Kesey play ‘Twister’
makes Oz stranger
By Lia Salciccia
Dfttfy
Leave it to the Merry
Pranksters to turn Oz into an even
weirder place.
With the help of a stage made
out of a flatbed truck, some spe
cial effects, Huey Lewis, and
quite a few random objects hang
ing from the ceiling, Ken Kesey,
local writer and performance
artist, transformed the Eugene
Armory into a fantasy tripland
representing Oz of years later
than the one we visited with
Dorothy so long ago. The result
of the efforts of Key /. Produc
tions was a theatrical extrava
ganza called Twinter.
The Oz created at this invita
tion-only event wasn't like it used
to he. Instead of trying to con
vince a spunkier Dorothy (Karen
McCormick) to go kill a witch,
the Wizard (Kesey). along with
Oz. regulars Glinda the Good
Witch (Dawn Sewell) the Scam
crow (Phil Deitz) and the Tin
Man (George Walker) urgently
tried to convince Dorothy that Oz
was in peril, because of AIDS,
famine, ozone depletion, and a
host of other societal ills
Dorothy didn’t seem to take the
warnings that the world would
end too seriously and joked her
way through her journey, even
when Toto showed up from the
hurricane with a violin embed
ded in his hack. But just when all
of the political talk almost caused
Dorothy to take the next shoe out
of there. Elvis Presley (played by
Lewis) took the stage with guitar
in hand and melted Dorothy's
heart with a rousing rendition of
"Shake. Rattle and Roll
Sound problems obscured
rnu( h of kesev’s witty dialogue,
and more than one actor stum
hied on lines, but like real show
veterans, they covered them
selves yvell The image of the
top-hatted Wizard and the pink
tulle-clad C.linda were projected
on a screen shaped like a cloud
above and to the right of
Dorothy. so as their eyes seemed
to look down and left upon the
girl, it wasn't entirely easy to tell
that they really looked down it
their si ripts
A forgotten line yvas an oppor
tunity to enlist the audience lor
partii ipatiou by singing, chant
ing or danc ing Frankenstein
(played by ken Babbs) grmvled
fiercely at the crowd in lieu of a
monologue and even started
throwing folding i hairs from the
audience to the side of the room,
so that the crowd took the i ue to
start putting them away.
in a single moment the show
yvas stolen by the little angel
Angelina Gloria (Emily Mess
uicr). who flawlessly m ited the
longest monologue of the show
a sad story of how she had died
in a shopping mall demolished
by nn earthquake.
Although the play < enters on
people uniting to conquer and
depends upon crowd involve
ment. the audience looked like
it didn't quite know its role in
this spectacle Perhaps they
were fed too much television as
youngsters, making them awk
ward to join rather than watch,
especially when the growling
Babbs started to throw chairs
DEADHEADS
Continued from Page 13C
asked. .
Another trait of the Deadheads is, believe it or not. their capital
ism. One guy tried to sell his Inst Coca-Cola for two dollars I here
were crystals, necklaces made from bird skulls, bongo drums, i luthes
from Guatemala. magi< wands, tofu-pate sandwiches, falafels. tarot
readings and much more for sale in the not -so-covert "DeadMarl
But not all Deadheads are in it for the money — alter all they hove
to make a living somehow in order to afford the gas, food and ti< k
ets that accompany their cross-country lifestyle Most of them like to
he there because they like the family atmosphere, even as the fami
ly grows to u number close to 60,000.
• This is my real family," said Spring. 16. "These are the most beau
tiful people in the world."
—
165W. 11*
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