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University Daily Kansan, November 12, 1982
Entertainment
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Ko-Kela is an Indian word that means "to make sound." 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the University Theatre in Murphy Hall.
Ko-Kela is also the name of a piano quartet that will perform at
Piano quartet 'to make sound' at KU
By SUSAN O'CONNELL
Staff Reporter
"Ko-Keka" is a Soux Indian word meaning "to make sound." It is also the name of a piano quartet that will play at the University of Kansas this weekend.
The Ko-Kela Piano Quartet will make its second appearance at KU as part of the KU Chamber Music Series. The performance will be Sunday in the University Theatre in Murphey Hall.
A professor who saw Ko-Kela's first KU concert two years ago and will also attend Sunday's performance said he liked the group's combination of string instruments and piano.
"They are a pleasant and refreshing group. I was very exhilarated by their performance." Thurston Moore, associate professor of English, said.
Clayton Haslop, violinist in the group, said Wednesday that the members ran into difficulty when they tried to name the ensemble. One of the founders of the group, Myra Kestenbaum, came up with "Ko-Kela."
She had been on a horseback trip guided by an Indian and asked the guide what the Indian word means.
NO SUCH WORD existed, but the closest thing was "Ko-Ra-Kala." The word is pronounced with a softening in some languages.
The group, now a quartet, was slightly larger when it began six years ago, he said. There were seven musicians who played string and wind instruments and the piano.
The group started when Neville Marriner, conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, recommended that certain players in the Los Angeles band be reinstated to perform various chamber music works. Haslo said
Those musicians, and two others who were not from the Los Angeles orchestra, composed the theme music for "Oklahoma!"
After a year, the group became a piano quartet, he said. But four members do not play together all the time. Sometimes only one, two or three play.
Besides a pianist, the group has a violist, a cellist and a violinist.
"The name 'piano quartet' is used basically by convention." Haslop said. "There is no such
thing as a quartet with four pianos. When people speak of a piano quartet, they refer to one piano with three additional string players."
THE QUARTET MEMBERS are all solo musicians and are all on faculties at colleges and universities in California, Haslop said.
Other members of the quartet are Ronald
copes, violist; Peter Rejey, cellist; and James
Brown.
The members take short leaves of absence from the schools, he said, and travel during two-to-three-week periods to cities and universities across the country.
for the performance at KU, the group will play three pieces; Mozart's "Piano Quartet in E flat Major," Dohanyn's "Serendre for String and Dvorka" and "Piano Quartet in E-flat Major."
Tickets are available in the Murphy Hall Box Office. Your account is available with a KU authorization code.
The Ko-Kela concert is the final performance of the fall semester for the KU Chamber Music Series. The series will continue Feb. 6, 1983, with a concert by the American String Quartet.
'For Original Music' features new approach to variety acts
It looks like a typical variety show rehearsal. Singers clap and sway on stage, while an accompanist drums piano chords as if to punctuate the lyrics. A choreographer stands at the back of the auditorium, shouting encouragements one minute and threatens the next.
By DAWN GRAHAM Staff Reporter
But this is not a typical variety show rehearsal. The cast does not consult scripts, but each other. Dances step and are changed if they do not quite fit. This is a rehearsal for "The Lion King." A Showcase of Talent, a variety show created, performed and sponsored by KU students.
The show will be performed at 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow and at 2 p.m. on Sunday in Aledson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Tickets are for the ticket office and through organized living groups.
TU AOMEE LAMBDA, a junior-senior honor society, is sponsoring the show. The organization's purpose is to support creative work, and each year it sponsors an original production.
The director of the production recently said that the show was a forum for original musical work.
"The show has no overriding theme." Ray Williams, Omaha, Neb., junior, the director, said recently. "Each musical number will be introduced by the MC, who will mention the history of the song and the composers and also the singer."
Cressie, who had never choreographed a whole show before, described it as a challenge that she felt like was a challenge.
Williams wrote the music for 12 of the show's 16 songs. Five other students contributed music and seven wrote lyrics. Chris Crissie, St. Louis, Mo., senior, choreographed the production.
"When Ray called and said, 'Are you interested?' I said, 'Yeah!'" Cressie said. "And some of those dances aren't exactly easy."
THE SHOW HAS gone through several transformations since its start. Williams decided to present his own show last year, after performing in a short variety show at Templin Hall's casino party. Over the summer he and a friend collaborated on an original musical.
The original concept was written for a man who had cancer and died, leaving a troupe of dancers. The show was meant to follow the cast transformation from caring about themselves to carrying out the dream of the man," Williams said.
But the script did not work out. Williams, left with a stack of songs and no story line to frame them, decided to invite other composers to join him and present a variety show.
So "For Original Music: A Showcase of Talent" was born.
"I meant to feature many different styles instead of focusing on one," Williams said. "And in order to continue the creativity, the filers, the designers, and the invitation were all done by different people."
Williams has played piano for several variety shows, but this is his first attempt at directing.
"It's very interesting to direct the band, the players, and the audience," he said. "It is a first hand attempt for everyone."
THE SONGS RANGE from ragtime to ballads.
Majors for the cast and band, range from theatre in
New York to New Orleans.
Williams said the cast didn't warm up to the show until recently.
"At first they said, 'There is just no way,'" he said. "It was very much open to interpretation. Individuals were asked to look at the melody first and then take the words and make them match the music. But after doing a little bit of work on it, it eventually did come into place."
At rehearsal last week, Williams sat at the piano and pounded out a chord to get the cast's
"Come on, people," he shouted. "We've only got a few more rehearsals. Let's get this into shape."
On campus
TODAY
BIOLOGY CLUB will meet at 4 p.m. in the Sunflower Room of the Kansas Union.
COLLOQUIUM SERIES on ground water in Kansas will be at 4 p.m. in 412 Linden Hall.
CATHOLIC CENTER WORSHIP will be at 12:30 p.m. in Danforth Chapel.
Kansas will be nine p.m. in Mankato and four INTERVISITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP will meet at 7 p.m. in the Pine Room of the Union.
ASTRONOMY CLUB will meet at 8:30 p.m. in
Londin Hall if it is a clear night.
TOMORROW
SUNDAY
WOMEN IN LAW will have a conference.
"I Law School, is it for You?" , from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
at green Hull.
PRAYER will be at 10 a.m. at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center.
SUPPER AND WORSHIP will be at 5:10 p.m. at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center.
MONDAY
ECKANARK will sponsor a talk, "Spiritual
Aspects of Fashion and Social Life," at 12:30 p.m.
on Wednesday.
WOMEN ENGINEERS of Kansas University, will sponsor a lecture on summer job opportunities for women engineering students at 7 p.m. in 1014 Learned Hall.
Hashinger Hall play competes for national attention
Staff Reporter
By VINCE HESS
Some residents of Hashing Hall are putting on a play this weekend that is aimed at giving them theatre experience — and perhaps also national attention.
Their play will compete for an opportunity to be performed in Washington, D.C., as will a production of the KU University Theatre.
The Hashinger play, "The Lonesome Motel Blues," had its debut last night in Hashinger theatre. The play will be performed at 8 p.m. today and tomorrow and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
The play is also entered in the 15th annual American College Theatre Festival. The festival, sponsored by Standard Oil Co., has as its purpose the promotion of better standards in college theatre, Bruce Jones, coordinator for the artistic program at Hashinger, said recently.
HASHINGER'S ENTRY this year is the residence hall's first entry in the festival, Jones said. Most festival entries are the work of university theatre departments, not independent groups, he said.
The lead character, Sally Cowley, played by Rochelle Holmread, Mena, Neb., sophomore, returns home after her mother's death in a car accident. She had left the home, a motel run by her parents, 13 years earlier. At that time she had eloped with a hotel guest at Bayer's Hotel Cowley, Sally Cowley, played by Beverly Kelly, Derby freshman. Sally and Morgan were separated 10 years later.
Her mother's will bequeaths the motel to Sally, but Sally must either live in and run the motel for seven years, or reune with Morgan and run the motel with Morgan. The motel and the estate's assets will go to charity.
The three-act play, which lasts about two hours, is set in a motel in a small Midwestern town in 1982.
SALLY DECIDES that her mother had run the motel as a brothel — and that Morgan had been a customer just before marrying Salv.
The rest of the play shows Sally's unquiring decision over whether to meet the conditions of the will and her unhappy memories of the past. Sally even confronts — in her mind — Morgan
the estate she is puzzled, however, by the small fortune left in her mother's estate. With the help of her mother's lawyer, played by Jim Hoggatt, Shawne sophomore, and her mother's secretary, played by Joeanna Kobak, Franklin freshman, Sally examines her mother's account book to try to determine the source of the money.
and her mother, played by Melanie Taylor,
Lawrence graduate student.
Jones, who wrote the play, said he thought "Lonesome" had a good chance in the festival competition. However, he said, the quality of the entries varies from year to year.
Jones said the play was part of a series of plays, concerts, guest artists and lecturers that was specially designed for students at Flashinger, most of whom are involved in the fine arts.
He said that a problem for writers of original scripts was to find someone with the resources and courage to produce a new play.
Jones complimented the Hashinger management, which provided $700 for the production, and the cast.
Tryouts were in late September, he said, and the cast has rehearsed six weeks.
Jones said that he had written a play before but that "Loneesome" was his first serious pursal of scriptwriting. Jones finished the first version of the play in early 1981.
However, he said, the cast is inexperienced, and the script has been revised often — the final revision being made just a week ago — to accommodate the actors.
"The kids have worked very hard," he said. "I couldn't ask for a better effort from the actors."
"THERE ARE THINGS you just can't work out until you see it," Jones said.
Jones, who also wrote several songs that are performed during the play, said he wanted the play to give women a chance to act.
Jones and Kennis Wessel, Lawrence graduate students, are co-directors for the play. The other members of the production company and cast are residents of Hashinger, Brian Wilson, Lee's Summit, Mo, sophomore, is stage manager, and Todd Brown, St. Louis, Mo., freshman, is technical director and lighting designer, Lon Craven, Greenwood, Mo., freshman, designed one of the stage props, a record album cover. Cindi Evans, Roeland Park freshman, is understudy to the female roles and assistant to the directors.
"It's a good vehicle for actors, especially actresses." Jones said. "It's hard to find good roles for women."
Sheldon Lute, Omaha, Neb., freshman, has a bit part as a guest at the motel.
In the ACTF competition, groups of judges watch plays produced by theatre groups affiliated with universities on the nation, said Ronald Willis, KU professor of speech and language at the chairman of the jury. The judges are to select the best plays for regional contests.
THE LOCAL REGION comprises Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Willis said, and the judges usually watch 25 to 45 plays. The judges select four or five plays to be performed at a regional festival; the local regional will be in late January or early February in Kansas City.
Only six or seven plays out of all 12 regions will be chosen for an April performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. Willis said.
Productions entered in the festival are
categorized as either "student original" or "other", Willis said. The category of "other" includes plays written by teachers or professionals. Festival rules stipulate that at least one of the plays performed at the Kennedy Center be a "student original" production, he said.
KU's entry in the festival competition last year was the University Theatre production "Dracula," which advanced to the regional Walt Disney who is also director of the University Theatre.
The University Theatre's entry in this year's festival is "Buried Child," which was performed Oct. 22-27. The play was written by Sam Shepard.
Hashinger residents will be admitted to the play, he said. Non-residents will be charged $1. The money will go to a Hashinger fund for artistic programs or to the "Lonesome" production company for travel expenses if the play advances in festival competition.
Jim Hoggatt, Shawnee sophomore, plays a lawyer, and Rochelle Holmgren, Omaha, Neb., sophomore, plays an heiress in "The Lonesome Motel Blues," which will play at 8 p.m. today and 2:30
p. m. tomorrow and Sunday at Hashinger Theatre in Hashinger Hall.