Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1997)
ive ueARNeo so much ABOUT AFRICAN AM6RICANS IN HlSTORy By FOLLOWING BLACK HlSTORy MONTH ON TUe INTGRNet ive LeARNeD stuff that ADDS CONTexr TO THe WlSTORV I ueARNeD ' GROWING UP... ) AND VOUKe FOOUSU IP YOU THINK BLACK HISTORY MONTH eNPS IN FEBRUARY. 1+11 take all year ju«T L'l mII iU/u> a ui^U e'.iiif ^_ I—— - ■ ■ i i hnoJ/wwwkeeieacuk/depis/asAebogahtml • hnp://««^.ki«yn*t.n^h«rtanswAiegro^eagu«/ • hnp7A«ww.ai.m*.edu/-i*be«WFM3took/ • hnp-y/www.sas.uperm.edji'Atrican_Sujdies/BiBiography/AFAM_HisK>ry.ritnil • MORE LINKS at THE NORM NET! hnpy/www.thenorm.cotn IF yOU THINK BUCK j HISTORV STARTeP WITH i u.s. suveRV, vou'pe I MISSING THe POINT gMPiiiWH III iniri rii 1 I I Physical comedy challenges cast Moliere’s spoof borders on vaudeville; trick is making it look easy By Liza Holtmeier Staff Reporter The UNL Theatre Department opens its second semester mainstage season with a farcical look at the medi cal profession in “The Imaginary In valid” by Moliere. The play revolves around the hy pochondriac Argon and his escapades as those around him offer advice on the fate of his daughters and fortune. The show, directed by guest direc tor John Pynchonholms, provides a variety of challenges to the cast be cause of its comic elements. “There’s a lot of vocal demands, but it’s a very physically demanding show too,” said Robert Hurst, who plays Argon. “You can tell by the way the lines are written that it deviates into almost a vaudeville script ” The actors have struggled to per fect the physical comedy. “One of the hardest things is to get the period movement down,” said Erin McLaine, who plays Toinette. “Then, you must be able to switch from this very prim, controlled place into this farce where you’re leaping across the stage like a fool ” Hurst agreed. “The trick to doing physical com edy is making it look effortless,” he said. “It is really like a ballet or dance; it’s very timed and choreographed.” « The trick to doing physical comedy is making it look effortless. It is really like a ballet or dance; it’s very timed and choreographed.” Robert Hurst « cast member Pynchonholms said arriving at this effortless stage is time-consuming and has been intensified by the short, four week rehearsal period. “When you bring a group of people together who know each other, but who haven’t really worked together on any physical comedy, you’re really starting from scratch,” he said. “They’re not bringing a sort of his tory to it, so you’re inventing the his tory as you do it.” Pynchonholms also said the play contains a lot of implied comedy, which further complicates the process. “There’s a lot of comedy that is sort of unknown to us, because it was never written down,” he said. “You know there was a joke there, but you don’t know quite what it was. It’s challeng ing.” Cast and crew have enjoyed the opportunity to work with Pynchonholms as a guest director. “He kind of works this play like a workshop,” McLaine said. “TTie play is continuously evolving. It’s wonder ful to watch.” “He really lets us play,” Hurst said. “I think the show really benefits from that sense of playing, not only with the language, but with the characters.” Hurst said he especially enjoyed this production. “When you’re cm stage, there’s a sense of being an actor and a charac ter at the same time,” he said. “For me, I guess the best analogy is the old ‘Carol Burnett Show’ where you re ally got a sense of the actors challeng ing each other and enjoying them selves.” Performances will be at Howell The atre in the Tbmple Building. ‘Norm’ creator marks Black History Month By Bret Schulte Staff Reporter Black History Month, typically celebrated through television, forums and speakers, is now receiving attention from an unlikely medium — the cartoon strip. Michael Jantze, cartoonist of “The Norm,” is one of the few artists to feature recurring black characters. While these characters are not the focus of the strip, their involvement is significant and stems from Jantze’s own past. “There are a lot of black people in my life: college buddies, friends from New Orleans, not to mention the people here (California),” Jantze said. “(Black people) in the strip just makes sense to me.” Growing up in Normal, 111., (the name that partially inspired the strip’s title) Jantze knew few minorities. Attending college in Califor nia and later working in New Orleans affected Jantze and introduced him to a new world of color. “In California 1 encountered all kinds of people. America is changing,” Jantze said. “It’s not going to be a white world anymore and I don’t care.” He said while his characters run the risk of being seen as political, they embody his friends and influences. “The Norm” is not a political or racial statement, but rather a humorous re flection on the artist’s past. “Initially, the thing that impressed the syn dicate (King) is the black guy in my strip,” Jantze said. “Yet the strip doesn’t focus on black issues.” Ford (who is named after Jantze’s first car) and his girlfriend, Jan, appear frequently, of fering support and advice to the typically dis enchanted Norm. “Ford’s a little older and wiser. He’s gotten past the crap that Norm still deals with,” he said. “Ford thinks he’s the expert, has the girl friend, the job, but that’s not necessarily true.” In the ftiture Jantze predicts that Ford may need some help himself as Jantze hopes to ex plore more racially-oriented topics. “There have been no black-and-white issues in the past,” he said. “Except Ford looking for black superheroes in a comic store once and couldn’t find any.” Jantze hopes to pursue more racial issues in the future. He said it is difficult because the strip is told through Norm and doesn’t focus on Ford and Jan by themselves. To compensate, during February, Jantze has depicted Norm delving into a variety of Black History Month web sites in his quest to under stand black heritage. “Norm goes on the Internet to check out black history,” Jantze said. “It’s Norm just try ing to figure it out.” Included with Norm’s research are the ac tual addresses of web sites featuring informa tion on black history. Jantze shrugs off praise for his promotion of Black History Month. “I don’t know why I decided to do it,” Jantze said. “It sounded like a good thing to do, and I’m a good guy now.” Trilogy brings theaters record-breaking business By Gerry Beltz Senior Reporter Unpredictable. Came out of no where. Absolute surprise. No, this isn’t the latest Ne braska weather forecast. These are the reactions from the movie indus try on the success of “Star Wars: Special Edition.” Frank Rhodes, film buyer for Douglas Theatre Co., said the busi ness this film is doing has floored everybody. “We didn’t know,” Rhodes said. “Nobody did.” Also, with the extra scenes and cleaned-up special effects, Rhodes said, this is a completely new ex perience for the movie industry. . “We haven’t seen anything like this, ever,” he said. “The closest anything has come to this was the re-release of ‘Gone With the Wind.’” In Lincoln, Rhodes said, “Star Wars” is still selling out on week ends, and he noted three main fac tors for the business it has been bringing in over the last three weeks. “There’s the mix of people who saw it 20 years ago,” he said, “those who hadn’t even been bora yet, plus the excellent digital sound.” The additional and enhanced footage were also key reasons, but the souped-up Sony Dynamic Digi tal Sound (SDDS) is what keeps the theaters filled. “Mainly, it’s the digital sound,” hesaid. , Originally set for only a three week run at the Stuart, the success of “Star Wars: Special Edition” will keep the movie in Lincoln. To make room for the Friday premiere of “The Empire Strikes Back” at the Stuart Theatre, 13th and P streets, “Star Wars” will be moved out to the Edgewood 3 The atre, 56th Street and Highway 2, Rhodes said. The special edition of “Return of the Jedi” will premiere at the Stuart cm March 7, with “The Em pire Strikes Back” moving a block west to the Lincoln 3 Theatre, 12th and P streets. The Stuart, Edgewood and Lin coln theaters are all equipped with SDDS systems. The idea of extended runs of the “Star Wars” films has been around for a while, Rhodes said. “From the start,” Rhodes said, “if the movies were doing good business, we would keep them and put them in another SDDS theater.”
