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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1997)
mber H Friday • November 14, 1997 Lifestyles - ■ LOVE V-' 1111 If 1 -ALL US I DEREK DEMERE/The Battalion Iall Voil Jpara Pannell, a senior theater arts major, practices the lead role for the Theater Arts Department’s “The Good Woman of Setzuan.” Good Woman of Setzuan’ me poses questions of morality ot been clemi een a security The port | the intruders nth. f APTAIN. PORT TO SUABLE CAPTURE |RS, AND Ikareesh. By Marium Mohiuddin Staff writer P laywrights have the capabilities to move hearts and minds and to shape opinions. Bertolt Brecht was a German play wright who asked the questions of life in his plays and let theaudience answer them. His view of life was both optimistic and pessimistic. "The Good Woman of Setzuan” presented by the Theater Arts partment brings to life one of these morality questions. It is a file of a woman who is commanded by the gods to be good. In rcturn, they will save her from prostitution and poverty. Dr. Robert Shandley, director of “The Good Woman of Set- Eian” and an assistant professor of German, said he chose this play because he has studied 20th century German drama and believes Brecht was the most influential playwright of that time. “Brecht is one of the popular playwrights of this century,” Khandley said. "He wrote this play when he was in exile. It was during World War II, and he was in a different mind set than most people. He fled Nazi Germany, and then he fled Ulrica during the McCarthy era. He had a utopian view of pit is political theater and something that has not been ^ The theater is not there just to entertain us but to teach us to behave better." Dr. Robert Shandley Director of 'The Good Woman of Setzuan' lone here before.” Shandley said the play tries to present moral questions tbout materialism and poverty in ancient China. “The problems he sets up are not problems in Asia,” Pannell Id. “He put it in China so people would not concentrate on where the play is. For Westerners and Europeans at that time, hina was as far away as you could get. It gets us to focus on Reissues he wants to talk about.” Shandley said Brecht is a moralist and believes the theater s a moral and political institution. “The theater is not there just to entertain us but to teach us obehave better,” Shandley said. “The moral and political les ion is how to be good and stay good without exploitation, feuld we be good to each other if we were starving and only a piece of bread was separating us? The theater is not there to an swer the question but to leave it for the audience to answer. He leaves the audience hanging at the end.” Susan Kelly, associate professor of theater arts, coordinator of the theater arts program and resident costume designer, said this is the biggest production of the semester and the costumes enhance the actors capabilities. “The costumes are traditional Chinese costumes,” Kelly said. “They are mainly green-gray and blue-gray. We used a muted color palate. The play is harsh so the clothes have to be in cooler colors. The costumes support the actors and their characterizations. The little details bring out the characters. It helps to solidify the acting.” Kelly said Brecht’s plays are set in towns that do not exist, so the costumes are not set in a certain time. “The costumes were researched from Chinese pho tographs from the turn of the century,” Kelly said. “The lead character has the nicest costume. It is richer but still sub dued. Nothing is flashy.” Tara Pannell, lead in “The Good Woman of Setzuan” and a senior theater arts major, said this is the first lead she has got ten and has been preparing for this role since the beginning of the semester. “I play two characters, Shen Te (a woman) and Shui Ta (a man),” Pannell said. “I am on the stage the whole time so it can be difficult, and it is very emotional. It is hard to pull off a male character. There is one part in the play where I have to change between the two characters on stage. It is difficult because I have to say a monologue at the same time with emotion.” Pannell said to prepare for the role, she used instances from her life. “In acting you use emotional memory which is taking things from your life,” Pannell said. "But you cannot use your grandfather’s death because those emotions do not relate. It was easy to portray these emotions because all women have been through situations of unfairness in society. The other actors also do an incredible job, so it is easy to react and work off of them.” Pannell said playing a man was difficult because she had to change her actions. “Playing the woman was not hard because I could relate to her wanting to please everyone,” Pannell said. “It was hard to re late to the man because he is hard, mean and unattached. It was weird because as the woman, yoq care so much about a charac ter, and then you have to turn around and be unemotional.” Pannell said she turned to many sources to aid her in de veloping her male character. “I was told to watch The Godfather and to pay close atten tion to Michael Corleone,” she said. “I watched him because his mannerisms are deliberate, and he does not move much. “It was a struggle playing a man. I had to change everything from the way I walk to how I smoke a cigarette.” “The Good Woman of Setzuan” will be playing at Rudder Fo rum from Nov. 13-15 and Nov. 19-22. Tickets are available at the MSG Box Office. A New Breed of Laughs ‘South Park’ proves to be more than a comedy of flatulence and cursing Travis Irby Columnist A merica has a new bunch of antiso cial animated icons to look up to — the youngsters of the TV series “South Park.” They make Bart Simpson look like a boy scout, and Beavis and Butthead look like a couple of small timers when it comes to these juvenile delinquents. Kenny, Cartman, Kyle and Stan are the stars of “South Park,” Comedy Central’s new animated series. The foul-mouthed quartet has worked their way into America’s heart, courtesy of the show's creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The show revolves around the adven tures of the aforementioned 8-year-olds while inhabiting the small mountain town of South Park, Colo. Here Kenny, Stan, Kyle and Cartman deal with a variety of issues, such as aliens, tolerance, euthanasia and celebrity wor ship, with the vocabulary of a sailor and the sophomoric wisdom of a child. “South Park’”s animation style looks like a bunch of cardboard cutouts pasted on construction paper. The simplistic style makes “Beavis and Butthead” look like a restored version of “Fantasia.” With its simple, unexaggerated style, “South Park” offers one of the most com pelling and complex shows on television today. One of the show’s strong points is its unflinching look at the vernacular of to day’s youth. “Kick ass” is a favorite saying of the show’s foursome — and that is one of the tamer say ings of the lovable scamps. The show has more censorings than a Springer episode. Sure the lovable cherubs of “South Park” curse a blue streak, but they do it in a way that illustrates concern for their comrades. The show’s stars each represent a different segment of society. Kyle is the only Jewish kid in South Park, and he must deal with the pressures coming from religious conflicts. Stan, the resident genius of the gang, must deal with his romantic feelings for his classmate Wendy. Every time he gets close to her he throws up. Then there is muffled mouth Kenny, who speaks as if his mom was Charlie Brown’s teacher. Every episode, Kenny experiences one vi olent death after another. In one episode, the Mir space station crashed right on top of the orange-hooded youth. Cartman is a violent, ill-tempered fat boy, who must deal with a smothering mother and a speech impediment as bad as Kenny’s. These lovable tykes use gentle humor to deal with today’s societal conflicts. The is sue of tolerance was addressed when Stan found out his dog was homosexual. Not many shows would address the “pow- derkeg” of homosexual housepets. There was an episode dealing with the ramifications of genetic engineering. Ge netic horrors like evil, mutant clones were shown, but positive aspects like animals with four butts were given a spotlight. Not since The Island of Dr. Moreau, which the episode spoofed nicely, has genetic engi neering been handled with such dignity. When the children have trouble dealing with these problems, like a modern-day Aristotle in an apron, Chef is there to help. Voiced by Isaac Hayes, the crooner of such 70s hits like “Shaft,” Chef serves the kids their school lunches, while dispensing ad vice in the form of songs like “I Wanna Make Sweet Love To You Woman” and “Love Gravy.” There is a host of other characters in cluding a psychotic teacher who speaks through a hand puppet, a duplicitous mayor, Stan’s mean, metal-mouthed older sister and even Jesus is on hand with his own cable access show. This small, fictional town is a micro cosm of the world. It is a great country when a sense of hu mor that can get someone fired from a job or thrown in jail can also make a million bucks. Credit Matt Stone and Trey Parker for coming up with the best low-brow comedy brainstorm since the phrase “pull my finger.” In the heart-moving words of Eric Cart man, “Follow your dreams. They can come true. I’m living proof of this. Beefcake. BEEEFCAAKE!!” PICK UP YOUR COPY TODAY. 1997-98 Texas A&M Campus Directory NOW AVAILABLE D EPARTMENTS: You may charge and pick them up at 015 Reed McDonald. Cost Is $3 per copy. (Please bring a work request with your part number, FAMIS account number, account name, billing address, contact person and phone num ber where the directories should be billed.) S TUDENTS: If you ordered a 1997-98 Campus Directory, stop by room 015 (basement) of the Reed McDonald Building from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday to pick up your copy. (Please bring Student ID.) If you did not order a Campus Directory as a fee option when you registered for Fall ’97 classes, you may purchase a copy for $3 plus tax in room 015 Reed McDon ald (by cash, check or credit card). The Texas A&M University Directory includes listings of departments, administrators, faculty, staff, students, other information about A&M, plus yellow pages. mr, nm •nm-’ mr “«««" mr On sale this week at the MSC *.€«FiC« MSC Rudder Box Office • MSC Film Society — Raiders of the Lost Ark Fri, Nov 14, 7 p.m., Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Fri, Nov 14.9:30 p.m. and Air Force One Sat, Nov 15, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. • Theatre Arts — The Good Woman Of Setzuan Fri, Nov 14, Sat, Nov 15 and Wed, Nov 19 thru Sat, Nov 22, 8 p.m. • Omega Psi Phi — Apollo Night Sat, Nov 15, 7:30 p.m. • MSC OPAS Jr— Mr. Taps Sun, Nov 16, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. • bvso — “Carmina Burana” Mon, Novi7,8 p.m. 845-1234 or on the net! http://boxoffice.tamu.edu (K Call lo arrange for special needs. AggieBucks accepted.. .tmwni, .gJMWPn. <«SSS**M TBlatk jfbrwit Make Reservations NOW for Thanksgiving, after "The Game” party & graduation Black Forest Inn 874-2407 2:00 - 9:00pm Hwy 30 Wed. - Sat. OFF CAMPUS AGGIES AGGIE BONFIRE 1997 Last Bonfire Cut & Hog Log November 15th & 16th Meet in the back left corner of Zachary Parking Lot (across from where Bonfire burns) at 8:00am. Saturday is Last Cut & Sunday is Hog Log. Everyone is welcomed & needed. Stack schedules will also be handed out. For More Info, Call: Derek Landry (Yellowpot) ...268-7250 Mike AhIemeier(Crew Chief)...822-9596 ext. 253 David Tyner (Crew Chief)...778-0617 What: When: Where: Note: Ladies 0 rBs JL-j tws TUXEDO RENTALS fr« m *49.95 FREE SHOES, VEST, & GROOM’S RENTAL (Ask us for details) At the Texas Ave. entrance of A&M Open Weeknights until 7 p.m., Saturday until 5 p.m. 764-8289