ENTERTAINMENT
The University Daily KANSAN
August 26,1983 Page 6
Billy Ebeling entertains students at Wescoe Beach between classes Wednesday. Ebeling is a Lawrence native and has entertained audiences world-wide with his unique style of folk music.
Actors try for roles in plays during theatre auditions
By GINA THORNBURG Staff Reporter
Twenty minutes before KU University Theatre's open-call auditions began Tuesday evening, a young actor was explaining to a friend that he needed the touch to handle, so he never had eggs in his home.
He said he would eat eggs only in restaurants, when they were served in twoes and were made into sandwiches.
"Two eggs aren't a commitment," the young actor, Mark Nash. Burlington, VT junior, played by Jake Levi.
Nash was serious about what he was saying because the words were part of the piece he would be acting in his two-minute audition for a one of the fall productions of the theatre program.
Nash was preparing for his audition for the fall productions of "Starman Jones," "DAD ADADADADA," "The Elephant Man," "The Great God Brown," "Hair," the annual musical production, and "Oedipus Project," a second-semester production of the Inge Theatre.
Mark Nash, Burlington, Vt., junior,
begins his descent into a lotus position
during two-minute University Theatre
auditions in Murphy Hall.
IN FRONT OF THE Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall, actors such as Nash prepared their pieces Tuesday night, while others entered the theatre to perform them. Friends came to wish the auditioners good luck and to ask the actors who had already auditioned how it went.
Nash naid prepared his egg piece from "Sombrero Fall-Out," a novel by Richard Brautigan. After his one-minute interpretation of the piece, Nash did a one-minute piece from "Sexual Perversity in Chicago," a play by David Mamel.
Actors who had not prepared pieces were given reading materials to practice half-hour before.
By the end of the week, the six directors will have given their full support to the presses for all the rules in this fall's productions.
Approximately 170 students auditioned on Monday and Tuesday.
BEFORE THE AUDIENCES began Monday, Nash was on the "verge of not auditioning," although he has acted in a lot of shows this year. "I hope feeling a bit bored out," he said.
But after watching the first night's round of open-call auditions, Nash, who transferred to the University of Kansas from the University of Vermont last year, said he "got the bug again."
He said he felt confident about the auditions.
He said he rent confident about the auditions. "A lot of the upperclassmen have graduated," he said. "There's a sense of confidence that comes with that."
NOW THAT HE IS an upperclassman, Nash said he thought that he had a better chance to get
When an actor is in an underclassman, Nash said, he looks 'around and sees the people who are experienced and says to himself, "They'll get cast, they are the good ones."
"But that's a dangerous thing to say," he said,
"because you never know what the freshmen have done. You never know what's going on in the director's head."
Nash said he had seen very experienced actors audition and not get cast because, for example, he didn't know his character.
"You can be the best actor up there and not look quite right," he said. "It makes it very uncertain. You just never know."
Constant pressure prevails during audition week, Nash said, but a strong sense of competition does not occur until after open call interviews. The actors' calls back certain actors for specific roles.
RONALD WILLIS, chairman of the theatre department, said the drama students had been very supportive of each other.
"At this stage, it's not competitive," he said. "A lot of us are willing to help each other out. As it gets narrowed down and it becomes more obvious who's trying for what roles, and you're in head-to-head competition with your best friend, it gets a little leery."
of acting practice," the whole thesis is not to cultivate stars," he said, "but the development of acting skills and the correct attitudes for working in theatre."
"There's a lot of decent, loving support." Willis said, "not a lot of that back-biting here." Willis said the department emphasized a serious study of the acting profession
WILLIS WAS ONE of the six directors judging the auditions this week.
The criteria for judging an actor's performance depend upon the show for which the actor is auditioning, he said.
"It matters how well they fit the sense of the show that I've developed." Willis said
Nash said the directors wanted to see the qualities in an actor that made him unique.
"I'm going to try to choose pieces that show them who I am rather than try to create characters," he said. "The director wants to see you, who you are. You've got to convince you they're unique. You don't do that by creating a character."
AFTER THE audition, Nash relaxed in the lobby of Murphy Hall.
He said he was glad that that part of the auditions was over and that he was looking forward to call-back auditions where he would audition privately with one director.
"When you're playing alone with someone else, it's easier," he said.
The students who auditioned Monday and Tuesday may not know until today whether the teacher will send them.
While waiting for the cast lists to go up, a young actor could lose himself in depression.
Until then, "There's a glimmer of hope that you hang on to," he said. "Maybe, maybe PFE."
Film shows 'best legs'
By United Press International
Tracy told Redbook magazine, "I had the best loops." She explained their importance in the time: "Burt Reynolds catches a glimpse of the time trying to find out who wins them."
Edwards added, "It was easy to work with Tracy because her legs almost have a mind of their own."
Blake Edwards, who discovered the perfect "10" in Dorek, auditioned 600 pairs of legs before he chose Tracy Vaccaro to star in "The Man Who Loved Women."
Niven's voice by Little
SPARE TIME
ON CAMPUS
Little, who never met Niven, said, "For a whole week I went around with earphones on, talking like Niven. It was very moving to see his face. I watched him grabbing himself and blowing their scenes with Niven in the movie."
ImPRESSionist Rich Little provided the voice for the late David Niven in the actor's last film performance, "Curse of the Pink Panther," due for release within the next few weeks.
Given died July 29 of amotrophic lateral sclerosis, which affected the actor's vocal cords during the last year of his life.
Little announced recently that he also dubbed Niven's voice in last year's "Trail of the Pink Panther," adding, "I did it as a tribute to an animal." He then admitted to producing (blake Edwards) that I also admirare.
THE ECUMENICAL Christian Ministers will sponsor a fall retreat today and tomorrow at Camp Chippewa with the theme of "How to Get a Custom Fli in, an Off-the-Rack World."
THE UNION WILL sponsor an open house with entertainment, games and refreshments from 7
KU BUDDIST STUDENTS For Culture and Peace will show a film of the "2nd World Peace Culture Festival" at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Council Room of the Kansas Union
A POWER ELECTRONIC performance by the Schloss Tegal group featuring sound and slides will be at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Spencer Museum of Art.
THE ECUMENICAL Christian Ministries Center will have a simple supper at 5:30 p.m. followed by worship and communion service Sunday.
LAWRENCE
UNIVERSITY DANCE COMPANY auditions will begin at 6 p.m. Monday in studio 242 of Robinson Center. No solo material is required. Bring KU ID to enter the building after 5 p.m.
WOMEN IN COMMUNICATIONS will meet at p. m. on Monday in 100 Fifti Hall. The speaker will address topics including sexuality, rape and consent.
A MARCH AND RALLY sponsored by the New Coalition of Conscience, an umbrella group of local churches, civic groups and citizens, will take place tomorrow in conjunction with national commemorations for the Rev. Martin Luther King. The march will assemble at 11 a.m. at City Hall and conclude at South Park, where there will be speakers and entertainment.
AN OLD-TIME community square dance will begin at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow near the South Park gazebo, 12th and Massachusetts. The cost is $2.
THE KANSAS STATE Fiddling and Picking Champion will attend at noon Sunday at South Point Beach until midnight.
REGION
HANK WILLIAMS JR. will appear at 8 p.m.
Monday at the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City.
THE 18TH AND VINE Arts Festival will be noon until midnight and 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow in Kansas City. The festival will feature artists, craftsmans and Kansas City jazz music.
KANSAS CITY JAZZ artists are featured in lunch-time and evening performances throughout.
Students play on Disney World band
BY DONNA WOODS
Stand members run out wildly screaming, waving their arms and stomping their feet before an audience of children eating ice cream and expecting always waiting for the music to begin.
Staff Reporter
Last spring Darryl Mccormick, Salina senior and a trombone player, was chosen from a field of about 700 college musicians to be one of the members of Disney's three student bands.
The scene is not taking place at KU's Memorial Stadium but at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla., where two KU music students spent the summer performing with and helping direct the All-American College Morning Band.
Tom Lipscomb, Baytown, Texas, graduate student, was selected to be an assistant director at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and newly-opened Epcot center. He had played saxophone in Disneyland's college marching band in 1981.
McCormick said that he was thrilled to have been chosen as a band member.
**STUDENTS ARE eligible to play in the band one year and to serve as an assistant director for**
"It's a big honor," he said.
"The opportunity and experience to play in a band like that was something I just couldn't pass up," he said. Lipscomb said he thought he was doubly-honored for having first been selected as a band member and then as an assistant director of one of Disney's bands.
He tried out for a place in the band his freshman year but was not accepted, he said. He bypassed auditions, his sophomore year but decided to try out one more time his junior year, despite worries about not earning enough money playing in the band to cover tuition expenses.
TO CATCH THE attention of the senior staff who would select the assistant directors, Lipscomb sends a 15-foot telegram expressing his interest in joining the board. He hangs on the office wall at Disney World, he said.
He said he was especially fond of the Disney band program, and was contemplating working for Disney productions on a professional level after earning his master's degree.
He said the type of shows the bands gave were different from what the KU, or any other marching band, put on.
"We don't just stand and play," Lipscomb said. "It's a real visual show."
McCormick agreed that the shows the bands performed were unlike the shows one would have expected.
McCormick played at six different locations throughout the park and marched in a parade for Disney's guests, he said. And although he thoroughly enjoyed playing for the visitors, his performance was playing for the other park employees on the night of the band's last show.
"THEY CALL IT A marching band because they don't know what else to call it," he said.
As assistant director for one of the two bands at Disney World, Lipscomb helped choreograph the shows, direct, critique and produce comic interludes between pieces of music.
The band could also be labeled a jazz, show or
concert. We said it. It plays Disney show tunes
on big band guitar.
In addition to the park employees enthusiasm for the band's music, Lipscomb said the band attracted its own set of "groupies" that would follow them through the park.
NOT ALL OF THE band members' time was spent performing, however he said.
Mccormick traded in his band uniform for 20 minutes one day and dicked the costume of Robin Hood's Friar Tuck for a change of pace, he said.
Although he was not allowed to speak to the children because his voice was not the same as Disney's movie character, McCormick said, he could not stop smiling.
Lipschop said he had the same experience just watching the crowds during a performance.
"I loved seeing all the smiling faces," he said.
Band seeks originality
Staff Reporter
By CHRISTY FISHER
Although most progressive rock bands try to be as outraged as possible, the Blinkies do it better.
to the needs of the audience for their work.
Although most bands strive for a unified image, the band members strive to retain their individuality.
And when others search for polished professionalism, the members of this band must be willing to do it.
The Blinkies — winners of KJHK-FM's "Battle of the Bands" contest in March— are not out to impress anyone. They just want to make good music and to have some fun.
On Saturday, the band, which is made up of vocalist Brian English, Chicago sophomore; guitarist Mike Janas, Liberty, Mo., sophomore; bass guitarist Doug Snodgrass, Clay Center junior, and drummer Larry Snodgrass, Clay Center senior, once when it opens for Pilbox and Jason and the Scorers at 8 p.m. at the Opera House.
DIANE OLMSTED, A judge at the "Battle of the Bands" contest and a KANU-FM disc jockey said, "We were very impressed because it seems like they started with mainly enthusiasm. We could tell that they really liked playing. They may have not been as polished as some of the others, but were sincere and energetic. They got into music because it's the thing to do or because they can wear neat clothes."
Doug said that not only was the group the victor of the contest but that it was also one of
the few bands comprised of KU students that performed locally.
The band's obsession is to achieve originality that reflects the unique personality of each member.
WITH THE HELP OF English, the group's chief energy generator, the band is able to remain unpredictable. While the other groups of musicians are instrumental styles, he entertains the audience.
"We want to stay away from predictability," he said. "We want to sound as much of our own as possible because you can't use it for yourself by sounding like someone else."
Another prominent figure in the band is Doug Snodgrass. Not only does he play the bass lines, he is also the primary songwriter in the band.
"Besides providing the music in its basic form, Doug is the driving force that keeps the band going," James said. "He's also a very, very talented musician."
Janas joined the band in February and is now beginning to find his niche in the group. He gives the band depth by sharing bass and rhythm guitar duties with Doug. He is also starting to write some songs for the group to perform.
Finally, the group's erratic and self-
indulgent solderer adds to its music's
uppermixability.
"I'm the person the band makes all the rules for," said Larry, smoking a cigarette at a bar.
Mike added, "While he is the free-spirited member, he does put his heart into the band and he does try to enhance the originality by trying new stuff."
BLOOM COUNTY
BY BERKE BREATHED
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