theater Heather Lofflin / KANSAN Making the Final Four Seniors (left to right) Carrie Kay, Omaha, Neb., William Ye, Mission Hills, Sarah Zercher, Oklahoma City, OK., and John Denton, Shawnee, are the finalists of the English Alternative Theater (EAT) "final four" playwrighting contest. The participants in this competition have nothing to do with basketball. By Kevin Hoffmann Kansan staff writer For those of you who didn't get enough of the Final Four earlier this month, there will be another one this weekend. This time you will pick the winner. The English Alternative Theater will present "The Final Four of Playwrighting," 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 100 Smith Hall. Paul Lim, associate professor of English, will stage the live readings of four one-act plays written by students in his beginning playwrighting class, and audience members will be asked to vote for their favorite. The readings will be free. Lim said the plays selected came from a diverse group of playwrights. Two of the playwrights are women, one is African-American and one is Asian-American. John Denton, Shawnee senior, said having his play, "Sweet Potato Pie" selected was an honor. "I was pretty excited about it," Denton said. "I always felt like I had some skills in writing, but I didn't know what kind I was good at." "Sweet Potato Pie" is a spin-off on the famous Katharine Hepburn film "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner," but this adaptation has a few twists. The play is about an African-American family who is surprised to learn their son is bringing "All of the roles are Black, except for one," he said. "KU doesn't have a large group of Black actors." William Ye, Mission Hills senior, said he had been trying to write a play for the last three years. He said he was excited that his first attempt at a play, "They Only Sell Beer Here," was selected for the competition. "They Only Sell Beer Here" is a comical look at two college-aged men's experience in a bar after their car breaks down on the way to California. Ye said the idea for the play came from a visit to a Kansas City bar. "I went into this little podunk bar, and I noticed they had a blender," Ye said. "So, I asked for a whiskey sour. This guy sitting at the bar said, 'He must be from Johnson County.' The bartender just looked at me and said, 'You want whiskey or you want beer?" "Its nice because it's something that's out of my hands now," Ye said. "Even though I have a say in how it's done, I'm not completely in control." Writing a play about homosexuality was not a difficult task, Denton said. What was difficult was casting the play. home a white date for dinner. The family receives a greater shock when they discover their son's date is a male. "It's about a boy named Jacob who is naive in a sense," she said "It winds up being about his loss of innocence and what life is really about after he realizes that saving his job is more important than saving the environment." Sarah Zercher, Oklahoma City senior, said her play, "Canvass" focused on a young man Zercher said that she hoped anyone interested in playwrighting would come to the staged readings. losing his innocence. "It can be inspiring knowing that your work can be produced," she said. Carrie Kay, Omaha, Neb., senior; said she was surprised when she learned that her play, "Blasphemy Pilgrims" was selected for the "Final Four." "I didn't think Paul was going to select mine," she said. "I found out when I kept running into people, and they were talking about it." Kay described "Blasphemy Pilgrims" as a twisted love story. "It's about a couple traveling through Europe, and the whole play takes place in a cafe in Vienna." Kaysaid. *Blasphemy Pligrims*showed how people push each other's buttons, Kay said. Kay added a sense of mystery to her play when she was asked what inspired it. "It's a secret, and I won't tell," she said. Admission to 'The Final Four of Playwrighting' is free. 'Displaced Persons' to go down under A play written by two KU professors will be performed in Australia this summer. By Kevin Hoffmann Photo courtesy of Earl Iverson They decided to make use of a female storyteller, a unique approach that helped earn the couple and 13 KU theater and film students the opportunity to perform "Displaced Persons" in Australia. When KU professors Ludvika and Ron Popenhagen sat down to write the play "Displaced Persons," they searched for a new approach to play writing. Kansan staff writer "We looked at a non-traditional way of writing plays," said Ludvika Popenhagen, assistant professor of theatre and film, who co-wrote the play with her husband, Ron, who also is an assistant professor of theatre and film. "Women storytellers have been very common in many cultures. Throughout history, the writing down of events was not as important as the ritual of storytelling." "Displaced Persons" will be performed in July at the Third International Women Playwrights Conference, in Adelaide, Australia, and also in Sydney, New South Wales. The play originally was performed last December at the Inge Theater in Murphy Hall. Ludvika Popenhagen wears a mask as she crouches during a war scene in the play "Displaced Persons." Popenhagen co-wrote the play with her husband, Ron, and will perform it in July in Australia with 1.3 KU students. Aldona's story is told using a mixture of reality and dreams. At the height of the action, a tank roars toward protesters who have formed a human chain. Ludvika Popenhagen said "Displaced Persons" also was unique in that the three lead roles were played by women. "All of these events act as an education for the grandniece, who is perceived to be a scholar but knows very little about her history." Ron said. Besides searching for a way to emphasize the feminist voice in theater, the Popenhagenes wanted to tie the play to Ludvika's family history in Lithuania. "I wanted to look at women and the propositions they bring to theater," she said. "You can take any event from this play, and it has happened to someone in my family or close to my family at some time," she said. The Popenhagens said they were excited about their upcoming trip to Australia because it would provide an opportunity for students to witness the international theater scene they often discussed in class. "What is unique for them is that this conference is set up for professionals and not academics, even though there will be a lot of speakers and discussions," Ron Popenhagen said. But finding ways to finance the trip has been difficult for the company of "Displaced Persons," although some assistance has been provided by the International Studies Department, Friends of the Theater and The Kimbell Fund, a fund set up through the theater department. "Most of them have had to scrape to find whatever money they could to finance this thing," Ron Popenhagen said. "It hasn't been easy." But he added that the opportunity to perform on a foreign stage in front of hundreds of people would make the trip worthwhile. THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN People and places at the University of Kansas. NIGHTLIFE The Hideaway 106 North Park West Season to Risk with Cher U.K., 10 tonight, cover charge Shiner and Do It Now Spamskinners and The Young Johnny Carson Story, 10 p.m. Saturday, cover charge (18 and over) Foundation, 10 p.m. tomorrow, cover charge (18 and over) Million Dead Cops and Slackjaw, 7 p.m. Sunday (all ages) Student Film Festival, 10 p.m. Monday, free (18 and over) Antiseen and Cocknoose, 10 p.m. Tuesday, cover charge (18 and over) The Eudoras and Butterglory, 10 p.m. April 28, cover charge (18 and over) Full Moon Cafe 803 Massachusetts St. Tim Cross Jazz Trio, 8 tonight, free White Trash Express, 9 p.m. tomorrow, free Uncle Dirty Toes, 9 p.m. Saturday, free Jazz Bruch, 12-4:30 p.m. Sunday, free Tom's Tuesday Thing, 7 p.m. Tuesday, free The Ebeling Brothers, 8 p.m. Wednesday, free The Tommy Johnson Experiment, 8 p.m. April 28, free Granada Theater 1020 Massachusetts St. "Vogue" with DJ Ray, 9 tonight; $3 Caribe, 9 p.m. tomorrow, cover charge Baskin with the Lager Sopra, Saturday Bar Wars Benefit for Boys and Girls Club, 8 p.m. Sunday Mystery Science Theater, 7-12 p.m. Tuesday. $3 Hawk Night- '70s, '80s and Alternative, 9 p.m. Wednesday, $3 "Vogue" with DJ Ray, 9 p.m. April 28, $3 The Bottleneck 737 New Hampshire St. The Toasters, MU330 and The Skeletons, 10 tonight, $8 advance tickets (18 and over) Uncle Tupelo and The Bottlerockets, 10 p.m. tomorrow, $8 advance tickets (18 and over) Royal Crescent Mob, Lowlife and John Brown's Underground, 10 p.m. Saturday, $5 advance tickets (18 and over) KJHK Farmer's Ball, 10 p.m. Monday (18 and over) KJHK Farmer's Ball Part 2, 10 p.m. Tuesdav (18 and over) Jack-O-Pierce and The Young Johnny Carson Story, 10 p.m. Wednesday, $7 advance tickets (18 and over) Planet Maker and Go-Kart, 10 p.m. April 28, $5 (18 and over) EDITOR'S NOTE: "Matt and Sludge at the Movies' will resume next Thursday.