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daily nebraskan
thursday, february 12, 1981
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'After the Rain' will float on a hypnotic sea
By Cydney Wilson
After the Rain, a two act play by John Bowen, will
open at Studio 12 Friday and Saturday and continue to
Feb. 16-21.
It is a play within a play set in 2183, presented as a
history lesson given by a lecturer who is a scientist,
researcher, hypnotist and leading history professor.
The lesson he gives concerns the flood of 1983, in
which there were eight survivors. The entire history lesson
takes place on a raft. The eight survivors are actually
hypnotized convicts who are helping the lecturer as part
of their therapy in order to become good members of the
community. The character each prisoner assumes is similar
to his own, so he can better understand his own problem.
The audience represents the class attending the lecture
as well as members of the community. Upon entering the
theater members of the audience will be given a course
syllabus and there will be sound effects that will give a
school-type atmosphere.
History lecture
The purpose of the lecture is to explain history. It is
important for the audience and the prisoners to under
stand all of the lecture because they are all descendants
of the eight survivors.
Arlo Kasper, director of After the Rain, said he chose
the play because it has fascinated him ever since it opened
on Broadway in 1969. Kasper has taught at Bethel College
in Kansas.
"I had always felt a bit frightened of the demands and
the work with hypnotism, yet here, I believe it adds a
fascinating dimension to the theater programming," he
said. "It's a very different and difficult play, with numer
ous possibilities. Because there are so many ideas, you
have to select which you want to emphasize. The play
deals with a new society with a basis set in our lives, this
in itself provides a challenge."
The play has been performed little, if ever, in the Mid
west. It has mostly been performed on Broadway and in
London, where it ran for more than a year.
Simple sets
The set is very simple, using only essential props. The
rest of the play will be portrayed through pantomimes.
"The play was directed for a typical stage, and since
Studio 12 is smaller, it has taken a lot of time on the part
of the designer and the cast, in order to portray the play
correctly," Kasper explained. "The first two weeks of
rehearsal were spent making the space work. It's a physi
cal show with lots of action."
Since none of the cast had ever been under hypnosis,
Kasper had a hypnotist come to rehearsal during the first
week. She was able to hypnotize five members of the cast,
instructing them that they would only be able to see the
other characters and hear the director's voice. She then
introduced each charactei to the entranced members of
the cast. The subjects really believed what they were do
ing. The hypnotist also instructed them to re nember all
tiicy had done in their "deepest layer of sleep.'
One member of the cast remembers being in the raft
and watching a cast member walk out into 'he water"
(the cast member had actually gone off stage and sat in
the auditorium). He yelled at the other actor to get back
in the boat so he wouldn't drown.
Deep in a trance
Several actors really felt the storm while in a trance,
and remember feeling the waves under the raft, feeling
they had to keep themselves from falling overboard.
Kasper commented, "The hypnotism allowed all of us
to understand why the play is written in certain ways. It
also enabled the cast to better understand a hypnotic
state, so they can effectively portray their character. Most
of their moves are pantomimed, so this helped their acting
a great deal, because while under hypnosis they were
really able to feel objects which were not actually there."
"Since I've never seen it performed before, I have no
idea what kind of audience reaction there will be. As stu
dents in the lecture, the audience will probably be asking
Vhat kind of society is this?' The ultimate focus in the
play is the type of community, and not the history
lesson," Kasper said. "The audience should consider what
kind of choices the community has. The audience will
probably leave with a great many questions, which will
gradually clear up as they think about it."
New material
"In producing a little-known play, you have a great
deal of freedom in perceiving the play. Yet you also have
to contend with the skepticism on the part of some
people in dealing with new material."
Members of the cast are Howard Danner, Greg
McCown, Susan Stake, Stephen Kazakoff, Joi
Hoffsommer, Ed Hanlon, Todd Nelson, Kirk Benson and
Toni Turner. All but two members of the cast are under
graduates. The direction of A fter The Rain by Kasper is in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for his MFA degree.
Crop
per's voice bruises his well-crafted songs
By Casey McCabe
Steve Cropper Playing' My ThangUCA
Cropper's resume is certainly an impressive one for any
student of rhythm and blues.
After an early hit on Stax records with his band the
Mar-Keys, Cropper went on to help Booker T and the
M.G.'s. He composed such classics as "In The Midnight
Hour" and "Sitting' On The Dock of the Bay" to be
covered by Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding, respectively.
I
QRiiJil fuio
A highly demanded studio musician, and a prolific
producer. Cropper's claim to fame most recently comes
from being the hired guitar for the Blues Brothers. Know
ing that the association with the two pseudo-bluesters
could be his ace-in-the-hole for a solo effort, Cropper
discreetly displays the mugging faces of Belushi and
Ackroyd on a button pinned to his guitar strap on Playin '
My Thang back cover.
Recognized as one of the finest rhythm guitarists,
well beyond the scope of the average Blues Brothers'
clientele. Cropper got me wondering why the talented
musiciancomposer had not stepped out of his supporting
role and grabbed a bit of the much deserved spotlight.
Vocal deficit
Playin' My Tfiang goes a long way in explaining the
situation. Cropper is an excellent musician, composer,
arranger, producer, and interpreter of the popular musical
taste. But a vocalist he's not. The most unfortunate thing
is that no matter what the strengths are in column A, the
single deficit in column B tends to drag his material into
mediocrity.
While his voice is loose and natural (as opposed to
forced and strained, the way some neo-solo artists deem
necessary), Cropper doesn't seek the vocal variations his
well-crafted songs require. The absence of any backing
vocalists to provide much needed musical first-aid is occa
sionally glaring.
While Cropper may have extended himself too far in
one direction, his solo effort still lends testimony to his
talent. Aided by The Memphis Horns, old Mark-Key and
Blues Brother Mate "Duck" Dunn on bass, and the ex
pected stable of precision musicians, Playin ' My Thang
offers some tight, diverse tunes, always punctuated by
Cropper's insightful guitar licks.
Funky rhythm
His own compositions are generally lighthearted and
tend to be a bit funky in rhythm. The title track, third
song on side one, is first to warrant much attention
with its cute lyrics and instrumental break. "Fly" is a
pretty effort that manages to survive despite aforemen
tioned vocal problem. Side Two's "With You" takes on
a "Little Feat" posturing, while the grittier "Ya Da Ya
Da" that closes the album is perhaps Cropper's best
effort. Actually the only song that fails completely is
a lame cover of the 1956 chestnut "Let The Good Times
Roll."
Ah
Steve Cropper
Photo courtesy of MCA
UNL dancers benefit from Iowa City festival
Sioux Braun
Picture yourself in the audience at a dance concert
when a woman appears on stage with a shopping cart
and proceeds to make it the center of attention.
Is she actually a performer or is she a prop master
caught between scene changes?
The truth is she's a performing representative from
the University of Colorado at an American College Dance
Festival in Iowa City. For the first time, Nebraska was
represented at this festival, but in a more classical fashion.
Mary Jane Mastalir, a UNL dance and music major,
said, "If nothing else, we provided contrast to everyone
else in the program."
She claimed most of the Midwest schools at the festival
gave avant garde performances at the informal concert.
According to UNL dance faculty member Wendy
I lanes, the 1960s began a movement for colleges to
develop dance programs.
"They felt a need to have their own organization, (The
American College Dance Festival Association) to
eliminate highly selective instruction," Hanes said. "They
(ACDrA) stuck to their philosophy of being open and
letting every one participate."
Comparisons made
Wisconsin, Illinois and Colorado were among the parti
cipants at the festival. Some observations our representa
tives made in comparing UNL's program with other
schools' include:
Nebraska has fewer dance majors than most schools.
-Nebraska has an average-sized dance faculty
compared to others.
-Nebraska has excellent dance studio facilities com
pared to other schools.
-Nebraska has fewer graduate assistants on its faculty.
-Nebraska has fewer dance performances from its stu
dents. -Nebraska is fairly traditional in its choreography.
The big difference, said Hanes, is that most schools
have their own dance department. At Nebraska, dance is
a division under the School of Health, Physical Education,
and Recreation. That changes the whole aspect of dance,
she said, into a physical activity rather than a perform
ing art.
She also noted that schools with national recognition
draw more students from other states. Nebraska attracts
students mostly from within the state.
Exposure provided
One important thing, Mastalir said, was that UNL's
representatives provided excellent exposure for the uni
versity's dance division.
Hanes, Mastalir and Leslie Schnabel, another dance
major, attended the two-day dance festival with trans
portation and membership fees provided by the univer
sity. James O'Hanlon, director of the Department of Health,
Physical Education and Recreation, is responsible for that
financial support.
"Dr. O'Hanlon was able to see the need for Nebraska
to be represented at these regional festivals," Mastalir said.
The festival sponsored by the ACDFA has two pur
poses. First, it provides an opportunity for college dancers
to have their works judged and critiqued by established
professionals. It also provides workshops, learning and
performing experiences, and interaction among the parti
cipants. Professional dancers from around the country visit the
colleges that plan to attend the regional festivals. They
judge performances by the students for theii CALA con
cert at the convention. Performers are then chosen from
the GALA concerts for the National College Dance Fes
tival in Washington. Winners from the five regional GALA
competitions give concert performances at the John F
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
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