|-(NTERTAINMENT
Writer makes
return to his
literary roots
By Diane Broderick
Staff writer
Today, author Ron Block will
return to a room where he used to read
the books of Nebraska authors.
But Block will not be just an
admirer in Bennett Martin Public
Library's Heritage Room, as he once
wus as an undergraduate student in the
'70s.
Tonight Block will read for about
an hour from his two books, “Dirty j
Shame Hotel" and “Dismal River: A
Narrative Poem," as a participant in the
John H. Ames Reading Senes.
Block, an instructor at Mid-Plains i
Community College in North Platte,
Literature Preview >
The Facts
What: Reading by author Ron Block
Where: Bennett Martin Library. 136 S. 14th
St.. Heritage Room
When: Tonight at 7:30
Cost: Free
The Skinny: Former UNL student returns
to Lincoln for reading series
will read both fiction short stones and
poetic fiction tonight starting at 7:30.
His most recent work, “Dirty
Shame Hotel,” is a collection of short
stones that was published in 1998 by
the New Rivers Press in Minneapolis.
Block said it has a combination of sev
eral styles.
“I bring a lot of contrasts to my
writing,” Block said. “I write things
that are sometimes folksy and some
times bizarre ”
Block said he’s excited to return to
his college base and see some of his old
haunts.
“I used to go to Bennett Martin all
the time and hang out in the Heritage
Room,” he said.
The Heritage Room operates as the
home base for the John H. Ames series,
which is dedicated to the accomplish
ments of Nebraska authors.
The forum allows local writers the
opportunity to perform their pieces in
front of a live audience, engage listen
ers and conduct a dialogue with a
crowd usually full of students and
other writers, Heritage Room curator
Vicki Clarke said.
1 he room lies on the top floor ot
the Bennett Martin Library, 136 S. 14th
St., and features a collection of books
by and about Nebraska authors.
Although certainly a local talent,
Block hasn’t been hanging around
Nebraska his entire life. He attended
graduate school at Syracuse University
in New York, and has taught at
Marquette University in Milwaukee
and North Dakota State University in
Fargo.
But his home state has stayed a big
part of his life since his childhood in
Gothenburg, he said.
His book “Dismal River: A
Narrative Poem,” published in 1990 by
New Rivers Press, is a book-length
poem about a boat ride down the
Dismal River, which winds through
the Sandhills in Nebraska.
Although the work is largely fic
tional, it reflects influences he received
from his father, Block said.
Though he currently teaches in
North Platte, he said he is unsure
where he will end up in the next couple
of years.
But one thing is certain: He will
relish the time he gets to spend tonight
in the room where he used to enjoy the
words of Weldon Kees and others.
Mike Warren/DN
ROBERT VIVIAN, a doctoral student in English, writes dark and powerful plays while maintaining a
modest and unassuming personality. Vivian has chosen to remain in Nebraska to do his writing
instead of opting for the more well-known playwright communities such as New York.
Candid works mark area author
By Liza Holtmeier
Senior staff writer
When Kay Vivian read “Murmurs of California,”
she was surprised to see her marriage dramatized for
the stage.
The play, written by her husband, Robert Vivian,
was based on her relationships with her husband and
father.
“I said, ‘Bob, you can't do this. You’re basically
airing our dirty laundry,”’ Kay Vivian said.
But after reading the play again, she realized it
was too good to pass over.
She liked it so much she ended up playing the
part modeled after herself in a production of the play
at the Shelterbelt theater in Omaha.
And she wasn’t disappointed.
People were blown away by the honesty and real
ity of the work, said Matt Thompson, who played the
role modeled after Robert.
“You can’t bastardize that honesty. He uses real
words to describe real feelings to discuss real sub
jects,” Thompson said.
Robert Vivian, an Omaha playwright studying
for a doctorate at the University of Nebraska
Resident
Writers
A semesterlong look at
Nebraska literary culture and
... the people who create it.
Lincoln, is known for his honest, cutting-edge plays,
20 of which have been produced Off- and Off-Off
Broadway.
And in a state with a relatively limited communi
ty for new theater, Vivian forges ahead with his dark,
gritty plays, refusing to give in to more commercial
drama.
“I suppose I don’t trust face value at all when it
comes to people. I don’t know myself that well, and I
don’t think hardly anyone does. Anyone who says, ‘I
know exactly how I would act in this context,’ I am
suspicious of,” Vivian explained.
Vivian’s cynical attitude comes straight across in
his plays with their high emotional stakes and eerily
Please see VIVIAN on 10
Play seeks out truths in poet’s life
By Liza Holtmeier
Senior staff writer
“Mad, bad and dangerous.”
One of Lord Byron’s many lovers
once used these three words to
describe the legendary poet.
Others have called him a dandy, a
lunatic and a nymphomaniac.
But most of all, he’s been called
one of the greatest poets of the
Romantic period.
This weekend, the Department of
Theatre Arts and Dance explores the
man behind the myth. In “Childe
Byron,” the University of Nebraska
Lincoln brings the histone figure and
the shadows of his past to life.
“Childe Byron,” a play by
Romulus Linney, focuses on the rela
tionship between Byron and his only
legitimate daughter, Ada.
In the play, Ada, who was
estranged from her father during his
lifetime, is writing her will. After
reviling the memory of her father most
of her life, Ada confronts their rela
tionship by summoning him to life.
The play struggles to find the
truths behind the rumors that plagued
Byron during and after his life.
“Byron wasn’t this biased, psy
chotic, sex-crazed poet,” said Amy
Jirsa, a member of the cast. "Anyone
who can write poetry like that had to
have a softer side.”
In the play, Ada tries to come to
terms with Byron’s stormy love life,
his incestuous affair with his sister and
the overall drunken revelry of his life.
She questions his legend the same
way academics have questioned it.
, Jude Hickey, who plays Byron,
said approaching such a legendary
character intimidated him.
“There's a character already built
that I have to live up to in a way," he
Theatre Preview
The Facts
What: “Childe Byron”
Where: Studio Theatre
When: 8 p.m. tonight through Saturday,
Feb. 23-27
Cost: $6 for students, $9 for faculty/staff/senior
citizens, $10 for general admission
The Skinny: Lord Byron’s only legitimate
daughter struggles to come to terms with her
father’s legacy
said.
But the center of this play is not
Byron’s licentious background, cast
members said. The play focuses on the
relationship between Ada and her
father.
“The core of the text is two people
who grew up without parents, and how
they're affected by it,” said Greg
Peters, another cast member.
Patricia Behrendt, who directs the
play, said it explores the outside forces
that affect a family.
“It’s a vision of how people try to
heal themselves when they experience
a loss in their lives,” she said.
Byron tries to bring these contem
porary themes to life within its historic
framework.
In order to prevent the play from
becoming a period piece, Behrendt
said, the technical elements are not
completely definitive of time and
place.
Colors, for example, are character
istic of the roles the actors play instead
of the time period.
“This play is intensely modem in
spirit. We didn’t want to get too
grounded in period. If we get too
grounded, we lose the modern
themes,” she said.
And there’s no doubt that Byron,
still an icon today, was way ahead of
