A&Entertainment
Sandy Summers/DN
JEFF RAZ, a UNL guest lecturer, talks to a theater class Wednesday afternoon in Neihardt Residence Hall. Raz, an actor whose lives in California, spoke to the class about his
torical portrayals of Jews in plays and theater.
Visiting instructor confronts stereotypes
By Diane Broderick
Staff writer
When artist-in-residence Jeff Raz first encoun
tered what he calls “the Nebraska stare,” he wasn’t
quite sure what to make of it.
The San Franciscan had been expecting a cul
tural difference when he began work in the Artist
Diversity Program at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln, but he didn’t quite anticipate the reticent
environment in which he would be teaching.
“There’s a real culture of not being confronta
tional (in the Midwest),” Raz said.
In class, he initially found the reserved mental
ity of students difficult to handle during discus
sions of stereotypes and racism.
But Raz has returned to UNL every year since
1995, each time with success in these areas. In his
fferences
An ongoing look at ethnic contributions to
Nebraska state culture.
visits, he has tackled serious, campus-focused
problems of race and prejudice despite “the
Nebraska stare.”
In 1996 he worked with a class to put together
“Noah’s Floating House Party,” a play that exam
ined how different cultures celebrate the holidays
of Easter, Ramadan and Passover.
And in 1997, shortly after Sigma Chi
Fraternity members were caught burning a cross,
Raz and a class in the Teachers College composed
“All Tangled Up” - a response to the incident.
That was where Nebraskans’ affinity for avoid
mg conflict first caught his attention.
Raz was accustomed to, and preferred, the
“take-your-sides-and-slug-it-out” approach to
dealmg with difficult issues.
But that wasn’t what he found here, even
though class members included such opposing
sides as a Sigma Chi member and a member of the
Affikan People’s Union.
“A lot of people m class thought it wasn’t a big
deal,” he said.
But others said it made them fear for their lives,
he said.
Raz said he came to realize that a confronta
tional approach wouldn’t have fostered an attitude
where such open opinions were offered.
It gave him a new view on the best way to
examine difficult topics.
Please see RAZ on 8
btudent playwrights showcase performances m festival
ByLizaHoltmeier
Senior staff writer
When Nita Rjtzke looked at the pile
of dead bodies at the end of “Hamlet,”
she thought, "What a waste!”
So, she took those dead bodies and
brought them back to life in a play called
“Dead Hamlet.”
But “Dead Hamlet” actually starts
before the beginning of Shakespeare's
play. And with graceful parody and far
cical wit, it explores the causes of
Hamlet’s tragic course.
The play serves as the anchor for a
festival featuring six new plays.
The festival, which runs this week
end, is presented by the Department of
Theatre Arts and Dance. It features
staged readmgs of five plays, and three
full performances of Ritzke’s “Dead
Hamlet.” All the plays are written by
University of Nebraska-Lincoln stu
dents.
The festival grew' out of a play
wright reading group that met last year
to read and discuss new plays.
The students in the group felt bur
geoning playwrights in Lincoln lacked
the opportunity to get their works in
front of an audience.
“As a playwright, your work really
isn’t done until you see it performed,”
said Drew Sutherland, a UNL visiting
professor of theater from California
who is involved in the festival.
The students decided to organize a
festival that would allow playwrights to
present staged readings of their works.
Becky Key, one of the festival's
playwrights, said the styles of the cho
sen plays are reminiscent of various
Broadway playwrights. Audiences will
recognize the sentimentality of Wendy
Wasserstein, the cutting-edge drama of
Sam Shepard and the satirical farce of
Tom Stoppard.
“Dead Hamlet” will be performed
every night of the festival. The produc
tion plays up the idiosyncrasies of
Shakespeare's characters.
“What makes these characters inter
esting in Shakespeare’s play makes
Heather Glenboski/DN
THE FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS features works by Spanish graduate student
Joseph McClanahan, freshman architecture major Scott Raymond, senior
theater major Becky Key and theater graduate student Nita Ritzke. The fes
tival runs Thursday through Friday.
them comical in mine,” Ritzke said. be Key's “Bullet.” which will be fea
Another highlight of the festival will tured during Friday's reading. Based on
the killing sprees of Charles
Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, the
play provides a chilling look at the teen
agers’ relationship.
When writing the play. Key said, she
was faced with the proximity of the
events.
“1 had to be careful not to step on
any toes,” Key said. “And if I could step
on toes, whose could 1 step on?”
The excerpt that will be read Friday
shows Fugate and Starkweather at the
beginning of their relationship. In the
scene, the audience realizes why the two
are together.
“They talk about sex and killing
people at the same time, and you’re not
sure whether there is a difference in their
minds,” said Ritzke, who is directing
“Bullet.”
Before “Bullet,” Peter Taber’s
“Black and Whites” will be read. Tice
Miller, a UNL theater professor and
organizer of the festival, said Taber’s
play follows in the footsteps of Ken
Please see FESTIVAL on 8