Wednesday, epril 20, 1977
daily ncbrssksn
pr.p 13
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Ey Jim Wfflsms
. A bar-that's all the Gas
Light, 322 S. 9th, looks like
at first. There's a bartender
and beer and rancid smoke,
coin-operated pool and
foosball tables, a tired pin-'
ball machine-and a theatre
in the back room.
They do melodrama at
the. Gas Light. The current m Decent phes
season will open May 1 1 "It's a decent little facil
with The Drunkard, playing ity " be said. "It's air con
Wednesdays through Satur- ditioned-we sort of make
days at 9 p.m. until June 4. d with what we've got.
Paul Baker, a native Lin- It not a professional thea-
colnite and UNL graduate,
came back from Colorado
to direct this season's plays.
He acted in The Drunkmi
at the Gas Light 12 years
ago.
"It's a chance to get
rowdy and let your hair
down and have a good
time," he said. "It's not
serious theatre-you're not
coming to be instructed or
to watch a dramatic event.
You're coming to watch
people do farce and you can
drink, you can throw pop
corn, you can boo and hiss
and cheer-it's a chance for
people to really let it out .
and have a good time." ,
Ths Dmnk&d is a kind
of mid-1 800's "Reefer Mad
ness" a serious temperance
play made silly by the pass
age of time.
"It was written around
1844," Baker said, "was
produced in Boston, banned
there, and later enjoyed a
very successful run in New j"
York." Boston banned it for L
showing drunkenness too
explicitly, Baker said,
i, Net scrisady
"We're not going "to do
The Drunkard seriously at
all. As a matter of fact, I'm .
adapting the thing and re
writing it to draw the
humor out. Of course,
there's a lot of natural
humor there.
The Gas Light isn't Eke a
plush' dinner theatre-but
neither is the price. $2
weeknijghts . and $2.50 ;
Friday asd Saturday admit
you into a big room with
rough, tables and kitchen '
chairs seating about 200.
There's a bar in a back corn-
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er, naked pipes and ducts
hanging from the ceiling,
and a stage projecting into
the room. There is no
proscenium arch, no cur
tain, and the footlights are
bulbs masked by black
painted cut-out coffee cans.
But it's enough for Baker
to get his plays on.
tre, and it s not -funded like
a professional theatre. More
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RALPH BAKSHI FILM
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than anything else it's just a
good time for the people
involved and for the people
witching."
Two UNL students have
leading roles in the play,
Senior Greg Wagner plays
imperiled hero Edward
Miameion, ana junior ko-
peri 5K0Kan piays villain
11 ... .
noos corrupts Miauie-
ton through the effects of
demon rum.
'The tragedy affects Ed- I
ward s virtuous wife Mary
and their beautiful daughter
Julia, kills Mary s mother
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and incites the hero's
brother to rage,
The villain hounds the
troubled family through the
streets of New York from
bar to bar until finally a
temperate soul enters to put
everything to rhhts and
make for a happy ending.
And if the plot bores
you, you can always drink.
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"It is one of the best films about ths Ufa of homo
sexuals, their passions, their quarrels . . ." Ths
London Times aem"mmmaBmmummmm"
Screenings at 7 & 9: 15 p.m. J
j Friday & Saturday matinees at 3 p.m. '
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