Arts (^Entertainment
[Work keeps local musician jumpin’
Artist blends
songs, students
By Glenn Antonucci
Staff Reporter
Katie Boner says she’s a teach
er, not a preacher.
Boner, better known as local
musician Jumpin’ Kate, has been
playing her music in Lincoln and
beyond for 10 years. She sings about
the strength of women, about hu
man rights, struggles within mod
em society and the perils of person
al relationships.
In the same vein as folk singers
of old, she sings about life.
“It’s a social outcry, a plea for
action, for contemplation, for what
we and others have left behind,”
she said.
“I sing about tolerance for indi
vidual differences — checking in
by checking out. I sing about things
that frustrate me and things that
make me happy, and I try to balloon
that so I’m not the only one.”
Musically, Boner describes her
sound as a blend ot roots rock,
Latin, folk and jazz.
Assisted by an ever-changing
lineup of local musicians, Boner
has recorded five independent al
bums including “Loaded Gun”
which was released Friday.
This time around, Boner’s own
guitar and vocals are backed by
vocalist and percussionist Deanne
Allison, and members of the Lin
coln funk band, the Yardapes, in
cluding guitarist Glen Smith, bass
ist Mark Lee and drummer Casey
Kinnan.
The result, she said, brings out a
variety of musical styles that pumps
a new diversity into “Loaded Gun.”
And she said none of the songs
made you want to headbang.
“It’s hard to describe,” she said.
“We don’t go for sheer volume—
it’s danceable — and it’s not so
quiet we ask everyone to sit down.”
Although Boner said she re
ceived a lot of support from her
local contemporaries, she admits
to being a kind of misfit in the area
music scene.
“I don’t want to make it sound
like I stand out in the class," she
said, “but sometimes I feel like
that. I’m not punk rock.”
In fact, she literally does stand
out in the class. By day. Boner
teaches drama and speech commu
nications at Lefler Junior High
School.
The decision to teach, she said,
came when she was forced to de
cide on a major while attending
Wesleyan University. Her choice
Stab McKee/DN
Kate Boner is a local musician who recently released her fifth album, “Loaded Gun.”
Boner is also a teacher at Lefler Junior High School.
was one that involved “developing
youth, something I could be really
useful in," she said. 4
“I had no burning desire to be a
teacher,” she said.
Nonetheless, Boner has spent
six years teaching, first in Catholic
school and then as a substitute in
public schools.
Substitute teaching requires a
set of skills all its own, Boner said.
“I’m good at shooting from the
hip," she said.
Despite complaints about a lim
iting, “antiquated” education sys
tem and piles of paperwork, Boner
said she really enjoys her job.
“The kids bring me back,” she
said.
Students flocking to her classes
prompted Lefler administrators to
start a new class for Boner to teach.
She said that was because she let
students speak their minds as well
as act out on them.
“I talk very plain-straight to
kids,” she said. “They want to feel
in control, and I try to let them.”
She said, for instance, she would
take a class clown aside and say,
“You’re a comedian, did you know
that? You’re very fiinny.”
Boner said her worlds of music
and teaching, created a “nice
merge.” They both draw from
“compassion, forgiveness and re
spect.”
As if school and Jumpin’ Kate
aren’t enough to keep her busy,
Boner also heads up the local reggae
band Cool Riddum.
Bassist Ken Winston,
keyboardist Jeff Agler, multi-in
strumentalist Tammy Van de
Bogart and drummer Dave Novak
join Boner’s singing and guitar
See KATE on 10
Wind sprints,
lack of feeling
deflate show
There was a lot of running. Run
ning in place, running in circles, run
ning on stage and off.
And there was a lot of collapsing
into someone else’s arms — makes
sense after all that running.
David Dorfman Dance, in associa
tion with Lincoln Area Athletes —
the name given in the program to the
eighteen locals who performed with
the six Dorfman Dancers — put on
two two-hour shows this weekend, to
sell-out crowds at the Johnny Carson
Theater.
The show began with a tackle.
Dorfman, a fat guy in shoulder pads
and a jockstrap, deftly felled Robert
Chumbley, the director of the Lied
Center.
He then went on to do a little
monologue about Superman and male
vulnerability — looking as vulnera
ble as only a fat guy in a jockstrap can.
Then the Lincoln Area Athletes
did their thing.
lust ii sccmcu iiKc uic amicics
were just going to choreograph around
and never really get to dance.
But there were moments that were
surprisingly dance-like. The piece
must have been a lot of work, even for
these highly conditioned athletes.
Again, there was a lot of running.
Then there were some more tack
les; tackling seemed a major motif of
the evening. Tackles, wrestling holds
and more running.
Then there was some more run
nin
ran a lot.
The second and final pieces fea
tured guest artist Dan Froot on saxo
phone.
Froot’s “Loop” — one wonders if
there’s a pun in there, somewhere —
was a stunning exhibition of what
horn players call “circular breathing”
—besides being something of a killer
solo.
In the final piece, which was the
best of the evening, Froot reappeared,
along with Dorfman^
They performed a sax duet in kilts
that will stick with the viewer long
after all the running is forgotten.
This number, called “Horn,” could
have been a male competition/bond
ing ritual from the distant planet of
Jazz, it was that cool.
And if Froot wasn’t half bad as a
dancer, Dorfman was petty sharp on
sax himself — a true cross
pollinization of the arts.
The evening was full of cool mo
ments. Dorfman is a choreographer
with nothing but interesting ideas -1
and that may be his biggest failing.
See DANCE REVIEW on 10
Lack of convention
takes lead, twists, turns in ‘Tango’
“Tango,” the second show in the UNL The
atre Arts and Dance’s 1993-94 season, is an
avant-garde drama with more than a touch of
the absurd. Like the dance of the same name, it
changes direction time and time again within
each of its three acts.
Staged in the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln’s Studio Theatre, located on the third floor
of the Temple Building, 12th and R streets, and
directed by UNL theatre professor Alexander
Gelman, “Tango" is a busy show. Laughter
erupts on the heels of serious statements and
contemplative material. Not surprising for
material filled with political satire and social
commentary.
Playwright Slawomir Mrozek sets conven
tion on its ear with this play. In it, youth —
usually portrayed as liberal and rebellious—is
conservative, while the experiences of the older
generation had rendered them wild and uncon
ventional.
The main character is Arthur (Jonas Cohen),
a 25-year-old man who is completely distressed
by his family’s lack of conventionality. His
mother Eleanor (Kristi Lee Covey) has a free
wheeling love affair with die play’s resident
thug, Eddie (Jason Tucker Richards). His father
Stomil (Mark A. Klemetsrud) does “experi
ments” with theater and science, grandmother
Eugenia (Julie Fitzgerald) gambles with Eddie
the thug and great-uncle Eugene (Jeremy H.
Kendall) can’t make up his mind where he
belongs.
Arthur comes home completely fed up. He
decides he must take action, he must return
“form and order” to the world in order to retain
his sanity and set his family free from the
decadence they've immersed themselves in.
He embarks on a ridiculous plan to marry his
rather vacant cousin Ala (Michelle M. Eckley)
in order to set the family back on track. Uncle
Eugene joins him in his mission, reacting with
a great deal of enthusiasm and drive.
But Arthur’s vision of form and order is not
to be, and therein lies just one of the play’s
many tragedies.
Playwright Mrozek was obviously a student
of social change and political structure, and his
feelings about conventions are thinly disguised.
It’s a captivating play, albeit a bit confusing
at times, and worth seeing. The ending is
especially satisfying.
The set and costumes, by Master of Fine Arts
students Tom Watson and Kristeen Chapman
Wendell, fit the feeling of the play. UNL stu
dent Marsha Mueller’s lighting design makes
an important contribution to tne mood of the
entire show as well.
The competence of the acting is pivotal to
moving this absurdist drama along, giving it
meaning and humor.
Generally, the cast did a fine job. But Cohen
has a particularly difficult job, as Arthur is the
consummate impassioned conservative in the
middle of a wacky family. Cohen’s moral
posturing is right on target, although sympathy
for his character wanes in the third act. He does
triumph again in his final scene.
KJemetsrud is terrific as Stomil, Arthur’s
father who turns a Mind eye to Eleanor’s affair.
Stomil runs the g. mut from Arm belief in his
lifestyle to a yearning for return to some kind of
structure. His changes from confident and blus
tery, to bewildered and unhappy, are intriguing.
“Tango” continues its run Tuesday through
Saturday. All performances begin ^t 8 p.m.
Tickets are available at the Theatre/Dance Box
office in Temple.
. —Anne Steyer