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University Daily Kansan Monday. March 7. 1960
Plays for Children Demand Unconventional Stage Props
Production and direction of children's plays requires more unconventional stage properties and technical preparations than adult plays. Bernice Harvey, director of the University Children's Theatre, said in an interview Friday.
Director of "Rapunzel and the Witch," Mrs. Harvey made this statement while discussing the play, which will be enacted before audiences of 8 to 12-year-olds next Monday through March 19 in the Experimental Theatre.
Bernice Harvey
"Most children's plays are either period or animal presentations. We have very few modern children's plays.
"For that reason, we use period and elaborate animal costumes far more often in children's productions
than we do in adult plays," she said.
Many Properties
"A children's show usually has many properties. Often these properties are not the conventional book or footstool. They are specialized. This makes them difficult to collect and construct.
"For example, in 'Rapunzel and the Witch,' we must have not only a witch's pot, but the toads and vipers which are the pot's ingredients. These are seldom found among conventional lists of properties."
Mrs. Harvey noted time span as another significant difference between child and adult plays.
"Children's shows last no longer than 90 minutes. Sometimes we have intermissions between acts. Sometimes we give the play without intermissions.
"I prefer to play it straight through.
"Children's plays are shorter because a child becomes restless much sooner than an adult. If you limit the age range to older children, however, the play can run longer.
"Rapunzel and the Witch" will last for 80 minutes. There will be one break for a set change.
Speeches Shorter
Dialogue has a different function in a children's play. Usually speeches are shorter in a children's play The author is careful in his selection of appropriate words.
Mrs. Harvey explained dialogue is not the major part of plot development. The plot is usually developed through action, not through dialogue as it often is in an adult play.
"When I cast actors for a children's play, I look for an actor who has vitality, stage poise and a sense of physical timing," she said.
The director of a children's play must become an expert in developing a good scene (which are almost always included in children's
production) and in building suspense through the physical actions of the actors. He needs to know music, choreography and a child's sense of humor.
He must also be aware of the need for variety. Something new should happen at least every 10 minutes.
A possible award of $100 awaits a student interested in studying and summarizing the original memoirs of an American doctor who practiced in central Mexico from 1881 to 1915.
Doctor's Memoirs Tell U.S.-Mexican History
The award is being offered by Standish Hall, Wichita businessman and grandson of the doctor, H. S. Squires, in connection with KU's department of the history of medicine.
Burke Says He Sent Navy Band on Trip, Not President
WASHINGTON — (UPI)— Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, chief of Naval operations, said today that "he and he alone" decided to send the Navy band on its South American tour.
He made the statement after Paul M. Butler, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, charged that President Eisenhower must answer for the deaths of 19 bandsmen in the air crash during his visit to Brazil.
It also said that Adm. Burke received a report that Cmdr. Charles R. Brendler, conductor of the Navy band, "considered that, despite the air tragedy, the band's tour resulted in establishing good will for the United States in South America in a manner not otherwise attainable."
Mr. Butler's remarks came during a debate with Sen, Hugh D. Scott (R-Pa) in Worcester, Mass., last night.
Without referring specifically to Mr. Butler's remarks, the Navy noted a previous statement which said "the South American tour of the Navy band was not scheduled by or at the request of the White House."
The earlier Navy statement released at the time of the Rio de Janiero disaster, said:
"The Navy band was scheduled to make the South American tour in
February and March to take advantage of the transportation which could be provided by the cruiser Macon.
"As their visit would coincide with that of the President, the Chief of Naval Operations made the band available to the U. S. ambassador in the respective countries concerned to play for official ceremonies in addition to the usual public concerts."
Murder Charge
Filed Against Man
WICHITA—(UPI)—Second degree murder charges were filed today against Obie D. Sumlin, 27, Wichita, in the stabbing death of a 19-year-old associate. Dead is R. L. Winesberry of Wichita.
The charges were filed by Keith Sanborn, Sedgwick County attorney, who said Sumlin admitted being in a fight with Winesberry outside a Wichita nightspot early Sunday.
He also admitted stabbing Winesberry.
The victim died before he could be taken to a hospital. The two were in a fight concerning a woman, police said.
Dr. L. R. C. Agnew, chairman of the department, is directing the contest. He said that any undergraduate or graduate student is eligible to compete.
The deadline for submitting summaries is May 16.
Career Began in Mexico
Dr. Squires was born in Vermont in 1857. He was graduated from the Harvard Medical School in June 1881. In December of that year he left Boston for Mexico and set up headquarters in a small village in south central Mexico.
During the next 34 years he was chief surgeon for the Mexican Central Railway Co. Lim.
In 1915 Dr. Squires and his wife, under duress from the bandit, Pancho Villa, were forced to leave the country.
When Dr. Squires went to Mexico, his diary relates, there were no hospitals. It became necessary for the railroad company to build its own chain of hospitals. In every village or community where these hospitals were situated, local patients were taken care of in addition to the railway employees.
Belongings Left in Flight
In a letter to Dr. Agnew, Mr. Hall recalls that because of his grandparents' hasty exit from Mexico, they were forced to leave most of their personal belongings behind them. The doctor left the son of their long-time servant to take care of the goods.
"Fourteen years later, in 1929, after their deaths I went to Mexico and the servant turned over to me every box, trunk and article which my grandfather had left with him." Mr. Hall wrote.
"The diaries are well written and should give the reader insight into the feelings of the Mexican people during a romantic era and also provide background for a study of Mexican-American relations at the turn of the century," said Dr. Agnew.
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