STN Entertainment
JEWISH NEWS OSCAR CONTEST
'I Am A Man'
Best Picture
❑ The English
Patient
❑ Fargo
❑ Jerry Maguire
I
he production of Meadow
Brook Theatre's I Am a
Man is historic. It is a col-
laboration between Mead-
ow Brook and the Plowshares
Theatre Company, which is
housed in the Paul Robeson The-
atre at the Northwest Activities
Center in Detroit — formerly the
Jewish Community Center.
The play celebrates the tragic
1968 confrontation between the
city of Memphis, Tenn., and its
African-American garbagemen.
A bitter strike — the men worked
for $1.10 an hour — called outside
forces into the fray. One force was
the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employ-
ees (AFSCME); another, the
Philip Locker as the mayor and Lou Beatty Jr. as T.O. Jones in I Am a Man, running
members of the black power through
March 9 at Meadow Brook.
movement; and the last, tragical-
ly, Martin Luther King Jr. This is him for his face-saving Episco- frequently, sometimes stopping
where and when he met his un- palianism and his racist attitudes; the action dead in its tracks. Then
timely death.
the tension between Jones and his there's Lou Beatty Jr. as T.O.
Playwright OyamO has mar- wife when their children are Jones, who starts out brusque and
shaled the historical facts and threatened; and scenes of brutal- full of life, but is worn down, evis-
shaped them into a near-epic ity that are just violent enough to cerated as a man until he can
panorama of those fateful months tell us the truth.
barely move and only, finally, alive
in 1968. At the center is T.O.
But the show runs nearly three with anguish over King's death.
Jones, who led the strike and, hours, and not nearly enough dra-
It's a sweetheart performance;
near play's end, bitterly and sar- matic propulsion makes this a dull but it is, I think, too natural, not
castically calls it "the 8 cents tri- Man.
epic enough. We need icon here.
umph." That was the
Director Gary Anderson Elsewhere performances range
amount of the hourly in-
does have a sure hand from good to fine with a tip of the
THEATER
crease finally wrested
with his stage: He sets hat to Phillip Locker (mayor),
from the good of boy may-
parts of scenes behind Robert Grossman (Solomon) and
or.
scrims, keeps the action believable Michael Jay (Brother Cinnamon
This work is diverse: it includes and has an acute awareness of and Reverend Billings).
photo montage, dozens of scenes, how using space creates drama.
This collaboration and this ven-
a singer with guitar and nearly
And Peter W. Hicks' set design ture should be nourished. All the
two dozen roles played by half as — lit with a painter's hand by touchstones for greatness are
many actors. And the play has ef- Reid G. Johnson — is exemplary. here. But the play should be pared
fective moments: the clash be-
Everything of this quality down, the central performance
tween the mayor — a converted should reach dramatic flashpoint buffed up and the directorial force
Jew — and the brash Joshua and explode into great theater. made more compelling — frosting
Solomon of AFSCME who derides That it doesn't is puzzling.
on this rich confection.
Too much history? Perhaps.
∎
Michael Margolin writes about
OyamO makes some points too
— Michael Margolin
the arts.
Jewish News
Oscar Contest
Don't forget to cast your votes in
our first annual competition.
THE RULES
• Choose the entry in each cate-
gory that you believe will win the
Oscar. Check one box only in each
category. (You will be disqualified
if any categories are left blank or
if there is more than one box
checked per category.)
• Mail your entry form to Atten-
tion: Oscar, The Jewish News
27676 Franklin Road, Southfield,
MI 48034; or fax to (810) 354-6069
(no phone calls).
• Entries must be received no lat-
er than Wednesday, March 19.
• One entry per person (you must
use the entry form, but photo-
copies are acceptable).
• Entrants must be at least 18
years of age.
• If the event there are more win-
ners than prizes, winners will be
drawn at random from those en-
tries with the most correct an-
swers.
• Winners will be announced in
the April 4 issue.
• Employees of The Jewish News,
Olympia Entertainment, the
AMC Maple 3 Theatre and their
families are not eligible to enter.
THE PRIZES
1 Grand Prize winner will
receive:
• Concert/Theater Tickets for 4
(concert to be announced)
• 8 AMC Maple 3 Theatre tickets
• The opportunity to review an
upcoming film for our JN Enter-
tainment Reviews page. (option-
al)
10 Runners Up will receive:
• 4 AMC Maple 3 Theatre tickets
each
❑ Secrets and Lies
❑ Shine
Best Actor
❑ Tom Cruise,
Jerry Maguire
❑ Ralph Fiennes,
The English
Patient
❑ Woody Harrelson,
The People vs.
Larry Flynt
❑ G-eoffrey Rush,
Shine
❑ Billy Bob
Thornton, Sling
Blade
Best Actress
❑ Brenda Blethyn,
Secrets and Lies
❑ Diane Keaton,
Marvin's Room
❑ Frances
McDormand,
Fargo
❑ Kristin Scott
Thomas, The
English Patient
❑ Emily Watson,
Breaking the
Waves
Best Supporting Actor
❑ Cuba Gooding
Jr., Jerry Maguire
❑ Joel Coen, Fargo
❑ Milos Forman, The
People Vs. Larry
Flynt
❑ Mike Leigh,
Secrets and Lies
❑ Scott Hicks, Shine
Best Foreign Film
❑ A Chef in Love,
Georgia
❑ Kolya, Czech
Republic
❑ The Other Side of
Sunday, Norway
❑ Prisoner of the
Mountains, Russia
❑ Ridicule, France
Best Screenplay (written
directly for the screen)
❑ Ethan Coen, Fargo
❑ Cameron Crowe,
Jerry Maguire
❑ John Sayles, Lone
Star
❑ Mike Leigh,
Secrets and Lies
❑ Jan Harcli & Scott
Hicks, Shine
Best Savenplay (based
on material previou
produced or pubi
❑ Arthur Miller, The
Crucible
❑ Anthony
Minghella, The
English Patient
❑ Kenneth Branagh,
Hamlet
❑ William H.
Macy, Fargo
❑ Armin Mueller-
Stahl, Shine
❑ Edward Norton,
Primal Fear
❑ Billy Bob
Thornton, Sling
Blade
❑ James Woods,
Ghosts of
Mississippi
❑ The Birdcage
❑ The English
Patient
❑ Evita
❑ Hamlet
❑ William
Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet
Best Supporting Actress
❑ Joan Allen, The
Crucible
❑ Lauren Bacall,
The Mirror Has
Two Faces
❑ Juliette Binoche,
The English
Patient
❑ Barbara Hershey,
The Portrait of a
Lady
❑ Marianne Jean-
Baptiste, Secrets
and Lies
Best Director
❑ Anthony
Minghella, The
English Patient
❑ John Hodge,
Trainspotting
Art Direction
Cmernatography
❑ The English
Patient
❑ Evita
❑ Fargo
❑ Fly Away Home
❑ Michael Collins
Sound
❑ The English
Patient
❑ Evita
❑ Independence Day
❑ The Rock
❑ Twister
Sound Effects kiting
❑ Daylight
❑ Eraser
❑ The Ghost and the
Darkness
originaiSOM
❑ "Because You
Loved Me," from
Up Close and
Personal
❑ "For the First
Time," from One
Fine Day
❑ "I Finally Found
Someone," from
The Mirror Has
Two Faces
❑ 'That Thing You
Do!" from That
Thing You Do!
❑ "You Must Love
Me," from Euita
Costume
❑ Angels and Insects
❑ Emma
❑ The English
Patient
Hamlet
❑
❑ The Portrait of a
Lady
Pim Editing
❑ The English
Patient
❑ Evita
❑ Fargo
❑ Jerry Maguire
❑ Shine
Makeup
❑ Ghosts of
Mississippi
❑ The Nutty
Professor
❑ Star Trek: First
Contact
Visual Effects
❑ Dragonheart
❑ Independence Day
❑ Twister
TIEBREAKER
Documentary Feature
❑ The Line King:
The Al Hirschfield
Story
❑ Mandela
❑ Suzanne Farrell:
Elusive Muse
❑ Tell the Truth and
Run: George Seldes
and the American
Press
❑ When We Were
Kings
Name .
Address:
Daytime
Phone .