Arts
Steak joint
passes test
of service
BYJJ. HARDER
It’s one of the worst case sce
narios for a restaurant worker 10
minutes to close, the grill is shut
down, everything’s cleaned and
the dining room is empty.
The employees probably have
plans to gd out with friends they
can’t wait to rip off their aprons
and lock the door. Then, like a bad
dream, someone comes in. It’s the
customer’s first time in the restau
rant so he takes a while ordering.
And he and his friend order a few
different things from die menu.
The true test of a fast food
restaurant isn’t getting your food
to the customer in less than three
minutes; it’s not having each chair
in its place and every wall
scrubbed clean. The real test of a
restaurant is the 10-til-close drill
I’m proud to report that
Lincoln’s newest fast-food chain,
Steak Escape, passed with flying
colors. Hie staff kept their smiles
after I came in, and when I apolo
gized for coming in so late, one
worker told me not to hurry at all,
and he genuinely meant it
Steak Escape is a grill that
serves Philly subs and steak fries.
It was started nearly 20 years ago
in Columbus, Ohio. Today, the
restaurant has locations in 30
states, as well as Lebanon and
Singapore. Steak Escape offers a
very limited menu of nine sand
wiches, potatoes, fries and salads.
And while you can probably write
the entire menu on the palm of
your hand, less quantity doesn't
necessarily mean less quality.
In fact, the sandwiches at
steak hscape are quite enjoyable.
Meat is cooked first and heaped
on the sandwich. If you usually
order a foot long at Subway, you
may want to try a 7-inch at Steak
Escape. The Mid West BBQ is a
mountain of sirloin strips topped
with tasty barbecue sauce.
The Grandest Chicken is
grilled chicken, onions, mush
rooms, green peppers and pro
volone. The meat is very tender,
and the vegetables are obviously
fresh. My favorite sub is the
Hambrosia - ham grilled with
pineapple and served under
melted Swiss. If you like Hawaiian
pizza, you'll love this sandwich.
The ingredients are cooked
right in front of you, which makes
you even hungrier for the sub
you're about to eat And the per
son preparing the sandwich asks
you what you want on the sub;
this way there is little chance for
incorrect orders.
I would rate Steak Escape's
sandwiches ahead of Doozy’s,
Subway and Blimpie, and about
even with Jimmy John’s. Steak
Escape subs are grilled, so they
take longer to prepare. But the
final product cannot be rivaled by
the two or three microwaved hoa
gies at Subway.
Steak Escape gains votes
when it comes to sides. Steak
Escape offers thick, hearty steak
fries. They have a taste that has
kind of a smokehouse flavor.
Smashed Potatoes are the
eatery’s only venture from the
norm - they’re baked potatoes
smashed and topped with chick
en or beet and vegetables.
Steak Escape prides itself on
emulating the true Philly cheese
steak, but it doesn’t really accom
plish its mission. There is no
Cheese Whiz in the restaurant like
I'd find at Pat’s or Gino’s in South
Philly. And there is definitely no
blue-collar Philadelphia attitude
(it's not a Philly steak if you don’t
get yelled at while ordering).
Unfortunately, Steak Escape’s
prices aren’t student-friendly
either. A 12-inch sandwich is $6
and $8 in a combo meal. You real
ly can’t eat for under $4.
Remember that Steak Escape
passed the 10-minute-til-close
test and that the sandwiches are
big and filling. The service is great
and the fries are, too. But unless
they pass the I’m-so-broke-I
have-to-give-plasma test and
lower their prices, Steak Escape
won't be on anyone’s weekly
lunch list
BY SARAH SUMNER
Tweedledee and Tweedledum,
Humpty Dumpty, the Mad Hatter
and the Queen of Hearts are just a few
of the characters that jump from
words to action in a Theatrix play.
Theatrix, a student-run program
in which graduate and qualified
undergraduate students produce
and direct shows, opens “Alice in
Wonderland” today and will run
through Saturday. The play is at the
Temple Building Studio Theatre, 12th
and R streets. Tickets are $4 at the
door, and the show begins at 7:30
p.m.
The set, designed by Thomas
Machan, consists of a black back
drop, a large treasure chest in a cor
ner, a larger table and oversized chil
dren’s blocks that spell out ALICE.
The blocks have five other sides
that are painted to represent designs
like chairs, a fountain and a door. The
set is simplistic, with lights that help
change the characters from scene to
scene, said director Greg Peters.
“I’ve really been fascinated with
the ideas
of open
spaces
and of the
a u d i -
ence’s use
of imagi
nation
rather
than on
restricting
ourselves
to realistic
settings,”
Peters
Performance Pre
Alice in
Wonderland
said.
The script, originally from the
Manhattan Project theater group,
was created in the 1960s. The scene of
Tweedledee and Tweedledum was
later inserted in the play by Theatrix.
The dialogue was taken from the
book, and the staging ideas were left
open, Peters said.
This show initially started last
winter as an independent project and
was proposed to Theatrix and accept
ed. But the director and an actor left
the production. The students
involved with the play wanted to con
tinue, so the director was replaced,
actors were cast, and they have been
practicing for three weeks.
The cast consists of seven actors
who play a number of different char
acters and, at times, act as a chorus
for Alice. There is a lot of boisterous
yelling, horse-play and close, physi
cal contact between the characters.
There is singing, poetry and
musical instruments played by the
characters. The Dormouse, played by
James Dunn, falls into a rendition of
“Twinkle, Twinkle little bat” at the
Mad Tea Party. The White Knight,
played by Aaron Foster DuPree, sings
a song with accompaniment from the
entire cast to induce tears from Alice.
But at its root, the play exists to
touch the viewer's inner child, said
Daryn Warner, managing director of
Theatrix.
"This production touches on the
child in each of us,” he said. “It’s exit
ing to feel the youthful honesty and
candor that Alice experiences.”
Stephanie Dodd, who plays Alice,
has enjoyed the freedom and devel
opment of her acting and directing
abilities.
"Theatrix has been a great organ
ization for us to use,” Dodd said,
“because it has given us the freedom
to do a script that we've all wanted to
do that wouldn’t be possible for us to
do anywhere else.”
The liberal production is acted
and directed with a lot of input from
the actors, and new choices are con
tinually being suggested to improve
the play, Dodd said.
“The show itself changes com
pletely every night,” she said. “The
energy changes, the blocking
changes, the ideas change, and so,
with the audience’s energy there, I
really don't know what the show is
going to be like.
“It's going to be a total surprise.
It’s going to be something that people
will think about afterwards.”
Steven Bender/DN
TOP: Michael
Dragen speaks
cfirecdytoARce
(Stephanie Dodd)
in Carralft adap
tation oTAfice in
Wonderland."
LEFT: UNL senior
Stephanie Dodd
plays Afice in the
Theatrix produc
tion of Alice in
Wonderland.”
The student
directed play
opens tonight at
the Studio
Theatre in the
Temple building.
A tribute to women in aviation
■The SAC museum displays
a wide variety contributers.
BY MAUREEN GALLAGHER
The newest exhibit at the
Strategic Air Command Museum
proves that behind many great
airplanes there was a great
woman aviator.
The exhibit, titled “Women
and Flight,” is a traveling exhibi
tion from the Smithsonian
Institute.
The exhibit consists of biog
raphies of 36 women aviators
and astronauts. "Women and
Flight” utilizes both photographs
and interviews to present die life
of each woman and outline her
contribution to the field of avia
tion.
Carolyn Anderson, Director
of Marketing at the SAC
Museum, said the museum was
pleased to host an exhibit that
presented a wide variety of avia
tors.
“The exhibit provides a real
cross-section of women who
have contributed to and taken
part in the field of aviation,” she
said.
“Women and Flight" details
the lives of women from all walks
of life. Skywriters, crop dusters,
aerial photographers, cattle
herders, pilots in the U.S. Armed
Forces and astronauts will all be
included in the exhibit
Specifically, Shannon Lucid,
an astronaut who set an
American record for length of
time in space, and Ellen Paneok,
an Eskimo bush pilot from
Alaska, are featured.
Paneok will be in Omaha
Dec. 12-16 as a guest of the SAC
Museum and will be making sev
eral public appearances to share
her experiences as a female avia
tor.
Paneok also will journey to
Lincoln during her stay to speak
to women’s organizations in the
Union Auditorium on Dec. 13.
Anderson stressed the signif
icance of the exhibit and the
importance of recognizing the
accomplishments of women in
aviation.
Her thoughts were echoed by
Carolyn Russo/Smithsonian Institute
1 st Lt. Krista Bonino prepares to fly an 0H-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter in Germany.
This photo is just one of many on display at the Strategic Air Command Museum's
'Women and Right" exhibit.
Stephanie Lewis, the president of
UNO Women in Aviation.
Lewis, who plans to pursue a
career in aviation, said “Women
and Flight” is important to the
field of aviation.
"There’s definitely a need for
more women in aviation
because there aren’t a lot of
women in the field currently,”
she said. “This exhibit should
help to get rid of some of those
stereotypes about aviation being
a man’s field by showing what
women in aviation have accom
plished.”
Anderson also said the quali
ty of the exhibit’s photographs,
taken by Carolyn Russo, a staff
photographer at the National Air
and Space Museum in
Event Preview
Saturday, Jan. M
9 a m.-5 p.m.
$6 Adults
Washington, D.C., is first-rate.
“We feel very pleased to host
such a quality exhibit," Anderson
said.
i
Blur compilation strays
from band's originality
BYNEALOBERMEYER
Compilations are notorious
shortcuts to buying all of a
band's albums. Compilations
save you the time of having to
get to know “non-hits."
Compilations are a nice way to
sell a new song or two when you
can’t be bothered to write a full
album.
That said, if you want a good
review for your band’s compila
tion album, you’re fighting an
uphill battle, so at least make it
have a point beyond “ideal
Christmas gift for the music
enthusiast.”
Blur has a new compilation.
It's called “the best of...” and
oooh it's archetypical all right.
The biggest hits, all but one
were singles, and the obligatory
new song are here.
It went without saying that
the band would have no prob
lem assembling an album full of
awesome songs.. Blur has basi
cally ushered the British indie
scene through the paradigm
shifts of the 90s: dawning in the
drug-induced indie-dance
madchester days (“There’s No
Other Way”); writing the rules
for the infamous ‘Britpop’ era
(“For Tomorrow,” “Girls and
Boys”); and destroying their
own creation, killing off Britpop
(“Beetlebum”) and allowing the
more “serious” Radiohead and
the Verve to fill the Top of the
Pops vacuum of ’97 brought
about by the absence of
Menswe@r and Sleeper.
And it’s all here. Moments
from every one of blur’s drasti
cally different musical pitstops
are represented. It was
inevitable that somebody’s
favorite song would have to be
omitted for time reasons, but
the selection is as good as can be
expected with those con
straints.
And, bless their hearts, they
strayed from the singles-only
format and included the godlike
album-track “This is a low.” As
far as quality of content goes,
these are five-star songs from a
career of five-star albums.
So why is this compilation a
failure?
It’s because, despite being
one of the most consistent and
creative bands of the last
decade, the most inspiring ele
ment of the Blur story tran
scends any one particular song.
Who would have listened to
the derivative “I know' and
“Bang” in 1990 and ever imag
ined that in eight years this
coat-tail band of Stephen Street
scenesters would hook up with
William Orbit and make an
album of analog synth whines,
vacuum cleaners, and gospel
choirs? Jesus Jones sure didn’t.
But Blur did. And yes, other
bands evolve, too. After 15 years
or so, U2 got interesting for one
album, but then they sort of lost
the plot. REM followed a similar
let’s-stop-being-boring-no
wait-adult-contemporary
radio-is-where-it’s-at. Get the
point?
Bands get comfortable with
their sound, fans get bored, so
they calculate a reinvention. But
with every sonic redirection
Blur takes, they get better and
more relevant. Not since the
Beatles has a band been so suc
cessful at growing and taking
their peers along with them.
So it is that progression from
madchester to Britpop to artsy
post rock to whatever “music is
my radar” is what makes Blur
Please see BLUR on 6