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NEWS / THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
ARTS
Tell-all performance portrays actual student experiences
BY NANCY WOLENS nwolens@kansan.com
'KU CONFIDENTIAL'
WHAT: Created and performed by KU students
In "KU Confidential" the cast tells the audience stories that the project director said come as close as they could to a kind of uncensored, unvarnished view of students' experiences.
WHERE: The show will be at the William Inge Memorial Theatre in Murphy Hall. Seating is limited.
9 p.m. Saturday
2:30 p.m. Sunday and Feb. 13
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. today and Friday and Feb. 10, 11, 12
COST: $10 for students and children, $15 for the public and $14 for senior college, KU faculty and staff.
"We set out from the beginning to do a show that was going to speak directly to KU students and their experiences," Henry Bial, associate professor of theater, said. "We didn't want a show about young people today or a show about college as an abstract concept but specifically something that would be for KU students because it was created by KU students."
General admission tickets are on sale in the KU ticket offices:
University Theatre (864-3982), Lied Center (864-ART5) and online at www.kutheatre.com.
The performance, which opens tonight, was created and produced by University students and aims to portray what it's like to be a student at the University. Audiences will meet the inconsiderate, drunk, sex-driven roommate and the guy who can't kick his addiction. They will see what it's like to be the lonely girl in the back of biology and the awkward run-in with an ex on Wescoe Beach.
In doing a show specifically about the KU experience, the ensemble said it hoped to bring in people who perhaps haven't seen a theater performance before.
"This is all about things that go on while we're in college, and there are a lot of things that get said that I know people could relate to," said Chase, a senior from lola. "It's interactive, intimate and something students will easily enjoy."
Cast member Allison Chase said she wanted the audience to relate to the show.
"During workshop we didn't start by writing anything. We started by exploring ourselves, and so
it was kind of like group therapy every single day." Chase said. "We would go around and share our experiences that were meaningful to us, hurtful to us and really just learn how to open up and expose ourselves to judgment."
And intimacy is something this cast, which quickly became a family of 13, knows well after spending nearly every waking moment together for the past five months.
At the beginning, the cast members really weren't sure what shape the show was going to take, Bial said. They were trying to get a sense of what was on students' minds and what sorts of stories, ideas or feelings were urgent for them to express. They then went into an eight-week writing phase where the students had individual writing assignments that they eventually shared.
Howard Tinn/KANSAN
Bial said "KU Confidential" is in contrast to traditional theater, which tends to move in one direction, moving from the playwright to the director, the director to the actor and the actor to the audience.
"We don't start that way," Bial said. "It's collaboratively created, and everything doesn't even start with a written text. Sometimes we start with an idea, a song or a visual image and then build from that."
Jordan Gouge, a senior from Lawrence and member of the ensemble, said he had learned a lot about himself as an actor and a performer throughout the process.
'PAY WHAT YOU CAN'
PERFORMANCE
The cast and crew want to give everyone an opportunity to see the performance. For those who want to see "KU Confidential" but can't afford a ticket, Saturday will be a "Pay What You Can" performance that benefits the LeWan Alexander Spiritship Fund.
Attendees can come to the 9 p.m. performance and pay whatever they're able at the door as a donation.
Isaac Dean, a junior from Kansas City and a theatre major, and James Wearing, a sophomore from Salina and a theatre and English major, presents a case of college promiscuity in one of the scenes. The characters of "KU Confidential" portray everyday encounters and hardships of KU students with a comical twist.
He said his idea of what theater was and could be has greatly expanded over the rehearsal period.
"It's different right off the bat because we started without a script," Gouge said. "The performance itself is a collection of unrelated scenes, monologues, songs and other art forms that create an experience for the audience that college students understand and want to talk about."
- Edited by Kate Larrabee
Raylene Gutirezre, a sophomore from Topeka and a theatre major, portrays a victim of a roommate who doesn't seem to understand the idea of personal space. The play presents serious issues such as roommate disagreements in a comical and satirical tone.
Howard Ting / KANSAN
ODD NEWS
Drug-filled melon finds way to jail
WENATCHEE, Wash. — The donated cantaloupe that arrived at the Chelan County Regional Justice Center looked more like a pumpkin. Jail Administrator Phil Stanley said there was a noticeable cut around the top. And jail officers who intercepted the melon
Monday before it reached inmates found tobacco and a baggie full of oxycodone pills stuffed inside.
containing the melon. It was placed with surplus food that was later picked up by jail staffers. Plaza Super Jet workers called and alerted the jail after they looked at the video.
Stanley said the jail routinely uses surplus food from local grocery stores and contraband has come in with food in the past. In this case, a surveillance camera at the Plaza Super Jet had showed two young women dropping off a shopping bag
Wenatchee police spokeswoman Cherie Smith said an investigation is continuing.
Associated Press
SENATE
Snow, Stephen on agenda
Vice mayor criticizes snow ordinance
BY ANNIE VANGSNES avangsnes@kansan.com
Lawrence Vice Mayor Mike Amyx said he was in favor of revoking the city's sidewalk snowshoveling ordinance at a full meeting of the KU Student Senate Wednesday.
Amyx said he didn't think it was a good way to run a community. The ordinance fines property owners for not shoveling sidewalks after several inches of snow. Amyx said he wanted to revoke the complaint-based ordinance that was passed last year by the city commission.
"I hate to see ordinances where neighbors turn in neighbors," Amyx said.
He also spoke about the city and the University's joint bus system
and the new downtown retail task force.
Amyx spoke to the body as part of a city-Student Senate partnership.
As a small downtown business owner, he said he understood the influence of KU students and their purchasing power in the local community.
Elise Higgins, Student Senate community affairs director and a senior from Topeka, said she started the partnership last semester to improve the relationship between Senate and the city government. She said the partnership was designed for commissioners to address Senate directly about their relationship to the University and to discuss their goals.
Edited by Ashley Montgomery
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Colbert given honorary title
BY ANNIE VANGSNES avangnes@kansan.com
Stephen Colbert is officially KU's honorary student body president.
Student Senate passed a resolution Wednesday night giving Colbert the honor. The resolution was an attempt by senator Tom Cox to generate interest in the University and Student Senate.
Cox said he was excited that the bill passed.
The bill was changed to a resolution before going to a vote so that there were no changes to Senate's actual rules and regulations.
Cox said senators sometimes get bogged down with partisanship and debate and that this bill was meant to lighten the mood.
"I know some people have thought, 'This is silly; why would we do this?' he said. "My answer is Stephen Colbert is awesome, and it's an awesome idea."
Cox said the next step was for current Student Body President Mason Heilman to sign the resolution.
Cox said he planned to send Colbert a copy of the resolution and a letter inviting him to visit the University.
He said he also wants to get an engraved gravel for Colbert that says "Stephen T. Colbert, Honorary Student Body President of KU"
Edited by Katie Blankenau
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