DENNIS MOORE SPEAKS AT DNC EVENT
The Kansas representative urges party unity, reaches out to Clinton supporters POLITICS |8A
DEFENDER RISES ABOVE INJURIES
Jenny Murtaugh is the toughest thing in a mask SOCCER | 1B
SEASON BEGINS TOMORROW
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
the jayhawks will open 2008 against FIU. GAMEDAY | 8B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2008
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 120 ISSUE 8
DRAMA COMES TO THE STAGE
Theater performs unique act
ul Stephen Lim, playwright and professor of English, founded the English Alternative Theater. He will be directing a concert reading of "August: Osage Country", a Pulitzer Prize and Tony award winning family melodrama on Monday.
Jerry Wang/KANSAN
BY BRANDY ENTSMINGER bentsminger@kansan.com
Alcoholism, drug abuse and incest are the issues faced in "August: Osage County", a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play coming to campus on Sept. 1.
Paul Stephen Lim, professor of English and founder of the English Alternative Theatre, said the play featured a dysfunctional family that students and the community could identify with.
Cast member Roberta Gingerich said the play focused on one woman's relationship with her three adult daughters. She said all of the characters in the play struggled with problems such as alcoholism, drug abuse and incest.
"The stories that are told are fairly universal." Lim said.
"They are not the pretty issues of our society?" Gingerich said.
The English Alternative Theatre will present the play in a new way: as a concert reading.
Lim said concert readings were unique because they helped bring works of literature and theatre to a broad audience without the use of a full set, such as scenery, or costumes.
"It's like letting the words jump off the page," Lim said.
With a concert reading, the actors generally hold their scripts and sometimes remain seated on stage until their scene begins.
Jim Carothers, professor of English and cast member, said the biggest challenge of a concert reading was bringing the story to life for the audience. He said it helped the performers to imagine they were performing a radio drama because the tone of their voices carried the emotion of the play.
Amy Devitt, professor of English and cast member, said actors should know the play thoroughly for a concert reading so they could focus on interacting with the other actors.
"It's a challenge to just interact with your voice and not your body" Devitt said
University faculty, retired faculty alumni and local actors will make up the production's cast. Many of the actors have performed together before.
Lim said it helped for the actors to be familiar with each other because it would be easier for them to find the chemistry needed to play a family.
He said it would also be helpful since they had such a short time to rehearse before the reading. The cast will begin rehearsals on Saturday.
"I know what they're capable of and they know how I work so we can talk in a kind of shorthand," Lim said.
Lim said the majority of new American
plays are limited to five or six cast members and a small set because of the cost. "August: Osage County" is unique because it calls for a three-story set with an attic and 13 cast members.
The English Alternative Theatre presents concert readings of current plays free of charge every Labor Day. Lim said it
made theatre affordable for KU students.
The concert reading will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Monday at the Lawrence Arts Center.
—Edited by Brien Scott
Construction, renovations has coaches, players excited
BY B.J. RAINS
rains@kansan.com
Construction on the new basketball practice facility and renovations to the men's and women's basketball locker rooms still won't be completed for more than a year, but women's coach Bonnie
This graphic rendering shows what the new building will look like when completed in 2009. Renovations include new locker rooms, renovations to Allen Fieldhouse and a donor atrium.
Henrickson is already keeping a daily tab on the building's progress.
GRAPHIC COURTESY OF KANSAS ATHLETICS
"Every couple hours I get up and walk around and see what's going on," Henrickson said. "You always talk about facilities and construction but everyone really gets excited when you see dirt and shovels in the ground. They are working outside my window right now, lay-
jewel of the project is a new 11,600 square-foot basketball practice facility that will be squeezed into an open space among Wagnon Student Athlete Center, Horejsi Center, Anschutz Sports Pavilion and Allen Fieldhouse and will connect the four buildings as one.
ing a pipe of something. We cleaned Construction began recently on a $38 million project that will help improve the overall quality of the Athletics Department's facilities. The football program completed a $31 million project this summer, which gave them a new complex and two new practice fields. Now, the focus for renovations has switched back to basketball.
"We're just excited for our kids because these kids have been recruited with a promise of having new and upgraded facilities."
"We're just excited for our kids because these kids have been recruited with a prom-
BONNIE HENRICKSON Women's head coach
ing a pipe or something. We're excited."
The teams will each get renovated locker rooms and office space, but the crown
Center court from the 2008 Final Four floor in San Antonio will hang on the wall and the building will
ise of having new and upgraded facilities," Henrickson said. "It sends a message loud and clear about the commitment that this administration has for the kids and for having first-class facilities."
"It's going to be a really nice looking facility that is devoted to basketball," said Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director. "More and more national programs have these types of facilities. I think our fans would agree that we have enjoyed having Kansas at the forefront of college athletics
feature a court-and-a-half setup with seven basketball goals. It will have lighting and flooring similar to that of Allen Fieldhouse.
and we need to do everything possible to ensure that Kansas remains in the forefront of college basketball. This will help in that effort."
Construction on the project is set to be completed on Oct. 15th, 2009, which coincides with the start of the next basketball season. The project will also provide other renovations to Allen Fieldhouse, new locker rooms for other smaller sports that don't currently have their own, and a donor atrium in the area between the Fieldhouse and Horejsi Center.
"This comes at the cornerstone of our five-year strategic plan which we released two years ago," Marchiony said. "It's academic excellence and athletics excellence. Part of the athletic excellence portion of that plan is to try to give our coaches and student athletes the means by which they can achieve success on the national level. It helps the other sports because it provides more space for them — space that they really need."
Currently, both the men's and women's basketball teams share practice times at Horejsi Center and Allen Fieldhouse. Add in the volleyball team and their needs at Horejsi, and it causes some schedule jumbling and inconveniences for the athletes.
"Coach Self and I get along really well and our staffs do too," Henrickson said. "We coordinate practice times and practice needs and we share conflicts so that hasn't
really been an issue. Both of us respect that when volleyball is in season, they have a priority to the practice facility.
"Sometimes it's a burden on the kids, having to practice early in the mornings and stuff. It's been manageable, but it will be a lot more convenient and student-athlete friendly once we get the third facility."
Players for both the men's and women's teams have seen the drawings and are counting down the days until the facility opens next season.
index
- Edited by Arthur Hur
Classifieds...7B
Crossword...6A
Horoscopes...6A
Opinion... 7A
Sports... 1B
Sudoku... 6A
All contents, unless stated otherwise; © 2008 The University Daily Kansan.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
90 AFGHANS KILLED IN RAID
The attack may have resulted from miscommunication NEWS|8A
weather
SATURDAY
91 64 Sunny
SUNDAY
90 67
weather.com
148
23
---