BY ARIA SELIGMANN
Nurse Ratched (Emily Peterson), with McMurphy
(Alex Dupre) and Chief Bromden (Sergio Martinez) in
UT’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Plays, Poetry & Late Night
A cornucopia of events this weekend .
C
reativity surges through town this
weekend, when both LCC and Lord
Leebrick offer new plays; the UO pres-
ents a groundbreaking work directed by a stellar
former student, and Saturday bookends with
high quality silliness early at Tsunami and late
night at LLTC.
The new play at LCC, Montana 1948 ,
written and directed by Patrick Torelle, is based
on a book of the same name written by Larry
Watson. Montana 1948 is one of two books se-
lected for LCC’s Reading Together project.
The project is part of a nationwide plan on
college campuses to engage faculty, staff and
students in activities and discussions centered
around a chosen work. Two closely linked
books were picked: Montana 1948, fiction, and
Privilege, Power and Difference by Allan
Johnson, nonfiction.
Both explore the subject of diversity, the
theme of LCC’s Spring Conference.
“The overriding purpose of the Reading
Together project is to create community,” says
Ellen Cantor, LCC English instructor and
Reading Together project coordinator.
Throughout the year, multi-disciplinary activi-
ties — class discussions, dance, fine art, lec-
tures, guest speakers, author visits, movies, stu-
dent presentations and service projects — will
center around each work.
Montana 1948 is a tale of love and courage,
of power abused, and of the terrible choice
between family loyalty and justice. Torelle says,
“The novel reads like a play, has intere
sting characters and a fascinating story line that
grabs you by the collar and pulls you to the
end.”
Montana 1948 plays for two weekends only,
beginning this Friday, Nov. 7 and continuing
Nov. 8, 13, 14 and 15 at 8 pm and Sunday, Nov.
9 at 2 pm in the Blue Door Theatre, main cam-
pus. A discussion follows each performance.
The play contains adult subject matter. $10/$8
sr./stu. 463-5202.
Another adaptation launches Lord
Leebrick’s New Play Reading Series at
7:30 pm Sunday, Nov. 9, with a staged reading
of Robert Urbinati’s West Moon Street.
The play is adapted from the short story “Lord
Arthur Savile’s Crime” by Oscar Wilde. LLTC
Tradition and BEYOND ...
Artistic Director Craig Willis directs and de-
scribes West Moon Street as, “a predictably
witty farce with echoes of the great Wildean
repartee.” The reading is free.
Urbinati, in town to guest direct University
Theatre’s production of One Flew Over The
Cuckoo’s Nest, is a New York-based writer and
director who received his Ph.D. in theater arts
from the UO in 1994.
In a nutshell, Urbinati took off for New York
and hit the big time. He is an associate artistic
director of the Queen’s Theatre in the Park and
has two one-act plays successfully running in
Omaha, Neb., where he directs on a regular
basis. Urbinati also directed the off-Broadway
production of Lost by Kirk Bromley and Jessica
Grace Wing, as well as many other NY shows
— simply too many to list here — and has re-
ceived numerous awards.
U
rbinati’s version/vision of One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest opens
this weekend in Robinson Theatre.
Adapted from Ken Kesey’s novel, the epic is
highly comic on the surface but delves into seri-
ous issues of control and the individual spirit.
Urbinati has come up with his own distinc-
tive interpretative take on the material, faithful
to the adaptation, but incorporating more of
Kesey’s hallucinatory vision. The concept of
“altered states of mind” will be reflected in the
production’s set, lights and sound design.
Cuckoo’s Nest was Kesey’s (who was born
and raised in Oregon and graduated from the
UO) first novel, published in 1962. In 1959,
Kesey underwent dramatic changes after volun-
teering for an experiment involving hallucino-
genic drugs. He then took a job working the
night shift at a mental ward and came to realize
that the patients weren’t mentally unstable but
rather just more individualized than society was
willing to accept. Parts of the novel were writ-
ten while he was under the influence of LSD
and peyote and many of the characters are in-
spired by the patients he met on his job.
The play adaptation, by Dale Wasserman,
was first presented on Broadway in 1963. It was
then drastically revised and reappeared off-
Broadway in 1971. The novel was also adapted
to a very successful movie in 1975.
Cuckoo’s Nest opens Nov. 7 and continues
Nov. 8, 13, 14, 15, 21 and 22 at 8 pm and Nov.
16 at 2 pm. The Nov. 16 performance benefits
Shelter Care. Tickets are $12 /$9 sr., UO
Faculty/Staff and non-UO students,/$7 for
Youth (6-18) and $5 for UO students. Call 346-
4363.
A symposium on the writings of Ken Kesey
runs Friday, Nov. 14 through Sunday, Nov. 16.
More on that next week.
T
o get your Saturday evening off to a
rollicking start, be at Tsunami Books at
5 pm for Joe Cronin and John
Dooley’s “Two Micks Short of a Pint —
Poetry, Tall Tales, Fibs.” The two Irish-
American poets, both National Slam Poetry
vets, will read from their humorous works.
Expect a lively performance. It’s free.
A
fter your 8 pm performance at UO,
LCC, ACE, LLTC (don’t forget about
Live Matinee, which we told you
about last week); or wherever else you might
be, don’t go home and go to sleep; nope, stay up
for Late Night at Lord Leebrick. Yes, late
night is back, and even though sometimes the
skits/acts have really sucked in the past, it’s al-
ways been fun, at least if you’re a theater geek,
and so cheap — this one is “pay what you will”
— all you really have to lose is a little sleep.
And who needs that?
But there’s good reason to believe this par-
ticular incarnation will be worthwhile.
Conceived by performance artist Mario Tucci,
the late night series is planned for the second
Saturday of every month starting at 11:30 pm,
and will feature a different host each month, as
well as a variety of musical, dance and other
performance acts.
This Saturday boasts Lord Leebrick and
Impact! Arts co-founder Randy Lord back in
the space as the host, which is just simply cool
for those who follow theater.
Total performer Allison Rickenbaugh tap
dances to Frank Zappa’s “The Black Page #1,” a
drum kit solo. Amy Impellizzeri, and
Stuart “Lips” Philips perform Contact
Improvisation. Writer, dancer, and TApROoT
founder David Koteen tells the story, “The
Killing of Small Fishes;” Heidi Beierle per-
forms a monologue and Mario Tucci explores
the world of dreams. The music is provided by
jazz bassist Rob Kohler.
ew
UO School of Music Chamber Music Series
Amelia Piano Trio
This energetic young trio won the Grand Prize of the 2001 Yellow Springs
National Chamber Music Competition and were finalists at the prestigious
Walter F. Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. Their program includes:
Beethoven’s Trio in E-flat Major, Op.1
Ned Rorem’s Spring Music for Piano Trio
Mendelssohn’s Trio in D Minor, Op.49
Thursday, Nov. 13 • 8:00 p.m.
BEALL CONCERT HALL
Tickets $29, $25, $12 at Hult Center (682-5000) or EMU Ticket
Office (346-4363). Free Musical Insights with Robert Hurwitz, 7 p.m.
NOVEMBER 6, 2003 29