6A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2004
THEATRE: Less funding equals less of a grade school audience
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
There is less money for schools to send children on field trips and teachers have to pick and choose more carefully the types of activities students will participate in, Klein said.
Paulette Strong, principal for Quail Run Elementary, said the KU Theatre for Young People had extended the offer to Quail Run for its students to attend Still Life With Iris.
Teachers at the school had decided not to take classes to the play.
"We are absolutely driven by funding." Strong said.
Strong said busing the students to the play was an issue because there was little funding for transportation.
Strong said teachers also had to look at whether the programs or field trips tied into the school curriculum.
Klein said another reason more students weren't able to come was the No Child Left Behind Act, which she calls the "Leave Theatre Behind Act." Schools are having to spend more time with reading, math and testing and less time with the arts. Klein said.
Klein said the Theatre had to decrease the number of performances for Still Life With Iris from six performances to four. Still Life With Iris runs Friday as well as Oct. 4 and 5 at 1:00 p.m. for the schools and are also open to the public.
A performance on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. is open to the public. Tickets are $5 for University of Kansas students.
Erika Crane, who plays Iris, said the cast would make the performances the best they could regardless of the audience's size.
"I'm a little saddened by it." Crane, Tokyo senior, said.
Crane, along with being the vocal coach for Still Life With Iris, also has the job of contacting the Lawrence schools and finding out which ones are coming and which aren't.
"It kind of hurt at first, but it's part of the job." Crane said of the increasing amount of rejections by schools.
Crane said children really responded to theatre and they addered the actors. Crane, who played Mowgli in the Theatre's production of the Jungle Book, said she remember one child asking why Mowgli was being played by a girl.
"It just kind of shows you how involved they are," Crane said.
Klein said another reason more students weren't able to come was the No Child Left Behind Act, which she calls the "Leave Theatre Behind Act." Schools are having to spend more time with reading, math and testing and less time with the arts, Klein said.
done, the cast and crew travel to each school that attended the show and talk to the children about the play's themes, costumes and props.
After the performances are
The students are given a chance to ask the cast questions about the play.
"I just kind of shows you how involved they are." Erika Crane Actress
Melissa Turpin, a fifth grade teacher at New York Elementary, said she was taking her class to Still Life with Iris
Turpin said the school had a long tradition of taking classes to performances by the KU Theatre for Young People.
She said classes also went to the Lawrence Arts Center and the Lied Center.
Ann Bruemmer, director for arts and humanities for the Lawrence school district, said schools had limited funds for busing children to events.
Bruemmer said the issue was not always the type of event, but whether the schools could provide transportation for the students.
Bruemmer said the school district was also facing three consecutive weeks of children's programs: Boston Tea Party from the Lawrence Arts Center, Still Life with Iris from the KU Theatre for Young People and Pilobolus Too from the Lied Center.
However, Boston Tea Party is the only one that targets some of the same audience as Still Life.
Boston Tea Party targets fifth grade students.
Edited by Steve Schmidt
CONCERT: SLAB event encourages youth to 'rock the vote'
She said SLAB had registered about 600 voters already, and hoped for a big turnout this week.
One of the key components is the voter registration drive.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Wolff said she was most looking forward to Thursday's events.
"We've got a lot of activities going on during the day, and then we have the debate watch at night," she said.
She said she thought civic literacy week had to overcome two main obstacles in the minds of young people.
"We're already jaded," she said. "We've been through Bill Clinton and the 2000 election."
She also partially blamed the lack of civics classes in high school for the second main problem.
Meredith Vacek, a Lawrence graduate student, was a DJ for the concert that included performances by the Mark Lyda Combo, Drakkar Sauna, The Old Canes Orchestree and Yucca Roots.
"There's a lot of misinformation and non-information out there," she said. "People don't know how or where to register to vote anymore."
"College kids have a bunch of opinions," she said. "They just aren't coming forward and voting."
By combining entertainment and policy, Vacek said a concert
give people a wellrounded view. We're non-profit and nonpartisan. It's important for youth to be aware of issues, and to vote."
Jen Dierdorf Vice president for the local chapter of National Organization for
to vote.
Women
was a good idea to promote the idea of voting.
The concert featured booths from SLAB, and other local Democratic and Republican politicians.
pontianus.
Jen Dierdorf, Indianapolis senior, is the vice president for the local chapter of the National Organization for Women, and helped Wolff organize the concert.
She also runs the local Rock the Vote campaign.
"Rock the Vote wants to give people a well-rounded view," she said. "We're non-profit and non-partisan. It's important for youth to be aware of issues, and to vote."
EVENTS DURING CIVIC LITERACY WEEK
Rock the Vote on Wescoe Beach, 11am-1pm
Today
Open Forum featuring Congressional Candidate Nancy Boyda, Congressman Dennis Moore, 11:30am-1:30pm, Wesco Beach
- Edited by Ryan Greene
Monday Night Movie Marathon, showing Dr. Strangelove and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 6pm-10pm, Alderson Auditorium, Kansas Union
W20 Million Loud/MTV Choose or Lose on campus, Wesco Beach, 11am-1pm
Tomorrow
Debate between College Republicans and Young Democrats, 1pm-2pm, Big XII Room, Kansas Union
Inside Baseball: The Politics of Presidential Campaigns, lecture with Bill Lacy, Dole Institute of Politics, 4:30pm-5:00p
Student Program and Reception at the Dole Institute, with guest speaker Secretary of State Ron Thornburg, featuring the Chuck Berg Trio, 7pm-9:30pm, Dole Institute
Wednesday
Wescoe Beach
Rock the Vote on Wescoe Beach, 11am-1pm Open
Forum with the Student Legislative Awareness Board, Wescoe Beach,
11:30am-1:30pm
Thursday
Student Senate, Big XII Room, 6.30pm, Kansas Union
Political Slogan Day
Wear Your Favorite
Rock the Vote on Wescoe Reach 11am-1pm
Open Forum featuring Congressional Candidate Kris Kobach, 11am-12pm
Political Fashion Show on Wescoe Beach, featuring College Republicans, Young Dems, 12pm-1pm
Hall Center for the Humanities Guest Speaker Gary Hart, Lied Center, 7pm
Presidential DebateWatch, Kansas Union, 8pm-10pm
Friday
Source: Student Legislative Awareness Board
Women's Civic Leadership Conference, All day, Kansas Union (Pre-registration required)
PLAYWRIGHT: Returns to roots in play
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
The weekend of Oct. 1 and 2 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the University of Kansas Theatre for Young People, and Still, the 45-year-old 1982 University theatre graduate, will be back to his alma mater to help celebrate.
Admitting that it's fun to be back, he also credits his education and calls the University a place "I got so much from."
"I can draw a straight line of attending KU to who I am today." Still said.
Can draw a straight line of attending
KU to who I am today."
Still's play has won several awards including the Distinguished Play of the Year Award from the American Alliance for Theatre & Education and was commissioned by the John F. Kennedy
James Still
In Amber Waves, Still wrote about a farming family facing real-world challenges, including financial problems and day-to-day stress.
The dilemmas that the family encounters are contemporary, Still said, and recognizable enough that all audiences can relate. Amber Waves is a play where "people see themselves," Still said.
Playwright
Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Other than Amber Waves Still has a list of award-winning plays and professional honors.
His other work includes Looking Over the President's Shoulder, Searching for Eden, He Held Me Grand, A Village Fable, and his solo piece that became an off-Broadway number. The Velocity of Gary (Not His Real Name).
Still has produced and directed these plays in famous theatre's including Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.; American Heartland Theatre in Kansas City, Mo.; Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, N.Y.; People's Light & Theatre Company in Philadelphia, and Merrimack Repertory Theatre near Boston.
Describing the feeling of watching one of his plays in famous theatres. Still explains it as a mixture of "awesomeness" and "responsibility."
He says that while his play is going on, it's amazing to think that he's adding to the legacy and history of the theatres.
Although it's hard to focus on the play itself, Still thinks about the people who have "challenged and encouraged me, bringing me to where I am today."
The KU Theatre for Young People will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a reunion, guest speakers and performances of Still Life with Iris at 2.30 p.m. Saturday, and Amber Waves at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The play is an adventure about a young girl seeking her home.
Nathaniel S. Eek, former director of the University's Experimental Theatre, will speak Friday, Oct. 1, about the "Origins of KU-TYP" Still will speak Saturday, Oct. 2, on "Why TYP matters to KU." Both presentations will begin at 7 p.m. in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre, prior to the 8 p.m. per-
KU THEATRE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE PERFORMANCES
Amber Waves by James Still, directed by Doug
Weaver
cover
Oct, 1. 8 p.m.
Oct, 2. 8 p.m.
Oct, 3. 2:30 p.m.
Oct, 7. 7:30 p.m.
Oct, 8. 7:30 p.m.
Oct, 9. 7:30 p.m.
Still Life with Iris by
Oct.1, 1 p.m. school
Still Life with Iris by Steven Dietz; directed by Jeanne Klein
Oct. 2, 2:30 p.m. public
Oct. 4, 1 p.m. school matinee
Oct. 5, 1 p.m. school matinee
Performances are at Crafton-Preyer Theatre. Tickets can be purchased at KU ticket offices at the University Theatre, 864-3982, or online at kutheatre.com.
formances of Amber Waves.
Edited by Steve Schmidt
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