CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, March 6, 1997
3
Merry Wives, busy actors on stage
Play's focus is flabby Falstaff
Amanda Arbuckle
Kansan Staff Reporter
Some of the 21 students performing in the University of Kansas production of The Merry Wives of Windsor will have to be as versatile as they are talented. As there are more characters than actors, some will be playing as many as four roles.
The Merry Wives of Windsor will be performed this weekend and next weekend at the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall. Curtain time is 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
and food by taking advantage of others.
Written by Shakespeare and set in Windsor, England, the play is about Falstaff, an enormous, gross, unscrupulous retired soldier. Falstaff gets money, lodging
After misleading two men to believe that he is having affairs with their wives, the two wives plot their revenge against Falstaff.
Ron Popenhagen, assistant professor of theater and film, directed the play with his wife, Ludvika, also an assistant professor of theater and film. Popenhagen said he had chosen the play because of its strong folk elements and amusing story.
Steven Timoner, Chicago graduate student who plays Falstaff, said the play placed him in unfamiliar territory.
"It has a world-turned-upside-down feel to it," Ron Popenhagen said. "It is theater that is meant to be performed, rather than a play to be read. It's a fast-moving, colorful, action play."
Steve Puppe / KANSAN
other plays, I've been able to rely on my singing."
Timoner said he also struggled with the timing of Shakespeare's writing.
"I am an opera singer, and Wives was a different direction for me," Timoner said. "This is the first straight play I have been in. In
"There's a rhythm that is meant to be followed through the words, and that was difficult to find sometimes," he said. "But keeping and changing the rhythm is important for the audience."
Juliette Humphrey, a Shrewsbury, England, junior, never has been in a production as big as The Merry Wives of Windsor.
"This play is the highlight of my trip," said Humphrey, who is a study abroad student from the University of Wales. "It's a rare opportunity for me to get to perform on a stage as big as the Crafton-Prever."
Timoner said that rehearsals for the play had begun in late January and the process had been rushed.
"We only had one month to put it together, and we're still working some details out," he said.
Popenhagen said he enjoyed
Students take part a dress rehearsal for Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. The play will be performed at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre.
watching the play, knowing the work that had gone into it.
"There are so many eccentric
characters, and it's a pleasure watching the actors find their characters," he said.
Cloning makes for bright future
By Jeff Ruby
Kansan staff writer
I don't care what they say. Cloning is the answer to all of our problems, or at least all of mine.
A few ambitious scientists announced last week perhaps the biggest biological breakthrough of the century. Taking DNA from the mammary glands of a Scottish sheep, they managed to clone an exact replica.
Lots of folks are up in arms, quick to point out the ethical responsibility scientists now face. We're told it soon will be possible to clone human beings. The implications, scientists say, could be disastrous. Biologists could create a master race, a group of people so genetically similar that a single virus could wipe them all out. We're continually reminded that human cloning is not only immoral, it also will be illegal.
COMMENTARY
What a shame.
Our quality of life would improve tenfold if the brilliant Scots allowed me to clone the following people:
■ Gary Larson, the guy who drew The Far Side. Maybe his duplicate wouldn't mind continuing the original's brilliant comic strip. This action alone would
harmoniously bring together all walks of life worldwide.
Five Wilt Chamberlains and five Michael Jordans. They could play the best basketball game of all time. We'd find out if Wilt, as he says, is really the greatest ever. Chamberlain's replicas could improve the economy, causing staggering effects on the stock market by lifting the Trojan company to its best quarterly earnings ever.
Countless George Lucases.
This way, we wouldn't have to wait until 1999 to see the next Star Wars movie. Hell, if we make enough Lucases, they could crank out one of those bad boys every couple of weeks.
Chewbacca could have his own film.
U2. I'd love to see if the group's unnatural offspring could make more great albums on par with The Joshua Tree, or if the new Bono and the boys would jump straight to their crappy, techno, Kmart, rock star posing.
- The entire nation of Canada.
I'm not sure why. Maybe to see if they'd still pronounce "sorry" as "sorey" and "out" as "oot."
to fix Courtney Love's DNA to make her disintegrate or something.
Mike Tyson. I'd fork out $49.95 for pay-per-view to watch the two of them beat the (explative) out of each other. Then we could clone Riddick Bowe to see if a pre-millionaire Bowe could cut it in the Marines, or if he was just a spoiled brat to begin with.
Hey, as long as we're cloning,
maybe we could figure out a way
Jason Sutherland, Missouri Tigers' infamous hoopster. A pack of wolves could raise the little tyke, and we could see if his demeanor improves.
The hit-and-run drunk driver whose car rear-ended mine last summer on 23rd Street. Maybe the two of them could have a head-on collision, leaving them to suffer in adjoining rooms at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
George Burns. But let's take away his cigars and see if he still lives to be 100. While we're at it, let's place him in a recording studio 24 hours a day with our clones of The Spice Girls and see how long he lasts.
So you see, a lot of interesting experiments and potentially satisfying situations would arise if we legalized cloning. Ethics, schmethics. Give me the zany exploits of 43 Joe Pescis and let the fun begin.
Residence hall laundry machines to be replaced
By Harumi Kogarimal
Kansan staff writer
One thousand students in University residence halls have complained that washing machines and driers did not work well.
Randy Timm, assistant director for the department of student housing, said that since the Association of University Residence Halls distributed a petition to all residence halls Feb. 21, about 1,000 signatures had been collected.
Timm said the petition from students would be passed along to the housing department, the state purchasing office and Jetz Service Company Inc. in Topeka.
Many students complained that driers did not dry clothes completely, and that clothes often had to be out through two or three cycles.
"I think the machines are junk," said Lindsay Yantzi, Kemmerer, Wyo., freshman. "I heard a rumor that they would change washing machines and driers during Christmas break. It's really disappointing that they didn't."
The housing department planned to change laundry facilities last year and submitted the request to the University's Purchasing Office, Timm sad.
Diane Goddard, director of the
Purchasing Office, said that the state and University's purchasing offices both approved the request from the housing department last year and placed a bid.
Goddard said that the bid had been closed when a vendor protested that the specification was too restrictive because it required the vendor to replace all machines and to include smart-card features, which allow students to prepay for laundry services.
"We recognize those machines need to be replaced," Goddard said. "But this is a huge capital outlet. We decided we need to pull back for six months or so until we can provide more information about equipment."
The Purchasing Office is in the process of revising the specification, Goddard said. It will be rebidding again this month and a new vendor will be supplying new machines by the beginning of the summer semester.
Timm said that, even though the Purchasing Office is scheduled to rebid, he hoped the petition would be helpful because it showed that a large number of students were displeased with the service.
"If 1000 students said there was a problem with the service, I think it is very significant," Timm said.
Scholarship to be given for activism
By Amy Rush
Special to the Kansan
The scholarship is the first of its kind in the University's history.
A University of Kansas student who demonstrates activism and supports the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community will be awarded a $500 scholarship next fall.
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Leader Scholarship began in December 1991 with a letter and a check for $500. Chris Caldwell, Los Angeles resident and 1979 KU graduate, donated the money to the Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas.
In the letter, Caldwell told of friend and fellow KU graduate, Don Green, who had died of AIDS-related complications earlier that year.
Caldwell and Green met at KU in 1979 but did not come out to each other until they met again in 1989
"I would like to think that this would have happened sooner if gay and lesbian students had been more visible when we were at KU," Caldwell wrote. "I hope that the enclosed check will help further your mission."
A minimum of $10,000 is required by the Kansas University Endowment Association to officially endow a scholarship. Since the letter was received, funds for the scholarship have been raised by the Gay and Lesbian Alumni Association, Gay and Lesbian Academics and Staff Advocates, Straight Allies, the graduate assistants of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns, members of Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas, LesBiGay Services of Kansas and KU Queers and Allies.
Former Olympic diver Greg Louganis, who spoke at KU during the 1995 Awareness Week, donated his $5,000 honorarium to the scholarship fund. KU alumnus Kenneth George donated enough money to meet the final $10,000 goal so the scholarship could be available for fall.
Applications can be picked up in front of the scholarship office at 33 Strong Hall, in the KU Queers and Allies office at 423 Kansas Union and in the Student Assistance Center at 22 Strong Hall. Any student enrolling for fall can apply. The application is due March 14.
Sexual orientation does not have to be disclosed and will not be a factor in determining the recipient.
The winner will be announced in April during Pride Week, an event sponsored by KU Queers and Allies.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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