Arts(oEntertainment
Nebraskan
Thursday, February 10,1994
English professor visits
Shakespeare institute
By Heather Sinor
Staff Reporter
William Shakespeare himself may
not have survived into the twentieth
century, but his talent and his love for
the theater live on through Dr. Stephen
Buhler, assistant professor of English
at the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln.
Buhler had the unique opportunity
to join sixteen other “students” from
across the United States at the Folger
Shakespeare Library in Washington,
D.C., to improve their knowledge of
Shakespeare’s theater.
The partic ipants in the project were
composed of professors and members
of theatrical departments and dance
departments. Participants were direct
ed by Lois Potter, a leading theater
critic in England and a professor at the
University of Delaware, Buhler said.
The students studied the psycholo
gy of Shakespeare’s characters, reen
acted productions, viewed local per
formances every weekend and pre
pared re v iews of their reactions, Buhler
said.
They also learned how to convey
Shakespeare in theater into a class
room and vice versa. Buhler said this
aspect was of particular interest to
him.
In order to be admitted to this class,
interest in the subject was a must. This
was no ordinary summer school pro
gram, Buhler said. Instead the stu
dents met one weekend a month from
September of 1992 to May of 1993 and
again in October of 1993. The final
class session is this month.
Although the commuting may
sound excruciating to some, Buhlet
said, “the main appeal wps that you
could think about each of the aspects
for three or four weeks before the next
session.”
He said the time interval allowed
him to go back and try out what he
learned in the classroom.
“That way,” Buhler said, “I can
immediately find out what can be of
use and how it could be of use in the
classroom.”
Just having the opportunity to be
admitted into this program highlights
Buhler’s exceptional qualifications.
He was selected into this National
Endowment for the Humanities-fund
ed project as one of 17 from a pool of
80 to 100 applicants. He is the only
Nebraskan in the program, he said.
Buhler enjoyed his experience and
said in a few years he would like to
have the same kind of program here
and call it the Nebraska Shakespeare
Project.
The Folger Library, where the class
was held, was established for Henry
Clay Folger, a leading oil executive
and avid book collector. Folgerdied in
1930 and didn’t get to see the opening
of the library on April 23, 1932 —
Shakespeare’s birthday — Buhler
said.
The library is primarily a research
institution and has the greatest single
repository for the first folio. It also
houses several acting editions put to
gether by acting producers, including
Laurence Olivier’s 1944 film script
and prompt books from the Royal
Shakespeare Company, Buhler said.
This was good news for Buhler,
who has been researching the differ
ences in generational politics between
the two. He said one of the neatest
smxisX.
Jon Waller/DN
Dr. Stephen Buhler, an assistant English professor, has taken his interest in Shakespeare
to the national level by participating in a Folger Institute Center for Shakespeare Studies
workshop. Buhler says the institute has given him new classroom tactics in bringing
Shakespeare alive to students.
experiences he had was taking the
Olivier script and thumbing through
it to see the process that was involved.
Another of Buhler’s Folger favor
ites was the stained glass window of
the seven ages of man from the play
'“As you Like It”.
“It reinforces the idea that this is
the shrine of Shakespeare. It’s both
touching and inspiring that people
can find in Shakespeare such a sense
of meaning for their lives.”
William l auer/DN
David Neely is the next performer in the University of Nebraska
Lincoln School of Music’s Faculty Recital Series. Neely’s
performance is tonight at 8 in Kimball Hall.
Violinist is next
in faculty series
Concert
review
By Joel Strauch
Senior Reporter
Violinist David Neely is tuning up his strings
to perform at tonight’s concert in the UNL
School of Music Faculty Recital Series.
Neely, a new music professor at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been playing the
violin since he was 8 years old. He teaches
chamber music and is a viol in and viola instruc
tor.
Neely said his interest in the violin went back
to when he was a child.
“A violinist passed through my elementary
school in Mason City, Iowa, when I was in
second grade. I don’t remember his name, but
I was intrigued by what he could do and the way
the instrument sounded,” he recalled.
Neely grew up in the Midwest and received
his bachelor’s degree from Iowa State Univer
sity. He then earned his Master of Fine Arts
degree at the California Institute of the Arts.
“I lived in California for two years and I got
really tired of the fast pace. I’m glad to be back
in the Midwest,” he said.
Neely taught for six years at the University of
South Dakota in Vermilion before he came to
UNL. One of his ongoing goals is to be part of
a nationally known piano trio. He is still in
volved with a piano trio that is based in South
Dakota, and he will fly to Rawlins, S.D., for a
concert Sunday.
Neely said the group used to practice togeth
er six to eight hours a week, but now he found
it difficult to travel to South Dakota and back so
frequently.
“I’d really like to put a trio together here. But
I haven’t had much luck yet,” he said.
Neely will be performing tonight at 8 p.m. in
Kimball Hall. He will be accompanied'by pia
nist Shirley Irek. Admission is free.
Tale worth a read
for mystery, puns
“Lady Slings the Booze”
Spider Robinson
Ace Science Fiction
A talking dog, telepathic twins and a time
traveling madam — these arc a few characters
to be found in Spider Robinson’s fifth entry in
his “Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon” scries.
The tale begins as Joe Quigley, a private eye
with notorious bad luck, is hired to investigate
unusual events at Lady Sally’s, the most well
known house of ill repute in Brooklyn. Lady
Sally’s employees report perplexing occurrenc
es, such as being inside one minute and totally
naked outside the next, with no recollection as
to how they got there. The solution is so good it
can’tbe givenaway.but it does have Robinson’s
bent touch replete with atrocious puns, his
trademark.
Having solved one mystery, Quigley then
ponders the mystery of Lady Sally herself, who
has a remarkable prescience regarding world
affairs. She reveals herself as a time traveler,
coming back to the mid-1980s to discover why
World War III never happened. A series of
deductions leads to Quigley, Sally and company
stopping a terrorist group from setting offhomc
built nukes.
Robinson is in fine form here, and anyone
familiar with the “Callahan” series cannot af
ford to miss this one. The characters alone make
the book worth reading. Quigley falls for a pair
of gorgeous blond identical twins who are telc
pathically connected. Ralph Von Wau Wau, a
talking German shepherd, is the result of a mad
scientist’s experiment gone slightly awry. Lady
Sally’s husband is none other than Mike
Callahan, owner of the saloon and fellow time
traveler, better known as the Mick of Time.
Even for those not familiar with the series,
“Lady Slings the Booze” is a perfect introduc
tion. But be warned - - once you finish this one,
you’ll probably want the whole series, bad puns
and all.
— Sam Kepfield
