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arts & culture
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KANSAN.COM | MONDAY, FEB. 22, 2016
Aries (March 21-April
Embrace your creative inspiration at work under the Full Moon in Virgo. Apply artistry to your efforts. Hold off on making decisions. One phase ends as another begins in service, health and labors.
Taurus (April 20-May
Gemini (May 21-June
Take time over the next two days for fun with family and friends. One game folds as another begins under this Full Moon. Reach a turning point in a romance, passion or creative endeavor.
A turning point at home draws you in with this Full Moon. Domestic changes require adaptation. A new phase in family life dawns. Balance new work with old responsibilities.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) Begin a new phase in communications, intellectual discovery, creative expression and travel with this Full Moon. Shift your research in a new direction.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) Profitable new opportunities bloom under the Full Virgo Moon. A turning point arises in your income and finances. A busy phase has you raking in the dough, and it could also require extra expenses. Keep track.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
This Full Moon in your sign illuminates a new personal direction. Push your own boundaries and limitations. It could get exciting!
Contemplate possible changes.
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
This Full Moon shines on a spiritual fork in the road. Complete old projects, and begin a new phase. Love's a requirement, not an option. Enjoy peaceful contemplation.
A new social phase sparks under this Full Moon. Doors close and open with friendships. Share appreciations.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov.
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Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec.
Reach a Full Moon turning point in your career. Shift focus toward your current passions. Expect a test. Begin a new professional phase. Hold off on launching a new endeavor.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan.
The Full Moon reveals a new educational direction. Wax philosophical as you experiment with new concepts.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Pisces (Feb. 19-March
Consider the emotions involved before taking action. A Full Moon turning point develops in shared finances. Balance old responsibilities with new ones. The stakes could seem high.
A fork in the road appears. Begin a new phase in partnership with this Full Moon. It could get spicy. You can work it out.
Alex Robinson/KANSAN
Mechele Leon, the director, begins introductions of cast and crew before beginning rehearsal.
"The Rehearsal & The Hypochondriac" creates play-within-a-play experience
SAMANTHA SEXTON
@Sambiscuit
o begin the new year, the University Theatre will produce "The Rehearsal & The Hypochondria," its first play of 2016.
The comedy is unique, as it's an adaptation that combines two performances from French 17th-century playwright Molière. Mechele Leon, the director of the play and the chair of the University theater department, translated both plays and adapted one.
"I thought it would be interesting to tie the two performances together, especially since the first, 'The Rehearsal,' is not often done and tends to be more difficult to do," Leon said. "The Rehearsal,' I hope, will blend neatly into 'The Hypochondriac,' making it seem as if it were one larger performance."
"The Rehearsal," a short, one-act play adapted by Leon from one of Moliere's
works, makes fun of the playwright himself as well as his peers. The play focuses on the suspense and chaos behind the curtain of a play as cast and crew scurry to rehearse one final time before King Louis XIV attends opening night.
When the king arrives, "The Rehearsal" ends. The play then leads into "The Hypochondriac" to give audiences a unique playwithin-a-play experience as the characters from "The Rehearsal" change to characters in "The Hypochondriac."
"I think showing 'The Rehearsal' first and then leading into another show brings more humanity to the performance," Leon said. "Many people when they think of 17th-century comedy think about the absurd costumes and silly powdered wigs, and I think that showing a behind-the-scenes look will give more meaning and more reality to 'The Hypochondria.'"
In the comedy "The Hypochondriac," the main character is a man who thinks he's perpetually sick. He therefore decides to marry his daughter Angélique off to a doctor to bring a medical professional into the family. The hypochondriac receives backlash from the rest of his family, and Angélique is stuck between a man she truly loves and the doctor she's supposed to marry.
Marit Sosnoff, who plays Louise, Angelique's sister, said any young college student will be able to identify with the daughter in the play.
"There are always things that your parents want you to do and as you get older and as you go to college you learn to be an adult, you learn to have your own opinion," Sosnoff, a freshman from St. Louis, said. "You're not always going to agree with your parents but being an adult is learning how to own your opinion
and learning how to be able to speak it and we all want to be heard."
My cast is fantastic... we've definitely made this art collectively."
Mechele Leon Director, University theater department chair
While simultaneously connecting with college students and encouraging viewers to stand up for themselves, the two performances are, at their cores, comedies, demonstrating Molière's writing style.
"Molière is hilarious and somehow he manages to intermingle stunning philosophical debate and discussion with slapstick and
physical humor as well as sharp wit," Adrian Brothers, a senior from Lawrence who plays the leads Molière and Argan, said.
Leon said she believes that introducing students to Molière's works is one of the best ways to familiarize them with comedy and wit.
"My cast is fantastic," Leon said. "We have freshmen, seniors, a non-traditional student and a transfer from [Johnson County Community College]. And I think, while it has taken time and hard work, we've managed to pull off something beautiful. We've definitely made this art collectively."
"The Rehearsal & The Hypochondriac" plays at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26-27 and March 3-4 and at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 28 and March 6 in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall.
Edited by Sam Davis
Former student's film examines morality of progress
Kevin Huang, a former University student, on the set of "Still Moon." Huang's most recent film
CONTRIBUTED
▶ COURTNEY BIERMAN
@courtbierman
Several popular films of 2015 were bloody tales of survival, notably Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" and Alejandro González Inárritu's "The Revenant." Long before either film was released, former University student Kevin Huang was working on the short film "Still Moon."
Huang's 18-minute film
tells the story of a group of surveyors in the mid-19th century who stumble upon a camp of massacred Native Americans. When a young girl brandishing a bow-and-arrow, the lone survivor of the killing, approaches them, she is shot. In the aftermath, the surveyors have to grapple with increasing tension and the morality of progress.
Although Huang attended the University for several years, he didn't receive a degree. Born in Taiwan,
Huang came to the United States as a teenager to study industrial design. He entered the University as a design student before enrolling in the film program. He studied screenwriting under professor Kevin Willmott and tried his hand at photography.
Huang left the University a semester away from graduation to attend the Brooks Institute in Ventura, Calif., where he met most of the crew of "Still Moon." Although he wasn't unhappy with the film education he got while in Lawrence, Huang wanted a more hands-on experience than the screenwriting skills and film theory he was learning at the University. Brooks allowed him to get behind the camera his first week there. He graduated in 2013.
In addition to directing the film, Huang served as one of its producers. He has directed previous projects — including "Ai" (Japanese for love), his thesis film while at Brooks, and
"Sunset on Cabrillo Blvd., which won top prize at Santa Barbara International Film Festival's college division — but he mostly studied cinematography while in school.
"Directing, you have a say over the finality of the film," he said. "Cinematography gives you more power to make suggestions."
"Still Moon" is Huang's
SEE "STILL MOON"
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