Section A • Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, December 8, 1998
Entertainment
Theater troupe brings Scrooge to Lied Center
By Mariana Paiva Kansan staff writer
Diana Victor will have an opportunity to watch, for the first time, a live production of one of her favorite childhood holiday classics.
The Lied Center will present A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens' 155-year old holiday story, at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
Victor said her grandmother used to tell A Christmas Carol to her every year, but she had never had an opportunity to see a live performance.
"I'm excited to see such a classic," said Victor, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, junior.
"I didn't even know there were movies or plays about it," she said.
This version of A Christmas Carol was adapted by Charles Jones, executive director of the Omaha Community Playhouse. The performance will be staged by 28 performers from the Nebraska Theatre Caravan.
Karen Christilles, director of public relations at the Lied Center, said the story about Ebenezer Scrooge and the three spirits who guide him through his past, present and future had not changed. This performance will include a new musical wrinkle, however.
"One of the reasons that make it so unique is that this adaptation incorporated traditional carols, all associated with the holiday," she said.
Christilles said the company had its start in 1976 in Omaha, but it became so popular that surrounding communities started to ask the company to come and perform at Christmas time.
"This year is the 20th anniversary of The Nebraska Theatre Caravan's production of A Christmas Carol," Christilles said.
Tickets are available at the Lied Center box office and cost $6-$8 for students, $12-$18 for the public and $11-$17 for senior citizens.
Thousands dead in Latin America
By Mariana Paiva Kansan staff writer
Band helps hurricane victims
When Stein Sheldon heard about the Hurricane Mitch damages in Latin America, he decided the best way he could help was by providing entertainment in downtown Lawrence.
Sheldon and his band Son Venezuela will perform a benefit concert at 10 p.m. Dec. 16 at the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St.
All the proceeds from the show will go to hurricane relief efforts.
"I was very close to it, getting emails from the victims through the Latin American department network; I couldn't escape," said Sheldon, Ottawa graduate student in Latin American Studies.
Sheldon said the band had been
working with Latin American Solidarity to organize and promote the event in Lawrence.
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5.
"But anyone who can afford paying a little bit more will be greatly appreciated," Sheldon said.
Son Venezuela started as a folk group, featuring music from Venezuela. Now the band features merengue and salsa music.
Sheldon said the band plays every Sunday at McCoys in Westport in Kansas City, Mo., but has not played in Lawrence in the past three years.
Marvin Grilliot, vice-president of Latin American Solidarity, said students should attend the concert because it would be fun and because it was for a good cause.
Sandra Bastidas, Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, sophomore, said she
did not receive information
about the concert, but she was
glad to hear that Latin American
Solidarity, the Granada and Son Venezuela had organized it.
"I definitely attend," she said. Bastidas said the situation in Honduras was getting better and she would volunteer to help when she goes back home next Friday.
According to the United Nations homepage, last updated Dec. 2, 5,642 were confirmed dead, 8,050 persons were reported missing, 12,272 wounded, 1,482,659 affected and 1,199,000 displaced. Honduras had the largest number of residents affected.
Grilliot, Roeland Park, graduate student, said the student organization had collected more than $5,000, as well as medicine, clothes and food.
The money has been divided, as designated by individual contributors, among the Red Cross, the Honduran Consulate's Hurricane Relief Fund, El Salvador-U.S sister cities, Catholic Relief Services and Church World Services.
Happy Holidays
Caleb Asher, Mound City, Mo., senior, speaks with a friend underneath a holiday banner hanging in Strong Hall. Eight colorful banners celebrating diverse holiday traditions have been hung from the balcony in place of traditional holiday decorations. Photo by Graham K. Johnson/KANSAN
Smith dubbed Hollywood prince
After much success, rapper/actor hopes to maintain path on his rise to stardom
By Nekesa Mumbi Moody The Associated Press
NEW VORK — According to the rules of physics — and Hollywood — everything that goes on must come down.
So after a string of career highs — a hit TV show, two blockbuster films and a multiplatinum rap career — Will Smith admits he's a "little nervous" with the release of his latest project, the thriller Enemy of the State.
"I'm not missing too much," he said recently, as he sipped coffee at an upscale New York hotel. "Film after film, I'm scoring and people are reacting well, so it's inevitable with any ups there are going to be downs. I'm trying to avoid them as much as I can."
So far, he's doing a pretty good job. The Philadelphia native first made waves as part of the rap act DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, then parlayed that success into the television series, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which ended its six-year run in 1996.
Smith won acclaim with his debut role as a bisexual con artist in Six Degrees of Separation, and showed some box-office swagger with the hit movie Bad Boys, co-starring comedian Martin Lawrence.
But it wasn't until the blockbusters Independence Day and Men in Black that people finally began connecting Will Smith with superstardom — and box-office gold.
It's not surprising why Smith has vaulted to the top — he's the guy everyone wants as a friend. Tall (6-foot-2) and attractive, Smith, who recently celebrated his 30th birthday, has an eading personality and a great comic instinct. Those qualities, plus a killer smile, have endeared him to movie audiences worldwide in mostly supporting or sidekick performances.
Now, even though his latest film stars Academy Award-winning actors Gene Hackman and Jon Voight, it is Smith who's the top draw.
"For six months I knew I was going to be working with Gene Hackman and like the third day of shooting and I'm already on screen with Gene Hackman," he said. "So, we did our first take, and he leans over to me and says (Smith does his best Hackman impression), 'That was a good job there, son.' And that kind of inspired me, and I was like, 'OK, we've gotten over that hump.'"
Enemy of the State, features Smith as a successful lawyer who unwittingly becomes a target of rogue agents who believe he has evidence that implicates them in a murder. It features conspiracy theories, high-tech spying, car chases galore and the inevitable movie explosion.
Even Smith marvels at his current standing among Hollywood's elite.
It is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, whose movie credits read like one long car chase and/or explosion: The Rock, Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun, the latter of which starred Tom Cruise.
An even greater sign of Smith's mainstream success may be his future role in Barry Sonnenfeld's movie version of the The Wild Wild West in which Smith was cast as James West. Back in the old TV series, West was a white man played by Robert Conrad. Even Smith was surprised when Sonnenfeld, who produced Men in Black, called on Smith for the film.
"I'm saying to him, 'Barry, I'm black,' and he's like, 'No one cares that you're black; no one cares.' And in a way I think he's correct about that," he said. "
Not only does Smith have a potential blockbuster in movie theaters, he recently
signed a deal with Universal Pictures to start his own production company, Overbrook Entertainment. At the same time, he is eyeing film projects with Whitney Houston and a possible biopic on Muhammad All.
Smith also hasn't forgotten his music career. He has a hit album on the chart, Big Willie Stille. It is his first album in years and a best seller. He also won a Grammy this year for best rap solo performance for the single, Men in Black.
At first Smith was unsure if he should return to the rap arena. A little nudge by someone close to him, however, changed his mind.
"I was really nervous about the big change that hip hop had undertaken, when that whole gangsta rap thing took over the mainstream of hip hop. It was just dark, and the darkness was putting out my light a little bit," he said. "Jada kind of convinced me to go ahead and make the records that I wanted to make and make people have to deal with me rather than we have to deal with them."
Jada is fellow actor and wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who in July gave birth to a baby boy, Jaden. He is Pinkett Smith's first child and Smith's second — he has another son, Willard "Trey" Smith, from his marriage to Sheree Smith, which dissolved after three years.
Will Smith eludes evil spies and sports the latest in Fruit of the Loom fashions in the thriller *Enemy of the State*. The movie, directed by Tony Scott (Top Gun) has grassed more than $62 million at the box office since its release last month. Contributed photo
December sale KU staff and faculty members and students normally get a 10-percent discount in Natural Selections, the museum shop. During December, get
Shop as often as you like. Just present your KUID to get the discount.
Dyche Hall
10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday
through Saturday
Noon - 5 p.m. Sunday
Closed Dec. 25
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