their
Inexperienced cast, director get
feet wet in Theatrix production
BYMB-ANEMENSCH
Although it’s the second Theatrix show
this season, “Bad Girls” is a first for many
of die cast and crew.
The play, written by renowned author
Joyce Carol Oates, will mark UNL perform
ance debuts for not only four of the show’s
designers but the lone male actor and the
director, as well
Senior theater major Melissa Loveless
makes her debut as the director of “Bad
Girls,” a play in which a mother must
choose between her boyfriend and her
three daughters, as a tale of rape rips them
apart.
Told through the recollections of mid
dle sister Orchid, played by Amanda
Hickey, the story explores the tom rela
tionships between lovers and loved ones.
Portrayed by Ann Abbott, Marietta
Murchison abandons the needs of her
three teen-aged daughters for a newfound
affair with ex-Marine Isaak Drumm.
Starving for their imperfect mother’s
attention, the siblings attempt to ruin the
relationship. Eldest daughter Isabell, or
“Icy,” played by Heidi Maus, leads her sib
lings Orchid and Crystal in die attempt
Hoping to find discriminating evi
dence against their mother’s beau, the trio
break into his apartment, only to later be
discovered by Drumm.
What follows is an unfinished con
frontation, leaving the audience and
Marietta to decide who’s telling the truth -
her unassuming boyfriend, played by
freshman theater major Rob Lesan or Icy,
her jealous firstborn.
With no right or wrong answer, the
play draws assumptions of guilt and inno
cence, Lesan said.
“It’s the brpach issue of truth and who
we tend to believe,” he said. “Do we dis
miss women over men or men over
women? We make assumptions about
men and women in society, especially
about issues related to sex.”
Jill Dickey, who plays the youngest sis
ter Crystal, said the audience would make
its own conclusion based on the charac
ters’ testimonies.
“It’s challenging,” she said. “It’s his
word versus hers.”
Performance Preview
iBad Girts I
i _/
-(Where: Studio Theatre,
Temple Building,
12th &R
—(When: Thursday, Friday &
Saturday
@ 7:30 p.m.
Dickey, a former UNL theater student,
said her interpretation of the play’s title
referred to a stereotypical portrayal of
women.
“A good girl lays down and lets people
walk all over her and make her decisions,”
Dickey said. “These girls stand up to the
abuse and the social norms, and they are
fighting for what they believe in.”
Loveless said the play’s depiction of
family values shows “what can happen
when kids are overlooked and when
someone tries to be a good parent but
doesn't make good choices.”
“I’m interested in the sister interac
tion,” Loveless said. “It’s realistic and it’s
like life, where at times things are funny
and at other times it’s dramatic.”
An aspiring casting director, Loveless
has performed with Nebraska Masquers
and Theatrix.
But she said she found her directorial
debut to be more fun than she thought it
would be.
“It was stressful, but it was a fun stress
ful,” she said.
Steve Barth, Theatrix’s artistic director,
said while the production team worked
together less than a month, the ensemble
dedicated themselves to the play.
“It’s a great opportunity to see a new
group of people to the theater depart
ment,” he said.
Jennifer Lund/DN
Amanda Hickey plays Orchid Murchison, a daughter who struggles with the fact that her mother is dating, in the play "Bad Girts 'The play was written by
Joyce Carol Oates, one of the most critically acclaimed authors of her era.
mcmumiDU"
sisters, played
by Amanda
Hickey, Heidi
Maus and Jill
Dickey, wrestle
with living in a
single-parent
home in
Theatrix's pro
duction of "Bad
Girls'The play
starts Thursday
and runs
throughout the
weekend.
Jennifer Lund/DN
New sculpture depicts
settlers moving West
■The Center for Great Plains Studies will
introduce the new piece in its new home, the
Hewit Place, on Thursday.
BY CASEY JOHNSON
Now that the Center for Great Plains Studies
has made its move to Hewit Place, there is no turn
ing back for the museum.
Fittingly, the center, which is funded by the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is unveiling its
first life-sized sculpture titled “No Turning Back.”
The sculpture, which depicts early settlers
moving west, will be unveiled Thursday at 7 p.m. in
the Christlieb Gallery, which is part of the new
Center for Great Plains Studies.
Sharon Gustafson, curator of the gallery, said
she is excited.
“It is the first life-size sculpture that we have
had in our holding, so in that respect it is very
exciting, and the sculpture is being placed in our
lobby so it is the first thing people will see,” she
said. “We consider it a big addition.”
Veryl Goodnight, the sculpture’s creator from
Sante Fe, said placing her sculpture in Nebraska is
a good fit.
“Nebraska and the Center for Great Plains
Studies is the perfect place for the sculpture,” she
said. “The sculpture speaks to many people with a
heritage on the plains. The people of Nebraska are
part of that history of settling the West.”
Goodnight is a renowned sculptor who has
works displayed in the United States, Europe and
Japan. Her works can be found in many galleries
around the world, including the Allied Museum in
Berlin, the Houston Astrodome and the George
Bush Presidential library and Museum in College
Station, Texas.
Goodnight, who began sculpting in 1973, often
conveys western themes involving people or ani
mals.
“No Turning
Back” represents
the uncertainty
and overall spirit
of the western
settlers,
Goodnight said.
"The sculp
ture depicts a
19th-century
woman on a
wagon train
heading West,
irrevocably com
mitted to a new
life while looking back pensively and reflecting on
the life she has left,” Goodnight said in a release.
"No 'Riming Back” was donated to the gallery
by Bill and Sandra Condon, a couple from
Colorado.
The gallery will open its doors at 6 p.m., with
the dedication ceremony beginning at 7.
There will be refreshments served at the recep
tion. The event is free, but an RSVP is requested. To
RSVP, call 472-3964 or send an e-mail to kwei
de@unl.edu.
The sculpture is part of a larger exhibition
called "Art of the American West: Classics from the
permanent collection and new acquisitions."
Much of the Great Plains art collection has
been housed on the second floor of Love Library
for close to 20 years. But less than two weeks ago, it
moved into the Hewit Place, which is located
across the street from the Lied Center at 12th and Q
streets.
Gustafson said the new building should open
many opportunities for the Center for Great Plains
Studies because it is more accessible to the public.
"This is great because we feel like we’re still part
of the university, but we’re closer to everything
downtown,” she said.
U2 flies }tigh with new CD
that returns to band's roots
Editor’s note: Starting today,
the Daily Nebraskan will be
using a new five-star rating scale
for its CD reviews. A five-star rat
ing means the CD is a classic,
four stars excellent, three stars
good, two stars fair, one star
poor.
BY ANDREW SHAW
The U-2 spy plane of the
1950s flew 15,000 feet higher
than any plane before it
With “All That You Can’t Leave
Behind," U2 again raises its own
bar of music-making and creates
another classic album.
In 22 years as a group, U2 has
not lost nor gained a member, an
amazing feat in this time of
inflated egos and hot tempers.
Steve Lillywhite, the producer for
the band’s first album, “Boy,”
adds his touch to the band’s 10th
album, as well.
Formed at Dublin’s Mount
Temple High School, the band
that includes Bono, Adam
Clayton, Larry Mullen and the
man known as The Edge has
always created music that fits
with the times.
Since the 1980s, the mastery
of their respective instruments
has shown through increasingly
complicated albums.
In 1995, they released
“Zooropa,” a surprising elec
tronica-lounge album that was
followed up with 1997’s “Pop," a
techno-pop hit.
"All That You Can’t Leave
Behind” is strictly a rock album,
filled with basic drum, guitar and
bass sounds blended with light
ly-flowing keyboards and syn
thesizers.
The album, reminiscent of
the band’s late-'80s and early
’90s albums, proves that some
times a step back is a step for
ward.
The first single, “Beautiful
Day,” is a perfect meld of the
band’s diverse sounds.
Electronic clouds billow by,
sweeping across a sky of simple
rock and roll. The music drives
along with the force of a jet
engine as Bono’s voice soars
above it all, singing inspirational
lyrics with his grainy baritone
and silky tenor.
“Wild Honey” chops along
like a locomotive crossing a
Midwestern plain. Heavy with
acoustic guitars and dripping
with folk influence, “Wild
Honey” is the opposite side of
the musical spectrum for U2.
The lyrics are personal, not polit
ical, and the tune makes you
wish you owned a convertible so
Music Review
you could cruise with the top
down. This feeling is far from the
dark, disco-infused sound of
"Pop."
U2 continues their reign as
rock activists with “Peace On
Earth," a soft pop ballad.
“Stuck In A Moment You
Can’t Get Out Of” summons
inspirational gospel spirits.
“In A Little While,” a medi
um-paced love song, brings out
images of John Lennon’s great
compositions. Every song is^a
new selection from U2’s diverse
background, though they all fall
under the wide umbrella of the
pop-rock genre. But each one
has the potential of being
released as a popular single.
It's the pop of Robbie
Williams but with meaningful
lyrics. It’s the raw fever of New
Radicals but done well.
Put the U2 from the last
decade on the butcher’s block
and start chopping off all of the
extraneous pretension. Anything
left is “All That You Can’t Leave
Behind.”