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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1982)
robert webb performances save crowded comedy A young high-spirited commedia dell arte ensem ble show has come to town and the action is fast and furious — perhaps too much so A Company of Wayward Saints," now playing at the Very Little Theatre, starts off suddenly Scapino, energetically acted by Matt Bonham, realizes that there is an audience in the house and that the players have not yet assembled He goes through a tremendous range of sight gags, dance steps, pratfalls and silly faces to entertain us while bemoaning the fact that his companions are not there yet and that the show isn't ready to go on When the company does come together, this sort of frenzied physical acrobatic activity in creases tenfold The show s plot is very simple the ten players make up a commedia deli'arte troupe, the Company of Wayward Saints who, as their delapidated banner proclaims, travel from town to town doing their comedy routines Each member plays his or her own traditional role (rascal tart, warrior, old man, lover, etc ) complete with costume and often with a mask But the company is in a quandry Their shows aren't doing well, they are tired of the road and of each other and all they want to do is go home It so happens that in the audience tonight is a Duke who will give them the money to go home if they will perform what he wants to see The actors readily agree, even after they iearn that the Duke wants them to do The History of Man ■ 1 ■■■— IN I !■■■ 1—11.11 In their slam-bang, rambunctious style the com pany tears into Adam and Eve, Odysseus return from the siege of Troy and the assassination of Caesar These sequences have some very fine and funny bits in them, especially Matt Bonham s slithery physical quality as the Snake and Teri Thomas who, as Calpurnia, tells Caesar about dreaming of him being stabbed by men with adorable little short swords " The problem with Act I is that there is just too much going on There are bits played all over the stage and we miss half of them while watching others Sometimes actions are actually blocked from our view because other actors get in the way Also, this energetic ap proach often gets in the way of the actors' delivery and their ability to convey the meaning behind the spoken lines In many ways, it's a joy to see these actors and director Dennis Dolan coming up with so many delight ful sight gags and action It's energizing for the audience as well, up to a point. But on the other hand the lack of focus due to poor orchestration by the director makes the whole thing appear confusing after a while Confusion for its own sake is not a strong enough premise to hold our interest for a full act The play demands some extent of a splintering effect in order to underline one of its major themes, that none of us will get anywhere unless we stop thinking only of ourselves and cooperate with each other But it's like the old adage that if an actor truly portrayed boredom, the audience would probably be bored watching it The trick is to make an interesting portrayal of boredom The problem with this production is that it failed to show that its confusion had a purpose Act II, however, settled down considerably as playwright George Herman allowed his characters to see their errors and focus on the truths underlying their roles The characters decide that the History of Man could also be construed as the archetypal history of "a man We are then led into more simple, direct stories of birth, adolescence, marriage and death Two of the scenes were particularly effective the episode involving Thomas and Bonham as Huckleberry Finn-type characters exploring the blossoming of early love and the "first kiss,” and the final sequence with Don Scorby as a conquering warrior and John Duncan as a priest condemned to die This latter tale effectively punctuates its tragedy with a sense of humor, an odd but useful approach. Act II is as rewarding as Act I is confusing A schizophrenic production, perhaps, but one worth seeing for the truths revealed and several fine perfor mances, most notably those mentioned above and Roberto Morganti as the hunchbacked set changer "A Company of Wayward Saints" continues its run at the Very Little Theatre, 2350 Hilyard, Nov. 26, 27 and Dec 1-4. Curtain time is 8:15 p.m Tickets are $4 each. Call 344-7751 for reservations Strategic Management Institute may boost Northwest business economy By Land du Pont Of th« Emerald Increasing organizational skills of Northwest businesses through research projects would be the goal of the Northwest Strategic Man agement Institute — if it gets funding Creation of the institute hinges on a request for a three-year annual commit ment of $255,000 from the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust “The institute would be a framework for applied re search," says Jim Reinmuth, dean of the business college Reinmuth is positive about the prospect of getting fund ing, but sees one potential hitch. "I'd give anything to see it accepted,” he says. “But we have one problem private trusts often don't want to give money to public institutions." Reinmuth notes that while the institute would use private money from the companies requesting research, the initial funding is necessary to coor dinate the efforts of the insti tute Several businesses, includ ing Pacific Northwest Bell and the Weyerhauser Foundation, have indicated interest in projects if the Fred Meyer Trust comes through. The institute would consist of two directors responsible to Reinmuth and an advisory board of local business leaders Project teams would conduct research in areas identified by businesses and the institute While the institute would employ professors and students who are already at the business school on the project teams, it would draw its funding from private sources The focus of the institute s activities would be the private sector, but it could become an important part of the school "I see a great deal of faculty research directed at the insti tute.” Reinmuth says Busi ness school faculty would be involved in the summer and could get time off during the school year to work on projects, he adds Reinmuth believes the insti tute could become as impor tant to the state and the University as the OSU agricul tural program ' For the past hundred years, the agricultural exten sion at OSU has acted as a magnet for farmers,” he says "We hope to do the same for businesses " Sit down , take a load off your feet.... with an ODE Businesses and LTD drop fare to 10 cents, a shoppers windfall i en cents doesn t pay tor much these days — certainly not a rider's share of running an Lane Transit District motor coach through Eugene But 10 cents is all a rider will have to pay to board LTD buses all day Saturday for any destin ation within the Eugene-Spring field area The Downtown Association of businesses will pay the differ ence in the fare This windfall for LTD riders is in accord with promotion arrangements between The Downtown As sociation and LTD Last year a similar promotion was paid tor solely by LTD Ridership went up 30 percent and revenues fell by only $300 says Ed Berger son. LTD marketing director It was an encouraging promotion and the Downtown Association had their biggest sale day ever." Bergerson says Because the last year's suc cessful promotion the Down town Assocation readily agreed to foot the riders bill for another $300 It s all to the benefit of LTD riders Happy traveling School schedules piano classes Piano classes for children, teenagers and adults in the Eugene-Springfield area will be taught this winter at the Univer sity music school Students will be taught the elements of music and how to use them in improvising, har monizing, playing by ear and transposing In addition, they will learn to read classical, folk and popular music Individual lessons are com bined with small-group studies at all levels of performance A special class is offered at reduced rates tor senior ci tizens Music professor Doris Allen serves as the division s director, assisted by a staff of exper ienced piano teachers Offered by the school's Preparatory Division, the on campus courses will begin Jan 5 and continue for 10 weeks through March 15. A fee is charged for the classes Regis tration began on Dec 1 1 New look, same great taste! LOOK HOW WE'VE GROWN EUGENE! We’ve grown a lot since our first restaurant opened in 1960 at 13th and High. Since then, we’ve made a few changes, but one thing that will never change at Taco Time® is the great taste of our food. We invite you to drop in at our newly remodeled restaurant near campus at 1401 Villard Street. You’ll enjoy that great taste, and, you’ll see how we’ve grown! Our first Taco Time* restaurant of fered Tacos, Bean Tostados and Taco Burgers Who would have thought this could be the beginning of an international success story? Just a year later, we re already growing* Folks living in Springfield, Oregon and Tacoma. Washington enjoy new Crisp Meat and Bean Burritos in two new Taco Time restaurants We introduce customers to 26 new restaurants and two popular menu Hems — Taco Time* Enchiladas and Cinnamon Crustos. The growing years — 35 new Taco Time* restuarants spring up across the Western United States 1960 1961 1964 1969 Our new Drive-Thru window is a first in the Northwest, and so is our new Taco Salad! Some like it crisp — some like it soft. New Soft Tacos and Burritos are a hit. Would you believe Taco Time goes Hawaiian?! 4 , 1974 1977 1978 X' It’s a natural! We’ve got the first Natural Super Taco made on a whole wheat tortilla and we’ve grown to 225 restaurants in 13 states. 1979 iS look 1982 Taco Time has a new look inside and out. There’s one thing we’ll never change, though, and that’s the great taste of our food, as important to us now as it was 22 years ago. Taco Time pops up ’’down under” with two stores in Australia. 1981
