ENTERTAINMENT
The University Daily KANSAN
February 7, 1984 Page F
Princess Alice of Monaco (Norma Jean Giffen) and middle-aged Frank Harris (Ray tannicelli) discuss their future co-ownership of a fashionable hotel — a project that eventually cost Harris 25,000 pounds and his bankruptcy. The scene is from the off-Broadway production, "Flesh, Flash and Frank Harris" by Paul Stephen Lim, KU lecturer in English.
Play brings KU to New York theatre
By MELISSA BAUMAN Staff Reporter
Just as "The Day After" brought the University of Kansas to television movies, "Flesh, Flash and Frank Harris" brought KU to off-Broadway theater.
The production, which played off-off Broadway in November 1983, opened off-Broadway January 23.
Paul Stephen Lim, lecturer in English, wrote the biographical play about the life of turn-of-the-century writer Frank Harris, who was a student at KU. While in school, Harris met Byron Smith, a classics professor who greatly influenced him.
AN OFF-BROADWAY SHOW differs from a Broadway show in that the actors are paid less, and they play in smaller theatres. An off- of Broadway show, which is limited to 16 performances, plays to fewer than 100 patrons, and the actors are not paid.
The biographical play begins with Harris' sister telling him how to use flattery to succeed with women. Her advice allows him to be successful in attracting women, but doesn't necessarily allow him to be successful in his relationships.
Harris falls in love with Laura, who he tries to please by becoming editor of a prestigious newspaper. However, she scorns the sensational newspaper that he works for and leaves him
Although Laura seems to be the only woman Harris loves, he marries middle-aged Emily He separates from her after she destroys his book. He includes including his only picture of his idol, Byron Smith.
HARRIS AND EMILY never divorce, but he lives with the young Nellie who he marries after 30 years.
Several scenes describe Harris's friendship with the two writers as he helps them begin their career.
His relationship with Nelle is marred by her love for money. Because of her materialism, Harris writes two biographies of George Washington and Rachel Tucker, for the sake of art, but for the sake of money.
In describing Smith, Lim said that he was
more sophisticated and cosmopolitan than other professors, and this attracted Harris. Because Smith was so outspoken, KU fires him.
Smith's outspokenness is demonstrated in one scene when he spoke to the congregation of the Free Congregational Church in Lawrence. Smith did more than people that religion did more harm than good.
The pretense for Smith's dismissal, moral turpitude, was supported by the rumor that while he was in Greece, Smith got a young woman pregnant. The rumor was not substantiated, at the University fired Smith, and he died at the age of 27 of tuberculosis.
Lim's play differs from other biographical plays because three actors play the infamous Harris during three stages of his life — young Frank, middle-aged Frank and old Frank. The play is also different because all the actors remain on the stage throughout the play.
"There's no way one actor, however versatile,
can encompass age 16 through age 23." I musced.
can borrow age to through age 71. Lam said,
AS THE THREE HARRIERS reminisce about their friends and lives in the foreground of the stage, the other characters step out of the "memory pool" in background to perform the scenes that the Harrises are speaking about.
Lim said that two themes existed in the play that friendship between the sexes was impossible because of sexual attraction, and that genius but also intelligence there and could be nurtured from anywhere.
"One doesn't have to be at Harvard or Princeton to have a good teacher," Lim said, referring to Smith. "You can find good teachers anywhere."
The playwright chose Harris as the play's subject because he saw many similarities between the writer and himself after reading Harris' books and autobiography.
Both were immigrants who had brothers in Lawrence, and both met KU professors who
"I MET NOT one professor but maybe three, four or five who influenced me greatly." Lam said. "So when I read about Harris and his wife, Martha, with it, it was something I completely understood."
The similarity of opinions is also apparent Lim, like Harris, thought good professors were
everywhere, and he also was cynical of the relationship between men and women.
Lim said that although Harris never expressed his views in writing, it was something Harris would have said because of his relationships with women.
"Much of the dialogue in this play comes straight out of what these people said or wrote. There was very little invention on that point." Lim said.
"When I invented a line, I felt it was in the spirit of Frank Harris, that it was something he could do," he said.
BECAUSE OF THE FAVORABLE public response, the play moved from off-off Broadway to off-Broadway. Lam said the box office had made it one of the most nights because the play had been sold out.
Although the major newspapers and magazines have not published reviews of the play yet several small newspapers have printed respectable or "glowing" reviews, I am said.
"Flesh, Flash and Frank Harris" also did well when it was performed by the Lawrence Community Theater in 1980. Lim said that it was the first original play the theater had performed.
The Village Voice said the play was beautifully directed and designed but said that Frank Harris complained too much about his poverty.
Lim came to Harris' defense.
"FRANK HARRIUS was a millionaire twice in his life and lost it twice." Lim said. "In his old age when he was married to a woman who always didn't blame him for regretting or complaining.
"If you're accustomed to having fine jewelry and then not having any at all, then you miss it." The New York Native said the play did not have enough flesh or flash
Lim dismissed the comment. "They wanted more skin and they didn't get it." he said.
'Reckless' is a pitiful flick with no plot
The New York Times has not printed a review of the play, but has run one article about Frank Harris. Lim said the review called Harris a mediocre talent compared to Wilde or Shaw.
"I've been doing this now for seven years," he said, "and out of all the reviews I've gotten so far, I'd say maybe two have been genuinely helpful and constructive."
I knew what to expect from "Reckless" when I saw the ad for it — a sleazy piece of trash.
But the film makers could have made it an entertaining sleazy piece of trash like "Risky Business." With a strong drum line and a few good guitar notes, the plot could have made an interesting three-minute rock 'n' roll song. But, the movie is a pathetic pile of cliches.
a boy named Johnny Rourke (Aidan Quinn)
lives on the economically depressed side of a
JOHN
HANNA
Kansan Film Critic
steel town. Rourke rides a motorcycle, wears leather jacks and wants to leave town. He also manages to get himself kicked off the high school football team.
WHEN ROURKE was young, his mother left his father (Kenneth McMillan), who is a fat alcoholic, and this accounts for his anti-social behavior. "Writer Chris Columbus goes through a lot of trouble to make it painfully obvious that Rourke's problems come from home.
In one scene, Rourke breaks into the high school he attends and manages to get a hand on his academic file. He reads it, and, sure enough, he is able to behave that behavior can be traced to his mother's departure.
Quinn plays Johnny Rourke a cross between Coimbal Balboa and James Dean. He speaks in a language he doesn't know.
A girl named Tracy Prescott (Daryl Hannah) lives on the good side of town, and she wants to stay there. She is a "perfect" cheerleader who is also to be wild. She also has a dingbat for a mother.
Tracy's character is so dull that it's nonexistent, and Hannah whines her way through an unspired performance, leaving the viewer with a vision that her character is shallow and brainless.
BUT TRACY'S BOYFRIEND, Randy (Adam Baldwin), is even more boring than she is. He wants to take over his father's management job at the steel company, and he is the quarterback in his school football team. He also walks and talks if he has a permanent case of hemorrhoids.
And Rourke's father kicks him out of the house after an argument over a woman that the father has brought home. Later, Rourke's father dies and boy does the logical thing and torches his house.
Of course, Tracy and Rourke fall in love, or a sort of love, anyway. They have sex a couple of times, fight and make jp. Rourke also fights with her boyfriend, like the motorcycle boy moving on in his girl
In the end, Tracy has to choose between her life at home and Rourke. It's obvious what she'll choose about 10 minutes into the movie.
The best moment of the film was when they played Bob Seger's "Roll Me Away." The song is good, but I could have turned on the radio and dear it instead of wasting my money on this turkey.
Director James Foley and his cast should get out of filmmaking and take up hotel-motel management immediately.
Cynthia Pistilli/KANSAN
"Road to the Coast" is one of many colorful doodles by Stuart Levine, KU professor of English. Levine's work will be on display through the month of February at the Lawrence Arts Center, 9th and Vermont streets
Lawrence Arts Center, 9th and Vermont streets.
English professor's doodles shown in local art exhibit
By PHIL ENGLISH Staff Reporter
When Stuart Levine attends a classical music concert, he makes sure to bring a pen. When the concert begins, he becomes lost in the crowd and has to doodle on the back of the show's program.
"Ever since I can remember, I would doodle on the back of whatever was available," the KU professor of English said.
But Levine no longer limits himself to the back of a concert program.
"ONE DAY AS A present, my wife gave me paints and canvases because she was tired of seeing my drawings on the back of a concert program," he said.
And, after receiving encouragement from friends and family, he decided to go public with his drawings. Levin's colorful artwork will be on display at the Lawrence Arts Center, 9th and Vermont streets, throughout the month of February.
Levine said he never knew how he felt about his doodles, until his friends and family found them.
"I felt a little embarrassed at first to have my doodles put up alongside my realistic drawings," he said. "Some of the works are sharp, realistic watercolors, while the others are strange doodles. The realistic paintings show some kind of talent, while the doodles are there just because I know people like them."
Levine was surprised when he found out how much the public enjoyed his work. He attributes this to the wide variety of his appeal.
His first show was in September, in the gallery of the KU Regents Center in Overland Park. The display was the most popular showing in the history of the gallery, judging from the number of visitors and the number of guests, said Mary Gerish, director of the gallery.
He even received requests for three more exhibitions around the state.
LEVINE SAID HI TIRE tried to convey to people all ages a children's association with bright colors.
The February show at the Lawrence Arts Center contains a number of new works, many which were not exhibited at the Regents Center show.
"People seem to really enjoy my work because it might remind them of a time when they were younger," he said. "The works are complex, imaginative, and everyone can enjoy them."
When he opened his exhibit Sunday, Levine played the French horn with the Lawrence Woodwind Quintet.
But doodling is not Levine's only experience in the arts.
As a matter of fact, Levine was so successful in the arts during his college years that his friends tried to persuade him to go into the arts and not English.
He now thinks he has the best of all three worlds — music, painting and teaching.
Levine said that, although his artistic career is taking off, his teaching was still the hardest part of it.
"I'm afraid that if I tried to make a future out of painting or conducting, it would spoil me and I wouldn't get the kick out of it that I do now," he said.
Play improvises on ancient theme
By JAN UNDERWOOD Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
The set is no set.
The room is black and bare except for
numerous of dust footprints on the floor and a
few of the carpet.
The lights go up and the actors burst into the room, skipping, hollering, hooting, stretching
Gradually the chaos becomes a kind of dance as the actors coordinate their frenzied movements into what seems to be a choreographed dance instead of an improvisational warm-up.
The audience will not see this 30-minute warm-up because they will not be allowed to interact.
The play is "The Oedipus Project: A Post-Modern Performance," an improvisational version of Sophocles' classic myth, "Oedipus Rex." It was written by Paul Gouldough Sunday at the Ipage Theatre in Murphy Hall.
The play deals with the ancient Greek story about an oracle that foretold that Oedipus would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. In Sophocles' story, to escape the prophecy, the king sends the baby out with a shepherd to be left in the hills to die. The shepherd, unable to follow the command, takes the baby to a neighboring kingdom where he grows up. In the play, however, the cast tells that the baby was left out to die and found by a woman, who saved him.
"Everybody knows the story," said Robert Findlay, director. "I certainly felt it didn't need
to be told in the way Sophocles told it."
"Part of the whole idea behind the paraterate is that you don't evaluate it," Findlay said. "It grows out of the idea that there are just simply those that are hindered by intellectualizing them."
The eight-member troupe performs the ancient play to modern music and improvised lighting, combining dance moves from their warm-ups with a more traditional acting style. The group no stage directions and the play dialogue comes from Sophocles, Finday and the student actors.
Findlay refers to his version of the play, as a paratheatrical experiment. His experiment is based on the idea that the actors improvise on a given theme without ever criticizing what they see in the sounds and actions that the group used were lifted from the improvisational warm-ups.
The group spent its first two to three weeks working entirely improvisationally, without reading any Sonohocles. Findlay said.
Mark Nash, Denver senior, who plays the character Tetrisias, described the project as "organic and mutable" because the play was constantly changing.
But, he said, the play had become more stable because the actors have been working on the play for 18 weeks and they have brought it to the stage, which they try perform it the same way every time.
He said the warm-ups change from night to night depending on "what's happened that day, what's going on with these people, whether they're up or down."
BLOOM COUNTY
BY BERKE BREATHED
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