Couple
By Lucy Lien
Cindy and Bill Wallis met in
May, 1968,. while performing at
Southern Illinois University.
Six months later they were
married.
At present the Wallis' are
involved in University of
Nebraska-Lincoln theatrical
productions. This summer
Cindy is in two of the Summer
Repertory productions at
Howell Theatre, and is the
assistant director for "Birthday
Party." Bill is in three of the
productions and may be in the
fourth. -
In repertory theatre, with
the exception of the first week,
the same play is never
performed two nights in a row.
In Howell this summer, the
actors will be in four plays,
throughout the summer: "Little
Mary Sunshine," "Birthday
Party," "School for Wives," and
"Cohan is a Grand Old Name."
Bill noted that repertory
theatre is "a new challenge to
the actors, to become four
different people. Generally
they cast us so we don't have
too sunny big parts to ieran."
Th's summer Cindy will be
playing Nancy in "Little Mary
Sunshine," and Nellie Cohan,
George M.'s mother, in "Cohan
is a Grand Old Name." Bill will
be playing as a forest ranger in
"Little Mary", as Goldberg, a
hit man, in "Birthday Party",
and as Jerry, George M.'s
father, in "Cohan."
The worst thing about
repertory theatre, Bill said, "is
it takes so long to memorize
your lines. You have to
economize your time and try to
memorize your lines during
rehearsals,"
"Summer Hep is a very
intense learning experience for
both of us," Cindy added.
Being involved in so many
productions, however, takes a
groat deal of time for re
hearsals as well as for learning
lines. Bill noted that June 20
was "the worst day I've ever
had. I rehearsed from 9:00
12:00. 12:00-2:00, 2:00-5:00,
and from 7:00-10:30."
Both the Wallis' have pro
fessional aspirations, and both
are interested in a variety of
related fields. Cindy's main
interest is as a stage actress,
but she has also done work as a
costurner and has had a great
deal of training in dance.
Next to acting. Bill's major
interests include writing and
directing. He has also had a
great deal of work in music, and
said he plans to begin studying
electronic music.
Bill has formerly worked on
the script of "Napoleon", an
opera that was performed at
Kimball Recital Hall last year.
At this time he and Richard
Moore of the music department
have been commissioned to
write a musical dance drama on
the American Indian. Bill noted
that for this play, sponsored by
the Bicentennial Commission,
tho Nebraska Arts Council and
Nebraskans for Public Tele
vision, he wili be writing the
script and doing the stage
direction.
This drama, he said, is based
on a mythic story about the
initiation rites of the American
Plains Indians. The drama will
trace the spiritual development
of one man.
The production of this "en
vironmental dance drama", Bill
explained, will make use of
synthetic sounds, have a fluid
orchestra which moves around
the stage as the orchestra is
playing and will be a multi
media production with slides
and film as well as live actors.
"i am very, very excited
about it," he said.
Although he had hoped the
tuesday, june 25, 1974
courts
opera "Napoleon" would get to
the Kennedy Center for Per
forming Arts, he said he
believes that since his new
drama is sponsored nationally,
"it has better than an O.K.
chance of getting in."
He noted that the biggest
bulk of funds requested for the
drama was from the National
Endowment of the Arts. They
have not yet heard, however,
whether thia request was
approved.
"Napoleon", he said, took
two, and a half years to write,
and he expects it will take a
similar amount of time to write
the American Indian drama.
The Bicentennial Commission is
sponsoring the play to be
completed in 1976.
4
Cindy and
Before "Napoleon"; Bill had
written a couple dramatic
sketches as well as a great deal
of poetry. He had had one
volume of poetry published as
well as about 25 additional
poems in various publications.
Because of his commitment
to the Bicentennial drama, Bill
said he will be in the Lincoln
area at least until that is
completed. Next year he will
probably be teaching high
school in Omaha as well as
working on the play.
Cindy, however, said she
may leave the area for a time to
act somewhere else. "We want
, to go where we can work," she
said.
One way of finding work, she
explained, is through pro
fessional auditions which
qualify the actor for pro
fessional plays throughout the
country. "These professional
auditions are very hard," she
said.
Both Bill and Cindy qualified
for these auditions last year,
but were unable to attend them
because they were acting in
"Dark of the Moon" at Howell,
and couldn't afford the time to
travel to Minneapolis for the
auditions.
When the couple separates to
work on jobs in different parts
of the country they noted it was
difficult. "Separating is not a
strain on our marriage," Bill
said, "but is very hard on us
individually."
They have separated to work
before. Last year Cindy was in
Minneapolis for a ' semestpr
working in a play.
Both agreed, however, that
it was necessary to grab acting
parts whenever possible, be-
v
-, .
$
ueen
cause both are at the right age
for most parts. Cindy and Bill
are both 28.
"In a few years it will be too
late," Biii said.
The need to separate to grab
whatever acting jobs can be
found is caused by the large
number of actors seeking work
in the theatre. Acting jobs are
extremely difficult to find.
Bill estimated that 60 per
cent of all actors are un
employed, but Cindy said she
believed the figure was much
higher, with at least 80 per cent
being unemployed.
Another hazard of the small
job market is that what jobs are
found pay little. Bill noted that
only about the top 10 per cent
cf the actors in this country
Bill Wallis go over the finer points of
I
earu enough money to live
comfortably on.
Consequently, he said, most
actors must hold down other
jobs in addition to working at
what acting jobs they find.
Bill, for example, was em
ployed as a Centennial Educa
tion Program fellow for the last
two years. He is still working
with -university students on
independent projects.
Cindy worked as a graduate
assistant at NU, teaching
dancing movement. She has
also had to hold down jobs
unrelated to acting, . such as
working at Penney's Depart
ment Store.
They said they hope even
tually to move somewhere .
where they can both find work,
perhaps to London, or perhaps
to work with director David
Bell after he leaves Nebraska.
Everywhere they've been,
they said, there has been a
great deal of young acting and
writing talent. "What inter
feres with the development of
talent in Lincoln," Bill said, "is
the generally conservative at
titude. Lincoln doesn't support
its artists."
. In spite of the lack of interest
on the part of Lincoln citizens,
however, Bill said the dramatic
productions at Howell "are
better than I've seen at a
university. The productions are
just as good as any plays I've
ever seen, and better than
most, with the exception of a
few very professional plays."
"The. NU department of
acting is excellent," Cindy
added. "Someone like Dr.
Morgan just amazes me, he's so
great."
Bill said, "It just amazes me
- summer nebraskan
that people don't realize that
theatre here is so good. This is
a very talented area here, the
staff is excellent, and the new
kids coming in are just great."
Cir.dy noted that although
"we like living here, I don't
want to stay in Lincoln,
because the response to the
theatre here is so poor."
"The arts probably can't
make it here," Bill said. "Movie
theatres are the big competi
tion with the theatre. But
people don't realize that live
theatre is a totally different
aesthetic experience. When
watching live theatre you're
changed. It's a very vibrant
form of experience."
They said that NU theatre
was so good, because in spite of
t
Mr
- . V
drama during a rare period free of
4KJ
1023 "O" St
S i -
' I i" f f i i , 1
! g g
'-ipitiiinwiif j jt f .
1 &
fll ' FbELSvll
II Come on out, dance and
I I 1 enjoy your favorite drinks I I
111 with your friends at the III
hottest Summer spot in 111
1 "THE GROVE"
Vw Nickel tap beer and 2-fers s s
xxNi30 8:30 Mon"Thuxv
r'... 'nv!"1 r7 i '
community indifference, the
staff is very dedicated. They
mentioned that David Bell and
Dr. Morgan are extremely
talented directors, and "Jerry
Lewis and Nancy Meyer arc
just the best" as far as technical
work is concerned.
The university is a gocd place
to experiment, Cindy said, and
there pre a great deal of
opportunities for people to
learn.
The University is a good
place to experiment, Cindy
said, and there are a great deal
of opportunities for people to
learn. ,
Before choosing the theatre
as a career, both Cindy and Bill
had backgrounds in other
(Continued on Page 8)
.-..'.. w....Jf ..... .. .
rehearsals.
Nov appearing
in the Dragon's Den
Entertainment
Nightly
no cover charge
' page 7