FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12. 2004
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Elisabeth Ahrens, Topeka senior, and Chris Wheatley, Lawrence senior, play the roles of Romeo and Juliet. The show opens 7:30 tonight at Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall.
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Cast excited for 'Romeo and Juliet' opening night
BY AUSTIN CASTER
acaster@kansan.com
KANSAI STAFF WRITER
Beautiful costumes, elaborate fight scenes and a timeless love story will once again grace the stage of the Crafton-Preyton Theatre in Murphy Hall.
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet opens 7:30 tonight.
The play tells the story of two star-crossed lovers born into dueling families.
Jack Wright, professor of theater and film, directed the play at the University of Kansas in the spring of 1979.
A committee made up of faculty, staff and students chooses which plays will be performed each year.
He said the universal themes of struggle and first love would make audiences return to see the play again.
Elisabeth Ahrens, who plays Juliet, said the story was one of her favorites.
"When Shakespeare's really done well it's the story that comes alive." Wright said.
The 26-member cast brings essence to the story, he said.
"Romeo and Juliet was the first Shakespeare play I was required to read freshman year of high school," Ahrens, Topeka senior, said. "The love story is so beautiful. Hopefully the love story is something the audience can relate to."
She said she immersed herself in the words and what the words meant.
She took classes about Shakespearean text and read an edition of Romeo and Juliet with footnotes to prepare for her role.
'ROMEO AND JULIET'
"I've tried to let the text speak through me," Ahrens
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet will be performed at the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall.
At all performances begin at 7:30 p.m.except a matine on Sunday,which begins at 2:30 p.m.
Dates:
dates.
■ Friday, Nov. 12
■ Saturday, Nov. 13
■ Sunday, Nov. 14
■ Thursday, Nov. 18
■ Friday, Nov. 19
■ Saturday, Nov. 20
Tickets cost $10 for students, $15 for KU faculty and staff and senior citizens and $16 for general public. Tickets are available through the University Theatre, 864-3982; the Lied Center Box Office, 864-ARTS; or online at www.kutheatre.com.
Source: The University Theatre
Ahrens said she was jealous she did not get to participate in the fight scenes. The actors with fight choreography worked diligently on sword-play and fighting skills, she said.
said. "It's easier than modern plays because you don't have to worry about the subtext. Whatever the character is saying is what they mean."
Cast members learned basic cuts and thrusts from guest choreographer, D.C. Wright, he said.
Wright said fight choreographers, creative staging and costumes were reasons people who had seen or read the play before should come to the University's production.
The Montagues dress in blues and blacks and the Capulet in reds and oranges. He said most of the men wore tights and the women dressed in elaborate layers.
designer distinguished the families by color.
Ahrens said the chemistry between Romeo and Juliet was a reason to see the play on a date.
Christopher Wheatley, who plays Romeo, said the cast started preparing for the fight scenes in September with a weekend training session.
have a lot of fun performing it and it's going to be fun to watch."
"We rehearsed in slow motion to get it into our muscle memory." Wheatley, Lawrence senior, said. "We
"The reason his work has survived so long is because there's always something new you're going to get out of it." Wheatley said, referring to different actors, set designs, costumes and fight choreography.
"I think the love story is timeless," Ahrens said. "I'm a romantic at heart."
One University of Kansas teacher will take home the Honor for an Outstanding Progressive Educator, or HOPE, Award this Saturday.
HOPE and Mortar Board awardsto honor faculty
Edited by Ashley Doyle
Wheatley said the costume
CAMPUS
The University of Kansas Board of Class Officers will present the award to one of eight finalists during halftime of the Kansas-Texas football game
The award, which students have bestowed annually for more than 45 years, is the University's only award for teaching excellence given exclusively by students.
In addition to the halftime ceremony, the winner will also receive a monetary award and recognition on a permanent plaque displayed in the Kansas Memorial Union.
This year's HOPE finalists are:
Matthew Buechner, professor of biological sciences
Robert Carlson, professor of chemistry
Dennis Dailey, professor of social welfare
Stephen Ilardi, associate
Charles Marsh, associate professor of journalism
Mark Haug, lecturer in
Tim Shaftel, professor of business.
professor of psychology Charles Marsh. associate
Edward McBride, lecturer in engineering
professor of journalism
Ross Fitch
The University's Mortar
The University's Mortar Board, a national senior student honor society, will also honor five other KU faculty members during the first-quarter break.
The Mortar Board will honor them as the 2004 Outstanding Educators.
This year's 2004 Outstanding Educators are:
Susan Earle, assistant professor of art history
Mary Klayder, University Honors lecturer in English
Sue Lorenz, assistant director of the University Honors program
Paola Sanguinetti, assistant professor of architecture
Antonio Simoes, associate
Hemenway trades spots with disabled student
Chancellor Robert Hemenway saw life from the view of a wheelchair yesterday.
Jason Schrage, a Lawrence senior who uses a wheelchair, traded places with Hemenway for the day.
Hemenway attended Schrage's classes and picked up books at Anschutz and Watson libraries, while Schrage spent the day in meetings.
Hemenway said the experience made him conscious of challenges faced by students with disabilities.
"The only way to get that perspective is to actually get in the wheelchair itself," he said.
Hemenway said he traded places to better understand what the University of Kansas could do for students with disabilities.
Some issues he noticed were keeping wheelchair ramps clear and smooth and ensuring that curb-cuts were well-tended.
Schrage said his experience taught him that the chancellor has to be well-versed and able to handle a lot of different issues and responsibilities.
"You have to be a really good statesman to be able to juggle all of these things," Schrage said.
The chancellor has a relentless job that never ends, he said.
Hemenway traded places with a student in a wheelchair as chancellor of the University of Kentucky, where he worked before coming to the University of Kansas in 1995.
This was also the fourth time Hemenway has traded places with a student for a day at the University of Kansas. In 1999 and 2001, he traded places with students who won the "Hemenway for a Day" raffle contest.
In 2003, he traded places with a student who won a contest through Student Senate for registering to vote.
— Ross Fitch