UNIVERSITY SPECIAL
ALL YOU CAN EAT
BURRITOS
*4.95
All the bean and cheese burritos you can eat. We fill a flour tor
tilla full of beans and shredded monterey jack cheese, then roll it
burrito style and cover it with sauce and melted cheese. It's gar
nished with onion, lettuce and tomato. Served with rice, beans,
chips and salsa (ONE PERSON PER ALL YOG CAN EAT)
610 EAST BROADWAY
ORDERS TO GO ADD 50’ Call 686-TACO
PRESENTING — just one of the cards from
our fantastic collection of Christmas Cards!
RfiKfflflTH
37 N. Mam
Ashland
Ph 482-9501
410 E. Main
Medford
Ph. 7.72-9504
211 S.W G" St.
Grants Pass
Ph 479-5932
160 E Broadway
Eugene
Ph 344-4487
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Paft* ♦. Wfttei B
Graphic by Paul Ollswang
Samurai drama by the sword
Fight director Chris Villa hones 'Rashomon'
"Rashomon," a Samurai play of lust, truth, and
the sword, opened at the Hult Center's Soreng
Theatre last night. It plays through the weekend, and
again, November 18-19 at 8:30 p.m.
Much of the play's vitality owes itself to the
drama which builds through precise, intense sword
fighting scenes that recall the rape of a Samurai
woman and the subsequent murder of her husband
from four divergent viewpoints of the main
characters.
The man behind much of this precision is
choreographer Christopher Villa. Villa, who pres
ently makes his home in Ashland, has had much ex
perience in choreographing combat sequences, hav
ing to his credit several seasons with the
Shakespearean Festival in Ashland and experience
working with some of the premier fight directors in
the world. His role in "Rashomon" has been one of
combining martial arts with combat techniques, prin
cipally the arts of parry and attack, and footwork.
Villa notes that "the play is not often done, being
difficult technically because the actors have rather
heavy fights, and demands are placed upon them re
quiring discipline and training." The actors learned
to be Samurai, which, according to Villa, involves
"very graceful and controlled movement.” It also in
volves certain safety factors, most notably avoiding
eye-contact and fencing out of hitting distance. Thus,
says Villa, "moment by moment they (the actors)
must know exactly what's happening." To ac
complish this. Villa's rehearsals have been, by his
own admission, "exhausting.”
Assisting Villa has been Dana Fredsti, a karate
student whom Villa met by chance at a Renaissance
Fair in I960. Fredsti, a Brown Belt in the discipline,
has gone through rigorous training sequences with
the actors in preparation for the combat scenes. Villa
said these rehearsals have been responsible for pro
moting camaraderie between the actors, a factor he
believes is important to his work. He sees the impor
tance of "everyone supporting everyone else to be
the best they can be."
Thoughout the consuming rehearsal schedule,
Villa viewed himself as a teacher, digressing into
many areas. Through his efforts, Japanese history,
philosophy, and self-therapy (that is, keeping emo
tions under control) have been taught. His primary
job, he said, is to "evoke emotions in the audience."
The actors are his "tools" in this process.
With all Villa's intense direction and the actors'
arduous fine-tuning, the audience should be able to
enjoy the results of the weeks of discipline, concen
tration, and mutual support.
Jill Homan
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Friday, November 11, 1983
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