10
Friday, April 27, 1979
University Daily Kansan
Wayne Rogers
Staff photo by BARB KINNEY
New role different for 'Trapper John'
Almost anything beyond a whisper seems out of place in the post Eldridge House Restaurant and Club, particularly in the late afternoon quiet.
BY BLAKE GUMPRECHT
Staff Reporter
That's why Monday afternoon seemed so strange.
"I got his autograph," came the cry from one of the distant rooms in the Massachusetts Street restaurant.
Television and movie star Wayne Rogers, meanwhile, was sitting a few rooms away, sipping a glass of Burgundy in answering questions from a reactor.
Rogers, best known for his role as Trapper John in the first three seasons of TV's M*A*S*H, was in town to promote his latest film, "Once in Paris."
Indeed, it was an unusual occasion—a major Hollywood star visiting a store's size of Lawrence solely to promote a new picture.
"I've been told by people," the 44-year-old Rogers said, "that stars fly into Kansas City, give it a fast salute, and are off again.
"PEOPLE TELL ME that not many stars do what I'm doing. A lot of them make a picture and assume their part of the job is done."
Not Rogers. At least it doesn't appear that way.
His visit to Lawrence was part of a three-week tour of the country promoting "Once in Paris," which opens today at the Hillecrest Theatre at Hillecrest after four months of exclusive showings in New York City and Los Angeles.
A gimmick? Maybe, but don't try arguing that point with Rogers.
"I'm trying to sell tickets," he said bluntly. "I have the philosophy that if you believe in a picture you should show it. I believe in this picture."
"I've made other pictures that I wouldn't walk out my back door to talk about," he insisted. "I don't have to do this, but I love the picture."
"I'd stand on a corner in a town of 500 people if I could sell some tickets."
ONE THING for sure, Rogers role in "Once in Paris" is far different from any he's had.
Rogers plays a happily married American screenwriter on his first trip to rewrite a script. He ends up falling in love with an English woman.
"It's different from any part I've ever had before," he said. "This guy is inhibited, kim not inverted, and interviewed, kim not. I never played a part like that before."
"It's a very delicate part. To play a guy who really doesn't do anything, a guy who's passive, and to try and make it hard for you, but don't stretch, but I loved the challenge."
Rogers admitted that the character he played in TV's M*A*S*H was closer to his own personality.
"I think of myself as an extrovert... a . . . fun loving guy," he says, "I don't take things all that seriously. I'm out to have a good time.
"I THINK OF myself as an animal: I eat when I'm hungry and I sleep when I'm睡. But good actors can play any part. The best ones do."
Evidently the finished product of "Once in Paris" didn't turn out too bad.
"When the reviews came out in Los Angeles, Frank Gilroy called me and said some actors waited a lifetime for them. They recalled Gilroy directed the picture."
"I don't think it will be big, but it'll be good. When the critics came out with their top tels, we were in most of them.
"Award winning? No. We've already passed the Academy Awards and we didn't win anything. But we weren't produced by a large studio, so we didn't have the machine to produce the publicity."
So, Rogers is his own publicity man, hoping that "Once in Paris" will be seen more than once in Lawrence.
-UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Nightlife
Spare Time
Lawrence Opera House, 644. Massachus
seats St.
- Cole Tuckey, April 27 and 28.
- David Grisman Quintet, May 5.
- Spyro Gyra, May 4.
David Grisman Quintet, May 1.
- Cole Tuckey, April 27 and 28.
* East Scruce Revue, May 2.
Concerts
- Doobie Brothers, 8 p.m., April 27, Allen Field House.
- Visiting Artist Series Emily White, piano, with David Wetter, pianist伴奏, 8
- KU Chorale, 8 p.m., April 27, Swarthout Recital Hall
- KU Symphonic Band, 3:30 p.m. , April 29,
University Theatre.
Billy Joel 8, p.m., April 28, K-State's Ahearn Field House.
Theatre
- Equus by Peter Shaffer, 8 p.m., April 27 and May 3, University Theatre.
- Knock Knock by Julie Feifer, B p.m.
April 25, 2014, Lawrence Arts Center.
- Kabuki : theatre. The Forty-Severen Samurai, 8.p.m., May 1, University Theatre.
Recitals
Colleen Krenhan, organ, 8 p.m. April 28.
Poultry Congregation Church, 951 S. Broadway.
Francis Hornak, piano; 3:30 p.m., April 29,
Swarthout.
John Sarson, organ, 8 p.m., April 29,
Swarthot.
Brian Shearp, percussion, 8 p.m., April 30,
Swarthaw.
Student compositions recital, 8 p.m., May 3, Swarthowt.
Alfred N. Green, instrumental conducting,
8 p.m, May 1, Saworth.
Doobie tickets still being sold
Students will be able to dance to their classes in time to the music of the Doobie Brothers formerly, as taped music is broadcast on Jayhawk four times in between.
The taped music is part of an SUA concert in Palm Springs that toured concert at 8pm tonight in Alpen Field House.
Ken Desieghardt, SAU promotion manager, said Wednesday's count indicated 11,420 concert tickets had been sold, 4,279 tickets short of the sellout goal.
Designeeshad said tickets would be sold for $7 and $8 at the SUA ticket office at the Kansas University until 1 p.m. Any remaining money will be at the box office at Allen starting at 6 p.m.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Arts & Leisure
Kabuki to perform here
"Kabaki Hawaii," a theatre troupe from the University of Hawaii, will present "The Forty-Seven Samurai (Chashugura)" at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the University Theatre in
James Brandon's adaptation of the classic Japanese drama will be performed in the authentic Kabuki style, complete with costumes, wigs, music and singing.
The theme is the secret vendetta of 47 loyal men in avenging the forced suicide of their lord. The play is set in the era when a conspiracy to kill them presents a view into Japanese feudal society.
The American tour marks the U.S.
premier of the play and is the largest and
most successful of its kind.
outside of Japan, according to Andrew Tsuchida, professor of speech and drama and a professor at New York University.
There will also be an hour-long Kabuki
workshop for children at 4:15 p.m. tuesday
through friday.
The troupe's tour culminates a year of intense Kabuki training led by Nakamura Matsaguro, director of the troupe and chief conductor of the National Theatre of Japan, Tosukai said.
The workshop and performance is sponsored by the International Theatre Studies Center at KU. Tickets can be purchased at the Murphy Hall Box Office for $2.50 for the performance and 50 cents for the workshop.
Psychological trauma portrayed in 'Equus'
The intense story of the internal struggles of a 17-year-old boy who blinds six horses and the psychiatrist who treats him will close the 1978-79 theater season at KU.
Peter Shaffer's "Equus," which will be presented at 8 tonight, tomorrow and May 3-5 in the University Theatre in Murphy Hall, is based on an actual incident in Northern England in which a boy blinded 28 horses.
In Shaffer's adaptation of the story, Alan Strang, a 17-year-old stable boy, mysteriously blinds six horses with a steel spine. He is committed to a hospital where he defies the questions of Martin Dysart, the psychiatrist.
Through Strang's treatment, the meaning of the horses in the context of his confused upbringing and Dysart's private torment over his own lack of passion become clear.
Ronald Willis, professor of theatre and director of "Equus," said that even though the play had "a sense of removal" in its audience, the performance had audiences been able to identify with.
"I THINK it explores some of the concerns that all of us feel." Willis said. "There is a lack of direction and passion in our lives. The violence sense that you can't figure out in "Equus" is part of the public mind or the public sensibility today."
Wills said although the boy's twisted ideas about religion and sexuality might seem to be the focal point of the play, Dysart's own struggle was most important.
"It's not so much Alan's dilemma as it is Dvart's. 'Willis said.' He's the anguish."
The 14-member cast includes William Kuhlke, professor of theater, as Dyart and Earl Wewing, Kansas City, Mo., freshman, as Dent Bent, and Kevin Keating, Great Bend graduate student, portray Strang's religious mother and atheist father. Judith K. Deines, Lawrence senior, plays Jill Mason, whose predecessor encounters with Alan precedes the violence.
EWING, A newcomer to KU's main stage,
a said friend had told him about "Equus"
and that he had read it "a million times
since." Ewing said that although Alan's torment was personal, he could relate to much of the role.
"I think every kid at 17 or sometime during his youth feels like him," Ewing said. "I think of Alan as an extreme of everybody, who is comfortable between two almost opposite parents. I've had the same locked-up feeling myself at a time when we'd be share with so he makes a god for himself."
Ewing said the most tense scene in the play for him was the blinding of the horses at the end.
"A after a night of rehearsal I have to spend an hour winding down," he said. "I don't want to go out."
EWING SAID he felt no anxiety about the nude scene which precedes the violent blinding scene and said his parents also were understanding.
"They took it really well. It's a beautiful moment. It just fits in perfectly," he said.
"Personally I'm very uninhibited. It doesn't bother me."
For the KU production of "Equus," Delbert Unruth, associate professor of theatre, designed a sprightly wooden instrument with an original score of synthesized music written by Stanley Shumway, professor of music theory, which is based on a realist approach. Manta, Ga., junior, designed the costumes.
"Equus" is an intense drama which includes some cruelty, violence and profane language. They play also refers to sexual assaults in the workplace. Patron discretion is advised, Willis said.
Tickets for the KU production of "Equas" are on sale for $3.25, $2.50 and $1.75 at the Murphy Hall box office. KU students will be admitted free with an ID card.
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