University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, August 23.1978
7
Theatre has no intermission
Bv SHIRLEY SHOUP
Staff Writer
Not looking particularly "artsy," Ron Willis, director of University Theatre, leaned back in his chair in the office he shares with Jack Wright, professor of theatre, and fiddled with a shiny silver letter opener.
"It's strange your casting me in a role as a theatre person, which I am," he said. "但 I've never thought of myself as a theatre person senate from the rest of me."
And one can see the difficulty in dividing Ron Willis' life into separate parts. The biggest part of him, in terms of time, belongs to the theatre.
There isn't much time for outside activities in the theatre.
Willis would like to go to more movies but he doesn't have the time. He doesn't watch much television either, except "in a mindless way" to unwind at the end of the day.
WILLIAS LEI he would really like to see more of the theatre, but "People in the theatre see much outside theatre. They don't busy working on their own productions."
Although he has an 11-month contract, Willis said, he never really takes a monthlong vacation because of the demands of working with the theatre.
In what spare time he does have Willis might be found woodcarving. He also considers working on his house a hobby. Although he had planned some remodeling for last summer, he spent much of his time at University Theatre the production of "Our Town."
It was the first show he had directed in many years.
"I miss directing, but I choose to be here now," he said, referring to his position as a director.
"DIRECTING IS 'more gratifying,' he said. But there are many director-like activities associated with being an administrator."
Wills said he came to the theatre as an actor although he had always worked backstage, too. He said his interest in directing began when he took a directing class during his undergraduate career at Rutgers.
He likes the complexity of directing. It has an effect on the productions.
"I think of myself as a teacher and directing is like teaching," he said.
He said one of the more taxing areas o theatre is the organization of directing.
He said theatre means extra work for the people involved. Directing requires a lot of effort.
"Production people are here a lot during vacations, weekends and at night," he said. "A director is here whenever he can get a shot." The preparation time required of a director."
WILLIS SAID students were at the theatre from 9 a.m. until 10:30 p.m., six days a week last summer. He said they had an hour for lunch and two hours for dinner.
"When rehearsals began they were here longer," he said.
Wills digs theatre into two areas: the production and the academic sides.
As an arts administrator, he said, his job was an eight-to-five activity. But he said professionals are task oriented. "They can know what they have to be careful to allow them time off."
"Theatre people do not always have humane working conditions," he said, "and their work is always up for public inspection."
Wills said he thinks his interest in theatre must have started in the fourth grade. He said he received some positive feedback for "all those things you do in grade school."
"If it had been dribbling a basketball, I would have done that." he said.
WILLIS GREW up in a rural part of New Jersey near the town of Dover. "It was a man who used to go out," he said.
"We had a horse and a goat and a lot of privacy."
But Willis said that that part of New Jersey is no longer rural. There was a lot of development in the area.
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Wills began college as a psychology major, "because the guy sitting next to me was." At that time at Rutgers a student had to declare a major as a freshman.
He did graduate work at Ohio University, Defiance College in Ohio and the University of Iowa. Before coming to the University of Kansas in 1970, Willis taught at Colorado State University and the University of Vermont.
LEATHER GOODS
"I became a Midwesterner somewhere along the line," he said. "I am happy here."
Wills chose the academic route rather than a stage career, because he saw it as a way to earn his degree.
"The elegance of any decision made always increases in retrospect," he said.
Auditions for all University Theatre productions. p.m. Monday and Tuesday in Morton Hall, 120 West 39th Street.
"It dawned on me that I could have the
i景 I wanted in an educational context,"
Jenkins said it was good to have non-tenure majors try out to get variety and fun in the program.
Five main stage productions, two Theatre for Young People plays and five productions for the experimental Inge Theatre will be cast at the auditions.
But he never thought of education as the lesser of the choices. "I chose education for the things it had to offer. Or at least that is my illusion," he said.
Willis said he did not see himself staying in his present position forever. He said in the future he might be more valuable elsewhere.
The theatre department has invited anyone with an interest in the University Theater to join.
WILLIS THINKS theatre can liberalize education.
His decision to go the academic route was probably not always a concious one. "I'm going to get it from you," he said.
"Art, when it functions well, is a kind of violent act. It forces you to see things in a new way by violently tearing apart old ideas and forcing you to broaden your viewpoint."
Student auditions urged by University Theatre
Jenkins also encouraged students to take advantage of student tickets. A portion of student fees goes to the University Theatre and some of the student admissions to all of the productions.
The end of Wills' three-year appointment as director of University Theatre is approaching. He said he had not made a decision on the appointment and accept a second three-year appointment.
Auditions are open to any University of Kansas student, regardless of major. Students will be asked to read parts and sing if they are auditioning for a musical.
Charla Jenkins, theatre public relations director, encouraged any public with an interest in theater.
To reserve seats, students need to show their student I.D.s at the Murphy Hall box office and pick up the tickets. Student fees cover the admission price for Inge Theatre productions and $1.75 seats for main stage productions. Students may use the $1.75 as a discount on higher priced seats for main stage plays.
"Different plays call for different types," she said.
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