Features Editor:
Lisa Toth
lisatoth@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, February 28,2002
Hitting the right 'Keys5
Alicia Keys takes home five Grammys —
and so does ‘0 Brother, Where Art Thou?’
Pages
Arena Theatre brings ‘Reckless’ satire to campus
Nathan
Loveless (left)
and Kirsten
Schmieding
star in the
Arena Theatre
play‘Reckless,’
a dark comedy
about a woman
whose husband
hires an
assassin
to kill her.
“Reckless,” the satirical play by Craig
Lucas — best known for “Prelude to a
Kiss” — and directed by Rich Brown,
opens March 6 in the Arena Theatre.
The play follows the bizarre journey
of Rachel Fitsimmons, played by
Kirsten Schmieding, Brown said. On
Christmas Eve, Rachel discovers that
her husband has hired an assassin to
kill her, and from that moment her life
erupts into chaos, Brown said.
“It’s a realistic play that quickly
spins into the surreal as Rachel’s life
gets more and more out of control,”
Brown said.
He said the play is a dark comedy
that focuses on the main character’s
journey from domestic bliss and
through her battle to put her life back
together. Brown said a kind psychia
trist meets Rachel, takes her home and
helps her through her ordeal.
Performances begin at 8 p.m. and will
be held March 6-9 and March 14-16.
Tickets are $6 for the general public, $5
for faculty and staff members, senior cit
izens and non-University students and
$4 for University students at the EMU
Ticket Office. The Arena Theatre is lo
cated in Villard Hall. Free parking is lo
cated in the University parking lot at
East 11th Avenue and Kincaid Street.
—Jen West
sometimes
■A new program aims to unite the
community while celebrating Ken
Kesey’s life and accomplishments
By Jen West
Oregon Daily Emerald
A citywide reading program may of
fer singles a place to meet each
other while discussing one of the
most famous books to originate
from the Northwest.
The Friendly Area Neighborhood in
stituted a citywide program called
“Readin’ in the Rain” that began Feb.
11 and will contin
ue through April 2.
The goal of the pro
gram is to encour
age community
members to read
local author Ken
Kesey’s “Some
times a Great No
tion” and take part
in the events and
discussions that are
held for the book.
James Cunningham, co-chairman of
the Friendly Area Neighborhood and a
program founder, said he heard about a
similar program in Chicago using
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Bringing community members to
gether is the theme of the program, es
pecially in the wake of Sept. 11, said
Scott Landfield, program co-founder
and owner of Tsunami Books. “If we’re
all going to be banding together, let’s
get to know each other,” he said.
Turn to Kesey, page 9
New Pocket Playhouse production pokes fun at today’s pop culture
■ ‘Life and Howto Live It may
offend audiences, but it might also
get people to laugh and think
By Lisa Toth
Oregon Daily Emerald
This week’s Pocket Playhouse pro
duction “Life and How to Live It” was
titled based on an R.E.M. song from the
early 1980s. But the play’s writer and
director, Matt Chorpenning, said he
chose to name his play after the “Fables
of the Reconstruction” track for the op
posite reason that the title suggests.
“It’s called ‘Life and House to Live It,’
but the lyrics make no sense,” Chorpen
ning said.
He said this “sketch comedy show” he
wrote more than a year ago might appeal
to Saturday Night Live lovers because
the live scenes are both brief and funny.
“It’s different for a sketch comedy
show, and it’s different for a Pocket
Playhouse show,” he said. “It’s a
comedic jab at life and society.”
Chorpenning, a junior majoring in
theater arts, said the sarcastic play
pokes tun at everything Irom Cos
mopolitan magazine to “The 700
Club.” But the script has undergone a
few rewrites, including one after Sept.
11, as Chorpenning explained, “to re
mind our nation that their president is
still a dick weed.”
But targeting public figures such as
actor Gary Coleman, President George
W. Bush, Attorney General John
Ashcroft, pop princess Britney Spears
and the starlets of Hollywood comes
second nature to Chorpenning, and he
said he hopes the audience enjoys the
play’s messages.
“It might push their button, and it
might offend them,” Chorpenning
said. “But it might also make them
laugh and think.”
He added that the 98 seats in Room
102 — home of the student-run Pocket
Playhouse — are expected to be filled
for each performance, which runs
Thursday through Saturday beginning
at 5 p.m. A $1 admission is the suggest
ed donation.
Turn to Pocket, page 9
Jonathan House Emerald
Matt Chorpenning (left) yells at Joe Shirley in ‘Life and How to Live It.’ The Chorpenning-directed Pocket Playhouse
production runs from today through Saturday starting at 5 p.m. with a $1 suggested donation.
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