J.P. Caruso/Daily Nel
Hall
Alumnus, comic-book artist directs play
HALL from Page 5
And as much as he 1 ikes to draw for
normal comic books, theater is his
careerofprcfcrcnce,hesaid. If forced
to choose between careers, Hall said,
he would quit drawing.
“I would definitely choose theater,
had I the consistent ability to predict
that I could make a living at it ail the
time,or I were independently wealthy
and could do exactly what I wanted.”
he said.
But that’s rare in theater. Case in
point, Hall’s theater in New York.
The company is rather new and is not
yet profitable for Hall or anyone in
volved. Though he expects to begin
making money soon, Hall said, he
didn’t start the theater to make
money.
“I got into this because I thought it
was an art form which is sometimes in
this particular age of Yuppiedom —
whatever that is — it’s an almost
embarrassing thing to say, ‘This is my
art and I’m willing to sacrifice some
stuff to do it,’ he said. “But in fact,
people arc willing to do it.”
Even though his careers as a direc
tor and a comic-book artist would not
seem to have much in common, each
one has helped him to be better at the
other, he said.
“It (comics) has really helped my
directing. You really learn how to
learn how to break a story down into
its visual beats,” he said.
Returning to the university after
almost 20 years has been a good
experience for Hall. He said the UNL
theater program has changed since he
was there.
*
“There’s more of a sense now of
making it in-step with what other
university theaters are doing,” he
said. “To some extent that’s good, and
to some extent, there was a certain
eccentricity about the program when
I was here that I think was nice.”
Hall called his experience direct
ing “As You Like It” an adventure
because many of the cast members
have never performed in a Shake
spearean play. Trying to get the actors
to speak Shakespeare’s difficult
verses naturally sometimes is frus
trating, he said.
“But Joe Papp is having the same
frustration in New York with A1 Pac
ino,” he said.
“As You Like It” will be per
formed April 22, 23 and 25-30 in the
Temple Building’s Howell Theater.
Iderman Courtesy Marvel Comics Group
Religious themes found in movie
By Micki Haller
Senior Hditor
With its themes of rebirth and res
urrection, “The Seventh Sign” is a
perfect Easter movie, although it
raises serious questions about just
what kind of god is running this uni
verse.
The plot is a classic: Woman fights
to save her unborn child from death
and the apocalypse.
Abby Quinn (Demi Moore), is the
typical yuppie with a burning desire
for little baby-boomers. She has a
trendy job as a restorer of fine art, a
husband who’s a lawyer and no reli
gious convictions.
Imagine Abby’s surprise when
Jesus Christ, in his latest incarnation
as David Banner (also the alter ego of
the Incredible Hulk), tells her that her
baby is fated to die without a soul, as
the seventh sign of the apocalypse.
Of course, she should have seen it
coming. Abby had a complex history
of depression, miscarriage and sui
cide attempts. Also, the typical por
tents of an apocalypse have begun:
floods, pestilence, starvation, moon
turning to blood, cock crowing at
midnight, etc., ad nauseum.
Complicating the plot is Father
Lucci, a seemingly immortal priest
who lies to the Vatican and is follow
ing the events with an eager eye.
Jesus, or David, is played by Jur
gen Prochnov and seems like a really
spooky guy with a lot on his mind. He
never changes his clothes, always
wears a green-gold fisherman sweater
through heat, cold and rain. Yea,
verily he must be the son of God or
have an exceptional dry-cleaner.
Someone’s obviously done the
research for the movie; Christian
mythologies litter the plot, from Guf,
the hall of unborn souls, to the ending
days of the world. However, I seem to
remember something about the Anti
christ, the number of the beast and a
whole lot of other cool stuff from
catechism that didn’t make it into the
movie or at least wasn’t played up
very well.
The God presented in this movie
isn’t the kind and forgiving New
Testament God. He’s more of an old
time, conservative, Reagan kind of
God who’s sick of all this greed and
selfishness. For some reason, the
Inquisition, Henry VIII, the Flapper
era and Richard Nixon weren’t
enough to trigger the end of the world.
It seems Judgment Day was rnly
brought on by the advent of Vr ina
White.
The acting is not bad, and Demi
Moore plays a hysterical pregnant
woman as well as anyone else could,
given the circumstances.
“The Seventh Sign” is not a great
or excellent movie, but it is a cerebral
movie. Maybe it’s not the best thing to
take a dale to unless you have nothing
belter to ao than stay up and talk
religion and the state of society for the
rest of the night.
“The Seventh Sign” is rated R and
is showing at the Plaza 4,12th and P
streets.
30th Annual WYL I
College Rodeo
State Fair Park Coliseum
Performances:
Fri. April 8th at 7:30 PM
Sat. April 9th at 1:30 and 7:30 PM
Tickets: Adults $4.00 Children $3.00
UNL students with student ID get in
for 1/2 price on Sat. afternoon.
Dance each night.
$1.00 OFF I
Any 2 or more pizzas m
I 475-6363 !
NAME_ ■
ADDRESS_
DATE- A
Expires 5/1/88
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