The Battalion • Page 3
Thursday • June 15, 1995
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collaboration.
Musical comedy opens tonight in Rudder
Roger Hsieh, The Battalion
Aunt Marne, played by Anne Black, and Patrick played by Jerry Downey, rehearse for Mame, Wednesday
night at Rudder Theater.
By Amy Collier
The Battalion
T he quiet of summer will soon be disrupted
by the comical sounds and music of Mame.
The first of eight performances is tonight
in Rudder Theater at 8 p.m.
The musical comedy is a first-time collabora
tion of the MSC Dinner Theatre committee, the
Aggie Players and Stagecenter, the community
theater in Bryan.
Dennis Koch, director of Mame and adviser to
the MSC Dinner Theater, said the three groups
wanted to perform Mame in College Station be
cause the opportunities to see musicals are rare.
“I think it will be a nice, light entertainment
piece for students in the summer,” Koch said.
“They don’t want to see something depressing.
It’s a fun show. It just seemed to be the right
piece at the right time.”
Mame is based on the title character’s comical
adventures in love, sorrow and happiness over a
20-year span beginning in the 1920s.
The cast has over 30 members, ranging in age
from four to 65, and Koch said the numerous
preparations required almost around-
the-clock work since they were chosen
in April. '
“It’s been real tough,” Koch said. p^
“But I think we’ve done a really good
job. I think everyone will be pleased with
the results of all of our hard work.”
Koch said that if the turnout is posi
tive, there may be a musical every sum
mer, possibly starting with Bye Bye Birdie
next year.
“It will become a good summer tradition,’
Koch said. “There’s so much talent in the
area that we can do this.”
Koch said he expects at least two shows
to sell out and that groups such as Aggie
Hostel, a reunion for former students tak
ing place next week, have already bought
tickets.
Mame is being performed at music
halls and theaters across the country this
summer and was even mentioned on “The
Late Show With David Letterman” last
week.
“We’re really excited that this
show is so popular,” Koch said.
“People still perform it and still
attract audiences. It reinforces
the fact that we picked a good show and people
are going to come.”
Kathy Symank, associate director for adminis
trative services at the MSC, is playing Mrs. Up
john in Symank’s first play since high school.
“I auditioned for it because I thought the collabo
ration of the three entities was exciting,” Symank
said. “I wanted to be part of such a big production.”
Symank said the production has more variety
than the typical play.
“It’s going to be different,” she said. “It has a
lot of pizzazz to.it. This is just a different ad
venture .There should be more musicals in
this town.”
The sacrifices made for the play were
numerous, Symank said.
“This was really a big time commit
ment,” Symank said. “From backstage, it’s
a little hectic because there are so many
cast members.”
Ross Jarvis, a senior management ma
jor, is the director of the production’s or
chestra and plays piano for the musical.
“I’m really excited because this is my first
experience with the theater and it’s a really
good musical,” Jarvis said. “It’s a very enter
taining musical comedy.”
After at least five hours of rehearsal every
day, Jarvis said the cast has learned how to
evoke a wide range of emotions in its audi
ence.
“I think there are going to be scenes
that are very upbeat and exciting and
then there will be some that will not
leave a dry eye in the place,” he said.
Koch said he encourages people to
come see Mame to broaden their cultural
experiences.
“I think people should get away from their
VCRs and summer reruns and get some live en
tertainment,” he said. “It will be a change to
laugh and even sing along with familiar tunes.”
>St t e t: c It
1 IT
the body and soul
By Libe Goad
The Battalion
S tress lurks around every corner.
But instead of reaching for chocolate
the next time stress attacks, some
people lie flat on their backs and concen
trate on the noises around them.
Dana Wingo, a yoga instructor for the
University PLUS program, begins her class
this way, using a technique that focuses on
breathing, relaxing the muscles and allow
ing thoughts to flow freely.
“It lets people shift gears and focus the
mind, breath and the body at one time,”
Wingo said.
University PLUS, an A&M noncredit ac
tivities program, offers beginner and interme
diate yoga classes every Monday and
Wednesday.
Program Director Dana Williamson said
the program started offering yoga to help
people unwind after a day’s work.
“The main part is the meditation and re
laxation for stress relief,” Williamson said.
Every Monday and Wednesday, about 10
people meet at the MSC and spend 90 min
utes stretching, strengthening and focusing
on what’s going on inside.
Wingo said people come to the class with
various preconceived notions.
"One girl came in here with a notepad,
Roger Hsieh, The Battalion
Dana Wingo teaches a yoga class Monday and Wednesdays
from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m in room 342 of the MSC.
wearing hose and shoes. She sat down and
was ready to take notes,” Wingo said.
“Then, some people come in here with the
attitude, ‘Yeah, that yoga stuff — I’ll take
strawberry.’”
The class practices a combination of Hatha
and Keiman yoga that focuses on stretching
and strengthening the body. Keiman yoga fo
cuses on strength and flexibility, and Hatha
yoga encompasses aspects of the physical,
spiritual and philosophical realms.
“We don’t get into the religious aspects
here,” she said. “Being in the Bible Belt,
that’s not a good idea.”
Hatha yoga studies the natural move
ments of newborn babies and how people
breathe when they sleep.
“That doesn’t include how we breathe
when we’re on the beach, sucking in our
stomachs,” she said, “but breathing that ex
tends to the fullest points in a relaxed way.”
Bobby Lane, a yoga instructor for the
Yoga Institute and Bookshop in Bryan, said
yoga exercise places emphasis on posture
and balancing the body.
“The body is like a car,” Lane said. “If it
is out of alignment, and you keep putting
new wheels on the car — you’re going to
ruin the wheels.”
Yoga focuses on the entire body and cre
ates a new awareness of the body’s move
ments.
Wingo said yoga exercise
helped her overcome her
problems with obesity and
made her aware of her phys
ical body.
“Before then, I existed from
head-up,” she said. “I thought,
‘I’ll never be thin, I’ll never be
attractive.’”
Her mother influenced her
to start practicing yoga, and
Wingo said it helped her be
come physically active.
“My friends and I would
walk into the house and Mom
would be sitting in some
strange position,” she said.
“After my friends would leave,
I would join her.”
The yoga positions and
breathing increase metabo
lism because it stimulates the
internal organs and releases
energy in the muscles.
“Yoga by itself isn’t going
to make you look like Jane
Fonda,” Wingo said. “I’ll nev
er be thin, but I’ll never be
obese either.”
Despite the trend’s increase,
the A&M health and kinesiolo
gy department has not consid
ered adding yoga to their list of
classes.
Frank Ashley, coordinator of
sport management, said he has
not noticed a demand for yoga
classes.
“If there was [a demand],
we would look into starting a
class,” he said.
Bobby Hall serves up the
blues
Nick Rodnicki, The Battalion
Local blues guitarist, Bobby Hall plays at Northgate Cafe every Thursday night.
By Amy Collier
The Battalion
E very time he steps in front of an audience, Bobby
Hall said he loses five pounds from the energy
he puts into his performances.
Hall started teaching himself how to play the har
monica when he was 8-years-old. He and his band.
The Ice Cold Blues Band, have been bringing blues to
the College Station area since 1990.
The band performs every Thursday night at North-
gate Cafe.
Hall said that after years of practicing blues, his
style of music and performing is comparable to that of
late blues-artist Albert Collins.
“He’s the best I’ve ever seen in my life,” Hall said.
“I try to copy his style, and I think I’ve just about got
it down.”
Besides performing this style locally, Hall also
plays in Austin and Houston.
Although he attracts large crowds with his singing,
harmonica and guitar. Hall said he has never taken a
music lesson in his life.
“I was born with talent,” he said. “God gave me a
talent for me to use. It’s just like walking. Music just
came to me.”
Hall said people can relate to the stories he tells
with his lyrics.
“I base them upon my life,” Hall said. “An artist
should write about what pushes his life. That way you
can sing from your heart.
“The music touches everyone’s soul. You don’t have
to be from a certain culture. People should give blues
a chance.”
Hall said he also tries to connect with crowds by
making eye contact with each member of his audience.
“You’ve got to be able to capture the audience,”
Hall said. “When I perform, I make sure I capture the
audience. That has added to my success. The stage
presence I have has brought me a very long way.”
Hall said audiences’ positive reactions give him a
reason to continue playing blues.
“It’s a fulfilling of the soul,” Hall said. “It’s a natur
al high. I’m like a junkie. I have to perform more and
more. I’m normally very shy, but when I’m on stage,
I’m energized.”
Besides playing across the state at least three days
a week, Hall said he does his most rewarding perfor
mances in nursing homes across Texas.
“It’s a very strange feeling,” Hall said. “It makes
you feel very good on the inside, but it also makes you
sad. I try to give as much as I can of myself to make
me a better person.”
When he is not performing. Hall is a local, self-em
ployed maintenance worker.
“It’s just about enough to have a 25-hour day,” Hall
said.
Even though there may not be a big market for
blues in College Station, Hall said he plans to play
here as long as he is happy.
“It’s where I want to be,” he said. “College Station
loves me. They think I’m the best thing since sliced
bread. They respect me as a person.
“I’ve played blues all my life, and people have to go to
Austin, Houston or Louisiana just to listen to blues.
People now have the opportunity to listen to blues with
out traveling.”
Hall said he plans to keep entertaining people, and
said fame and fortune are not top priorities.
“I would love to have my picture on the cover of
Rolling Stone,” he said. “But if it’s meant to be, it’s
meant to be. I’m just enjoying making people happy
right now. My reward is the soulful experience that I
get. You can’t put a price on what I get.”