XT lPaily 1 Page
Arts & Entertainment 9
UNL graduate’s work showcased
Community Playhouse to premiere comedy
By Sean Green
Staff Reporter
Lincolnites will have the chance
to see a king looking for a wife and a
family looking for its identity this
week, as the Lincoln Community
Playhouse presents its latest series.
The Playhouse’s Gallery Series will
present two comedies April 3-6, one
written by a University of Nebraska
Lincoln graduate.
“Fools Rush In” by Rand Whipple
and “Jiggety Jig” by UNL graduate
Peg Sheldrick will be performed at
the Lincoln Community Playhouse at
2500 S. 56th St.
Each character finds out some
thing new about themselves during
the play, Sheldrick said.
“'Jiggety Jig’ started out as a play
about the way society views the eld
erly, but became a play about people
deciding who they are and believing
in that person despite what other people
think,” Sheldrick said.
Her first draft of “Jiggety Jig” was
a finalist in the 1988 Festival of
Emerging Theatre competition in
Indianapolis and was a feature of the
Playhouse’s March 1990 Festival of ’
Women in Theatre.
Although the play has won several .
awards, Thursday night will be the
debut performance of “Jiggety Jig.”
The play takes place in die course
of one August day in the life of the
Hart family. Sheldrick said the play
will appeal to college students be
cause of its characters and the humor
ous theme.
“Jiggety Jig” is directed by George
Churley who is assisted by Don O’Neill.
■ Currently, Sheldrick is serving as
associate director and script develop
ment assistant with the Playhouse s
substance abuse resistance project ACT
OUT! and is working on an original
musical comedy to be performed at
the Forte Wayne Civic Theatre.
“Fools Rush In” was first presented
in Lincoln during the 1989 season as
a staged reading by the Lincoln Ac
tors Guild.
Director Bob Exquivel describes
the play as a “fairy tale run amuck.”
The play revolves around a king
who is searching for a wife, believing
that a wife would provide stability to
his life, his kingdom and the acting
company he owns.
Queenly candidates include sweet
' and innocent Claire (Johnette Toye),
bombastic Sophie (Lori Toren) and
King Bill’s childhood sweetheart
Angela (Sally Erickson).
Bom in Nebraska and raised in
Texas, “Fools Rush In” author Whipple
was one of the first six theater artists
to be awarded an Individual Artistic
Development grant from the Penn
sylvania Council of the Arts.
“Fools Rush In” will be performed
at 8 p.m. tonight and “Jiggety Jig”
will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday,
-j. On Friday “Jiggety Jig” will be
a performed at 7 p.m. followed by “Fools
Rush In” at 9:30. The order will be
1 reversed Saturday with “Fools Rush
□ In” at 7 p.m. and “Jiggety Jig” at9:30.
3 Tickets are S5 for adults and $3 for
ft students, and a SI discount is avail
« able for playhouse members. Tickets
can be reserved in advance or pur
chased at the door, beginning at 6
an p.m. each night of the performances.
New female vocalist
set for Top 40 charts
By Robert Richardson
Senior Reporter
She’s sexy, with long black hair
and an attitude. But beneath all the
hairspray, the drum machine, and the
funky name — can Safire sing?
Her opening track “Made Up My
Mind,” begins with an upbeat, catchy,
fast dance mix. Her Madonna-like
vocals and expression don’t copy, but
rather imitate the pop star.
On the title track “I Wasn’t Born
Yesterday,” Safire sings with convic
tion as she shows her musical versa
tility with rap lyrics to enhance the
song. But “I Wasn’t Bom Yesterday”
doesn’t have the consistent intensity
that pop music listeners have come to
expect. Instead, the choppy sound is
missing the smooth transitions that
could set Safire apart on the musical
Safire
“I Wasn’t Born Yesterday”
PolyGram
Rating: 3
Ratings are 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent).
battlefield.
As she combines with Tony Mo
ran and Lilias White, on background
vocals, Safire quickly jumps in the
spotlight with a striking harmony and
See SAFIRE on 10
Bad taste, wretched lyrics
run through pitiful album
By Jim Hanna
Senior Reporter
Someone please stop the madness.
The world simply does not need
another miserable, whiny, woman
hating, leather-wearing, mousse
headed pseudo-heavy metal band.
This distinct lack of need was not
enough, however, to halt the creation
of Southgang, the music scene’s lat
est expulsion of bile.
Southgang’s new album “Tainted
Angel” is boring, uncreative and bad.
If we’re lucky, it won’t even make it
into local record stores and its circu
lation will be limited to the entertain
ment publications across the country
that get the album free.
Southgang is made up of four
musicians (and the word is used with
much chagrin) who specialize in play
Southyang
“Tainted Angel”
Atlantic
Rating: 0
Ratings are 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent). jj
ing bad music and singing throaty, jfl
mournful lyrics.
Their cassette insert lists the really
cute band members and their equally ■
cute roles in the band. They are: Jesse
See SOUTHGANG on 10
Band from legendary jazz hall
revives New Orleans music
By Michael Stock
Staff Reporter__
A piece of New Orleans will be
in Lincoln tonight, as Lied Center
audiences are exposed to the
Humphrey Band, one of several
bands touring from the jazz leg
end-making Preservation Hall in
New Orleans.
Founded in 1961, the Preserva
tion Hall has made classic jazz
popular again. Preservation Hall
makes it clear that the music is not
Dixieland music.
The music, created in street
parades and saloons at die lum of
the century, celebrates everyday
New Orleans life, with a gentler
and slower tempo than most other
jazz styles. The music is formed
simply, making each piece as
in i hiwiiiiwiimiwi m immimii iwhihii mm
complicated as the musician cares
to improvise.
In fact, each song varies from
one set to the next.
Preservation Hall jazz bands
never have printed program lists,
allowing the music to flow natu
rally from song to song.
No two concerts are the same.
Typically, Preservation numbers
include “Bourbon Street Parade,”
“Basin Street Blues,” “Tiger Rag,”
“Careless Love,” “Just a Closer
Walk With Thee” and “Over in
Glory Land.”
The Humphrey Band is headed
by trumpet player, Percy G.
Humphrey. Humphrey has been with
the Preservation Hall since its found
ing but has olaved in iazz bands
since 1925. Most Preservation Hall
musicians have been playing jazz
for more than 50 years.
Other Humphrey players include
Frank Demond, trombone; Joe
Lastie, drums; James Prevost, bass;
Lars Edegran, piano; Narvin Kim
ball, banjo; and David Griller, clari
net.
Built in 1750 in the heart of the
French Quarter, Preservation Hall
has grown into much more than a
building. During the War of 1812,
the Hall served as a tavern. Since
then, it has been a home for artists,
writers and an art gallery.
That was when the Hall's jazz
tradition began.
In 1952 when the building was
still a gallery, the owner, a New
Orleans jazz buff, invited musi
cians over to rehearse for friends at
See HALL on 10
I ■ Wmmmm i
Southpang Courtly ol Charisma
