NEWS
The Battalion I 3.5.15
4
Jewish holiday of Purim
comes to close Thursday
By Taylor Siskind
Sunset Thursday marks the end of Purim,
the Jewish holiday that focuses on the de
feat of Haman’s plot to persecute the Jewish
people in the Bibhcal book of Esther.
Following the Texas A&M Hillel celebra
tion of this hohday Wednesday night, Rohr
Chabad Jewish Center will host the Jewish
community Thursday night.
Manya Lazaroff, wife of the Rabbi Yossi
Lazaroff at the Chabad Center, said the main
message of Purim is that God is in everyday
life.
“There’s times in our life when we see the
hand of a higher being,” Yossi Lazaroff said.
“And there are times that it’s less obvious.”
Associated with Purim are four “mitzvot,”
or commandments — the reading of the “me-
gillah,” or the Book of Esther, the giving gifts
of food, the giving of money to those in need
and a feast. Jews use “graggers,” or noisemak-
ers, to drown out any mention of Haman’s
name during the first mitzvah, when the me-
gillah is read.'
“We try to enable Aggies to participate...
So they could be able to accomplish all four
of our events if they haven’t been able to do
it prior,” Yossi Lazaroff said.
With Reveille in attendance, Hillel cele
brated by making “hamentaschen,” a triangu
lar-shaped cookie meant to resemble Haman,
holding a costume party and megillah reading
Wednesday night.
The Hillel student board also conducted
a “Purim Shpiel,” or play, to tell the Purim
story. Veronica Beskin, Jewish student life co
ordinator at Hillel, said costumes are a large
part of the holiday and in some ways resemble
the American festival of Halloween.
At Chabad, a megillah reading took place
Wednesday night and will occur again at
noon Thursday in MSC 2403. A stadium-
themed costume party and additional reading
at Chabad is scheduled for 5:30 p.m Thursday.
Shelby Knowles —THE BATTALION
(From left to right) communication junior Dan Rosenfield, English freshman
Celeste Swanson, psychology junior Rebecca Waronoff and health senior Alex
Powell enact a "megillah" reading Wednesday night.
Tim Lai —THE BATTALION
Students act out a scene from "Cold Soles" Wednesday night.
Festival displays student-run plays
By Mary Anna Reyes
A Marilyn Monroe musical, a
^ comedy, a murder drama and an
absurdist play about two guys and a re
frigerator— the Student New Works
Festival is in full swing.
The festival, which began Feb. 27,
continues Thursday through Saturday
in the Blackbox Theatre and showcases
student actors and directors from the
Department of Performance Studies.
The main event in for the 2015 festi
val will feature performances of “Dear
Norma Jeane,” “Viola Sees a Ghost,”
“Cold Sole” and “Black Widows.”
Kristina Miller, instructional assis
tant professor of theatre arts, said the
multitude of talented students at A&M
deserve to have a platform like the fes
tival through which students can share
their ideas and passions.
“It’s important to give them the op
portunity to share their ideas and take
pride in their work,” Miller said. “It’s
also a huge learning experience —
there is so much that goes into pro
ducing any kind of live performance.
Many of the aspects of producing go
unseen or seem minuscule.”
The festival is open to everyone,
not just performance studies students.
This year, just over 40 students are
involved in the festival, including Ste
phen Steele, theatre freshman, an actor
in three of the four showcased plays in
the festival.
“The students, the department, or
just anybody, is allowed to submit a
proposal to write their own show and
have a budget and direct it through the
university,” Steele said.
The semester-long process to pre
pare for the festival can be daunting for
writers looking to have their work per
formed for the first time. Miller said.
“Start early. Plan ahead. Get your
script or proposal finalized and have
several people proofread them,” Miller
said. “Try to put together a produc
tion team who is as passionate about
the project as you are. Find a faculty
mentor who has experience producing
the kind of work that you are attempt
ing to produce and meet with them
regularly. ”
After returning from winter break,
the actors and directors had less than a
month of preparation until show time.
The festival functions as a workshop,
meaning the performances will not be
as perfected as professional plays. Still,
in those three weeks, the performance
studies department students worked to
settle every detail they may have over
looked.
Chris Haley, writer and director for
“Cold Sole” and theatre arts junior,
said the amount of work in the pro
duction process has been a learning
experience.
“Lighting aspects didn’t even cross
my mind,” Haley said. “I was like,
‘Oh, I’m just going to turn the lights
off and on.’”
Haley said his play was inspired by a
true and common event. Haley said he
didn’t want to spoil the play by reveal
ing too many details, but he did hint
at the lighting design is something the
audience should watch out for.
“It’s about two roommates fighting
over their fridge,” Haley said. “When
you get down to it, that’s about the
gist of it.”
“Cold Sole” is Haley’s first written
and directed play. Haley said he got a
confidence boost from the experience
through the process of experimenting
and seeing his work performed.
Those involved in the Student New
Works Festival usually exit center stage
feeling more confident about their
work, said Miller.
“I hope that all of the students in-
volved walk away and feel pride in
their achievements but also I want for
them to have desire,” Miller said. “A
desire to do it again and to use what
they have learned to do it even better.
They all have the potential to create.
After this I hope that they are confident
in their abilities.”
Performances are free and begin at
8 p.m. Thursday in the Blackbox The
atre in the Liberal Arts Building, how
ever seating is limited.
The Montana Repertory Theatre group will bring the
Roaring Twenties to Rudder Theatre Thursday evening.
The performance is expected to ring with the novel's
motifs.
Theatre group to bring
'Great Gatsby' to life
By Keely Wirries
Bringing the glitz and
^ glamour of the Roaring
Twenties, the Montana Rep
ertory Theatre will showcase
their live adaptation of the
American classic,“The Great
Gatsby” Thursday evening.
The play will incorporate the
same motifs and thematic con
cepts of the movies and novel,
but it will provide a different
vantage point for the audi
ence, said OPAS student chair
and urban and regional plan
ning senior Rachel Fisher.
“That’s the great thing about
the theater — you have this
whole different medium,”
Fisher said. “It’s not just read
ing words on a page or seeing
things on a screen — there are
live actors in front of you play
ing out these roles and bring
ing [Fitzgerald’s] words to life,
so I really hope that it reso
nates with people and makes
them think twice about the
way they look at things. ”
Jordan Scoville, OPAS mem
ber and civil engineering se
nior, said with the name rec
ognition and star quality of the
Montana Repertory Theater,
the audience should be able to
take away as much from the
play as they would from the
novel.
“[Everyone] should come see
the show because it is going
to be, great, obviously,” Sco
ville said. “If you’ve ever read
‘The Great Gatsby’ or seen the
movies, everyone knows it a
great story and it’s going to be
a great performance with the
Montana Repertory Theater.”
While the flamboyant style of
the Roaring Twenties is fea
tured in “The Great Gatsby,”
Fisher said she hopes people
will understand the message
about American capitalism
that Fitzgerald and the Mon
tana Theater Company ex
press.
“It definitely has this side that
money doesn’t buy happiness
and you have to be true to
your character and you can’t
waver in your values because
you can lose sight of who you
are, but I definitely hope that
people will walk away with
the image Fitzgerald was try
ing to convey,” Fisher said.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday evening in Rudder
Theatre. Tickets can be pur
chased online, at the MSC
Box Office, by phone or at
the door.
SANGAM CONTINUED
styles of dance.
“The teams performing are
acapella groups, Bollywood fu
sion dance and traditional raas and
bhangra styles,” Chikhliya said.
“It’s cool to see people our age still
holding onto their culture.”
A participating A&M dance
team. Wreckin’ Raas, will show
case the Dandiya Raas dance style
of Gujarat, India. Pratik Man-
daliya, team co-captain and kine
siology junior, said the team has
been preparing for Sangam as they
would a national competition.
“We started choreographing
a routine in September and have
been practicing since,” Mandaliya
said. “This time around, we’re
making the routine more crowd-
oriented and involving dancing to
a blend of Indian and American
music.”
Achukola said the talent show is
for all students — not just Indian
students.
“We’re trying to promote di
versity within the university,”
Achukola said. “We want to show
what our culture is like and raise
awareness. ”
The Sangam talent show takes
place at 5 p.m. Friday in Rudder
Auditorium.
SBP CONTINUED
“As time went on in the campaign, I did have
a conversation with [Tsau] and some of his cam
paign team members that the best thing to do
may be to work together to make sure that all
diverse students of all different backgrounds re
ceive the same voice they deserve,” Murtha said.
It was during this conversation Tsau said he
was offered a cabinet position in Murtha’s ad
ministration.
“[Murtha] came to speak to my team and he
promised — explicitly stated — if we backed out
of the race, endorsed him as our candidate and
got my entire committee behind him during the
debate, he would have given me the executive
vice president position,” Tsau said. “He told us
it was the second-most powerful student posi
tion here at Texas A&M and I would have three
cabinet positions for my choosing, so that would
be a total of four positions.”
Murtha said this was a friendly conversation,
telling Tsau a position would always be available
for him, whether he withdrew his candidacy or
not. Murtha said such offers are commonplace
and occur almost annually.
“I have talked to [Tsau] about EVP, and I have
no issue with that,” Murtha said. “There’s noth
ing ever stated that I can’t do that.”
Tsau went on to decline the offer, and brought
the situation to Benigno, who was announced as
student body president-elect after the Feb. 19-20
election.
On Feb. 23, Benigno then met with Murtha at
a restaurant. Benigno said he met with Murtha to
give him a chance to address the issue.
“I told him I knew exactly what he had done
and that Isaiah and I were both willing to talk
about it,” Benigno said. “I said if he continued
to pursue the office of student body president,
that the both of us would find that information
relevant to the student body.”
Murtha said he felt the conversation was
threatening, and saw it as blackmail.
“He proceeded to talk about how this was go
ing to hurt my career in SGA, my career going
into law school, my character —just all kinds of
things, and tried to threaten me not to take [the
J-court case],” Murtha said.
Murtha said the meeting is proof Benigno
committed campaign violations.
“It proves to me that he knows they did wrong
things and they wanted to prevent the J-Court
case from happening,” Murtha said.
Murtha recorded the Feb. 23 meeting and
provided the audio file to The Battalion. In the
exchange, Benigno said he would only bring the
cabinet offer to light if Murtha continued his SBP
pursuit through J-Court.
“I’m not going to drag you through the mud
unnecessarily and I don’t think it’s relevant unless
you hold office,” Benigno said in the recording.
Benigno said he has since reviewed the record
ing and could find nothing that could be con-
stmed as a threat.
“I think it’s comical and ludicrous that he feels
or felt threatened by that conversation,” Benigno
said. “I maintain my innocence and I urge any
one who might feel that I acted in the wrong to
read the transcript or listen to the audio because
I don’t think anyone that reads those things could
reasonably find me at fault. ”
Benigno said he originally intended not to
pursue the matter.
“But when I read that [Murtha’s offer] was an
honor violation that skipped the Election Com
mission, J-Court and SGA internal regulations
and goes to honor council, I realized it was a
bigger issue than just an election violation,” Be
nigno said.
Benigno cited section six of election regula
tions, which states: “The Election Commission
shall make every attempt to conduct voting in a
way free from coercion or pressure. Those ob
structing the free and fair nature of the voting
process, by which voters may cast a ballot by free
choice, are in violation of these regulations and
the Aggie Honor Code and they shall be reported
to the Aggie Honor System Office for possible
reprimand.”
If any party decides to submit a Student Con
duct Code violation against another, potential
penalties vary based on severity and range from
correctional workshops to expulsion.
Associate director in the Department of Stu
dent Life Kristen Harrell said cases involving the
Student Conduct Code are typically assigned to
a student conduct code officer, who then deter
mines whether there is significant evidence of
policy violation. From there, cases are split into
two categories based on whether they could end
in expulsion.
Major cases are brought before a three-person
panel. Opposing parties could be heard together
or separately, depending on the nature and simi
larity of the claims.
The pending J-Court ruling, for an appeal in
which Murtha argues Benigno should have been
fined for rule violations in a campaign video, is
expected within 72 hours of Monday’s hearing.