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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 1995)
Arts ©Entertainment Wednesday, February 15, 1995 Page 9 Play shines light on free society ‘Mad Forest’ echoes with bitter reality By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter On a plain where Bucharest, Romania, now stands, there used to be a large forest crossed by large streams. It was a Teleorman, or “mad forest,” that could only be crossed on foot. Playwright Caryl Churchill took her journey to Romania after the country’s revolution against dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in December 1989. She wrote her own “Mad For est,” which the University The atre will present Thursday. Beyond the newspaper head lines and television soundbites, “Mad Forest” exposes the hu man faces behind the revolu tion. Mad Forest examines the history of Romania — an east ern European communist-con trolled country where autocratic dictators used oppressive mea sures to control the populace. It’s a world director Ronald Wainscott said was similar to George Orwell’s “ 1984,” where one in every seven people was said to be an informant and the other six paranoid. All women of child-bearing age were subject to gynecologi cal exams at their place of work, and, if pregnant, were forced to come to term. No home was allowed to have more than one 40-watt bulb burning, and the temperature was never allowed to be above 50 degrees. After the revolution, Wainscott said, people did not know how to act in a free soci ety. “They spent their entire life in ‘1984,’ and were unable to communicate except under the most extreme conditions like screaming or slamming doors,” he said. “Mad Forest” breaks this struggle down into three levels: reality, interviews and the su pernatural. The conditions before and after the revolution are shown through realistic portrayals, and each cast member plays several Scott Bruhn/DN Jason Richards, a graduate student in theater, performs during a rehearsal of “Mad Forest” in the Howell Theater Monday night. different roles. into human psyche when it Additional performances are Churchill then took actual reaches into the supernatural Friday and Saturday and Feb. interviews from Romanians and world of angels, vampires and 21-25 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $9 weaved them into the middle of humans playing dogs. for the general public, $7 for the play. “Mad Forest” opens Thurs- faculty, staff and senior citi The play travels even further day at 8 p.m. at Howell Theatre. zens and $6 for students. #“rum Skv” ‘Shawshank Diue vKr Redemption” |§f Bullets Over Broadway” “yom & Vlv” HI “The Client” HI “Ed Wood” OS HI “Forrest Gump” ACT A <<Four Weddings Cy&tf w and a Funeral” actres Little women —-« •“The Madness of O&ZSt I King Georgre” su^OJ™,Gf “Holt” HI “Nobody's Fool" {H “Pulp Fiction" “Quiz Show" tg|“llod” z § JD • . -s • £1 mlCM sm Accuracy important in history By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter As a dramaturg, much of Mike Weitzenkamp’s time is spent researching the history behind plays. But when those historical facts are inaccurate, his job becomes a challenge. This was the case of “Mad Forest,” a play written about the recent history of Romania and its December 1989 revo lution. Until then, Romania was under the control of Nicolae Ceausescu, a communist au tocratic dictator whose gov ernment doctored documents and wrote their own books on Romania’s history. Assistant Director Becca Babbit said everyone who left the country had to be indoctri nated to speak of Romania in certain ways. “You can’t trust anything that comes from Romania,” she said. “You can’t pin any thing down. Everything was doctored to influence the im age of the country.” Most of the historical im agery in the play came from interviews conducted by play wright Caryl Churchill when she visited Romania in 1990. The documented history, Weitzenkamp said, was “hazy” and showed discrep ancies from Churchill’s inter views. Weitzenkamp did his own interviews. He found about 10 Romanians living in and around Lincoln who could help him with pronunciation of Romanian words in the script. Weitzenkamp also has to find answers to technical cos tuming, scenery and prop ques tions like “What do Roma nian priests wear? What does a Romanian wedding crown look like?” and “What distin guishes the Romanian sol diers?” In any play, but especially in a play that revolves around history, he said accuracy was the key. “Accuracy can show people something they’ve never seen,” he said. “It can take you to a place you’ve never been.” ‘Forrest Gump’ claims 13 Oscar nominations By Gerry Beltz Senior Reporter At the Academy of Motion Pic tures, Gump happened. This year’s Academy Award nominations gave “Forrest Gump” an impressive 13 Oscar nomina tions, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Tom Hanks), Best Support ing Actor (Gary Sinise) and Best Director (Robert Zemeckis). Wheeler Dixon, chairman of the film studies program, said he was not surprised that the film received so many nominations. “It was a very well-oiled, ac complished film,” Dixon said, “(Director Robert) Zemeckis is very big on that sort of thing.” “Forrest Gump” was alk> nomi nated for art direction, cinematog raphy, film editing, makeup, origi nal score, sound, sound effects editing, visual effects and adapted screenplay. Past films nominated for 13 dif ferent categories included “Gone With The Wind” (1939), “From Here to Eternity” (1953), “Mary See GUMP on 10