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Summer Session Kansan Tuesday, July 12. 1966
'Adding Machine'a sound criticism
By Bruce Levitt
Members of the KU summer repertory company presented the opening performance of their second production, "The Adding Machine," Thursday in the Experimental Theatre.
The play by Elmer Rice was first produced in 1923 as a social comment on the ill effects of automation on the society of the time. Today, the play is still a valuable criticism on the automated society in which we live, where the white collar has replaced the iron collar of the feudal serfs of medieval Europe.
The plot revolves around Mr. Zero, who, after 25 years at the same job as an adder of figures, is replaced by the adding machine. Enraged at his dismissal, Mr. Zero kills The Boss. Zero is tried, convicted, sentenced, and executed by his neighbors, who serve as the jurors in his trial.
THE LAST HALF of the play contains a great deal of humor as Zero travels from his grave to The Elysian Fields, and finally to a celestial office where he learns of the tragic fate of the soul and mankind.
The extremely demanding role of Zero is portrayed almost flawlessly by Richard Brady. Surprising maturity throughout the production, and a natural ability for understatement in the comical exchanges in the later scenes, are Brady's biggest assets.
Mr. Zero is relentlessly bothered with an overbearing wife, right up to the grave. Cheryl Burnet, as Mrs. Zero, presents an entertaining portrayal of a nagging wife as well as providing
Brady with excellent motivation from which to play.
JANET PUGH as Miss Devore, the girl at the next desk to whom Zero confesses love in the hereafter, adds a smooth and natural flow to the production with her characterization. John Morgan entertains the audience with his portrayal of a mother killer in the graveyard scene.
The entire supporting cast enhances the production by performing various cameo roles with an air of professionalism.
Under the direction of Sara Thornhill, "The Adding Machine" is a solid, well-paced production. The ensemble scenes are especially well-staged and executed. The electronic music used as background for many of the scenes creates an imaginative, and sometimes eerie, atmosphere for the production.
"The Adding Machine" is the second of four productions to be presented by the summer repertory group. It will play July 22 and 25, alternating with "Romanoff and Juliet," which already has opened. Two more plays, "She Stoops to Conquer" and "Stop the World—I Want to Get Off," will open July 14 and 15.
Streeter Blair work to be shown abroad
Streeter Blair, Beverly Hills, Calif., painter and a 1911 KU graduate, will exhibit five of the 40 American paintings to be included in an international exhibition of primitive art Aug. 26-Oct. 2 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.
College-
(Continued from page 1) international exchanges with Costa Rica, and the Russian language study program in Finland.
"Public universities must take care of swelling public need. This new grant will help the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reorganize itself to meet the challenge of size."
STUDENTS IN Centennial College will live together, take many of their classes together, and share the same advisers and administrators. College officials and faculty researchers expect students involved in the project to learn more, earn better grades, and be happier about their academic experience.
PATRONIZE KANSAN ADVERTISERS
E. Jackson Baur, professor of sociology, who recently completed a study of the sociological factors within a university student body which affect its educational process, points out that students in the typical classroom are "a collection of competing strangers who are incapable of collaborating with one another in a pleasurable pursuit of scholarship."
With part of the Carnegie grant, Baur will be spending half time next year on a study of the impact of the Centennial College project.
Other uses of the Carnegie funds will be for administration, office space and secretarial assistance, equipment, planning, and additional senior staff for teaching lower division courses.
IN THE FALL of 1967 all freshmen entering the College will be placed in "colleges within the College," 450 of them entering Centennial College to join the original 450 who will be sophomores, and the remaining 1,800 or so in four newly created colleges. In 1968 all freshmen and sophomores within the College, regardless of place of residence, will be enrolled in one of the colleges-within-the-College.
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