'Slow Dance' promises bitter humor
From left to right, Ed Daub, assistant professor of history; Caryl Edwards, Monett, Mo., junior and Bob Brown, Topeka freshman, rehearse a scene "Slow Dance on the Killing Ground."
Director says play has 'brittle humor'
By JUDY JARRELL Kansan Staff Writer
It is a play about caring, not caring, alienation, the whole of love in the world.
"Slow Dance on the Killing Ground" will be presented by the United Campus Christian Fellowship (UCCF) Theatre Workshop at 8:20 p.m. Friday and Saturday and possibly May 16 and 17 in the UCCF Center, 12th and Oread.
Bill Meikle, Lawrence graduate student and director of the play, described the characters and action of the play.
Caryl Edwards, Monett, Mo., junior, plays Rosy—the young girl who is lost. She wanders into a variety store while she is searching the town to obtain an abortion.
Bob Brown, Topeka freshman, is Randall, who earlier has entered the store. Fleeing from an unspeakable crime, he is searching for a haven.
Ed Daub, assistant professor of history, portrays Mr. Glas, the store owner. Mr. Glas is a recluse who has a shadow of guilt over
May 7
1969 KANSAN 9
his head since he deserted his wife and children in the concentration camps during the war.
"They try to help each other as they dance metaphorically in rituals of touching and not touching, moving and not moving. All the time they are revealing themselves," Meikle said.
The trick is that the person who seems to hate the most is the most successful in helping the others, the director explained.
"In the end, all three are helped," he continued. "They are not helped overtly, but because they contact a beam of a kind of love, they touch each other and change each other."
What Meikle described as a "humor of humaness" is abundant throughout the play.
abandoned throughout the play.
"It is a brittle, hard humor-like New York wisecracks," he said.
At the end of the play a candle is lighted. The director said the candle is meant to relate to each individual.
"We don't need to tell what the symbol is about. We simply light the candle and go away," he said.
Meike expressed the desire that the audience would stay
after the play and talk, since the play is designed to "lead the audience towards thinking not beating their hands."
Brown said of the play, "The more I rehearse, the more I find it relates to the day. It is about today, and yet it has always existed."
Written by William Hanley,
"Slow Dance on the Killing Ground" is the second production by the UCCF Theatre Workshop this year.
Minnie Pearl's
"COUNTRY-FIED"
CHICKEN
KU's German magazine soon to be distributed
"Versuch," an undergraduate literary magazine published annually by KU's German department and reported to be the oldest of its kind in the nation, is scheduled to be distributed this week.
1730 West 23rd V1 3-8200
FREE Delivery over $5.00
Thomas Simpson, Orrington Maine, junior and co-editor, said the magazine originated in 1962 when a few undergraduate students majoring in German felt the need to provide students of Germany an opportunity to use their German in an original and creative way.
Their material, Simpson said, is original poetry, short stories and translations, coming mainly from undergraduates in German.
"We also are able to award book prizes for the best contribution," Simpson said. He
added that "Versuch" gets books and contributions from West Germany by corresponding through the German consulate in St. Louis, a representative agency of the West German government.
A spokesman from the German department said that "Versuch" was produced within the German department including the bookbinding.
Janet Fink, Kansas City, Mo. senior, is co-editor of the magazine with Simpson.
Artists
The Malls Festival of the Arts
May 17, 18
Applications at the Last Galler
Deadline May 10
Time to Take Care of Your
European Reservations
Arrange:
★ Eurailpasses
★ British Rail Passes
★ Rent or Lease a Car
★ Purchase a Car
★ Airline or Steamship Reservations
★Student Tours
★ All Other Travel Information
MAUPINTOUR
711 W.23rd (The Malls)
V13-1211
( These should be arranged as far in advance as possible. )
P. S. For those taking SUA flights, contact us for any of the services listed above.