THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012
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LAWRENCE
PAGE 7A
Theatre hosts Horrorshow VI
EMILY DONOVAN
edonovan@kansan.com
Halloween horror has returned to the local stage at the Lawrence Arts Center. This weekend EMU Theatre Inc. presents Horrorshow VI, an annual festival of plays featuring zombies, scary clowns, the undead, stage blood and jokes.
Christoph Cording (left), Carol Holstead,and Nick Stock perform in "Best Medicine," one part of Horrorshow VI. The show will be at the Lawrence Art Center Friday, Saturday and next Wednesday.
Horrorshow VI consists of six one-act plays: "Grim Reaper," "Indoor Boy," "Blood Ties," "Dusk," "The Further Tragedy of Rome(r) o and Juliet" and "Best Medicine." This year's Horrorshow marks EMU Theatre's 15th anniversary and combines revitalizations of three popular plays from past Horrorshows with new scripts.
Stowers wrote "The Further Tragedy of Rome(r)o and Juliet," one of Horrorshow's returning performances, a Shakespeare-inspired spoof where undead Romeo and Juliet are confronted by characters from their past.
"EMU is a lot edgier than most theater KU students have probably been exposed to," said EMU Theatre founder Andrew Stowers.
"What we do definitely defies 'traditional' theater material and expectations in favor of new works."
Stowers said.
A zombie frame story unites the six unique plays featured in Horrorshow VI and ties them together while the set is being taken down and set up between play.
Jerry Salisbury, EMU Theatre's public relations director, believes that showcasing six different shorter plays gives Horrorshow a diversity that makes it appeal to the masses.
"You're not just getting a one note show," Salisbury said. "You can laugh, you can cry, you can be scared out of your wits — you can get a little bit of everything with it."
All of the individual plays are between 10 and 20 minutes long and are written, directed and performed by Lawrence residents.
One of those local thespians is Carol Holstead, who has been an associate professor in the School of Journalism for the past 23 years. Holstead received her master's degree in theater. Three years ago, Holstead saw an ad for open-call auditions for a summer production with EMU and has since become a part of EMU's community theater.
"I really have fallen in love with this theater company and these
people," Holstead said.
Holstead performs as a nurse in "Best Medicine" for her fourth production with EMU. She believes that Horrorshow V1 offers an affordable theater-going experience that Kansas students will not want to miss out on.
"It's entertaining, it's funny, it's over in two hours." Holstead said.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
"You can come at 7:30 and be entertained and still go out and have your night."
Horrorshow VI's final performances are Friday, Saturday, and next Wednesday. Admission is $6, and curtains open at 7:30 p.m.
Edited by Madison Schultz
FASHION
Original costume ideas are in-style
CALLAN REILLY
creilly@kansan.com
As we all know, Halloween for college students is no longer about trick-or-treating. Alcohol replaces candy, and it's now just another excuse for us to be crazy college students.
Being from Arizona, the land of ultimate slutty costumes, I came to Kansas last year completely clueless to the funny and creative approach people were taking with their Halloween attire. Did this mean I no longer had to trudge down the promiscuous path of costumes each year? I was thrilled.
But sadly, I didn't catch the memo in time. It was all too late, as I had already purchased my overpriced "Astro-naughty" costume, and of course it was final sale. I hope my tragic story can save a few freshmen (or transfer students) from making the same mistake this year.
Hatleyone 2012 is the year I will redeem myself. This year's costume is creative, fully-clothed, and has no slutty punch line to go along with it. I would tell you what it is, but then you'd all copy me. What's even better is that everything I need is already in my closet. As tiny as scandalous costumes are, they sure are expensive.
To avoid regret, scarring pictures
and wasting serious cash, please take my advice: Dress creatively, humorously and economically. Halloween gossip has included Honey Boo Boo, Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey from the notorious "Fifty Shades of Grey" novel, and Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games as costume favorites for this year. I'm all for these fun options.
Steer clear of those costumes you see non-stop. Black cat anyone? I know it's easy, but we've seen it 100 times. If you're one of those cat-obsessed people who must opt for a feline outfit, at least go for a fashion-forward print, which would obviously be tiger right now. Cheerleader costumes as well as athletes also fall under the repetitive category.
My favorites from last year were three girls who dressed up in each of Kim Kardashian's three wedding dresses. Kardashian had announced her divorce that same day, so these girls had acted fast. Another favorite was the human Franzia guy. He even had a real box of Franzia inside his outfit to share with everyone. What a gracious human being.
These costumes will be hard to beat, but with my advice, I believe it can be done.
Edited by Madison Schultz
This Halloween, opt for a creative costume. Try to stay away from overdone costumes like vampires.
MCCLATCHY TRIBUNE
TELEVISION
Spooky Wednesdays
DAYNE VEDDER
dvedder@kansan.com
Something wicked this way comes. Thankfully, it's not another installment of "Friday the 13th" or "Saw." As Halloween approaches, horror fans are looking far and wide for a truly original tale to scare their socks off.
Hollywood hasn't been helping lately, regurgitating the same B-rated horror movies that incite laughter rather than fear. But if you still haven't found a haunting story to celebrate All Hallow's Eve, American Horror Story: Asylum on FX is sure to have you checking your closet for monsters again.
Asylum has revamped nearly everything from its previous season. Executive producer Ryan Murphy made it clear they are wasting no time getting viewers on the edge of their seats.
Taylor Irwin, a junior from Kansas City, Mo., is looking forward to the show's second season.
"I was initially really excited to see how and if they were going to tie the two seasons together even though they seemed so different," Irwin said.
The first episode, "Welcome to Briarcliff," welcomes back several previous cast members to a haunting tale of Nazis, aliens, serial killers and mad scientists.
Set in 1964, the story opens with a young man named Kit (Evan Peters) who is falsely accused of being the serial killer Bloody Face, and an overly curious newspaper reporter investigating the institution's shady practices. The reporter, Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) does not get far before reaching a dead end — the asylum's iron-fisted overseer, Sister Jude (Jessica Lange).
Her devout Christian dominion keeps her underlings in line but does not seem to deter Dr. Arthur Cromwell (James Cromwell) from
his unnatural patient experimentation, making their relationship a destructive force within the institution. "Mental illness is the fashionable explanation for sin," Sister Jude urges.
The story's new direction has captivated fans of AHS, breaking nearly all records established by the first season. The premiere impressively drew 3.8 million viewers. "I ended up really liking the premiere, especially because they used several of same actors to play different characters," Irwin said.
Beginning at such a breakneck speed ensures there will be enough conspiracy, violence and insanity to captivate horror enthusiasts every Wednesday night.
Fri Oct 26:: Early Show! Junior Brown
Edited by Lauren Shelly
Sat Oct 27
Delta Saints &
Cornmeal
Mon Oct 29
Funtcase
Wed Oct 31
Deadman Flats
Fri Nov.2
Chuck Mead
Wed Nov 7
James McMurtry
& The Gourds