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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 24, 1969)
5& EHIBKUkSISik.BJ r- ir: it Tuesday, June 24, 1969 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA No. 3 ) ' 1 I Mr NVit I : Robert Hall who is directing "Much Ado About Nothing" hopes to put some of the fun back into the play and present it the way he thinks Shakespeare wrote it. Opening night is Friday, June 27 at 8 p.m. 'Much Ado' director sets style of play "It is very active, very emotional. There is a to: of spectacle, a lot of col or and a lot of fire." Robert Hall, who is directing William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," was describing the style he is setting for the play which opens the University's Summer Repertory. Theatre season Friday, June 27. "' 'Much Ado' is an active play, changing constantly from the serious to the funny," he says. "There is no time to get bored. As soon as the play gets serious, something funny hap pens." HALL CONSIDERS the play to be one of Shakespeare's three best com edies. The other two are "Twelfth Night," which he directed last year, and "As You Like It," which was done on the Howell stage about three years ago. The main plot revolves around Claudio's love for Hero, daughter of the Governor of Messina. A subordinate plot introduces the comic lovers, Beatrice and Benedick, whose "fUmg" in love Is achieved through the help of friends. The pair cannot help insulting each other and they are tricked Into revealing their hearts in an exceptional comedy of wit and manners which is quite contemporary. The villian of the play Is Don John, who is brought to justice through the comic escapades of Constable Dogberry and his men. 'tall has placed the play In an 1823 setting to underline the period of the Light Eriga;!e. He feels that this period comes closer to the sense of the play than an Elizabethan setting would. "It is harder for an audience to recognize soldiers in Elizabethan cos tumes. Hesiies, the armor would bo clumsy," he said. The important thing, he says, is to Interpret the play for its action and movement, and not to give It stately, 1? .y.yW'''"!!'.- U" The no parking sign is not needed i I dignified, poetic qualities. "It's a lot of bunk to put poetry in where it does not exist. Much of the play is prose with a fast, funny lialogue,'' he said. Hall, a graduate student in theatre, 'sees his directing Job as one of in erpretation. "We have the finest group of actors ever assembled. With actors like these, the director's job is different. We work together," he said. "During rehearsal, I may ask an actor to do his lines differently. He does and we see if it works. " Hall considers the four or five weeks of rehearsals as only experimentation. Once the play opens "is when you really start with it," he says. "The most exciting thing Is the meeting between the actors and the audience. Opening night is when you start working on the essence of what live theatre is all about." Hall likes the idea of repertory theatre because it gives the director and the actors time to continue work 'ng with the play. "WITH A STRAIGHT run, you are lone after six or eight performances. In repertory, you have time to think about the play, time to find the very best in the play," he said. "There is a lot more fun In Shakespeare's, productions than most people are led to believe," Hall says. And he is hoping to catch some of this fun as it must have appeared on an Elizabethan stage. On the inside pages TRIP TO RESERVATION: Two graduate students recall a recent trip to two South Dukota Indian reservations page 2 PRIVATE COLLEGES: A louralinm student Investigates the financial problems facing private colleges page Z PRAIRIE SCHOONER: Literary magazine features the Univer sity of Nebraska's Centennial In a recent Issue page S ft anymore. Half of North Side Avenue lies in a heap near what was Black student coordinator is being The University has a black student coordinator, for, the summer at least. Walt Strong, residence director of Abel Hall, has had the job since June 3. Candidates for a full-time black student coordinator and a black stu dent counselor are being interviewed. But the administration and black students involved in the selection have not yet agreed on choices. One of the problems, according to Russell Brown, associate dean of stu dent affairs, is that many schools are looking for persons qualified for such positions. . "THE COORDINATOR'S prime responsibility is that he must be able to relate effectively to minority group students. We have felt that it is im portant for the coordinator to be black,"' Brown said. The market for such qualified persons is "very limited and there is quite a high demand," he added. Responsibilities of the coordinator include: helping to identify and encourage high school students from minority groups and low income families to attend the University. developing programs for persons from these backgrounds to meet their Complaints voiced about library hours Love Library's shortened summer hours has caused some complaints 'among students. Joan Philips, a graduate student in English, has been doing research work in the library for a paper that she is writing. "I am there for a large part of the day and just about every night," she said. "The library is the best place to study. But the hours are in-' adequate." The library is open from 7:30 a.m. to 9:20 p.m. Monday through Thurs day. On Fridays, it is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. and on Saturdays, it is from 7:50 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. The library is closed on Sunday. Larry Evers, another graduate stu dent, says that the only extended . period of time that a summer school student has to work on an assigned paper is during the weekend. "But the library hours are reduced on the weekend by 50 percent during the summer," he said. "It's impossible to anticipate all of the materials you will need in writing a paper. Even if you could, you would need a shopping cart to take all of the books home with you." He added that although every stu dent on campus does not use the library, the library "should be open and not locked" for those students who need to use it. "I think there should be a re-orientation of priorities at the library, especially concerning weekend hours," he said. There "seemed to be quite a few people at the library last Friday afternoon" that were forced to leave when a buzzer signaled the 4:50 p.m. continued on page 3 . T v, i I " - filled for summer special needs and to enhance their success at the University. This in cludes both pre-college programs and programs while the student is at the University. getting funds for these programs from both governmental and private sources. The University administration was working in this area "before the Afro American Collegiate Society (AACS) put forth their concerns" during peaceful demonstrations in the middle of April, Brown said. ALTHOUGH "many things were started prior" to the demonstrations, the concern expressed by the AACS "helped us to develop better un derstanding of the needs," he added. The fact that the administration agreed not to hire anyone with whom the students involved cannot work is not a new procedure, according to Brown.- "Involving students in the hiring is consistent with what has been done in other areas of student affairs, in cluding the hiring of residence direc tors," he said. After three weeks on the job as interim black student coordinator, Strong feels rather optimistic. "We have got the recruitment of The architect's drawing of Phase I of the the Engineering Complex. Newest construction project to move engineering college The parking lot south of Nebraska Hall is no longer a parking lot. Earth moving equipment have begun ex cavations for Phase I of an engineer ing complex. When the $5.1 million building is comple.ted in the spring of 1971, it will provide teaching and research laboratories for four departments in the College of Engineering and Architecture the engineering mechanics, the electrical, t h e mechanical and the civil engineering departments. The building's approximate size of 150,000 gross square fet't will Increase the space which these four departments now have by 50 per cent. Additional floors could be added to the three-story building at a future date. "BUT WHAT IS more Important." says John R. Davis, dean of the col lege, "the new building provides more modern space for the type o f engineering program needed to day." 44 once a parking lot south of Nebraska Hall since construction began minority group students off of the ground and their enrollment has in creased. Plans for a summer orienta tion program in the latter part of August are coming along," he said. STRONG HAS already recruited 21 minority group students for the University this fall and he is in the process of visiting about 30 others. Recruitment involves sitting down with the potential student and his parents and explaining how to go about applying to the University, how to get financial aid and what a college education means. "If the person has any committment to get an education, then I feel com pelled to help him or her," Strong said. He helps the - student fill out the admission forms and picks up transcripts from the high school counselor in order to get the applica tion to the University. He explains the sources of financial aid available, such as the Equal Op portunity grant, National Defense loans and work-study programs. He helps the parents fill out financial statements. "FOR THE MOST part, a minority Three of the departments are presently housed in some of the oldest buildings on campus. The civil engineering department is located In Stout Hall which was built in 1898. The mechanical .engineers are in Richards Hall built in 1910, and the engineering mechanics depart ment is in Bancroft Hall, which used to be a Lincoln grade school. "We have been needing more modern labs,", Davis said. "If the students we train are going to operate in a modern world, then they must work in modern labs with modern equipment." The new buildings will have a materials testing lab, a facility which the college does not have now. The load floor In the lab will make it possible to test framed structures or large beams. FOR EXAMPLE, the materials out of which a bridge beam is made can be evaluated in the lab by testing the load capacity of the beam as if it were part of a bridge. position group member is not as sophisticated as a white person in knowing how to go about applying for admission to the University or how to get finan cial aid," he said. Many of the parents do not under stand what going to college involves the academic, social and personal problems which will come up, he ad ded. So far Strong has concentrated his recruitment efforts in Omaha. He plans to do recruiting in Lincoln and Grand Island, also. Blacks are not the only minority group being recruited, he said. Efforts are being made to encourage other minorities, including Spanish Americans, low income whites and orientals. Besides his recruitment efforts, Strong advises minority group students presently enrolled at the University. He is planning a summer orientation for the students that he has recruited and he is involved with setting up tutorial and counseling services for these students in the fall. Strong says that his selection as interim coordinator is "the result of a mutual endorsement by both AACS and the office of student affairs." There will be space for a fluid dynamics lab which the college does not have now and also space for faculty research projects. The building will have combined shop facilities for all four departments. "The prospects of a new building have done quite a bit for us in the recruiting of new faculty members," Davjs said. "Among the students and faculty, there is a lot If excitement about the opportunity to get involved in areas of research that we cannot do now," he continued. Two such ars which Davis men tioned are research on materials to be used for construction of low cost housing and research on wast material and pollution.- THE COLLEGE Is attempting to combine teaching with research as much as possible. For this reason, the Phase I building will have only continued on page i J oh the Engineering Complex. x ' 1 V i r i 4 :. I .1 ' wS