Page 6 University Daily Kansan, April 9, 1982
Spare time
TRACEY THOMPSON/Kznsan Staff
Monte Malinourie, Lawrence sophomore, (back) and Marcia Sambol, Leawood, Kan., junior, (front) rehearse a scene from the Pot PourrI Productions which will be staged nightly next week.
Students direct 'Pot Pourri'
Susan Croft, Manchester, England, graduate student, held the headset to her ear, listened intently and spoke softly in her English accent into the mouthpiece.
"lower general illumination. Put the houselight in. That that's fine." director
Both Croft and the light technician had to work quickly and accurately—Wednesday was the only night they could work together with the cast in the William Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall where "Vinegar Tom" will be performed next Wednesday.
"Vinegar Tom" is one of six plays that five graduate students have been working on since the beginning of the semester, preparing for next week's series. "Pot Pourri Productions."
"POT POURRI PRODUCTIONS" begins with
the "Inmover." directed by David Schuster.
Los Angeles graduate student, to be performed April 13. Jan O'Connor will direct two short plays, "A Young Lady of Property," and "The Midnight Caller," on April 14. Croft will direct "Vinagear Tom" on April 15. Ola Barrantes, San Jose, Costa Rica graduate student, will direct the play "Bernardine Semervyrtl, Oceanide, Cali," graduate student, will direct "The Mound Builders" on April 18.
Each play will be presented at 8 p.m. in the William Inge Theatre.
The students directing "Pot Pourri Productions" are enrolled in advanced directing courses. Jack Wright, professor of speech and drama and instructor to Croft, O'Connor and Tyrell, said the students did the entire production themselves.
THEY ARE ADVANCED DIRECTING projects. They do the entire production—written
preparations, casting, rehearsal and a final postscript the way they want to do it," Wright said.
ALTHOUGH DIRECTING a play is always hard work, for these five students, the pressure is even higher.
Because all six plays will be performed in the Inge Theatre, much planning has gone into rehearsal scheduling.
"It is like playing musical chairs with the props," Wright said. "When the students are not rehearing in the Inge Theatre, they must drag them into the stage, and have to have with them to their alternate rehearsal site."
"It's a real cooperative effort," he said.
"It's a real cooperative effort," he said. As Croft helpt her hay bales over to the Military Science Building for her rehearsal last night, she said. "It's very hectic."
milestones
ZAC GRANT, Manhattan senior, was selected by the Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha National Debate Fraternity as the OUTSTANDING STUDENT SPEAKER OF THE YEAR last week. Grant was selected out of a full list than 300 college students from across the nation.
At a recent conference of the MID-AMERICA THEATRE CONFERENCE AND THE ASSOCIATION OF KANSAS THEATRE, two KU faculty members and one KU student were honored. RICK MASUSSEM. Bountiful Utah. graduate student, WON FIRST PLACE IN THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE MACD DESIGN COMPETITION. JACK WRIGHT,
professor speech and drama, RECEIVED A CERTIFICATE OF RECONGNITION FOR HIS PERFORMANCE IN THE PLAY "THE SAGE OF EMPORIA." ANDREW TSUBAK1, professor of speech and drama, RECEIVED A CERTIFICATE OF RECONGNITION FOR HIS WORK WITH THE CHHAU INDIAN DANCE THEATRE.
RALPH N. ADAMS, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, recently received a $2,000 award from the AMERICAN CHEMISTRY SOCIETY for his work in the field of electrochemistry. He also solved electrochemistry, which is the study of the relationship between electricity and change.
DAVID CHASINH, Manhattan senior, was selected as a SECRETARY OF THE NAVY DISTINGUISHED MIDSHIPMAN GRADUATE. Cashin will officially receive his award from Lehman, Secretary of the Navy, at a ceremony in the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.
JUDY L. CALDWELL, Wichita senior, received a FULL-TUITION SCHOLARSHIP to a week-long Direct Mail Marketing Educational Foundation program at the Foundation's In-Person Education Center. Caldwell, an advertising student, was selected from more than 24 applicants to attend.
on campus
TODAY
There will be a RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE all day in the Ballroom of the Kansas Union.
THE UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY CLUB will meet at 4 p.m. in the Sunflower Room of the Kansas Union
Dennis Darris will speak at the meeting of the MARANATHA CAMPUS MINISTRY meeting at 7 p.m. in the Forum Room of the Kagasai Union.
A MASTER'S RECTAL on piano will be
Paulett Puckett at 8 p.m. in
Saworth Recital Hall.
TOMORROW
THE SIMULATIONS GAMING GROUP will meet at 10 a.m. in Cork II of the Kansas
THE KU SOCCER CLUB will sponsor the JAYHAWK INVITATIONAL SOCCER TOURNAMENT from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the O-zone fields.
SUNDAY
THE FINALS OF THE JAYHAWK INVITATIONAL SOCCER TOURNAMENT will begin at 1 p.m. at the O-zone fields.
THE KANSAS UNION will be closed all day.
THE KU CIRCLE K CLUB will meet at 7 p.m. in 641, Mall Hall.
THE ALL SCHOLARSHIP HALL CHRISTMAS
THE ALL SCHOLARSHIP WILL meet at 8:30
p.m. in Danforth Chapel
Pryor's 'Hero' adequate
By MIKE GEBERT Contributing Reviewer
RICHARD PRYOR—LIVE ON THE SUNSET STRIP
SOME KIND OF HERO
Richard Pryor is one of the two or three funniest people on earth. His movies, on the other hand, are more often the punishment we must endure to enjoy a few choice bits of pure Pryor.
Two new Pryer films are now in the theaters, one a better-than-average comedy-drama, the other a concert film similar to one he made four years ago. Both present Pryer at his best and suggest how, with any luck, he finally may have a movie career worthy of him.
It may be that the best way to showcase Pryor is simply to stick him on a stage, turn on the cameras and let him work the audience over. Certainly, none of his dramatic films have had the intensity or the confidence of his stage performances. His comedy depends on an instant rapport with the audience, a trust that allows him to express himself without the most private and common sexual matters with an easy grace and to pepper his speech with the most offensive profanities.
**PRYOR IS SERIOUS about racism, but he's not solemn. Unlike Dick Gregory, who stopped being either funny or listened to, Pryor knows how to de-fang it—as beftits the only black superstar in the movies today. His ability to defuse racism—to take the color out of even the most black-orientated material—is also brought over to a more volatile subject: cocaine.
PRYOR'S TALENT FOR ANTHROPomorphism is one of his greatest assets—recall his characterization of his heart during a heart attack. The movie uses the same dreadnaught. And no doubt that he got many of his early movie roles, allowing him to steal in bit-pun films like "LadyS blues the Blues" or "Silver
A long talk about his 1980 accident, in which he was burned while free-basing cocaine, makes up the last third of "Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip." He knows that what's everyone is curious about and he doesn't shirk. He makes it paralyzingly funny, with a particular urgency being his portrait of his pipe, which set the two of them work things out together.
Streak." In one of his first starring films, "Which Way is Up?" he played typical characters, such as a crooked preacher and a lusty grandfather, in addition to the hero.
but he seems to understand that real movies need more than bits. He was the straight comic to Gene Wilder's weirdo in "Sir Crazy" and made a stab at being funny in a sensitive way. But not so much, as in "Some Kind of Hero," he tries to mix the two, and the result, if not entirely successful, is at least encouraging.
HE PLAYS A POW return from Vietnam who finds ecstasy at being home a bit premature. His wife's in love with someone else, the Army won't give him his back pay because he signed a confession to get medical help for a friend and had a stroke, requiring very expensive care.
Review
the raw deals Pryor gets, and the comedy comes very naturally out of the situation. Pryor proves capable of considerable subtlety, reminiscent of his excellent film, "Blue Collar."
The first half of the film is good, as it portrays
Unfortunately, the movie backs itself into a corner and has to get out by way of improbable shenanigans involving robbery, the Mafia and some "Walking Tall" type get back-at-the-system nonsense for them. I'm not sure I will see the entirely serious and depressing film that would have resulted if the film had been more honest, but the way out here is too easy.
Pryor's solution is simply to offer himself as he is—an articulate, funny comedian whose color and whose interests are black. It may be a woman who is not afraid of themselves, helps the harriers, at least for an hour and a half.
THERE HAS BEEN A RECENT trend in movies to bring back something the movies haven't seen in 20 years—comical "darkies," as in "Seems Like Old Times" or "Modern Problems," and even a little in Pryor's role in "Dearborn." When we see a woman when a funny black character becomes a stereotype or when a realistic character stops being funny.
leather Benez, a member of the Chihu Indian Folk Dance Theatre, performs "Sandha," a solo female offering dance in Swarthout. Recital Hall on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
THIS AIN'T NO DISCO
FRIDAY & SATURDAY BLUE PLATE SPECIAL LIVE SAX ON STAGE
Limit one coupon per person per night.
This ad is worth one free drink April 7-1
7th SPIRIT 842 Mass. 842-9549
JOB OPPORTUNITY 1982-83 ACADEMIC YEAR
Naismith Hall announces
Naismith Hall announces that applications for R.A. positions are now available at the Naismith desk between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The applications are for R.A. positions commencing next Fall.
and are due for completion by April 20,1982.
Applicants must have at least a Sophomore status next fall and a 2.5 G.P.A.
If you have questions, please call 843-8559.
E. O.E.M/W