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arts & culture
KANSAN.COM | THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016
Aries (March 21-April 19) Double-check financial data over the next few weeks, with Mercury retrograde. Review statements and account activity for errors. Pay off bills. Secure what you've gained. Re-affirm important commitments.
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Get into a three-week revision phase with Mercury retrograde in your sign.
For the next three weeks, grant extra patience around communications. Organize your many ideas. Backup computers and files.
Gemini (May 21-June 20) Go through data to find the truth over the next three weeks with Mercury's retrograde. Guard against communications breakdown with patient reminders. Revisit creative ideas from the past
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Practice makes perfect over the next three weeks, with Mercury retrograde, especially with group activities. Nurture old connections.
Keep or change your promises. Keep your team in the loop. Have backup plans.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
Be cautious with tools and time for the next several weeks, with Mercury retrograde, and make repairs immediately. Avoid misunderstandings at work. Revise
and refine the message.
Rethink your professional
core values.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Make plans and itineraries over the next three weeks,
with Mercury retrograde,
for travel after direct.
Disagreements come easily.
Communicate carefully. Keep
confidence and secrets.
Organize, sort and file
papers, especially regarding
academics.
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Sort, file and organize paperwork with Mercury retrograde over the next three weeks. Allow extra time for travel, transport, invoices and collections, and double-check numbers. Over about three weeks, review shared accounts.
Hannah Edelman/KANSAN
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Allow extra time to resolve misunderstandings with a partner over the next three weeks with Mercury retrograde. Support each other through breakdowns.
Practice and review. Develop shared goals.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
For the next three weeks, with
Mercury retrograde, reminisc,
review and put in corrections
at work. Listen carefully and
stay respectful. Revise strategies
and plans. Edit work carefully
before submitting. Keep equipment
repaired.
ment repaired.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Romantic overtures can backfire over the next three weeks with Mercury retrograde. Avoid arguments by clarifying misunderstandings right away. Find your sense of humor and reconnect.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Clean, sort and organize at home over the next three weeks with mercury retrograde. Go through old papers, photos and possessions. Repair appliances and backup computers and files. Revise and refine household infrastructure.
Aleiandra Villasante's character, Molly, gets caught writing graffiti on a wall by DeAngelo Davis' character, Officer Derek.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) Take extra care reviewing and editing communications. Clean up messes and misunderstandings as soon as possible. Wait to launch new creative projects with Mercury retrograde for the next three weeks. Plan and prepare.
prepare.
'Welcome to Arroyo's' delves into hip-hop culture
▶ SAMANTHA SEXTON
@Sambiscuit
Nicole Hodges Persley, associate professor of theatre.
key, associate professor of theatre, made a strategic decision this spring to produce the University Theatre's upcoming show, "Welcome to Arroyo's." The play, written by Kristoffer Diaz in 2011, focuses on a brother and sister, Alejandro and Amalia (Molly) Arroyo, as they deal with the loss of their mother and discover that she may have been a key actor in the foundation of hip-hop in the late '70s.
The play takes place in the '90s and has allowed Persley to incorporate her academic interests in a way that both entertains and sparks conversations.
"I think that hip-hop offers us an opportunity to hear a lot of life narratives very differently in the sense that they're not always linear narratives with a beginning, middle and end," Persley said.
As an actress, director and producer, Persley has been trained to take an interdisciplinary look at cross racial and ethnic coalitions with a specialty in African-American performance. She has taken her time as a professor and director at the University to select and produce plays that she hopes will encourage not only conversation but action.
Persley said she hopes that when the audience sees an uncomfortable moment, they won't turn a blind eye and walk away but understand that change happens when questions are asked.
"We're never going to learn about each other if we don't ask questions and if we don't in turn have the willingness to answer those questions without judgement," Persley said. "It's okay to not understand why something is the way it is or how something might affect someone else differently; don't be afraid to ask why."
when they first began production of the play, and she said it was interesting to see how each actor brought their own style to their roles.
Persley's actors had very little exposure to hip-hop
Juan Gonzalez, a senior from Overland Park who plays Alejandro, said he had no idea how to mold his character at first, having no experience with the hip-hop culture in his day-to-day life in Kansas.
However, Gonzalez said it was Persley's insistence that hip-hop was a medium for storytelling and could be applied to anyone's life that made him come around to the art form.
"She really insisted that it was our music," Gonzalez said. "Hip-hop isn't for one ethnicity or for one generation but for anyone who wants to listen and for anyone to be inspired by. After we got over the initial uncomfortableness, we really grew together as a group. You don't see theater kids shedding their gender or ethnic borders and really getting together like we
Gonzalez also appreciated the value in the play allowing for nonwhite leads to be cast.
have during this play. Hip hop brought us together as a unit."
"Plays like this that are predominantly played by minorities are very underrepresented at the University, and I think it's great for KU to be putting on a play like this," Gonzalez said. "It definitely sends a message and, of course, allows for nonwhite students to be represented and to have a chance to perform a large role."
Nathan Kruckenberg, a senior from Wichita, said he was probably "a little too excited" for the upcoming play because of its heavy hip-hop themes.
"Hip-hop is a major part of my life since I was really young," Kruckenberg said. "My buddies and I freestyle when they come over, and I literally listen to hip-hop and rap every single day."
Kruckenberg, a newly-declared theater major, said he's grateful to have a role in "Welcome to Arroyo's" as his first big performance at the University Theatre. He portrays Trip Goldstein in the play.
"This is a really important story that shows a narrative that is strongly underrepresented in theater as a whole, not only at the University," Kruckenberg said. "I'm glad that I could be a part of it and it's been a really great experience for me, and I think the rest of the cast as well."
"Welcome to Arroyo's" will premiere at 7:30 p.m. this Friday, April 29, in the William Inge Memorial Theater in Murphy Hall. The play will also be performed at 7:30 p.m. on April 30, May 3, May 4, and May 5. A matinee will be performed at 2:30 p.m. on May 1. Tickets to opening night are currently sold out.
Edited by Madi Schulz
Two pet lovers from Austin, Texas, design and customize accessories for pets.
Alumnus snags deal in ABC's 'Shark Tank'
▶ RYAN MILLER
@Ryanmiller_UDK
Last month University alumnus Steven Blustein went on ABC's "Shark Tank."
Blustein and company co-founder Sean Knecht presented PrideBites, which offers customizable dog toys and other pet products such as collars, beds, blankets and more. Blustein, who graduated in 2011, said it was a different perspective to be on the show though he had watched the show many times.
"Walking down the hallways and getting there and looking at those investors is a chilling experience," he said. "I just couldn't stop smiling."
He added: "You know, it was like, I've seen these guys a million times, I know all the questions they're about to ask me [...] and I just want[ed] to have a really good time."
Knecht, a 2009 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said he
and Blustein made for a gooof duo because of his background in pitching sales and Blustein's experience in investor pitches.
PrideBites made a deal with two of the show's investors, Robert Herjavec and Lori Greiner. And, as a result of their appearance on the show, Blustein and Knecht said their business has kicked off. Blustein said this included contact with big box stores in the country, partnerships and more.
"I only spoke when they spoke about the sales stuff, Steven spoke when they talked about the numbers and the investors side, so we had a good dynamic, but it was definitely nerve wracking, an incredible experience nonetheless," Knecht said.
"We got on [the show] and the next day I wasn't able to clear my inbox at any given point and I pride myself on getting back to people and being available," Blustein said. "[The] opportunity we've had has just been incredible."
"I thought I knew what busy was until now," Knecht said. "I wake up with 50-plus emails in my inbox. I used to be able to clear my inbox."
Knecht said since the show aired on April 8, his idea of the word "busy" has changed completely.
Blustein said today their main focus is to keep and choose the right opportunities.
"After 'Shark Tank', it's a little bit different," Blustein said. "It's kind of keeping up with it and managing your head above water and making sure that you see and pick up the right opportunities instead of every one that comes your way."
PrideBites started back at the University when Blustein was still in school. A mutual love for their dogs united several University students, who helped make PrideBites happen. Those students were Sam Lampe, a 2012 University graduate, Daniel Lium, a 2011 graduate, and Ting Liu.
Blustein said one of the biggest challenges they had was getting their ideas off paper and turning them into a feasible product.
a 2011 graduate.
"We're all big pet lovers. We all wanted to do something at KU with our pets that could benefit the students of KU," Blustein said. "When you're a college student you don't have much cash and you go into a pet store often, you want something that is a quality product, and that's cheap in terms of price point."
Looking to the future, Blustein said he's excited to launch new products. He is also looking ahead for more customization options for customers both online, and soon in-store with a customizable kiosk.
"The real hard part is making that switch from that idea, that concept, that you create with your time and putting it into action with dollars and cents," Blustein said.
"Our long-term grand goals and aspirations actually have the ability to come to life," Knecht said. "We had dreams of a kiosk model that we thought were actually a couple of years away. Turns out it might only be a couple of months away now."
Blustein said they plan to implement in-store kiosks where customers can customize their pet products there instead of online. Knecht said before "Shark Tank," the business plan was years away from becoming reality.
Blustein said his advice for prospective entrepreneurs is to have a good work ethic.
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"I think it's [obvious] to always try, to always take a chance. Do your homework and work hard at it. Prepare yourself," he said. "I think that as long as you have any idea that's good enough, hard work is what sets it apart. And it's hard, smart work."
- Edited by Garrett Long