Oregon daily emerald., May 26, 1977, Section B, Image 9

Surface and Synjbol
The Emerald’s weekly arts and entertainment supplement Thursday, May 26,1977
University playwright
stages works tonight
By KATY SLADE
Of the Emerald
Two new plays written by Dennis Ken
nedy, a visiting associate professor at the
University, will be presented free at the
Pocket Playhouse in Villard Hall at eight
p.m., May 26 and 27.
Both plays, called Telephone Man and
Body and Voice, were written by Kennedy
during his residence at the University. An
earlier play of Kennedy's, Remembering
and Forgetting, was presented here last
fall.
The current production, sponsored by the
Playwright's Theatre, will feature University
students in all acting roles, with Amy Char
toff, also a University student, directing
Telephone Man Kennedy is directing Body
and Voice.
As Kennedy explains the plays, "Both are
about the same thing, in different styles
Telephone Man is a one-character play,
with a few small other parts. The main
character, Alex, is alone onstage in a
bunker-like room with a telephone. The au
dience will be able to see and hear his calls
— childish, threatening, obscene — to peo
ple he doesn't know. He has chosen sol
itude, and it happens that his solitude turns
against him. The telephone constitutes the
outside world; it is a character, really Alex
is trying to control his outside world by
means of these calls.”
"Body and Voice is similar, and is de
signed to precede Telephone Man. It is also
a one-character play, with the character
named Body. Over a loudspeaker, the au
dience will hear an amplified male voice. It
starts, as Body is waking, as a whisper, and
continues throughout the play, along with
Body’s reactions to the voice, ranging from
obedience to terror.
The idea here is the same as in
Telephone Man. Body is sealed in a room,
but a different kind of room this time; the
voice is in his head, and he can’t get rid of it.
And while Telephone Man is meant to be
comic, Body and Voice is not so humor
ous."
Kennedy, who will finish his residence at
the University at the end of spring term,
studied at the University of California and
Oxford, and has been teaching at a small
college in Michigan since 1970. He was a
Senior Futoright lecturer at the University of
Karachi in Pakistan in 1973.
Since his arrival at the University he has
been teaching workshops in playwriting at
both graduate and undergraduate levels,
writing plays, and has succeeded in creat
ing a Playwright’s Theatre group dedicated
to presenting new works by members of the
group, now composed largely of students
from his classes.
i
I
Photo by Tonya Hoog
John Holstein portrays Alex in Dennis Kennedy's “The Telephone
Man." This play and “Body and Voice" will be performed free in the
Pocket Playhouse in Villard Hall at 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow night.
Coleman prefers teaching to touring
By CAROL S. GIBSON
Of the Emerald
What was It like to tour the country during the 1960s
with big name musicians such as Cal Tjader, Mel Torme
Peter, Paul and Mary, the Kingston Trio, Buddy DeFranco
and Vince Guaraldi?
Edwin Coleman, 45, a University English professor
and professional musician for 20 years, found that ac
companying these groups as part of their back up bands
on their United States tours was an unforgetable experi
ence.
Coleman, who lives in Eugene with his wife, Char
maine, and their two sons, Edwin III, and Callan, 8, said
that he developed an interest in music at the age of 5,
when he began playing the violin.
In the coming years, Coleman said he also mastered
the baritone and bass horn, piano and the electric and
acoustic bass.
Born in El Dorado, Ark., Coleman moved to
Alameda, Calif, to attend high school and, later, attended
college at San Francisco State University, majoring in
Theater Arts.
Coleman said that it was during his college years in
the 1960s that he began to develop a name for himself as
a bass guitarist.
“I first traveled on the road with the Cal Tjader Or
chestra, one of the leading jazz groups in the country, for
a year and a half,” Coleman said. “We played concerts
and dances and recorded. We also played the nightclub
circuit.”
Coleman said that just before graduating with a
master’s degree in 1961, he did a tour with Peter, Paul
and Mary, playing concerts in Utah, Texas and Colorado.
That same year, Coleman married Charmaine
Thompson, who had been singing with such groups as
Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Durante and Johnny Ray.
Two years later, Coleman again went on tour across
the country with Vince Guaraldi and, later, the Kingston
Trio.
Coleman said he has also played guitar for various
jazz bands and Latin groups.
In 1963, he was faced with a difficult decision.
“I had to decide, whether I wanted to become a
full-time musician or enter into the teaching profession,”
Coleman said. "I had a wife and family to consider. I knew
it wouldn’t be fair to continuously take them back and forth
across the country on tour with me.”
Coleman added that there is a great amount of in
stability in being a musician.
“A musician is never positive if he will even be work
ing the following year, or for how long. Not many groups
will guarantee your salary. That’s always risky,” Coleman
said.
Coleman added that it also was hard to find a com
pany willing to insure a musician.
'it you told these insurance people that you worked
in a nightclub that served alcohol,” Coleman said, “or that
you worked a different club in different cities or states
every month, they would require you to pay high risk
insurance, or turn you down completely. I couldn't obtain
a loan for a house or anything else.”
“The American people have little respect for jazz
musicians and for jazz itself... unless, of course, you
have a name like Louis Armstrong,” Coleman said.
Considering these factors, Coleman said that he de
cided to enter the teaching profession and in 1963 ac
cepted a position as a design and technical director at
Chico State College in California.
Three years later, he came to the University of
Oregon, where, in 1971, he received his Ph.D. in English
and was asked to join that department's staff.
But Coleman says he has not let his love for playing
music die, adding that he has been kept busy playing
locally with his own quartet at the Feed Mill, Pearl Street
Station and the Eugene Hotel.
The members of Coleman’s band are Dennis Lynch,
drums; Danny Seigle, keyboards; John Metcalf, tenor sax
and his wife, Charmaine vocals.
Coleman, whosfe band plays songs ranging from
“Mack the Knife" to catchy bossa nova numbers, defines
the band's music as being “middle of the road.”
“We play music that fits the affair for which we are
playing,” Coleman said, adding that the bands plays for
audiences ranging from fraternity parties to Parents Day
on Campus.
Coleman said that he never hesitates.to say yes
when asked to play at a charity or fund raising event,
particularly for the University.
“I am very interested in promoting and aiding the
University in their scholarship program,” Coleman said.
In March, Coleman’s quartet provided the music for a
fund raising dinner and dance, held at the Valley River Inn
and sponsored by the University’s Women’s Club.
Member Virginia Peticcdas said, “We wanted the
very best, so we asked Ed Coleman to come.”
Does Coleman have any regrets about leaving the
big time band circuit scene?
“The road is a hard life,” Coleman siad, "although it is
enjoyable and I had some good times.
"But,” Coleman added, “I enjoy teaching. Where
else can you express ideas? It is an honorable profes
sion.”