Arts & Entertainment
Colonial Room grants quality; lacks students
Editor’s Note: The Daily Ne
braskan Arts and Entertainment
staff has designated this week Un
ion Dining Week. We will take you
on a mouth-watering voyage
through the various eating estab
lishments in the Nebraska and East
unions.
By Stacey McKenzie
Staff Reporter
There is something mysterious
about the Colonial Dining Room -
besides the lack of paper-wrapped
burgers -- that sets it apart from the
college student’s usual luncheon
hangout.
It is the absence of students ... or
at least a lot of students.
Some students do cat in the Colo
nial Room, located in the southeast
comer of second floor Nebraska
Union, but the regulars are faculty,
administration and downtown work
ers.
The restaurant serves from 25 to
45 customers a day, said Nel Sewell,
restaurant coordinator.
“A lot of the people from Kimball
Hall and Sheldon (Art Gallery) come
here to eat,” Sewell said.
‘‘The professors (come in) on
HtUa* ZWff device*
Wednesdays and the nurses from the
Health Center (come in) about once a
week,” Sewell said.
Upon entering the restaurant, the
presence of so many people in suits
and dresses can be somewhat intimi
dating to the student. But after getting
past the surprised looks of the regu
lars, one can hit the soup, salad and
sandwich buffet, find a cozy table and
enjoy lunch.
Decorated in maroon, white and
blue,the>restaurant has a 19th-century
air, although the name conjures up
images of 18th-century America.
Tall windows framed with floral
print curtains surround the room.
Dark wood tables and the buffet are
decorated to match the colonial at
mosphere with white table cloths and
blue place settings. The smell of soup
lingers in the air, adding to the dining
room’s ambiance. But beyond the
physical atmosphere, the most im
portant aspect of the Colonial Room
is the food.
The almost 20-foot buffet offers
lettuce and the usual salad loppings,
various pasta salads, bean salads and
a “soup of the day.’’ For sandwich
selection there are four types of meat,
two types of cheese, and white, wheat
or rye bread. Pudding, peaches, pine
apple and pears make up the dessert
choices.
7 like to sepa
rate the colors
and arrange it
differently, ’
—Sewell
Although the menu doesn’t vary a
great deal, the buffet’s appearance
does, said Sewell, who is in charge of
setting up the buffet every day.
“1 like to separate the colors and
arrange it differently,” Sewell said.
“It can be hard because there arc so
many greens.”
The prices for this “all-you-can
eat” buffet range from SI.85 for a
salad to $4.50 for the soup, salad and
sandwich combination.
The Colonial Room is a nice
change from fast food mania. It is a
relaxing place and £ives the student a
feeling of “hanging with the big
boys,” a friend remarked when we
entered the restaurant.
Because of the rather light lunch
the Colonial Room offers, it is not for
the person into bulk food. But for
people watching their weight or
trying to eat healthy, the Colonial
Room is great. It won’t tempt them
with deep-fat-fried food or heavy
desserts.
Although the restaurant is profes
sionally dominated, words at the bot
tom of the menu outside state that the
restaurant is “open to the public. '
Students should give the Colonial
Room the old college try.
The restaurant is open from 11:30
a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through
Friday.
Rejuvinated classics
bring new life to TV
As many ol you know, l live Hie
hardest life of any human who has
lived in the last 75 years.
From my inability to find a
parking space most mornings to
having to wait in line at the finan
cial aid office, I think you’ll find I
live a hellish existence that you
wouldn’t wish upon even your
worst enemy.
II
When one also notes that my
color television went out a few
months ago and that I am now
forced to watch a small black and
white, you may begin to wonder •
why 1 go on living. s
But last week, there was a
bright spot in my putrid, meaning
less life. I was able to take some
time off from my busy college
schedule and actually watch some
prime-time, major network TV
programming.
fve been so busy over the last
couple years that I haven’t even
been able to sit and watch televi
sion for any considerable length o£
time.
Well, hot dog! That all changed
last week. I had two entire week
nights free to do nothing but watch
prime-tirtie television ...
I was stunned at the lack of
quality I witnessed. I realize that
the fall season is an experimental
time for the big three networks and
that the bad shows probably will be
weeded out by next spring, but
there is no excuse for the venom
ous bile my television puked all
over me last week.
What has happened? The few
good shows are snowed under by
the assault of brainless program
ming. When I was a kid, television
was good - so good, in fact, that I
think that’s where our salvation
lies.
Reunion shows that bring back
the casts of classic shows like
“The Brady Bunch” and “The
Andy Griffith Show” always do
welt in the ratings, and are invari
ably of the highest quality.
The problem with these shows
is that they only make one episode
and then everybody goes back into
the mists of talentless retirees,
where they belong. We need to
rejuvenate these classic shows and
make them permanent series
again.
If I were running the major net
works (and for the sake of this
column, lei’s assume I am) I'd
bring back the best shows of my
youth and give them new life on
prime-time.
For instance...
WELCOME BACK, WEL
COME BACK KOTTER: Those
sweathogs used to send me into fits
of convulsive laughter. They were
so cool, the way they used to pick
on Mr. Woodman and whistle at all
the pretty girls in the halls. 1 say
bring back Gabe Kaplan and his
sweathogs. I’m sure all of the ac
tors in that show arc out of work
low and would love to do a new
series.
The only one there would be
any trouble with is John Travolta
and I’m sure he could be coaxed
back for the right price. Thejprem
ise would be that the sweathogs
have all finally graduated and now
See HANNA on 7
Exhibit at Morrill
centers on history,
cultural diversity
By Jeff Engel
Staff Reporter
An exhibit entitled “Bags and
Baggage: Transporting Peoples’ Per
sonal Possessions’’ is now on display
in the University of Nebraska State
Museum’s Cooper Foundation Spe
cial Exhibits Gallery on the third
floor of Morrill Hall.
art ~
Bags from many cultures arc in
cluded in the exhibit assembled by
David J. Clark, a graduate student in
UNL’s College of Home Economics
Department of Textiles, Clothing and
Design. Clark was responsible for
selecting the artifacts from a variety
of sources, researching and designing
the display.
The result is a comprehensive and
colorful representation of many
peoples, many time periods and
many solutions to a universal prob
lem - transporting a variety of goods
important to each culture.
“People often don’t see the rela
tionship of the objects to those who
use them — especially when they are
displayed in an exhibit setting,”
Clark said.
“They may just look at these ob
jects as artifacts and not realize that
they served utilitarian purposes.”
Each bag’s design is unique, and
the practicality of the different forms
represented makes up thc heart of the
exhibit.
Another important consideration
is the technique used in the construc
tion of each bag. Weaving, twining
and felting arc just a few of the ex
amples of technique which Clark said
are inherent in the cultures’ levels of
innovation and traditions of textile
design.
See BAGS on 7
Play opens Friday
UNL Studio Theatre presents ‘Orphans'
D.. 1..IU KI„_^ __ ... X
By Julie INaugnton
Staff Reporter
“Orphans,” a play about two
orphaned brothers sharing a shabby
row house in Philadelphia, Penn.,
will open Friday and continue
through Nov. 18 at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln’s Studio Theatre.
The brothers, who have not
changed anything in the house since
their mother’s death, arc a bit bizarre.
The play spans three weeks in the
men’s lives. During that time, they
kidnap a middle-aged, well-dressed
man named Harold
The play stars John Lepard, a first
#
year Master of Fine Arts candidate
from Lansing, Mich., as Treat, the
older brother. Treat is somewhat of a
criminal, and supports his younger
brother through petty thievery.
Tom Crew, a junior theater major
from Lincoln, stars as younger
brother Phillip. Phillip is somewhat
backward and lonely; he is an over
grown “wild child.” Phillip has
learned what he knows about the
world from his older brother’s exag
gerations and the world of television.
Devon Schumacher, a senior thea
ter major from Lincoln, plays the
kidnapped Harold. Harold, also an
orphan, becomes a father figure to
Treat and Phillip.
The Lincoln production will be
directed by Jim Michelson, a Masters
of Fine Arts candidate in theater di
recting from Selah, Wash.
“Orphans,” Michelson said, “isa
contemporary play dealing with the
lives of three men during a Ihrcc
week period. It is in this brief span of
time that the futures of all three of the
men arc changed forever.”
The play was created by Lyle
Kessler, a playwright whose other
n.°rks.. !!*[ude "Thc Watering
Place, The Viewing,” “Burning
Bright, and ‘Touched,” which was
made into a feature film starring
Robert Hays, Ned Beatty, Kathleen
Seller and Kessler himself.
Kessler won a Rockefeller Foun
dation writing grant, and his play,
Burning Bright,” won a New York
State Council on the Arts Award.
Kessler and his wife, actress Marga
ret Ladd, are the artistic directors of
The Imagination Workshop, a Los
Angeles-based theater group.
Support staff for the Lincoln pro
duction includes scenic designer
Brian Russman, a senior theater ma
jor from Pender, and properties mas
ter Lori Bush, a second-year Masters
of Fine Arts candidate from Freder
icksburg, Iowa. Lighting designs are
provided by Eddie JuCao, a first-year
Masters of Fine Arts candidate from
Beijing, China; Ed Zastera, a junior
theater major from Syracuse; and
Sean Newman.
Tickets may be purchased at the
University Theatre Arts and Dance
Box Office, located on the first floor
of the Temple Building.