.m. and 3:50 p.m.
Then, in 1912, Chancellor Frank Strong decreed that every class would end with a blast. The 1912 thekans headline announced: "The Toot Manifesto is Effective Today."
Porter said the whistle is timed by an electronic-master clock, which also governs time in the Spencer Museum of Art, Learned Hall and Watkins Memorial Health Center. Its accuracy is checked monthly with the National Bureau of
"You can pretty much guarantee that when the whistle blows it starts at 20 minutes after the hour," said Bob Porter, associate director of facilities operations, who has been at KU for 25 years. He said it was rarely off more than one or two seconds.
Standard Time in Ft. Collins, Colo.
A donated Nazi transport ship whistle was used on campus for about three weeks in 1945. It blew to celebrate the surrender of the Nazis and V-E Day, but was replaced after complaints that it was not loud enough and that its deep, nasal tone tauceaped people every time it blew.
Noise complaints from on and off campus silenced the campus whistle for about six weeks in 1977. A Student Senate poll, with an 81 percent margin of support from students, convinced the administration to bring back the whistle.
Accuracy, however, is not the only element of the KU whistle's tradition.
Only three Big Eight schools, Kansas State University, the University of Nebraska and Oklahoma State University have any kind of class-bell system.
Although OSU has a bell tower, it has been without a bell for about 20 years, said Lance Millis, who works at OSU university relations. Instead, he said, the university fakes it by using a recording of a bell to signal the start and end of each class.
The KU whistle may be called obnoxious, but it remains a useful oddity.
"I think it's rather loud," said David McChristy, Pittsburgh junior, of the shrill KU tradition. "But I do like it what it stands for as far as the end of class."
Sounding off at 120 decibels, the steam whistle blows at the end of every class period Monday through Friday.
People and places at the University of Kansas.
calendar
Lectures and Seminars
Department of Western Civilization James E. Seaver Lecture Series
Steven Hamburg, associate professor of systematics and ecology and director of environmental studies
8 tonight in Spencer Museum of Art auditorium
7-9 tonight at the International Room in the Kansas Union
Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center Assertiveness Training
Reading For Comprehension and Speed Three meetings and six hours of instruction 7-9 p.m. Thursday. For more information, call the Student Assistance Center
Stephen Goddard, curator of the Les XX and the Belgian Avant-Garde exhibition and curator of prints and drawings at Spencer Museum of Art
12:15 p.m. Thursday in the Kress Gallery
Exhibitions
Video — "I'm Mad, I am
Foolish, I am Nasty": A
self-portrait of James
1 and 3 p.m. Thursday in the Spencer Museum Central Court
Les XX and the Belgian Avant-Garde in the Kress Gallery through March 21. Contact: Photojournalism Since Vietnam in the White Gallery through March 14
Theater
University Theatre Series Gypsy
8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday in Crafton-Prey
er Theatre
Tickets: Public $10, KU students $5, senior citizens and other students $5. Available
Continued on Page 6.