lifestyles
SamulNori, a Korean and dance ensemble, will perform at the Lied Center Thursday, Feb. 15, 1996, as a part of the New Directions Series.
Follow the Lied
Five concert series form the base 1995-96 season at the Lied Center, which will also include hundreds of other performances
By Susanna Löof Special to the Kansan
rom the Bolshoi
Ballet Ensemble
and the New York
City Opera, to the
University of
Kansas Symphony
Orchestra
and Rock Chalk Revue, the stage at the Lied Center attracts a variety of artists.
Of the hundreds of performances that will be given at the Lied Center during the 1995-1996 season, 23 will be presented by the Lied Center. They will be presented in five series: Concert, Swarthwout Chamber Music, New Directions, Broadway and Special Events.
The variety in the program of next season's Lied Series should attract many different people, said Jacqueline Z. Davis, director of the Lied Center. She also said every performance in the series was important for different reasons.
"The Brentano String Quartet, for example, is significant for its very high quality," she said.
The Brentano String Quartet will conclude the Swarthout Chamber Music Series with a concert next April.
Another important performance is the play "Angels of America," Davis said.
"I saw 'Angels of America' in Chicago," she said. "And I will never forget it. It is a provocative commentary of our contemporary life."
"Angels of America" is a Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play written by Tony Kushner. It will be performed at Lied Center as a part of the Special Events Series at the beginning of February.
This comedy tells a story in two parts about the breakup of a married Mormon couple and a gay male couple. The play is set in New York City during the Reagan era.
Other performances in the Special Events Series will be "An Italian Straw Hat," which will be signed by the National Theatre of the Deaf, and the musical "Cinderella," by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
The most popular series among students is the New Directions Series, said Karen Christilles, director of public relations at the
Lied Center. The New Directions Series will open in September with a performance by an African-American drum and dance ensemble, the Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago. That performance is one of the three parts of a theme called "Drumming and Dancing Across Cultures." The series is partly financed by the National Endowment of Arts.
The performances in "Drumming and Dancing Across Cultures" show how movement changes from culture to culture, Davis said.
"Muntu is very fast and lively," she said. "You almost become exhausted just from looking at it."
Another performance in the series will be given by SamulNori, an ensemble of Korean master drummers and dancers, will be given in February.
"SamulNori is slower and different in mood." Davis said.
Student season tickets for the series went on sale yesterday. Prices range from $40 to $75, depending on what seats and which series the tickets are for. Because the Student Senate finances part of Lied Center's activities, 35 percent of the tickets to four of the series are reserved for students until two weeks before the performance.
For the Broadway series, 20 percent of the tickets are reserved for students until two weeks before the performance. The Broadway Series includes "Five Guys Named Moe" in October, "Jesus Christ Superstar" in November and "Girl" in April.
Representatives of KU students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the Lawrence community and the Lied Center's board, all serve on the committee.
Davis and an advisory committee choose the artists performing in the Lied Series.
Most students prefer to buy individual tickets instead of season tickets, Christilles said. Individual student ticket prices range from $7.50 to $17.50, depending on which performance it is and what seat the ticket is valid for.
The performances in the Broadway Series are most expensive. Individual student tickets for all performances during the 1995- 1996 season will go on sale Aug. 14.
“五爷 Guys Named Moe” will be performed at the Lied Center Saturday, Oct. 14, as a part of the Broadway Series.
Coming to the Lied Center Concert Series
Oct. 28: Aman Folk Ensemble Nov.17: St. Louis Symphony Jan.19: Kathleen Battle March 8-9: "La Traviata," New York City Opera National Company
April 16: The Bolshoi Ballet Ensemble Swarthout Chamber Music Series
Swarthout Chamber Music Series
Oct. 1: Chanticleer
Nov. 8: Tafelmusik
Feb. 4: PhilharmonicaVirtuosi
March 3: Juilliard String Quartet
April 2: Brentano String Quartet
New Directions Series
March 20:"Drumming and Dancing Across Cultures," The Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago Oct. 11: "La Belle et la Bete," Philip Glass Feb 15: SamulNori March 13: Donald Byrd/The Group April 3: Ping Chong
Broadwav Series
Oct. 14: "Five Guys Named Moe"
Nov. 3: "Jesus Christ, Superstar"
April 10: "Gigi"
Special Events Series
Nov. 1: "An Italian Straw Hat," National Theatre of the Deaf Nov. 30: "Cinderella" Feb. 2-3: "Angels in America," Part I: Millennium Approaches Feb 3-4: "Angels in America," Part II:Perestroika
April 27: R. Carlos Nakai
SEEDS OF OUR DESTRUCTION
Last year, residents of an area near Renton, Wash., grew weary of the state's three-year planning and permitting process for renovating a dangerous highway intersection. Six neighbors, using private equipment and money, built their own turn lane on the highway in December.
The state transportation agency was highly critical, listing several laws and regulations that the people violated, but, asked the six people, "Why should we wait for their multimillion-dollar turn lane that never comes?"
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
According to a report in the Toledo Blade in October, some deaf parents rejoice that their children also are deaf because they see themselves not as handicapped but as a linguistic minority.
Last spring, about 20 deaf protesters demonstrated in front of Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Canada, against the use of bionic ear
implants for children. Said one protester, "I've grown up be ing deaf. and I
haven't missed anything."
In February, in Islamabad, Pakistan, a Christian boy, 14, and his uncle were convicted of blaspheming Islam and given mandatory death sentences.
The boy had written an anti-Islam message in chalk on a wall and then immediately had erased it. The next week, another court overturned the conviction because no evidence existed against the two — since the words had been erased, and all eyewitnesses feared repeating the words, even in court.
MISCELLANEOUS ELOQUENCE
■ University of California anthropology professor Alan Dundes, quoted in the Wall Street Journal in March explaining why some people collect items from McDonald's restaurants (e.g., Big Mac wrappers, Happy Meal toys). "The arches, if you want to look at it that way, could be breasts. [Many people see] McDonald's as a big nurturing place to get your meals."
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