The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, March 1, 2001
Music
Section B • Page 3
'Blithe Spirit' offers students fun and farce
By Clare McLellan
By Clare McLettan
jayplay@kansan.com
jayplay critic
Jayplay critic
Judging from Tuesday night's dress rehearsal of the University Theatre's "Blithe Spirit," the show is sure to delight audiences when it opens tomorrow night.
Written by Noel Coward in 1941 and set in England, "Blithe Spirit" is a farcical story about a love triangle among a husband, his wife and a ghost. Time has not altered the spirit of the show — the fun-filled story still provokes many laughs.
The play opens with Ruth and Charles Condomine (played by Mo Perry, Eden Prarie, Minn., sophomore, and John Buxton, Wichita senior) preparing to give a dinner party with a seance to follow. Charles, a novelist, is working on a story about spiritualism, so he invites local medium Madame Arcati (Ginger Dee Bartoski) to the party so he can observe her in action. No one expects her summoning of spirits to work, but the ghost of Charles' first wife, Elvira (Rita DeLoach, Lawrence sophomore), appears after the guests leave and creates much trouble in the Condomines' usually calm life.
The supporting roles of Dr. and Violet Bradman (Charlie Hirsch, Los Angeles senior, and Kate Haugan, Lenexa junior) and Edith the maid (Geri Lisa Cohen, Jamaica, N.Y., senior) are well-defined for their brief moments on stage. Perry (seen last semester in "Angels in America"), Buxton and DeLoach are all sharp and convincing in their parts, but the standout of the show is Bartoski's Madame Arcati. She embodies this part so completely, from her flamboyant gestures to the energy she exudes in
the delivery of her lines. It is easy to forget she isn't Madame Arcati in real life.
The grand two-story set beautifully fills the stage at Crafton-Preyer Theatre, making the supernatural come to life.
Alumnus publishes novel online
By Sarah Smarsh
writer @kanson.com
kriteri staff writer
Elements such as the cold, blue light cast on Elvira when she is on stage, coupled with her airy purple costume and dark makeup, give the character her ghostly feel. Jami Montroy, Lawrence senior and student costume designer, did some good work with the 1940s-era clothing, especially in Ruth's ensembles.
professor of theater and film, did a remarkable job in giving the actors significant playground in which to work. The set provides many of the gags that ensue.
A University of Kansas alumnus has published his debut novel online, more than a decade after he began writing it.
Ned Stafford, a 1983 KU graduate,
started posting chapter installments of *Try to Remember*, a few weeks ago at
Stafford was nine when his father, Bob, died in 1965. He said the stories that led to the novel surfaced when he talked to Bob's brother, well-known poet William Stafford, in 1987.
www.nedstafford.com. The book, based on the life of Stafford's father, takes place in El Dorado and other Kansas towns.
Stafford called his book an oral history because it was rooted in extensive, recorded conversations with family members.
Play info:
Yet, he said the book was art, not a drv, factual account.
"People outside of the Staffora family and people who do not know us will be gripped by the story," he said. "People will see themselves in the book."
Edited by Megan Phelps
The play starts off a bit slow and runs a bit long — about two and a half hours. But it quickly shifts into high gear and several frantic scenes keep the audience laughing and the momentum going. The story isn't terribly compelling, but it certainly is a lot of fun.
Stafford said he would not reveal specific events in the book because he was releasing the book in installments to maximize its suspense.
The book's appeal is universal, Stafford said, because it is "devas-
Stafford said he had been getting people to talk for Try to Remember... since 1987, at one point quitting his job as a reporter to concentrate on the project. By 1996 — many edits and revisions later — the book was nearly complete. But publishers turned it down. Stafford spent the next few years "hoarding a treasure."
"Bilthe Spirit" at the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall.
Paul Jess, who was general manager of the University Daily Kansan when Stafford was a reporter, said Stafford was a hard worker who looked for unusual stories. He said Stafford also was good at getting a story, a skill he used in interviews with family members for his current project.
"He likes to develop a relationship with his sources, to get them to tell him things they wouldn't tell others," Jess said. "He could get them to talk."
tatingly open" rather than a "syrupy remembrance."
The book came to Stafford's mind a few weeks ago when his wife said their daughter had lips like his mother's.
Playing 7:30 tomorrow night;
Saturday; Thursday, March
8; Friday, March 9; Saturday,
March 10. Playing 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 11.
"I thought of Mom, and then the book," Stafford said. "No one in my family had seen the book all these years. The time had come."
Stafford said he published the book online so people could read it and so his family could finally see it. Stafford added it could give a marketing benefit to EuropeFN, his online financial news and
Stafford said writing the book was an emotional process. Even though he received permission from his mother to write the book, Stafford said the finished product proved to be an emotional experience for the relatives it mentioned.
information company. Stafford founded the company in 1999 in Germany, where he lives with his wife and two children.
1983 Kansas graduate Ned Stafford has written a book about his father, Bob, and the trials and tribulations he faced growing up and raising a family in Kansas. Above is a photo of a grown Bob Stafford holding Chris Stafford and kneeling next to children Robby and Nancy Stafford. The book, entitled Try to Remember..., can be read at the author's web site www.nedstafford.com. Contributed photo
Stafford's publication of the book has been complicated by financial problems at EuropeFN, which he said were taking time and energy he would like to devote to his book's publication.
Students $6 and $7; public $12 and $14; senior citizens $11 and $13.
"I have been able to forgive him, and see him for what he is — a human being." Stafford said.
"I'm very aware of what effect it could have on the family," he said.
Some of those tears have been his own, he said, but years of learning about and immortalizing his father's life became therapeutic.
But Stafford felt a pressing need to unveil his writing and the realities therein, using the Internet as an easy medium.
"Indications are that a lot of tears are flowing already," he said.
could have on the family," he said. Stafford said one of his sisters described the book as difficult to read.
"My goal was not to write history," Stafford said. "My goal was to find truth."
—Edited by Jacob Roddy
Wit, poetry, lyrics meet on new album The Matthew Good Band Beautiful Midnight (Atlantic)
From the comedic antics of Norm McDonald and SCTV to the dramatic genius of Michael J. Fox, Canadians seem to understand the world of entertainment far better than Americans.
This hypothesis is reaffirmed by Canada's newest set of stars, the Matthew Good Band. Combining an alternative rock sound that hasn't
been heard since the mid-1990s with lyrics that are at times witty and at times poetic, the Matthew Good Band is on a road of success and fame. To put it simply, the Matthew Good Band is pretty darn good.
If their American album debul
Beautiful Midnight does as well here
as it did in Canada, the Matthew Good Band will become a big success. The album features the hit singles "Load Me Up" and "Strange Days." The band lists its primary influences as Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Noam Chomsky, Francis Bacon, U2 and the Pixies. Nowhere can you hear all of these influences better than on what is perhaps the best track on the album, the witty and controversial "Hello Time Bomb." It is a brief narrative of the classic working man pushing himself until he explodes.
The only negative factor of this album is it tends to get monotonous, the songs sometimes blend and it's hard to tell if the track changed. Maybe the band wanted it that way, but Canada has produced another talented group of stars that will blow American competition out of the water.
The Matthew Good Band is the type of band you want to listen to if you miss the alternative rock days of the mid-90s.
Melitta George
Gospel album bright from storytelling Kate Campbell Wandering Strange
Kate Campbell is the daughter of a Baptist preacher, and she wants you to know it., Wandering Strange is Campbell's fourth release, and her first attempt at making a Gospel album.
Campbell's strength lies in her sto-
Campbell's Streng rytelling, which has been compared to Flannery O'Conner and William Faulkner. Like those authors, Campbell's experiences with religion
serve as a springboard for stories about wayfaring strangers, repentant sinners, crusading pilgrims and Satan's snares. These stories have universal appeal and should appeal to audiences of all religious affiliations, or even to those with no chosen faith.
Although she has drawn comparisons to Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams, Campbell cultivates a unique sound that incorporates elements of soul, R&B, southern rock, and folk music. Campbell's voice does not have the gravel-road appeal of Lucinda Williams' scratchy warble, but rather a sweet, soulful strength that befits a choir girl from Sledge, Miss.
In fact, many of the songs on this album were drawn from her experiences as a child. Three of the songs are 18th century hymns set to modern arrangements, courtesy of Muscle Shoals studios, which recorded Gospel albums for Bob Dylan as well as albums for the Allman Brothers and Aretha Franklin.
Michael Sudhalter
March 6,7 and 8
Tuesday - Thursday
10 AM-3 PM
Kansas Union 4th floor lobby
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Saturday: 10-4:00
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- Great 3 bdrm values
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The Correlation between Asian Dating Patterns and Internalized Oppression with Bertrand Wang
Does being Asian affect who you date? Does dating someone Asian affect how you act?
This is potentially an explosive issue to discuss in large groups simply because of the strong emotions and feelings attached. Participants are asked to identify symptoms and behaviors caused from internalized oppression (like wanting to remove epicanthic folds with an operation). Followed by a discussion, participants share their views on the correlation between dating patterns and internalized oppression. Not for the timid, you must be ready to have this discussion. Open to all.
Different views are welcome.
Thursday, March 1st, 2001 from 5-8 p.m. Burge Union, Frontier Room Come prepared to get involved! FREE!
KU Hillel Spring Speaker Series presents Rabbi Ari Perl
All sessions are free.
How to Register for the Speaker Series
All sessions are free.
Talk will be held this Sunday,
Feb 25th from 5:00 p.m. until
approximately 6:30 p.m.at the
KU Hillel House located at 940
Mississippi in Lawrence, KS.
- Refreshments & snacks will be served.
- Please call Hillel at 749-5397 to register for sessions so that we can accommodate you.
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