'Summer in
dioi ij<~>
■ - . — .
Smoke' to play here
11
photo by Dean Saito
Director of ''Summer and Smoke"
Maryanne Mitchell, left, and Donna
Gough, who plays Mrs. Bassett in the play,
rehearsing a scene.
by Clara N. Hurter
Battalion reporter
The Texas A&M theater arts
program will present Tennessee
Williams' play "Summer and
Smoke” Thursday in Rudder
Forum. The cast also will per
form the play in December for
the American Collegiate Theatre
Festival in Lubbock.
Members of the theater arts
program, part of the Texas A&M
English Department, think the
play will be well received by fes
tival competition judges and the
Texas A&M audience, says pub
licity supervisor and cast mem
ber Gay Culbertson.
Texas A&M has a good
chance to win some awards,
Culbertson says.
"We've always done really
good individually," he says.
"Our costume designer, for ex
ample, has won awards at the
competition in the past."
Culbertson expects good
attendance at the Texas A&M
debut.
"We're really pushing to get
college and high school English
students to come watch the
play," he says.
The cast includes sue main
characters: Wendy Pesek as
Alma Winemiller, Richard
Strayer as Dr. John Buchanan
Jr., Becky Hernandez as Rosa
Gonzales, Gay Culbertson as
Mr. Gonzales, Peck Phillips as
Dr. John Buchanan Sr., and
Marc Gessner as the Rev. Wine-
miller.
"Summer and Smoke" will
embroil you in the turbulent
lives of small-town citizens who
lived during the 1900s. The plot
revolves around a love affair be
tween Alma Winemiller and
John Buchanan Jr.
Alma Winemiller and John
Buchanan Jr. have grown up
together in a small Mississippi
town. When Buchanan Jr. re
turns to the town after receiving
his doctoral degree, he and
Alma Winemiller fall in love. But
Buchanan Jr. has turned into a
drunken scoundrel, and Alma
Winemiller is conservative and
nervous. The two discover they
are too opposite in nature to ever
marry.
While Alma Winemiller and
Buchanan Jr. are struggling with
their relationship, Buchanan Jr.
meets ambitious Rosa Gonzales,
the town sleaze, and they have
an affair. Rosa Gonzales's father
is the owner of the town whore
house and gambling casino.
Rosa and Buchanan Jr. plan to
run away together, but they end
their affair when Mr. Gonzales
shoots and kills Buchanan Sr.
Buchanan Jr. in turn decides
to marry Nellie, one of Alma
Winemiller's piano students.
And Alma Winemiller meets ...
well, enjoy the suprise ending.
The three-hour play will be
performed at the festival Dec. 1
to 3.
Crew and cast members cur
rently are building stage scener
ies and rehearsing for the play
scheduled to run at 8 p.m.
Thursday to Nov. 12 and Nov.
17 to 19 in Rudder Forum.
Assistant English professor
Maryanne Mitchell is the direc
tor, Susy Charleton is the cos
tume designer, and Alan Dona
hue is designing the sets and
lights.
The crew is composed of Cul
bertson, sound supervisor Betsy
Arnett, props supervisor Peck
Phillips, lights supervisor Lisa
Ramsey, scenery shop foreman
Donna Gough, costume super
visor Liz Smith, and set super
visor Allen Rudolph.
Tickets are available at the
MSC Box Office (845-1234) for $3
per student and $4 for non
students. A special group dis
count for groups of 10 is avail
able.
Production group to continue concerts
by Angel Stokes
Battalion staff
Now that the dust — literally
— has settled at the Heavy Metal
Coliseum, Roadrunner Produc
tions is ready to try again.
Last Saturday night Joe
"King" Carrasco performed the
debut concert for the Heavy
Metal Coliseum, located at the
comer of Highways 6 and 21.
The Coliseum is a renovated
warehouse with dirt floors and
no indoor restroom facilities.
But, Kevin Bomar and Terry
Dossey, two of the partners in
Roadrunner Productions, say
that next time there won't be any
dust and better restroom facili
ties soon will be available. Plans
to add bleachers along the sides
also are planned, Bomar says.
The concert's major flaw was
no sound check for Rackitt — a
local band that opened the con
cert — and Carrasco, Dossey
says.
"Carrasco showed up late,"
he says, "so there wasn't time to
do everything."
Because Rackitt is a rock band
and Carrasco is more new wave,
the musical contrast was odd.
The performance was Rackitt's
first public appearance.
"If we had known that the
crowd would be so into new
wave," says Dossey, who is lead
guitarist for Rackitt, "we might
not have opened for Carrasco."
Rackitt's show was cut short
because of the late start, he says.
Also the on-stage monitoring
mix was bad, he says, but for a
last minute job the lights and
sound turned out OK.
Although the concert wasn't
a financial success because of
several one-time expenses like
building a stage, Dossey says,
Roadrunner is confident about
having another concert.
"We need to build up a repu
tation," he says, "and we really
expected a first-time loss."
"Every show isn't a winner,
but as promoters we must con
tinue with the job," Bomar says,
"it's part of the game." Now it's
time to book as many acts as pos
sible to build up a reputation
among musicians.
Food and drinks for the con
cert was provided by Fish
Richard's Inc.
Problems with the Texas Alco
holic Beverage Commission
occurred when some minors
were caught with beer, Dossey
says. But Roadrunner doesn't
handle that part of the concerts;
Fish Richard's had the beer
license, he says. Future ways to
prevent alcohol consumption by
minors, he says, will be to dou
ble card and also spot card.
Not many problems occurred
with security, Dossey says, be
cause the off-duty Bryan police
did a good job at keeping people
from the backstage area.
"The roadies got pretty ex
cited when the stage got busted
in a few places," Dossey says,
"but they managed to keep peo
ple out."
Carrasco was chosen to open
the Coliseum for two reasons,
he says. One is the money —
Carrasco is cheaper to get and
has been here before. Also,
Roadrunner doesn't have any
credibility yet.
Although the facilities still are
primitive compared to places in
Austin, Houston and Dallas,
Bomar says bands will enjoy
playing at the Coliseum because
the atmosphere is 'laid back.'
Earlier negotiations for bands
included Loverboy, ZZ Top and
Sammy Hagar. Loverboy turned
down Roadrunner because they
weren't interested in the area
market, Bomar says. He says
Loverboy's Houston show
wasn't a sell-out and that prob
ably was part of the reason.
ZZ Top and Sammy Hagar
still are possibilities, he says. ZZ
Top is hard to get, he says, be
cause they currently are a very
hot item. Hagar will be in the
area in June, so there's still a
possibility to get him.
Rackitt and Texas Unlimited
— another local band — are set
for Nov. 11 or 12. Tentative price
is $6 with free beer included in
the price.
George Strait, Foghat and
The Producers also are in the
works, Bomar says.
Injury causes
Tubes concert
to be canceled
The Tubes, scheduled to
perform at Texas A&M on
Nov. 11, have canceled the
concert because of an injury to
the group's lead singer.
Fee Waybill, lead singer for
the San Fransisco-based
group, suffered a broken leg
and is unable to perform.
"We were excited about the
show," said Lisa Boteler, MSC
Town Hall public relations
chairman. "We're really dis
appointed."
The band recently has ex
perienced success with the
single "She's A Beauty" and
the newer single "Tip Of My
Tongue" from its latest album
"Outside Inside."
No plans are being made to
reschedule the show, part of
the Tubes North American
tour.