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THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2013
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TARA RRYANT/KANSAN
Isabella Hampton, a freshman from Overland Park, and Ashley Kennedy, a sophomore from Lawrence, discuss Esther's (played by Kennedy) plans to open her own shop making intimate apparel exclusively for African-American women in the play 'Intimate Apparel' now playing at Murphy Hall.
Kansas theatre department to put on 'Intimate Apparel'
ELLY GRIMM egrimm@kansan.com
The University theatre department is taking a step back in time to 1905 with its upcoming production of Lynn Nottage's play "Intimate Apparel."
The story follows Esther Mills, a seamstress in 1905 New York who sews lingerie for high-class society and prostitutes as she struggles to find love. The opened last night, and there will be performances tonight, tomorrow night, Sunday and next week, April 9-11. All performances will be in William Inge Memorial Theater in Murphy Hall at 7:30 p.m. with the exception of a 2:30 p.m. performance on April 7.
The show's race and gender themes will also be the subject of a discussion after Friday night's performance. Four scholars from the University's English and American Studies departments will each provide a response to the performance and how it intersects with the particular research they're doing, and then a question and answer session with the audience will follow.
"I decided to audition because I wanted to be in a play here, and I love theater," said Ashley Kennedy, a sophomore from Lawrence who plays Esther Mills. "Also, KU
doesn't do a lot of racially themed shows, so that appealed to me, too."
The play is based on the experiences of one of Nottage's ancestors. The realism and history behind the play drew director Scott Knowles to the show.
"A lot of that history from that era is gone now, and no one really has any accounts of what all happened during that time period," he said. "It's great that this play recreates the history of 1905."
Alysha Griffin, a second year Master's student from Appling, Ga. in her first production with the theater department, talked about her favorite aspects of her character in the show, the mother figure Mrs. Dickson.
Knowles said that working with the show's cast was also a great experience and allowed him to be fully involved in the production.
"Her personality is so big and flamboyant, and I feel like I actually know her and have met her," she said. "She's bigger than life."
"It's great getting to be a part of every piece of the show and guiding everyone's collaboration," he said. "Everyone brings their own creative ideas, and it's great guiding that collaboration."
Edited by Megan Hinman
excess HOLLYWOOD review
--in a nice alteration to the origi
MCCLATCHY TRIBUNE
Silghom Fernandez, left, and Jessica Lucas in TriStar Picture's Evil Dead
First time director gets debut with gory remake
For what it is — a remake of a gory, cult favorite horror flick — the new "Evil Dead" is an enthralling, blood-soaked blast straight out of hell. Horror movies nowadays don't provide the sort of in-your-face brutality that this film does, where things just get so much more twisted scene after scene in insanely grusome ways.
It's been quite some time since a horror experience reached this sort of down and dirty awesomeness. The way "The Cabin in the Woods" cerebrally engaged both the genre and audiences, "Evil Dead" viscerally takes hold of them.
It's similar to watching a video on the Internet of grisly, real-life violent images (think something a bit worse than a sports bone break) that horrifies and disturbs you, yet you can't look away, spellbound by fascinated shock. You even replay it, continuing to squirm and cringe. Except here it involves demonized dead people.
"Evil Dead" begins with a scene that sets the tone and shows it means business, ending the messy situation of a father and his possessed daughter with a bang as a prelude to the main story. A group of five 20-sometimes are then introduced in the calm before the storm, where their trip to an old cabin out in the foreboding woods will obviously go south very quickly.
nat that adds a little depth and some fun, foreshadowing symbolism, the outing to this secluded place is for Mia (Jane Levy) to quit her drug habit cold turkey, with the support of her friends and brother David (Shiloh Fernandez). It doesn't take long for her to start freaking out, and then everything goes to hell when one of them (Lou Taylor Pucci) reads aloud from the Book of the Dead and inadvertently summons evil spirits.
The low-budget original started director Sam Raimi's career, so he chose a first-timer for the remake as well. Fede Alvarez proves the right man for the job, respecting the style of the original (the roving shots zooming through the woods, the occasional black humor
Someone is soon possessed and the night turns into a fight for survival as the friends try to defeat what they unleashed before it kills them all. During that struggle, you can count on buckets of blood and tons of mutilation and dismemberment, delivered with scary intensity and wild-eyed craziness.
and maniacal ravings of the possessed during tense action, extreme gross-out effects) while switching up some of the narrative beats. Oh, the tree rape is still there, and it's still weird.
But most importantly, Alvarez shot the film using practical effects instead of CGI. This exponentially increases the power of the violence and overall immersion, adding to the unique feel of the horror. Gorehounds are going to go nuts for this.
There's a lull in the third act when Alvarez seems out of tricks, but he picks it back up for a bloodraining finale that raucously satisfies.
The performances are pretty solid too, with the wooden line delivery here and there keeping in line with the original's spirit. When characters are possessed, the performers are highly effective - bizarrely creepy to the max.
"Evil Dead" probably isn't "the most terrifying film you will ever experience" like the advertising says, but it definitely outshines most modern horror flicks through its sheer energy. And as far as remakes go, this one does it exactly right.
Edited by Tyler Conover
The University of Kansas University Theatre Presents the winner of the 2004 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play
Intimate APPAREL
by Lynn Nottage
7:30 p.m. April 3,4,5,9,10,11,2013 2:30 p.m. April 7,2013 William Inge Memorial Theatre
General admission tickets are on sale in the KU ticket offices: The University Theatre, 864-3982; Lied Center, 864-ARTS, and online at www.kutheatre.com. Tickets are $15 for the public, $14 for senior citizens and KU faculty and staff, and $10 for all students. All major credit cards are accepted. The University Theatre is partially funded by the KU Student Senate Activity Fund. The University Theatre's 2012-13 season is sponsored by the KU Credit Union.
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KU UNIVERSITY THEATRE The University of Kansas
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