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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, March 11, 1953
Theater Bypasses Student Actors
After seeing the University Theatre's production of J. B. Priestley's "An Inspector Calls" last week, we heard criticism that faculty actors are crowding students out of plays on the Hill.
It seems to us the criticism is valid. Three faculty members and one non-student appeared in "An Inspector Calls." compared with three students. Checking back, we found that there has been no entirely student production in Fraser theater (not counting the "College Daze" revues) since "You Can't Take It with You" in late 1950.
Last year "The Lady's Not For Burning" cast was split evenly between six non-students and six students. The two leading comedy roles in "Twelfth Night" were handled by two speech and drama instructors.
Looking at this year, we find that in "The Morning Star" five of the principal parts went to faculty members, only one to a student. Two leading players in "The Merry Widow" were not students.
These, of course, are the outstanding examples over the past three years. The Fry-Shaw bill presented by University Theatre in December was entirely cast with students with one exception.
Generally, the above-mentioned productions have been excellent, some of professional caliber. But the basic question here is whether the plays should be semi-professional or whether they should offer experience to the speech and drama students and serve as a means of self-expression to other University students.
Is student talent as badly lacking as this seeming lack of confidence indicates? We don't think so. The all-student cast of "You Can't Take It with
You" did a thoroughly creditable job. And Christopher Fry's "A Phoenix Too Frequent" was extremely well presented by student actors.
We think that many roles filled by faculty members in the past could have been played by students. We think it is entirely unnecessary and in poor taste to recruit a local radio announcer—who has no connection at all with the University—to appear in productions. This is a University Theatre, not a community theater.
There are things to be said on the other side, however. Dr. John Newfield, in his first year as University Theatre director, conducted extensive try-outs at the beginning of the year which were open to all students. Also, to his and other directors' credit, several important parts have been awarded to newcomers—outside of the speech and drama department—who have demonstrated genuine talent.
It is argued that students gain a great deal from appearing with experienced faculty actors in a play, and that some roles could not be filled with students. We agree. But we feel that too often in the past these reasons have been used as a crutch to shrink from using student "risks."
Let there be one all-faculty production a year. Let there be at least one, possibly two all-student productions a year. The others could be mixed, but with the overwhelming emphasis on student participation.
The purpose of a university in all fields—and especially in the facet behind the footlights—is to discover and develop new talent, not to polish the old. —Jerry Knudson
by Dick Bibler
Little Man on Campus
"Poor Freda—You should'a been here yesterday when he lectured on Joan of Arc."
Letters
KANU Student Staffers Hit Editorial
To the Editor of the Daily Kansas:
As the student announcing staff of University Radio, we feel it our duty to clarify some misconceptions which Mr. Keys conveved to the general public in his editorial concerning KANU in your issue of March 4.
One unmitigated fallacy was the allegation that KANU is devoted exclusively to "professional" radio personnel, and not to the untrained radio personality. We, the entire student announcing staff, handling the complete system of radio programming from record shows to newscasts, were all completely without radio experience until this school year. Under the able guidance of Mr. R. Edwin Browne and the other thoroughly competent leaders of KANU, we have, we believe, attained a reasonable medium of proficiency as announcers, and what is more important, we have been imbued with a confidence in our ability to improve with experience. This should thoroughly re-
As for his charge that students are shunted to unimportant "desk jobs" we feel that Mr. Keys was not in possession of all the facts. Many of these "desk jobs" are in the continuity department of the station which is the most valuable facet of any radio station. Whereas, we might be termed just so many trained voices, the individuals in the continuity department have the pleasant and challenging task of writing the vast majority of the material which we as announcers read over the air.
Although we make no claim to knowledge about the journalistic world, we believe it would be an intelligent advancement for Mr. Keys to get all the facts before writing another editorial for the U.D.K.
Jeff Kennedy
Terry Strong
Russell Wiggsworth
Bill Thompson
Student Announcing Staff of KANU
Malenkov Will Not Alter Aims
Few people have gone far through life without seeing at least one funeral procession make its way slowly through city streets. The two motorcycle policemen leading the way; the long black hearse with its heavily curtained windows; the long line of cars following, many with their headlights on, and all filled with weeping women and silent men. It's a scene that is never pleasant.
A funeral procession has recently made its way through Moscow streets. Josef Stalin is dead and people in Communist nations are in mourning. But many people of other countries are not so unhappy—they feel an evil has perished. They seem to believe that with Stalin's death, all of his beliefs die too.
They could not be more wrong. Already Georgi Maximilianovitch Malenkov has replaced Stalin, and so quick and efficient was the transition that only a ripple was raised. The struggle for power between two ideologies continues, no matter how many leaders of each may die.
POGO
If anything, Malenkov will make co-operation between his country and nations in the Western world more difficult. He has been variously described as a sour-faced party faithful who has never been outside of Russia; an immense, almost gross figure with a pallor that comes from Kremlin habits of working all night; a tough and brutal man you'd hate to meet in a dark alley, and one of the most cold-blooded and calculating of all Soviet leaders.
How much of that offer was meant for Stalin's ears, and how much of it was sincere, remains to be seen. Background material about the man pouring in on the western world is colored, and then recolored. As a person he is as expendable as Stalin, as a standard bearer he is only the latest in a long line of opponents of freedom.
-Don Sarten
Even this might be tempered somewhat by his speech before the Communist Party congress in which he expressed a willingness to meet with Western powers—in the interests of peace.
Soviet diplomats, agents, and the Communist press, for he's never been out of his country, except for a short visit to Warsaw. He is a solid mold representing the rigid Red cast of materialism, class struggle, and the notion that the end justifies the means.
Thus Stalin set the stage for his exit, but left the audience in suspense as to whether or not other actors in the play would approve. Today we know they do approve. We also know that Malenkov does not have the personal hold on the masses in Russia that Stalin enjoyed, and is in all probability only a figurehead for a kind of committee, composed of L. P. Beria, V. M. Molotov, and Nicolas Bulganin.
in's favorite. In 1939 Stalin made him his personal secretary, and then started rumors flying among western powers by selecting Malenkov to present the keynote speech before the Communist Party congress last October.
Malenkov proved himself with Stalin during the last war. As a member of the war cabinet, he had factories in the Kremlin turning out as many as 40,000 planes a year. He was awarded the highest honor accorded Communist civilians when he was presented with the "Hero of Socialist Labor" medal.
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Nevertheless, Malenkov was Stal-
Unfortunately, Malenkov is filled only with knowledge gained from