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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1988)
Friday, April 15, 1988/The Battalion/Page 7 erformance of Aggie Players provides few flaws for patrons re h free!" By Richard Tijerina Senior Staff Writer The Aggie Players opening night Induction of Paul ZindeTs “The Ef- Jct of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the- Moon Marigolds” began its three dav run at the Rudder Forum Thursday night, and it came within a hare’s length of overcoming a few |aws and shining in its first perfor- lance. The play, called “the best of its ae since (Tennessee) Williams’ lass Menagerie,’ ” is an intense imily drama that revolves around a mother's struggle against her life d the walls that confine her, and Ir relationship with her two daugh ters, Ruth and Tillie. ■While the cast pulled off its open ing night performance with little dif ficulty, an overly dramatic perfor- iance by one of its stars and a case I “opening night jitters” left me Jthadull taste in my mouth by the play’s finale. In the show, Beatrice, the mother Ijayed by Emma Charlotte Reading, Bhes out in a series of sarcastic ex plosions against her two daughters tpscene after scene. ■Lanell Pena, who played Tillie, tht younger daughter, is entering a science fair with the project of ex- poung man-in-the-moon marigolds to ,1 radioactive isotope called Cobalt ■ in order to record the flowers’ re gion to radioactivity. jHowever, Beatrice could care less gout her youngest daughter’s aca demic exploits. Instead, she would Ether blame her two daughters’ Ixistence for her present situation, |»hi( h is having to live in a small con- jrted vegetable market in a tiny Itxas town. 1‘T’d rather be a dancer,” the Photo by Roy D. Parsons Charlotte Reading plays Beatrice in the play, “The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. mother says to her daughters, “than at least everyone could despise her to be sucked into this mudpool.” and be happy about it. Her portrayal of Beatrice, however, is a belter It is this type of attitude that skelter rollercoaster of a perfor- rubbed me the wrong way. If Read- mance as if she is up for the Joan ing were to remain consistent, then Crawford Mother of the Year Award at one point and a sympa thetic mother the next. Putting it simply, Reading overplays the part. On the other hand, the two daughters play their parts with ad mirable maturity. Pena is wonderful as the scientific whiz-kid, Tillie, who, in her innocent and loving way, seems to keep the family together though the thread which holds it that way is very thin. Shelly Kaye Thompson is equally good as the spastic sister who jumps from couch to chair, chattering endlessly. But the true bright spots in the production were the props, espe cially Tillie’s small white rabbit, or her “angora manure machine” as her mother affectionately describes it one minute, while threatening to kill it with chloroform the next. Watching the rabbit’s antics as it is being fed fresh lettuce or trying to crawl out of its wooden box are priceless. Another noteworthy prop to men tion is the skeleton of a cat that is an other entry in the science fair. The cat’s skin was boiled off by Tillie’s main competition in the fair, Janice Vickery. The audience reacted to a few scenes besides the usual laughter and gasps that are to be expected in a play of this type. At one point when Beatrice finally does chloro form the rabbit, the audience re sponded with an Aggie horse laugh as she was taking the animal up stairs. Though the choppy timing of the scenes and the few flubbed lines that detracted from the play’s overall ef fectiveness can be attributed to opening night jitters, the audience didn’t seem to mind and viewed the show as well worth seeing. Intervention aids chemically dependent patient By James Johnson I Reporter hen concern arises for a loved one who has an alcohol or other chemical dependency, personal in- Irvention can be a difficult but cru cial process toward helping someone |each partial recovery. Dr. Gary Newsom, medical direc- irof the Alcohol and Drug Recov- ! ery Unit at Greenleaf Hospital, has Itfdied and dealt with chemically dependent patients for the past twelve years. Through his practice, he has helped several people face the realities involved with being ad dicted to various drugs. Bin the first of a twelve-part series called “Intervention,” Newsom pro vided several warning signs of which e should be aware when de- dency is suspected. IChemical dependency is a pri- hary illness,” Newsom said. “It usually builds into something much llore serious if the problem is not topped soon enough.” IPatients must understand that a Jerson who was ever an addict at | )ne time is never “recovered”, but is pays “recovering”, he said. tas ,931 “An obvious sign of an addict is if a person says that he can control the problem on his own. If I had a penny for every time that a patient has told me that he could handle ad diction individually, I’d be a wealthy man. 99.9 percent of the time, a che mically dependent person can’t re cover without some form of assistan ce.” Newsom said he has had patients directed to him through advice of friends, co-workers, spouses and employers. “Perhaps the ones who motivate most powerfully are employers,” he said. “Whenever the addict’s behav ior begins to affect co-workers, em ployers tell the addict to Seek help or lose their job.” An important part of the inter vention process is to list behavioral data associated with the actions of the dependent person. Family mem bers or friends should contribute lists and precede to show them to the addict. Newsom recalled one of his pa tients being; video-taped by a family member. “When patients are exposed to their drunken behavior by watching a videotape, it usually has a over whelmingly successful effect,” he said. “Once the addict witnesses his actions, he realizes that there is proof of his denial, which is an early sign of addiction.” Evidence is another obvious sign of addiction. Empty bottles of liquor or pills should trigger suspicion, he said. Other signs of chemical depen dency are having to drink in order to socialize, being consistently tardy for work, having financial difficulty due to money spent on drugs or exces sive alcohol and having received more than one DWI within recent months. The ultimate goal of someone at tempting intervention is to elevate awareness of the dependent person, he added. People who attempt to intervene should be very nurturing and poli tely tell the victim to seek profes sional counseling from organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous. “If the individual does decide to become a member of AA, there is a possibility that he could recover on his own, but attendance would have to be on a routine basis,” he said. The health of victims that don’t receive help declines rapidly. Continuous alcohol abuse can lead to hepititis or gastro-intestinal disease. He said that anyone who passes blood through regurgitation or digestion has reason to be con cerned. “It doesn’t take a professional to convince loved ones of the harm they are doing to themselves,” Newsom concluded. “In many cases, the only thing you can tell them is that if they don’t seek help, they could die.” Video conference informs public about Alzheimer’s C.S By Barbette Foley Reporter By year 2040, it is expected that (here will be nine million victims of Hzheimer’s, Jane Donaldson, an ad viser to the Alzheimer’s Support proup, said. iThe Brazos Valley Development Council Area Agency on Aging and the Texas A&M College of Medicine peld a video conference on Alzheim er’s disease. The two-clay program jWas designed to inform the public about the neurological disorder that mallv affects people 65 and older. The program titled “Alzheimer’s Disease: The Loss of Self” was live ■ satellite from the Medical Learn ing Center at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. Its main goal was to help family members and Alzheim er’s patients cope with the patient’s loss of identity, Donaldson said. Alzheimer’s actually is not a dis ease, but an illness that comes in many forms and affects more than two million people. “We believe that haying informa tion on the disease is better than be ing in the dark; although it’s an un pleasant topic,” she said. “The public has a fear of the unknown.” Carl Eisdorfer, Ph.D., M.D., chairman of the Department of Psy chiatry at the University of Miami, and Donna Cohen, M.D. at the Uni versity of Illinois in Chicatgo con ducted the program. They authored The Loss of Self, which discusses the problems and preparations asso ciated with the disease. Eisdorfer said he started working on the disease in the ’60’s when most people thought Alzheimer’s was a form of senility. “A while back, doctors wouldn’t diagnose people as having Alzhei mer’s,” he said. “Alzheimer’s disease was a metaphor for chronic aging disease. Now, it’s so important even the president and Congress must ad dress the problem. ” Eisdorfer said failure to find the right words to say when talking is one of the first signs when trying to detect Alzheimer’s. “The disease should be caught early on,” he said. “When familiarity is lost or when the problem affects the person’s work, the family mem bers’ suspicion should rise. The ear lier the disease is diagnosed, the bet ter because the diagnosis includes a series of exams.” Cohen said although more is known about the disease than 10 years ago, a cure still has not been found. However, a few drugs have been issued to slow down the process during the early stages. Eisdorfer said, “There were two drugs in experimental form that were administered to patients, but liver problems were discovered in some patients, and the drug was dis continued. Now the drug is being is sued again, but only in a few centers. “Two new drugs are approaching the problem in a different way, but it’s too early to know if they will work.” yA n D R i b r ™ v e TRAIN Good Golly another, party weekend ! IM PO R T □ G M E S T IC RUTOMOTIUE REPRIR 268 - 2886 I 3 6 8 5 - C S . C O L L E G E A basketful of cash is better than a garage full of 'stuff' |l Have a garage or yard sale this week - Call 845-2611 lOrgo [ ^ >a ^ r "Slip into the Bay" Groovy Keg Special Miller Lite $43°° Slip in and see the studs at Cargo Bay 846-1816 4501 Wellborn Rd. 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College Skaggs Center Presents WALL STREET Every dream has a price. Charlie Michael Daryl Sheen Douglas Hannah From the director of PLATOON. FRIDAY ONLY! April 15 7:30/9:45/MIDNIGHT Rudder Theatre TICKETS $2.00 W/TAMU ID $ Due to a schedule change "Fatal Attraction" will not be shown this evening.