Thursday, October 7, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 7
Plays written by students come to life on EAT stage
Kara Ammon
Special to the Kansan
To help his student playwright hear their words, see their characters and feel the thrill of watching their plays come to life onstage, Paul Lim, associate professor of English, created the English Alternative Theater.
Starting tonight, Chris Nelson, Lawrence junior, and Sam Osterhout, University of Kansas alumnus, will experience their plays from the seats. Both plays portray KU students who hang out in a Lawrence bar and grill. This is the first time the plays will be performed onstage before an audience.
Organized within the department of English, EAT will present the students' one-act plays at 8 p.m. tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 200 W. Ninth St.
Nelson's play, Writing Love Songs for Holly, portrays three 20-something men, one of whom has
Just broken up with his girlfriend.
Another of the characters tries to pick up a waitress, Holly, while a third tries to help the others with their problems.
Osterhout's play, Croquet,
depicts three KU men, one of
whom has stolen some money
from the cashier. They then try to
decide what to do with the money.
Nelson said he hoped to gain a better understanding of playwriting through the EAT performance.
"I want to really get a feel for what's working and what's not for revisions," he said. "It's good to see how others interpret it so I can shift things around to get the true meaning across."
Lim said other students would enjoy seeing student plays being performed.
"The plays are of great interest to KU because it's KU playwrights writing plays about KU students." Lim said.
Lim encouraged Nelson and
Ostherout to perform their plays onstage. He said students become better writers by examining their plays through rehearsal.
"I hope student playwrights will continue to grow by seeing their plays in production and write even better plays that improve upon their previous mistakes," he said.
Lim said that because some students in his classes were more talented and serious about the craft than others, he tried to help the interested ones pursue performing their works onstage.
He said the main idea of EAT was to get a group of actors together to read a students's play and use physical movements to bring out what is in the script.
Dustin Lee Chase, Lawrence sophomore, Emily Anne Beste, Olympia Fields, Ill., freshman and Ryan Westhoff, Lawrence senior, perform a scene from Writing Love Songs for Holly. The play was written by Chris Nelson, Lawrence junior, and will tonight tomorrow and Saturday at the English Alternative Theater. Photo by Eric Sahrmann/Kansan
"A play is a script, not meant to be read, but seen and heard," Lim said.
Since EAT's creation 10 years ago, Lim, who is in charge of the entire program and generates most of the production costs, said
it had become a huge undertaking.
The yearly budget for EAT is about $15,000, part of which is provided by an arm of the Kansas
University Endowment Association People in the community as well as KU students in the theater department volunteer to act, design sets and do technical work.
Tickets to the plays are on sale atthe Lawrence Arts Center for $5.
— Edited by Chris Hutchison
It can clean your dirty socks.
Did you know you can use your KU Card to wash clothes, make copies of your term paper.
or get a midnight snack?
Simply stop by the Cash-to-Card machines located throughout campus to deposit cash onto your KU Card's stored value chip. Your KU Card can then be
you're out of change). Or use your KU Card to make a smartchip purchase at food service
used at any washer, dryer, photocopier or vending machine on campus. (It also means you can't put off doing the wash because
locations like Wescoe Terrace or Union Square in the Kansas Union.
To learn about the many ways your KU Card can work to make your life easier, visit the KU Card Center or
Commerce Bank located in the Kansas Union. Once you start using it on a daily basis, you'll wonder how you survived without it.
Commerce Bank
Participating KU Card Merchants
Baskin-Robbins 31 Ice Cream Shop • The Bike Shop • Brown Bear Brewery • The Cashab • Children's Book Shop • Classic Gourmet Coco Loco Mexican Café • Domino's Pizza • Duds N Suds • Francis Sporting Goods • Gibson Pharmacy • Jayhawk Bookstore Johnny'S Service Center • Johnny's Tavern • Lawrence Family Care • Lawrence Memorial Hospital Business Office & Gift Shop Lawrence OB-GYN *Mara Salon* Mr. Gatt's Pizza *New York Burrito* Orchard Drug *Randall's Formal Wear* Sportcenter University Bookshop *Yellow Sub* KU Academic Computing *Burgeion Bookstore* Burgeion Union Technology Center KU Casher's/Comptroller's Office *Jaywhail* (Kansas Union) *Kansas Union Bookstore* KU Lied Center *KU Parking Prairie Room (Kansas Union)* KU Recruitment Services *KU Registrar's Office* KU School of Business-Study Abroad (Italy) KU Student Housing *SIA* Student Union Business Office *KTelecommunications* KU Watkins Health Center For a complete list of participating merchants, stop by Commerce on Campus located in the Kansas Union
PARAGUAY ACADEMIC SYMPOSIUM
Paraguay Roga-Student organization invites students and faculty, or any person interested in learning more about this Latin American country, to expositions in the Fields of anthropology, sociology, history, economics political science, literature, architecture women studies and others.
On Friday and Saturday October 8th and 9th (For more information)
please e-mail ettore@eagle.cc.ukans.edu
Attorney would like to talk to witnesses who have knowledge of persons who made rental arrangements with U-Haul, where U-Haul was late in delivering the agreed upon rental, or completely failed to fulfill their promise of supplying a rental vehicle.
Please call 1-888-371-1276 and ask for Casey Griffith.