Rhythm Renews
FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1998
Patty’s Day concerts
Concerts featuring Kila and Skyefill out
WOWHall’sSt. Patty’s lineup
Eifierald
PAGE 8
String Cheese Incident
The band that has a musicalfoundation
in bluegrass, but mixes many types of
music, will perform in the EMU Ballroom
PAGE 7
Volume 99, Issue 116
■ Frank Gosar,
resident ceramic
instructor at the
EMU Craft Center,
is showing his
newest figure
work now
through April 25
in the Alder
Gallery (55 W
Broadway). Also
on display are the I
paintings of
Shirley Froyd and
Gretchen Raiseh.
Call 342-6411 for |
more information. I
■ Actors Cabaret |
of Eugene pre- 1
sents 'The
Destiny of Me'
tonight at 8 in the 1
ACE Annex. The 1
play, which is a 1
sequel to Larry |
Kramer’s ‘The
Normal Heart,’ I
won the Obie
Award in 1993. |
The play will run |
through April 4. |
Call 683-4368 for I
more information. I
■ Enjoy an
evening of 'down- 1
home acoustic |
blues’ with 1
singer-guitarists 1
David Jacobs- 1
Strain and
Walker T. Ryan 1
March 14 at the 1
Unitarian Church f
(477 E. 40th).
The performance |
wilt be recorded |
live for a CD.
Call 683-8556 for |
more information. |
■ Future Music 1
Oregon, the
School of Music’s I
computer music f
center, will give a 1
concert at 8 p.m.
in Room 198 of
the Music Build
ing on March 7. 1
Tickets are avail
able at the door. |
Absolute
Improv!
By Shannon Sneed
Entertainment Reporter
The home team
It’s been only a year and a half since
Absolute Improv!, the University's stu
dent improvisational comedy troupe, de
buted at the University. Since then,
they've been successfully cracking up au
diences everywhere they go, from cam
pus shows to performances all around
the state.
Now, the pressure’s about to turn up a
notch.
The Exit Players, a student comedy
troupe from Yale University — a school
known, among other things, for the quali
ty of its acting program—have been tour
ing the West Coast and are making a stop
in Eugene tonight, and the two troupes
will go head-to-head in a comedic fight to
the finish.
“We’ve never done anything like this
before,” said University theater arts ma
jor Ryan Honey, who has been with Ab
solute Improv! since the troupe’s forma
tion. “This is the first time we’ll be
competing with another group, rather
than just with each other.”
The game plan
Sabrina Bemasconi, a junior theater
arts major who joined Absolute Improv! a
year ago, said the troupe usually divides
up into two teams for performances any
way, so they’re used to a competitive for
mat.
“Generally, we have a list of games we
play, and we divide them up, and then it
really just goes from there,” she said.
Honey said although the format of
tonight’s show will primarily be a com
petition, he expects the two troupes to
collaborate for some sketches, too.
Turn to ABSOLUTE IMPROV!, Page 9
Laura Goss/Emerald
Members of Eugene’s Absolute Improv! take out their pre-show aggres
sion on a dummy dressed like a member of The Exit Players from Yale.
The Exit
Players
By Evan A. Denbaum
Entertainment Editor
The visiting team
The Exit Players, representing Yale
University, come into tonight's bout at
the Actors Cabaret as the favorites, de
spite playing Oregon's Absolute Im
prov! at the tail of a long road trip. The
Exit Players hold a distinct edge in ex
perience, having performed hundreds
of improv shows in New England since
their conception in 1984.
Some, including Yale senior Francis
Franze, feel The Exit Players’ veteran
savvy and high-energy performances
might be too much for the young up
starts from Eugene.
“They have the reputation as the
finest improv troupe at Yale,” Franze
said. “Honestly, they have the most
talent around and also perform very
different improv skits at each show.
The troupe’s complex games get the
crowd really excited.”
'Exits' are located in the front and rear of
the auditorium
The No. 1 ranked Players are used to
capacity crowds such as the Oregon-bi
ased one they are expected to face at the
Actors Cabaret. They perform six or
seven shows annually at Yale, includ
ing shows in the university’s largest au
ditorium, Woosley Hall. The troupe
also performs at several benefits every
year, including raising funds for the
Yale Hunger Action Project and acting
in the gala celebration for New Haven’s
350th birthday.
Keys to victory
In a format pitting the two improv
troupes against each other, the games
played and the audience’s involve
Turn to THE EXIT PLAYERS, Page 9
Hult to host 3 concerts, including symphony violinist
Acclaimed
violinist
Elissa Lee
Kokkonen
will perform
Stravinsky’s
violin
concerto on
March 19
By Shannon Sneed
Entertainment Hepoiter
With three concerts occurring within a six
day period, the coming week promises to be
quite a busy one at the Hult Center.
On March 19, the Eugene Symphony will
perform three pieces they’ve never done be
fore, marking perhaps their most adventurous
night of the ’97-’98 season.
The works performed will be: Osvaldo Goli
jov’s “Last Round,” composed in 1996; a vio
lin concerto composed by Igor Stravinsky; and
Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1 in E minor.
“This concert is really a challenge for the
musicians,” said Pat Cusick of the Eugene
Symphony. “It’s a chance for them to do some
thing new, and the three pieces work well to
gether thematical ly. ”
The three works range dramatically in age
and cultural origin; Golijov is Argentinean,
Stravinsky is Russian and Sibelius is from Fin
land.
This performance will be the North Ameri
can premiere of Golijov’s tango-inspired piece.
Music director and conductor Miguel
Harth-Bedoya wanted to perform it because he
knows Golijov, and the two have a mutual ap
preciation and background in Latin-inspired
music, Cusick said.
Internationally acclaimed violinist Elissa
Lee Kokkonen will perform Stravinsky’s vio
lin concerto. Kokkonen was raised in Hong
Kong and Korea, but moved to the United
States at age 11 to study music. She has won
numerous awards for her performances and
has collaborated with a number of orchestras
while touring the world — including the
Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Pops Orches
Turn to HULT, Page 9
COURTESY PHOTO
Symphony’s violinist Elissa Lee Kokkonen.