UNIVERSITY
The Learned Ladies’: a pure delight
By Ann* Moser-Komfeld
for ff>* Oregon Oatty (marax]
The University production of Moliere's
The Learned Ladies came olive with flavor
and pure delight Friday night This comical
force, set in late 16th century France, is a
translation by Richard Wilbur. The direc
tor. Craig Willis, brought to the stage won
derful examples of what theater aspires to
be.
The Learned Ladies is the story of intel
ligent women and gender bending. The
roles of men and women are not what they
always seem to be. Moliere's play is like a
parfait with many rich layers. The banter of
poetic dialogue and the entertaining play is
great fun. The play works very well in rela
tion to issues on campus and in Oregon
about gender bending, sexuality, the Ore
gon Citizens Alliance and the coming-of
age decisions often faced bv students dur
ing their time spent at the University.
The set designer. Jeffrey Cook, created an
outstanding one-piece stage with the use of
soft, luxurious pillows, clothing strewn
about and fringe elements of education for
ever surrounding the main stage. At times,
the use of the mirror at stage left while an
actor watched him or herself primping
appeared a bit overstated. For the most
part, though, the effect came across as
appropriate, engaging and terribly wonder
ful to watch.
The show music, however, didn't fit the
flow of the play. The music sounded like
circus tunes. An organ grinder and pipe
music ran throughout the play. The scene
changes didn’t fall into place as well as
they could have if the music had sounded
less mechanical. It was reminiscent of a
Say what they may — this
play should be seen by
the entire campus.
carnival, but it didn't connect with the
action.
Costume designer Alexandra Bonds used
the influences of Louis XIV's court and
styles worn by 192()'s film stars like Gloria
Swanson. She blended satin, lingerie and
silky materials with black leather and con
temporary creations, although those worn
by the servant Martino, played hv |ohn
Sturgill, initially appeared to clash The
actors themselves took Bonds’ designs and.
through their movement, produced an
effect that was sensuous, almost delicious
The actors seemed to thrive in this envi
ronment. With the snap of a fan. Annande.
played by Jason Griffin, dominated Henri
ette, played by Julie Regimbal, in demand
ing that she stand up to her retaliatory
remarks. Regimbal was fully capable of
meeting the challenge, and their spicy
ojiening dialogue set the play's pace
Amy Samo-Franklin. playing Ariste. and
Brooke Totman, playing Vadius, could not
deliver their lines as brilliantly as the two
male actors they wore paired with. Their
comic timing was precise, but they didn't
appear as large or as capable of believably
portraying a man. Instead, they came across
as women playing men. Their gestures
were less flamboyant and more reserved
than those of their male counterparts Their
voices wom not strong enough in compare
son to carry .»( ross the theater
Brooke Totman, when paired with Frik
Sniedze ns Trissotin. relied more on tier
ability to run around the stage than on tier
ability to be a convincing scholar with a
vendetta But their slapstic k v ene worker!
well in suggesting a Tom-nnd -Jerry rela
tionship
There was a similar imbalance in the
relationship between Ariste and Chrysdale,
played by dreg James Arista's monologue
as Chrysdale dressed didn't carry as much
punch as other parts of the play The white
wig worn by Chrysdale at the end of the
si ene worker! int redibly well, although the
builtlup to the joke seemed rough
On the other hand, l.ori Ferraro was in
complete control as Beltse. Chrysdale's
lunatic sister She stole the scenes she was
in bv using grand gestures that showed her
strength in physical comedy.
The rest of the cast was admirable There
wasn't a weak link in the production Tri
cut Kodlov. Mark (i Titus and John Sturgill,
in particular, played their roles to the hilt.
Say what they may — this play should lie
seen by the entire i ampus It can lie hard to
follow the dialogue, however The language
construction requires some concentration
until the rhythm b**< omes familiar las a use
the play is very true to its translation Hut.
overall, the company has done a superb
job.
The Learned Uidies runs Nov. 11-13 and
19-20 at 8 p m The 1h>x office hours at the
Robinson Theater are Tuesday through Fri
day from 12 to (i p in and from 12 to 8:15
p in on show nights For th ket informa
tion. call Ut»-4191
New class
offered for
winter term
A now racewalking class
will bo offered in the physical
education curriculum begin
ning winter term.
The class. Racewalking 1. is
being offered because race
walking is growing in popu
larity. It is now an Olympic
sport, said Becky Sisley, a
professor of physical educa
tion who will teach the class.
Students will be taught the
techniques of racewalking,
watch videotapes of race
walking champions and also
will have the opportunity to
be judged by oxpert racewalk
or*.
Ed Kousky. a gold medalist
in the World Veterans Cham
pionships in Japan two weeks
ago, and Carolyn Kortge. who
has won medals at national
and regional championships,
will come to the class as
guests to help evaluate tech
niques, Sisley said.
Class participants also will
he taught racewalking on
measured courses, with the
goal being to complete a 5k.
which is 3.1 miles, by the end
of the term, she said.
UNIVERSITY BRIEFS
• A University group beat out 125
other nominees last month to win a
first-place award for Recyclers of the
Year in recognition for its recycling
and waste reduction achievements.
Campus Recycling, a department
in the University Physical Plant, won
the award during the first State
Agency Recycling Recognition Pro
gram, which was held in Salem and
organized the state Department of
Genera) Services.
Jon Davis, the recycling operations
coordinator at the Physical Plant,
won the Outstanding Individual
Recycler of the Year Award in recog
nition of his expansion of recycled
paper operations and his collection
of up to 45 tons of paper each month.
In addition to Campus Recycling
and Davis, other award recipients
were Linda Kizer-Paquette, an
administrative secretary in the Reg
istrar's Office, who won second place
in the Special Program or Props.t cat
egory for promoting the recycling of
office supplies; Fred Babcock, dins;
tor of food survive, and Glenn White,
food service manager at University
Housing, who won second place for
the team or group category for their
recycling efforts in residence halls;
anti Wayne Merritt, director of Uni
versity Printing Services, who won
third-place for Recycler of the Year
for encouraging University depart
ments to use recycled paper.
• The University will improve its
energy efficiency hy about SO por
tent with the delivery of a new 85
ton boiler, which should be in oper
ation by Decomtier or January.
The Central Power Station's new
boiler, operating on natural gas and
No. 2 fuel oil. replaced the old Dutch
oven hogged-fuel boilers that were
built in 1948-49 and burned wood
chips. The throe hogged-fuel boilers
brought complaints that smoke was
drifting into buildings, and as of June
1993, the three boilers could not tie
ojmrated under the 1990 Clean Air
Act.
Group will present Africa’s true image
By Scot Clemens
Oregon D&ty f 'nwaKl
When AT&T run a graphic of the globe in
an attempt to prove the company dominates
the phone world, some people took it as just
more proof that Americans have a skewed
view of the African continent.
Although other geographic regions were
represented by humans, Africa's symbolic
phone user was a chimpanzee.
Saluted Adejumobi. the African Student
Association's public relations officer, said it
is time that a true picture of Africa is pro
sonted to the University community.
The ASA is hoping to provide an African
voice to the University and its students
under the theme of "The Way We Are: An
African Perspective In the next year, it will
try to "reach out to African students (of all
nations), make them proud of their heritage
and ini reuse the awareness of the situation
on the African continent." Adejumobi said.
The ASA will also present videos, slide
shows and forums dealing with historical
and contemporary issues in an attempt to
redeem the negative image of Afrii a in the
Western media
Adejumobi said Africans are often asked
questions like "Do you have a president?
Are there widu animals in tho streets? Are
you going bnc ^ home? (not staying in the
US?)."
Although he does not c ondemn people for
asking such questions, the questions speak
to the fact that misconceptions about Afric a
are widespread The Africa Adejumobi
knows is not the jungles and deserts that the
West seems to c oncentrate on. hut cities like
his home of I-agos. Nigeria.
" There are big cities with commercial
prospects," he said.
Adejumobi would also like to work
toward changing the curriculum to help
attrac t African students. He would like to
see more academic departments acknowl
edge Afric an culture and the effect it has
had on world history.
Adejumobi praises the history deportment
for its plans to add a professor who will
teach African history full time.
"(Studying Afric a) breaks down the bar
riers between people, and it creates respec t
for other c ultures," he said.
The Office of International Education and
Exchange is also doing a good job of mak
ing African students feel welcome and com
fortable, Adejumobi said
Cash
For Textbooks
Mon -Sat
Smith Family
Bookstore
768 t. 13th
1 Block From Campus
345-1651
Q*t results... AHU
adv*rtis* in th« \J\J JL>
All You Cam E-\t Buffet
• Special Vegetarian Section
• Featuring Fine Wines and Beer
• Korean Style Soup Noodles
• Curry Chicken, Szechuan Style
• Traditional Favorites
Buffet Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30 - 2:00
Time* Dinner: Sun-Thurs 5:30 - 9:30
jk\m
t barbecue
900 W. 7th • 687*2130
$1.00 OFF wok & grill orders only w/s»udent I.D.
Sun-Thurs. on orders ol S7.25 and up
The Oregon Humanities Center presents:
Mark O'Connor
Australian Poet ami Writer
Visiting Research Scholar
pnnrrtttng a puHn lu turr
Bringing the
Environment into Literature
Monday, November 8, 1993
4:00 p.m. Gum wood Room, EMU
IH6 lEOUPf 6 (PM AND OPEN IO IMt FU8UC A HfCIPION Will KJtlOW IK 1A1K