Arts & Entertainment
Innovative theater group confronts issues
By Joel Schroeder
Staff Reporter
Even though the group is not widely
known, Theatrix is far from being
“new on the scene” in theater per
formances.
The self-supporting student proj
ect in the University of Nebraska
Lincoln’s Department of Theatre Arts
and Dance now is in its fourth year of
existence and is gearing up for an
other season.
Graduate student Sam Schimek,
who has headed Theatrix for the last
two years, said he feels the group has
improved over time.
He attributed the success to in
creased involvement and audience
attendance.
“I have more people applying every
season,” Schimek said. Last year,
Theatrix started producing shows
almost every week.
“The audience has kept up with
the increase of shows since last year,”
Schimek said.
Theatrix has grown out of what
used to be the Nebraska Directors’
Theater, which was run entirely by
graduate students and did productions
for five years before the evolution of
Theatrix, he said.
Schimek said the number of plays
produced depends on the time slots
available. The group is more likely to
produce plays in the spring season
than in the fall because there are more
spaces, he said.
Some performances are original
and some include dance numbers that
are choreographed by people in the
department, he said.
“There’s a big mix,” Schimek said.
“We try to keep it varied.”
He also said many of the pieces
normally wouldn’t be put on by the
department or anybody in town.
“We are producing shows that take
some sort of stand or that are not in
the mainstream,” Schimek said. Some
of the issues that plays have targeted
include AIDS, power relationships
and war.
Schimek says the shows are cho
sen by the people who want to do
them, which gives everyone a chance
to play a part they’ve always wanted
to do.
It usually takes about four to six
weeks to get a play ready to perform,
depending on the show and the direc
tors, Schimek said.
Undergraduates, graduate students
and even some Ph.D.s do the direct
ing for the plays, and most of the cast
members are theater majors, he said.
Schimek said attendance is “very
good,” with anywhere from 50 to 150
or more people a night.
“We’ve had many nights where
we’ve had to turn people away,” he
said.
He said the cost to produce a
weekend of shows is usually around
$200 to $250. The department gives
the group money to get started, but
after that, “Theatrix is on its own.”
The money spent depends on the
show’s needs, and the group tries to
save and cut back as much as pos
sible, Schimek said. “We have to get
our money back,” he said.
Theatrix will do performances every
weekend from now until Dead Week,
except the weekend before spring
break.
This weekend, Schimek said, the
group will perform two one-act plays
called “Closet Madness” and “Fif
teen Minute Hamlet.”
“Closet Madness,” written by
Murray Schisgal, is about a play
wright who tries to become a success
by telling the theatrical community
that he is gay.
Schimek said that “Fifteen Minute
Hamlet” is exactly what it sounds
like.
“It basically contains all of the
high points in ‘Hamlet’ in fifteen
minutes,” he said.
Next weekend, Theatrix will per
form “Laughing Wild,” by Christo
pher Durang.
The shows run Thursday, Friday,
and Saturday nights, starting at 8, in
the Studio Theatre. Admission is $2.
Rockets rock
Lincoln crowd
with own style
By Robert Richardson
Senior Reporter
The Zoo Bar was transformed into a south
ern blues extravaganza Monday night — a
gateway from the blues of the past to the blues
of the present.
Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets, fea
turing Sam Myers, dropped in on the Zoo Bar
crowd as part of the Miller Genuine Draft Band
Circuit. The band and its music were the driv
ing force behind the sudden change in atmos
phere.
The Rockets started with a crisp, strong and
consistent sound that had Anson’s guitar pitted
against Matt McCabe’s piano. Jim Milan’s
bass and Danny Cochren’s drums provided a
solid heavy road to follow.
Most musicians don’t like to put their music
into a category, but Funderburgh said he really
didn’t mind.
‘‘I hear it called contemporary blues all the
lime,” Funderburgh said. “I guess that would
be what I would call it, contemporary blues,
because it’s now.”
An example of this broad category was ”20
Miles.” Driven by guitar, vocals and accented
with a sweet piece of piano, ”20 Miles” was
dark enough to be a blues song. But the beat
was fast enough to really rock the audience.
Funderburgh and vocalist and harmonica wiz
ard Myers combined to make the song stand out
— like it should.
Myers stood out front and looked good,
while Funderburgh hung out in the wings. The
reason for that, Funderburgh said, is because
he’s more of a team player and likes to put
Myers in front because he’s good.
“What I’ve tried to do is put together a really
good band that really features Sammy, because
1 have the utmost respect for him,” Funder
burgh said. “I think he’s a wonderful vocalist
and a wonderful harmonica player.”
Funderburgh credits some big names for his
past successes. He said they helped pave his
way and made life easier for the Rockets.
“The T-Birds were rcr! big at that particular
time, and Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughn
were doing really well,” Funderburgh said.
“We really kind of rode the coattails on that,
while making our own way at the same time.”
With Myers out front and Funderburgh and
the rest of the Rockets in back, the band defi
nitely does its own thing. But Funderburgh said
band members are doing what they want, as
well as getting out their own style.
“As far as what 1 want, I’m pretty much
doing what I want,” Funderburgh said. “I would
like to be able to just turn as many people on to
this stvle of music as I possibly can.”
If the Rockets keep playing like they did
Monday night, they’ll turn the whole country
on to their fast-paced style of fun music.
The Rockets arc fun to watch because they
enjoy doing what they’re doing and it shows.
“I know we have a good lime when we re
playing it, and I think most of the time, people
enjoy coming out and listening lo itbccause it s
such an authentic thing, but it’s very natural to
us,” Funderburgh said.
Marxhausen’s sculptures
offer magic to eyes, ears
By Trish Spencer
Staff Reporter
Instructions: Rotate gently when
relaxed, shake when joyful, strike against
hard object when stressful, listen to all
three.
These are the instructions for Star Dust,
Reinhold Marxhausen’s best-selling piece
of sound sculpture.
Marxhausen, a retired art professor
from Concordia College at Seward, is an
innovator of sound art, which he described
as a “new” art form borrowed from the
’60s.
Marxhausen, a traditional artist who
painted two murals in the state capitol,
said sound art is unique in that, unlike
other forms of art, people can experiment
and participate in it.
He first discovered the idea for his
sound sculptures in 1960 when a doorknob
he was playing around with gave off a
sound, which later was compared to choirs
of angels.
It took Marxhausen 20 years to capture
the sound in a safe object — lengths of
piano wire enclosed in stainless steel
metal that is welded together. The result is
Star Dust, Parachimes and Cosmic Cubes.
He averages two sculptures a day, but
Marxhausen said he does not care to know
how long it takes him to produce one
because that would make him a machine.
The unique combination of such a
sprightly, magical sound inside a hard
looking case creates a piece of art that
people of all ages appreciate, said Deb
Arcnds, manager of the Sheldon Memorial
Art Gallery Art Shop.
“He wants people to see things in a
different way, Arends said.
People the world over, including first
lady Barbara Bush and talk show host
David Letterman, have had the chance to
see things in a different light because of
Marxhausen’s talent. Both are owners of
Marxhausen’s sound art.
Marxhausen also appeared on CBS’s
“Good Morning America,’’ Feb. 11. He
appeared for four minutes on Charles
Osgood’s portion of the show and played
“Amazing Grace” by throwing pipes down
on thf* ground.
See ART on 10
‘Mall’ movie
boasts stars
“Scenes From
A Mall”
Starring:
Bette Midler,
Alien
Rated R
Rating: 3
By Robert Richardson
Senior Reporter
Director Paul Mazursky opens his iatest
movie as a couple is sending their high school
age children on a ski trip. When the kids drive
away in a van, the man tells his wife, “We
procreated, now we can die.”
“Scenes From A Mall” is worth watching, if
only to watch its stars, Woody Allen and Bette
Midler, try to adapt to each other’s comedic
styles. Midler has the potential to be colorful
and emotional; Allen is Dry, with a capital D.
Together, they make a tragically disturbed
couple — one in which love sometimes takes a
back seat.
As the title suggests, the majority of the
movie takes place in a mall. It is Christmas
time, and Deborah and Nick Fifer (Bette Midler
and Woody Allen) are celebrating their 16th
anniversary.
Typical yuppies, Deborah and Nick both
hold successful jobs; they have two children,
two Saabs and appear to be in love. But, as they
prove, a lot can happen in 16 years.
After they make superficial love and final
arrangements for a dinner party, Deborah and
Nick take a trip to the mall for shopping and to
air out their souls.
They stop in several stores to buy each other
anniversary presents. And later, as they sit
down for some yogurt, Nick decides to make
public his sexual encounters, as he casually
mentions that he has been having an affair for
the last seven months.
Of course, they quit eating yogurt. In fact,
the situation looks so helpless that they may
quit their marriage.
Allen’s traditionally dry humor is show
cased by writers Mazursky and Roger L. Si
mon. Even though Allen seldom appears in
movies other than the ones he writes and di
rects, he does ample justice to this nervous,
skeptical, middle-aged man.
As Deborah rants and raves, Nick follows
her around the mall into several other stores
and they both make several big boisterous
scenes. And as they’re running around they
take time out to have drinks, go dancing and
have drinks again.
“Scenes From A Mall” with Allen and Midler
is just that. Simply, a couple that goes to the
mall. No more, no less.
The movie has two big names attached.
Allen and Midler add to the spectacle of the
movie, but the script is so well written that
almost anyone could be put into these parts,
and be funny in a weird sort of way.
“Scenes From A Mall” is playing at the
Lincoln Theatre, 12th and P streets.
