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Believe I’ll Dust My Blues
Written by Jon Nerenberg
Directed by
Helen Machin-Smith
Believe I’ll Dust My Blues is a
play about a young man,
Johnny Curtiss, trying to start a
new life in Colorado, and leave
behind a heroin addiction in
Virginia.
Johnny travels back home to
face his problem with an old
friend, Hardtimes, just released
from prison. The plot revolves
around the relationship
between Hardtimes and
Johnny, the influences they
have on each other, and their
continual downward spiral of
drug addiction.
Richard Leebrick, a local ac
tor and musician who was last
seen in the Oregon Repertory
Photo by
Theatre's production of Our
Town, gave a particularly app
ealing and convincing perfor
mance as Johnny. The char
acter’s fight with himself and his
sensitivity to the world around
him were expertly captured by
Leebrick. Between acts,
Leebrick added meaning to his
lines with some fine blues har
monica.
Ken Hof gave a good, if not as
compelling a performance as
Leebrick, in portraying a man
just released from prison, and
thrown back into the "reality" of
his junky life-style.
The portrayal of Summer
Curtiss, Johnny's mother, by
Jody McCoy was excellent.
McCoy gave such grace, humor
and compassion to the char
acter of the disheartened old
woman, that even though her
role was suppportive, she
became a focal point of the
performance.
The scene in which Johnny
returns home and sees his
mother, after a three year abse
nce, proved to be the most
touching moment of the play.
Barry Pitzer as St. Louis Slim,
Paula Mahan as Althea, and
• Poet Sandra McPherson is coming to the
University and Lane Community College (LCC)
on Monday. At noon she will give a reading at
LCC. In Straub Hall on the University campus,
McPherson will give an open workshop at 2:30
p.m. She will also give a reading on the ground
floor of the EMU. All events are free and open
to the public.
McPherson has recently been the poetry
editor for The Antioch Review, out of Yellow
Springs, Ohio. Her first book of poetry, Elegies
for the Hot Season, was a selection of the
National Council of the Arts. Her work has
appeared in several magazines, including the
New Yorker, Harper's, Poetry Northwest,
Colorado Quarterly, Epoch and The Nation.
Copies of her most recent publications,
Radiation and Year of Our Birth are available at
the University Bookstore.
For more information call 747-4501 (for the
LCC reading) or 686-3944 (for the University
events).
• The 1981 Women’s Symposium comes to the
University May 19-22. Sponsored by the ASUO,
the Symposium is a four-day series of semin
ars, cultural events, and experiential work
shops; the Symposium is open to all people at
the University and surrounding communities.
Highlighting the Symposium is the Art Exhibit.
This year’s Exhibit is planned for Room 167 in
the EMU.
• The Very Little Theatre’s (2350 Hilyard St.)
final production of the 1980-81 season opens
tonight. Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander,
by Preston Jones, is the third work from Jones’
Texas Trilogy which VLT has presented over
the past three seasons.
Lu Ann spans a 20-year period in the life of
Lu Ann Hampton. The play is three-acts, and
follows her through her life as a high school
senior and head cheerleader to her life as a
widow caring for her invalid mother and
alcoholic brother. The title role is played by
Mary Jo Koreiva, and the play is directed by
Chuck Ruff.
Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander runs
May 14-16, 21-23 and 28-30. Curtain is 8:15
p.m. Tickets are $4 reserved (seniors half price
on May 21). Call 344-7751 for more informa
tion.
• Paintings of Oregon’s people and places by
Charles Heaney, 84, are currently on display in
the University Museum’s first floor gallery
through May 17.
• The San Francisco Mime Troupe is coming!
May 27 at 8 p.m. the company will present
Americans or (Last Tango in Huahua Tenango)
in a benefit for the people of El Salvador in the
EMU Ballroom. The troupe does not practice
the art of silent pantomime. The company’s 18
actors and musicians rely on dialogue — and
refer the reader to the dictionary, which
defines mime as an ancient dramatic
entertainment representing scenes from life
usually in a ridiculous manner — to discuss the
major issues of our time. Over the troupe's
22-year history, it has taken on such subjects
of social concern as racism, housing, nuclear
power and the war in Vietnam.
Tickets are $6 general, $5 student/low in
come, $3 children under 12. For more infor
mation call the S.F. Mime Troupe Coalition at
683-9029.
The Very Little Theatre presents
£u oAnri J-famptori
/jxverty Oberlaiyief
from “A Texas Trilogy” by Preston Jones
VAay 14-16, 21-23, 28-30
Box Office open 2-7 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday
2350 Hilyard St. 344-7751
■\
Cynthia Blaise as Dee, were all
strong in their respective roles.
As a whole, the play was a
forceful, realistic attempt to
convey the pathos of a junky
life-style.
Playwright Jon Nerenberg is a
Welcome to Sun country
Sunburned9 We aren't, but that's
because we re stuck i t the hollows
of the EMU to mold away next to a
warm VDT Bitch, bitch, bitch Ahh,
yes Hope Joe understands his
absence And Rich his lack of ink
Space, my friends, space
Final notes, you might want to
participate in Nigerian Cultural
Night (Nigerian food, folk songs,
slides) on Sunday at 5:30 BUT,
always remember that Thursday,
one week before publication, is the
deadline for stuff to go in the TR in
general, or the Calendar
Webb-foot'll love you Toodles to
Cindy on her bus ride back East
Hello to Myrrh, fun copy-editing
nights ahead1 And. good-day to all,
Erzsi.
student at the University
Theatre Department and
performs locally as a blues mu
sician.
Believe I'll Dust My Blues will
continue at 8 p.m. Thursday,
Friday and Saturday at the
Pocket Theater in Villard Hall.
The play is a Theatre 4:30
production.
— Sheri-Lyn Scully
Birkenstock.
2nd Floor Atrium lOth&Olive
Mon Sat 116 687 0065
■
Spring Specials j
Perm $22.00 Haircut $8.00
Reg. $33.00 Reg. $11.00
With this coupon
2660 Oak 343-4813
Call for an appointment
Expires May 31st
OAKWAY CINEMA
STARTS FRI. MAY 15 oakw7ym7^^42-s35i]
NEIL DIAMOND
THE JAZZ
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OLIVIA
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A UNIVERSAL PICTURE
Weekdays “Xanadu” 6:30-10:15 • “Jazz Singer” 8:15
Sat. & Sun. “Xanadu” 2:30-6:20-10:15 • Jazz Singer" 8:15
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Itrin^in<i the ilivinr iiil'luciin' into \our life -
“Healing through Spiritual Perception. ”
• A unified perspective relevant to physical,
mental and emotional health.
• A lecture by William Breen, C.S.B., member
of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship.
You're invited!
Thursday, May 14th, 8:00 p.m.
Erh Memorial Union, Room 101
Sponsored by die V of O Christian Science Organization