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.
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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