2006
THURSDAY, MARCH 9. 2006
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 5A
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Wendy Caseier, Topeka senior, sings during a rehearsal of Aristophanes.” "A Congress of Women” at the Inge Theatre in Murhvall Hall Wednesday. The ovle will run tndav to March 19.
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Lavinia Roberts, Parsons sophomore, and Wendy Casebier, Topeka senior, rehearse for the University Theatre's spring production of Aristophanes" "A Congress of Women" in Murphy Hall Wednesday. The first performance will be today in the William Inga Theatre in Murphy Hall.
Women take over the world
BY DEJUAN ATWAY
datway@kansan.com
KANSAN STATE WRITER
Women will hold all the power and control every government institution. Men will be forced to serve a subservient role when the curtain rises at the William Inge Memorial Theatre tonight.
The play "A Congress of Women" begins at 7:30 p.m. at Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall. It is scheduled to run through March 19.
The play, written and directed by associate professor of theatre and film Dennis Christilles, is an adaptation of the ancient Greek comedy "Ecclesiazusae" by Aristophanes.
The play depicts the lives of a revolutionary group of women who have decided to take over the government because the men in their society have displayed no signs of reliable leadership.
The play discusses how people are often enamored with images rather than ideas, Christilles said. The message of the play is that people are much more likely to buy into what you have to say if you have a catchy slogan than if you have something important and significant to say.
"The women sell change as if it was a product, but there is not a lot of content to what they have to say," Christilles said. "Even though governments may change or switch parties, without substantial planning and thought behind it, it will be the same old mess over and over again."
Christilles said he left many of the basic scenes in Aristophanes' play untouched, but updated some of the holes in the plot and modernized many of the jokes.
As with many Greek plays, the chorus plays a major role in the production. Aubree Bowen, Augusta Junior, plays Artemisia,
"I'm so excited to get an audience," she said. "We have been rehearsing a long time now; we actually started a little bit last semester. Opening night will be wonderful."
Relaxing and sitting in the actors' green room Tuesday night, echoes of anticipation grew between the actors. Dale Buchheister, Manhattan senior, who plays Aristophanes, said that rehearsing night after night in front of the cast and crew had become a monotonous task. They have all heard the same jokes and dialogue for a few months now, but the excitement and mood will change once an audience is in the stands.
a member of the chorus. She said the cast and crew were eagerly looking forward to opening night.
ple; we need people laughing at our jokes," Buchheister said. "When we have an audience, it will be the first time that audience has ever seen it, and we
"We have a very young cast, and we're at a point right now where we need people to perform too. We need fresh peo-
should perform it like it is our first time. I think we're ready for that."
—Edited by Meghan Miller
CRIME
Arrests made in church fires
Blazes set as a "joke" by three college students
BY JAY REEVES THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Three college students, including two aspiring actors known around campus as pranksters, were arrested Wednesday in a string of nine church fires that spread fear across Alabama last month.
Federal agents said the defendants claimed that the first few blazes were set as "a joke" and that the others were started to throw investigators off the track.
Gov. Bob Riley said the fires did not appear to be "any type of conspiracy against organized religion" or the Baptist faith,
Benjamin Nathan Moseley and Russell Lee Debusk Jr. both 19-year-old students at Birmingham-Southern College, appeared in federal court and were ordered held on church arson charges pending a hearing Friday. Matthew Lee Cloyd, 20-year-old junior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, was also arrested.
The fires broke out at five Baptist churches in Bibb County south of Birmingham on Feb. 3 and four Baptist churches in west Alabama on Feb. 7. The federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency had made the investigation its top priority, with scores of federal agents joining state and local officers.
"While all three are entitled to have their day in court, we are very hopeful that this is the end to the fear that has been rampant in West Alabama," said
Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala
Five churches were destroyed and four damaged. In many cases, the fire was set in the sanctuary near the altar. No one was injured.
Acquaintances said DeBusk and Moseley were both amateur actors who were known as pranksters and dreamed of becoming stars. They performed in campus plays and appeared in a documentary film.
Moseley confessed to the arsons after his arrest, investigators said in court papers.
The papers said Moseley told agents that he, Cloyd and Debusk went to Bibb County in Cloyd's sport utility vehicle on Feb. 2 and set fire to five churches. A witness quoted Cloyd as saying Moseley did it "as a joke and it got out of hand."
Moseley also told agents the four fires in west Alabama were set "as a diversion to throw investigators off," an attempt that "obviously did not work," the court papers said.
Agents said previously that there appeared to be no racial pattern in the fires; some were white congregations, some were black ones. The three students are white and all either attend or previously were enrolled at Birmingham-Southern, a Methodist-affiliated liberal arts college.
Jim Parker, pastor of Ashby Baptist Church at Brierfield, a Blibb County church destroyed in the spree, said the congregation had been worried that the arsonists had some "political or religious agenda." He said he had spoken to federal agents and understood the defendants were promising students from good families.
"We really are concerned about them as people," he said. "I would just like to know what they were thinking."
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